by Bianca James
“Here you are, dear.” Rosie placed a plate of rustic looking and delicious smelling apple cobbler in front of Cassie.
“Thank you so much, Rosie and thanks for the offer of a room here until I get my place sorted. I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you’ll keep this old girl company while you’re here. It’s been a while since I had a female lodger,” she appealed before leaving them to their talk.
“So, where were we?” Jack prompted.
“I think you were about to ask me about my secret, having already shared yours in the most dramatic manner possible, ‘Wreck-It Ralph’.”
“Who?” He looked confused.
She rolled her eyes. “Never mind.”
By the time the sun hovered above the horizon, Jack had told her all he knew about the water rights and why they’d tried to blow up her spring and steal her deeds. Two cups of coffee later, Jack had also finally told her about his military service, his PTSD and how he came to be on Big Bear Mountain.
“Oh, and did I mention I’m a bear shifter,” he added as if it were an insignificant piece of the puzzle.
“Yeah, I kind of figured that out.”
“That doesn’t scare you?”
“It’ll take some getting used to, but I’m not scared. That big cuddly bear of yours saved my life.”
“He wants to take you as his mate,” he said matter-of-factly.
“OK.”
“Wait … what?”
“I said OK, but first I have to tell you something.”
He didn’t say anything. He wanted to give her the space she needed to work out what she wanted to say.
“I’m a Private Investigator. Not a very good one, apparently, but that’s what I am nonetheless. I came here because my grandma wanted me to investigate something, which I now know to be this whole water rights thing. She left me money from an insurance policy to pay for me to come here and work out what was going on.”
“And the cabin? The land?” Jack asked.
“All mine now, including the water rights that everyone seems to have their panties in a bunch about.”
“Do you think she might have had another reason to have you come up here and stay?”
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking the same thing. The whole cloak and dagger business never really made sense to me. Maybe she had something else in mind for her curvy, not particularly successful PI granddaughter. It sure does seem the kind of place where anything can happen.”
They held hands across the table. Each had a playful gleam in their eye as they intertwined their fingers.
Jack had never been happier. Maybe it wasn’t love. Not yet anyway, but it was a good start and something they could build on, given time.
“Want to come for a run?” He had a wicked grin on his face and his eyes sparkled mischievously.
“A what?” Her brows knitted in confusion.
“Come with me and I’ll show you what bears really do in the forest.” A guttural, sexy growl escaped from his chest.
Cassie flushed crimson with embarrassment as she looked over to see if Rosie had heard Jack’s audacious suggestion.
“Don’t mind me dear, I’m an old woman, my hearing’s not what it used to be.” A cheeky giggle twittered from her lips.
Chapter 27
Cassie felt like a shameless hussy. And she loved it.
Butt naked on the soft grass in a small, secluded clearing in the forest. Lit only by the full moon that seemed to be watching them as they frolicked like a pair of mating beasts in the forest, they enjoyed looking at each other’s naked form.
She enjoyed exploring his ropey scars from a lifetime of active service and his lean, well defined muscles that seemed to dance at her touch beneath his suntanned skin. His shoulders were impossibly broad and powerful and his pecs were as hard as they were large. She loved the feel of the hardness of his muscle beneath her hands.
Jack had never seen a girl so beautiful. Her full figure was made for a man his size. He didn’t have to hold back with her, he could be himself and enjoy himself with her. She could take it. He traced every soft curve with his fingertips and tongue, marking his territory. Every soft, glorious inch of her. His hard, muscular body molded into hers like they were made for each other. Everything felt right. Like it was meant to be.
She could still feel his warm seed inside her. He’d taken her once already, neither of them able to control the primal instincts that surfaced as soon as they were naked, under the moonlight. Now she wanted him again. She felt empty without him inside her.
Without waiting for him to make a move, Cassie straddled him. She knew he could take it. He was as strong as a … well … a bear and built to handle a girl her size.
Pinning his hands above his head against the damp grass, she bent down and kissed him on the lips as she wriggled her butt against his cock. She felt it twitch against her skin, inflaming the desire that had not been quenched with their first lovemaking session. She was hungry for him and his hardening member suggested he was likewise.
“You ready to go again?” She could hardly believe those brazen words were coming from her lips.
“Do I feel ready?” His cock pulsed hard against her butt.
“Ouch. That’ll leave a bruise,” she joked.
Releasing one of his arms, she reached down and wrapped her fingers around his thickening shaft. Even her lavish hands couldn’t enclose fully around it. No wonder he felt so good inside her.
With that, she guided him into her, pausing at the tight entrance, enjoying the feel of him stretching her over his enormous head. Her head tilted back and she looked up to the full moon in awe as she lowered herself down on his length, filling herself with his cock to the point where pain and pleasure melded into one.
As she began to ride him in earnest, her slick channel opened more fully to his girth and length, making the sensation even more pleasurable than before. His grunts of passion each time she pounded herself down on him like a pile driver, amplified the feelings of raw animal lust that surged through her from head to toe.
Sweat began to drip from her body to his as her frantic hammering increased at a feverish pace. Soon their sweat glistened bodies were slapping together, a symphony of unbridled sexual sound.
Jack broke free of her grip and grabbed her bouncing breasts, squeezing them firmly, enjoying the way they moved rhythmically. Leaving one hand cupping a breast, the other went to her butt and slapped her ass cheek, making a sound like a whip.
“Oh, fuck! Do that again!” she wailed.
He slapped her ass harder this time, then grabbed a handful of her cheek and used his strength to pound her body harder against his, burying his cock harder and deeper inside her.
“Yes. Harder. Harder!” she pleaded. Her voice was barely recognizable as her own.
Jack began to piston his hips, meeting her thrusts, their sweaty bodies crashing together, unrestrained and in perfect harmony. He couldn’t hold it back any longer. He was on the edge.
“I’m going to come,” he moaned breathlessly. He used both hands on her ass to slam her against his thrusting hips one last time before he erupted deep inside her, his head arched back as he came.
Feeling his warmth so deep inside, was the final straw for Cassie, too. The electric charge of sexual energy that had been growing relentlessly since he first entered her burst through her as she shuddered with waves of climax surging though every nerve ending in her body. The muscles in her pussy clenched and spasmed around Jack’s pulsing cock, heightening his release even further, milking every last drop from him before she collapsed against his heaving chest. Her heart pounded so loudly he could feel it and so could his bear. All three of them were sated and spent.
Epilogue
Elle and Cassie sat on the porch of Elle’s newly renovated home, drinking home-made lemonade and enjoying their men, or more accurately, their bears chase each other through the woods.
“Don’t they ever get tired?” Cassie asked.
/>
“Nope. They keep going all day … and all night,” she added with a touch of crimson glowing on her cheeks.
Rosie had introduced Cassie and Jack to Elle and Jarrad in the hope they’d all become friends. Elle was also quite new to Big Bear Mountain and having a friend had been good for her since she finished the rebuilding of their home and had more time on her hands.
“Do you think you’ll stay on the mountain?” Elle asked, taking a sip of her lemonade.
“I don’t know. I haven’t much to go back to. No house, not much in the way of family ties and a Private Investigation practice that I totally suck at.” She stared out at the forest, immersing herself in the quietness and the pristine, unspoiled nature that surrounded her.
“So, what’s there to think about? You have a place to live and some land if you want to try growing your own produce. Sounds like you have an income from the water rights now that the paper plant has gone public and the new board is paying you a royalty. Of course, you can always get a job with Rosie if you need something to keep you busy. I think she likes having you around.” Elle gave Cassie a warm smile. She liked having her around, too.
“I guess it’s the whole thing with Jack. I’ve never been much for long term relationships, more like they’ve never been good with me. And I know Jack has some issues to deal with after his medical discharge. I have no idea how to handle that.”
“What aren’t you telling me?” Elle could sense that Cassie was holding something back.
“What if it doesn’t work out with Jack? I don’t want to get hurt. Been there. Done that. I’m scared, if you want the truth. Scared of losing him. You have no idea what it was like seeing that maniac point the shotgun at him. I’ll never forget how it felt when I thought I’d never see him again.”
“I think you’re worrying about nothing.” Elle patted Cassie’s hand. “He hasn’t told you, has he?”
“Told me what?”
“His bear has chosen you to be his mate. His perfect mate.”
Cassie’s brow furrowed. She didn’t get it.
“Bears mate for life, honey. The only way you get rid of Jack is if you decide you want out. As far as he’s concerned, he’s going to love you and protect you with every fiber of his being for the rest of his long, long life,” Elle explained.
A look of contentment washed over Cassie’s face as she realized what that meant. Maybe this was part of grandma’s plan all along.
Was she ready to become part of the Big Bear Mountain community?
Was Big Bear Mountain ready for her?
THE END
Bear Ambush
(Big Bear Mountain Book Three)
Prologue
The whole world looked green. Murky, liquid green with limned highlights in bright silver as the figures moved about their business, unaware that they were being observed.
Erin Parker adjusted her night vision goggles, tucking an errant lock of blonde hair behind her ear as she did so. When she woke that very morning, she had no idea she was going to end up on a stakeout, lying on the damp cold ground with bugs and insects — she hated bugs and insects — crawling all over her, pine needles and leaves falling from the copse of trees behind her, seemingly determined to find their way into her hair, ears and down her collar, making her itch like crazy. And if that wasn’t enough, the very dirt upon which she lay was drawn inexplicably into every tiny opening in her blouse making her feel gritty and disgusting. Had she known all that, though, she could have saved herself an hour in the bathroom performing her usual shampoo, hair conditioner and straightening iron routine.
She couldn’t begin to imagine how she looked. As much as she wanted to believe she looked sexy and badass like Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanova, she knew that in all likelihood she looked less like that and more like what her mother would call ‘the wreck of the Hesperus’. Her disheveled hair was festooned with leaves and twigs — and bugs. Totally not sexy and definitely not badass at all.
That’s the price you pay for being a deep cover spy and having to keep the bad guys under surveillance, my girl, she thought, flicking another fat, ugly, black legged, iridescent shelled bug from her shirtsleeve.
In reality Erin was about as far from being a deep cover spy as it was possible to get. Curvy and not the least bit toned or athletic, Erin looked nothing like the Black Widow, despite her active and overly romantic imaginings. Not to mention the fact that she was actually a reporter. An intern reporter, at that. Worse still, an intern reporter assigned to the social beat — reporting on breaking news like other people’s tragic social lives, when she didn’t even have one of her own, tragic or otherwise.
More often than not, her job involved following a bunch of pointless hashtags on social media to stay abreast of ‘what’ and ‘who’ was trending. Hardly the explosive exposé of political and criminal conspiracy, intrigue and scandal she’d hoped to write about in her chosen career as a hard hitting, undercover investigative reporter.
Soon, though, all that was going to change. Erin Parker, who co-workers had nicknamed ‘Nosey’ Parker behind her back, was on the cusp of her big break. Her exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime scoop. A story so big that it had the potential to blow the lid clean off something insidious that had, amazingly, been going on right under our noses for a very, very long time. If only she could capture the evidence she needed to prove it. She knew it was there and she knew she’d be the one to find it — right here on Big Bear Mountain.
Of course, she wasn’t supposed to be on Big Bear Mountain. She wasn’t supposed to be on any mountain at all, in fact. Her given assignment was to interview a bunch of twenty-something’s at a symposium on the ‘connection between culture, language and technology in a digital world’. Just saying it nearly put her to sleep and made her want to stab herself in the eye. With a blunt fork.
The promise of a really big story was something she just couldn’t ignore. Impetuous was the word her editor had used to describe her. In fact, she recalled that every teacher she’d ever had in school and every college professor had used a similar word to describe her. Impulsive, reckless, headstrong. The list went on. Well . . . she’d show them. There was something going on in Big Bear Mountain. She knew it. She could feel it. Her editor and colleagues were too short sighted to see it. They were a bunch of asshats. Erin could see the big picture and she knew that the statistical probability of the recent events happening in the one place were a zillion to one. If only she could get the proof.
“Coincidence. Just a stupid bunch of tin foil hat conspiracy nonsense.” Kevin Harris, her editor had snubbed her research, barely glancing at it through his coke-bottle glasses. With only a small tuft of hair atop his bald pate, Kevin looked every bit like his Minion namesake and Erin was determined to show him how wrong he was.
Viper attack helicopters, Hellfire anti-tank missiles, Russian Mi-28 ‘Havoc’ gunships, more H&K MP4 tactical machine pistols and C4 demolition charges thrown in just in case that wasn’t enough. Coincidence my ass. All hell was breaking loose on this mountain and I’m going to find out why …
Then Erin was shaken from her reverie —
Suddenly the ground shuddered. Literally an earth shattering whoompf that punched her in the gut and echoed through every bone in her body.
Her view of the goings on below her hiding spot was suddenly blocked by something large.
Something large and very furry.
Right in front of her face. Only inches away.
Close enough to see the massive claws protruding from the enormous, shaggy bear paw. Long, deadly claws which she knew, from her many hours of background research, were capable of decapitating a large elk with one swipe.
And as full bodied as she was, Erin was a whole lot smaller than any elk.
Chapter 1
The huge rescue helicopter bobbled and bumped violently as its rotor blades fought to generate lift in the impossibly thin air near the top of the mountain. Each time former Navy pilot Lt. Jim ‘Spider
’ Webb gained a few feet in altitude by white knuckling the collective and pulling it as far up as it would go, the normally elegant graceful Sikorsky would drop a couple of feet as the blades clawed at the air like Wylie Coyote just to stay aloft. With each stomach lurching fall, Spider would boost the power a little more in the hope of regaining the lost altitude. It wasn’t working.
“You’re going to have to set her down,” shouted Jarrad, the High Mountain Ranger who always volunteered to fly these hazardous rescue missions with Big Bear Mountain’s most experienced chopper pilot. “I can climb the rest of the way and bring them down the mountain for evac.” Even with the comms headsets, both men had to shout to be heard over the screaming engines.
The original plan was to reach the fallen climber in the chopper and lower Jarrad using the winch, then winching them both to the safety of the hovering aircraft. They didn’t really have a Plan B. That’s not how they rolled. Failure was not an option for this team.
With the muscles in his forearms corded like steel cables as he wrestled the controls ‘Spider’ nodded reluctantly. The climber was badly injured and time was critical, especially with the chill factor at this altitude, but Jarrad’s idea was their best shot at a successful mission.
But there was nowhere to put the ungainly bird down. Although they were above the snowline and the heavily wooded forest lay below them, there was still too much vegetation for a safe landing at that altitude.
“Looks like we’re going to have to do a little hedge trimming to make an LZ,” Spider called out, pointing to a flat, lightly wooded area below. It wasn’t the perfect Landing Zone, but it was all they had to work with.