She could have laughed. There was an original sin between them - her leaving. Even if she’d had her reasons. It was hard to get her head around him apologizing to her.
But she only nodded and said, “Okay…”
She opened the door wider, letting him in, and he nodded curtly, keeping his hands shoved in his pockets. She thought she saw him sniff slightly as he turned his head toward her, as if seeking her scent. She could sympathize. Eric wore just a dash of some fancy but masculine cologne and that combined with his natural bear’s scent that humans could never make out, and just the hint of sweat that her sensitive shifter’s nose could sense, was a sexy combination.
“Look, I know enough about the fates and lore and all that to know that certain kinds of nightmares are no joke,” Eric said slowly. “They can mean something. I guess.” He chuckled, running a hand through his hair.
Lydia felt weak in his presence and drew herself up a little, clasping her hands in front of her. Her hair was still wet from her bath and she was naked under her robe. She hated feeling so vulnerable while he wore his suit and yet it also turned her on a little bit.
But none of this was about that. It was just her bear...her bear who had never been more turned on by anything than by Eric Strauss.
“Thanks,” Lydia said simply, and cleared her throat. “I mean thanks for believing me, at least. Potentially.”
“Well, I mean, if you were so concerned, you could have called,” he said. He had been turned away and he spun on his heel to face her. “You didn’t have to come all the way down here, Lydia.”
She couldn’t tell if he was hinting that he was unhappy to see her after all, or if he wanted to know if she’d wanted to see him. Tricky.
The best play was to be honest.
“I had to see you for myself,” she said in a small voice. She couldn’t meet his gaze. “I had to make sure.”
“Did you…” he sighed. “You didn’t talk much about how you’ve been last night. Like your life? You kept changing the subject.”
“I’ve been getting by,” she said tightly.
“Getting by? What does that mean?’
“What do you want me to say, Eric?” Lydia said, sighing. She crossed her arms, feeling defensive. “I was dirt poor when we were kids. Nothing’s changed. I’m just dirt poor in a different town. Sometimes, it’s easier to live as a bear out in the woods somewhere. You don’t need money. But it gets dangerous. Other bigger predators, hunters, development everywhere… It’s harder and harder and shifters aren’t really meant to live that way all the time as much as we might think we are. We’re people too.”
“Yeah,” he muttered. He turned away and sniffed, cleared his throat. “Did you…Cody said you told him some stuff. That you’ve been working some telemarketing job in Washington and you quit just to come here.”
Lydia groaned. “He wasn’t supposed to tell you. That was just…You make a big deal out of stuff-”
“I mean, did you have a place to live?” he asked. She could hear him trying to hold himself together and it killed her a little. “Were you okay? Were you safe?”
“I had a car I lived in for a while,” she whispered. “I don’t know. I never fully cracked the human thing. I could’ve done better but humans scare me sometimes. Made it hard to get anywhere.”
“Oh, Lydia…”
“Don’t talk to me like I’m pathetic,” she snapped.
“I’m not, I’m…” He walked up to her, stopping just short of coming right up against her. She’d thought he was about to kiss her. “I just wish you’d asked me for help. That’s all you had to do. You could’ve come back. I would’ve given you a job. I would’ve given you…If you’d just stayed in the first place-”
“I don’t want to talk about that!” she cried, throwing up her hands. “Please! I don’t want to talk about the past!”
“You don’t want to talk about anything!” he snapped, growling under his breath.
There was his bear.
She had a sudden desperate urge to rile his bear up, make him angry, make him heated, make that primal bear nature come out and ravish her, if he dared.
So, she pushed him and hissed, “I don’t want to talk at all.”
She saw his eyes flash immediately.
“What are you doing?” he said flatly.
“Do you remember when we were teenagers, how I’d push you into the snow in winter?” she asked. She shoved him again and he stumbled back a step. “It was so easy to rile you up. You’d growl and tackle me. I’d feel you pop wood-”
“Lydia,” Eric said under his breath. “Don’t start what you’re not going to finish. Don’t talk about-”
“I told you.” She walked right up to him, close enough that she could feel the puff of his breath on her neck. She tipped her head, their lips nearly brushing. “I don’t want to talk.”
Eric growled and he clutched her shoulders, his fingers digging into the soft flesh. She would have bruises there later, she thought. But they were bruises she wanted. She wanted him to mark her. At least give her something to remember.
“Be with me,” she whispered. “Eric…”
“Are you sure-”
“Be with me,” she said more fiercely. Her tongue snuck between her lips and she saw his gaze follow. When his mouth finally covered hers, plundering her, she whimpered against his lips and let herself fall against him so that he was forced to take her in his arms. “Take me,” she whispered. “Take all of me. Right now. Please...Why do you think I came here?”
It was a slip of the tongue. She hadn’t meant to admit that much. The nightmares had been a lovely excuse. But she had thought of Eric Strauss every single day since she’d left him. To pretend otherwise seemed absurd.
Eric’s clever tongue explored her mouth. She had dreamed of it so many times - kissing him properly. She would have settled for it meaning nothing. That was all it could ever be. He was a Strauss. She had always been far too aware of what that meant.
Lydia’s hand slid up Eric’s chest and back down again as they kissed, slow and hot. She unbuttoned his jacket and pushed it off his shoulders, scrambling to untie his tie and undo a few buttons.
“Oh God, Liddy,” Eric said against her mouth. “I’ve never wanted anybody so badly…”
“Me either,” she gasped, struggling to control her voice. It would have been nice if she could seem calm and in control. But she was at his mercy and knew it. “Not ever.”
She pulled his shirt out of his pants and when her palms touched the tight, rippling muscles of Eric’s stomach, he growled again. It made her giggle. That growl was somewhat incongruous with Eric’s personality. He had always been pretty assimilated as a shifter, but he could get swept away by the urgent desires and heightened emotions of his bear like any other bear shifter and when he did….he growled a lot. It was sexy and just a little bit amusing.
He bit her bottom lip as he kissed her again, presumably in retaliation, and she whimpered, spreading her fingers along his chest, raking her nails through the dusting of dark hair there.
“You think this is funny?” Eric whispered. He nipped at her lips again and abruptly tugged on the belt of her robe so that it fell open, exposing her naked body. She flushed, swallowing hard, bowing her head so that it rested against his.
“Why don’t you make it not funny?” she murmured.
Eric complied. He shoved the robe off her shoulders and she sucked in a breath, refusing to cover herself at all. They hadn’t seen each other completely naked as humans since… She had to think they’d been kids - maybe skinny dipping in the woods their sleuths had shared.
It had been a long time.
“Be sweet,” Lydia whispered.
Eric nodded. His gaze swept over her body with a sense of awe and reverence and he kissed her softly this time, just a touch to let her know she was okay. His hands rested at her hips and squeezed gently, seeming to perfectly mold to her curves.
“I’m going to make you
feel so good,” he said. “And that’s all we’ll talk about. Give me a yes.”
“Yes,” she said. “Please, yes.”
At that, he swept her up into his arms and spun, carrying her determinedly to the bedroom. She hugged his neck and kissed his cheek and his throat as he carried her. Just the thought of what was to come had her wet and her clit throbbed with need. He could likely make out her desire by scent and it was egging him on even further. That was the way with shifters sometimes.
In the bedroom, Eric kissed her once, hot and deep. He nudged up against the bed and laid her down on her back. He spun around and went to the door to flick the lights on and marched back to the foot of the bed just to stare unapologetically at her as she lay there, naked before him.
Lydia raised her hands above her head and forced herself to spread her thighs, to open herself to him without shame. Eric looked wild with desire. His pupils were blown, his hair mussed and falling into his eyes. He unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it on the floor, his eyes always raking slowly up and down her body as he went about undressing. She watched his erection tent his perfectly tailored trousers and smiled at the thought that she had done that to him.
Eric whipped off his belt and then he groaned, palming himself when she tentatively reached to tweak her own nipple.
“What are you going to do to me?” she whispered. She wasn’t scared. Mainly, she was impatient.
Eric took a deep breath. He disposed of his trousers and his socks and in his tight, black boxer-briefs he looked like some kind of modern god. He kept himself pretty chiseled, that was for sure. He wasn’t as bulky as his oldest brother, Connor, or even Nathan, the handyman. He was a little leaner, but he was tight and his muscles were well defined.
Lydia licked her lips and shifted on the bed, squirming. Every naughty thought she’d ever had about Eric was coming to her mind. She thought about licking his abdominal muscles, biting his bicep. Her hand wandered down to her center, and a restless finger crept through the bit of dark, curly hair there to prod at her lips.
“No,” Eric said firmly. He peeled off his boxer-briefs and his hard cock sprung out, bouncing against his belly before he knelt on the bed and crawled up towards her. “That’s for me to do.”
Lydia held her tongue, biting hard on her lip. She was helpless as Eric grabbed her wrist and gently put it back above her head. He leaned down and kissed her again with great determination, his tongue curling around hers. She gasped when she felt his cock pressing at her belly, and just as quickly he pulled back again.
“Going to take my time,” he murmured. “Thought about this for so long, Liddy…”
I’m not going to cry, Lydia thought. Even if the tears were ones of relief. She bit her lip hard, swallowing the lump in her throat, and didn’t answer.
Sure enough, Eric explored her body as if he were slowly unveiling a long sought after treasure. He kissed the corner of her mouth and worked his way down the delicate line of her jaw to her throat as he tangled his hands in her thick hair. She threw a leg over his, helpless to remain unmoving while he took his time pleasuring her, and she delighted in the faintly rough bristle along his legs against the smooth hairless skin of her calf as their legs rubbed together. It was oddly satisfying.
Eric mouthed at her throat as if it were made of candy. She hummed and squirmed, intent on letting him know he was doing fine and yet she was eager. But he wouldn’t hurry up for her. His hands stayed in her hair for a bit before they finally worked their way down to her shoulders, squeezing gently as he tenderly sank his teeth into her throat, sucking a hickey there and just as quickly licking it better.
Eric’s hands were somehow magic. She felt like a cool stick of butter slowly melting under his palms as they made the journey down her body, stopping to cup her breasts and massage the soft, plump mounds of flesh. He sat back a little, his mouth red and swollen from his attention to her neck. His eyes were wide and wild as he watched her lying naked before him. He tweaked her nipples and she yelped and giggled.
He groaned at the sound of her laugh and kissed her again, his mouth sliding along her skin down to her breasts where he took a bright pink nipple into his mouth, wetly kissing it. He watched it pebble and bit gently and she gasped, her leg sliding along his, urging him on. She hummed, vibrating with aching desire.
It was as if Eric was playing an instrument as his palm slid further down her body and each muscle quivered under his touch. He raked his fingers through the dusting of dark hair at her entrance and she hissed, wanton, as she arched up against his hand.
“I-I want it,” Lydia pleaded. “Eric...please. Please touch me…”
His voice had dropped a couple octaves and it was thick when he said, “You want me to make you come?”
“Yes…”
The way he said it…She shut her eyes, trembling, as she nodded. He slid one thick finger inside her and she hummed, accepting it, writhing as a second finger joined and he began to earnestly thrust his digits in and out of her. He knew exactly what he was doing to her, she thought. He was making her wait. His cock was pressing against her side, hot and firm. She could feel slippery pre-cum painting her skin. Eric licked her left breast that he had so far ignored, wetting it and making it slippery and cold in the air before he massaged it with one hand as his other fingered her, slowly and deliberately making her arch and cry out, desperate for more and more.
“Eric…”
“What?” he asked in his husky tenor. “Isn’t that good?”
He kept coming temptingly close to her throbbing and swollen clit, only to sneak his fingers away again, lazily exploring the wet folds of her pussy that flexed around his hand, attempting to capture him.
Tears slid down her cheeks and she gripped the pillow behind her head with white knuckles. Crying for this, she didn’t mind so much. Even though it was torture. She wondered if it really was revenge of a certain kind.
“Do you want…?” Finally, the pads of his fingers prodded at her thirsty little nub and Lydia screamed at just that little bit of contact. “Here?” he whispered. He smirked and pinched her breast just as he prodded her clit and then began to rub infuriatingly slow circles into her. “Right here, Liddy? Is that where you want me?”
“Oh God, fuck… Eric…”
Eric leaned down and licked into her open mouth, nipping at her lips, burying his nose in the crook of her neck as he stroked her more rapidly. “Say my name again.”
“Eric.”
“Yes.”
“Eric, please…”
“Did you always think about this too?” His hand moved so fast she clamped her thighs around it, almost wanting him to stop and let her breathe as pure, almost torturous bliss approached, and also never ever wanting him to stop. He didn’t stop anyhow. He had her, she was there, shaking uncontrollably and weeping as his expert fingers worked that magic button and made it blaze within her.
“Yes!” she cried out. “Of course, I did… I did…”
Eric growled so low and yet so loud, for a wild moment she thought he had shifted. But then he was climbing on top of her and she was breathless and lost to her continuing euphoria still rushing through her blood, even as he pushed her legs back. She nodded wildly. Her entire body was slick with sweat. Eric licked a stripe down the middle of her chest as he positioned himself and then with one great thrust he was inside her.
She had thought she had met the pinnacle of her pleasure already, but her mouth dropped wide open as Eric thrust his thick cock inside her again and again, wringing out every little bit of bliss she could possibly feel it seemed, even as he took his own.
It happened all of a sudden, but when it did, Lydia could not breathe. She could hardly see either. There was light inside her and she could feel it inside Eric too.
One second they were two people, two bears, two friends. The next, they were merged, one being that seemed to be ascending to some other plane. Her legs wrapped around his broad back and she clenched her teeth as tears poured do
wn her face and she dug her heels in, clutching his shoulders. He stared at her, wide-eyed, looking just as surprised as she felt. They were together in this. There was no mistaking it, as much as they would later dance around it all. She was just as sure of that as of this sensation and the way they now became a single creature.
“Lydia,” Eric breathed against her mouth, staring down at her. “Liddy…”
I feel you...I feel you inside me...all around me…
It was just a thought in her head as she clutched him, but she knew from the way his eyes widened further that he had somehow heard it.
He moaned into her neck and all at once he was spilling inside her, his cock throbbing as he came, the two of them fused into one unbreakable form.
9
Eric
“Are we still not talking?” Eric's voice was rough and throaty, like it had been dragged down a gravel road for a while.
They lay naked atop Lydia’s bed and Eric was on his side, bracing his head on one hand as his other was content to idly trace shapes along Lydia’s flushed skin. She watched the journey of his hand, still catching her breath as they lay there.
Eric thought it was weird how not weird it all seemed.
He had heard her thoughts in his mind. It had happened sometimes when they were kids. Shared telepathy between shifters was rare but possible. But it had been so long, he had all but convinced himself he’d imagined the whole thing.
He hadn’t imagined this.
“No,” Lydia said softly. “We’re not talking.” She reached up and took his hand in hers, her fingers dancing along his palm and his knuckles before she pulled his hand down to kiss the pads of his fingers. “We’re not talking about the past or what this means or my nightmares. None of it. There’s only this moment.”
“I’m sorry about the nightmares.” He kissed her shoulder and the swell of her breast. “I’m sorry they scared you. But I don’t think I’m in danger. Everything’s fine.”
If he racked his brain, the only trouble he could think of was the asshole bear shifter who had tried to force Nathan’s mate to marry him. But he had been promptly disposed of and all his surviving henchmen had seemed more than happy to get the hell away from the Strauss brothers.
Eric (Strauss Bear Shifter Brothers 0f Colorado Book 2) Page 5