August shuddered his release and moaned as he placed his forehead gently on her left shoulder blade, content to continue kissing and nibbling on her skin.
“Love you.” He feathered the words on her flesh with the press of his lips.
And this time, she didn’t fear that anything would take that love away from her. Smiling, so happy she thought she might burst from it, she toyed with the tips of his much longer hair.
This man, this reserved, calm man, was all hers. It was almost too much for her to believe.
“Love you more,” she whispered.
“Oh no.” He looked at her, deadly serious. “Not possible. I’m pretty sure I didn’t give my grizzly a chance to want anyone else, Jack. I forced you on him. I fought for you and you alone. So I’m pretty sure that means I love you more.”
He had no idea what his words did to her, how they made her feel. Her heart felt as though it would burst from too much happiness.
She hugged him tightly. “How about equals then?”
He nuzzled her nose with his. “I can deal with that. So where are we going?” He lifted a dark brow, tossing a glance out the window to her truck that she only just realized was still idling outside.
She laughed. “Going?”
“You’re all packed up.” He played his fingers along her sternum, making her suck in her belly because it tickled.
“I was going to go to Big Sur.”
The teasing light in his eyes died, and he propped himself up on his elbow. “Really? You would have gone there?”
Blinking, she decided that no matter how embarrassing it seemed now, she would be honest. “I wanted to be close to you. Even if we couldn’t actually—”
“Jack.” He said her name with a rolling inflection that caused her skin to pebble all over with goosebumps. “I love you, my beautiful, sexy siren. Wherever you go, I go. Period.”
He kissed her deeply.
It took a second for her to regain her breath, especially because she felt his penis stiffen. Her bear was ready for round two.
She laughed. “Really? I mean, you’d have to leave your bar. Your brothers. And I wouldn’t do it now. The only reason why I was leaving was because I couldn’t stand to see you with someone else.”
He traced her cheek, and she shivered from the intensity that poured from him.
“I’m going to marry you. In the Breed way, the human way, whatever you want. But we’re getting married, Jack.”
She blinked when he didn’t say anything else. “What? Like now? Right now?”
He nodded. “Yup. Right now. And then we’re going to Big Sur for a month. Extended honeymoon.”
“But... but, the bar and—”
He shook his head and grabbed her fingers, kissing the tips of each of them. “I’d already set things up with Madison before I went into hibernation. And my brothers, they’re off finding their own women. You and me have time for us, Jackson. Right now. So let’s not think about this anymore. Let’s just take it.”
Normally, the idea of things moving so quickly might have terrified her. But in hindsight, it was obvious to her that she and August had gotten to know one another beyond just the physical sense, but viscerally, deeply and spiritually. They’d been dating, as good as engaged, for a year. And she hadn’t even known it.
She laughed. “Fine. Let’s do this thing, grizzly. I ride shotgun.”
Jackson tried to wiggle out from under him, but he pinned her with his knee, holding her fast. “Before we go though, how about you tell me a little bit more about all those women you’ve been with.”
“Auggie!” She slapped at his chest, but his teasing eyes made her mock annoyance fizzle to nothing.
He was amazing and all hers.
“Well,” she said, “there was this one time that I—” Leaning up, she whispered it in his ear.
His eyes widened, his breathing notched, and a slow-as-molasses grin slid across his face. “Yeah. Let’s try that. Now. Right now. Then we’ll go,” he said in a heated whisper.
Jackson had found her happily ever after, and this time, she was never going to let it go.
~*~
Make sure to pick up your copy of Phoenix, book 3 in Selene Charles’ Mating Fever series, drops April 22nd. Love my books, want to know when the next one releases, make sure to sign up for my newsletter!
Get more Mating Fever stories! The first in each author’s series are listed below:
Mating Fever Bears
V. Vaughn—Andre 2/24
Elle Thorne—Cross 3/4
Kenzie Cox—Cyrus 3/14
Mating Fever Dragons
Saranna DeWylde—Ondrej 3/2
Ronin Winters—Mica 3/7
Elsa Jade—Dragon Fever 3/11
Minx Malone—Nathan’s Heart 3/16
Check out our website for the complete list. Love to FB, join our fan group for sneak peeks and announcements about the Mating Fever.
Selene Charles’ Books
Tempted Series
Forbidden, Book 1
Reckless, Book 2
Possessed, Book 3
Mating Fever Series
Chance, Book 1
August, Book 2
Phoenix, Book 3
August: Mating Fever (Bears of Kodiak Book 2) Page 7