by Desiree Holt
With a rumble of satisfaction, the bear subsided enough for Tobias to seize full control and turn away. He hurried down the steps and nearly bumped straight into Harriet. In his anger with Shane, he’d missed the fact she hadn’t crossed the street. “Your eyes—”
Shit! Tobias blinked hard, forcing away the last traces of the bear. When he opened them again, the night around him dimmed to his normal human sight. “My eyes, what?” Damn, he hated to lie to her, but really, what was the alternative? Oh yeah, don’t worry, they just glow sometimes because I’m a bear shifter.
A small frown creased the smooth skin between her brows. “Nothing. Ignore me, must be some trick of the light.” She didn’t sound convinced as she glanced toward the wrought-iron lamps framing the sides of the stairs. Tilting her head to the side, she tried to look past the bulk of Tobias’ body. “Is he all right?”
He tucked his hand beneath her elbow, steering her gently, but insistently, across the street. “He’ll be fine, apart from the dent in his pride.” They skirted the front of the truck and he pulled open the passenger door, holding it open as he waited for her to clamber in.
Harriet tossed her clutch into the truck, lifted her leg and paused. “I hate this damn dress,” she muttered.
Glancing down, Tobias realized the tight cut of her dress hampered her attempts to climb up. He gripped her by the waist, the width of his hands almost spanning the slender circumference, and lifted her onto the edge of her seat. Her hands dropped to his shoulders, halting him when he would have released her. Her chest rose and fell in a smattering of tight breaths, and her eyes drilled into him as though he held the secret she’d been looking for her whole life.
Tobias stroked his thumbs over the lean play of muscle at the base of her ribcage. “Don’t look at me like that, sweetheart, or I might forget I’m supposed to be the gentleman in this scenario.”
“I never asked you to be a gentleman, Tobias.” She captured her lower lip between her teeth, as though surprised she’d let the words slip out. Need sang in his veins, the throbbing pulse of blood pumping from his strong heart to lower places.
“Not here, not now.” The words were more for himself than her, but they were enough to break the connection between them, and she lowered her eyes with a small nod of acquiescence. His fingers ached as he forced them to uncurl from the delicious inward sweep of her waist, and she released her own hold from his shoulders. He nudged her legs until she turned in the seat and tucked herself into the truck, allowing him to close the door.
He took a deep breath; then another, until the flood of oxygen helped to clear the fog of lust from his brain. He cast a quick look toward the town hall as he walked to his side of the vehicle, but there was no sign of anyone on the steps. Looked like Shane had taken himself off home to sleep his drunk off.
The heated scent of Harriet’s arousal swirling around the confined space hit him the moment he climbed in the cab. He hit the button to lower his window the second the engine rumbled into life, and steered the truck onto the quiet street. Noise and laughter rang out from the brightly lit hall as they drove slowly past. Tobias glanced at the illuminated numbers on the dashboard, surprised at how early it was. Shane must have really put some effort in to getting so drunk before nine-thirty. If the roads stayed as clear as he expected them to, they’d be back at the Happy T before ten. Plenty of time. He risked a glance to his right, and their eyes collided. He swallowed. Yes. Plenty of time to make the best or worst mistake of his life.
Chapter 8
The silence between them filled the cab of the truck, until Harriet thought she might choke on it. Her skin tingled where the imprint of Tobias’ hands around her waist had burned into her sensory memory from just one brief touch. Her heart thumped in her chest as the fresh scent of his cologne swirled around her. Annoyance and concern over Shane’s odd behavior faded in the overwhelming presence of the quiet man next to her. The banked fires in his eyes when he looked at her called to her. Would he warm her soul, or burn her down and leave nothing but ashes in his wake? Did she care as long as she got to touch him?
Her choice of bed partners had been limited by both the small community she lived in and a decision to keep her work and private life separate. A reputation for sleeping with the men who worked at the ranch would be a disaster, so she’d stuck to occasional dates with friends of friends. She’d never met anyone who kindled a real spark within her, and she was honest enough that the lack of connection had been mutual. The few men she’d chosen to share herself with had been kind and in similar need to scratch a biological itch. No fireworks, no thunderclaps and lightning bolts, but fulfilling enough. Or so she’d assumed before Tobias had strolled around the corner at the cattle auction a few short weeks ago, and destroyed her previous notions about sexual attraction.
She risked a glance to the left again, and their eyes clashed. Even in the dim light cast by the dashboard, the blatant hunger in his gaze shone crystal clear. She pressed her legs together to ease the aching need at the junction of her thighs. The truck jolted slightly as their path veered toward the rougher ground edging the road.
“Fuck it.” Tobias wrenched the wheel, returning them to the smooth tarmac surface. Harriet forced herself to look away, staring at her own reflection in the dark window beside her, the view beyond swallowed by the still night.
The truck jolted again, and she started around, shocked to see Tobias steering them onto the dusty verge. His hands flexed on the steering wheel a couple of times before he jabbed at the release mechanism of his seat belt. “This is a really bad idea,” he muttered, eyes still fixed on the blank windshield before him.
“What is?” She knew what he meant though. Even before he lunged across the cab to grab her in a fierce embrace that stole her breath. She knew, she might even agree with him, but it didn’t stop her opening her mouth to the demanding press of his tongue.
He swept inside her lips, sucking and feasting on her mouth, stealing her breath until she saw stars. She didn’t push him back though. The banked arousal simmering in her belly roared to life, and she threw her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, needing to feel the heavy weight of his body against hers. He cursed, fumbled at her side to release the belt constricting her, then lifted her up, dragging her across his lap as though she weighed nothing.
Harriet squirmed, tried to get closer to where she wanted to be, to get the thick length of him notched into the ache between her legs, but the tight skirt of her dress stopped her. “I hate this damn dress,” she snarled against his lips, and he laughed through their kiss. The pleasant rumble of his chest rubbed her nipples through their clothing and she gasped.
“I’m a big fan of your dress, sweetheart, but it does have some drawbacks.” Tobias grabbed the bottom hem and rent the fabric in two, splitting the seam to her waist.
Free at last, she scrambled into his lap, knocking her head on the roof of the truck in the process. “Damn!” The smile fell from his lips and he held her still. She could read the concern in his eyes and was having none of it. “I swear, Tobias. If you tell me not here, not now, I’m going to scream.”
A strange light glowed in his eyes, a flash of the eerie brightness she’d glimpsed earlier. It sent her heart pounding, part fear, part arousal at the hunger burning there. He gripped her hips, tugging her forward until she straddled him. His hands pressed down, pushing her into the hard ridge of his cock as he ground his lower body against her. “You’re going to scream all right, Harriet. Scream and cry and beg until I let you come all over me.”
She shuddered. No man had ever spoken so explicitly to her before. Tobias released her hip and clasped the back of her neck, drawing her inexorably down to meet his mouth. He paused, their lips barely a breath a part. “I’m not going to fuck you though, sweetheart. Not yet.”
A whimper of disappointment escaped from her throat, and he captured the soft sound in a searing kiss. Harriet rolled her hips, hoping to change his mind. Surely he ached as muc
h as she did? The world tilted as he lifted one hip and tumbled her off his lap to sprawl on her back across the long bench seat. “None of that, now.”
Before she could protest at the loss of contact, he shoved his hands beneath the ruins of her dress and ripped her panties off, tossing them to one side with no care for where they landed. He reached behind him, and a cool wash of air played over her heated skin as the truck door swung open. Confused, she watched him slide away and climb out. Where the hell is he going now?
Nowhere, was the answer.
He gripped her ankles and pulled Harriet gently toward him, until she lay flat on her back with her legs half-hanging out of the door. Her dress rucked up in the process, bunching at her waist to leave her lower body completely exposed. Tobias lifted her left leg, placed a tender kiss on her ankle bone, then braced her foot against the inside of the door frame. He repeated the motion with her other leg, hooking her calf over the steering wheel.
Spread wide open for him, she could do nothing but watch as he hooked his hands beneath her ass to take her weight and lowered his mouth to cover her throbbing clit. The dark stubble on his chin scraped the inside of her thighs, adding another sharp pleasure to the hot suction of his lips. “Tobias!” The visual stimulation of his dark head between her thighs proved one layer too many, and she let her head fall back against the seat.
He plied her clit with a myriad of different sensations—the near-painful scrape of his teeth, the contrasting softness of his lips, the rough strokes of his tongue. Her brain checked out, unable to provide any rational notification through the flood of messages from her core. The muscles of her pussy clasped and released in a series of ever-increasing ripples. Arousal gathered at her center and overflowed, coating her labia and the tops of the cheeks of her ass.
Tobias lifted his head. “You smell so fucking sweet, like honey fresh from the hive. Jesus, I could drown in you, Harriet.” He pushed his face into her core, apparently intent on making good his words. His tongue thrust deep inside her pussy in a succession of sharp jabs, and she buried her fingers in the dark strands of his hair, urging him on. His hands flexed, squeezing her ass until the blunt nails dug deep. She would wear the marks of his touch on her body in the morning. The idea excited her more than was wise, but she was beyond wisdom, beyond everything but the steadily building pleasure.
He never stopped moving, switching between driving his tongue into her and long, flat licks from the apex of her slit to the edge of the forbidden. There was no rhythm to his delicious assault, no pattern she could fix upon and anticipate the next touch, the next lick, the next thrust. She could only let him take what he wanted from her, accept the pleasure he was giving in return.
He swapped his tongue for his fingers, breaching her core with two broad digits. The stretch and burn sent her spiraling higher, and she cried out his name. “That’s it,” he said, punctuating each word with another drive of his fingers. “That’s it, sweetheart. Tell me how good it feels.”
“Tobias, please, please. I need you inside me.” The sobbed words spilled from her lips, as she thrashed her head from side-to-side, unable to stand the tumult of emotions racking her body. It wasn’t enough, would never be enough. “Fuck me, please,” she begged.
His deep growl sent her eyes flying open, and she stared at the unholy light in his eyes. He pushed another finger inside her, and the fullness sent the air rushing from her lungs in a soft scream. “You don’t want that. You just think you do.” He backed off, thrust again and stopped, leaving the thick digits buried as far as they would go.
Tobias leaned over her, the heel of his hand pressing into her clit. “If you let me inside you, then I’ll never let you go, Harriet. You’ll be mine; my mate. I’m too old and too damn selfish to take you and walk away.”
She tried to focus on his strange words, to fathom the meaning of his fierce declaration, but her body had reached breaking point. The waves of her orgasm crashed through her, shattering her awareness of anything beyond the pleasure radiating from her center. Mouth opened on a silent scream, her eyes fixed on his glittering stare as Tobias destroyed her for any other man. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, trailed down her temples and into her hair, but the synapses in her brain were incapable of sending the required signal to her hand to brush them away. Her chest rose and fell, so she knew she wasn’t dead; although, she didn’t know how she’d managed to survive the onslaught of bliss.
Boneless, shattered to her very core, she floated in a state of semi-awareness as Tobias lifted her back into her seat and fixed her seatbelt. He tugged an old blanket from the storage area behind the seats and cocooned her in it, tucking the edges around her shoulders. It smelled of horses and home, and she rested her cheek against the soft material.
He drove them home in silence, and the soft swish of the wheels on the pavement lulled her deeper toward sleep. She fluttered her eyelids open at a small jolt, closed them again when he kissed her brow and muttered “hush, sweetheart.”
The familiar comfort of her mattress met her back. Warm, calloused fingers handled her like the most delicate cut crystal as he removed the blanket and her dress. He stroked her leg from hip to ankle, petting rather than arousing, removing her sandals in a couple of quick tugs on the straps. The comforter settled around her and Harriet nestled deeper into the covers. Sleep beckoned, and she knew what delicious dreams awaited her over the horizon. Only she didn’t have to rely on dreams anymore.
“Stay with me,” she murmured, lifting the sheets behind her to create an inviting space for him to slide into.
“Harriet.” She’d never really liked her name until that moment, had struggled to match the old-fashioned moniker to the wants and needs she hoarded deep inside her. In the desperate, naked hunger of his strangled whisper, she heard the promise of what her life with him could be. Felt the echo of his desire kindle in her heart and she wanted it, wanted him with a fierce possession. The words he’d said to her in the truck, delivered as a warning, sank into the marrow of her bones. Mine. Mate.
She sat up. The covers slipped from her upper body to pool at her waist. He hadn’t pulled the curtains and pale moonlight cast the room in shadows. He stood motionless at the foot of the bed, breath sawing in and out of his lungs as though he’d run a marathon. “Harriet.” The guttural growl shouldn’t have been possible from a human throat, and the fine hairs on her arms prickled. His eyes glowed, and this time there was no light source to attribute the effect to. The bright, golden glow came from his irises.
“What are you?” she whispered.
Chapter 9
If he’d sensed any real fear in her question, Tobias would have fled the room, gathered his few possessions and hit the road until the full length of the state lay between them. He tested her scent, unable to trust his aching heart wasn’t trying to over-ride his common sense. The bloom of her arousal hit him like a sucker punch, and common sense threw its hands up in surrender. There could be no turning back now. His bear drew on her unique essence like a drug, drawing it deeper in, imprinting on the unique fragrance of his desired mate.
The odds on meeting a mate within his own species were rare, but Tobias had always assumed his fate lay in the arms of another shifter and so had never given much thought to the practicalities of this moment. All those damn life-lessons his mama had drilled into him, where had been the one to explain what the hell he was to a non-shifter?
“Tobias?”
He’d waited too long, let his silence make her uncomfortable. “Turn on the light, sweetheart.”
He squinted, letting his night vision adjust to the dim glow from the bedside lamp. She’d tugged the covers back up, and sat with her hands clasped around her drawn-up knees. He surveyed the space around him, calculating the room he would need. The pine dresser behind him wouldn’t survive an encounter with several hundred pounds of black bear. Damn.
A quick exploration of the top drawer uncovered a neatly folded pair of flannel pajamas covered in l
ittle strawberries. They were so adorable, he couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he approached the bed and held them out to her. “We need to go outside so I can show you something.”
Harriet eyed the clothing, but didn’t take it. “This is starting to get weird, Tobias.”
A wry smile twisted his mouth. You have no idea, sweetheart. “I’m sorry to be mysterious, but I need you to trust me on this. I’ll be out in the yard when you’re ready.” He left her to dress in peace, needing to leave the room before he changed his mind and crawled beneath the sheets beside her.
Passing through the front door, he switched on the outside light to illuminate the porch and strode down into the yard. He stripped off his boots and socks and unbuttoned his shirt, but left it hanging open. Taking up a position about ten feet from the front steps, he waited. It had been a couple of weeks since his last shift, a brief stretch and run when he’d ridden out to check the fences for any more damage. He’d made sure he was far enough away from the property to avoid being seen.
The bear sensed his nervousness, and sought to ease his worry. Dark fur brushed his mind—She will accept us. This is meant to be. Damn, he hoped so.
When Harriet appeared on the porch in front of him, she’d bound her hair back in a messy knot at the nape of her neck and found a pair of slippers for her feet. The pajamas swallowed her curves and her hands were folded in the ends of the sleeves. She nibbled her bottom lip. The telltale gesture of nerves sent his doubts spiraling again, but she’d trusted him enough to come outside at least. Clearing his throat, he blurted out the words echoing in his head, “I’m not entirely human.” Way to break it to her gently.
She wrapped her arms around her middle and scowled at him. “So, what, you’re an alien and you brought me outside to witness your return to the mother ship?” She snorted. “Not human. Go and work out your commitment issues on somebody else, Tobias. It’s late and I’m tired. I thought we had the chance at something special, but I guess I was wrong.”