He didn't. He took his time with her ear, then worked his way over her neck and throat, finding and exploring each sensitive spot with his lips, tongue, and teeth until her breath was coming in ragged gasps and she was shaking with need.
"Your job sounds impressive," Evan said, a few minutes later, when Steffi was panting and ready to do anything he wanted her to.
She couldn't believe he still managed to sound like they were having an ordinary conversation. A quick glance down at his lap reassured her that he was just as turned on as she was.
"We sure do work in different worlds, though."
Steffi tried to gather her scattered thoughts and respond. Two could play this game.
"Yeah, I'd be pretty hopeless when it came to tracking lynx through a forest, but I could organize a conference of lynx experts so that you could present your findings to the, uh, union of concerned lynx researchers."
Evan gave her a wicked smile and plucked her forgotten wine glass from her hand, putting it down on the coffee table next to his glass.
"You know, I might just take you up on that offer," Evan said, looking thoughtful as he lifted her effortlessly onto his lap. "We do actually have conferences, and the last one was kind of a disaster from a planning standpoint."
Steffi didn't have a chance to reply before he was kissing her again. Which was good, because as turned on as she was right now, the only thing she was aware of right now was the fact that she was straddling his pair of rock-hard thighs.
His hands at her waist felt feverishly hot through the fabric of her dress, and his tongue was conducting a slow, sensual exploration of her mouth.
She had never made out with anyone who took his time like this and who seemed to know exactly how to drive her crazy.
Desperate with need, she tried to scoot forward and rub herself against the impressive bulge straining against the front of his jeans, but she found that she couldn't budge, not with his steely grip holding her in place.
"Later," he told her, lifting his lips just far enough from hers to speak.
Then he was kissing her again, his lips and tongue devouring her now with erotic intensity. Every nerve in her body responded to his hunger.
He was in total control right now. And she loved every minute of it.
Eventually, he left her lips and began to work his way down. Steffi eagerly bared her throat to him. Her nipples were so hard that they hurt, and she was dying to feel his touch on her breasts.
She didn't notice that one of his hands had left her waist and slipped under her skirt until his knuckles brushed the inside of her thigh. Then she felt the teasing stroke of his fingertip against the thin fabric of her dampened panties.
The contact felt like an electric shock when he brushed over her clit. Steffi jerked and made a noise somewhere between a cry and a whimper.
"I love how you respond to me," Evan said, his voice low. His green-gold eyes burned into her. "I bet I can make you come just by doing this."
He stroked her again, and at the same time, she felt his teeth close lightly around her throat.
Steffi moaned. Oh, God, I'm so close. And they were both still fully dressed.
Then the kitchen timer went off.
Evan drew back. With some satisfaction, Steffi noticed he was breathing hard, too, and his tanned cheeks looked flushed.
To her shock, he said, "I need to put the noodles on now."
And lifted her off his lap.
"What?" she sputtered when she had landed on the couch.
She couldn't believe he was really going to leave her hanging like this.
"Dinner's nearly ready." His wicked smile as he stood told her that he knew exactly what he was doing.
"You—you—" she sputtered, searching frantically for the right word to describe him. "Damn it, what's the male equivalent of a cock-tease?" she asked in frustration.
Evan laughed like an evil villain. "I promise I'll give you dessert if you finish everything on your plate, young lady."
"I hate you," she groused.
Every inflamed nerve in her body was screaming out for release. Reluctantly, she forced herself to stand and follow his jeans-clad ass into the kitchen.
While he dumped the package of noodles and some butter into the boiling water, she carried the bowl of salad over to the table and fetched bottles of salad dressing from the fridge.
The beef stroganoff was excellent, even with a generous helping of Evil Tease from Evan while they ate. Every time Steffi's insistent arousal began to subside, he'd do something like capture her hand and kiss her knuckles or nip gently at her fingers, and boom!
She was squirming in her seat by the time her plate was scraped clean and Evan had inhaled a second helping.
"Don't worry, dessert—" and he emphasized the word in a way that left no doubt as to his meaning "—is coming right up…after I finish cleaning the kitchen."
Steffi couldn't believe him. He actually seemed to be enjoying the torture he was inflicting on her!
"I'll do the dishes in the morning," she offered. "You cooked, so you shouldn't have to wash."
Evan's eyes lightened to gold again; then he shook his head firmly. "Nope, first things first." He gave her a slow smile. "Good things come to those who wait."
Steffi groaned.
"I love seeing you like this," Evan told her, his voice deep and soft. "All riled up and craving…me."
So he knew exactly what he was doing to her! "You jerk—" Steffi began angrily, but Evan cut her off.
"I won't disappoint you, Steffi. Just trust me…okay?" She saw him swallow hard. "I'm torturing myself, too, right now. It's taking every ounce of self-control I've got not to push you up against the nearest wall and fuck your brains out. But I want our first time together to be good…really good."
Fresh heat rushed through her. She drew a shaky breath. "Promises, promises."
"I always keep my promises," he told her, suddenly dead serious. "And I never make promises I can't keep."
Olivia began wailing with a note that Steffi had grown to know all too well. She saw Evan sniff the air.
"I'll change her," he said to Steffi's surprise and pleasure when she began to turn towards the playpen. "If you load the dishwasher."
"How can I refuse an offer like that?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you sure?"
"Absolutely."
He went to the playpen and scooped Olivia up. Her wails stopped as soon as he touched her.
"You've done this before," Steffi said a few minutes later as she scraped the leftover beef stroganoff from the skillet into a clean Tupperware container.
As she watched, Evan deftly slid a clean diaper under the squirming baby while he lifted her by her ankles.
"It took me a couple of tries before I could convince myself that I wasn't going to accidentally rip her leg off doing that," she continued.
"Babies are tougher than they look, and that's even truer when it comes to shifter babies." He returned his attention to Olivia and began fastening the diaper around her waist. "Besides babysitting Matt once in a while, I've had years of experience holding animals for tagging or radio-collaring and drawing samples from them." Evan looked up and grinned at her. "Olivia here might be a little stinky, but at least she's not trying to bite or claw me."
He finished the task, returned Olivia to the playpen, disposed of the dirty diaper, and went to wash his hands.
Steffi hurried to load the dishwasher and wash the skillet and the pot used to cook the noodles.
"I wanted to ask you something," Steffi said when Evan returned from the bathroom, smelling of soap. "Yesterday, at dinner, you said that you could teach Olivia how to be comfortable with her bear half. How would you do that?"
"Well, since we have some privacy in here, I could demonstrate," Evan replied. "If that's okay with you?"
"Sure." She was intensely curious to see he intended.
Apparently he intended to get naked.
Her eyes widened at his next mov
e, and she instantly forgot about putting the leftovers in the fridge.
She stared unabashedly as Evan pulled off his T-shirt, revealing a chest that was pure sculpted muscle, with dark hair that narrowed to a thin line over his taut six-pack before disappearing into the waist of his jeans.
Oh, yum!
Then he toed off his shoes and unbuttoned his jeans.
At which point Steffi realized that Evan wasn't wearing any underwear.
He pulled his jeans down over his hips, and Steffi gulped. His cock was magnificent and still half-hard from their earlier make-out session.
"So you like what you see?" Evan paused in his efforts to strip.
"Guh," Steffi managed and made an exaggerated gesture wiping imaginary drool off her chin.
He laughed. "Good." He sounded smug…and pleased.
Then he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and began to shift.
Chapter 14
The process looked even more unsettling on a grown man than it did on a baby, but at least it wasn't the gross kind of shapeshifting that she was used to seeing in werewolf movies. And it didn't look like it hurt too much either.
Growling, Royce rose from his place next to the playpen, where he had been gnawing a peanut butter-filled toy.
He dashed to stand in front of the playpen and barked furiously at the giant grizzly bear now standing in the open area between the living room and bedroom areas. Royce's lips were pulled back to reveal his sharp white teeth, and he lunged and snapped at Evan.
For the first time since Steffi had brought him home from the shelter, Royce actually looked dangerous. And he was doing it to defend Olivia.
"Royce, no!" Steffi called from the kitchen. "Come here!"
Royce ignored her.
Then the Evan-bear raised his upper lip, revealing fangs as long as Steffi's finger, and growled at Royce. Her dog still stood his ground with raised hackles and bared teeth.
"Royce!" Steffi tried again. "Come here!"
Royce ignored her.
Evan took a step forward.
And Royce's courage finally broke. He whimpered, turned tail, and sprinted into the bathroom to hide.
The bear made a huffing sound, almost like human laughter, and swung its massive head around to look at Steffi.
She stood frozen in the kitchen and forgot to breathe as a pair of golden eyes examined her.
Evan's bear shape was utterly magnificent—and totally terrifying. He was at least ten feet long from black nose to massive clawed hind paws, and his great, brown-furred bulk nearly filled the living room.
It stared at her for an uncomfortably long time. She realized she had forgotten to ask Evan whether his human side remained in control while he was in bear shape.
Was that Evan looking at her now, or a dangerous grizzly?
And if the bear was in control, it now stood between her and Olivia. Oh, shit.
The bear made that odd huffing sound again and turned to Olivia.
Steffi felt a wave of sick terror roll over her as it lowered its massive head into the playpen.
Please don't eat her! she begged silently.
To her relief, the Evan-bear nuzzled Olivia affectionately. Steffi heard the baby's delighted laugh and saw the tiny hands reach to grab the giant bear's fur.
The bear nudged Olivia. Still laughing, she shifted into her cub form.
Though now convinced that Evan's human side was still in control, Steffi still experienced an instinctive moment of terror when she saw those huge jaws close over the back of the cub's neck.
She held her breath as Evan lifted Olivia out of her playpen. But he didn't seem to be hurting the baby with those fearsome teeth of his.
In fact, the Olivia-cub was kicking her paws joyfully as she swung up and over the edge of the playpen.
Evan put her gently down on the rug and lowered himself to the floor next to her. Olivia immediately took this as an invitation to climb all over him.
Despite those huge, curving claws on each massive paw, Evan was extremely gentle as he "wrestled" with the rambunctious cub.
Enraptured by the unearthly scene of two bears playing in her apartment, Steffi watched them for a while before forcing herself to finish cleaning up the kitchen.
When she looked back at them a few minutes later, Olivia was clinging to Evan's massive head and chewing boldly on his ears.
Steffi laughed at the sight of the big grizzly with a tiny cub perched on his head like a large floppy beret. She dried her hands on a dish towel and went to sit on the couch.
After another ten or fifteen minutes of climbing and play-wrestling, Olivia yawned and climbed down Evan's side. After completing her descent, she tucked herself into the hollow between his neck and foreleg and went to sleep.
With exquisite care, Evan picked Olivia up by her scruff and put her back in her playpen.
Then he swung around and approached Steffi with a slow, ambling stride.
Up close, he looked even bigger than she had ever dreamed possible, like a fur-covered mountain. He loomed over her as she sat on the couch, petrified.
Hardly daring to breathe, she waited as he sniffed her all over, brushing her skin with his warm breath. Then he sank down, putting his enormous head in her lap.
The golden eyes closed, and the bear let out a gusty sigh as it relaxed against her. His head was warm and very heavy.
Steffi reached down and shyly rested her hand on top of the broad head. Evan's fur was thick and very soft, a dark brown tipped with dark blond as if it had been highlighted, and his muzzle was pale blond.
He didn't seem to object to being touched, so, tentatively, she began to pet him. The wonder of it began to sink in.
She had just seen a man turn into a bear. And now she was sitting in the same room with a giant grizzly. She remembered the sight of his huge fangs and looked down at the long, curving claws tipping paws that were the size of serving platters.
A soft rumble issued from deep inside the bear's chest when she stroked his rounded, furry ears.
Slowly she relaxed and let her hands explore him. She was stroking his neck when he shuddered beneath her touch, and she felt the odd sensation of his hide…well, rippling was the only way to describe it.
It felt unnatural. She yanked her hand away as the bear shuddered again, and watched fur melt into smooth human skin. His paws shrank and dwindled down to hands.
A few moments later, Evan knelt before her, his head still in her lap. She felt him shivering against her and put her hands on his shoulders. He felt hot.
Freed from its usual tight ponytail, the shining, wavy mass of his hair concealed his face and pooled in her lap. Steffi yielded to temptation and buried her hands in it, feeling the heavy locks slide through her fingers.
"I like that," he said huskily, his face still buried in her lap. "Don't stop."
She didn't. She loved the feeling of running her fingers through the shining dark length. And she really liked the sound he made when she stroked the nape of his neck and caressed his shoulders.
He let her do as she pleased for a short while, then rose up on his knees and took her face between his hands.
His kiss this time was hard and hungry, and it rekindled the flame he had been fanning before dinner.
"Please, Evan," she begged when he finally pulled back. "Fuck me."
She wasn't usually this crude, but she wanted him so badly it hurt. He had spent most of their date so far teasing her until she was ready to lose her mind with frustrated lust. All she wanted now was to feel him inside her.
He was naked and kneeling between her legs. She could see that he was ready. More than ready, his cock rising thick and flushed from the dark hair at his groin.
"I will, don't worry," Evan said hoarsely. "But first, I want to taste you."
"Oh, God," said Steffi.
"And before that…" He gave her a slow smile that raised the heat level between her legs and deliberately slid his hard, muscled body against hers as he moved
over her to sit on the couch. "I want to see those gorgeous curves of yours. Get naked for me, Steffi."
Oh yeah. Naked sounds like an excellent idea!
She stood.
Slowly, deliberately, she drew her dress up over her head and let it drop to the floor at Evan's feet. Then she unhooked her bra with equal deliberation and slid it off her shoulders.
His hazel eyes dilated as he watched her, the brown lightening to green-gold.
"God, you're beautiful," he breathed.
She smiled at him, feeling joy and desire bubbling up through her chest. Steffi reached down slowly and hooked her thumbs under the top of her underpants.
"No. Come here," he ordered, his voice dropping to a growl. He reached out to grab her hips. "I want to do that.”
He pulled her close, so that she was standing between his knees. "How much do you love those panties?" His breath was hot against her belly.
"What?"
"Never mind," he growled.
She felt a sharp tug and heard fabric tearing. Her ripped panties landed on the rug next to her dress.
"That's better." Then he drew her down onto his lap. "Now I've got you where I want you."
"Not quite," she pointed out breathlessly. She tried futilely to slide forward and press herself against his magnificent erection.
In reply, he bent and placed a lingering kiss between her breasts. "I need to control myself a while longer. I have plans for you, Steffi Tristan."
"Do tell." She gasped as he turned his head and his tongue darted out to tease a sensitive nipple.
"I'll just show you," he promised.
She squirmed and panted as his hands settled firmly on her hips and he worked her over with his lips and tongue, kissing the soft curves of her breasts, teasing her sensitive nipples to hard, aching points.
"I want to hear you," he said, just before his teeth closed gently over one hard, aching nipple.
A guttural cry ripped from Steffi's throat. She thought she might come just from the intense sensation.
"Yeah, like that," Evan whispered.
She clutched at his shoulders and threw her head back, her body on fire for him.
"I'm going to make you come," Evan told her in that sexy, growly voice, in between playful, nipping kisses that teased the tips of her breasts and made her want more. "I'm going to make you scream my name."
Ignite: A Werebear + BBW Paranormal Romance (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 3) Page 14