by V. Vaughn
“I see. Well, maybe I can make some suggestions,” Zeke said. “My brother is going to courier me some clothes and stuff. But I’m not sure where to.”
“French Town Post Office would be the best bet,” Jenna said. “But it really doesn’t matter where it gets to, we’ll hear. Word gets around in a small town. Someone will pass on the message. Besides, once Lenny spreads the news, you’ll find yourself volunteered for more things than there are hours in a day.”
“Sounds like the Army!”
She thought about it. “Yeah, for sure we got each other’s backs on the Ridge.”
18
He had as good as told Lenny Benoit that he planned to marry Jenna. If the Ridge was anything like Success, Colorado, population one hundred and fourteen — not including cows — that news would be spreading like wildfire. Jenna might be the last one to find out.
What was the worst that could happen if he asked her? She might laugh in his face. No, Jenna was too kind to do that. She would be gentle when she said no. Be a helluva blow whatever.
“Why did Lenny get rid of me?” asked Jenna as they returned to the sitting room.
“Your cousin wanted to tell me that I had to treat you right. Otherwise, I have to deal with a whole lot of angry bears,” said Zeke happily.
“You seem delighted by the idea.”
“Know something? I realized that if your cousin had come here to claim you, that I would happily lay him out and skin him alive.” He caught her face in his hands. “See, that’s not civilized. But I don’t feel civilized about you. You’re mine. My mate. I want you forever. I want kids. I want growing old together. Is that this bear bond you told me about?”
Jenna nodded. “Sure sounds like it.”
“Then we are bonded. Forever. I will never love anyone the way I love you,” Zeke vowed.
“Me too.”
He put his hands on her shoulders. “Are the men around here idiots? What about Lenny Benoit? He thinks the sun shines out of you.”
Jen met his eyes directly. “Lenny just got married! Besides he’s my first cousin. We love each other dearly, but kissing Len would be totally creepy. Marriage would be a non-starter. And I didn’t meet anyone when I went away to school. So here I am on the shelf. What about you?”
Zeke swallowed. “I never, ever, met anyone like you. No one ever felt so right. I want you to marry me. Will you?”
Jenna looked at his desperate face. That proposal would win no prizes for romantic. But she didn’t get the feeling that his bluntness demonstrated lack of feeling or sincerity. Just how articulate did she think Matt or Nick would be in a similar situation? Her brothers were good, decent men, but glib they were not.
She didn’t have the smallest hesitation. Her heart had known from the first that this bear was her destiny. Maybe they would have their struggles. Probably two hard-headed bears would fight from time to time. But she had no doubt that he would conquer his demons as he had conquered her heart. But how to make him see?
“Do you love me?” she asked softly.
“I don’t know. I just know that you feel necessary to me. Like air or water.” He stopped, looking baffled. She looked to sweet, so beautiful, so hot. How could he say what was in his heart? “You’re my future,” he ground out.
“Sounds like love to me,” she said. “If I marry you it’s for life, you do understand that? No wandering, no divorce, just good old fashioned till death do us part. Life mates. Bear bond. The whole nine yards.”
“I can do that,” he said. “I give you my word.”
“Good enough. Okay.”
Zeke looked worried. “What’s okay?”
“If you ask, I’ll say yes.”
Oh, he got a do over. He knelt down before her and took her hands in his. And there in her living room, wearing his tom fool plaid blanket, with his hairy chest poking out of her old blue fleece, looking like an idiot, he said, “Jenna will you marry me and be mine forever?”
“I will.”
“Forever,” he demanded, still on his knees.
“Forever, and ever, my love,” she said softly cupping his face in her hands.
“Nightmares and all,” he checked.
She smiled gently. “Nightmares, babies, wolf at the door — in sickness and in health, for better or worse until death do us part.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Thank you,” he said prayerfully. Though he was pretty sure that there wouldn’t be any wolves at their door. Sooner or later, he was going to have to confess to his wealth.
Because now that she had said yes he wanted to get the biggest honking diamond ring he could and glue it to her hand. Something big enough to brand her to keep other men from coveting her. But small enough that she would wear it all the time. Because he didn’t think she was going to stop making pastry or birthing babies just because she was rich.
Zeke rose to his feet and kissed her. A claiming kiss. The kiss of a newly returned lover re-establishing his bond with his woman. He picked her up in his arms and headed for her bedroom.
“This time I want to be on top,” she announced.
What did that mean? “Okay,” he said, hoping she didn’t mean he hadn’t pleased her before. He had been rough in the shower.
“Cool.” She began to take off her clothes. “Race you.”
But untucking his blanket was all he had to do to be ready for action. He caught sight of himself in her dressing table mirror and shrugged the vest off too. Might as well remove his socks, he had a feeling that they weren’t exactly sexy all on their own.
Jenna was still in her bra and panties grinning at him. “Hey,” he said. “Let me help.”
Her breasts were so beautiful and so bountiful. He cupped them in worshipful hands when he had stripped away her bra. They spilled over his big palms and the pretty dark pink nipples puckered when he rubbed them with his thumbs. He bent to taste the sweet berries he had made.
They stayed like that for a long time until she giggled and pulled away. “I’m getting cold,” she said.
He bent and peeled away her panties to reveal her trimmed dark brown bush. He pulled them down her legs and flung them aside
“On top, huh?”
“I never have,” she was a little pink, but cheerful.
He lay down and drew her on top of him. “Your butt is going to get cold.”
“I expect you to keep me warm, Major,” she said playfully. She came up onto her knees so she could run her fingers through his chest hair. She hunted down the flat brown nipples and leaned forward to kiss them, making an appreciative hum deep in her throat.
Zeke thought it just about the sexiest noise he had ever heard. “You are so beautiful,” he said hoarsely.
She wasn’t. But it was nice that he thought so. Or said so. Jenna kissed her way down his tummy to his cock. It was lying hard against his bulging abs, the purple cap dripping. She backed up so she could kiss it too and was rewarded when it bobbed and cum splashed on his belly.
“I think I need to hurry up,” she teased and raised herself up so she could come down on the twitching spike in her hands.
“But I haven’t even started on you,” he protested.
“I’m good,” she said as her slick passage engulfed him and tiny muscles held him tightly.
He had thought that she had meant that she had never been on top of him. Her awkwardness made him realize that she meant ever. She was torturing him with her uneven pace. She sank too fast and rose too slowly, and then she did the opposite. Zeke ran his big hand to her bottom and fondled the plump flesh, keeping himself in check so he didn’t rob her of her fun.
She was good and wet. She was enjoying herself. And it would have been a lie to say he didn’t like it. But his pecker felt like it was caught in a wringer turned by a sadist. But just one look at Jenna’s absorbed, delighted face made him brace himself to endure this joyride.
It seemed to take her a long time before she found a rhythm that pleased her. Her breasts mottled with
a desirous flush. Her stiff nipples stiffened more. She bounced faster and squeezed his dick hard. He held on trying not to come before she was done. At last the deep contractions began in her pussy and spread in voluptuous ripples through the soft and supple globes in his hands. She shrieked and fell forward.
Zeke let himself go. He flooded her as the last of her climactic jolts sucked him dry. He ran wondering hands down the soft, damp skin of her back. They fell asleep like that.
Jenna woke. Her back was cold. Her front was sweaty. Big hands held her so tightly she could hardly breathe.
“Zeke,” she said sharply. “It’s me. Let go.”
His eyes snapped open. He rolled so his body covered hers. Not like a man who wanted sex. Not like a lover beginning foreplay. Like a man defending his woman from attack.
“It’s okay,” she said softly. “We’re safe here.”
He rolled off her. “Sorry,” he muttered embarrassed.
“Bad dream?”
“Yeah. Now you see why I’m on terminal leave.”
“Because of nightmares?”
“Because I’m nuts.”
Jenna examined him more closely. He was sweating profusely, yet his skin was clammy. “Nightmares are appropriate when you’ve been through hell. Come on, let’s have a shower.”
“Aren’t you afraid?” he demanded.
“That you will try to protect me from a bomb with your body?” she asked. “No, not really.” She led the way into her bathroom.
“The Army psychiatrists say I’m a danger to myself. And others. They relieved me of command.”
“Ouch. Heck of a reward for being wounded.” Jen adjusted the spray to medium hot and got in. “Come on, there’s room for two and I have a lot of missed opportunities to make up.”
“Huh.”
She lathered her hands and attacked his chest hair playfully, swirling her fingers around his nipples and pulling the hair into crests. “I’ve always wanted to do this,” she said.
“Bathe a soldier?”
“Play with a man’s chest hair.”
“You don’t find me maybe a little hairy?”
“Nope. Bears are supposed to be hairy. Here. And here. And most especially here.” Her roving hands tickled him as she spoke. She finally cupped his aching balls in her palms and massaged them gently.
It was all the excuse his poor, dumb scud missile needed to reload. He grabbed the soap out of Jen’s hands. “I got you all sweaty,” he said. “Let’s get your girls clean.”
She giggled as his slick hands began to play gently with her breasts. He pulled the jutting nipples until they stiffened even more, then let his soapy hands wander lower to her swelling buttocks. He knelt before her and lathered up one leg and then the other. She was trembling slightly by the time he let them rove between her thighs and he began to play with the soft and swollen labia.
“You smell so good,” he murmured as his mouth found her bud. He sucked it. The taste of woman and slightly soapy water was a spicy treat. Jenna’s hand in his hair told him how much she liked it. He sucked harder and was rewarded when she came apart in his hands.
He surged to his feet and lifted her onto his heat-seeking missile and placed her spine against the tiles. She clasped him close with her robust thighs and returned his vigorous thrusts with hearty moves of her own. His bellow of masculine satisfaction echoed in the bathroom with her own squeal of pleasure. She slid bonelessly down his abdomen sighing with pleasure.
“I don’t think we’re going to get clean this side of Sunday,” she said joyfully. “But we have a lifetime to work on it.”
“And pie for dessert!”
Continue reading about the Billionaire Oil Bearons in Bear Pause. Zeke’s cousin Laura finds her HEA with Special Forces veteran Steve Holden.
About the Author
Isadora Montrose writes hot Paranormal Romance about sexy shifters and the strong women whose hearts they win.
Website: isadoramontrose.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/isadoramontroseauthor/
Email: [email protected]
Bear His Love - Scarlett Grove
Copyright © 2018 by Scarlett Grove
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Bear His Love
Midnight Sun Shifters
In the wilds of Alaska, anything is possible. Even happily ever after.
A woman in need …
Ginger Allen has come to Alaska to scatter her father’s ashes--and follow a treasure map he drew for her on his deathbed. First, though, she has to hire an experienced backcountry guide to take her to her father’s remote property.
With a little help from Babs Bula, the stylish woman who just happens to be a matchmaker, she finds Brock Montgomery. He’s certainly well qualified--but the rugged outdoorsman is way too sexy for his own good. And her grieving heart isn’t ready for everything he makes her feel.
A reluctant man …
Brock is the new leader of the Montgomery Bear Clan. He’s ready to do the job, but the position comes with an unwelcome requirement: he needs to find a mate.
Then he meets Ginger, and knows the curvy, gorgeous woman is his. But Brock enjoys his independence. He’s not looking to settle down, no matter what his clan--and his bear--are telling him.
A dangerous journey …
Ginger's not the only one who knows about the treasure map … and greed and treachery are lying in wait in the hash wilderness. Will she and Brock survive? And if they do, will they finally surrender to the passion they’ve been fighting?
1
Ginger Allen watched the colorful buildings of Juneau, Alaska come into view from the deck of the cruise ship. Even at this time of year, it was already colder up here than it had been in Seattle. She pulled her thin jacket more tightly around her body and shivered.
The boat pulled into the harbor, and the passengers lined up to disembark. Ginger had traveled up there on a day cruise ship used by tourists, but her reason for coming to Alaska was not for a vacation. She looked down at the new hole in her Converse sneakers and pulled a roll of duct tape out of her backpack. She hastily ripped a square of tape off the role and plastered it over the spot on the heel of her shoe that was coming unglued.
She got in line behind the rest, pulling her backpack up over her shoulders. Slowly, she meandered down the ramp and onto the wide sidewalks of Juneau’s harbor. It was a bright day with a cloudless blue sky overhead. People around her smiled, their eyes twinkling with excitement as they took in the adorable little city.
The chill had got into her bones and wouldn’t seem to go away, even with the warming temperature outside. Ginger had business to attend to--not the kind of business that made you feel warm and fuzzy. It was her last ditch effort to salvage the life that she wanted to believe she could have, a life that now seemed so very far away it was almost like a dream she’d had as a child.
She walked down the streets, lined with little shops and restaurants that smelled of fish and chips, her stomach grumbling. She held the business card of the man who overlooked the property taxes on her father’s remote piece of land. Before he got sick, her father liked to go up to Alaska from Seattle to spend time in his hunting cabin. Before he died, he told Ginger that he had left something there for her--something that could solve all of her problems. But she might not be able to claim it, if she couldn’t get an extension on the tax debt.
The wind picked up and blew Ginger’s red, kinky hair into her face. She brushed it back with both of her hands and tied it into a ponytail at the back of her neck. Inspecting the numbers on the doors of the buildings on the sidewalk, Ginger found the tax office from her business card.
She gripped the door handle and slowly walked inside. The reception area w
as warmer than it was outside, and she let out a sigh of relief as the heat tried to penetrate deep into her chilled bones. There was a woman behind the reception desk, and Ginger smiled at her, but she was more distracted by the bowl of candy sitting on the desk.
Inconspicuously as possible, she plucked a peppermint from the bowl, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth.
“I have an appointment with James Salvo,” she said, the peppermint knocking around against her teeth. “My name is Ginger Allen. I’m here to speak with Mr. Salvo about my late father’s property.”
“Yes of course,” the receptionist said. “Have a seat right there, and I’ll let James know that you’re here.”
Ginger sat down at the reception desk and pulled her cheap flip phone out of her pocket. She didn’t have very many prepaid minutes left and could only make one or two more phone calls before she would no longer have a telephone. At least she’d made it to Alaska. If things didn’t work out as she had hoped, she would be stranded here with no way back to Seattle.
“Mr. Salvo will see you now,” the receptionist said.
Ginger walked around the reception desk and down the hallway to the office that said Mr. James Salvo, Property Tax Manager.”
She opened the door and found a thirty-something-year-old man with a black mustache that looked like it must be intended to be ironic. He wore a red turtleneck shirt and had his hair slicked back with some kind of oil. He looked up at Ginger and motioned for her to have a seat.
“Ms. Allen. I was just looking over your father’s file. It looks as if the taxes are due in seventy-two hours.”