Romance: Claimed By The Ape: BBW Shapeshifter Romance Standalone (Spicy Shifters Book 4) (7 page)

He was, thankfully, back within five minutes. Erin had stripped off her jacket and most of her sweatshirts, but had been pulling them back on in anticipation of following him when he strolled back into the cavern, as casually as if he was strolling back into rehearsal.

In his hands, he carried fistfuls of parsnips and dandelions. He shrugged out of his jacket, laying it on the camp bed, and spread out his bounty, looking pleased with himself. “Spring can be a tough time to forage, but I’m a big fan of dandelion leaves. Hope you like salad.”

“Jack, this is… incredible. You found all of this, out in that storm?”

Jack shrugged, “Years of practice. Glad it finally came in handy.”

Erin tore a leaf from a dandelion stem and popped it in her mouth, chewing gingerly. It wasn’t half bad. “No wonder you come back looking like hell.”

He laughed and sank down onto the camp bed, stripping off his remaining sweater to reveal his customary t-shirt underneath.

“Aren’t you cold?” She asked in amazement as she sat down beside him, pulling her knees up to her chest for warmth.

“Nah, I run a little hot. The fire’s only here for when it gets really chilly-most times I don’t even light it. Here.” He draped his arm over her shoulder, pulling her close to his side. He hadn’t been kidding. In the coldness of the cave, she could practically feel the heat radiating off him like a current from a furnace. They sat in silence for a moment, both picking at the pile of edible plants, before Erin spluttered, “I’m sorry I ruined everything.”

“Ruined everything?” Jack repeated, looking down at her in surprise, “What do you mean?”

“I mean… like tonight. If my car hadn’t died…”

“Point of order, I bought you that car, and I was the one driving,” Jack reassured her, his tone teasing, “Are you suggesting that you’re somehow bad luck?”

“Yes,” Erin picked at a parsnip root, slowly shredding it in her fingers, unable to meet his gaze, “I screw everything up, no matter how hard I try.”

“What in the world have you screwed up?” Jack asked in playful exasperation.

She peaked at him from the corner of her eye,” Well…. Us.”

“Us?” Jack repeated, baffled.

She stared down at her lap, anxiously threading her fingers together, “I just mean… I got all self-righteous about the car, and then practically threw myself at you. That’s some pretty mixed signals. I’m sorry.”

“Erin...” the pain in his voice made her glance up at him in surprise. He stared down at her with an anguished expression, his crystal gaze locked onto hers, “Don’t-don’t apologize. You didn’t…” He stopped, closing his eyes, his face screwed up in concentration, as if inwardly battling with himself. When he opened his eyes again, they seemed to blaze with heat and vitality.

“To hell with it,” he said softly.

He leaned forward and kissed her, encircling her body with his arms. With one motion, he swept his jacket and the foraged plants onto the ground, and threw himself out on the camp bed, pulling her down on top of him.

He kissed her the intensity of a first love and all the skill of a well-seasoned lover. She gasped as his mouth met hers over and over, his hands taking happy advantage of her position on top of him, drawing her ever closer, so that her breasts, belly and hips pressed against his well-muscled body.   

He quickly rolled her onto her back, propping himself up on one elbow, his free hand already at work on the button of her jeans. Suddenly he paused, pulling back, his expression serious. “I want you to be okay with this,” he said gently, “Are you?”

She nodded, unable to contain the ridiculous smile that bubbled onto her lips. She was certain she’d never felt this sure about anything in her life.

He grinned in relief, happiness visibly flooding through him like a wave, and seized her mouth once more. His touch was no longer cautious, moving over her with an intense longing that made her heart thunder within her.

His fingers roamed across her body as if he was committing every inch to memory. He pulled back only to kiss her again, lightly, teasingly, on the tip of her nose, her eyelids, her temple, their shared laughter at his playfulness filling the cavern. How had she ever thought it was cold? - now it felt as if she could overheat at every moment, melting into his arms.

She sat up a little, struggling with the hem of her shirt. Jack caught her hand in his, raising it to his mouth, and touched each of her fingertips to his lips in turn with a mischievous smile. “Allow me,” he offered, his eyes sparkling with mirth, and he tore the shirt clean off of her, tossing the tattered remains down beside them.

“You’re lucky that wasn’t a favorite,” she scolded him with a giggle.

“You mean like how I wear this one almost constantly?” He gestured to his own t-shirt. Before she could say anything, he seized the fabric and ripped the center open, revealing his toned Grecian body beneath, shedding his mild-mannered reporter costumer.

“Yes, exactly,” she laughed as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his mouth back to hers. She revealed at the way he seemed to crave her, as his tongue into her, claiming her, silently bending her to surrender. She did so willingly, letting the softness of her shapely body fit into the sharp lines of his, every nerve that touched him on fire.

He teasingly tasted her bottom lip, sucking gently as he undid the button of her jeans, his fingers shoving aside the band and cotton fabric of her underwear to caress the silky skin beneath. She instinctively recoiled from such intimate attention, but he held her, trapping her between the mattress and the length of his body.

With just the tip of his tongue, he gradually began to move downwards, clutching her to him as he buried his nose in her neck. Her jeans were around her ankles; she kicked them off, embarrassingly and boldly aware that she was underneath him in nothing but her simple bra and panties. He seemed to pay no attention, eagerly pushing aside the fabric as he kissed the quaking mound of her breast.

“You’re shivering,” he muttered against her flesh, running his fingers tentatively along the soft folds of her sex, “Are you cold?”

“No,” she gave a little gasp as he smoothly pressed one finger into her. His teeth seized upon the edge of her bra. “Are you going to tear that too?”

“I guess I can be civilized,” he muttered, and he yanked at the fabric, exposing her. Her nipples, already hard from his attention, swelled at contact with the icy air. With a grin that would have put any supernatural trickster to shame, Jack leaned forward and seized the tip of Erin’s right breast with his mouth.

She cried out, the sound echoing through the cavern as her back arched up in pleasure. He took full advantage, pressing two fingers into her, letting her feel the full bliss of his care all over her.

“Oh God, Jack…”

Her hands glided over his body, feeling the firmness of his back and butt; she hadn’t even realized he’d removed his own jeans. The outline of his hard erection was evident against the cloth of his boxers, pressing into her, hot, unyielding, demanding. She spread her legs widely, abandoning any self-awareness as his fingers explored her. “Ohhhh,” she moaned in agony.

He suddenly placed his mouth beside her ear. His breath was hot on her bare skin. “Moan like that any more and I won’t be able to control myself much longer,” his growl was filled with desperate want, his hips grinding against her as if he could barely help himself anyway.

“So don’t,” she whispered, her own voice laced with naked lust.

His breath hitched, and she felt his hand move from her to his own underwear, pulling himself free. “Say it,” he commanded, his voice rough with an almost animalistic rumble. His thumb pushed against the hard rub buried within her, his fingers working in and out of her with an ever increasing rhythm until Erin couldn’t remember her own name, couldn’t remember to breath, couldn’t remember anything except the touch of him.

“I-”

“Say it!” He demanded.

“I want you! Fuck me!”

“God,
finally
!” He shouted, and unable to contain himself any further, buried his cock deep within her, crying out together as he filled her, as he claimed her. He pulled back gingerly, his ragged breath harsh in her ear, and thrust again, sending spasms of explosive satisfaction through her.

He thrust again, and again, each movement of his hips pushing her ever closer to the cliff. She felt it rising within her like a tide, her body growing tighter and more rigid with the increasing cadence of his thrusts. She wrapped her legs around him, begging him onward, letting him consume her as he seized her mouth again.

“I’ve wanted you for so long,” he moaned against her lips, the pace of his hips ebbing and flowing as the tension built to unimaginable torture, “If you only knew…”

“And I wanted you,” she gasped, hardly able to form words.

He broke the kiss, grinning down at her, eyes alight with fire, “You have me, Erin.”

“Oh God, Jack…” Without thought, without instruction, she went rigid beneath him, tightening and releasing around him. The feel of her was more than he could bare; he closed his eyes and gave himself over, his own orgasm tearing a loud, final gasp from him. They collapsed back onto the camp bed, entangled with each other, and completely spent.  

The snow had completed melted by the time Jack and Erin dressed and made their way out of the cave. Jack once again carried her to the car, and in the daylight, Erin could appreciate even more how miraculous Jack’s athletic prowess really seemed to be; they managed to travel what must have been two miles in just under half an hour, even with her in his arms the entire time.

Then again, Erin admitted she might have been too distracted by the feel of his body against her as he ran to really pay a great deal of attention to their surroundings.

They both agreed that there was little point to proceeding to the party now. Once the tow truck arrived, they called for a ride back into the city. Along the way they picked up a veritable feast from the Somali deli (and Jack’s favorite banana smoothie) and spent the rest of their free day lounging in Jack’s apartment, trading teasing remarks and testing out just how much endurance Jack really had.

After two simultaneous orgasms, a lovemaking session on the bed and another in which Jack held her against the kitchen cabinets while he fucked her, Erin finally conceded that maybe she was the one who should have been working out more.

“Know what I realized,” Erin commented absentmindedly as they lay tangled in his bedsheets, watching the sun slowly set behind the city scape through his window, “I haven’t been home in nearly three days. I wonder if Amanda’s worried.”

“She’s not,” Jack said easily, grinning down at her, “I texted her to say I was taking care of you.”

Erin raised an eyebrow sardonically at him. “Taking care of me, are you?”

“In the Biblical sense, at least,” he kissed the tip of her nose teasingly. Erin giggled, but slowly broke away from his embrace, stretching. “I should probably go home though.”

“Why? What’s the rush? I have it on good authority that your boss doesn’t need you tomorrow,” Jack tried to make a grab for her, but she easily dodged him, bounding across the bed.

“Yeah, thankfully the jackass does give me
some
days off,” she commented airily, trying not to crack a smile as Jack pretended to be mortally wounded at her words, “But honestly, I should go home… at least for a while.”

She waited for him to make a joke or roll his eyes in exaggerated contempt at her too-pragmatic nature, but to her surprise, when she glanced at him, he was staring at the floor, his face dark with thought. “Jack?” She said uneasily, “What is it?”

He quickly looked up at her, expression morphing into playfulness; and yet, there remained something melancholy just around his expressive eyes. “Nothing. Just… wondering which conquest I should call in the meantime.”

“Oh, ha ha,” she stuck her tongue out at him, but unable to help herself, added, “Though…”

“Though… what?” He repeated apprehensively.

“Uh, nothing, I was just… thinking maybe it would be a good idea to, ya know, get some space.”

“I’m not following,” Jack said blankly.
“I mean, take a day to think this through. You’re my boss - I’m your employee.”

“For another month,” Jack scowled a little, “Hell, the cast party’s in two weeks.”

“And then you need me to help you pack and go back to New York City,” Erin said quietly, now staring at the ground herself.

He didn’t say anything in response.

Erin quickly scooped up her pants, trying to put on a show of bravado. “Anyway, just something to think about. I think I’ll head out now. Do you need anything before I go?”

“No,” he said softly, staring out the window as the skyscraper lights across town came to life, “Thank you.”

“Okay. Well, call me if you… need me,” unable to look at him, Erin turned and walked swiftly out into the foyer. Without even pausing to put her shoes on, she grabbed up her stuff and hurried out the front door, hopeful that if she went fast enough, she could outpace her immediate regret.