Rancher Bear Complete Series: PLUS NEW BONUS BOOK: Rancher Bears' Merry Christmas

by Candace Ayers

  Kissing down the side of my neck, he growled out my name and raked my sensitive skin with his teeth. I moaned and lifted my hips, needing to feel him against me.

  I jerked at his shirt until the buttons snapped off and went flying across the room. Without hesitation, I pushed his shirt off of his shoulders and down his arms. “Too many clothes.”

  He sat up and jerked the shirt off the rest of the way and then reached for my boots. He threw them over his head and then grabbed the button to my jeans, before freezing.

  I looked up at him and saw that he was staring at my chest. A breast man? I cupped my large breasts in my hands and teased my nipples for him. The feeling was magnified under his inspection. Arching my back, I presented myself to him, feeling dizzy with lust.

  Matt’s eyes turned gold, glowing and I watched his hands turn more bear than man. He used his massive claw to rip the front of my jeans open. Then, with his hands back to man, he pushed them farther down.

  “Hey! Those were expensive.”

  He lowered his head to take one of my nipples into his mouth and then scraped his teeth over it. “I’ll buy you two more.”

  I moaned. “Matt!”

  He devoured my chest, going from side to side, tasting and teasing me until I thought my head would explode from the building pressure. Only when I’d begged him did he trail kisses lower down my belly. He ripped my jeans the rest of the way off of me and then buried his face against my core. His mouth turned me into mush in a matter of seconds.

  I gasped as he spread my legs even wider and used his tongue to fuck me. I’d never been treated to such an exquisite thing in my life and it took no time for the sensations to build, getting closer and closer to a massive orgasm.

  Matt gave attention to my clit, sucking it into his mouth as he pushed two fingers into me and started an unforgiving rhythm. He twisted his tongue over me and then curled his fingers.

  My toes curled and I fell into an orgasm that was so powerful it almost hurt. I cried out and dug my hands into his shoulders, trying anything to stay grounded when I felt like I was going to shoot straight to the moon.

  When I stopped shaking, Matt lifted his glistening face and licked his lips before flashing me a grin that sent a jolt to what felt like my very soul. It was the first time I’d seen him smile and I knew right then and there that nothing would ever be the same again. I was his. I now belonged to Matt Long, through and through.

  “You taste so sweet. So fucking delicious. I could taste you all day.”

  As promising as it sounded, I ached for him to be inside me. I scooted out from underneath him and climbed to my feet. “Pants off, cowboy.”

  He looked up at me and groaned. “Fuck.”

  I flushed, realizing that he was getting quite the eye-full. I put my hands on my hips anyway, and gave him an impatient look. “Up.”

  Matt jumped to his feet and easily pushed his pants down. He kicked off his boots and the pants followed. Then, standing naked in front of me, he grinned again and reached for me.

  I wanted my chance to worship at the altar of Matt, so I dropped to my knees in front of him and took his large erection in my hands. I sucked in a breath when I saw his eyes once again flash the golden glow.

  “You don’t have-”

  I opened my mouth and took in his shaft, effectively cutting him off. I stroked the inches that I couldn’t taste and started what I hoped was the best blow job he’d ever received. I moaned in pleasure. Pleasing him felt almost as good as him pleasing me.

  Before I got too far along, Matt grabbed me and pulled me to my feet. He kissed me again, the taste of our juices mingling together, before pushing me towards the bed. “Now.”

  My excitement soared and I fell against the soft mattress. I started to turn, but Matt was already behind me, using his knee to widen my stance. His fingers pushed into me and I moaned. “Matt, I need you.”

  He replaced his fingers with the head of his dick and then pushed into me in one solid stroke. My knees buckled from the pleasure of feeling him in me, but he wrapped his arm under my hips and held me firmly in place.

  “Fuck, you feel perfect. So good.” Matt groaned as he pulled out and then slid back into me.

  I dug my fingers into the bedding and cried out my pleasure. I was louder than I’d ever been and couldn’t even stop to think about whether or not I was embarrassing myself.

  He thrust into me over and over again, fast and then slow, slow and then fast. He pushed me towards the edge and then pulled back so I wouldn’t come yet.

  I lost track of time, sense of where we were, and even who I was as he continued his movements over me. He surrounded me, never breaking contact. His free hand stroked over my back, tugged at my hair, toyed with my nipples. His mouth nipped at my back and teased my skin. Every part of him branded me until I felt like one giant exposed nerve ending.

  When his thrusts did get more erratic, he dropped his hands to my clit and circled it while he whispered against my ear that he wanted me to come on him. The mix of everything pushed me over the edge and I came harder than ever. My toes curled and I ripped the blankets off the bed as I jerked. White hot orgasm washed over me, spilled out of me, and turned me liquid.

  Matt came with me as I squeezed tighter around him. He sank his teeth into my neck as he came inside of me. The feeling made my own orgasm last longer and caused it to be even stronger.

  I collapsed forward on the bed and Matt followed. Our skin was slick with sweat as he adjusted himself to make sure he wasn’t suffocating me. My breathing was wild and in those post-climax moments, I didn’t feel like it would ever go back to normal.

  CHAPTER 11: Matt

  I shifted our bodies so that we were laying the right way in the bed and held her against my chest. I’d lost control and claimed her. I’d lost control and hadn’t used a fucking condom. I rested my forearm over my eyes and blew out a big breath. I was waiting on the panic to hit. Surely, I’d feel some. I’d realize that I’d fucked up and I’d want to beat the shit out of myself. Leila had fallen asleep with her head on my chest.

  I looked down at her and found myself smiling. It didn’t make any sense. I’d run away from my own family and hadn’t even ventured into town for months. I even ate as bear to avoid it. I’d holed up in the cabin like a hermit wanting nothing but quiet and time to figure out how to control my bear. And my anger. I’d been so angry over the whole thing with Dad’s will and the ranch ending up in Alex’s hands. Not just the ranch, but my identity. Isolation was supposed to be a way for me to fucking find myself.

  Yet, somehow I hadn’t found a damned thing until Leila. I’d heard Dad talk about fate bringing a shifter’s mate before. He’d ended up with Mom by a stroke of fate, he’d always said. I’d just never bought into the fairytale.

  Looking down at Leila, though, recognizing the way my heart beat for her, I had to think that maybe I’d been wrong all along. Hell, there was no maybe. I’d marked her as my own. She was mine, just as I was hers.

  I was worried about how she would react when she realized that I’d claimed her without permission. She had been the one to say it out loud. She told me that first day that she was my mate, but we hadn’t talked about claiming. I hadn’t been able to help it. Alex told me that he’d had a hard time fighting it, but he’d been able to. I guess I’d just been living with a broken bear for too long. There were times when I could not control the beast.

  Leila sighed in her sleep and wrapped her arm over my chest. She buried her face against my side and squeezed me.

  A slow grin spread across my face as I realized that as hard as I tried, there was no denying destiny. Leila had belonged to me from the day she arrived, the moment she swiped bear on the nose and stepped around him into the cabin and into my heart.

  I’d never stood a chance against her.

  CHAPTER 12: Leila

  When I woke up, Matt was knocked out beside me. I grinned up at him and slowly edged my way out from under his grip. I’d bar
ely made it out of the bed when he grabbed my arm and hauled me back into it, on top of him.

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  I giggled and tried to stand up again. “Bathroom.”

  He kissed me, long and hard, before releasing me. “Hurry back.”

  I peed and then brushed my teeth. When I made it back to bed, Matt was sitting with his back against the headboard and the sheets pulled up to his waist. I slid under the covers and cuddled into his side. “It’s freezing in here.”

  “Yeah, we might’ve left the front door open in our haste last night. I just shut it.”

  I looked over at the closed door and frowned. “So much for privacy.”

  “Just be glad it didn’t happen on the side of the road. I barely got us back here.”

  I tossed my leg over his and straddled him. Our naked bodies rubbed together as I settled in. “Hi.”

  He looked like he wanted to stay stoic but then he laughed. The sound sent a jolt of energy straight to my core and the transformation of his face made him look even sexier. I rested my hands on his shoulders and kissed him.

  “I have to tell you something that might piss you off.”

  I grimaced. “I guess it’s only fair. I’ve been trying to piss you off for days.”

  He ran his fingers down my neck, causing an erotic chill to arch down my body. “I might have claimed you in the moment last night.”

  I ran my fingers over the spot he’d been touching and felt the slightly raised mark. It’d already healed and was now just a raised scar-like thing. “Okay.”

  “You’re not mad?”

  I shook my head. “No way,” I grinned. “This makes me feel safer. Now, you’re stuck with me. Even though we’re mates, I was afraid you’d still try to get rid of me.”

  He cupped my ass in his big hands and pulled me farther against him. “I’m still struggling with ‘broken bear’, but I’ll never try to get rid of you. That I can promise.”

  I lifted my hips and then reached between us to grip him and line our bodies up. “I don’t think you’re as broken as you say, but I’ve got better things to do right now than argue with you.”

  *

  After a morning spent rolling in the sheets, I got dressed and went to town to buy more food. Matt stayed in bed. It’d been quite the visual. He was still naked, the state of dress he was most comfortable in, and lounging with the blanket thrown across his middle.

  I’d barely been able to resist staying and staring at him. The man was so sexy that I was almost willing to adapt to his reclusive lifestyle. Almost. I’d only recently gotten freedom back and I wasn’t willing to stay in all the time. I’d had plenty of that with Steven.

  Matt told me about a larger grocery store in the next town over, so I headed that way. I drove with the windows down and listened to an old country station. It was better than nice to be able to get out and go. Steven had been a controlling asshole and hadn’t let me go anywhere after I knew about their secret. Even before that, though, I’d been regulated to only leaving home when he could come along.

  I’d seen the concern flash through Matt’s eyes when he thought about me going by myself, but he hadn’t even vocalized it. He understood what being able to come and go as I pleased meant to me. He just kissed me and told me to hurry back. He seemed to know instinctually that it was exactly what I needed.

  I found myself shopping faster than I normally would, in my excitement to get back to Matt. I made my way up and down the aisles, tossing items in my buggy as I thought of things I could make for him to impress him with my ninja cooking skills.

  For the first time since I’d run from Steven, I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings. Suddenly, my buggy was grabbed and yanked with a force that stopped it in its path. I gasped and looked up, into eyes that were similar to Matt’s, but different.

  CHAPTER 13: Leila

  .

  “Who are you?” a gruff voice asked. The man was almost as big as Matt, and his face bore a confused look.

  I stepped away and frowned. I didn’t feel safe. Not at all like I had that first day with Matt. I was trembling, but tried to appear tough. “What does it matter to you?”

  Elizabeth, the woman who’d given me a ride the first day, stepped out from behind him with a baby in her arms. “Jesus, Alex. Get out of her face.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw her and then damn near cried when I spotted the baby. I loved babies and for a while, it seemed like the dream that I might ever have one of my own was dead. Now, well, I realized that it could be a reality with Matt. I couldn’t help the big smile that accompanied that thought. “Elizabeth, hi! Look at this beautiful baby! Is he yours?”

  She held him out to me, despite the big guy’s growl. “Would you like to hold him? He’s on my short list currently. Little Connor doesn’t like sleeping at night.”

  I wrapped my arms around him and peered down into his tiny face. He looked just like the big idiot next to us and reached up to tug on my hair. I rocked him back and forth, feeling tears well up in my eyes. “Oh, god. He’s so cute.”

  “I know you’re the one staying with Matt. His smell is all over you. I’m just curious as to how the fuck you found him. He’s been locked up in that cabin for almost half a year.”

  Little Connor started to cry at his Dad’s tone and I reluctantly handed him back to Elizabeth. “That’s none of your business.”

  He stepped closer to me. “It is my business. He might’ve decided to trust you, but that doesn’t mean I have to. You just dropped right out of nowhere. Our family isn’t going to suddenly roll over and welcome you with open arms just because you spread your legs for Matt.”

  I wanted to slap the hell out of him and had to actually rationalize it all out play by play a few times before deciding that it wouldn’t go well. Just as I was about to chew him out, Elizabeth beat me to it.

  “Seriously, Alex? I dropped right out of nowhere and you didn’t think twice about it. Leave Leila alone.” She winked at me. “I knew you didn’t look like a Maggie. Your real name got around.”

  He shook his head. “That’s different. Matt is going through some shit. It would be easy for someone to take advantage of him, by, say, claiming they were his mate. The guy’s in a vulnerable positon is all I’m saying. Easily fooled.”

  I pulled down my collar and showed them the scars that were still fading from Steven’s bites. “Turns out that you can’t actually claim someone who isn’t your real mate. It doesn’t take. Matt and I are mates and I don’t want or expect anything from you or your family.”

  Elizabeth sucked in a rough breath and then punched Alex with her free hand. “Leave her alone. Right now. And we are going to welcome her with open arms. We’re having a birthday party for Matt’s little sister tonight. Please, come.”

  Alex kept his eyes on my neck and then sighed. “Fine. Come. Bring my big brother if you can get him to come.”

  “I’ll pick you up. If you want to come, that is.”

  A chance to meet new people and see where Matt came from? I couldn’t say no. “Sure. What time?”

  Alex pouted while we made arrangements and then stalked off before we were finished. Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Men. I would ask you if Matt is this moody, but I already know he is.”

  I smiled and shrugged. “He is moody, but he’s a good guy at heart. Maybe he can play nice with everyone tonight.”

  She frowned. “I seriously doubt he’ll want to come. He hasn’t been to a family function in a while. After everything that went down with the ranch, he just kept to himself.”

  I didn’t pry because I wanted Matt to be the one to explain everything to me. “We’ll see what we can do then, right?”

  I hurried through the rest of my grocery shopping and then stopped at a department store, while still in that neighboring town. I quickly found makeup and a few different dresses to wear, as well as new shoes. I didn’t want to look embarrassingly plain the first time I met all
of my mate’s family.

  I also wasn’t going to let Alex skew my view. Surely, the rest of them were nicer. I hoped.

  CHAPTER 14: Matt

  I hadn’t wanted to let Leila go shopping. At all, much less by herself. But, I could tell it was something she needed to do. We’d have to have the unpleasant conversation about her piece of shit ex later, so I’d know better what she needed from me. I wanted make my mate happy. My bear agreed with me, though he’d been pissed that I let her go alone.

  I’d paced the cabin until I was dizzy from the incessant circles I’d been making. I thought about everything that could go wrong. Landing was full of bears and they’d all smell me on her, they’d know she was taken, but still. I’d made enemies by being an asshole. Would anyone take their anger towards me out on her?

  When I heard my truck coming up the mountain, I practically ran to the door. I needed to see her to calm my bear down.

  By the time she parked, I was there beside the truck, opening the door and pulling her into my arms. I held her head and took her mouth in a fierce kiss. My bear instantly relaxed, while my cock stiffened. She was my female.

  I stroked my tongue over her lips and growled when she opened her mouth to me. She tasted like a little piece of heaven and I took her for all she was worth.

  My hands moved down to her delicious ass and I gripped her hard, pulled her against my body so she could feel just how much I wanted her. She hooked her leg over my thigh and then I had her pinned against the side of the truck.

  My bear growled and I had to pull back from Leila’s kiss so I could understand what he was pissed about. Then, I got it. A faint whiff of another male came off of her.

  I jerked back and growled low in my throat. “Who touched you?”

  She rolled her eyes and cocked her hip out to the side while gently touching her mouth in a way that went straight to my dick. “You should recognize the scent. Your idiot brother accused me of being some sort of super spy.”