“We non-shifters must seem almost idiotic to you. How we drift through life, swapping and changing partners.” Breeze reached her hand across the table and covered his hand. “Sorry, that was insensitive of me, considering how you felt for Polly.”
“Polly gave me a taste of what it is to not have the ability to know if you are with the right person. And I can see how people are willing to make sacrifices to be with someone, to be in a relationship with someone. To be part of another person’s life and love.”
“But you also saw how if it’s not right for one person then it’s possible to walk away and be happy again. That’s what I want for my sister. And Tristan.” She leaned back in her seat. “Or maybe I’m being too judgmental. Perhaps I’m doing exactly what everyone did when she originally met Uri and married him. I’m forcing my views on to her. I need to step back and be supportive but allow her to make up her own mind.”
“She’s lucky to have you as a sister,” Joey told her. “I mean that with all my heart.”
“She might not see it that way. Yet. But tomorrow I’ll talk to her and listen to what she says.” Breeze looked up at Joey through her lashes. “Now, let’s focus on us.”
“I like that idea. I like it a lot.” He raised his bottle. “To us.”
Breeze touched her glass to his, then they both let go of the conversation about her sister and enjoyed each other’s company. Tomorrow was another day to tackle her family issues, but tonight was theirs alone.
Chapter Twenty-Two – Breeze
“Good morning.” Joey placed a tray of food on the nightstand before the bed dipped beneath his weight and he leaned down and kissed her lips.
“Morning.” She slipped her arms around his neck and held him close. “I like waking up with you.”
“So do I.” He brushed her hair back from her face and kissed her once more. “Drink your coffee while it’s hot.”
He went to pull away, but she didn’t let him go. “I know something else that is hot.”
His eyes twinkled. “Oh, you do, do you?”
“I do and he is right here.” She knocked her knee into the arm that was supporting him as he leaned over her and at the same time, she tugged him forward, sending him off balance. “Now I have you right where I want you.”
He chuckled as he wiggled around to lie next to her, facing her, his eyes hungry, his lips instantly kissable. Breeze leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, her teeth nipping his bottom lip as he slid his hand under the bedcovers and stroked her hip. “Are you naked under there?”
“You know I am.” Her brain instantly conjured up images of them making love last night before they fell asleep in each other’s arms. “Since you are the one who removed my clothes. If I remember correctly, it was all a bit of a blur.”
“A blur?” he asked. “Then maybe I should refresh your memory since it’s all very clear in my head.”
“Refresh away.” She slid her hand down over his chest and tugged at the hem of his T-shirt. “You need to get naked, too, if I remember correctly.”
“So, it’s all coming back to you?” he asked as he sat up and pulled the T-shirt over his head.
“In flashes. I think I’m going to need a little more help to remember the details.” She batted her eyelashes, tempting him to kiss her as her hands threaded down their bodies and tugged at the shorts he’d quickly put on to go down and make breakfast. “I don’t remember you wearing these last night.”
He chuckled. “I might not have any neighbors in close proximity, but I didn’t want any passing shifter to glimpse my bare butt through the window while I was making morning coffee. There is only one person who needs to see my bare butt in the morning, or anytime, and she is lying here right next to me.”
“I can’t wait to see your bare butt.” She pushed his shorts down over his slender thighs and he wriggled out of them before kicking them off the side of the bed. “Much better.” She ran her hand along his naked thighs and drew her fingertips across his lower stomach.
Joey tensed and bit his bottom lip as she circled her fingers ever closer to his hard length that pressed against her thigh. Around and around she trailed her fingers until he could bear it no longer and he tensed, shifting his weight so that her fingertips trailed across his belly. She, at last, touched him. He let out a low growl as she curled her fingers around his hardness and stroked him up and down.
She enjoyed the control she had over him in the bedroom. The desire he had for her was enough to make any woman feel like a goddess. Meeting Joey had certainly increased her self-confidence. Although she also acknowledged that the shifter mating bond had a greater hold over both of them, it was a bond they were enslaved to.
Breeze never thought she was the kind of woman who would accept that she was tethered to a man, with no free will of her own as to whether it was right or wrong. But every moment she spent with Joey reinforced the truth she had come to accept, they were meant to be and there was no point fighting it. Because she didn’t want to fight it. She didn’t want to deny it because she loved him.
Not just because she was meant to love him. But because he was the man of her dreams whether fate said so or not.
Joey nuzzled her neck, his body tense as she turned onto her back and urged him to move between her thighs. Not that he needed any urging. They both wanted the same thing. To lose themselves in each other and leave the world behind just for a few minutes at least. There was time, after, for them to deal with life and the problems it threw their way.
“This is definitely my favorite way to wake up each day,” she murmured against his lips.
“I completely agree. Although, I liked the way we said goodnight, too.” He smiled as color infused her cheeks. “Do you remember the way we touched?”
He stroked her arms, his hand caressing her shoulder before he cupped her right breast in his palm and lowered his head, sucking on her sensitive nipple. Her stomach clenched and her arousal shot up as he circled his tongue around and over, and around… Her brain could not think or focus on anything else as he licked and sucked on her breast. It was as if she were trapped in the most pleasurable dream, one from which she never wanted to wake up.
But Joey was waking her up. Waking her body piece by piece. A kiss of his lips, a stroke of his fingers, the press of his hardness against her thigh. She eased her legs wider and he reached down, guiding himself into her, filling her impossibly slowly.
It was as if she could feel each minute movement. Her inner muscles tensed at the invasion, tightening around him as he thrust deeper.
When her senses finally became her own, she stroked his back, pressing her fingertips into his hard flesh as she urged him to take her. She kissed his neck, inhaling his scent, a mixture of musk and pine. He was like a wild man of the forest. There was something intrinsically primal about Joey. Perhaps it was the bear that lived beneath his skin, the other side of him that was linked to the mountain and the wilderness surrounding it.
He pulled back and then thrust deep into her with one fluid motion and she groaned, her mind brought back to the present and the man between her thighs.
Joey moved in a steady rhythm, thrusting in before pulling almost completely out of her. In those moments she teetered on the edge of begging him to fill her completely. When he was inside her, their connection was stronger, its presence almost tangible. They belonged together.
He lifted his head and kissed her lips, his tongue sliding along her bottom lip and she opened her mouth for him. As their tongues entwined, it was as if he was trying to touch every part of her, own every part of her and she would give herself to him willingly because he would give himself, give his life if he had to, for her.
“I love you,” she whispered in his ear as their kiss broke and he stopped moving, raising his head to stare down at her face. Adjusting his weight, he leaned on one elbow and brushed her hair back from her face. For a long moment, he simply stared, his face and body unmoving, as if her words had turned him to
stone.
“I love you,” he said at last. “I want to commit this moment to memory, to etch it deep in my mind so I can pull it out and experience it again and again.”
Her mouth pulled up at one corner. “You are as good with words as you are with your hands.” She took hold of one of his large hands and pressed it to her mouth.
“You’re incredible, Breeze.” He kissed her, his hips flexing before he thrust deep into her over and over again. He didn’t stop as he drove them both toward the edge of their climax. For a moment, Breeze teetered on the edge, reaching for her orgasm. Joey moved, his body grazing her mound, stimulating her nerve endings, finally allowing her to let go as he thrust inside her, filling her with his essence as he finally came.
He jerked into her. Holding her close as if he never intended to let her go. She kissed him, light kisses down his neck, across his chest, her mouth finally finding the taut bud of his nipple. His breath hissed as she grazed her teeth over the sensitive flesh and then rolled her tongue across his skin to ease the pain. He thrust harder, impaling her on his hard length as he cried out her name.
Breeze wrapped her legs around his thighs as if she could crawl into his skin and become one with him as he slipped his hand under her bottom and held her tightly against him. As his orgasm subsided, he simply held her, buried deep inside her as if that was where he wanted to stay forever. And she would not object.
However, the day was not getting any younger and her coffee was only getting colder.
“I should get dressed.” She kissed his mouth and ran her hand over his cheek. “Even though all I really want to do is lie here with you.”
“I could stay here all day and all night,” he murmured as he nuzzled her neck. He bit her sensitive skin lightly and a jolt of arousal coursed through her.
“I take back all the things I said. You are a wicked, wicked man who is trying to tempt me to stay in his bed when I really should get going and see how Tristan is this morning.”
“I can do wicked.” He arched his back and licked the flat of his tongue over her nipple. Her inner muscles tightened around him and she felt him harden inside her.
“This is no good,” she said but didn’t try to move. “I really need to go.”
He lifted his head and then rolled over. She wished he’d stayed exactly where he was, but he sat up and curled his fingers around her coffee cup. “I’ll go make some fresh coffee while you get dressed.”
“You don’t have to. I feel bad that you went to all the effort of making me breakfast in bed and now…”
“Oh, do not feel bad. I would much rather make some fresh coffee while remembering the feel of being inside you.” He winked and left the room while Breeze fought the urge to run to him and force him back into bed. She really did need to go and check in on Tristan.
After dressing, she’d grabbed a quick cup of coffee with Joey. Then, after a long, lingering kiss, they had both left his cabin in the woods. Joey went straight to work, while Breeze drove back to her house, which she’d vacated for the sake of Tristan. And her own sanity.
The short drive home gave her time to think about how she was going to handle the situation. Last night it had all become heated, with tempers frayed. This morning, in the cool light of a spring mountain day, Breeze could see things from her sister’s perspective.
Lisa was trying to do what was best for her family. Even if Breeze thought it was wrong, or short-sighted for Lisa and Tristan to follow Uri around the world so he could feel fulfilled, it wasn’t Breeze’s place to question that decision.
Tristan was not her son and maybe he wanted to go. Maybe it was Breeze that was being short-sighted and narrow-minded. These days, with the internet, it might be possible for Tristan to receive a good education from the furthest corners of the globe.
Breeze was fully aware that she was trying to make a square peg fit in a round hole. Her own beliefs and ideas on how to best raise a child consisted of routine and stability. But that was because babies thrived on those things. Tristan was not a baby.
She parked her car in front of her house. Uri’s car was not there. For a moment, panic gripped her. Had they all left in the night without a word to Breeze?
However, as she unlocked the front door and went inside, she could hear her sister singing along to her favorite song. A smile flittered across Breeze’s mouth as she entered the kitchen and joined in the chorus of “Don’t Stop Believing.”
Her sister turned around and the two women danced around the kitchen as if they were teenagers once more. The only difference was Breeze was well and truly out of her black phase. If she could only figure out how to help her sister, Breeze’s life would be all sunshine and rainbows with her mate.
Chapter Twenty-Three – Breeze
“Hey, Lisa, you have not forgotten how to dance.” Breeze leaned back against the counter, breathless from singing and dancing like she did when she was a teenager and life was much simpler.
“Neither have you.” Lisa placed her hand on her chest as she tried to quell her breathing that came in gasps. “I thought I was fitter than this.”
“We’re getting older,” Breeze warned. “Nothing is as easy as it used to be.”
“Oh, I don’t know, some things seem easier.” Lisa fixed her with a knowing stare. “Like two sisters falling out.”
“Last night?” Breeze asked.
“Yes, I’m sorry it got a bit heated.” She looked down at the linoleum and scuffed her toe across it, another reminder of the teenager Lisa. Whenever she’d gotten into trouble, she never did like to make eye contact. Which their mom always took to believe she was guilty. Which Lisa often was.
“I’m sorry, too. It’s just these last couple of weeks with Tristan…” Breeze forced a tight smile onto her face. “I love the little guy. You know that.”
“I know.” Lisa raised her eyes from the floor and looked at Breeze. “He loves you, too. The way he was talking last night, it’s the most animated I’ve ever seen him. He looks happy.” Her voice caught in her throat and she brushed a hand across her face.
“He is happy. But not just here. He’s happy at home, too,” Breeze insisted.
“Not so much.” Her forehead creased. “I don’t think any of us have been happy for a long time.”
“Oh, Lisa.” Breeze went to her sister and wrapped her arms around her, holding her close, just as their mom had held them when they were little and upset. “I’m sorry.”
“I think you leaving brought it all to a head.” She buried her face in Breeze’s shoulder and sobbed. “I never knew how much you were there for us before you moved here.”
“It’s something I had to do.” Breeze was in no way taking the blame for the breakdown in her sister’s marriage.
“I know.” She drew in a long breath. “I just wonder if we all went back to how things were then Uri might feel more settled, less hemmed in.”
“Hemmed in?” Breeze asked, breathing steadily as she fought her rising temper. She didn’t want this to end in another argument.
“Having a child stunts your personal growth.” Lisa’s mouth twisted into a smile. “You are no longer the master of your own destiny.”
“Do you hear yourself?” Breeze asked. “You’re blaming a child for your own unhappiness.”
“That’s because…” She pulled away from Breeze and raked a hand through her hair. “I’m going to have to choose. Aren’t I?” Lisa went to the window and looked out at the mountains.
“I’m sorry, Lisa, but I think you are.” Breeze went to her sister and slipped her arm around her shoulders. “I’m here for you. Whatever you need. But then one thing I know that isn’t going to happen is me moving away from Bear Creek so that you guys can go on with your old lives. I’m happy here.”
“You won’t sacrifice your happiness for mine.” Lisa turned around and faced her sister.
“No.” Breeze held her sister’s gaze.
“And you shouldn’t have to. I don’t want you to.�
� She looked at the floor once more. “I think that is what finally made me realize the decision I have to make. Seeing you so happy. It reminded me of the first few months with Uri. It was incredible. He was the man I fell in love with.”
“And then you had Tristan,” Breeze said.
“And then reality set in. Once the thrill of love and a whirlwind romance faded, we were just two people living together trying to make things work. And we had to work at it.” She sighed and the breath shuddered through her body. “It didn’t come easy. The spontaneity that had fueled our romance was gone. We were just plain old Mr. And Mrs. Holder, and Uri hated it.”
“He’s not your average everyday guy, is he?” Breeze asked.
Lisa arched an eyebrow. “No, he is not.”
“I’m sorry.” Breeze placed her hand on Lisa’s arm and rubbed it, trying to comfort her.
“I’m not. I love him for who he is. If he was Joe Average, I would never have fallen in love with him. But the fire burned too bright and now it’s like I’m constantly trying to rekindle it.” A fat tear trickled down her cheek. “And that’s what I realized last night. After Tristan had gone to bed and it was just the two of us, I tried to talk to him, to reach a compromise where we would all be happy. But Uri isn’t interested. Not in us. He wants what Uri wants. I am the only one keeping the fire going. And as much as I put wood on the fire, he pours water on it.”
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Breeze asked. “Are you going to be happy without him? Being a single mother is going to be tough.”
Even though she welcomed Lisa’s decision, there was no getting around just how challenging it would be for her to make it alone with a child to support both financially and emotionally.
“I figured we might stay with you for a while.” Lisa dashed a tear from her cheek and looked Breeze in the eye.
“Lisa…” Breeze shook her head slowly. “I am in love with Joey. We’re planning a life together and as much as you are welcome to stay and I will help you in any way I can, please don’t do this thinking that I am willing to give up my life and happiness for you.”
Joey: Spring (Shifter Seasons Book 6) Page 17