“I like the part where you describe Hyde as a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in sarcasm wrapped in the body of a Greek god,” Dominic said.
Thalia laughed. “Thank you. Unfortunately, like everything else in red, I need to replace it with something more professional.”
Dominic hummed, thoughtful. “You like Hyde, then?”
“Okay,” Thalia said, setting her multi-tool down, “why is everyone asking me that?”
“Because he needs someone,” Dominic replied, “and you… he lets you in, I think.”
“Oh my God. I’m totally the girl at your engagement party in the red dress,” Thalia breathed out, eyes wide. Dominic looked at her curiously and she waved him off. “Don’t worry about it. I’m just going to…” she picked her multi-tool back up and starting working again.
There was surprisingly little left to do. She had planned it out so that Hyde’s personal story would enhance but not dominate the article, so within half an hour she was finished and edited. She looked down at her multi-tool in disbelief and mild suspicion, like it all was about to disappear.
“Done?” Dominic asked her.
“I think I am,” she told him.
He looked down at his tablet. “Hyde gets off shift in thirty minutes. You should show him.”
“Thank you,” she told him, standing and stretching. Her legs were stiff and her spine popped uncomfortably, but she felt better than she had in ages. “I’ll see you around.”
Dominic grunted in lieu of a reply and Thalia almost flew back to Hyde’s room. She tossed the multi-tool on the table and opened the list Annie had, indeed, sent her, sending a message to each one notifying them of the article going live before opening her blog and, before she could think twice, uploaded the article.
She looked at the holoscreen for a moment, staring in fascination at the date of publication under the title, before shaking herself out of it. Hyde would be back soon and she wanted to shower before he arrived. Grabbing a change of clothes and tossing them on the bed, she slipped into the bathroom and started up the sonics. She stripped quickly and hopped in, sighing in relief as she felt the clean-feeling tingle cover her skin. As she tilted her head back and closed her eyes, she tried to think up what she wanted to say to Hyde. She knew the points she wanted to convey, but felt that begging him to let her stay was a bit much. She decided to say what she wanted as plainly as she could and let things fall where they might.
She didn’t want to get out of the shower, but she also didn’t want to be the person who used all of someone else’s charge so she reluctantly stepped out and wrapped herself in a towel. Walking out of the bathroom, she stopped short at the sight of Hyde sitting at his desk and looking over the article. Her heart did something dramatic at the sight of him staring so intently at the screen.
“I was expecting it to be a good article,” he told her quietly, “but I wasn’t expecting this. It’s… amazing. You…” He swallowed.
Thalia walked carefully over to him, feeling a tingle of shock go through her as she saw the steadily rising viewer count. “Well, that’s my job.”
“You do it well,” he told her with a wet laugh. “You really did it, you know?”
“I had a lot of help,” she said, suddenly nervous. “You’ve got a pretty good network here. I’ve been wondering if you’d let me be part of it for a little longer.”
He looked up at her, an incomprehensible table of emotions in his eye. Gently, he reached out and took her hand. “Just don’t corner me in a bar the next time you need a favor, okay?”
Thalia smiled and, before she could second guess herself, leaned in and pressed a kiss against his lips. He sat perfectly still for a moment before leaning in. There were words somewhere, in some language, that could describe the sensation of his mouth on hers but in that moment Thalia couldn’t think of a single one.
They broke apart and Thalia smirked at him. “So, you a third date type of guy, or…”
Hyde growled, heat flashing in his eye. “So help me God I will throw you on that bed.”
“Don’t bother,” Thalia told him, pushing away from him. “Let me.”
She sauntered over to the bed as best she could on legs that were about to give out and dropped the towel before laying down as gracefully as she could. Turning over so she could look at Hyde, she was delighted to see he was staring hungrily at her.
“You look…” he trailed off and shook his head.
“Mmm, I know. So, you gonna get over here or what?” Thalia asked, like she wasn’t naked on the bed of the most attractive man she’d ever seen. Forcing herself to remain outwardly nonchalant she rolled her shoulders. “I’m getting cold. And bored.”
“Well, we can’t have that,” Hyde said roughly, yanking a boot off.
“I’m glad you understand,” she told him as he pulled the other one off as well and started for his belt. “Also, as much as I appreciate the strip tease, I’d definitely prefer it if you came over here instead.”
“You want me to leave my clothes on?” he asked, eyebrow raised.
“I want you, period, and you’re taking too damn long,” she replied.
Hyde grinned at her and pulled his belt through the loops, tossing it across the room. He sauntered over to the bed. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you patience is a virtue?”
As soon as he was close enough, Thalia reached up and grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him towards her. He was surprised enough that she was able to unbalance him, dragging him down so that he was half on and half off the mattress, his right knee digging into the bed beside her hip and his right hand bracing himself on the pillow so he didn’t crush her. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you to treat a lady right?”
Hyde smiled and leaned into her. “Well,” he said against her lips, “if that’s what you want, I’ll see what I can do.”
He pressed his mouth to hers, hard but chaste, but Thalia had never been one for teasing caresses and gentle touches in bed. She parted her lips and arched up, making Hyde moan. Sliding her arms around his neck, she took the opportunity to lick her way inside his mouth as he settled on top of her.
Thalia slid her bare legs along his clothed ones, delighting in the contrast as the sensation sent sparks of pleasure though her body. The way her breasts brushed against the material of his shirt somehow felt more erotic than any touch she’d had in the past and she whimpered as Hyde slid a hand down along her side and cupped her ass.
“Aren’t you going to tell me what you want?” he asked in a voice like melted chocolate, squeezing ever so slightly.
“You,” Thalia gasped out. “I want you to touch me. I want you to fuck me.”
“Maybe if you ask nicely I’ll consider it,” Hyde said with a wicked grin.
Thalia looked up at him, widening her eyes and slipping her hands down to the fly of his pants.
“Please, Hyde,” she breathed out as she undid the button. “Please fuck me.”
If the look in Hyde’s whiskey-gold eye had been hot before, now it was molten. “Anything you want,” he said as she worked his zipper down.
Thalia stroked his hardening member lightly, pleased by the ragged edge his breathing took.
“I’m so glad you think that,” she told him, applying slightly more pressure to hear his breath hitch, “because you’re here, and I’m here, and I have a birth control implant, so really there’s nothing stopping you from fucking me into you matress. And I really, really want you to do that.”
Hyde groaned. “Are you ready, or…?”
“I’m past ready,” Thalia said, because he was big but she was impatient and besides, she wanted to feel it tomorrow, a tangible reminder of what had happened.
Hyde swore and reached down, lining himself up and sinking ever so slowly into her. Thalia sighed and pressed herself down, trying to increase his maddeningly slow pace, but he was stronger than her and pinned her in place. She was helpless, whining and squirming in his grasp, until at last he was fully inside her.
He paused for a moment to let her adjust and Thalia nearly snarled at him.
“If you don’t move in the next three seconds,” she told him, “I swear, I’ll leave and—” The rest of the threat was cut off by a gasp and Hyde thrust his hips forward suddenly, sending something electric sparking through her. “Oh, God, like that.”
Hyde rocked forward again, repeating the motion until he had settled into a brutally passionate pace that left Thalia gasping for breath. It had never been like this before, never been this hot or this wet or this good, and suddenly she felt cheated. Everyone, she though deliriously, should have a Hyde, as long as they didn’t try to take hers.
Thalia was, distantly, aware that this was both already the best sex she’d ever have at only a minute in and also going to be over embarrassingly quickly on her end. She could already feel the tell-tale pulse of pleasure thrumming between her legs as she gasped and moaned as quietly as she could while Hyde moved over her, his eye squeezed shut and mouth slightly open as he panted. There was a thin sheen of sweat over his face and Thalia thought he might be the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. She wanted, very badly, to have this forever—the gleam in his eye when he looks at her and his smiles and his threats that he never meant and everything else. Then Hyde hit something inside her and it was like every nerve in her lit up with pleasure and thought was suddenly beyond her. All there was, was her body and his body and the perfect way they moved together.
Hyde grunted over her as the arm he’d been using to hold himself up trembled and gave out and he ended up sprawled on top of her. The warm weight of him and the steady thrusts of his hips combined pushed Thalia even closer to the edge and she turned his face so she could kiss him. He slid his lips down to suck at the sensitive skin just under her ear and she clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle a shout as she felt herself begin to shake apart. Distantly she was aware of the sounds of Hyde’s orgasm following on the heels of her own but she was too caught up in the whirlwind of her own pleasure to be able to do anything but observe.
Finally, the sensations died down and Hyde rolled over, slipping out of Thalia’s sensitive body. They lay there, getting their breath back, and Thalia reached over to slip her hand in Hyde’s.
“So was it good for you too?” she asked breathlessly.
He laughed. “It was… yeah. It was good.” He squeezed her hand. “Thalia…”
Thalia looked over and saw questions in his eye, hesitations and worries and just a smudge of hope. She smiled and him and rolled over so that she was half on top of him.
“Hey,” she said gently, reaching up to cup his face. “Relax.”
She leaned down to kiss him and felt the tension leave his body as he wrapped his arms around her. His mouth curved under hers and Thalia could swear her heart skipped a beat.
This, she thought. This I could get used to.
Winston
Grizzly Groomsmen III
by
Becca Fanning
Waking up to rain was usually one of Rosie's favorite things. The soft patter of the drops on the window, the promise that she had a reason not to leave the house that day-did you see the weather, no way I'm going out in that, I'll just stay in. But today was one of the few days that she'd been praying to wake up to anything but the sound of rain outside her bedroom, and, of course, that was what she'd gotten.
Rosie rolled over in her bed- it was unfamiliar, a too-sleek hotel-room deal, and she hadn't slept well anyway. As soon as the wind had started up earlier in the night, she'd found her rest disturbed, and struggled to push through the rest of the night without just getting up and watching the storm pull in. She'd begged out of the party the night before a little early, hoping to catch up on some of her jet lag, and she still remembered the potent look of disappointment on Dina's face.
"Are you sure? Can't tempt you to stay up a little longer?" Her brow creased, a small V forming between her eyes- Dina had always been the hostess with the mostest, and Rosie knew it was probably annoying her that she couldn't make her stick at the party a little bit longer. "This isn't about him, is it?"
"I'm sorry, I'm just knackered," Rosie yawned, a wave of tiredness causing all her muscles to sag. "I'll be up early to help with stuff tomorrow, though, yeah?"
"Sure," Dina beamed, the couple of glasses of champagne she'd been sipping on throughout the night clearly softening the blow. "See you at breakfast, right?"
"Yeah, see you then," Rosie leaned over to give her a hug- part of her really wanted to invite Dina back to her room, and stay up all night drinking and laughing and gossiping like they'd done back in the day, but she knew she needed rest.
She'd slid out of her fancy reception dress and into her pajamas, and fallen almost straight to sleep as soon as she pulled the covers up around her neck. She barely had time to think about everything that was coming over the next couple of days- the wedding, the parties, the dancing, the socializing. If Rosie was being honest with herself, she knew that this wasn't really her scene, but she would never have let Dina down. The two of them were cousins, the kind that grew up almost as close as sisters, and it wasn't in Rosie to disappoint her.
Rosie was an over thinker, if she was anything, and the thought that she might end up stuck on the island Dina had picked for her wedding had crossed her mind- but she tried to push it from her thoughts as she caught the private jet out to the gorgeous location. She had marveled at how well Dina had done for herself, to be able to afford a wedding this opulent and luxurious, but then, she'd moved to the city to make something of herself, and if this was how she wanted to spend her cash, who was Rosie to suggest anything different?
But then she'd woken up to the sound of a storm whipping through the island, and she'd known that it probably meant she'd be stuck there for at least an extra day or two. She turned back over in bed and pulled the pillow over her head, hoping that if she just shut out the noises outside she could pretend none of it was happening. It was still early-maybe five, six in the morning- and she could already imagine the state of panic that Dina was in now that the storm had begun. Rosie didn't envy her the stress, on top of everything else she was trying to hold together. Even still, Rosie couldn't help but feel a little bit resentful, knowing she was going to be stuck in the nexus of coupledom while she was painfully and totally single.
When she'd received that invitation- it must have been six months ago now- she had happily ticked the plus-one box without a second thought. Well, she'd been with Jacob for more than two years at that point-why should she think anything different? Maybe she should have spotted the look on his face when she mentioned the date, the flash of fear that crossed his eyes when she said the word "wedding". Ever since they'd moved in together, everyone had been nudging them towards answering the big question-when were they getting married? Where they thinking of settling down soon? Was he ever going to make an honest woman out of her? She had always laughed the question off, reminding the asker that they were both only twenty-four and certainly in no rush to hurry on the next bit of their relationship. And he'd always nodded and agreed and put his arm around her waist and made her think that he felt the same way. They would get there when they got there, and neither of them were in any rush. Deep down, Rosie had always thought he was the one- the big one. She'd known the chances of meeting her actual other half at her age were pretty slim, but hey, people got lucky, didn't they? Why couldn't she?
And then, of course, came the big revelation, the big reveal, the curtain-drop moment. When Jacob had been in the shower one afternoon- just a normal afternoon, the two of them kicking round the flat separately- his phone had buzzed and, without thinking, Rosie had grabbed it to check who was texting. And instead of a sweet message from his mom checking in, or one of his friends organizing a night out, she found…well, it made her go red and angry and all sorts of things just to think about it, but it wasn't the kind of thing any woman should be sending her live-in boyfriend. And just like that, her entire life collapsed around her
in one swift motion. She'd heard about things like this happening to other women- women who weren't her, women in magazines and sitcoms and romance novels- but she had honestly felt her entire world tilt on it's axis as soon as she saw that photograph. She'd sat, holding his phone limply in her hand, until he came back through and gave her that look. It was as if he knew, straightaway, without question, what she had seen- sometimes Rosie wondered if he had intended for her to see it, just to save himself the bother of breaking up with her himself.
Ian (BBW Bear Shifter Wedding Romance) (Grizzly Groomsmen Book 4) Page 9