The Bear and His Water Goddess [The Shifters of Freedom Springs 4] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Maia Dylan

Liam knew he was pressing the guy, but he wanted him to switch the anger he was feeling toward an innocent young woman, onto him. Of course, if the dumb shit actually acted on that, then all the better. A charge of assaulting a police officer on top of the assault charges on Bridget would see him in a while lot more trouble.

  Ryan’s grin was back. “Yep! She sure is.”

  “Great, well come on little man.” Liam tugged on the arm he held, knowing that the guy was close to breaking point. “Why don’t you climb on out of the booth, we’ll grab the cuffs we use on women so that we know they’ll fit your wrists, and we can take you over to the station, little-“

  The man came up swinging. Liam ducked beneath the swing and dropped the guy to the table with a precision shoulder lock, grinning as Ryan roared with laughter.

  “Damn, that was almost poetic!” Ryan jumped up from the table. “Fi! Can you please box up our lunches for Liam and me so we can go process this dude! Little man here has gone from a common assault conviction with a penalty of a fine, to assault committed on a peace officer responsible for preserving public order, promoting public safety, and preventing and detecting crime. And that, ladies and gentlemen, shifts us into the realm of aggravated assault and this guy will see the inside of a jail cell.”

  Liam had the man cuffed and standing as the restaurant exploded into applause. He turned and was about to drop into a small bow to acknowledge the ovation, but paused when he saw Neve striding in his direction. His heart stuttered for a moment then pounded heavily at the look her eyes. He shoved his prisoner toward Ryan, and caught Neve as she leapt into his arms. She swallowed his gasp of surprise and pleasure as she claimed his mouth with hers.

  He could scent her arousal and Liam, gripped her hips tight as his own began to spiral out of control. Just when he was about to tell Ryan to take care of their prisoner himself and go find the closest flat surface, Neve pulled back, panting for air.

  “Jesus, Liam, that was so fucking hot,” Neve murmured and gently squeezed him with her thighs. His eyes crossed briefly at the feeling of her jean-clad pussy pushing up against his rock-hard erection. He bit back a groan when she leaned forward and bit his earlobe gently before whispering, “Tonight, I am going to show you just how hot that made me.”

  Liam stood speechless, afraid that if he opened his mouth to talk, his tongue would just roll right onto the floor. For lack of the ability to form coherent speech, he smiled, pressed a kiss to her temple, and walked out the door, only stumbling slightly. He thought he might have got away with it until Ryan chuckled from beside him.

  “Problem there, Deputy Sheriff Asshole?” Ryan quipped, and Liam refused to dignify that with an answer and flipped him off instead.

  Chapter 4

  “How’s your chocolate mousse, baby girl?” Liam asked her, and Neve grinned back. After the sexual tension within her hit boiling point this afternoon at the diner, Neve had thought they would have skipped dinner completely and headed back to Liam’s place. But he had insisted that dinner would simply add to the anticipation. And it had.

  The heated looks, and lingering touches, the way they would each stop midsentence and lose themselves in each other’s eyes to the point they forgot what they were talking about, was definitely building her arousal to a slow simmer. The entire time they had been in the restaurant was the most erotic and pleasure-inducing foreplay she had ever taken part in.

  Neve tilted her head coyly. “It’s perfect. Creamy and thick, and just melts in my mouth.” Wickedly, Neve placed a spoonful of the decadent chocolate dessert between her lips, sucking strongly on the spoon. Liam’s eyes fell instantly to her mouth, and she saw his jaw tighten as he gritted his teeth. When she slowly pulled the spoon out, and flicked her tongue against the end of it, Liam’s eyes flashed with heat.

  “Check please!” he yelled, throwing his hand in the air, and Neve giggled. “This is not funny, Neve. My god, you have me so fucking hard for you, I—”

  “Hey! Neve!” a man’s voice called and startled both of them out of their private world. Neve blinked a couple of times desperately trying to clear the arousal from her eyes, and glanced to her left to where the voice had come from. Her eyes widened when Bryan from the lingerie store walked toward her. “I thought that was you! Man, you look fantastic in that dress.”

  A low growling rumble came from across the table. Liam had in fact been rendered speechless when Neve had made her way downstairs in her new dress. It was a simple black dress with cupped sleeves and a sweetheart neckline. The bodice was tight fitting to her waist and made her breasts look pretty fantastic if she did say so herself, and the empire waistline and flirty skirt that fell to just above her knees made her feel soft and feminine. The thigh-high stockings and underwear she wore beneath it made her feel wanton and sexy as hell.

  Neve stared at Bryan for a moment, not sure what to do as he stopped beside their table. “Um, hi Bryan.” Neve shot a quick glance at Liam and nibbled her bottom lip when she saw that his gaze was locked intently on the man standing beside her, and his bear was very much in his eyes.

  “So, I guess it’s working out and all, huh?” Bryan asked with a nod in Liam’s direction. The rumbling increased in intensity.

  “Ah yeah…yes, it is thanks. Bryan, this is Liam Barrett. Liam, this is Bryan. Casey and I met him this afternoon when we were shopping.” Neve figured if they at least knew each other’s names then perhaps Liam wouldn’t kill him.

  “Liam, pleasure to meet you.” Bryan turned and nodded in Liam’s direction.

  Liam grinned, but his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Oh, I can assure you, the pleasure is all mine.” Neve frowned. The two men stared at each other for a moment and Neve felt like she was missing a conversation the two of them were having. When Bryan suddenly smiled and dipped his head in a kind of acknowledgement, she was damned sure she had missed some kind of secret, man-society, chest-thumping, man moment.

  “Well, don’t let me interrupt your evening anymore,” Bryan turned and winked in her direction.

  “Oh, we won’t,” Liam answered before Neve managed to get a word out.

  “Have a great evening, Neve.” Bryan winked at her before he turned to walk away. He paused after two steps and turned back with a smirk on his face. “And remember what I said, you look fantastic in that bra and panty set. Liam is one lucky son of a bitch.”

  The silence after he dropped that little bit of information and walked away was deafening. Neve could hear her own breathing and pounding heart as she locked gazes with the man across the table from her. All thoughts of the teasing and flirting from before were gone. She watched as his eyes flickered back to their normal warm chocolate brown. His expression was thoughtful and he looked at her so intensely Neve struggled to draw a full breath.

  “Um, so funny story.” Neve laughed nervously, but Liam shook his head. Neve gulped audibly, wondering what he might be thinking. The waitress chose that moment to make an appearance. Neve sat nervously through the time it took Liam to scan the bill, count out cash from his billfold and place it in the folder, before handing it back to the waitress.

  “I have only one question, baby girl,” Liam asked as he sat forward, leaning his elbows on the table. “Did you buy some naughty knickers for me to take off you tonight?” Liam’s voice dropped in tone and was filled with a desire that had her blood thickening, and a rush of heat pooling between her legs.

  At this point, Neve realized that her mouth had now dried up to the point where talking was absolutely impossible, so she simply nodded, never taking her eyes from Liam’s. Her heart stuttered when she saw his eyes darken, and he swept his gaze down to her chest. His eyes narrowed as he stared intently at her breasts she could have sworn she actually felt his touch.

  “We’re leaving,” Liam rasped, his voice harsh. “Normally, baby girl, I would take your hand and help you from your seat. I would place my hand at the small of your back and lead you through this restaurant, but right now, if I touch you like th
at I might just fucking go up in flame. So, here’s the plan. We are going to stand up as quickly as possible, you are going to take my hand and we are going to move through this restaurant, out to the car park and get into my truck as fast as humanly possible.

  “I apologize in advance if I pull you too fast, or if you have to run in those heels, but we are still going to make it through this place quick. Once we are in the truck, I am going to fight my very clear, first instinct to drive like a bat outta hell back to my place, and I will get us home safe and sound, but as fast as I can. Then, oh baby girl,” Liam’s voice dropped even lower and Neve gasped at the vibrations it sent through her body, stroking and igniting every erogenous zone she had. “Then, as soon as we get in my door, I will take a seat in my lounge, and you are going to show me these naughty knickers that are so fucking hot, they made a man with a fucking death wish decide to mess with a man with a jealous bear inside him. Are we clear?”

  Neve’s pulse was now galloping, and her breathing rate had increased. The things this man said to her, and the damn tone he used to say it had her pussy clenching with need.

  “Yeah, baby, we’re clear,” Neve leaned forward, assuming the same position as Liam, with her elbows on the table. “I’ll do all of that for you, because I want you just as badly as you want me. But there’s something I’m going to want in return.”

  Liam’s eyes narrowed, but his grin broadened. “Baby girl, right about now, you could ask me to buy you a fucking country, and I’ll find a way to do it if it means I get to see you dance in those naughty undies, then bury myself inside you.”

  Neve laughed softly. “Oh. I’m not asking for a country, baby. I’m asking for you to dance for me when I ask you, too. Deal?” She loved the slight shocked look on Liam’s face, obviously that thought hadn’t even crossed his mind, but she knew he’d take up the challenge.

  “Deal.” With that, he stood up quickly and held out his hand. Grinning, Neve stood so fast her chair almost toppled over, gripped his hand and they were racing through the restaurant. She saw the shocked look on the waitresses face as they sped past her, and laughed when she heard her yell after them.

  “You go girl! He’s hot!” Yes he was. He was her Hottie McHotterson.

  * * * *

  Liam gripped Neve’s hand in his and held it on his thigh. He steadfastly refused to look at her, knowing that if he took his eyes of the road and stared at her beauty, he would end up wrapping his truck around a fucking tree! His entire body hummed with the need to be with Neve. When that fucker had come to her at the restaurant, Liam had to basically put his bear in a choke hold to keep him back.

  Every possessive instinct he possessed barreled to the fore when the man looked at Liam’s woman, not disguising the fact he wanted her for himself. Liam could scent the man’s arousal and for that fact alone his bear wanted to wallow in the man’s entrails. Then the ballsy bastard tried to start him down. Him! A fucking alpha bear shifter! He didn’t stand a chance. And just when Liam had the bastard beat, and leaving he dropped that line about Neve’s underwear.

  Liam’s jealousy had spiked for a moment, but then it ebbed back when he realized Neve had purchased something special that day, just for him. And Liam was without doubt that he was the reason she purchased it. He didn’t know how that smarmy prick knew what Neve had on beneath her killer dress, but he was one-hundred-percent certain he hadn’t seen her delectable body in it. That much was obvious. If he had, the man would never have backed down and Liam would have had to kill the son of a bitch out of principal.

  He could scent Neve’s arousal, thick in the air of the truck and Liam’s bear rumbled with pleasure. Liam had never known his bear to be so affected by a female. Hell, he never got this excited or possessive of his own mate! And that warranted further thought, but he was not going to do that tonight. No siree, not with his mate wearing naughty undies and willing to dance for him. He felt like screaming a Hallelujah chorus when he finally pulled into his drive and laughed softly when he heard Neve’s sigh of relief.

  The two of them leapt from the truck, having not said a word since they left the restaurant. Liam gripped her hand in his again, and hurried her up the stairs that lead to his porch. Cursing as he fumbled with his keys, trying to unlock the door. Finally, as he stepped inside and pulled her across the threshold, he slammed the door, pressed her back against it and slammed his mouth to hers.

  Fuck, she was so damn responsive! Her entire body melted into his as he slid his tongue into her mouth. He gently pushed his hips forward, pressing his erection against the softness of her belly, loving that she rolled the bottom half of her body into his. He reached up to grip her face with both hands and tilted it to the angel he wanted, then dove in for a deeper kiss. His tongue tangled with hers, and he sucked it into his mouth, swallowing her low moan of pleasure. Pulling back, he gently sucked her bottom lip into his mouth, lightly bit it then swept his tongue over the sting.

  Breathing heavy, he looked into her desire-laden eyes. Her beautiful blue eyes were darker than he had ever seen them. They were now his favorite color, and knowing that they became that dark when she was intensely aroused, it became his mission in life to see them darken to that color as much as possible. Daily if he had his way.

  “Baby girl,” Liam whispered, sweeping his thumbs across the soft skin of her cheeks. “I have dreamt about having you here in my home, in my arms, in my bed. Will you dance for me?”

  The smile she gave him should have been outlawed. It screamed of seduction, and a wantonness that had his dick hardening even further. Something he would have thought near impossible just moments before.

  “Why don’t you put some music on, I can dance, too. Something with a Spanish beat to it.” Neve moved around him, removing her winter coat as she went and throwing it over his couch. Placing her sky-high heels beside the couch she turned to look at him, her hands clasped gently in front of her. She stood so innocently in the center of his living room. If it hadn’t been for the wicked confidence shining in her eyes, he would have told her she didn’t have to.

  He moved the coffee table out of her way as he went over to his sound system. He selected a song he had loved for years, and thought it might be the beat she was looking for. He sat down on the arm chair, and watched her as the strong beat of a bass guitar followed by the skillful strumming of a guitar in the hands of a master followed behind it. The opening lyrics of “Maria Maria” by Santana and The Product G&B started moments later and he saw a smile grace Neve’s beautiful face.

  She knew the song. He placed his hands on the arms of the chair and sat silently watching as Neve closed her eyes for a moment, and her hips caught the beat. It became real clear, real fast that Neve not only had rhythm, but she knew how to move in the most sensually seductive way, it had Liam sitting forward just so that he was closer.

  She moved to stand in the middle of the room, with a sensual sway of her hips, and fluidity to her movements that had Liam’s blood thickening within him. As soon as she stood in front of him, she leveled her gaze on him, and he felt his mouth dry up at the heat in her eyes. She slowly started to move her feet in a fluid salsa move that drew his gaze to her hips. He was immediately distracted by her hands as she dragged the back of them up her sides, past the luscious curve of her breasts and into her hair.

  A few movements later, and her hair tumbled loose around her shoulders. She reached up and plunged her hands into her hair, never stopping the dance moves that had his heart beat accelerating. When the chorus came she added this shimmer to her shoulders that had him salivating with the need to get his mouth on her. He clenched his hands into the arm of his chair to keep from leaping at her.

  When her hand reached behind her, Liam cursed the music for hiding the tantalizing sound of the zipper being tugged down, but praised it seconds later as the movements of her shoulders had the straps of the dress dropping down her shoulder. The dress dropped just enough that he could see the gentle swell of her breasts above the
neckline. Liam’s dick thickened further behind his zipper and he shifted to try to relieve some of the pressure.

  Neve completed this hip-swiveling turn so that she now face away from him. All he saw was the creamy expanse of her back where the dress gapped open. Al the while, her hips and feet never lost the Latin rhythm of the music. Liam moaned as she slid her right arm out of the dress. Then she tossed her hair and turned slightly to look at him over her shoulder with a smile that he would remember often, and would feature in more than one wet dream for him for the rest of his life he was sure. Then her right arm was free of the strap.

  Neve dropped into a gentle grind that had him reaching for his zipper to free his painful erection. When Neve gently rolled her hips and pushed up to stand and then shoulder shimmied back so that her long blonde hair brushed the top of her ass and he could see her beautiful face, eyes closed as she lost herself in the moment and the beautiful curve of her neck, Liam began to stroke his cock in long, slow strokes.

  When she turned, he knew things were about to get hotter. She held his gaze as she started to move toward him in an exaggerated salsa. When she was about five feet from him and the strains of an electric guitar began to swell, she dropped the dress.

  “Holy fuck!” Liam said in a voice filled with need at the view the falling dress revealed and had to stop himself from coming by squeezing the base of his dick. Hard. But it was a bloody close thing! Neve stood before him in a bra, no- a half bra that basically lifted her breasts up and forward, presenting them in all their naked glory for his mouth. There were cups but they lay beneath her beautiful breasts, and didn’t cover a damn thing. She wore stockings that stopped at mid-thigh and left an expanse of creamy white skin between the stockings and the barest, skimpiest G-string he had ever seen.

  Behind the minute strip of black peek-a-boo lace, Liam could tell she was bare. Liam felt his jaw drop as she continued to dance for him. Now the conversation from the diner this afternoon made sense. Neve hadn’t had a massage at the spa, she had set through a Brazilian wax, just for him. Her hands sliding over the skin of her tummy, up over her naked breasts and as her fingers slide over the turgid tips, her mouth dropped open on a gasp that was audible above the music. He was so lost in her he didn’t realize that the music had stopped, not until he registered that the only sound in the room was their harsh breathing.