Owen (BBW Western Bear Shifter Romance) (Rodeo Bears Book 2)

by Becca Fanning

  Matt chuckled. “Uncle Bart can handle just about anyone ’cept his mama. Great Aunt Cecilia’s the only one who handles him.”

  Mel laughed. “I’d like to meet her.”

  “You will.”

  She turned and stared at him, for his voice had turned serious.

  “Will I?”

  Matt nodded slowly as he crossed to her. Mel felt something move inside as his golden eyes locked onto her blue ones.

  “You know I want you, don’t you?” he asked, reaching out to brush back a stray tendril of hair.

  She swallowed hard. “I’d hoped you did,” she confessed, though she was suddenly very nervous. His golden eyes reminded her of the huge bear that had been in her bedroom just last night.

  “You’re not afraid of me are you, darlin’?” he asked.

  “Not exactly.”

  “But?”

  Mel reached out to lay both hands on his broad chest. She felt his heart beat through his flannel shirt.

  “I guess I’m more afraid of me, of what I’m feeling,” she whispered. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before, and I didn’t expect I ever could feel this much for someone who…”

  “Is a Shifter?” he asked, and she felt him withdraw.

  “No,” she said, letting go of a huff of breath and stepping into him. “I never imagined feeling this way about a man who is so much larger than life in every way.”

  She looked up and smiled. “I never imagined a man like you would look at me the way you do. Would want me the way you do.”

  She turned away from him in an attempt to gather her thoughts. “I can’t say it doesn’t matter—that you’re a Shifter, I mean. It’s incredible. You’re incredible.”

  She glanced back at him and shook her head in amazement. “I just can’t believe someone like you wants someone like me.”

  “Believe it,” he said, stepping to her and taking her shoulders in his big hands.

  “But why?”

  He shook his head. “Maybe it’s only because you’re not afraid of me. You’re not put off by what I am, but you’re also not drawn to me, just because of what I am.”

  “You mean, like a groupie? I’ve seen the kind that hangs around stage doors, but are there really Shifter groupies?”

  His laughter this time had the low growl of the bear he could become. “Not exactly, but you know how some women seem to be drawn to scary men, just for the thrill of it?”

  She considered. “I guess so. I’ve always thought women like that were a little bit nuts, though.”

  “No question about it.”

  She stiffened and glanced up quickly. “You don’t Shift while you…I mean, when you’re …” Thoroughly embarrassed now, she couldn’t quite say it, and she would have pulled away again, but he chuckled again and held her tight.

  “That’s a different kind of heat, darlin’,” he told her, pulling her into his arms. “Don’t worry. When I’m with a woman, I stay a man, ’cause all that heat isn’t about self preservation.”

  “Oh. Okay.”

  “Okay?”

  She looked up again and a smile tugged at her lips. “I did wonder.”

  “Why don’t I help you gather some empirical evidence to prove it?” he suggested, wrapping his arms around her. “That way you can be sure the next time.”

  Her smile blossomed. “Why don’t you?”

  But when he leaned down to kiss her, she suddenly laid her hand on his chest once more and leaned back in his arms so she could see his face clearly.

  “Will there be a ‘next time’?” she asked, for the first time uncertain of where this was leading.

  He seemed to understand her question.

  “I know it seems kind of quick,” he said.

  “Only two days,” she reminded him.

  “The thing is, we Saint men tend to fall fast and hard, if you know what I mean.”

  “I think so.”

  He smiled. “We also tend to know, right from the get-go, who we want to spend the rest of our lives with.”

  “Do you?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Oh. Well. In that case…”

  She reached up to take his face in her hands and stood on her toes so she could reach him. When their lips met she felt the proverbial fireworks going off inside her, and as their kiss deepened, she knew that she would soon be able to fly.

  An angry car horn from the street below, brought her up short, and she pulled back just far enough to look around. They were standing right in the middle her living room windows.

  “Uh, maybe we should move this to the back,” she said, her breathless voice sounding strange to her own ears.

  Matt’s deep, rumbling chuckle was followed by a not-too-gentle nip on her jaw.

  “Good idea.”

  Mel laughed and pulled away, though she kept his hand clasped tightly in hers as she led him back to her bedroom, turning out the lights along the way.

  Once they were safely inside her bedroom, with only the streetlight outside her window for illumination, she raised her lips to his once more, and their hands began to roam. Matt slipped her jacket off and tossed it toward a chair while she pulled the tail of his shirt free, unbuttoned it then sent both shirt and jacket to the floor. He reached for the zipper on her slacks while she reached for his belt, thrilled by what she could see in the front of his jeans. In moments they were both naked and rolling across her double bed, which was dwarfed by his size.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured between kisses as he explored every inch of her body with his callused fingers, which sent tingles coursing through her.

  “I’m not really, you know,” she whispered, fighting to give as good as she was getting.

  “I guess I’m just gonna have to convince you, somehow,” he growled low in his throat, as his lips traced her face and moved on to her neck and shoulders.

  “I’m not very good at this, either,” she said, hating to admit it to him but somehow needing him to know.

  “Who says?” he murmured, as he shifted to let one callused hand cup one breast.

  She felt her world shift.

  “Well, I’ve only done this once before,” she said, hating to have to break that news to him at this point. “I was a sophomore in college. He was a grad student, with all sorts of experience, I pretty sure, and he said I wasn’t any good. I guess he was right, because I never did…well, I never...I mean, of course I’ve heard about orgasms, but I’ve never had one.”

  She felt herself blushing furiously, and when Matt stopped what he was doing to her, to take her face in both of his big hands, Mel had to force herself to open her eyes and face the music.

  “Darlin’,” he said, his smile surprising the heck out of her, “if you never had an orgasm, then it was the man who was doin’ it wrong.”

  “Really?” she asked, surprise overtaking her embarrassment.

  He grinned. “Oh, yeah.”

  He shifted once more, and the next thing she knew, those amazing lips were making a wet trail down to her breast, where he suddenly stopped and suckled.

  Mel thought she heard a scream as she all but lifted them both off the bed.

  She felt Matt’s laughter, as he wrapped his hands around her torso under her arms and lifted her up to feast on her breasts, first one then the other, until suddenly everything in her tightened and she felt wetness between her thighs as she was swamped with pleasure beyond her imagination.

  Matt lowered her gently to the bed when she finally went limp, still not quite certain of what had happened.

  “See what I mean?” he said, as he nuzzled her neck and ear.

  “Oh, yeah,” she gasped.

  Matt laughed and started to work on her again, but when she pushed at his shoulders, he rolled onto his back, allowing her to climb on top and straddle his thighs, so she could run her fingers through the thick curly hair on his chest.

  “My turn, big guy,” she said, surprising herself with the sultry tone of her v
oice.

  “Be my guest,” he said, reaching up to take both her breasts in his big hands.

  Mel found herself moving rhythmically against him, as she ran her hands over his chest and down lower, igniting sparks in both of them.

  “Careful, darlin’,” Matt said, when her hands found that part of him she had never seen before.

  She wished the streetlight showed her more, because he felt huge in her hand, and she had a sudden premonition that things were not going to work quite as easily as she had experience her one previous time.

  Matt didn’t give her a chance to change her mind but instead pulled her to him, flipped their positions once more, and went back to kissing her. This time, her legs fell open, allowing him to settle between them, and as he moved against her, she felt her own wetness lubricating him. Before she could decide how best to ask the question, she felt his fingers on her there, opening her to him, and in another moment, that part of him was slowing moving inside of her. She inhaled sharply, as she experienced his size in another way, but he was gentle and patient, pushing first in then pulling out, until her muscles relaxed enough to take all of him, and he was seated to the hilt.

  In another moment, they were moving together, and Mel felt the pressure build once more.

  “Matt!”

  “Just let go again, darlin’,” he admonished her, and she heard the strain in his voice. “I’ve got you.”

  “I can’t. Not again!”

  But she was wrong, of course. Matt reached down to touch her where they were joined, and she shattered once more. His roar joined her scream in perfect harmony as together they both found their release.

  Sometime later, Mel became aware of the world once more. Matt’s heavy weight pinned her to the mattress, but she never wanted to move again. She took as deep a breath as she could, and he shifted away.

  “No!” she cried plaintively.

  But he only rolled onto his back, carrying her with him, so that they remained joined. She felt him inside, not as big has he had been before, but still there, still a part of her. She wrapped her arms around him as best she could and hugged his thighs with her legs. She felt more alive than she ever had before and never wanted it to end.

  “I didn’t use anythin’ to protect you,” he said after a long moment, as his fingers played softly with her hair. “Is there any chance we could’ve made a baby tonight?”

  She felt the stickiness of his seed, and smiled.

  “If we did, I won’t mind,” she said.

  She felt him sigh, but she felt more than relief in it.

  “Then I’m gonna hope we did, darlin’,” he said, confirming her guess as he nuzzled her ear, “’cause there is one thing I forgot to mention.”

  “What’s that?” she asked, though she didn’t really care at this point.

  “I love you.”

  Mel went still, and when she pushed herself up far enough to look down at him, she knew those golden eyes could see her tears even in the darkness.

  “What’s this?” he asked, gently brushing the dampness away with a tender caress of his thumb.

  “No one’s ever said that to me before,” she whispered, afraid to break the spell.

  “You’re just gonna have to get used to it, darlin’,” he said, suddenly serious.

  “Okay.”

  “Only okay?” he asked, frowning.

  “I can get used to it, because I love you, too.”

  He took a deep breath then his smile grew and spread until it lit his eyes.

  “Okay, then.”

  She giggled, but then he pulled her head down and went back to the serious business of kissing her. She contracted her muscles around him, felt him begin to grow hard within her again, and the world went away once more.

  Mark

  Bearly Saints II

  by

  Becca Fanning

  Addy Spencer stared at the neatly typed letter and felt her stomach drop to her toes.

  …The members of one of the bands we represent, The Four Saints, are very much interested in recording and performing the song you sent—or any other material you might have—and would like to begin negotiations for the rights to do so, if that would be agreeable to you. I can be reached at the address and telephone above, or, if you prefer, we could set up a face-to-face meeting, either here in Nashville or at a place of your choosing.

  Thank you for submitting your song to us. I look forward to hearing from you.

  Sincerely,

  Melinda Darling

  Konstantine Talent Agency

  Nashville, Tennessee

  “I can’t believe you sent them my song, Granny,” Addy said, fighting to keep her voice calm, though she could not stop the tremor in it. “Why would you do that?”

  “Because you’ve been hiding your God-given talent under a bushel for far too many years, darlin,’ and it’s time for you to come out and sing to the world.”

  Addy turned abruptly to face her grandmother, who stood at the kitchen table, steadily kneading a mound of fragrant bread dough with her small, strong hands.

  “But…”

  “I’m not gettin’ any younger, Addy, and I can’t stand the thought of you holed up here in the hills all by yourself for the rest of your life.”

  “Don’t talk like that,” Addy said. “It’ll be a long time before I’m havin’ to live alone up here. And anyhow, I like bein’ alone.”

  Granny Spencer sighed, because she knew the latter to be true. “I’m almost eighty-four years old, Adelaide Ann, and you know as well as I do that the only guarantee we have in this life is it’s gonna end, sooner or later. And bein’ alone ain’t the way we’re meant to live, girl.

  “You know that, too,” she added for good measure as she patted the mound of dough and turned it back into a greased bowl for its second rising. Granny then draped a clean towel over the bowl and set it on top of the warm stove.

  “I can’t do this, Granny,” Addy said, tears in her voice now, as she held the scrunched letter up in her fisted hand. “You know I can’t.”

  Granny sighed, wiped her hands on another towel then crossed the small room to reach out and take hold of Addy’s shoulders.

  “I know you think you cain’t,” the old lady said, her voice kind but firm. “But Addy, darlin’, how you gonna ever know for certain, iffen you don’t at least try?”

  Addy dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around her grandmother’s waist, hugging her close as she had since she was a little girl. Addy had shot up to be a good head taller than her elderly grandmother during her teen years, and she’d been bigger and stronger than the old lady for the past decade, but she felt small at this moment, and her beloved granny hugged her back.

  “I know you’re scared, darlin’,” she murmured, petting Addy’s thick, soft, sandy-blond hair. Addy had cut it herself again, and it was a shaggy mess, but she couldn’t make herself sit still long enough for Granny to cut it for her.