The Write Bear (Highland Brothers 1)

by Meredith Clarke

  “Fuck,” he growled. His bear was taking over. His bear was aching to get to her. He had actually succeeded, pulling her into his clutches and tasted her.

  He propped another log on its butt, then swung the ax, slicing through the thick wood. There wasn’t enough wood in the pile to ease the sexual tension building in his body. He had to get her out of here.

  One kiss. One fucking kiss. He groaned. She tasted like sweet spicy cinnamon. He could only imagine what the rest of her would taste like on his tongue.

  He looked up at the guestroom window. He hoped like hell she was packing her bag. She needed to get out of her. Drive far away from Highland House and any chance of being trapped in his shifter world.

  The problem was he didn’t want her to leave. She was funny, smart, and a book geek just like he was. And when she talked, he loved the way her Southern words lit on his ears like smooth molasses. Bear or not, he was attracted to her on every level and that was the problem. His bear wanted to claim her body. The man wanted to talk to her, laugh with her, explore the world with her.

  He tossed the ax aside as if it were a hammer and trudged into the woods. There was serenity here. It calmed his bear. He hiked over the ridges he explored at night when he could be in his true form. The deeper he trekked into the woods, the more control he felt surfacing. Maybe she’d be gone by the time he got back. He’d stay away long enough for her to pack and drive out here.

  * * *

  Riley

  Riley shoved her makeup bag in the suitcase and zipped up the side. She hadn’t seen or heard Hudson since he left her in the library. It was as if he had disappeared. It was odd how she knew if he was in the house. The air was cooler, the spaces wider.

  She ran her fingers over her lips. Her mind was still spinning. Spinning from the kiss. Spinning from his words. Spinning from being fired from her first big gig.

  She lugged the suitcase along the hallway and down the steps. She didn’t want to leave. It wasn’t only the failure from losing the client, it was more than that. It was him. Everything about him. It felt right being next to him. His warmth, his towering body, even his gruff conversations—she was pulled toward him like the stream running into the lake. It was if there wasn’t another way.

  She was about to open the front door, but stopped. There was more to say. More to this conversation and she wasn’t going to tuck her tail between her legs and leave Highland House until she had answers. Hudson was either crazy as hell or scared as hell. She knew there was a possibility it might be a little bit of both.

  She turned toward the fireplace. He had loaded the hearth with a fresh pile of logs this morning. She tipped one into the center of the dying flames and grabbed the poker to stoke the fire back to life.

  She watched, pleased with herself as the flames grew slowly at first, then crackled as the blaze took hold of the logs. The house was magnificent. Massive rooms that somehow made her feel cozy and safe. Exquisite paintings and sculptures, but not ostentatious. They blended into the walls and shelves as if they had roots and grew there on their own.

  Riley hoped this was the last time she would drag her suitcase back to the guestroom. She left it at the foot of the bed, picked up her copy of Pride and Prejudice, and traipsed down the staircase once more.

  She settled on the couch, pulling a blanket over her body. The fire crackled while she read Mr. Darcy’s words. Her eyelids grey heavy, until finally they closed with restless sleep.

  7

  Hudson

  It was dark in the forest, but Hudson could see clearly around the trees and along the trails he had explored since he was a child. He ran over the roots and muddy parts of the trail, letting his claws sink into the dirt. His bear needed to emerge. Riley’s scent and taste had stirred the beast beyond control. He needed a chance to get out and run.

  Hudson stopped on the trail, his nose lifting in the wind. His family had owned the acres around Highland House for well over a hundred years. It had passed down to the alpha of the family. Once his father died, he and his brothers decided to share the family home.

  There were laws of nature they couldn’t ignore, but when they found a way to tap into the human side of themselves, they tried. Sharing wasn’t a bear trait, but the Highland brothers had found a way to make it work.

  There were bear traits he enjoyed. Nights like this one, when he could use his physical form to burn energy. To explore the world through primitive eyes. Everything smelled sweeter. Colors were more vibrant. The tastes of the woods spicier and more savory. He loved being a protector, knowing he was always the strongest man in a room. Knowing he would always have the upper hand. His bear gave him that.

  But Hudson was thirty. He had no mate. No cubs. So far he had managed to date women for the sake of publicity without his bear wanting to claim one. But, things were changing. The drive for cubs was strong.

  He had always been careful with women. Sex was something he enjoyed—he fucking loved it, but he never claimed a woman with his release. He swore he never would.

  If he could make it to thirty-one without finding his mate, there was a chance the clan would brand him. A branded bear was like a hermit. A man no woman would want to father her cubs.

  His brothers thought he was crazy. He thought it was the sanest thing he could do. How could he pass this life on to his offspring? They grow up trying to balance a shifter and human life. No. He didn’t want that, no matter how much his bear did.

  He stopped again. There was a strange scent coming off the trees. He looked up. The branches were empty, but he climbed, pulling the limbs under his massive paws to take in the smell.

  “Wolf,” he muttered. Damn it.

  The wolves had been warned. They weren’t welcome on Highland lands. But one had crept his way here. Hudson leapt from the tree, tracking the scent as far as he could, until it disappeared at the edge of the lake. The water’s edge washed the scent from his nose. It was gone. Probably just someone trying to stir up trouble. He shook his head.

  The lake looked serene and peaceful under the night’s sky. Hudson felt his bear withdraw, allowing the man in him to re-emerge. He leaned his back against a tree, sliding his body to the ground.

  “She’s gone,” he whispered. “It’s better for her this way.” He looked at the high moon, and heard the sounds of the brook, lapping over the stones.

  Riley was special. His bear knew it. He knew it. But forcing her to return to Atlanta was the hardest thing he had ever done. No matter how much he wanted her, she would never want his bear.

  He waited until the moon began to lower in the sky. It wouldn’t be long before the sun would start to rise. He walked through the woods, his naked body carrying him closer home. He reached beneath a tree stump and retrieved the pair of jeans and white T-shirt he had been wearing earlier.

  Seclusion had his benefits, but he wasn’t about to start living like he was in a damn nudist colony. He had to keep the human parts of him in the front of his mind. As he approached the house he saw something that wasn’t supposed to be there.

  “What the fuck?” he glowered.

  Riley’s rental car was exactly where she had left it. It sat parked next to the house. It was almost dawn. He wondered for a second if she had car trouble again, but he knew after inspecting the engine it was fine.

  He stormed past the car and jogged up the front steps. He opened the door and his breath caught in his throat.

  Her blond tendrils drifted around her face. Her cheeks were flush from the fire. A copy of Pride and Prejudice dangled from her hand. His heart sped, the pumping motion almost deafening in his ears.

  “She stayed,” he whispered.

  8

  Riley

  Riley’s eyes opened. Hudson was standing over her, adjusting the blanket to her shoulders.

  “You came back?” She rubbed her eyes.

  “And you stayed.” He moved toward the fireplace, stoking the dusty coals. The logs she had stacked inside were charred and had st
arted to smoke. “I thought I told you to leave.”

  “I couldn’t leave like that,” she said gently.

  She watched as his heavy hands tossed a new set of logs into the belly of the fire as if they were twigs.

  “I don’t want you here anymore.” His palms clutched at the mantle, his head dropping between his shoulders.

  His muscles flexed in hard lines beneath the T-shirt.

  “I know what’s going on with you. The book. Me. I know your secret.” She pushed herself from the couch, taking small steps toward him.

  “And what is that?” he spoke into the fire.

  “You are scared,” she said it triumphantly as is she had solved a great mystery.

  “Scared?” he chuckled, his shoulders jostling from the deep barreling sound. He turned toward her. “You know nothing about being scared.”

  “That’s not fair. You don’t know what I’ve been through.” He wasn’t going to get off that easy.

  His head tilted slightly. “You’re right. I don’t. But I know we had an agreement. If we couldn’t work together, you had to leave. I can’t work with you. Don’t try to solve this.” His words were calm and paced.

  “You don’t want to face your writing.” She was inches from him. “You don’t want to face me.”

  He closed his eyes. “Riley, you need to get out of here. I don’t want to ask you again. Don’t do this. Just go like you should have done yesterday. I’ll finish the book. I’ll tell them you helped. Just go.”

  “At least tell me why,” she pleaded. “I’m here. Can’t you tell me? Tell me before I get on a plane and we never see each other again.”

  She wanted to reach out and touch him. Rub her hands along his sculpted arms and memorize every part of his chest. She wanted to pull him to her breast and comfort him. She wanted to kiss him with fever and fury. She wanted anything except to leave. She could accept the silence and the moodiness. She couldn’t accept his rejection of her. There was too much between them to ignore.

  His eyes lifted to hers. “Because I want you,” he whispered.

  Her heart stopped. The hair on the back of her neck stood still. “You want me?” She felt the warmth spreading through her like the flame of a candle. Steady and warm.

  He nodded slowly, shadows filling his eyes with hunger and lust.

  “What if I want you too?” she urged.

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” He tried to turn from her, but her hand landed on the solid mass that was his bicep.

  “I do.” She needed to taste his kiss on her lips again. “I want it as much as you do.”

  “No you don’t. I want you in a way that I can’t explain to you. I want to take you and make you my own.” His face pained with anguish. “You need to go, before I can’t stop it from happening.”

  She could think of far worse things than this god of a man wanting her in his bed. It had been so long since a man had touched her. She felt the aching between her legs, the hunger in her core for him to touch her. The dance they had been stepping was about to spin out of control. She could feel it.

  “I want it to happen.” She gazed at him.

  He shook his head. “No, you don’t know what you’re saying.”

  She wanted to turn the look of pain on his face to one of pleasure and satisfaction. She took a step past him, leaving him next to the fireplace.

  The hallway was long. She steadied her breath as each step led her closer to Hudson’s bed. She had never been in his room, but she pushed the door open to the master suite, praying he would follow her. Instinct told her she had to offer herself to him. He had to know she wanted him with complete certainty.

  She could feel it crawling around under skin. The need for him almost deafening her thoughts. Her feet planted on the hardwood floor, waiting for him.

  9

  Riley

  “What are you doing?” She heard his footsteps along the hall as his deep voice filled the room.

  Her fingers nimbly unfastened her top button, exposing the tops of her breasts. She took a breath and they bobbed forward. “Giving you what you want.”

  Hudson took a giant step forward, landing in front of her. He growled against the top of her head, his hand circling her neck.

  “I won’t be able to control myself.” His free hand squeezed her breast then pushed the tank top and lace out of the way so her nipple was exposed to the air.

  “You’re fucking gorgeous.” She heard the huskiness in his voice as his thumb began to massage the tender skin around her nipple. “So soft. So pink.” He moved to the other breast, roughly shoving the fabric away. Her skin immediately reacted to his touch, pebbling and hardening under his stare.

  “I’m not gentle, Riley.” His lustful eyes caught her off guard.

  She had only been with a few men. And if she really had to describe it, the sex was pretty vanilla. She always made sure to keep the lights off, and had tried a total of three positions. The sounds coming from Hudson’s chest lit something between her legs, and she didn’t care if he threw her against a wall, or stripped her down on the staircase—she wanted him to show her how he fucked.

  “Take me, Hudson. Please.”

  She tugged the T-shirt over his head, marveling at the ridges around his torso. She had to touch him. Feel the smoothness of his skin under her fingertips. Feel how he rippled under her. The tips of her nails raked over his lower abs.

  “Oh God.” He shoved her hands out of the way, ripping the rest of the buttons from her shirt, scattering them on the floor.

  In an instant the tank top was tossed on the floor. He yanked at her bra, pulling it over her arms. His mouth landed on hers, covering and sucking at her lips, while her nipples rubbed against the thick hair of his chest.

  She moaned at the contact. She had never been undressed like this. It felt as if he were starving for her.

  “You can still go,” he whispered. “You can go before it’s not safe. Before I can’t stop what I’m going to do to you.”

  Her eyes flashed to his. “I’m not leaving.”

  “No matter what?” he asked.

  “No matter what.”

  She walked out of his hands, sprawling her anxious body across his bed. Her nipples still wet from his mouth pointed toward him as she waited for him. If he rejected her now she’d die. She never needed a man inside her like she needed Hudson.

  “Fuck it,” he muttered and hurled himself on top of her. His hands tugging and pulling on her jeans until they were off her ankles.

  She followed his gaze, but he was eyeing the red panties covering the places she wanted him to touch the most. He licked his lips, and she felt the sudden wetness between her legs hot and involuntary. For a second she wondered if he could make her come without even touching her.

  His fingers hooked the sides of the panties, dragging them over the roundness of her thighs. She didn’t scramble to turn off the lights like she usually did. Instead, she loved how Hudson looked at her body, admiring the curves and softness she offered him. The low lights of dawn peeked through the shutters.

  He bent over her, his tongue lashing and licking against her breast. Her nipple hardened against the touch. “I’ve wanted to suck these from the instant I saw you.” He looked at the soft flesh hungrily.

  “They’re yours,” she purred under him, arching her back in his direction.

  He sucked hard, nipping with his teeth as she moaned. His palm ran over the swell of her chest, along her hips. The touch was rough against the tenderness of her skin.

  “Open for me,” he ordered.

  Her eyes flashed to his. He was dominant and controlling, but she wanted to give him anything he wanted. The pull to him was undeniable.

  Slowly she widened her knees, hoping she could give him what he wanted.

  “More,” he urged.

  Her gaze fell between her legs as she spread her knees for him. She lay there, exposed, wet, and hot for him. He sat back on his heels, admiring his view.


  “God, you’re beautiful.” His fingers moved between her legs, blazing a path through the slick and tender skin.

  “You’re so wet all ready.” He smiled. “I can make you dripping wet for me.” His eyes hardened with lust. “You’re going to need it.”

  “Oh.” She moaned, as he slipped one finger inside her, making her forget her momentary worry about what his words meant. His thumb began to massage the nub in front of her opening. She writhed under his touch, warming from the inside out.

  Before she knew it, he spread her legs as far as they would reach, his head dipping suddenly, and then he plunged his tongue deep inside her.

  “Oh, God, Hudson,” she screamed reveling in the feel of his hot and wet tongue, flicking against her entrance, exploring her innermost sensitive spots.

  He forced it deeper inside. She coiled around it, wanting to keep him there, wrapped in the fire of her core. The scruff from his cheek brushed against her thighs, rubbing back and forth as he sucked and lapped at her folds.

  She had never let a man between her legs with his mouth. Never. It felt too intimate. Too embarrassing. But somehow Hudson managed to do it, and have her beg for more.

  She clenched when his tongue withdrew, and dotted a straight line over her supple nub, stopping for a moment to suck roughly before swirling circles over her navel. His eyes scorched a path over her chest, his chin nestled in the softness of her belly.

  “You taste like raw honey.”

  “Honey?” she whispered.

  “Sweeter than honey.” His eyes pinched together. “You were made for me. I can taste it. You are mine to lick and drink,” he growled. “And fuck. Fuck until we’re exhausted. Fuck until we’re starving. Fuck until we don’t think we can breathe another breath.”

  There was no way to stop her body from reacting to his words. Her honey was seeping between her legs, soaking his fingers. All the while, his fingers moved along her entrance, caressing, widening her until she was thrashing on the bed, her knees trying to close, but his forceful grasp keeping them open. His strokes slowed as she began to quiver.