by Zoe Chant
She'd never been with a man like Tom before, never felt anything like the strange, instant connection between them, the way every touch seemed charged with electricity.
She could feel when Tom got close by the way his entire body tensed up, and of course he was courteous enough to warn her; but she didn't pull off. She wanted to taste him.
Tom came with a low, drawn-out groan. He collapsed back onto the bed, breathing heavily. "You're incredible," he said, sounding awed.
They shared a slow, languid kiss. Tom was boneless with pleasure beneath her. He petted her shoulders with soft, gentle touches. Helen couldn't help the way her hips started shifting restlessly.
"I'm sorry, I'm making you wait," Tom said with a rueful little laugh. He tumbled her over onto her back. Helen gave a startled laugh that turned into a gasp when Tom flicked open the button on her jeans and pulled them down her legs, leaving her in nothing but her panties. She'd pretty much soaked through her panties by now. Helen blushed. It must be completely obvious to him how wet she was, and she felt embarrassed by her own eagerness.
But Tom was looking down at her with his eyes dark with desire. He kissed the inside of her thigh. Helen moaned. Every inch of her skin felt sensitized.
Tom didn't tease her for long. He pressed his mouth against her through her panties, mouthing the damp, clinging fabric. Helen wrapped her legs around his shoulders, pulling him in, pressing herself down against him.
Tom hooked his fingers into the waistband of her panties and slowly eased them down. This time, there was nothing between them when he buried his mouth between her legs. He licked her clit firmly. Helen had already known how good he was with his mouth—it had been unforgettable—but somehow it was even better this time. He remembered every single thing she liked, and was discovering new tricks all the time.
She'd been close before he'd even started; there was no way she could hold out for long. The pleasure peaked to a climax so intense it left her seeing stars. And yet her body was far from done. Her pussy pulsed in time with her heartbeat, aching for more.
Tom was half-hard again already, too. When she curled her fingers around him, it felt almost as if a spark jumped from her to him. His cock hardened rapidly under her touch.
"Oh," Tom said, sounding startled. The word trailed off into a moan. Helen spread her legs and pulled him down between her thighs. The tip of his cock brushed against her pussy. Both of them groaned. Tom slid inside her, perfectly filling the hungry space within her.
Tom dropped his head to her chest, panting hard. She could feel the strain in him, the strength it took to hold still and give her a moment to adjust. Not that she needed the extra time. Her body clenched around him hungrily, and when he started thrusting, she met him eagerly.
Tom laced his hand with hers. When he bent down to kiss her, it felt like a circuit closing. Pleasure swept through her, so intense she could hardly breathe. She squeezed Tom's hand and felt him squeeze back, his entire body tensing just as hers did; they both cried out in unison.
They collapsed side by side on the bed, both of them breathing hard.
"That was incredible," Helen muttered. All her muscles had turned to liquid. Tom's fingers were still laced with hers. He turned his head to give her a sleepy, happy smile and rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand.
Helen turned to her side—every movement seemed to take enormous effort—and flopped down half on top of his chest. She knew by now that she didn't have to worry about her size with him; he could take her weight without any effort. Tom laughed, wrapping his arms tightly around her.
They dozed for a long while, Tom's deep even breaths lulling her into a sort of half-sleep, filled with the awareness of his warmth and his scent and an incredible sense of safety.
The events of the past few hours felt far away, fuzzy and unreal; like a nightmare she could only half remember. Had any of that really happened—to her, Helen Thompson, boring plain old accountant? Had she really stabbed a man with a knife? Could she really have seen what she thought she had?
She gripped Tom by the shoulder and shook him until he opened his eyes.
"Can you really turn into a bear?" she asked.
She'd seen it with her own two eyes, but somehow it already seemed like an impossible dream.
Tom laughed. "I really can, yes."
"Can I see it again?"
"Now?" Tom covered a yawn with his hand, then looked around the enormous suite. "Well, I guess there's space enough in here. You won't be scared?"
"No," Helen said. She couldn't imagine ever being scared of him, whatever form he was in.
Tom smiled. He rolled off the bed in one fluid motion. Mid-movement, his body shifted. When he hit the floor, he was the polar bear again.
"Wow," Helen said quietly. She reached out, touching the bear's soft fur. He nuzzled his big head into her palm. "This is incredible."
The bear rolled over onto his back, swiping at her playfully with one enormous paw. Helen caught it in her hand. She rubbed his fur between her fingers, marveling at the coarse-soft texture of it. The dark pads of his toes were strangely soft, like fine leather. No, she wasn't imagining this; she'd never have the imagination to come up with anything as wondrous as what Tom was.
The bear's fur rippled and shimmered. Tom was back, sitting beside the bed. He looked up at her a little anxiously.
"This really doesn't bother you?"
"It's amazing," Helen said honestly. It was magic. She felt awed just thinking about it. No, him being a bear shifter wasn't what worried her. Him being a billionaire, on the other hand… A man like him could have any woman he wanted. Glamorous super models, rich heiresses… what could he possibly want with plain old her?
Helen looked down.
"Hey, what's going on?" Tom asked. He gently brushed his fingers against her cheek. "Are you all right?"
"Yes," Helen said firmly. She didn't want to think about that now. For now, she was alive, and she was safe, and she was with Tom. She'd enjoy it while it lasted.
They ended up spending two weeks in the hotel. Helen was very thankful that Tom was able to afford the Four Seasons for them, or she might have ended up with cabin fever. As it was, they found plenty of things to occupy them, between the spa, the sauna, the restaurants… and, of course, the enormous bed in their suite, which they hardly left for the first few days.
Helen could never have imagined that sex could be this amazing. It wasn't just the physical—although that was amazing, and Tom was showing her heights of pleasure that she'd never have thought her body could be capable of—it was the connection she felt every time they touched.
They spent a lot of time sprawled out in bed, talking for hours. Helen was surprised how easy it was to find things they had in common, considering how different their lives had been. The both liked to cook, they both liked to spend a lot of time out in nature, they liked the same kind of books.
Tom did occasionally have to spend some time on the phone with his friend Alan, who was doing all the day-to-day work of running the company while Tom was away, but even that didn't usually take more than a few minutes out of his day.
"We've always set it up so one of us can fill in for the other for a few weeks. What's the point of having money if you can't ever take a vacation?" Tom said, shrugging.
It was wonderful. It felt like a vacation from reality.
But of course reality had to intrude on their peace eventually.
The Amodeo scandal was starting to make the news. Apparently, there was more than just the one dirty cop, and Agent Cross and her task force were digging them out one by one.
Finally, she called them herself.
"It should be safe for you to go back home now," she said. "With all the evidence we have on Amodeo by now, we don't even need you to testify to put him behind bars for the rest of his life. He's got nothing to win by attacking you at this point, and no way to get at the kind of money he'd need to hire mercenaries to go after you again."
Helen knew it was good news; she knew she should be rejoicing.
But she didn't want her time with Tom to end. Would what they have really stand up to the real world, when they weren't just two people in a hotel room, enjoying each others company? Out there, Tom would go back to being the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, and she'd still be a plain accountant.
"Are you okay?" Tom asked, taking her hand.
Helen forced a smile. "Of course," she said. "I guess I should start packing, then."
No sense delaying the inevitable. She started gathering her few belongings into a pile, bending down to fold a blouse, trying to hide her stinging eyes.
***
Helen was very quiet during the entire drive to the mansion. Tom watched her from the corner of his eyes, his chest constricting more and more. They were safe now. Helen didn't need him to protect her anymore. If she wanted to leave, there was nothing stopping her.
He didn't know what he'd do if she left. Already he couldn't imagine living without her bright warmth by his side. And she'd seemed so happy the last few days.
But he'd lied to her, and he knew she hadn't forgotten that, knew she wasn't comfortable with his money. If she couldn't get over that… His bear roared in misery at the thought.
Without even thinking about it, Tom reached out for Helen's hand. She tangled her fingers with his, squeezing hard. Tom held on.
They reached the mansion shortly before sunset.
The damage wasn't as severe as he'd feared. The wall around the front door was singed and blackened where the mercenaries had blasted the door open. Some chairs had been overturned and a window broken. But there was no major structural damage, and most of the house was unaffected. The front door had provisionally been reinforced with steel bars. Tomorrow, a repair crew would come in to fix the damage.
From the back of the house, you couldn't even tell that anything had ever happened to it at all.
Helen looked around, taking in the rolling acres of land, the mansion glowing in the evening sun as if it had been dipped in gold, the stretch of beach below the cliff.
"All this really belongs to you?" she asked.
"I'm hoping it can belong to both of us now," Tom said. His heart thumped heavily inside his chest. This was it—the moment of truth.
"Things like this don't happen to me," Helen said. Her voice trembled. "I'm just an accountant!"
"There's nothing wrong with being an accountant," Tom said. "I've got lots of friends who could use a good one, actually."
"You don't want me to give up my job?" Helen asked, looking up at him in surprise.
Tom blinked down at her. The thought hadn't even occurred to him. "I thought you liked your job?"
"Well, yes, but…" Helen trailed off.
I hate rich guys. They're all terrible people, he remembered her saying. And of course there were any number of arrogant jerks out there; he saw enough of them himself, working with other CEOs. He remembered one of them, shrugging dismissively when Tom asked after his wife. Oh, Jolene, she does house wife stuff—as if it wasn't hard work, keeping up the kind of mansion those guys liked to live in, and throwing enormous glitzy parties for their work associates. None of those guys would have respected the work of an accountant, Tom figured. More fool them.
"I want you to do whatever makes you happy," Tom said. "If you want to be an accountant, that sounds great to me."
Helen stared out at the sea, not meeting his eyes. There was something else she wasn't saying.
"What is it?" Tom asked gently.
"You're going to get tired of me," Helen blurted out. Her voice broke.
"What?" The thought was so bizarre, for a moment Tom could hardly process what she'd said. Get tired of her? Get tired of his brilliant, brave, beautiful mate? Inside him, the bear was whining in confusion. Never! it said.
She wasn't a shifter, Tom realized. He'd known that, of course he'd known that, but until this moment he hadn't quite understood what it meant. She didn't know their culture. She didn't understand what it meant, when a shifter found his mate.
"Shifters mate for life, Helen," Tom said. "If you want to be mine—you'd be the one, for the rest of my life. I'll never get bored. I'll never leave you. We're meant to be together. That's what it means to be mated."
Helen was silent for a moment that seemed to last forever. Tom laced his hands tightly behind his back so he wouldn't fidget, wouldn't reach for her. This was her decision to make. It was too much for some women, he knew that; there were plenty of tales of shifters who'd lost their human mates because the human didn't want the commitment they offered. If Helen turned away from him now… Inside him, the bear was whining anxiously, straining towards her.
"That sounds wonderful," Helen said wistfully. Tom breathed out in a rush. He could tell from her tone that she didn't quite believe him yet. That was all right, just so long as she stayed. He'd have time to prove himself to her. He'd have an entire lifetime.
Without even thinking about it, Tom found himself on his knees.
"Helen Thompson," he said, lifting his hands up to hers. He should have planned this, he realized. He didn't have anything, no ring, no gift, no great speech planned—but his heart was so full he felt he might burst if he didn't speak. Everything else could come later—the ring, the party, whatever she wanted—just as long as she knew what he felt.
"Will you be my wife?"
Helen's eyes were growing damp. She took his offered hands. "Yes," she whispered. "Oh my God. Yes, Tom. Yes."
When she fell into his arms, happiness flooded through him. He'd found her. His mate. Forever.
***
A note from Zoe Chant
Thank you for buying my book! I hope you enjoyed it. If you’d like to be emailed when I release my next book, please click here to be added to my mailing list.
Please click on the title to write a review of Guarding his Honey. I love hearing what my readers think! It helps me decide what to write next.
Page down to read a special sneak preview of Honey for the Billionbear, and find out how Isabella and Ryan met!
The cover of Guarding his Honey was designed by Augusta Scarlett.
More Paranormal Romance by Zoe Chant
Honey for the Billionbear. The first part of the Honey for Billionbear series! BBW with a broken heart + mysterious billionaire bear shifter + an unexpected storm = one sweet and sexy story!
Page down to read an excerpt from this story!
Joining the Jaguar. A BBW doctor with no time for love + a protective alpha jaguar shifter + a kidnapping = one sizzling hot love story.
Hero Bear. A wounded Marine who lost his bear + a BBW physical therapist with a secret + a small town full of gossips = a hot and healing romance!
In the Billionbear’s Den. A stressed-out BBW in need of a break + a sexy billionaire bear shifter in need of a mate to share his home + the remote woodland house he built himself = one steamy romance!
The Bear With No Name. A BBW park ranger + a sexy bear shifter with amnesia + a town that needs their help = one unforgettable romance!
Bearing Your Soul. A shy BBW who’s been burned by love + a sexy veteran bear shifter + a family code of silence = one sizzling hot romance that defies all odds!
Sheriff Bear. A small-town sheriff + a wrongly accused BBW on the run + deadly enemies and dangerous passions = a sizzling forbidden love!
The Billionaire Wolf Needs a Wife. A shy BBW teacher + a sexy billionaire wolf shifter + a mail-order bride company = a white-hot wedding!
Bodyguard Bear. A BBW witness to a murder + the sexy bear shifter bodyguard sworn to protect her with his life + firefights and fiery passion = one hot thrill ride!
Hollywood Bear. A BBW stuntwoman + a movie director bear shifter + Hollywood hijinks = one blockbuster romance!
And many more!
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