by Lily Cahill
Kam raised her eyebrow. Something was coming up--a tent was growing in his pants. His eyes were flickering over her, taking in the satin and lace. "Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Can we discuss it tomorrow?"
When Kam reached his chair, she stepped between his spread thighs. Idly, she ran a hand up her stomach, enjoying the slick feel of the fabric under her hand. She set her hands on the arms of the desk chair and lowered herself to her knees.
"Yes, thank you. Certainly. Uh-huh. Okay, good-bye." Caleb shut off the phone and tossed it on his desk. "I have no idea what I just agreed to."
She looked up at him. "I can come back later, if you need to make more calls."
"Hell, no," he said, reaching out to cup her breasts. His voice was already husky. "I didn't figure you for the sexy lingerie type."
"I'm not. I bought this for a wedding a few years back. Strapless bridesmaid dress," she added. "But studies show that men are aroused by visual stimuli."
"And you wanted to arouse me, Professor?" He slipped a hand inside the cup of her corset, finding her nipple.
"Always," she said. Then, because she didn't want to think about the implications of that response, she unbuckled his belt.
His cock was already hard. He hissed out a breath as her hand brushed it through the fabric of his pants. "Wait."
Ignoring him, she freed his cock. It looked so delicious, she gave the head a long slow lick. "Why?"
"I ... I can't quite remember right now," he gasped, groaning when she took him in her mouth. "We need to talk. We need ...."
She shook her head and continued stroking him with her hand. "I'm not interested in talking. I've been wanting to fuck you for days."
"Me too, baby. You have no idea how much. But I think--"
She pulled a condom from her bodice, ripped it open with her teeth, and rolled it on him. "Stop thinking."
"Done," he said. "That was hot."
She grinned at him as she stood, dropped her panties, and straddled him.
They both groaned as she sank down on him. His hands were on her breasts, lifting them to his mouth so he could scrape his teeth over her nipples. "Your tits are always gorgeous, but this is next level."
Kam changed her mind--she would wear a corset every day, if it made him look at her like that. She rotated her hips and just to see him grit his teeth in pleasure.
His hands went to her ass, forcing her to stroke up and down on his cock. She obliged, setting her teeth on his neck as she tried to take him deeper with every stroke. They were both so pent up, it didn't take more than a few minutes before they were both shuddering with orgasm.
"I was going to wait," he said, before Kam was capable of forming words again. "I have this romantic evening planned."
She lifted her head, straightening her glasses. "You don't need to romance me."
He kissed her, cupping the nape of her neck under her hair. Emotions rose up inside her--the sort of emotions she couldn't allow herself to indulge in. She was already in love with him, but she couldn't let him see it. It would only drive him away faster.
So when he finally pulled away, she was ready with a sexy grin. "I'm not done with you yet," she said. He was still hard inside her, so she squeezed him with her internal muscles before she stood up. "I have an interesting fantasy about fucking you in front of your window."
She heard the chair squeak as he leaped to his feet. "Let's see if we can make that a reality," he said, smacking her bare ass lightly before sweeping her into another kiss.
Chapter Sixteen
Kamilah
"I told you, you don't need to take me anywhere."
Caleb only smiled as he drove the car through downtown Seattle. "You're going to like this, I promise."
She sighed theatrically. "I could be naked right now."
The look he sent her was hot enough to scorch her skin. "You'll be naked again later."
She smiled. They had spent the entire afternoon making up for lost time, and she felt loose and relaxed. "I suppose we should take a break. To allow you to rejuvenate."
"Don't worry about that, I'm plenty juvenated. But I want to show you something special."
They were driving through a stately area of Seattle, full of mature trees and elegant buildings. "Where are you taking me?"
"Here," he said, turning into a circular driveway.
"The Burke Museum? This is supposed to be a wonderful natural history museum. But they're closed, aren't they?" she asked, checking her watch.
"Not to me," he replied with a grin.
She rolled her eyes. "I suppose being a handsome billionaire genius does have its perks."
They parked directly in front of the doors. A security guard let them in with a nod.
"There's no one else here?" Kam marveled, her voice echoing in the entryway.
Caleb shook his head, spread his arms wide. "It's all yours."
The prospect of the entire museum at her feet made her giddy as a schoolgirl. "Let's go!"
She led him through the Burke Museum's fantastic collections of fossils, gawking at the massive dinosaur bones. The exhibition of artifacts of Pacific Island cultures was detailed and informative, but that didn't stop her from telling Caleb some of the stories about the Maori people she had gleaned from her own research.
She knew she was talking too much, all but lecturing him, but he didn't seem to mind. He asked good questions, pointed out details that sparked her memory. As they walked through the exhibits he held her hand, and that small act of affection had her heart spinning with delight.
They were looking at a collection of precious stones when her stomach growled. "I don't suppose this museum has a cafeteria?"
He scoffed. "I can do better than that. Are you hungry?"
"Starving."
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and sent a quick text. Moments later, uniformed waiters were setting up a table by a museum window overlooking the University of Washington campus. In a short time, they were seated at a table lit by tapered candles, sipping red wine.
"Caleb, this is amazing," Kam said, looking around her. They were surrounded by the treasures of the past, looking out over an oasis of trees in the middle of the city. "I can't believe you got a catering company to come out here."
"Not a catering company," he said as the waiters carried in silver-topped plates. "I convinced the chef at the steakhouse where we met to make us a special meal."
"Really?" Her mouth was watering even before the waiter lifted the lid to reveal a steaming bowl of French onion soup. She inhaled the heavenly scent. "I've been dreaming about this soup."
"There's more to come," he said, watching her sample the soup with pleasure.
#
An hour later, Kam sat back with a satisfied sigh. The waiters had just delivered dessert, then left for the evening. She was pleasantly full, but the chocolate torte in front of her was too good to ignore. "I can't believe you did this all for me."
A strange look crossed his face. Then he took a deep breath. "Kam, there's something I need to tell you."
In an instant, she went from loose and sated to tense and afraid. She laid down her fork. Apparently they couldn't avoid the conversation any longer. "What?"
He started to say something, then shut his mouth. He opened it again, then offered a baffled sigh. "I don't know how to start."
She pressed her lips together. "It's okay, I already know."
He sat back in shock. "You do?"
She balled her hands in her lap, determined to be calm. How many times had she had this conversation with the men she slept with? Casual only, no strings attached. She knew the script, and had always tried to deliver it kindly. Now she wondered if the men she had been with had hurt as she was now hurting.
"Caleb, I already know that this isn't a permanent thing between us. You're ... you. You've got too much going on in your life to be tied to one woman, and I get that. It's fine."
He gaped at her. "You think I'm trying to leave you?"
&n
bsp; "Maybe not now, but eventually." Her heart was shattering, but she kept her face composed. "I understand. You don't need to explain it to me."
"Apparently I do," he said. "Give me your hands. I need to touch you."
Reluctantly, she laid her hands in his. Even this amount of contact made her ache with yearning and sorrow. It took all her strength to look him in the eye.
"Kamilah Hutchinson," he said softly. "Will you marry me?"
The world flipped over so quickly Kam was certain she had heard him wrong. "What?"
"Will you marry me?"
Now it was her turn to be speechless. "We've only known each other a few weeks."
"I knew the first time I made love to you that we were fated to be together."
There was so much in that statement that shocked her, particularly a single word. "Fated?"
"Yes. Among my people, we only take one mate in our lifetime. Fate determines our partner. Don't you feel it? Don't you feel this connection between us?"
His eyes were so intense, so wild.
"It's ... it's chemistry. Brain functions. Biochemical reactions to stimuli."
"Has it ever been this intense for you?"
"No, but ... that doesn't mean it's fate," she sputtered. "And what do you mean, your people?"
His face was utterly serious. "Kam, I can shape-shift into a bear."
She didn't realize she had moved until she was already standing. "You can ... what?"
"I can shift into a bear."
The only word she could think was, "What?"
"Don't be scared, okay?" he said, also standing.
Despite his warning, Kam screamed when suddenly, a bear was standing where Caleb had been. A goddamned bear!
The bear dropped to four paws and started to lumber around the table toward her. She screamed again, circling the table to keep something between them. The bear looked at her, and she could swear there was disappointment on its face.
Then Caleb was back, standing in the exact same spot.
Kam pressed the heels of her hands to her forehead. "Okay. Okay. I'm having a dream. Brought on by studying the Yursui. This is just a long, detailed, insane dream."
"Come on, Professor. Are you going to ignore the evidence in front of your eyes?"
Caleb started to come around the table toward her, but she rabbited away from him.
"When that evidence is impossible, yes," she snapped. "You couldn't possibly be a bear shifter."
"Unless the stories of the Yursui are true. Maybe they weren't hallucinating, Kam. Maybe they really could shift into bears, just like I can."
Her knees were suddenly weak. "You sit down, right there. You tell me everything."
He lowered himself into his chair. "I know this is all a shock to you. I should have told you before, but I knew it would be hard for you to understand."
Her despairing laugh hurt her throat. "That's an understatement."
He nodded an acknowledgment. Then he told her a story so bizarre, so insane, that she was half-convinced that she really was dreaming.
"So let me get this straight," she said, after he had finished. "You are part of a organization called B3 that is for billionaire bear shifters. And they were interested in my research, so they asked you to fund it through your company."
"Yes."
"Did they ask you to sleep with me so you could get closer to the dig?"
The horror in his eyes gave her the answer. "Of course not. I would never do that. I would never take advantage of you that way."
"But you assumed that I was trying to take advantage of you," she shot back. The shock was starting to fade, and beneath it was anger. "You assumed that I slept with you to secure funding."
"I should never have said that," he said. "I was surprised to see you, but that's not an excuse. It's just that ... well, you wouldn't have been the first woman to look at me and see dollar signs."
"Do you think--"
"No, I know that you didn't sleep with me for the money. If that had been your play, you wouldn't have left the next day--you'd have stuck around until you got what you wanted. But I wasn't thinking straight that day in my office. I haven't been thinking straight since I realized you were my fated mate."
She shook her head. She wasn't ready to take on this whole "fated mate" business quite yet; not until she had addressed the dig. "So you're saying that you, and the rest of your bear shifter friends, are related to the Yursui?"
He lifted his shoulders in an expressive shrug. "I don't know. That's why I asked to handle the DNA testing. I wanted to make sure the materials went to one of B3's labs."
"B3 has labs?"
"B3 has everything." A smile hinted at his lips, then disappeared. "Kam, if the DNA results come back, and we find that we are related to the Yursui ... you'll never be able to tell anyone about what you've found."
A wave of dizziness hit Kam, as if the floor had dropped out from under her. "You mean ... we can't publish? We can't put together a collection?"
He shook his head sadly. "Secrecy is one of the tenets of B3. We aren't allowed to shift in front of anyone other than our mates and other shifters. We've survived in the shadows for generations because we make sure no one knows who we are, what we can do."
"But you just told me."
"You're my mate."
"And I have to tell Alex."
"I'm sorry, you can't."
"I'm supposed to tell my best friend that all the work she's been doing for two years is useless, and I can't even tell her why?"
Caleb shut his eyes, pain in his face. "I don't want it to be this way. Maybe when we talk to the council tomorrow--"
"We? Council? Tomorrow?"
Chapter Seventeen
Caleb
Never in his life had he bungled something so badly. Kam was furious with him, and she had every right to be. He had just turned her world upside down. And it was going to get worse before it got better.
"Tomorrow. That's the meeting I told you about."
"You said it was a new opportunity."
"It is." He had to make her understand. He could make her so happy, if only she gave up everything she had ever worked for. "You're part of B3 now. That means you have the whole organization behind you. Whatever you want to learn, it's open to you."
"I feel like we aren't even speaking the same language," Kam said, pushing her glasses up her nose. "I'm part of B3 now? When did I agree to that?"
"I'm your fate, just like you are mine," he said. "We are meant to be together."
She got up again to pace. "You can't just say things like that."
He watched her, his heart aching. "I want to tell you the truth. I've wanted to tell you for so long."
She paced closer to his chair, running her hands through her gorgeous hair. "Caleb, you have to know that you sound insane."
He took a chance and reached out for her. "Do you feel that?" he asked when his fingers brushed her hip. "Don't you feel the connection?"
She stepped out of his reach. "Don't try to seduce me right now. Just because we have a physical connection doesn't mean that we are fated to be together."
"It's more than physical, and you know it." He stood, hating that she shrank from him. But he kept his hands to himself. "I've known you for what ... ten days? But I feel like my life started when I met you. My whole future is filled with you."
Her eyes were wide and terrified. "Caleb, please. Don't say things like that if you don't mean it."
He stepped toward her, unable to stay away. "I do mean it. Kam, fate gave me the gift of you. If I have to spend the rest of my life making you believe it, that's fine with me."
Her hands were clasped over her heart, as if to protect it. "And I don't have any choice in the matter? I don't get a say? I'm just supposed to give up everything because you say we're destined to be together?"
The irony of it didn't amuse him. Every woman he'd ever been with had wanted more from him, wanted his commitment and attention. Now he was ready t
o dedicate his life to Kam, and she was pushing him away. "Of course you have a choice. If you want to deny your fate, you can. It will make both of us miserable for the rest of our lives, but you can choose not to be with me. But why, Kam? Why would you walk away from what we have?"
A week ago, he would have thought she was scowling. He knew her well enough now to understand that it was her thinking face. "Can you ... turn into a bear one more time?"
It was easy. He melted from one shape to another with no more than a thought.
This time, her eyes didn't widen with shock. They narrowed in concentration. In his bear form, he could hear her heart racing and smell her spike of fear. But over that, her mind was hard at work.
"You're a grizzly bear, right? I recognize the shoulder hump." She reached out hesitantly and brushed her fingers over his fur. "Are all shifters grizzlies?"
He shook his head, wishing he could transform back and feel her fingertips on his skin.
"Can you vocalize?"
In response, he made a low, plaintive noise. He couldn't speak as a bear, but he hoped she understood that he was trying not to scare her.
"Does it hurt? The transformation?"
He shook his head. She had both hands on him now, examining his head and paws. "Your eyes are the same, but everything else ... even the weight distribution. Where did all this additional bulk come from?"
Even in his human form, he wouldn't have been able to answer those questions. It was one of the many mysteries of being a shifter. But she didn't seem to expect an answer anyway. She examined his entire body, then asked him to walk around, even rear up on his hind legs. When he did, she let out a long breath. "Gods, Caleb. You really are a bear."
He shifted back. "I never wanted to lie to you. But you wouldn't have believed me if I told you."
"I hardly believe you now," she said. She was looking at him with excitement and appreciation, which was far better than the shock and confusion that had been in her eyes ever since he told her.
"Don't you see," he implored her, "If this part is true, then the part about us being fated to be together is also true."