Tempted by the Bear - Complete (27 page)

T
ori

W
hile Keith took a quick shower
, I arranged the sushi on the table. Ice clinks as I twirl the bottle of champagne in the freezing bath Keith prepared for it in the sink. He says it will chill the liquid in about five minutes.

His footsteps make me turn, and I discover Keith in faded jeans and a tight Orono T-shirt. I smile, because he’s usually in looser clothing, and I think he’s showing off for me. I say, “Either you beefed up since college, or that’s your get-lucky shirt.”

Keith flexes as he grins. “Is it going to work?”

I place my hand on his chest. “You had me the first day we met.” The heat of my werebear is hot under my palm as I slide it down to his abs.

He grabs my hand and stops me from going further. “Dinner first. You’re going to need your energy.”

I lick my lips. “Promises, promises.”

Keith winks at me and then tugs me along to the table. “We old guys know a thing or two. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.”

I sit and squirm in my chair as my dreams replay in my head. If they really do predict the future, I’m about to have the best sex of my life. I say, “I think you’re right.” But Lucy’s words of caution the other night niggle at me. My brow knits as I remember she said that eventually I’ll need to become a werebear if I want to stay with Keith, because my destiny is to have children to perpetuate the clan.

The champagne cork pops, and I return my thoughts to Keith. He hands me a glass full of bubbly liquid. It’s cool in my fingers as I wait for him to join me at the table.

Keith sits and gazes at me as he lifts his drink. He says, “To the beginning of our life together, Tori. I hope it will be forever.”

Our glasses clink as we toast, and I take a sip. The fizz tickles my tongue before I swallow. As much as I don’t want to ruin our first time together, I need to clear up the werebear thing, so I take a deep breath and ask, “Tell me more about what’s going to happen with us. Lucy told me that eventually I’ll have to decide if I want you to bite me or not. Is that true?”

Keith nods as he reaches over for my hand. “There’s no rush. We can cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“Is that what you want, though?” My heart rate increases as I imagine that we’ll be over before we start. “For me to have your children someday?”

“Yes. I would like that to happen.” Keith squeezes my hand. “But one thing I’ve learned is that life can be cut short, and I plan to make the best of each day I have on this earth.” I imagine he’s thinking about his dead wife. The fact that she’s with us once again makes jealousy spike in me. I bite my lower lip to keep from saying anything I’ll regret.

Keith must have an idea of what I’m thinking, because he adds, “You are what makes me happy. So even if you decide you won’t become a werebear, and leave me, I want to be with you while I can.” He traces my bottom lip with his finger. “Because if I’m not, I’ll regret that I never let myself love you, Tori.”

His touch sends an electric pulse through me that pushes my jealousy and apprehension away. I nod and gaze into his brown eyes, which make me think of the ocean. “Okay.” I take a sip of my drink, and the bubbles seem to intoxicate me even further. I blink to gather my wits and pick up my chopsticks. “Let’s work on that energy you promise we’ll need.”

When we finish dinner, I’m comfortably full and ready for our version of dessert. Keith tops off our champagne glasses to empty the bottle as I put the last container of leftovers in the fridge. When I turn to him, he speaks in a low voice that stokes my desire. “Let’s finish these in the living room.”

I take my glass from him, and he takes my other hand. In the few short steps to the couch, he threads his fingers through mine, and the heat of him begins to envelop me. He takes me to the floor-to-ceiling window, which offers a view of his forest wonderland. An overhead light placed high on the outside of his house illuminates the area. Two patio-style lounge chairs are set out with what appear to be fluffy cushions in a floral pattern that sparks my memory.

I take a sip of my champagne as he says, “Do you remember the dream about being out there?”

My mind flashes back to the dream of lying on one of those chairs while Keith is between my legs, giving me oral pleasure. “I do.” I take his glass to set it down along with mine on a side table. The metal knob of the door that leads outside is cool in my hand, and I ask, “Shall we?” The door is swollen with moisture, and I tug hard to get it open a crack.

Keith reaches above me to grab the edge of the door and pull it open further, and wood scrapes hard when he does. We step out into a cool summer night. I walk on spongy moss that makes me want to feel it between my toes. I stop and crouch down to remove my shoes. Keith places himself across from me to do the same.

We’re silent as we gaze at each other and stand. The greenery beneath my soles cuddles my feet in coolness as he steps forward to take my face in his hands. Keith whispers, “You’re the one, Tori. You’re the one I was meant to be with.”

My pride wants to believe that it’s always been me, the way I know it will always be him, and I say, “You’re the one too.” I reach up to pull him to me. Our lips meet, and I taste the faint remains of spicy wasabi mixed with sweet champagne. The passion between us quickly takes over, and my hands tug at clothing as I drink him in with my mouth.

Keith breaks away and gazes at my heaving chest. My shirt is on the ground along with his, and he groans as I reach back to unhook my bra. I let the straps fall off my shoulders and offer my breasts to him. His hands cup them as he lowers his mouth to take one of my nipples. The sensation of his tongue on my skin shoots all the way down to my toes, and I let out a small cry.

The muscles of his shoulders ripple under my hands as I hold on. He moves down my belly with his mouth and lowers himself to his knees. I close my eyes, and dizziness makes me think I’m a drunk, so I snap them open quickly. But it’s probably what Keith does to me, because I can handle two glasses of champagne. Hot breath tickles my stomach, and he unfastens my jeans and tugs them down my hips.

I place a hand on his shoulder as I step out of my pants. Keith gazes up at me as he palms my bottom with his hands. “Your scent makes my bear want to roar.”

I say, “You—” Keith nuzzles my panty-clad mound and swipes his tongue over the thin nylon covering my sex. I gasp before I croak out, “You did promise me growling.”

A low growl rumbles through him as he yanks my panties down. I tremble as if the sound scares me, but it’s from need, and I stumble back to the lounge chair to relive my dream. Our dream.

The weatherproof fabric is cold under my back when I lie down, and I squeal when Keith yanks my hips to drag me to the edge. He growls again before he licks my folds.
Oh god.
He was right. Older guys do know a thing or two, and mewls come from me as he takes me higher than even my dreams could go.

When I’m melted into a puddle, Keith rises up over me and kisses me. His cock is large and throbbing between us, and I grip him tightly as I taste the tangy flavor of myself on his lips. He stops and says, “We can continue like our dream, or I can scoop you up and take you to my bed.”

“I thought our dreams predicted the future. Don’t we have to do it that way?”

“You have a choice, Tori. You’ll always have a choice with me.” His gaze is intense, and I stare at him as he waits for my answer.

I stroke his hard length and say, “I want the dream, Keith. We can decide the rest later.”

He growls again as he lifts up off of me to flip me over. The noise reverberates through me as I climb to my knees, and I practically growl back when he enters me from behind.

Keith’s breath tickles my ear as he thrusts all the way in and whispers, “For now, you’re mine, Tori.” He draws back out slowly, and I moan for his return.

Skin slaps when he slams in hard, and I say, “I’m yours.”
Forever.

T
ori

K
eith did eventually scoop
me up and bring me to his bed after we finished the champagne and relived another mystical forest dream. Nestled against his chest, under a fluffy comforter, I inhale the aroma of our combined musk. I say, “Not bad for an old guy.”

He slides out from under me to press me against the mattress with the weight of his body, and his dick twitches between us as it thickens. “You talk as if I’m done.” He reaches down to guide his cock between my legs, and I spread my thighs apart to accommodate the size of him.

I’m sore but resist the urge to flinch when he pushes against my tender opening. “Whatever was I thinking?” I sigh when he enters me and grip his hips to rock with him. My dizziness has returned, and I don’t let my eyes close as Keith brings me to the brink of another orgasm. When I’m done screaming, I wonder how I got so drunk, because the bed begins to spin.

Keith arranges himself behind me to spoon, and I focus on the landscape painting on the wall to make the sensation of vertigo stop. His hand palms my belly, and the heat soothes my upset stomach as he tugs me tighter. He says, “I love you, Tori.”

My nausea has passed, and exhaustion takes over as I let my eyelids droop shut. I whisper, “I love you too.”

I
cy wind
whips my hair around my face, and my ears are cold. I reach up to warm them with my hands. Snow is on the ground, and I chide myself for not wearing a hat and mittens as I trudge through ankle-deep snow. I gaze out at the expanse of white to my right. Trees border it, making it appear to be a lake. A white cottage with dark-blue shutters is in the distance, and the smoke curling up from the chimney reaches out as if it’s inviting me to come inside.

I pick up my pace to get to the warmth. I notice there aren’t any tracks in the snow or a vehicle anywhere in sight. I begin to wonder if I’m hallucinating the fire that awaits, when the front door opens.

A woman steps out and smiles. She’s the one I met at the Cat’s Meow on my lunch date with Keith. I smile back as wind sweeps her long, dark hair exactly like mine away from her face.
My doppelgänger.
She says, “Welcome, Victoria. Come on inside and get warm.”

I enter the cottage, and the scent of apple pie floats toward me. I stomp snow off my boots as the woman takes my coat. She says, “Why don’t you go sit by the fire, and I’ll bring you some tea?”

My voice sounds distant when I answer, “That would be wonderful, thank you.”

The prickling sensation of blood rushing to warm my chilled fingers hurts as I rub my hands by the fire. I turn to the woman when she comes to stand next to me with a steaming mug. She says, “You’re the one, Tori.”

I recall Keith saying that, and I smile as I take the tea. “Yes, I know.”

“Do you?” She cocks her head at me as she frowns.

“Yes. I’m the one Keith has been searching for.”

The older woman chuckles and says, “No. You’re the one I’ve been searching for.”

I shake my head. “You? Why?” It occurs to me that she knows my real name. The one I never use. “How do you know me?”

“I’m your grandmother. The father you never knew was my son.”

I gaze into the green eyes that are as intense in color as mine. I recall how Keith said to stay far away from this woman, and I wonder why. But I have so many questions about my real father, I push the warning away. “Tell me about him. My father.”

My grandmother reaches over and lifts a strand of my hair. She watches it slip through her fingers. “Your father, Victor Veilleux, was a very powerful man. You were named after him and meant to follow in his footsteps.” She grips my shoulders with boney fingers that dig into my flesh. “You, Victoria, are destined for so much more than a”—she snarls as her lip curls to reveals fangs—“a Le Roux.”

Her animal gesture makes the hair on my body stand on end.
Veilleux?
I recall Keith told me that is Jax’s clan. But she can’t possibly mean I should be with Jax. Not when my feelings for Keith are so strong. I ask, “What do you mean I will follow in my father’s footsteps?”

“That’s a conversation for later. Would you like some pie?”

My stomach growls loudly in response, and my grandmother laughs as I smile with embarrassment.

I
know
where I am before I even open my eyes. The intense heat of the man next to me has sweat slicked on our skin where it touches, and I slither out from under the heavy arm that is draped over my naked body. It’s still dark, and Keith groans before he asks, “Where are you going?”

A flash of the dream I was having before I woke up comes back to me. ‘
You’re not destined for a Le Roux.’
The voice is familiar, and I want to figure out what it means. I mumble, “Bathroom,” as I stumble toward the toilet. I search my memory for what I dreamt.

Water rushes from the sink while I wash my hands, and I focus on what I remember.
Victor Veilleux. What does that name mean?
I stare at my reflection in the mirror. My hair is a tangled mess from sex, but my eyes are startling green, just like the woman in the café.
And in my dream.

As I approach Keith, dawn illuminates the bedroom, and I take a moment to appreciate the defined muscles of his body and the curve of the largest cock I’ve seen as it lies in a flaccid state. Although that state is changing, and I quickly move my gaze up to Keith’s grinning face when he asks, “Like what you see?”

I stop at the end of the bed and glance back down at his lap. His erection is tall and proud when I say, “I do. And I think the feeling is mutual.”

I haven’t had a chance to taste him yet, but before I do, I feel driven to understand my dream. I say, “I just had a dream about that woman you told me to stay away from.”

Keith sits up. “Patricia?”

“Is that her name? We were in a cottage.”

He scrambles across the bed to grab my arms. “Tori, tell me the whole thing.”

The intensity of his stare startles me, and his fingers dig into my flesh. I pull away. “It was like a normal dream. You know, the kind where you only remember bits and pieces.”

He sits back. “Even so, I’m not taking any chances with you.”

Keith frowns as if he’s thinking about something, and I wait for him to go on. A flash of Patricia comes to me. ‘
Victor Veilleux was a very powerful man.’

Keith told me last night that the Veilleux are one of the clans in the Northeast Kingdom. I ask, “Who’s Victor Veilleux?”

Something I guess is Keith’s bear flashes in his eyes, and he lets out a growl that is far from sexy. I tense in fear. He says, “He’s the man who killed Taylor.”

I stare at Keith as the woman’s words come back to me.
‘You were meant to follow in his footsteps.’
I step back and wrap my arms around myself. “I’m sorry.”