by Eve Langlais
Very much so, and the guilt of it made her blurt out in the darkness, “He kissed me.”
“Cool.”
“What do you mean ‘cool’? I said he kissed me. Ark did.” Jade braced herself for a verbal lashing, something from her sister.
“Is he any good at it? Or is he sloppy? I hate it when they slobber all over you and think it’s sexy.”
“I agree slobber is gross, but why are you asking me about his skill level? Shouldn’t you be freaking out? Ark kissed me.”
“So what?”
“So, we still don’t know if he’s the daddy of junior.”
The covers shifted as her sister shrugged. “I doubt it.”
“What do you mean you doubt it? He was at that party.”
“And? He’s not the right size. He’s too big for one. And I mean big.” Snicker.
Yes, he was and Jade couldn’t help the heat in her cheeks. “So you’re not mad?”
“Sis, if you like him, then go for it.”
“I never said I liked him.”
“Whatever. I don’t really care, but don’t use me or the baby as an excuse to reject him.”
But … But Jade needed something to keep him at arm’s length, the constant reassurance that the baby wasn’t his was not enough. Jade had to know for sure if Ark had slept with her sister because she refused to have her sister’s sloppy seconds.
It made no sense. They hadn’t even known each other when it happened, but it bothered her. “I don’t want to date him.”
“Who said anything about dating him? You don’t have to be boyfriend-girlfriend to have a good time. Although, lube is everyone’s best friend.”
Jade could practically see the smile from her sister’s tone. “I don’t even like him. He’s a bully.”
“He’s assertive. I wonder if it’s a bear thing. I noticed Stavros is that way too.”
“Why does it seem like you want me to hook up with him?” She tried to pierce the darkness but couldn’t even make out the hump of her sister’s body under the covers.
“Because you need somebody in your life. You aren’t getting any younger.”
“I am not over the hill.” But thirty was approaching kind of faster than Jade liked.
“Why can’t you just admit you like him?”
“Because.”
Because then she’d have to open herself up to the reality that someone could hurt her. As the oldest, Jade had watched her mother pine after a man who never looked back. She’d listened to her sister mope about the lover she couldn’t have.
She didn’t want to have her happiness that dependent on someone else. But that resolution would work a heck of a lot better if she could get away from Ark. I can’t think when he’s near.
The next morning, she found herself outvoted—even by her sister—as to their next move.
“I think Ruby and I should go back to my place,” she announced having finished her bowl of sugary cereal topped with a glass of chocolate milk, a meal ready and waiting for her when she staggered from the bedroom, showered, dressed, and unable to stop herself from a certain giddy anticipation.
“No.” Ark didn’t even look up from his laptop. As he put away a breakfast fit for a family of six—stacks of pancakes drizzled in maple syrup, along with bacon, sausage, roasted potatoes, whole wheat toast slathered in honey—he tapped away on his keyboard, only speaking to her once to say, “You should eat more.”
“You are not the boss of me.” The childish taunt—thrown often at her by the siblings she tried to wrangle—came easily to her lips.
“Yes I am.”
There was a hushed “ooh” as the others listened with too much interest.
“I’m leaving.”
“No, you’re not, because it’s not safe.” He folded the lid of the laptop down. “Someone is after you or your sister.”
“Why? We haven’t done anything.”
“Perhaps someone who received a card has a jealous girlfriend.”
A possibility, given none of the men she’d mailed the announcement to was married. “Assault is a crime.”
“If they get caught. That’s of little consolation if you’re tied to cement blocks and dropped in the river.”
“That won’t happen.”
“You’re right it won’t, because I’m going to make sure you’re protected.”
“I don’t need your protection.”
“Did I say you had a choice?” He arched a brow. Arrogance at its finest. “Now will you come nicely, or make me put my hands all over you?”
“You’re just looking for an excuse to maul me.”
“I am.” He didn’t even try to deny it.
“Keep your dirty paws off me,” Jade grumbled.
“Listen and I won’t have to get physical. At least until our wedding night.”
“We. Are. Not. Getting. Married.”
“I would prefer to live in sin too.” He shrugged. “But my aunts and mother will have something to say about that. You’ll meet them soon.”
Soon because his plan was to transport them out west to be with his bear gang or sleuth or whatever he called it.
“We can’t travel. She’s too pregnant to fly.” Jade waved her hand at Ruby—who savored a Danish with more relish than it deserved. “It would take days to drive, and she’s got to pee like every five minutes.”
“I do not,” retorted Ruby. “It’s usually fifteen. Sometimes a half hour if junior is sleeping.”
“I won’t have my nephew born on the side of the road.”
“I’ve got weeks still to go,” Ruby said before setting out to devour another pastry.
“We are going west, but I understand your concerns. We need to find a comfortable method of transportation with a working washroom. Lucky for you, I know just the thing.”
Hours later …
“A train?” Jade stood on the platform and balked at boarding the centipede of connected cars.
“It’s fast and has all the amenities we need.”
Jade might have protested more just for the hell of it, but Ruby waddled to the stairs and climbed them.
Apparently, they were going along with his nutty solution.
They boarded an actual train. The passenger caboose they were in held several sleeper cabins. Producing a key card, Ark ran it over a scanner, and the door unlocked. He’d secured a spot for the four of them, Matthias having opted to remain behind.
As cabins went, it proved pretty damned small. Four bunks, a pair stacked on each wall, a window in between. A small table could be propped between the beds.
“Bathroom?” Ruby asked, dancing from foot to foot.
“Middle of the car.” Stavros accompanied her while Jade tried to keep from brushing against Ark. Kind of hard in the tiny space.
“How many days do we have to stay in here?” she asked, already sexually hyperventilating at the fact that they’d be in close quarters for hours on end.
“A lot. Plenty for you to get used to me.”
“I won’t get used to you.”
“No, you won’t. As a matter of fact, I expect your craving for me to intensify until you can’t handle it.”
“You wish.”
Undaunted, he smiled. “Soon you won’t be able to pretend.”
Such determination and she feared he was right. Something about his nearness addled all her wits. He inflamed her senses and set her on fire.
He also had no concept of space. As Ruby returned, her pregnant belly needing room to maneuver, he seated himself hard on the bottom bunk and drew Jade onto his lap.
“Coming through, wide load,” Ruby announced, but it was the truck beeping sound she faked that made Stavros snicker.
Laughter was the farthest thing from Jade’s mind. All she could think of was how hard Ark felt against her. How right.
So wrong. She sprang from his lap, but there was nowhere to hide, and when Stavros pulled out a deck of cards, the spot beside him was the only place to go.
As the train chugged, and the hours passed, Jade couldn’t help but notice Ark found any excuse he could to touch her. He was constantly putting his hands on her. Gently. Never anything truly overt, and yet, she found herself hyper aware of him.
Surely everyone felt the sizzling tension between them, yet no one said anything—and Jade did nothing to stop him.
More hours passed. A whole day. The train made periodic stops. The rattling yet smooth gait lulled her, and after the third picnic basket Stavros and Ark produced, she learned to not question how they got the food. Good food she might add. These men didn’t skimp when it came to nourishment, which probably explained why, that evening, the urge to snooze came early to some.
Stavros currently slept in the top bunk while Ruby snored on the bottom. Several cups of coffee and jangling nerves meant Jade sat wide awake across from them.
I’ll never sleep.
The inability to slumber might have had to do with the man who sat beside her. Ark. Ark the bear who liked to touch. Touch her.
She shivered.
“Cold?” He placed an arm around her frame.
She shrugged it off and moved to the side. “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” He sidled closer and squished her against the wall. She wiggled free and stood. He also got to his feet, and there was no room. Nothing but him. It would be so easy to—
She grappled only a second with the door before sliding it open and entering the narrow hall.
It didn’t surprise her that he followed, sliding the cabin door shut behind him before he pinned her against the wall, out the window a fast-moving backdrop of twilight-lit lush fields and the darker glimpse of trees bordering the cultivated areas.
Thick arms bracketed her body, and his lower half pressed against Jade. She placed her palms against his chest to shove him away, as if she could budge a rock. “Give me some space.”
“You can’t sulk forever.”
“I am not sulking.”
“You’ve barely talked to me all day.”
“Maybe I have nothing to say.”
“Are you still angry at the decision to head back west? You know it’s for the best. I’ll be better able to protect you on my home turf.”
“I didn’t need protection until you showed up in my life.”
“It’s a good thing I arrived when I did. Now you don’t have to worry. I’ll protect you.” His nose rubbed across hers.
“You’re being deliberately obtuse.”
“Only because I must be to counter your stubbornness.”
“Why are you so determined to have me?” She wanted to understand, because she’d never seen someone so ardent over her before. It flattered and frightened.
“Because you’re perfect.”
“Bullshit.” The crass word slipped from her lips.
It only served to make him laugh. “Perhaps I should explain a bit better. In my culture—”
She interrupted. “Are we talking Greek or bear?”
“A little bit of both.” His lips quirked. “With my kind, there is something known as the mating instinct. It’s a feeling, an absolute certainty that a woman, not just any woman but a specific woman, is meant to be yours. Forever.”
Was he talking love at first sight? “And you think that’s me?” She couldn’t help the incredulous query. “We barely know each other.”
“We will have a lifetime to discover each other.”
“What if we discover I can’t stand you? What if you’re the type who leaves his socks on the floor? That drives me absolutely nutty. What if you do it and I get pissed and I stuff them in your mouth one night and suffocate you with them?”
“Or I could just always put them in the hamper.”
“I’ll bet you’re the type who eats healthy.” He had the body of a man who probably didn’t own any caramel-covered chocolate.
“Nothing wrong with being a good boy who eats his veggies.”
“I hate peas.” With a passion.
“Then I’ll take care of those for you.”
“I love Brussels sprouts.”
“Then you can eat mine.”
“Do you have an answer for everything?”
“Nope.”
Another answer and not the one to cure the turmoil within. “What will it take to make you go away?”
He leaned closer. “I’m here to stay, koukla.”
There was that word for her again; “darling” in Greek. But the way he said it, the soft rumble of the consonants affected her.
But it was the promise that scared the most. He kept swearing he wanted her forever. That he would never leave. But, her daddy left …
It was hard to overcome abandonment issues. Hard to believe.
She wouldn’t look at him, because she feared she’d melt. “I don’t have time for a boyfriend. My sister needs me.”
“I need you.” He spoke the claim softly.
“You’re not human.”
“You’re right. I’m not. I’m something more. Something special. Which makes you special because you’re mine.”
Sweet words shouldn’t have the ability to seduce her. Soft claims shouldn’t make her want to clasp him tight.
He took a finger and dragged just the tip down her cheek and across to her lips. He rubbed across her flesh, and her mouth parted.
“Come with me.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere we can be alone.”
“But Ruby—”
“Will be fine. Stavros is with her.”
He leaned back and held out his hand. The reasons to abstain weighed heavily on one side, but that didn’t stop her fingers from lacing with his.
He tugged her up the length of the train car. He slid a key card from his pocket and slapped it against a door at the far end.
“Hold on a second. You mean all this time you actually had two cabins?”
“Actually, I might have bought all the tickets for this and a few other cars,” he admitted with a grin.
Which explained why they never saw anyone. “So why did you cram us in the same one if you had all of these to use?”
“Because I wanted you close to me.”
How was a woman supposed to fight those kinds of words?
He stepped into the small cabin and dragged her close to him. He shut the door, and she wondered if he could hear her heart pounding over the clacking of the train.
“You’re scared,” he stated as he ran a finger down her cheek.
“Yes. No. I don’t know. I get so confused around you.”
“Because you think too much.”
“I have to. All my life I’ve been the responsible one. The one to keep my siblings out of trouble.” And not doing a very good job apparently.
“You’re not their mother and they’re adults now. It’s okay to want something for yourself.”
“I do things for myself. I moved to New York.”
“Because your baby sister got accepted to a dance academy there.”
“How do you know that?”
He drew her close. “I know many things about you, Jade. But the most important thing I learned is you are mine.”
“That seems unfair. I hardly know anything about you.”
“You know my biggest secret.”
As she stared up at him, Jade tried to remind herself Ark was a bear. A wild animal who only looked like a man. As if her body cared. “Tell me something else I don’t know.”
“How about I show you how badly I’ve wanted to do this.” He drew her on tiptoe and rubbed his mouth over hers. A simple kiss that came fraught with complications, and need.
She pulled back, hesitating, and he let her. Gave her time to absorb the fact he made her feel things. That for all his pushy nature, he would respect her if she walked out the door. She even had her hand on the latch, ready to leave.
He did nothing.
Stay or go, this was her choice.
My choice.
My life.
&
nbsp; She whirled around and threw herself at him, and he caught her, lifting her high enough for their lips to mesh.
Their first true embrace proved scorching. It literally stole her breath and any lingering doubts she might have had. With one kiss, he ignited her and continued to set her on fire as he took his time with her, savoring each lick and nibble. Exploring her with a gentleness that brought a gasp to her lips. He left no part of her untouched, his tongue meshing wetly with hers and tracing along the edge of her teeth. For her part, Jade clung to him tightly, her arms cinched around his neck, pressing herself against his thick body. He replied by moving his hands from her waist to her ass, cupping the full cheeks and growling, a grumbly sound. “I can’t wait to bite into these.”
Dear God. She almost sank into a puddle at his feet. Her knees definitely trembled and her legs wobbled. Sensing her weakness, or perhaps suffering a weakness of his own, he sat down on the bottom bunk, drawing her down with him.
With her seated on his lap, they continued to kiss, but only for a short moment. His lips moved to her neck. Her head arched back to give him better access, and she uttered a soft sigh as he licked and nipped at her skin. When he took a moment to actually suck, surely leaving a mark, she trembled.
“I want to eat you all up,” he murmured before capturing her mouth once again.
“I thought that was the wolf” was her dorky reply between kisses.
He drew his head back, his mien completely serious. “Dogs can’t compare to a majestic bear.”
“I thought lions were king.”
“Only of their litter box.”
She giggled.
“No laughing. We are about to do some very serious things,” he said with a devilish arch of his brow.
“Such as?”
Why tell when he could show? In between one startled breath and the next, he’d leaned her away from him, but only so he could give himself room, room to bend his head and grasp the tip of her breast in his mouth. He didn’t seem to care that a bra and her shirt barred his way. He sucked, each tug pulling at the core of her, sending a jolt of pure pleasure straight to her core.
But soon that wasn’t enough for him. Jade found her shift pushed up and over her breasts, and instead of pulling off her bra, he simply popped her breasts out of the cups, the tips of them puckering under his intense perusal.
“I love dark berries.” And he showed her how much by sucking the tip into his mouth.