"Another seven years?" Torben reaches out and takes my hand. "What are you talking about, Saira? You make it sound like you're trapped in a fairy tale."
I laugh bitterly. "My father owns Universal Books. He owns me. Three years ago I - I made a mistake. A bad one. And he got me out of trouble, but in turn, he's forced me to work for him. Getting indie bookstores to sell. I'm good at it. Far too good. And it kills me. I hate myself for what I'm doing. But I promised."
"And the Book Cave will free you?"
I'm surprised. I expected him to be shocked by my father's behavior. To ask immediately about what I did. But then I think of his own family. His own fight to be free. Perhaps more than anybody else, Torben can understand me. Understand the world I've been living in. So all I do is nod.
Torben rocks back onto his heels. Digests this, and then shrugs. "So it's yours. No strings attached. I'll sign it over now, and give you the keys to my pickup. You can drive south and be safe. Get out of this mess. Get away from me, the Claw, and all the danger that's coming south." I can hear his voice going raw. See how much it costs him to say this.
"No!" It just bursts out of me. All over again I'm overwhelmed. By his generosity, by his understanding, by his desire to protect me. But most of all by how strongly I reject the idea of leaving his side. Of leaving his life. "No," I say again, more quietly, but with greater firmness. "I won't leave you."
His smile is heartbreaking. "That's not you talking."
I move forward, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed and reaching forward to take his face in my hands. He goes completely stiff, tensing up as if I'm about to attack him. I look deep into his eyes and see fear there, wariness, a desperate desire to not take advantage of me warring with a terrible need to possess my body and my soul.
"This is me," I whisper, my voice nearly breaking with tenderness and happiness and a joy that I never thought I'd feel again. "This is all me, finally realizing that what I'm feeling is true. And good. And real." I smile, my heart leaping in my chest. "I want you, Torben. All of you. Now. Tonight and tomorrow and the day after that."
Doubt, hope, fiery hunger all burn in his eyes as he begins to shake his head. "I swore I would never take advantage -"
"Shh," I whisper, pressing my finger to his lips. "You're not. The more you've pushed me away, the more I've seen the real you. And the man I've seen is a man I could fall in love with. A man I already respect. Admire. And want to know more."
Torben opens his mouth one last time, but no words come out. I can see the doubt receding. The hope blossoming and growing.
"I'm a grown woman," I say. "I can make my own decisions. I can choose what I want. And I want you, Torben. Now."
He growls, deep within his muscled chest, and the sound sends goosebumps raging across my skin. I feel my sex grow wet, creaming with desire, and all the pain and fear and doubt coalesce in one overwhelming need for this man. Torben moves forward, prowling onto the bed, and I sit back, giving way before him, eyes wide as I take in just how strong and gorgeous and ripped he is, how perfect and handsome and insanely hard with desire.
"You're mine, then," he growls, and no words ever spoken to me have ever given me such a thrill. "You're mine, and I'm going to claim you - now, here, tonight - forever."
Chapter 11
Since I first saw Torben a fire has been building in my soul, a conflagration that I've fought tooth and nail, resisting with every ounce of my being. A fever that's only grown stronger the harder I've suppressed it, a raging desire for his touch and kiss. As he speaks those words, his voice raw with desire, the final wall goes down, and I lose all restraint. With a growl he sweeps me up in his arms, our lips finally lock, and I moan and writhe as my desire sweeps forth.
His kiss is passionate, his lips hard, his tongue sliding into my mouth with surprising skill. My whole body is tingling from need, and I clutch at his muscled arms, his triceps knots of iron beneath my hands, his naked body burning to the touch. He kisses me like no man ever has before, as if doing so is an act of worship, one hand cupping the back of my head, the other propping his large body over mine. I move my hands up his arms, across his shoulders to cup his bearded cheeks, and oh, his kiss is even better than I could have imaged.
His tongue dances over mine, and we kiss as if we're about to be torn apart, as if we're about to board different ships bound to different eternities and this our last chance to touch, to savor each other's bodies. I wrap my arms around his neck as he rears up, pulling me into his lap, his cock beautifully hard between my legs, rubbing against my pussy as I wrap my legs around his waist, his thighs broad and strong, his arms holding me against his broad chest. I'm still wearing my shirt, but I want desperately to tear it off, to rub my large breasts against his skin, to assuage the almost painful ache in my nipples. But I can't stop long enough to do so. Instead, I bury my fingers in his thick hair, and kiss him all the harder.
Torben breaks the kiss and pulls back, eyes smoldering, and again in a flash I'm reminded that this is no man, this is a shifter, a being closer to animal than human, and I recall that bear, vast and powerful and know - feel - it beneath the surface of his skin. His eyes are burning with passion, golden and alien, and I can feel the trembling restraint that stops him from flipping me over right now and taking me roughly here and now.
Part of me wants him to do so. Just take me, hard, no words, no kissing, nothing but pure animal lust.
But another part wants to delay that as long as possible. There's something about tonight, something unique, almost fragile. Tomorrow he might very well die. This could be our first and only time. I want to make it last. I want it to be so good the memories will keep for a lifetime.
"Fuck, Saira," he says, voice low. "You have no idea how hard it's been to keep my hands off your body."
I laugh and kiss him. "Oh, you'd be surprised."
He kisses me hungrily, then moves his lips to the side of my face, kisses my ear and bites my earlobe. "I've been dreaming about this since we met."
I look up and close my eyes as his kisses burn a trail from the hollow behind my ear to the hollow of my throat, feeling lightheaded, so wet and hungry for his cock I almost feel afraid. "Since we met?" My voice is a murmur. "I doubt that."
"Oh, yes." He takes my shirt by the hem and pulls it up over my head. I shake my hair free as it comes off, and then he leans back, drinking in the sight of my chest. "Oh, fuck. These breasts. I've wanted them so bad..." And he leans forward, cupping them in both hands and lowering his lips to my nipples, licking and sucking them, squeezing my flesh and running his tongue in delirium-causing circles around my areolas.
"Oh, Torben," I sigh, my hands in his hair, my hips slowly undulating, the brush of his cock against my pussy lips the most exquisite and sweet torture I've ever felt.
He sucks my nipple deep into his mouth, and works it with the flat surface of his tongue, pressing and sending humming vibrations of pleasure through my body. I groan and press forward, wanting him, needing him, all of him.
"Like that," I whisper as he massages my other breast, his hand so large that he can cup all of me like nobody ever has. Own my body. Possess it. "Just like that."
I can feel him growl in the back of his throat as he moves to the other nipple, then presses my breasts together so that he can take both into his mouth at once. It's almost too much. I've heard that women can come from just having their breasts licked, but it's never happened to me. Tonight, I feel like it just may.
But Torben has other plans. He licks a trail up between my breasts to my neck and then kisses me again, his lips rough, his beard full, and then pushes me down onto the bed. "I need to taste you," he says. "Now."
Before I can answer, he parts my thighs so that my pussy is completely exposed to him. Again I hear him growl, but this time the sound does nothing other than arouse me. I'm his. He's going to claim me. I can feel my pussy tighten in anticipation, my lips wet, and the look on his face as he drinks me in pushes me over the edg
e. Hot fire is running through my veins, and as he leans down I close my eyes and push my cheek into the pillow.
"Oh, Saira," he moans. "You smell so fucking good." I can feel his breath on my pussy. The faintest ghost of warmth. His large hands on my thighs push me open wider, and still he doesn't touch me, still he withholds my release. I groan and fight the urge to push his face down onto my pussy, the seconds stretching out into years.
"Do you want this?" His voice is provocative, a low rumble.
"Oh fuck yes," I whimper. "Please. Now."
I feel a lash of fire against my clit, a fleeting touch, light and quick, but my whole body buckles as if somebody has just run a million volts through me. "Like that?"
"More," I say. "Deeper. You're killing me."
He licks me, but this time he does so slowly, languorously, taking his time as the flat of his tongue tastes me from the very bottom to the top. I writhe like a cat in heat, my hips rising, my muscles clenching, my fists knotting up the covers. When he finishes his first lap I collapse onto the bed, gasping for breath. How long did that take? A second? Two? It felt like an eternity while it lasted. A fucking eternity of shocking bliss.
He doesn't waste time now. His tongue dances a slow circle around my clit, teasing my nubbin of flesh from one side to the other, and then with shocking suddenness he presses his mouth to my pussy and slides his tongue deep into me, working it in a toe-curling way as he pulls it free so that I gasp and look down my body at him, eyes wide.
He grins. "You like that?"
"Holy fuck. What was that?"
"Here," he says, his grin getting wider, making him more handsome than should be humanly possible. "I'll do it again."
And he does. Oh, lord, he does, and I close my eyes and allow my head to drop back as he goes on a devastating voyage of domination, conquering each quivering fold of my pussy with his tongue, teasing my lips, dipping down to my depths, then up to my clit to push me ever closer to orgasm. I can't help but lift my hips, trying to force him deeper, and I feel like wildfires are raging across my skin, sweat beading my brow, my muscles aching, my core needing release.
"Oh, Torben," I whisper. "Like that. Just like that."
"You taste so fucking good," he growls, and the raw desire in his voice nearly pushes me over the edge. He begins working me harder, sliding two long fingers inside me, and the sensation causes me to cry out, my pussy clenching tight around his fingers as he curls them up and makes a come-hither motion that's too much, a gesture that should be illegal because I cry out again, my body jerking and shivering as he lowers his mouth over my clit and sucks at it, licks it as he slides his fingers in and out and right there and then I come like I never have before.
My whole body convulses and clenches and I sit up, eyes closing, crying out as I take his head in my hands, wave after wave of pleasure rolling through me. Torben moves up, his arms curling around me to press me close to his chest as he lies down next to me. I shake and shiver in his arms, pressing my face into his shoulder and then lifting it so he can kiss me, our kiss sweet, deep, soulful, and without realizing what I'm doing, needing him like an addict, I reach down for his cock and press his head to my slick slit.
"Now," I whisper. "All of you."
His rumble is his only response, and although it doesn't seem possible he seems to have grown thicker, harder. His crown is smooth and engorged, and for a moment I'm scared I won't be able to take all of him. He's so big, but I need to, I have to have him inside me, filling me so that we're joined, made one.
I angle my hips, and my lips open to him, enveloping him in my creamy wetness so that he slides in without any effort. It's as if we were made for each other, his cock perfectly shaped to slide deep into me in one smooth glide, the sensation indescribable, his size stretching me in just the right way, till finally our bellies are pressed together and he's buried in me to the hilt.
With a groan he turns onto his back, hands on my hips, and brings me up so that I'm sitting on him. I angle my hips again, and my weight presses me down onto his cock, so that it spears even deeper into me, so deep my eyes roll back in my head and I clutch at my temples, wanting to get off, to stop this overwhelming sensation. It's too intense. It's too much. I can't breathe. I can't think. If I hadn't already come, I wouldn't be able to take it at all.
Instead, I begin to slowly rotate my hips, grinding down against him, my juices slicking his pubic hair and my inner thighs. I feel like I'm burning, and when I open my eyes and look down at his face, his expression makes me feel like a queen, some savage monarch from ancient times, beautiful and fey and beloved and afire.
Torben groans and presses his head back against the mattress as I continue to rotate so that his quivering cock stirs my insides, so rigid and hard he feels like a bar of corrugated steel. His great body is glistening with sweat, and just looking at him makes me even more aroused, his abs like cobblestones, his pecs like slabs and covered with a snarl of dark hair. There's a wicked V right above his hips that points at where our bodies are connecting, and I swear I could just sit here and grind against him and drink in his perfection forever.
His hands reach up and take my breasts, and he begins to slowly pump into me, lifting me a fraction with his thighs before lowering me onto his shaft. I can feel the ridge of his crown plowing in and out, that one inch of movement doing more for me than what other men have done with everything they had. I bury my hands in my hair, close my eyes, and allow myself to drift and lose myself in the sensation. I begin to rise up, pushing down harder against him, my breasts secure in his hands, sweat running down my back, my heart a fluttering bird that's beating itself against the bars of its cage.
I've never felt so alive. Never. Not even during the wildest moments in my youth. I rise and fall, and each time his cock pushes me further into the realms of ecstasy, the ache in my breasts loving his strong fingers, our sweat mingling with my juices where our bodies connect, and he's in so deep, his cock so hard.
Over and over again he plunges into me, and now I'm rising as high as I can so the head of his cock almost withdraws from my canal completely, loosely held between my lips before I thrust down on him and he slams in deep. His hands drop to my hips so that he can guide me with greater force, and each thrust becomes more powerful, his grunts raw and bestial, my own cries rising into the night.
"Saira," he cries out. "Oh, Saira, oh fuck, you're so good. So. Fucking. Good."
I can't even speak. His words are like oil thrown on a fire, and I let go, of everything, of my doubts, my fears, my past, my future. There is only now. This union. This physical state of perfection. I rise and fall like the tide, a force of nature, and a vortex of pleasure that's overwhelming and powerful builds within me, rising, rising, and we're moving fast and hard now, he's slamming into me with all the strength in his great body, his hips pistoning toward me in one continuous blur. I realize I'm screaming, and suddenly I'm scared, terrified of this orgasm that's about to break, to be unleashed within me, but it's too late.
I come like nothing I've ever felt before even as I feel Torben's whole body clench and his cock jerk and shoot hot streams of cum deep within me. He roars, the sound of a bear, raw and primeval, and his whole body is arched up, lifting me right off the mattress as I shake and wave after wave of pleasure pounds through me.
I see a riot of colors, fall through the void, and when I finally draw a breath it's a ragged gasp like a drowning woman finally finding air. I fall down next to him, his cock still buried inside me, and feel his muscled arms pull me close. I'm crying, and when Torben holds me tight it's all I could ask for, all I need.
Chapter 12
Pale, washed-out dawn light filters in through the cheap curtains, and I awake alone and curled up under the covers. I lie there for I don't know how long, just watching the light grow stronger, going from a weak, filtered gray to a washed-out white, my body content, my mind blank. It could be minutes, it could be an hour. I feel like I'm trapped outside of time, outside of
my own life. A sweet ache pulses between my legs, and my body feels loved, worn out, cherished.
Finally I stretch, rolling onto my back, and as I do so several things finally click into place. There's no sound coming from the bathroom. I half-assumed that Torben might be in there showering or whatever. Second, there's a torn sheet of paper on the pillow next to me. I prop myself up on one elbow and read the few lines:
My love. I've gone to Split Rock. It's too dangerous for me to bring you. Take the pickup south to Honeycomb Falls. If I live, I'll meet you there in a day. If I don't, forgive me. The Bear Cave is yours. If the least I can do is set you free, then it's more than I could have ever hoped for.
Yours, Torben
I sit up and reread the note quickly, then dart naked from the bed to the window, pulling back the curtain to see his pickup sitting outside. The keys are on the bedside table.
"No," I whisper. I whirl around, trying to think. He can't have gone without me. He can't have been that cruel. To leave me waiting and praying and hoping in an agony of ignorance. Could he be fighting right now for his life? If the rest of his clan is stronger and worse than Hrald, then who's to say they'll fight fair? Let him live?
My stomach knots up in panic, and my mind spins. I have to find him. I have no idea how I could help, but I have to do something. I have to at least be there in case he needs me. Stupid man! I get dressed, not even bothering to shower, but then stop at the door. Where am I going? Split Rock? Where the hell is that?
I grab my phone, but part of me already knows it won't be on any map. It's not listed in an online search either. Clearly it's a shifter place, hidden from men. How can I find it? I don't have time to go around asking every random gas station attendant if they know it. I need to find it, and now.
Don't Judge a Bear by His Cover: (BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Honeycomb Falls Book 6) Page 7