SHIFT: Five Complete Novellas (Bear Bites Book 5)

by Ruby Dixon

  Chapter Four

  ALEXA

  I toss and turn in my bed all night, replaying the interlude in the parking lot over and over again. Each time I go through it, though, I imagine his mouth descending on my aching pussy and licking it until my legs give out. Then he holds me up so he can continue tonguing me until I pass out. Then we go back to his place, he throws me down in his bed, shoves my knees to my ears, and hammers his cock into me until I see stars.

  At least, that’s how it is in my mind. The reality just kind of sucks.

  Truth is, I made him upset. I hurt his feelings. And I shouldn’t care because he’s a jerk and just wants to play me, but something about all of it sits all wrong.

  I’ve wanted more from you since I laid eyes on you.

  Such pretty lies. I wish he’d told me the truth. That he wanted a quick fuck and nothing more. Then I could hate him with no qualms. Lying about it just makes everything worse. So does the fact that I want him badly. My hand strays to my panties, but masturbating is useless. It reminds me that he caught me in my office, and now every time he sees me, he’s going to think about that.

  To think he almost tongued me in the parking lot. In front of the entire town.

  To think that I’m so incredibly disappointed that he didn’t.

  I hate this. I clench my fists and stare up at my ceiling. I can’t sleep. I can’t relax. I can’t masturbate. I just picture his smugly handsome face over and over again. I imagine him dipping his fingers in my honey jam—a euphemism if there ever was one—and then licking them clean. I imagine his face pressed against my thighs in the parking lot, and the look of bliss on his features.

  My pussy floods with heat, and I bite back a whimper. All right, Alexa, you oversexed book nerd, I tell myself. You can’t go on like this. What are your options?

  It helps to think things through. How can I handle this situation? I’ve tried to push Griffin aside, but he’s not buying it. I can continue to avoid him, turn down the materials he’s offering for the badly needed library expansion, and burn out my vibrator with constant usage.

  Oh, and shoot myself in the foot since all of that seems horrible. But that’s my option A.

  I suppose I could go for option B and have hot, dirty sex with him and then let him cast me aside. But the thought of him discarding me grinds my gears. I might be good for a bit of a parking-lot hustle, but not much more, in his eyes. And that pisses me off. I’m not good with having sex for lumber and then having to see him hang around and know that he’s rejected me just because I’m not some sort of magical shifter.

  So that option’s out.

  What’s left? I cast about for an answer and settle in on the only idea that doesn’t make me want to tear my hair out in frustration—talk things over with him like two normal adults.

  I fling myself out of bed, rip off my pajama shorts, and then slide on my jeans. I don’t change tops but throw on a hoodie to disguise the fact that I’m braless and wearing a nightshirt. I grab my purse, head out the door, and start the car.

  It isn’t until the bright green digits flash on the dashboard that I realize how late—or early—it is. 2 AM. I should wait until tomorrow.

  Nah, fuck that. I run a hand through my hair, put the car in reverse, and drive over to Griffin’s place.

  I shouldn’t know where his house is. I mean, Pine Falls is small, but it’s not that small. But because I’m an obsessed idiot, I looked up his address a while back and drove past a few times. Just out of curiosity. Nothing more. His house is deceptively normal and not something that screams ‘sleazy bachelor’. It’s a cute little two story with a swing on the front porch and flowerbeds along the walk. I didn’t take the man to be a gardener, but maybe he just likes working with his hands.

  Of course, that train of thought makes me all squirmy all over again. I need to get myself together.

  I park outside and stare up at the dark house. I’m like a crazy stalker to be doing this in the middle of the night, but I can’t help myself. I need some sort of resolution to this tug of war between us.

  I need that lumber.

  I need him to leave me alone.

  I need to get over this ridiculous attraction I have to him.

  He says he wants more than sex from me, but Mrs. Bell says all shifters act like dogs in heat and won’t have a relationship with a human, and I trust her a lot more than him.

  I drum my fingers on the steering wheel, thinking.

  Then it hits me.

  It’s not that I object to having sex with Griffin. The opposite, in fact. I think about sex with him a lot. Twenty-four/seven. I think that he’s the type of guy who knows what he’s doing and will give me the multiple orgasms I crave. Just thinking about that makes my body clench hard with want. It’s the whole ‘being discarded like you’re garbage afterward’ thing that really irks me. I have to live in this town with this jerk, and being intimate with him and then tossed aside just because I’m normal and human and not a shifter? That’s the part that keeps sticking in my craw. I’m good for a quick piece of ass but nothing else. I don’t want him to use me.

  So…maybe I need to use him instead.

  The idea unfurls in my mind slowly. Why can’t I get everything I want? I want the lumber. I want sex with the man. I don’t want to be used.

  I’ll just have to use him. If this is my idea and I go in with the whole ‘we’re gonna bang for just one night and I’m going to get everything I want out of him’ thing, then I can’t be hurt afterwards.

  He can just be like…a big vibrator. Him trying to talk might be a problem, but maybe I can ignore that. I’ll just need to take charge. Let him know I’m calling the shots.

  The thought gets me so excited, my hand immediately goes inside my jeans, ready to touch myself into orgasm. Then I stop, because I want him to do it for me. And that gets me even more aroused.

  What’s Griffin going to think when the buttoned-up town librarian shows up on his doorstep at two in the morning and demands sex?

  Hopefully, he thinks yes ma’am.

  I get out of the car, strip off my hoodie, and leave my purse on the floorboard of the passenger seat. Now all I have are my keys. No phone, no wallet, no make-up. Just me, like I am. The walk to his front door feels like it takes a million years, and for a brief moment, I’m tempted to turn and get back into my car, drive home, and call it a mistake. But then the wind picks up, and my nipples get hard through my thin sleep shirt, and it reminds me that I ache.

  I ache everywhere. And Griffin can fix that for me. He can give me what I’m craving, and if I take it, it’s not the same as being used. I’m going to be the user.

  I’m going to be the user.

  I chant this to myself as I step up on his porch and knock on the door. A dog barks inside, and I stiffen, my body going into alert mode. Before I can panic, a low voice murmurs something, and I hear footsteps approaching the door.

  A moment later, the door cracks open. It’s Griffin, his smug, cocky face sleepy. His hair is sticking up on end, and he rubs a hand through it, which only makes it worse. His chest is bare, and he’s wearing a pair of sleep pants, no more. And he looks confused. Groggy, too. “Alexa? What’s up—”

  I push my way inside and press a finger to his lips, silencing him before he can spout more lies at me. “This will work better if you don’t talk.”

  His brows go up. He starts to speak, and I press my finger harder against his lips. “I mean it. Don’t ruin this for me.” And I reach down and grab his junk.

  I’m no virgin. I’ve handled junk before. But…this is not just junk. This is, like, junk with a capital J. Junk. The man’s equipped like a monster crane with a pair of wrecking balls underneath.

  His eyes narrow at my touch, and then he grabs me and pulls me against him. “Knew you’d see it my way—”

  “Shh,” I interrupt, before he can kill this. “I want to be the one in charge.”

  His mouth cocks up in a small smile, and he tugs me i
nside, then shuts the door behind me. “You tell me what you need.”

  Oh, God, do I need. I run a hand down his bare chest. “I want you to finish what you started in the parking lot.”

  I feel him tense under my hand. He grabs my ass and palms it roughly, forcing me to spread my legs a little in order to keep standing. “You want me to get down on my knees and lick your sweet little pussy until you cream for me?”

  When he puts it like that? Yes, yes I do.

  But I force myself to set a few ground rules first. He needs to know that even if he gets all dominant on me, I’m still in charge. “Before we go any further, I need to make a few things clear.” My fingers stroke over one rock-hard pectoral, and I swear, I get wet just brushing my fingertips over that particular muscle.

  “Shoot.”

  “My safe word is ‘yogurt.’”

  His brows raise. “You into kinky shit, Alexa?”

  Am I? I pause, then consider. “I’m open to it, as long as what we do is for me and not you.”

  If he thinks that’s a weird statement, he doesn’t care. His hand flexes on my ass, reminding me that we’re stalling. “Anything else?”

  “Protection. We need some. I’m not on the pill.”

  “I’ve got condoms.”

  “And I’ve got to be in charge of how things go,” I tell him. “That means if I decide I need to get up and leave and you’re not done, that’s too bad.”

  His eyebrow goes up. Just one. Just enough to irk me.

  “That’s how it has to be.” I give his chest a little push. “If you don’t like it, then let me go.”

  “Just wondering why you seem to think you’ll be wanting to get up before I’m done.”

  I can think of a bunch of reasons myself. “In case it’s not any good?”

  The cocky smile returns to his face. “Oh, that won’t be a problem.”

  Chapter Five

  GRIFFIN

  I lay my mouth against hers, and the moment our lips touch, I realize this is the first time we’ve kissed. I’ve imagined it many times, parting her cherry lips with my tongue and diving deep. It’s nothing like I thought it would be.

  I didn’t realize her soft lips moving against mine would make me weak-kneed. I didn’t know that her tentative tongue flicking against mine would make my head spin. I didn’t understand that swallowing her moan inside of me would change my world forever.

  But it does, and I’m not even one little bit sorry.

  I sweep a hand underneath her nightshirt to find bare flesh. The thought of her tits under my tongue is irresistible. She’s here. She’s not some fantasy. Some fevered dream-Alexa I’ve conjured up because I can’t have the real thing. She’s here in the delectable flesh. Savoring her is going to take some time.

  “You going in to work tomorrow?” I ask, breaking away from her juicy mouth.

  “Work?” She’s a little befuddled, which fills me with a sick sort of satisfaction. It’s only fair that her thought processes go a little haywire when my hands are on her. I get that way just being near her, just breathing in her scent.

  “Yeah, because tonight—or this morning, whatever you want to call it—is going to last a long time. Neither of us are getting any sleep for a long time.”

  Her eyes widen. “I…ah…I have to work tomorrow.”

  “Then you’re going to drink a lot of coffee, and I’m going to drive you to and from work. I don’t want you punch-drunk and tired on the roads.”

  “Griffin, you don’t need to take care of me. This is just a physical thing between us.” She tries to shift out of my embrace, but I won’t let her. She came here. She drove all the way to my house in the middle of the night and pounded on my door until I answered. She’s not going anywhere.

  “If you say so.”

  “I do say so.” She clears her throat. “And I want to make sure you understand that I’m going to need that discount on the building supplies.”

  A wide grin splits my face. “Of course you are.”

  So that’s how she convinced herself to come over. She’s going to use me. Well, hallelujah. I’m glad something worked.

  I consider taking Alexa right there in the entryway of my house because I’m afraid she’s going to change her mind. But then she drove all the way here. It’s two in the morning. I kinda doubt she’d put herself to that effort only to run now. Besides, no matter how much I’d like to tie her up and keep her, I know that the Shifter Council tends to frown on that sort of thing.

  Hell, technically we’re not supposed to be with humans. Show them around the woods, sell them supplies, make them spend their money, but take them for mates? That’s a solid no.

  But if others are going to do it, then I am, too.

  “Then let’s stop wasting time talking and get upstairs.”

  I scoop her up and take the stairs two at a time. Inside my bedroom, I drop her on the edge of the bed. “You said downstairs that this is all about you, so you tell me what you want me to do.”

  She raises her head, exposing the tender skin of her neck. I can’t wait to make my mark there. “I want you to make me feel good.”

  “Any specific requests?”

  Alexa’s cheeks pink up, but she doesn’t look away. “No, I’ll leave it up to your judgment.”

  I get busy with the waistband of her jeans. “I think I’ll finger you first. I’ve wanted to touch your pussy for a long time. After I’ve fingered you until you’ve soaked my palm, I’ll probably coat my dick with your juice.” She lifts her ass for me so I can tug her jeans off. I do it slowly so I can enjoy the reveal. Light-blue panties appear, followed by creamy thighs. Her knees are smooth, and I take the time to caress her ankles and the tops of her feet. And then, like I’m not just saying the filthiest things to her, I continue casually. “Once I’m wet with you, I’ll wrap up and spread your legs so I can stretch your tight sheath with my cock. I know it’ll take a moment for you to get used to me. I’m a big boy. But you’ll take me. And once I’m fully seated, it’ll be hard for you to breathe because you’ll be so full. That’s what you want, baby, isn’t it? To have your pussy crammed full of cock?”

  I tip my head back, looking up from her pretty toes to see her cheeks as rosy as Mrs. Bliss’ flowers in June.

  Alexa clears her throat. Once. Twice. And then, “You’re a lot of talk and not much action.”

  I grin at her. “Then let’s get to the action.”

  I place a kiss on either side of her knees and then nibble and kiss my way toward the juncture of her legs. She falls back and sighs, her legs parting so I can see how sopping wet her panties already are.

  “Baby, we have got to take these off. They cannot be comfortable,” I murmur against the inside of her thigh. Her panties fall away with a tug and a kick of her feet. Once I touch her, all the dirty words I plan to say to her die on my tongue, only to transform into all the dirty things I want to do to her. I slide two fingers around her clit, squeezing that berry lightly, spreading her moisture all over her cunt. She moans and writhes against the bedspread.

  I have got to get her naked. I need to see her tits. I need to have my tongue on them. I’m gonna die if I don’t.

  I make quick work of the buttons on her silky shirt. When I part the fabric, all the breath is sucked out of me. “Sweet Jesus, you are beautiful.” I’ve never seen such a perfect pair of breasts—plump and tipped with rosy nipples hardened into tight points. I run one finger along the underside of her breast and then cup her just so I can feel the glorious weight in my palm.

  She shifts restlessly under my gaze. I slide my fingers along her pouty, swollen cunt lips and then dip in slowly, savoring my first feel of her pussy. One hand in her cunt, one on her breast. She’s the best handful a bear could have.

  “I could come just doing this,” I tell her as I press my lips against the top curve of her breast. “Just looking at you makes me harder than a steel spike. Touching you like this?” I stroke her shallowly with slow, even thrusts. “
It’s taking restraint I didn’t even know I possessed. Tell me if I’m touching you where you need to be touched. Kissing you where you need to be kissed. Tell me if you want it harder, softer, rougher, more tender. I want to know you, Alexa.”

  I place a peck on the tip of one nipple and move to her other breast.

  “You’re…you’re doing fine,” she gasps out.

  “Fine? That’s a terrible word, baby. I don’t want you to feel fine. I want this to be awesome.” I drive my fingers in until my palm slaps against her pussy.

  Her response gets caught in her throat. Yeah, no way does this feel fine. She’s boiling hot, wetter than a rain shower in April, and so goddamned amazing that I tear my hand away from her tit to squeeze my balls to the point of pain so I don’t come all over her hip.

  I want to be inside her when I shoot my load. I want her to feel it. To understand what it means to be claimed by me and to do her own claiming. I want to walk around tomorrow with her scent imprinted deep in my bones.

  Her pussy clenches my fingers as I drag them out, making the channel impossibly narrow. She’s going to feel like a vise around my cock. I pinch my balls even harder.

  “Your pussy loves this. Admit it,” I growl into the valley between her tits.

  Her pussy pulses rapidly. I can feel the telltale tremors undulate like tiny waves against my fingers.

  “It’s good,” she manages to squeeze out between labored breaths.

  Oh, now she’s just fucking with me. I reapply myself, working her in steady, forceful thrusts with my finger. I ravage her tits, suckling on one erect nipple and then the other.