by Bianca James
Chapter 13
“How did you know?” she whispered into his ear, her voice a pitch higher from the stress.
“Laser sight. I saw him lighting you up with it. At least we know he’s not a professional. A pro sniper wouldn’t use a laser sight,” he said convincingly.
“What exactly did you do in the military?” she quizzed.
He ignored her question, rolling over and cautiously looking over the table and through the bullet pierced window.
“Wait here.” He didn’t wait for her to object before running in a low crouch toward the door and pushing it open as he rolled down the steps, landing in a braced kneeling position with his service weapon aimed at where he estimated the shooter to have been. He hadn’t drawn any fire and he assumed that the shooter had made a run for it.
Having been nearly shot to death by a sniper had given Cassie a sense of urgency and recklessness. She had no idea what came over her, but it felt good and she was powerless to stop it, even if she had wanted to. And she didn’t.
When Jack entered the cabin again, Cassie threw her arms around him and squeezed him with all her might. Jack was about to break free when she crushed her lips against his and kissed him tentatively, taking his upper lip between hers and tasting him for the first time.
He tasted as good as his musky, masculine scent suggested that he would. As she parted her lips, he followed her lead and allowed him to explore her mouth with his tongue. Soon, their tongues were dancing together in an erotic tango, hinting at the sensuality that smoldered below the surface. They both felt the passion swirl within, building.
Picking her up like she weighed nothing at all, Jack spun around so her back was pressed against the wall and he began to plunder her mouth with his tongue greedily and hungrily. Cassie responded with a low moan from her throat. She wrapped her legs around Jack’s waist and pulled his hips toward her waiting sex, eager to feel his hardness against her.
Using one of his large hands under her magnificent butt to hold her aloft, Jack pressed her harder against the wall and slid his other hand along her curvy thigh. Even through her jeans she could feel the heat of his touch as if it burned a path across her skin. She loved how he touched her. What’s more, she loved how it made her feel when he hardened against her in response. He was enjoying her. All of her, including her curves. She felt his hardness twitch again as his hand swept up her thigh to the cheek of her ass. Like he was especially enjoying her curves.
In vain she tried to fist a handful of his hair to draw him further into her mouth, but his military style haircut was too short, so she settled with her hand on the back of his head and pulling him hard against her. He sensed her hunger for him and responded with a deep, possessive probing with his tongue. Jack’s bear growled in appreciation at tasting his mate.
“What was that?” she asked, breathlessly into his ear as she explored it with the tip of her tongue. “Am I bringing out the animal in you? Grrrrr,” she teased.
“You have no idea,” Jack responded.
If only she knew.
Of course, he knew it would end in short order if he let his bear free with her. Some things were best kept secret.
“Let me show you …”
And with that, Jack released one hand from her butt and slid it inside her top, cupping her soft, smooth breast and the hard pebble of her nipple as she responded to his firm, masculine touch. She’d taken her bra off when she prepared to sleep. She was glad she had, too. His rough, strong hands felt like heaven against her tender skin. It had been so long …
Alternating between squeezing and caressing her tender, ripe morsel with his hand, Jack elicited a keening sound from Cassie’s throat before she returned his kiss with equal depth and passion. She had become frantic and needy, desiring him in every way imaginable. His greedy fondling of her breasts sparked a fire in her belly and the heat that had amassed down there spilled all the way down to her pussy. She felt the dampness in her panties and wanted him to feel it, too. She wanted him to feel what he was doing to her.
Lowering her hands to her jeans, she proceeded to unfasten them, leaving them open for him to explore her, taking a moment to feel the thickness of his hardened cock through his pants. She liked what she felt and enjoyed how he responded when she stroked its length and playfully squeezed the well-defined outline of his cock’s head.
“Touch me. I want to feel your hands down there,” she cooed softly, embarrassed to say it aloud.
Jack nibbled the nape of her neck, trailing kisses and gentle bites down to her shoulder as he felt the vibration of her sensual purring. He could sense she wanted him. His bear was already wound up from the heady scent of her arousal and keen to take her as his mate. Jack, too, felt drawn to her and wanted her in that way, too. But he didn’t want his judgement clouded by his physical urges. She was vulnerable and the events of the night were not trivial. Someone was trying to kill her. He needed to protect her and taking her like a wild animal, slamming her hard and dirty against the wall was probably not the wisest course of action.
But when her hand began to rub his cock it hardened enough to nearly rip through his pants, wisdom went out the window. Jack’s primal lust and his bear’s urge to mate with his chosen one claimed victory as he trailed his fingers across her smooth, curvy belly before plunging them into her panties and down to the wet folds that awaited.
Chapter 14
Cassie gasped and convulsed as his touch sent shock waves of pleasure through her. From her heated sex, through her belly to every part of her, like he was lighting a brushfire of ecstasy within her.
Feeling her arousal move to the next level, Jack probed her juicy folds, finding her clit and gently stroking it. Again, she quivered and shook, throwing her head back and mewing with unrestrained pleasure. She was feeling sensations she didn’t even know existed. Heights of sensitivity that were truly beyond her imagination. When Jack plunged his fingers into her folds and stretched her opening to receive them, she gasped.
“I need you inside me,” she breathed into his ear.
Jack didn’t need a second invitation. He gently lowered her to the floor, leaving her to support herself on her trembling legs and pulled his shirt over his head without even bothering to undo the buttons and shimmied out of his pants, letting them pool around his ankles on the floor.
Cassie followed suit and within moments, they were naked, admiring each other’s form, lust burning in their eyes.
Taking her wrists in his hands, Jack pinned her arms against the wall and once more plundered her mouth fervently, claiming her as his mate. Cassie opened to receive him, giving herself to him and showing him she did so freely and fully.
His rock hard manhood sprung between her legs and she felt its tip brush against her smooth folds, teasing her and showing her the promise that it held, of pleasure she couldn’t even begin to imagine.
“I want it inside me,” she demanded, her face glazed with desire.
“You sure?” Jack asked, needing reassurance that this was what she really wanted.
Taking his shaft in her hand, she guided it like a heat seeking missile into the entrance of her tight passage. The slick, wet heat of her desire coated the tip, spreading her warmth all over it. “Does that feel like I’m sure?”
Jack’s eyes met hers and they remained locked together as he thrust his hips, burying his entire and substantial length into her hot passage.
Again her legs turned to jelly and Jack took her weight effortlessly, allowing her to wrap her legs around his hips, burying the heels of her feet into his lower back as he thrust himself into her with heated desire. The ancient timber walls creaked as he slammed her against them. Over and over again. Each time he buried his magnificent cock inside her she wailed plaintively because she knew that each time he did that, he would withdraw, leaving her empty again. She needed to be filled by him.
She clawed and raked his rippling muscular back with her nails and pounded his tight ass with her feet as she felt her climax nea
ring.
“Come with me,” she pleaded. “I want to feel your heat inside me when I come. I need you.”
Jack grabbed her ass with his hands and pulled her harder to him each time he entered her, controlling the rhythm and pace, trying to slow the urgency of her lovemaking. She wasn’t having it and arched her head back as her orgasm threatened to explode. “Give it to me now, Jack,” she screamed and kicked him hard with her feet, urging him to finish her off.
Hearing the wild frenzy in her voice and seeing the fire burning in her eyes, Jack’s own sense of urgency began to peak. He felt how close she was to coming and let himself go, no longer trying to temper the urges both he and his bear felt. They could be overwhelming and sometimes a little rough, that’s why he held back. But he felt her strength as she clawed and kicked him ravenously. He knew she was strong enough to handle them both.
“You better be ready for this,” he cried, slamming her harder against the wall, dust and dirt falling from gaps in the timbers.
“I am. I’m ready. Don’t hold back,” she encouraged. She knew he’d been trying to be gentle with her. That’s not what she needed right now. Far from it.
Wanting to please her, Jack let his bear have free reign and together they pounded Cassie hard and fast, responding to her frenzied cries for more until he impaled himself within her one final time and erupted with a climax that, in turn, pushed Cassie over the edge as well.
Together, they came and their orgasm literally shook the house as their climax racked bodies shuddered with release. Slick and sweat drenched from their exertions, they remained in each other arms trying to catch their breath as airborne motes of dust continued to spiral around them, a reminder of the intensity of their intense love making.
As her heart rate slowly returned to normal, no longer threatening to beat out of her chest, a thought gnawed at the edges of her post coital bliss.
“Jack?”
“Mmmm,” he grunted, still nuzzling her neck.
“How did you know I hold my gun like a ‘total badass’?”
Jack’s breath caught in his throat. Shit!
Chapter 15
“Were you stalking me?” she asked, direct and to the point.
They’d dressed in silence, neither acknowledging the act of animalistic lust that had just occurred. Cassie was beyond annoyed with herself. How could she allow herself to behave in such a heated and wanton way? All she knew was that Jack was dangerous. He made her behave in a way she’d never done before. And worse, he made her feel like she’d never felt before, too. He was very dangerous, indeed.
She glared at him, her eyes boring into him seeking an answer he seemed reluctant to give.
What did he say to that? No, actually I’m a Grizzly Bear and I just stopped by for a drink when you pulled a gun on me?
“I was worried about you. I came up here to make sure you were alright. That’s when I saw you chase off the bear with your 9mm. Not the ideal weapon to stop a Grizzly, you know that, right?”
“Crap,” she snapped at him. “If you were coming to check in, you would have come to the front door like a normal visitor, not skulking around the forest like a creep.”
“Well … to be fair, you didn’t exactly give off the ‘drop in anytime for a coffee’ vibe when we met earlier. More like a ‘fuck off and leave me alone’ kind of message is what I was picking up.”
Good point, she conceded.
“So why the sudden concern?”
“I’m the sheriff. It’s my job to make sure people are safe. Simple as that.”
“So there was no other agenda? No ulterior motive?” she quizzed hopefully.
“None at all. Purely professional.”
Her heart sank. It was too much to hope that he’d actually had some feelings for her. Yet just the thought of him stirred a longing within her that was more than just physical attraction or pure sexual allure. There was some kind of ‘connection’ that she didn’t fully understand. She’d hoped he felt it too.
Apparently, she was wrong. She was nothing more than another conquest. Guys like him didn’t fall for girls like her. She should have known better.
Chapter 16
Jack was furious with himself. Every time he opened his mouth, it got him into trouble with her. The only time it didn’t was when he had her …
He didn’t even want to think about the soft, aromatic skin of her neck and breasts and how she tasted. His bear rumbled, too, at the thought of her scent and taste. They both wanted her. Wanted to protect her and care for her. But how were they going to do that if she didn’t know about his bear?
And what about her secret, too? Little Miss Innocent. All doe eyed and plaintive ‘oh, I don’t know why anyone would want to blow me up with a high tech C4 explosive package’. Yeah, right. Not to mention the way she calmly neutralized the explosive, like she did that kind of thing every day. No, there was something going on and both he and the bear were going to get to the bottom of it. Not just as a man protecting a girl or a bear protecting his mate, but as a sheriff, dedicated to his community and this was now his new community.
He wasn’t going to take no for an answer. It was his job to investigate and keep her safe. As soon as his shift was over, he planned to go back to the cabin. But first, he had to make a stop to check something out.
I’m getting to the bottom of this, once and for all. Nobody is blowing up shit and shooting people on my mountain. If she doesn’t like it, well … the little princess can soak it up.
There was, literally, a new sheriff in town.
“What can we get for you, sheriff?” Rosie asked from behind the counter as Jack entered the diner.
“Just coffee, thanks, Rosie. And some local knowledge, if you have time.”
Rosie looked around at the empty diner. “Let me check my schedule to see if I can fit you in.” She smiled and came over with a fresh pot of coffee and an enormous white ceramic mug with the Big Bear Mountain Diner logo on it.
Pouring the steaming coffee she asked, “So, what did you want to know?”
“Well, you’ve been here a long time, right?”
She nodded. “I was raised here, so were my folks and their folks. I’ve run this diner and lodge for most of my life, so I know what goes on around here. And you don’t get to be my age without knowing a few things, ain’t that right?”
“You don’t look a day over thirty, Rosie,” Jack lied easily.
“You mean a hundred and thirty, but I’ll take the compliment. OK, what’s the question?”
“Why would someone try to blow up a spring high up in the mountain? I can’t figure it out.”
“What happened?” Rosie’s eyes widened in shock. Nobody ever blew anything up on The Mountain. Mining and logging were banned, besides, the forest is all National Park. That’s why the only visitors were climbers, hikers and nature lovers. It was a peaceful place.
“I can’t say too much because it’s an ongoing investigation, but someone tried to blow up the spring on the old Larsen property last night. They used a bomb big enough to collapse the whole thing. But why? It doesn’t make any sense.”
Rosie paused for a few moments, staring out the window at the pristine forest that was such a big part of their community. Jack thought she was trying to think of a reason why someone set the C4 charge, but her eyes told a different story. She was trying to determine if she should share something with him. He was a stranger to their community. Could he be trusted?
Ribbons of steam wafted from Jack’s coffee cup as he picked it up and sipped from it. He had to do something to fill the awkward silence that put a gulf between himself and Rosie. There was something she wanted to tell him, but she seemed reluctant.
“I don’t need to know all the town secrets, Rosie, but someone’s going to get hurt, or worse, if I can’t deal with whatever it is that’s going on here. Just give me something to get me started. Please?” he implored.
Rosie placed a gentle hand over Jacks. “You’re a good m
an and we all have secrets, that’s why people come to live here. To keep their secrets from prying eyes and from those who wouldn’t understand.” She winked at him.
My God, she knows. Is it that obvious?
“Spider told me, dear,” she answered his unspoken question. “You’ll do well here and you have friends and like-minded folk to look out for you, too.”
“See, I knew you’d know what went on around here. You’ve just proven me right.”
“Before she passed, old Grandma Larsen, that’s what we all called her, anyway, was getting hounded by some big shot city lawyer to sell her property. They offered her ridiculous amounts of money for it, but she wouldn’t sell. It had been her home all her life and she had nowhere else to go, in any case.
When they figured out she was a stubborn old thing and wasn’t going to budge, no matter how much money they threw at her, things got nasty.”
“Nasty? In what way?” Jack leaned forward, his interest piqued.
“Threatening letters, the occasional dead animal left on her doorstep as some kind of warning and once, her woodshed was set alight. No direct harm to her, but things were escalating … is that the right word?”
Jack nodded.
“Yes, they were escalating and the more they threatened her, the deeper she dug her heels in and determined to stay put.”
“Did she say why they wanted her property?”
“They never told her, but she said one curious thing, she mentioned that they sent the lawyer up here with a contract with their ‘final’ offer of settlement. It seems he was as interested in the water rights that came with the property as the property itself. I thought that was strange. After all, this is hardly farming country, right?”
They both looked out at the heavily wooded forest framed by snowcapped mountains. Hardly an agricultural setting.
“So, I got curious and did some digging,” she continued. “The Larsen property has been in their family since the late eighteen hundreds, so they have the water rights to that spring on their land. Even though government technically owns the water, the rights to use it belong to the Larsen’s and have been passed down through the generations along with the title to the land. They filed a legal claim to the water rights when they first bought the property.”