by Kim Fox
“We still have the motorcycle to finish,” he said. “And there’s still more that I want to show you. We haven’t hiked up the mountain yet or been to Bear Lake. And there’s Mad Max to think about. He’d miss you terribly.”
Ava smiled thinking about the old horse that had quickly become her friend. She would miss him too.
They chatted easily for a while but there was something on Ava’s mind. She finally decided to ask it. “You guys talk about the army a lot,” she said. “What made you guys go?”
Julius held in his breath. He always looked so uncomfortable when she brought up his service.
“The government made us go,” he said with a tight voice. He rubbed his jaw as he stared into the fire. “I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I trust you.”
“I won’t repeat it,” Ava said, leaning towards him.
“Sometimes the government requires shifters to go work for them,” he explained. “We’re strong, fast, sneaky and we heal fast. They force guns into our hands and make us fight their enemies.”
“That’s horrible,” she whispered. “To make you fight against your will like that.”
“At first, I agreed,” he said, staring at the dancing flames in the fire. “But when I got over there I understood. There are some bad people out there, Ava. And because we were over there, there are a lot less bad people now.”
She watched the side of his still face as he stared into the campfire. The orange glow of the flames were flickering on his smooth skin and sparkling in his eyes. She wanted to take the horrible images that he was revisiting behind those eyes and toss them into the fire. He was a good person and didn’t deserve to go through that.
“They forced the four of us into service for three years. They threatened to seize the ranch if we didn’t comply, so we did.”
“You were in the special forces?” Ava asked.
“The Special Shifter Forces. The four of us were a team. Khan was the commander, Hannibal was the weapons and strategy expert, I was the reconnaissance man. I would sneak into the area in advance, sometimes in my bear form, and see what we were walking into.”
“What about Alexander?”
Julius chuckled. “He was the thunder. He was our point man and was always the first one in. Alexander took more bullets than the other three of us combined. I swear that he must have enjoyed getting shot.”
Ava shivered when she pictured the large shifter rushing into a war-zone getting rattled with bullets. She pulled the blanket up over her.
“Alexander was also the communications man,” he continued with a chuckle. “But he would usually get so angry when speaking with the commanders on the inside that he would smash the communication devices within ten minutes of the mission.”
Julius laughed. “He’s quite the character.”
“You’re all quite the characters,” she said with a laugh.
“This is top secret stuff,” he said, looking at her with a serious face. “I really shouldn’t have told you that.”
“Why did you?” she asked.
He turned back to the fire and exhaled. “Because I like you.”
Ava stood up and tossed the blanket on the chair behind her. Julius smiled at her as she climbed up onto his lap. He wrapped his strong arms around her and kissed her.
“I like you too,” she said.
She sat on his lap and they talked for hours until the stars came out and the pile of logs beside the fire was down to two.
These past two days had been so amazing and Ava didn’t want them to end. But she lived all the way in Seattle. It wasn’t exactly a short commute.
“What’s going to happen?” she asked. The question had been eating at her all day.
“With what?”
“With us,” she said, nuzzling her cheek onto his hard chest. “What’s going to happen when I go back home.”
His arms tightened around her and his body tensed up.
“How can we be together when I live eleven hours away?” she asked.
“Then don’t live eleven hours away,” he said.
She laughed. “Where am I supposed to live? In the forest? What am I supposed to do for work? I don’t have any cowboy skills. You saw me on the horse today.”
“Live with me.”
Ava lifted her head and looked into his eyes to see if he was joking but there was only seriousness there.
“Live with me,” he repeated.
“You’re serious.” How could he be serious? It had only been two days.
“I’m deadly serious,” he said. “I want you to stay. Forever. I want to marry you.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “Okay. Where’s Ashton Kutcher?” she asked looking around.
He gently guided her off his lap and made her stand up. “What are you doing?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
Julius just ignored her and got down on one knee.
“Come on,” she said, waiting for the camera crew to rush out but there was nobody but the two of them and the crackling fire.
Her breath caught in her throat as he slid his hand into his pocket and pulled out a diamond ring. He looked up at her with hope in his gorgeous green eyes.
“Will you marry me, Ava?” he asked.
This was too soon. This was crazy. This was way out of her comfort zone. This was too spontaneous.
This was happening.
“Yes,” she said, cupping his cheeks and kissing his lips. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Mr. Vega.”
“You will?” he asked, his face lighting up with excitement.
She nodded as happy tears flooded her eyes. He took her left hand and slid the diamond ring onto her ring finger.
Ava smiled until her cheeks hurt as she stared at the beautiful diamond reflecting the orange from the fire. It was beautiful. Better than she could have imagined. All of this was better than she could have imagined.
Julius stood up and scooped her up in his arms as if she was as light as a feather. “Let’s go inside and celebrate, Mrs. Vega,” he whispered on her lips.
She just gulped and nodded.
This was fate.
Every cell in Ava’s body was on fire with excitement as Julius sat down on the bed. She strutted up to him and then dropped to her knees.
He was already rock-hard. She could see his erection jutting out against his jeans.
Her sexy new fiancee was looking down at her with desire in his heated eyes. “Do you want to see how I treat my fiancee?” she asked as she rubbed her palm up his hard cock.
Julius groaned as her hand caressed him. He dropped his head back and closed his eyes as his lips parted. “Fuck,” he whispered.
“Oh, we will,” Ava said as she unbuckled his belt. “But first, I want to warm you up.”
“I’m already on fire,” he said, but he didn’t stop her from unzipping his jeans. She yanked them down his muscular thighs as he lifted his ass off the bed for her. She pulled off his tight black boxer briefs next and his beautiful hard cock sprung out in front of her face.
She gripped his shaft and stroked him. He was watching her with a mixture of lust and admiration on his serious face.
“I love it when you look at me like that,” she said. The intense desire in his eyes was making her wet. He wanted her. His erotic need was flowing off him and Ava was drinking it all in.
She touched her lips to his shaft and kissed him softly. It was crazy to be engaged to a guy that she had only known for two days but she couldn’t care less. This wasn’t some guy. This was Julius. She felt like she had known him for years.
She kissed a trail of wet smacking kisses up his soft shaft and then tickled the tip of his dick with her tongue. He groaned as he watched her work.
Julius had claimed her the previous night and now it was her turn to claim him. She opened her mouth and took him in, drawing deep gasps and hisses of breath from her man.
He threaded his firm fingers through her hair, massaging her scalp as she sucked him. “Shirt off,�
�� she said between gasps as she took a breather. His dick was slick with her saliva and she used it to stroke him. “I want to see those rock-hard abs of yours.”
Julius yanked off his shirt and tossed it onto the floor. He leaned back on his flexed arms as she raked her hand up the deep ridges of his stomach. “Mmm,” she moaned as the wet heat built between her thighs and her clit started aching.
He never took his eyes off her with that hungry gaze on his face that was building with passion. She wanted to hear him grunt again. She wanted to make him moan.
She tickled his tip with her tongue before opening her lips and taking him in as far as her throat would allow. His thickness burned her throat but she got the moan that she was waiting for. Julius squeezed her head and guided her up and down on his cock.
“I need to see that hot body of yours,” he said in between grunts. “Get naked for me.”
Ava gave his cock a few more sucks and then reluctantly let it go. She stood up with her pulse racing and her nerve endings tingling.
He devoured her with his eyes as she slipped off her tank top and unhooked her bra. She tried to squeeze in her belly but she couldn’t with her breathing as rapid as it was. Not that it mattered anyway. He seemed to love her rolls and curves. He was always touching, kissing and staring at them. She loved how he looked at her body like that, like how he was looking at her right now. For the first time, she could be naked and feel sexy rather than trying to cover up or racing to turn the lights off.
She unbuttoned her shorts and slid them down along with her panties. She stepped out of her clothes and walked forward completely naked.
Julius backed up on the bed until his back was leaning against the headboard. His hungry eyes were glued to her as she followed him and then straddled his muscular legs.
She gasped as he traced the tip of his cock across her spread pussy. He was so big but she was so wet that she could handle every last inch of him.
She lowered her hips and he guided his cock into her wet tunnel making her moan. They fit together so perfectly. It had to be fate. This whole experience felt like fate.
Ava set into an easy rhythm, rocking her hips up and down on her fiancee’s dick. She thrust her back out, jutting her breasts into his face. He took them in his hands and squeezed them together. He kissed each nipple before dragging his warm tongue over them, making them even harder.
She clenched her pussy around him as she increased the pace of her hips. A little whimper escaped her throat every time her clit slammed into his hard pelvis.
Ava always had trouble reaching orgasm and most of her past boyfriends had given up trying but she had come three times last night with Julius and she already felt a fourth one coming on. She just felt so safe with him and so desired. How could she not with the ravenous way that he was looking at her?
“Turn around for me,” he growled. “I want to see that perfect ass of yours.”
She took a deep gasping breath as she swung her leg over him and dropped to her hands and knees. Her pussy pulsed as he positioned himself behind her and grabbed her soft ass.
“Fuck you’re hot,” he said in a deep sexy voice. “I only want to fuck you for the rest of my life.”
Her legs were already trembling on the soft bed as he slid his cock back into her. “Oh, Julius,” she moaned as he squeezed her hips and started to fuck her harder.
She drove her hips backward, matching him thrust for thrust until she couldn’t keep up with his powerful drives. She just dropped her head to the mattress, spread her legs further apart, and let him fuck her as hard as he could.
The tension was building in her pussy to the point where she was desperate for it to be released. She was going to come soon, and it was going to be a blinding one.
Julius was grunting hard as his fingers gripped her waist to the point of pain. “Fuck, Ava,” he growled. “You’re going to make me come.”
She tried to respond but a scream came out instead as her orgasm blew through her like a gushing wave of ecstasy and bliss. Her pussy trembled with powerful quivers as Julius leaned over her and cursed in her ear. His hot seed surged into her slick tunnel and flooded it with heavenly heat.
He collapsed on her trembling body and groaned. She struggled to hold him up as the last gentle waves of her dissipating orgasm trickled through her body. “You’re a little heavy,” she laughed as his weight became too heavy to bear.
“Sorry,” he said, dropping onto his back and staring up at the ceiling. He took deep heavy breaths. “Fuck that was good. You made me forget where I was.”
“As long as you didn’t forget who you were with,” she said, crawling into the nook of his arm that felt like it was made just for her. She breathed in his scent and moaned contently.
“I would never,” he said, wrapping his arm around her, making her feel like a little doll.
Ava wrapped her arm around his stomach and held him, not wanting to let go. This felt so right. She was his fiancee. She savored the feeling because it might not last. They would probably wake up in the morning and realize it had all been a mistake. They would laugh and she would awkwardly go back home to Seattle. They would promise to call each other but then life would seep in and days would pass then weeks without them talking until he was just a distant reminder of those two crazy days that she spent in Montana.
Or maybe, just maybe, all of her dreams would come true.
nine
Ava woke up completely satisfied. She had slept like she had been in a coma after the wonderful sex last night. Julius’ side of the bed was empty, again.
She moaned as she stretched out her arms and legs. She wondered if this was something that she had to get used to every morning; waking up alone. It would be fine. As nice as it was to wake up next to a hot naked bear shifter it was even nicer to wake up to a freshly brewed pot of coffee and a huge breakfast waiting for her.
Her stomach growled as she smelled the coffee and pancakes cooking downstairs. She climbed out of bed and pulled open the curtains. The sky was dark with gray clouds and rain was pouring down over the ranch. “Oh well,” she said with a giggle. “We can have sex all day.”
She threw on an outfit before venturing out into the hall. Ava held her breath as she walked past Alexander’s room. She didn’t want to have another unpleasant encounter with him like yesterday and if he saw his Grandmother’s wedding ring on her finger it would be even worse.
She lowered her eyes to the hardwood floors as she passed the open room. A large figure caught the corner of her eye. Shit.
“Ava,” he called out.
She took a deep breath and turned with a wide fake smile on her lips. “Oh hello, Alexander,” she said. “Are you having a good morning?”
“Come here,” he grunted. “I have to show you something.”
Ava glanced down the empty staircase. The tiny hairs on the back of her neck were standing at attention as the grumbling in her stomach turned into a quiver.
“Sure,” she said, taking a hesitant step into Alexander’s room. She stayed close to the door as she slipped her hands into her pockets nervously and watched the giant bear shifter.
His room was clean and pretty bare. Just furniture with nothing on it. He turned on the TV that was hanging on the wall.
“What are we watching?” Ava asked trying to hide her shaky voice.
He put a DVD in the player. “Just watch it.”
An older man with a handsome face that kind of looked like Khan appeared on the television. “Hello!” the man said from the TV. Why is he showing me this?
“If you guys are watching this, then I’m dead,” the man said. “Sorry for the inconvenience.”
Ava watched with a tightness in her chest as Julius’ father explained the real reason that Julius had proposed. She moved her head in a slow, disbelieving shake as she listened to the man’s cruel words. Her stomach hardened and her lungs began to constrict making it hard to breathe.
“The Vega Estate,” Mr. Vega con
tinued, “including the ranch, all lands, holdings, savings, and possessions, will be left to the great state of Montana, unless Genghis Vega, Alexander Vega, Julius Vega and Hannibal Vega all take on mates within the next year and get married. Starting now.”
White spots flashed in her vision as she got dizzy. So that was the true reason for all of this. She should have known better than to think that a hot, rich, funny man like Julius would be interested in her for her.
She bit down on her bottom lip to choke down a sob that was rushing forward. That’s why Khan was so eager for them to get married. That’s why Julius had proposed.
She clawed at the ring, trying to rip it off. It made her feel claustrophobic, like she was suffocating. You’re so stupid!
Ava yanked off the ring and threw it onto the floor. She ran out of Alexander’s room as it rolled under his bed.
She slammed Julius’ door and locked it. “You idiot!” she cursed at herself under her breath as she leaned against the door. I have to get out of here!
She threw her clothes into her bag and raced out of the room. She clutched her stomach as she took the stairs two at a time to get to the front door. Ava couldn’t get out of the house fast enough.
“Ready for breakfast?” Julius asked walking out of the kitchen with a spatula in his hand. “I made my fiancee a fat stack of pancakes.”
She blew past him, unable to look in his direction, and ripped the front door open. It was pouring out but she ran to her car without taking the time to put on a jacket. Her heart was breaking; a little rain was nothing.
“Ava!” Julius called out from the doorway. “What’s wrong?”
She reached her car and opened the door. “How could you!” she screamed, spinning around to face him.
“What?” he asked with the color draining from his face.
“You know what,” she hissed. “Marrying me for money? You’re disgusting.”
“Ava,” he said, rushing forward. “I can explain.”
“Well, go ahead,” she said, thrusting her hands onto her hips. “I love a good bullshit story. Explain.”