Bears of Burden: STERLING

by Candace Ayers

I wrapped my arm around her waist and helped her down the small embankment that led to the creek. Her skin was hot under my fingers and I wanted to explore the luscious curves I felt hiding under the dress. “I work in Hutch’s shop some, too. Plus, being a bear, some things just come naturally.”

  She snorted. “Maybe for you male bears. Nothing comes naturally to me.”

  I resisted the urge to look down at her body. “That’s not true,” I choked out.

  She brushed her hair back and slipped again. With a scowl on her face, she looked up at me and stopped moving. “Where are you taking me? I’m starting to feel like I’m drowning.”

  I pulled my hat from my back pocket and slid it onto her head before easily scooping her into my arms. It would at least block some of the rain from hitting her face. “It’s just up ahead. It’ll be drier, I promise.”

  She wrapped her arms around my neck and held on tight as I tracked through mud and puddles to get to the cave. As soon as I stepped into the cave, her sharp gasp proved to me that I’d made the right decision.

  I put her down and stepped back so I would keep my hands off her. “It’s pyrite, fool’s gold, but it’s beautiful.”

  She walked around, looking at everything around her. “This is amazing!”

  I’d set up a few things in the cave. Not anything fancy, but a metal lawn chair and a cooler that I kept beer in. I strolled over to it and popped the lid. “Beer?”

  She shook her head and kept her eyes on the wall of gold. “I hate the taste of it.”

  I put the can I’d grabbed back inside, just in case I found some way to get her to kiss me, and sat in the chair. “Want to do your interview? For real? I know you need it. Karen can be intense when it comes to her paper.”

  She turned to me and stared with something close to annoyance on her face. “You really care about that article, huh?”

  I frowned and crossed my ankle over my knee. Trying to do anything to keep her from seeing my erection that was growing because of the way her dress clung to her curvy body. “I just want to do whatever helps you.”

  She turned her back to me. “You brought me to a dark cave just so I could interview you?”

  I leaned forward, grinning. “What else were you expecting?”

  Throwing up her hands, she stomped towards the front of the cave. The rain whipped in, pelting droplets down the front of her body. She turned back to me and glared. “What’s a woman have to do to be noticed around here?” she spat, before stomping off.

  I was dumbfounded for a few seconds, but as soon as I heard her small cry, I charged out of the cave, my bear on the verge of a shift at the idea of her hurt. I spotted her on the ground, in a puddle, her dress hiked up around her upper thighs as she threw a tantrum.

  “This sucks! I can’t seem to go a whole day without falling in a puddle! This is all your fault, Sterling Mallory. Here you are putting on this nice guy act, showing me cool places, agreeing to an interview, when all I want right now is for you to be your piggish, womanizing self. Play me, dammit! Or do you not want me? Is my ass too big? Is that it? You don’t like chubby girls? Well, I’ll have you know that I’m not a huge fan of muscular men… with bedroom eyes… and sexy smiles, so there.” She raked her hand through the mud and then threw a handful at me. “But, I’m your mate. You’re supposed to want me.”

  I looked down at the mud on my shirt and then back at her just as another one of her mud balls hit me square in the crotch. I growled. “What’s with your aiming at my dick, woman?”

  She growled right back at me. “Out of all that I just said, it figures that that’s all you’d care about, John frickin’ Wayne.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest, waiting for her tantrum to end so I could grab her and prove just exactly what I do care about. She wasn’t content just staying where she was, though. She turned on her hands and knees and started crawling away from me. From where I stood, I could see gigantic white panties on display, mud and all. It did nothing to soften the raging erection I was sporting.

  CHAPTER 8: Ophelia

  Mortified, I was getting the hell out of there as soon as I could get my footing and stand up. I’d just snapped. He wasn’t reacting the way I had expected him to, and I hated that. He didn’t want me, it seemed. I was going to run home and drink a bottle of wine in the shower before crawling into bed and never leaving it.

  What felt like a steel bar wrapped around my waist and then I was lifted into the air. I slammed into a wall of muscle and then I felt heaven as Sterling ran his mouth over my neck. Chills broke out all over my body and I muttered, nearly incoherently. “What are you doing?”

  Sterling ran his hand down my stomach and over my thighs. He caught the hem of my dress and then yanked it, ripping the material straight up the middle. “Proving to you that I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything.”

  I gasped as I looked down at my body, sporting the granny panties I’d worn in an attempt to keep myself away from Sterling. I’d forgotten about them. The matching white bra was just as embarrassing and they were both stained dirty from the mud and rain. My bear was chanting for me to get on with it. She wanted me to turn around and jump Sterling’s bone. I was a little more reserved, though. While I wanted it, seeing my giant underwear on display like that was mortifying. I’d just gone from feeling sexy to feeling frumpy in seconds flat.

  I pulled away from him and held the sides of my torn dress closed. “I changed my mind. Let’s do this some other time. Raincheck.”

  His eyes burned bright through the rain. “Is it the underwear?”

  Angry that I had just flashed him the awful panties, I put my hands on my hips and glared. “What’s wrong with my underwear, Sterling?”

  He grinned, slow and steady. “You’re still wearing them?”

  I wanted to stay angry, but I couldn’t. My bear was shouting too loudly for me to drop the ego and jump on him. I still kept my dress pulled together, though. “These were supposed to keep me away from you. These were underwear with a purpose, dammit.”

  “They can have a new purpose. If anyone attacks, we can wave them in surrender. Just get over here.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “You’re saying they’re flag sized?”

  “Jesus, woman! I don’t know what size they are. You won’t let me see them for long enough. You want to fight, or you want to come over here and get some lovin’?”

  I thought about it. I kind of wanted to do both. I was feeling feisty.

  Sterling shook his head and came at me. He wrapped his arms around me and yanked me into his chest. Before I could argue, he slammed his mouth onto mine and kissed me quiet.

  For a first kiss, it was rough and demanding. There was nothing sweet and tender about it, but it was perfect for us. His hands tangled in my hair, tugging as he tilted my head back to deepen the kiss. I wrapped my arms around his waist, feeling the muscles in his back work as he walked up backwards. His tongue stroked over my lips and I opened for him, tasting the rain and something that was purely Sterling.

  A moan escaped and he swallowed it while exploring my mouth. As my back hit something hard, his hand stroked from my neck, down to my hips. I felt his fingers slip into the side band of the panties and yank. The material bit into my other hip and inner thigh before snapping and flying off. I tried to pull away to complain, but he followed my mouth, not letting me get away, consuming all of my complaints.

  Bare from the waist down, I squeezed my thighs together, trying to ease the tension that was building faster than I could believe. I wanted to touch him as much as he was touching me and it was all I could do to not beg him to just take me right there. I stroked my hands under his shirt, the wet material clinging to him. Moving lower, I slipped my hand into his jeans and cupped his firm ass. His hips bucked forward, rubbing his erection against my lower stomach. Hunger pulsed through me and I wrapped my leg around his, needing him to brush against my core.

  His hand locked onto the front of my bra and I felt something shar
p brush my chest before the bra fell away, exposing my breasts to his gaze. I looked down to see his hand returning to fingers instead of claws.

  I gaped at him. “You can do that?”

  He ignored me while drinking in the sight of my chest. He cupped me and groaned when my breasts filled his hands. “Fuck. Your body is a dream, Ophelia.”

  My head flew back and a cry left my throat as he dropped his mouth and sucked in one of my hardened and sensitive nipples. I dug my fingers into his ass and pulled him into me harder.

  His mouth switched to my other nipple and he devoured me, tugging and pulling with his teeth before soothing with his tongue. His hands pushed my shredded dress off my shoulders and went to my ass. He easily lifted me and then pinned me against the stone behind us. Rain pelted us, but neither of us noticed it as we focused on the sensations of each other.

  I wrapped my legs around his waist and tugged on his hair. “Need you.”

  His hand slipped below my ass and his fingertips brushed over the folds of my core. He growled as I gasped his name and then slid a long, thick finger into me. “So wet and tight for me.”

  I was a woman lost. My body belonged to him and there was no hope of me ever getting it back in one piece. With one finger, he was more skilled than any man I’d ever had before. I clenched around him and found his mouth with mine. Kissing him hard, I felt him add another finger. He scissored them in me, stretching me.

  Sterling kissed down my chin and throat before nuzzling his mouth against my neck, igniting a fire in my body. Wetness pooled around his fingers and he eased in a third one before curling them and rubbing an untouched spot inside of me.

  Stars flashed in front of my eyes as my mouth fell open in a silent cry. I dropped my head to the wall behind me and blinked away raindrops that fell against my face. Pleasure surged through me as he moved his fingers, pumping in and out of me at a maddeningly slow pace, like he didn’t have a care in the world, like I wasn’t on the verge of dying from the pleasure he was giving me.

  “Tell me you want me to take you right here, O. Tell me what you want and how you want it. I want to hear it from your sexy mouth.”

  I lifted my head and opened my eyes to find him gazing at me with so much intensity that I couldn’t do anything but give him what he’d asked for. “I want you right here, right now, Sterling. I need you. I need you fast and hard and naked. Why are you still dressed?”

  He pulled his fingers from me and pushed my legs down until I was standing. Then, he stripped the wet clothes off faster than I would’ve thought possible.

  Gloriously naked, looking like some mythical sex god, he strode to me and grabbed my hair again. This time, when he kissed me, it was a promise that I felt all the way to my toes. He was just getting started with me.

  I didn’t know if there was ever any going back.

  CHAPTER 9: Sterling

  Seeing her standing in front of me, naked, against the backdrop of my cave, hit me like a ton of bricks. Mine. Ophelia was mine. Why hadn’t I been trying harder to make her see that? I just needed to show her what she meant to me. Starting with giving her orgasms enough to send her soaring to the moon. I wanted to make her come harder than she ever had before.

  My bear hated the thought of men touching her before us and wanted to brand her, erasing every memory she had of anyone before me. He demanded that I sink my teeth into her neck and mark her. I agreed, but wouldn’t dare do it without her permission.

  She wasn’t ready for that, I was willing to bet. So, I’d keep my teeth to myself. For tonight, anyway.

  I picked her up again and, that time, when her legs locked around my waist, it was with my dick trapped against her hot core. Her moan was pure seduction and immediately set me teetering on the edge of losing all restraint. I wanted to take my time and be gentle with her, but if she kept moaning like that, there was no telling if I’d be able to maintain control.

  “In me. I need you in me, Sterling. Please.”

  That was it. My control snapped. I shifted my hips to line our bodies up. Her head fell backwards and her nails raked down my back as I plunged into her, entering her in one fast stroke. Her body gripped me like a glove. I clenched my jaw and braced one arm on the wall behind her to try to find some semblance of stability while the rest of the world fell away around us.

  “Sterling! Yes, please!” Her broken voice cried out to me as her walls pulsed around me, squeezing and releasing, milking me until the pleasure damn near had my eyes crossing.

  I somehow managed to slide out of her and then pushed back in. Lust dictated the pace and it was fast and hard. I wrapped my arm around her back to keep from hurting her against the rough wall behind her and took her mouth in a kiss that was just as hard and fast.

  Her hands were all over me, raking and scratching. Her mouth, as sweet as the rest of her, gave as good as she got. She fought me for control of our kiss and let out a wild cry when I lightly bit her bottom lip. “Too good!”

  I buried my face against her neck and growled as her scent beckoned me. I wanted to claim her and mark her as my own. I needed it. Taking her flesh between my teeth, I bit, not hard enough to mark her, but enough to let her know what I wanted. Like a switch, she exposed the entire length of her smooth neck to me. Raking my teeth along it, I stopped at the spot my bear chose and sucked hard on it.

  Ophelia screamed my name and her body clamped down on my dick as her orgasm hit her. She practically vibrated against me, her wetness flooded out of her.

  I was wasted. There was no way I could watch my woman come and not follow her right over the edge. I growled and let out a roar as I slammed home in her once more before spilling everything I had into her.

  My knees shook as I tightened my hold on her and carried her back into the cave. Both of us, naked and wet, moaned as I sat down in the chair with her still impaled on me. My dick was somehow still hard and I felt like the life was being sucked from me every time her walls pulsed around me. She was a fucking goddess. She was everything.

  I leaned back in the chair and pulled her with me until her head rested on my chest. Her hands came up to rest there, too, her fingers lightly running over the dusting of chest hair.

  “Was that the mate bond?” She didn’t lift her head and I got the feeling that she felt silly asking.

  I pressed a kiss to the top of her head and grunted. “Never had a mate before, but that was the most amazing thing I’ve ever felt, and I give you full credit for that.”

  She let out a soft giggle that made my dick jerk.

  “Calm down, big guy.”

  “Like that’ll ever be possible with you anywhere near.”

  She sat up, her arm naturally crossing her chest to hide her bareness. “This is dangerous.”

  I caught her arm and moved it, taking in the rounded curves and pink nipples. I moved one arm from behind her to cup her breast and flick my thumb over her nipple. My mouth watered and I leaned forward to flick my tongue over the tip of the other one.

  Her breath caught and she rocked her hips over mine. “Sterling… Just tonight. That’s as far as we can go with this.”

  I straightened and flexed my hips to fill her even fuller. “You really still gonna pretend that’s an option?”

  She braced her hands on my shoulders and rocked again. “You really expect me to believe you want more than that?”

  I lifted her hips in the air and held her there while I thrust into her from below. I held her gaze and nodded. “Hell yeah, I do. Hell yeah, I want more than one night. A whole lot more.”

  She shook her head, even as she moaned and gave herself over fully to me. “I can’t. You know why.”

  I yanked her body down to mine and held her face in my hand. “We’re mates. Do you know what that means?”

  Her body responded to the rougher treatment and she practically purred against me. “Not really.”

  I caught her wild hair in my hand and tilted her head to the side, exposing her sensitive neck to me. “It
means that nature made me for you and you for me. It means that every single fucking part of me wants to sink my teeth into your neck and claim you so the whole world knows we belong to each other. It means that no matter what, no matter how hard you try to pretend otherwise, this connection will always exist between us. We can’t run from it. We can’t act like strangers. I’m yours. Just as much as you’re mine.”

  She held on desperately to me as I raked my teeth over the spot where I wanted to mark. Her fingers dug into my shoulders and she shook as the beginning of an orgasm built in her. I could feel it in the pulsing of her walls.

  “I want to put my mark on you. Right here, so the world can see it.” I bit the skin and sucked, leaving a mark that would fade after a few days. “This is happening, Ophelia. You came to me tonight, and I don’t think I can let you go again.”

  With a broken cry, she came again, clinging to me and repeating my name over and over.

  CHAPTER 10: Ophelia

  “What made you start racing? It doesn’t seem natural for a bear. I felt like my bear was going to crawl out of my skin just watching you.” I was curled in Sterling’s arms, knowing that I should’ve made him take me home. Instead, he’d started a small campfire in the cave with a few twigs he’d found strewn inside. We were snuggled, watching the rain fall outside and the flames quietly dance off the golden walls.

  “It was one of the few things I was good at. When I was sixteen, driving a piece of shit beater, I outran a cop. Before he locked me up, he suggested I find an outlet for my skills. It stuck.” He shifted in the chair and ran his hand over my hair. It’d dried into a mass of wild curls that he seemed to love touching.

  “So, you were a bad boy, huh?”

  He laughed. “I was… exciting. Hutch was the responsible one, taking over everything after our dad died and our mom fell into a depression. I didn’t really have a role to fill. I had a lot of pent up emotions, and no one to notice or care, so I just went with asshole.”