by J. K Harper
Reluctantly, Shane left her sweet center and pulled his way back up her body until he rested over her. Her eyes, their shade now close to a navy blue, blinked at him, sated. He let a corner of his mouth wing up in a grin. Both satisfaction and promise tumbled through his voice as he said, "That's just the beginning. Because I have to be inside you so badly right now that it hurts."
Her own lips tipping up into a smile, she whispered, "Then come in. Please." With that, she reached down to guide him inside her.
* * *
At her bold invitation, Shane's eyes turned to molten gold. The sight of it, the evidence of the animal he harbored deep inside him, should've scared her. But it didn't. Instead, she simply felt more excited at her power in arousing him. At the clear knowledge of how much he wanted her.
She about felt her own eyes roll back in her head as he pushed that huge, hard length into her, centimeter by centimeter. She could tell he was struggling to hold himself back, not just slam into her. It felt so good, and she was simultaneously both so relaxed and yet further roused by the orgasm he'd just wrung out of her with his lips and tongue, that she reached her hands down to the delicious hardness of his ass to press him into her.
"Don't hold back," she whispered, looking right into his eyes. "I've missed you. I want to feel how much we want this."
With a ragged groan, her name sliding out of him like a prayer, Shane nodded once. Then with a quick thrust of his hips, he pushed himself into her all the way to the base of his thick cock.
Despite herself, Jessie gasped. He was so damned big. But the delightful sensations of him finally being inside her again simply intensified into a spiraling deliciousness that she wanted to climb. He paused briefly, halted by her gasp, but she frantically shook her head.
"No. It feels good. It feels amazing. Don't you dare stop," she ordered.
A chuckle rumbled out of him as he complied. He stroked in and out, going faster and harder as she encouraged him by lifting her hips with his each stroke. She wrapped her hands around his broad back, hanging on to him for dear life as their synchronized movements slid her along the rug like the incredible power of an ocean wave slipping and bobbing them both along.
His eyes shifted and pulsed with the golden lights in them, capturing Jessie and holding her in them. She could see his bear dancing in there, along with Shane's own powerful presence. Everything scary, everything hard, everything that could possibly be wrong between them melted away into the openness and vulnerability she remembered from their time together when they first met.
"Love," she whispered, saying the word like it was a name for him. Saying it like it was the most natural, obvious thing in the world.
Shane's mouth loosened and his eyes softened even more. He gently gripped her shoulders in his massive hands. "Oh, yes," he whispered in a ragged groan. “Jessie, my mate. My love.”
In a powerful, blinding white heat, another orgasm soared through Jessie, shaking and shattering her. Making her shriek out with the beautiful force of it. At the same time, she could feel Shane tighten inside her and then pulse, releasing shots of his beautiful liquid heat deep into her as his guttural voice boomed out her name in his own pleasure. Their eyes never left one another, locked together as the sensations gripped them both at the same time, shooting up and around and binding them together in what Jessie could sense with every molecule of her being was exactly the right thing. Exactly the right way to be.
She was his mate. And he was hers. This was exactly where she was meant to be, and it was right.
As the tremors slowly ebbed and waned, gradually draining away to leave Jessie feeling boneless, Shane gently tipped his face down to kiss her. Long, deep, luxurious, he savored her lips with the taste of her still on them. His beard tickled her face, making her smile in languorous delight as the endorphins still flooded through her body.
Long moments later, when he gently rested of the weight of his body on the floor beside her, keeping one arm and leg flung over her, his face nestled into her neck, the soft rumble of his voice vibrated against her skin. "Exactly where you belong, Jessie. With me. You and me and our son under the same roof. Together. Safe."
The sensation of being lovingly cocooned into the warmth and safety of Shane's snowbound little cabin in the middle of a winter storm filled her every sense. It all felt perfect.
“Now then,” he said, sitting up. Without warning, he scooped her up into his arms as if she weighed no more than a feather. She squeaked in surprise. Cradling her close against his sexy rock-hard chest, Shane strode to the bedroom and gently put her down onto his gorgeous sleigh bed. Staring up at him with a startled anticipation, Jessie's breath sucked in with delight as he said, “We've still got a lot more night ahead of us, beautiful. And I fully intend to hear every last one of the gorgeous sounds you've got to make.”
“Mmm,” was Jessie’s only reply as Shane made good on his promise.
8
Jessie floated up out of sleep. She was somewhere softer than she'd ever been before. Soft, deliciously warm, completely comfortable. In Shane's bed. In his cozy little mountain cabin, tucked deep into the sheltering forest. Memories of the night she had spent with him flooded through her, coloring her cheeks, making her face split into a smile even though her eyes were still closed.
Shane's home. It all felt so incredibly right that she simply stayed nestled into the bed for another several breaths, just enjoying the sensation. Finally, she lazily turned over and reached out her arm, patting the bed to find him.
He wasn't there. Eyes opening, she sat up. She had the huge sleigh bed to herself. He must've gotten up early. She knew he wasn't going to be the type to make her breakfast, or probably even coffee. Though the cabin was not nearly as tiny as her apartment, it was still kind of small. She tipped her head so she could hear.
Nothing. In fact, no sounds of the storm, either. Reaching to the window, she fumbled with the heavy blind and whipped it up. Gasping, she stared outside. Bright sunshine streamed into the room. Everything out there was utterly smothered in snow. It settled in heavy drifts on the bowed pine branches and blanketed the ground. The sky was robin's egg blue.
It was absolutely beautiful.
Somewhat reluctantly pushing the warm covers off of her, she swung her feet around and slid off the tall bed. Luckily, the cabin was warm. Stepping into the small living room, she grabbed up Shane's long button-up shirt that had been tossed onto the floor, smiling as she shrugged it on. It smelled like him. Then she glanced around. No sign of him. She looked into the kitchen. Nope, definitely not there either.
Turning toward the little room Grant slept in, she walked over, her face ready to smile at the sight of her baby boy snuggled up in there.
Instead, she sucked in her breath at the sight of the empty bed. "Grant? Baby?"
Nothing. He wasn't here.
"Shane?" Her voice pitched more loudly than she intended. Quickly, she checked each of the five rooms in the place again, just in case it was possible to miss a gigantic man or her little boy.
They weren't here. They were gone.
Sudden panic clutched at Jessie's stomach. Whirling, she ran toward the front door of the cabin, flung it open, and darted onto the porch. Swallowing desperately against the dryness in her throat, she screamed out Grant's name—then almost strangled on her own voice as she looked across the field of snow toward the nearby treeline.
A baby grizzly bear cub clumsily tottered out from the trees on the other end, loping and tumbling straight toward her in an uneven line. The fuzzy little mouth was open, his entire little body bouncing with excitement as he shoved his still uncoordinated limbs through the deep, fresh snow toward her. He made funny noises that sounded like a bizarre mix between grunts, bellows, and shrieks of pure joy.
"Grant?" This time, Jessie's voice was disbelieving. Yet almost instantly, she also felt a pure knowing that it was him.
Her son.
Grant was a baby grizzly bear, bouncing right towar
d her. The cutest, fluffiest, darlingest one ever.
He reached the bottom of the stairs, smacked right into them because of his uncoordinated forward momentum, and tumbled back into his fuzzy little rear. Emitting a squeak of surprise, he looked up at his mother.
Jessie laughed even as she darted down the steps and knelt beside him. He immediately burrowed into her side with his little nose, nuzzling and snuffling and making funny little whimpers that were similar to the little sounds he made as a human baby. He gazed up at her with pure adoration as well as excitement.
"Grant, oh, you're amazing, little one! Look at you! You are such a handsome, wonderful little bear." Jessie laughed through her words, crazily proud of him for doing this.
Another movement at the edge of the woods caught her attention. Grant swiveled his little head around, too, falling over completely backward as he did so. The trees seem to be moving. Or rather, a single tree was moving? One giant tree rustled wildly at the edge of the woods. It stood out because it was more green than white, unlike the others.
The fact that it was also being dragged by the most gigantic bear Jessie had ever seen in her life kind of made it stand out too.
She froze for a second, instinct slamming into her that there was an enormous, dangerous wild animal right there. But then Grant, her own little baby bear cub, righted himself back onto all fours. Unevenly, he started plunging through the snow straight towards the huge grizzly bear. Who, Jessie's more logical mind realized with a flash, of course was Shane.
For some reason, he was dragging a pine tree toward his cabin.
Standing in the snow, she abruptly realized her bare feet were going numb. Going back up onto the lowest step to the porch, she stared at the giant grizzly and the little baby one tumbling around his huge paws, grabbing onto pine needles with his tiny teeth and trying to help drag the tree. The enormous grizzly, with its distinctive hump and wash of burnished golden-brown coat, made a muffled roar as he tripped over bumbling little Grant.
Jessie couldn't help but burst out laughing. Her smile just wouldn't quit as she watched. Finally, the two bears and one big pine tree were at the edge of the porch. In the slip of a heartbeat, the enormous one shimmered and cracked and broke back into the shape of a man.
“Holy shit,” Jessie muttered, the smile falling into an open-mouthed gape.
Shane walked to her, naked as a jaybird and just as human as she was. She caught her breath again at how frigging gorgeous he was. Jeez.
“I got up this morning because he was making noises.” Shane's voice was wrapped in a smile. “He'd made his first shift into his bear, right there in his crib, and was doing his best to eat the damn thing trying to get out of it. So we went outside. I didn't want to wake you up just yet,” he added, “you were sleeping so soundly. I know I wore you out last night.” Sheer masculine pride edged his tone.
Jessie blushed.
“So, I had a thought.” He paused at the bottom of the shallow set of stairs. His eyes were that same molten gold they'd been the night before, his hair wildly sticking up on end and his face guardedly hopeful.
Grant bumbled toward her as well, shifting back into a little human baby halfway up and tangling himself in his own feet. Jessie reached down to pick him up. He felt warm in her arms, way warmer than any baby just frolicking in the snow should have been. Cuddling him close, she looked at Shane, then at the pretty spruce tree by his feet. “Does your thought have anything to do with that tree?” Her breath puffed out cold and white in the sharp morning air.
He nodded solemnly. “Yeah. I was thinking my cabin looks a little bare. No Christmas lights and stuff like that. So I thought—maybe you'd like to help me decorate it?” His voice suddenly was almost shy, though that was a little funny coming from such an enormous, sexy lumberjack bear shifter god of the woods. He gestured at the needled branches of the spruce. “I brought a tree to put up. Because I noticed you seem to really get into the holiday spirit. I thought you might like it.”
Sudden tears pricked at Jessie's eyes. This was by far the most thoughtful, sweet gift anyone had ever given her in her entire life. Well, aside from Grant, of course. “Um, okay,” was all she could manage to say without totally losing it to the happy tears clogging up her throat.
Shane walked up the stairs with a purposeful tread. He stopped on the porch, right next to her in all his glorious nakedness. Reaching out a closed hand to her, he turned it over. Uncurling his fingers, he revealed a tiny pine cone and a few bright red little berries. “It's not much till we can get some actual decorations in town, but I thought you might want to start with these. We need some holiday sparkle going on in this place. I thought you and Grant might like to help. Because you both belong here,” he ended on a whisper.
Jessie sniffed, nodding. “Yes,” she bubbled out through the thickness in her throat. “Yes, we belong here. With you. There's nowhere else I'd rather be,” she added, feeling a huge grin split her face open.
In her arms, Grant babbled out some noises as he reached for the shiny berries in Shane's hands, though Shane kept them away from his grasp. Then the little boy clearly said, looking right at Shane with his sweet little grin, “Dada!”
Jessie gasped even as Shane's jaw dropped. She looked into his eyes, which were not only a molten gold, but suspiciously shiny. He swallowed hard, then also let a stunning smile sweep over his chiseled features. Reaching out to Jessie, he pulled her against his side and dropped a tender kiss on her forehead, their son held close in her arms.
“It means the world to me to hear you say that, Jessie. Welcome home,” he added, squeezing her shoulders.
“Home.” She laughed with joy as she said it, looking out at the beautiful winterscape lit by the brilliant morning sunshine. “Yes. We're home,” she whispered, her smile shining through her own watery eyes.
“Now let's get that tree inside so our family can start to decorate it,” he added, and she was sure she heard a thickness in his voice as well.
“Deal, mate of mine,” she sighed with utter bliss, snuggling her son and her mate close to her.
“Welcome home, mate,” Shane said, and he kissed her long and deep, standing on the front porch of their home.
* * *
Thank you so much for reading Mountain Bear’s Baby! Shane, Jessie, and Grant were so enjoyable to write.
What's next for the Silvertip Shifters? Beckett North and Pix Camden’s story in TAMING HER BEAR: BECKETT. Scroll to the next page to read it!
Be sure to read more Silvertip Shifters:
Hunter’s Moon: Quentin - Quentin & Abby
Mountain Bear’s Baby: Shane - Shane & Jessie
Taming Her Bear: Beckett - Beckett & Pix
Rescue Bear: Cortez - Cortez & Haley
Ranger Bear: Riley - Riley & Marisa
Firefighter Bear: Slade - Slade & Everly
Superstar Bear: Bodhi - Bodhi & McKenna
Christmas Night Bear: Wyatt - Wyatt & Brynna
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Scroll to the next page to read TAMING HER BEAR: BECKETT.
Taming Her Bear: Beckett
A dragon shifter who fled her past...
Pix Camden hails from a powerful line of dragon shifters, but she left their controlling ways behind long ago. Now she lives by her wits, footloose and fancy-free. Yet something big is still missing—until she meets wild bear shifter Beckett and he captures her restless heart.
A bear shifter out of control...
Beckett North can hardly contain his unruly bear on the best of days. Then he meets the captivating Pix. Even though she soothes his savage beast, he can tell she's hiding something from him, and it threatens to drive his bear mad. Yet the fiery woman is his mate—and he'll do whatever it takes to spend the rest of his life with her.
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nbsp; Pix leaned in sideways to deliver the punchline to Haley, getting close enough to be heard over the muted roar of the crowded bar. “You're bigger than the Titanic? Wowza, you mean like this big?” Cackling like a loon, Pix flung her hands out to illustrate to her bff the massive girth her blind date a few weeks back had assured her he possessed.
Unfortunately, her drink was still in one hand. It went sloshing out all over her arm, and apparently all over some random stranger as well.
“Argh!” came a grumbling, masculine grunt of surprise from behind her left shoulder.
Lurching forward, Pix sat up, her laughter instantly disappearing. “Oh, shit! I'm sorry!” She whirled around on the barstool.
The second she laid eyes on the guy she'd tossed her gin and tonic all over, Pix was a goner. Total goner. Cuz holy moly, was he beyond hot. Hot, and something amazing that curled sweetly through her body and set her inner dragon fire sizzling through her veins.
The guy was massive. Burly, strong, and built. Dark whiskey gold hair, eyes that matched, a pronounced five-o'clock shadow and muscles on his muscles. Built like a tank, but she could tell he had a stealthy grace and balance that meant he could move fast if he wanted to. He looked like he chopped and hauled his own wood to his man-cave cabin tucked up somewhere in the forest above town. In fact, he probably did do that, considering she sat in a bar in a quintessential little mountain town full of all sorts of rugged types.
The startled expression on his craggy, sexy face froze as his eyes snagged on hers. They stared at one another for a second that lasted forever.
So this is what they mean when they say time stops, Pix thought in a daze. Okay. Got it. Time is stopped.