“And you are sure it’s me?” she eventually asked.
“As sure as the sun rises every morning. As sure as Luke likes dessert,” Marcus answered as he watched his brother walk toward the table with a couple of bowls from the dessert table.
“I do. And I think I earned it.” Luke sat down and then looked up sheepishly. “I’m not interrupting, am I?”
“No,” Joanna said quickly. Too quickly.
Luke glanced at his brother and then picked up his spoon and made a start on his dessert. “I was thinking,” he said between mouthfuls. “Why don’t I look after Reece and Winnie for a couple of hours and give you two some time alone?”
“Are you sure?” Marcus asked, then he quickly turned to Joanna. “If it’s okay with you?”
Joanna looked down at her plate which she’d hardly touched. “That would be great, thanks, Luke.”
“You know an evening with you is going to require some shifting?” Marcus asked quietly.
“Oh, yeah. I roped George in, too. We’re going to do bear racing over on the other side of the river. Nana said it will keep him out of trouble.” Luke chuckled. “As if George could ever beat me in a race.”
“Oh, I’ve seen him run,” Marcus told Luke. “He’s fast for an old man.”
Joanna looked from one Chance brother to another. “It’s weird to hear you talk about being bears as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. But then to you two, it is.”
“It is,” Marcus agreed. “As natural as walking and talking. But then we were raised knowing one day we would shift into a bear.”
“My life is never going to be the same, is it?” Joanna couldn’t keep the smile from her face as she imagined her kids riding on the backs of bears.
“In a good way.” Marcus’s large, warm hand closed over hers and he gave her a reassuring smile that warmed her to the very core. This man was everything she could want and more. So much more.
“In a good way.” She closed her thumb over his fingers and stroked the work-hardened skin. “You have something so special to share.” She glanced at the excited faces of Reece and Winnie as they talked to Sage, who would one day be their aunt. If Joanna was willing to accept what Marcus said and agree to be his…mate.
She swallowed down her nerves. Why her? That was the question banging around in her head in a steady beat.
Why not? Was the answer her brain threw back at her.
Why didn’t she deserve happiness? Because all the most important people in her life had never loved her enough to stay. Now this wonderful, kind and caring man was telling her they were going to be together forever. He had no choice.
“Hey, don’t overthink it.” Marcus’s words penetrated her thoughts.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Joanna blurted out.
Luke stopped eating, his spoon halfway to his mouth as he looked from Marcus to Joanna. “This is all he ever wanted.”
Marcus threw a cautionary glance at Luke. “Thanks for making me sound like a desperate loser.”
“You know that’s not what I meant,” Luke insisted before he turned his attention back to Joanna. “It’s what we all want. Fate can make shifters wait a long, long time. Look at George, he’d almost given up on ever finding a mate, and then fate led him to us. Via a bunch of dragons.”
“There really are dragons?” Joanna asked. She’d figured they were joking back on the mountain, now she wasn’t so sure.
“Yes, a whole family of them. In fact, the person I need to contact at social services is a dragon shifter,” Marcus told Joanna.
“Honestly?” She watched his expression closely and knew he was telling the truth.
“Honestly.”
“Because shifters never lie to their mates.” Joanna stared into Marcus’s eyes for a long, long moment. “I guess I truly am a lucky woman.”
Luke nearly sprayed his dessert across the table. “Don’t tell my brother that too often. His head will never get through the door.”
“Thanks, Luke.” Marcus rolled his eyes at his brother.
“That’s what family is for,” Luke reminded Marcus. “To stop them from getting too full of themselves.”
“You’re all very lucky to have a family.” Joanna’s cheeks flushed pink as she watched Winnie and Reece. “I was an only child. I always thought things might have been different if I had a brother or sister.”
Perhaps if she had a sibling she wouldn’t have been so lonely. One of her greatest pleasures was watching Reece and Winnie and the way they interacted with each other. Yes, they sometimes argued, but they were always there for each other. Especially when other children, like Jennifer Stanley, posed a threat.
“You are part of this family now,” Luke told her.
“Thanks, Luke.” It meant more coming from Luke because he hadn’t been clobbered over the head by fate.
“We just want you all to feel as if you are part of our family.” Luke scraped his bowl clean and got up from the table. “I should go help Nana and George.”
“Subtle,” Marcus murmured under his breath as Luke got up from the table and sauntered over to his mom.
“I like him a lot,” Joanna confessed.
Marcus’s expression darkened momentarily as jealousy swept across his face and then was gone as quickly as it had appeared. “Sorry, I have this inexplicable need to fend off any male that comes within five feet of you. George tells me I’ll get over it.”
Joanna giggled. “That is a new experience for me.”
“Me, too, so maybe we’ll muddle through together.”
“I never had you pegged as a muddling through kind of a guy.” Joanna picked up her knife and fork and began to eat. The conversation with Luke and Marcus had left her more confident about the mating bond.
Marcus looked down at his hands. “I never told anyone that before.”
She cocked her head to one side. “You always had to be the strong one, for your family.”
He nodded and pressed his lips together in an ironic smile. “It was my duty. If I didn’t keep us all together and keep us moving forward, it would be like I’d let my mom and dad down.”
“That’s a lot of pressure to put on yourself, especially when you’re young.” It was Joanna’s turn to reach out and touch Marcus’s hand in an attempt to comfort him.
“We all put pressure on ourselves. We don’t always realize it at the time.” He looked along the table to the Caulfield family. They were laughing, looking relaxed, joined together in an unbreakable bond over the news that their daughter needed their help and support more than ever.
As for Tabitha, she’d finally let them in. Joanna suspected their daughter’s sudden change was caused by Chuck and Kylie’s unwavering protectiveness when faced with their daughter shifting for the first time. They could have called her a freak and shunned her, but they didn’t. Instead, they chose to embrace her and her other side.
“We do.” Joanna finished her food and stood up. “Want to get out of here?”
Marcus smiled gently. “Is that your best pickup line?”
“I’m a little out of practice.” Butterflies erupted in her stomach and the world seemed to sway a little, causing her to reach out and grip the back of the chair.
“Me, too,” he admitted, although Joanna didn’t know how any woman could resist the charms of such a warm and kind man. “Relationships are difficult when you know the person you are dating is not the one.”
Her brows furrowed. “I never thought of it like that.”
“It’s true. There was no excitement, there was no future.” He smiled sheepishly. “But for you, I’m as close to a sure thing as it gets.”
“Are you two going for a walk?” Kylie asked from along the table.
“We were thinking about it,” Joanna placed her hand on Winnie’s shoulder. Her daughter had moved her chair around to the end of the table to be closer to Tabitha. “Luke said he’d spend some time with you and Reece if that’s okay.”
; “Yes!” Winnie’s face lit up.
“You have to behave. And be discreet,” Joanna warned.
“What’s dis creet?” Winnie asked.
“You have to keep your mouth shut,” Reece explained subtly.
“That’s just about it,” Joanna smothered a smile.
“Oh, I am never telling anyone any of this,” Winnie promised. “I like having a secret no one else knows.”
“I know it,” Reece said helpfully.
“You know what I mean,” Winnie pulled a face at her brother.
“Hey, I also said behave.” Joanna shot them a warning look that silenced their spat before it escalated.
“We will,” Reece promised.
“Why don’t you leave Winnie and Reece here with us,” Kylie offered. “We can watch them until Luke is ready. You two go and have some time alone.”
“Is Marcus your boyfriend?” Winnie asked innocently, but her question made Joanna blush furiously. She should have anticipated this question and prepared her answer, but she hadn’t.
“He might be. One day.” She glanced apologetically at Marcus.
“That would be so great,” Reece said and went back to his dessert.
“It would be great,” Winnie agreed.
“Great. I’m glad that’s agreed on.” Joanna kissed both her kids on the head. “Be good and I will see you later.”
Marcus took her hand and they left the barn where everyone else was just finishing up their evening meal. For some reason, the atmosphere felt oppressive, as if everyone knew her secret and was judging her. Which was ridiculous, since no one else knew.
“Better?” Marcus asked as they broke out into the fresh air. The sun was setting behind the mountains, casting a ruddy glow over them.
Joanna sucked in the evening air, fragrant with pine from the trees lining the stream. “Much better.”
“Come on, let’s go find somewhere private to get to know each other.” He took her hand and led her away from the camping field, in the opposite direction to the steam where shouts of delight echoed around the valley.
“You must know the area around here so well.” Joanna tried to make small talk even though her brain didn’t want to cooperate.
“I do. I’ve explored every inch of the mountainside, both on two feet and four paws.” He watched her for a reaction.
“It’s okay, I’m getting used to the whole four paws thing. Soon I won’t think twice about it.” Joanna had gotten used to a lot of things in her life. Not all of them good. But a man who turned into a bear, she could handle that. Especially since he came with a declaration of undying love.
“Here, this way.” He pulled Joanna through a gate that led into a wooded area. From there they followed a trail along the side of the house, that eventually looped back toward the mountain.
“Is it safe from bears?” Joanna gave him a wry smile. “What? There are wild bears out there, too, aren’t there?”
“There are, but they don’t come too close to the house. They can scent my family and steer clear. In fact, there are not many wild bears around Bear Creek at all.”
“Because Bear Creek is filled with shifters?” How could shifters exist in such large numbers and it not be common knowledge? “You must be good at keeping secrets.”
“More people know than you realize, they just choose not to talk about it.” Marcus took the left-hand fork in the trail and they climbed higher until they reached a rocky ledge.
“Wow.” Joanna turned around and looked at the view below. “I didn’t realize we’d climbed so high.”
Marcus moved closer to her, his arms wrapped around her waist and he pulled her back against him as they looked at the view together. “I like to come up here when I want to be alone. As much as I love my family, it’s good to get away sometimes and think.”
“What do you think about?” she asked as he lowered his head and nuzzled her neck.
“What it would be like to meet my mate. How I would bring her up here and show her my favorite place and tell her how much she means to me.” Marcus inhaled her scent and she shivered as tendrils of desire unfurled deep in her core.
“That sounds kind of romantic.” Joanna leaned back on his shoulder and tilted her head back. Marcus lowered his head and kissed her mouth, his hand sliding upward to cup her breast as his tongue traced the line of her lower lip.
She shivered, despite the warmth that flooded her body at his touch. She wanted him. Right here. Right now. She wanted to consummate the bond between them.
“I want you,” she whispered against his mouth.
Marcus jerked his head up. “You don’t have to… I didn’t bring you here because I expected sex.”
Joanna turned around in his arms and caressed his cheek with her fingertips. “I know. But that doesn’t change the fact that I want you.”
He swallowed and gazed down at her as if she were the most beautiful creature in the world. Which was how she felt. He gave her new life, he gave her new hope and new confidence in herself. With Marcus by her side, she could do or be anything.
So, perhaps she was getting a little carried away…
But she wanted to get a lot carried away.
Chapter Fourteen – Marcus
With Joanna in his arms, he could fly like a dragon up to the stars. Or maybe float, like the soft fluffy clouds that drifted lazily overhead on the summer evening breeze.
His head filled with all kinds of romantic notions as his mate slid her hands under his T-shirt and stroked his skin. Marcus closed his eyes. This was about as close to heaven as a man could get on earth.
There he went again.
Gone were the practical thoughts that had helped keep his family together and helped build the Chance Heights Activity Center into the successful business it was today. Instead, he was filled with the urge to put this woman over his shoulder and carry her off to a cave in the mountains and make mad, passionate love to her.
However, as her fingers curled around the hem of his T-shirt and she yanked it up over his head, Marcus realized they didn’t need a cave, the narrow ledge would do just fine.
Joanna tossed his T-shirt to the ground and then placed her hands on his hard, toned chest, tracing the contours of his taut skin. “Fuck!” His breath hissed through his teeth as she sucked his nipple into her warm mouth and rolled her tongue around the hard bud.
He hardened. Really hardened. His jeans stretched taut across the bulge of his cock and he longed to unbuckle his belt and let his jeans fall to the ground. But with Joanna teasing him with her warm mouth and soft fingertips, he was paralyzed with pleasure.
Some lover you are, his bear commented unhelpfully.
Marcus closed his eyes and lost himself to the touch of his mate. He just needed a moment to compose his thoughts and then he would be just fine.
Joanna ran her hands down his chest, and lower until she gripped his belt and unbuckled it.
Oh, yeah, he was lost. He was just going to stand here like an idiot with his mouth open.
Get a grip. His bear gave him a mental kick in the ass.
He did want to get a grip…on Joanna’s body.
We’re doomed. His bear rolled his eyes.
“What’s so funny?” Joanna asked, her forehead creasing as she caught him smiling.
“My bear.” He ran his fingers through her hair and then cupped her cheek in the palm of his hand. “He thinks I’m a loser.”
“Why?” Her frown deepened.
“Because every time you touch me my brain stops functioning.” Marcus shrugged. “I can’t help it.”
Joanna smothered a smile. “That’s a compliment.”
“It is.” He lowered his head and captured her lips, his tongue teasing her, tempting her.
Joanna pressed her body forward, her soft curves molding themselves to his hard, toned body. They were a perfect fit. Damn, what he wouldn’t give to fit perfectly together in a more intimate way.
He slid his hand under her shirt and
cupped her breast in his large palm while Joanna set to work finishing the job she’d started on his jeans. With deft fingers, she unbuttoned them and slid them down over his slim hips. They pooled by his feet, leaving him practically naked as the last rays of the sun bathed the mountain in a deep red.
This was his favorite time of day, when the world began to go to sleep and the night overtook the day. When they had guests at the campsite, this was the time of day when they were usually settling down for the night and his working day was over. It wasn’t unusual for him and Luke to disappear for a couple of hours into the mountain and run on four paws until the stresses and the strains of the day were gone.
Perhaps he was about to discover a new way to relieve the stresses and strains of the day. One that was intimately more pleasurable than rolling in a mountain stream and then shaking the water droplets off all over Luke.
When Joanna curled her hand around the shaft of his hard length, he knew that to be true.
Marcus gasped and closed his eyes as she stroked him in a firm rhythm. Up and down, she nearly brought him to his knees with every movement. And he wanted to give her the same pleasure.
Regaining his senses, although he had no idea how, since it was difficult to focus on anything other than the friction between them, Marcus tugged at the buttons of Joanna’s shirt. He ignored the fact that at least two of the small buttons flew off into the undergrowth. Sometimes you had to suffer for pleasure, and if she asked him to he would hunt around for them later. But right now all his focus was on his woman and the need for her to be naked before him.
He moved with speed, unbuttoning her pants and sliding them down over her curvy thighs. She stepped out of them and as she did so, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her toward the back of the rocky ledge and laid her down on a bed of soft, springy mountain grass. The leaves tickled the backs of his hands as he placed her carefully down on the ground, taking a moment to look at her beautiful body before he leaned forward and kissed her lips.
Joanna slipped her hands around his neck and pulled him toward her. Marcus lay down by her side, his arms encircling her protectively. She was his and no one, man nor beast, would come between them.
Second Chance Bear Page 11