by Claire Ryann
On one stroke he could feel her body tense, her lungs expanding with a deep gulp of air. On the next stroke, as he plummeted back into her tightness, that air left her lungs as a strangled cry while she pushed to meet him.
She was built for him, she was relaxing for him, taking him deeper than any woman's body had been able to. She was meeting his strokes, accommodating his power and matching his rhythm. She could keep pace with him.
Jess's gasps became moans. Her moans became cries. Her cries became screams as she rocked her body mindlessly with his, he could feel her clenching around his cock, begging him to go deeper and pour himself inside her.
He couldn't deny her body's call. His arms wrapped around her, his hands balling into tight fists under her back. His head dropped beside hers as his thrusts picked up speed and strength until finally, with one last thrust he strained and emptied himself inside her.
Chapter 6
Harrison held onto her for a long time, his arms wrapped around her like he was holding on for support or like he was afraid she might disappear out from under him.
Jessica opened her eyes and looked up at the sky. It was still bright blue. She blinked a few times. Every time she closed her eyes she still saw big white stars exploding behind her eyelids.
She ran her hands over Harrison's back, letting her palms flatten out over the sleek muscles and the angular bones of his shoulder blades. She let her hands sneak down past his waist till they covered the firm roundness of his ass.
She closed her eyes again and smiled.
That really happened.
"So I saw your truck parked up here and I thought I'd wait till you got back." Jess decided maybe they knew each other well enough now to start a conversation.
Harrison's head moved slowly from where it had come to rest in the crook of her neck. His mouth was still hot, his lips firm as he peppered her skin with kisses. Kisses that started light and dry and soon became firmer, lingering, and accented with the tip of his tongue. His mouth crawled up her neck and across her lips.
"Glad you did," he smiled as he reluctantly broke a tender kiss, "It's nice to see you."
"Uh, yeah, I guess so," Jess giggled lightly as he lowered his head to kiss her exposed breasts. He didn't seem exactly eager to get up and get dressed or anything, but he'd climbed off of her so she could sit up.
She moved her bra back into place and pulled her t-shirt back down. Looking around for her pants, she realized what a mess she was. Dirt was smeared along the side of one thigh and covered the backs of her thighs and calves. She'd lost one shoe and her sock had suffered for it, filled with little burrs from the wild plants.
And she was wet and sticky from the sex in places that should not be wet and sticky in the dirt.
Harris was back on his feet, standing in front of her with his hand outstretched to help her up. Her eyes couldn't help but land on his flaccid member where it dangled just above her head, still thick and elongated from their lovemaking.
Totally worth it, she decided as she accept his hand and was lifted to her feet.
Jess did her best to get dressed again, pulling off the sticker-filled sock and deciding it would be easier to just toss this pair and buy new ones. She dusted off the dirt smears before pulling on her pants and shoved the sock in her pocket.
"You wanna ride back to town?" Harris tapped the hood of the truck and gestured toward the four wheel drive trail with his head while he grinned at her. He still hadn't put on all his clothes. Not that Jessica minded.
She looked down the side of the hill at the narrow track that he called a "road" and then back down the other side of the mountain to the trail she'd come up. The sunset was still a few hours off this time of year, she probably had plenty of time to hike back before dark.
On the other hand-- Harrison.
On the other hand-- dying with Harrison. Because she was pretty sure that's what was going to happen, his truck had to be wider than that little trail and the trail wasn't exactly level. All she could imagine was the truck rolling over on its side and just rolling on down the hill all the way to the bottom.
On the other hand...she realized she'd run out of hands quite a while ago. Harrison was standing by the open driver's side door of the truck, he'd pulled on a pair of jeans but hadn't buttoned them yet. They weren't the same jeans she normally saw him in, these were actually a little newer. Not by much though. Faded and threadbare but no holes across the knees.
She idly wondered if he had any presentable clothes.
He was pulling a flannel shirt over his shoulders, his hair a tangled mess of brown waves and wild grasses falling over sparkling brown eyes that crinkled in the corners as he grinned at her.
Her heart fluttered. A wave of sadness washed over her as the plaid flannel obscured the last sight of his broad chest. He looked so good, so natural, without his clothes it just seemed like such a tragedy to cover that body up.
Jess felt her head shaking with her thoughts and caught the change in his expression as his grin faded to a look of surprised disappointment.
"Oh!" She didn't want him to think she was shaking her head at him, "Yeah, a ride would be great. I'm parked on the other side at the Magic Forest."
His grin returned and he finished with the buttons and pulled a pair of old cowboy boots on before climbing in the truck and reaching over to open the passenger door from inside.
Jess took one last look down the hill at the trail she'd just agreed to travel. She said a silent prayer and climbed into the cab of the truck, sure to buckle her seat belt.
"You look scared," Harris laughed as the truck slowly crawled down the steep hill at a dangerous sideways slant, "is it me or the trail?"
"Trail." Jessica clung to the handle mounted about the door with one hand and braced herself against the dash with the other in a vain attempt to prevent her body from being bounced around like a ping pong ball. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep her feet on the floorboards, every time the truck bounced over a rock or a rut, her feet flew up involuntarily. She'd already hit her knees on the bottom of the dash twice.
Harrison's laugh was deep and genuine and even though she was still sure she was going to die with him in his truck by rolling off this hill, she liked the way he sounded happy and at ease. Even if he was laughing at her.
His hand moved and landed on her thigh.
"Don't you need that hand for driving?" Jess asked with a shaky voice.
"We're in four low in first gear, truck can't go any slower," his hand squeezed her upper thigh lightly-- it was almost reassuring, "trail's pretty straight, all I gotta do is keep her pointed ahead and gravity'll do the rest."
So much for reassuring.
Jess tentatively let go of the dash in front of her and put her hand on top of his. Her hand was small by comparison, she was able to wrap her fingers around two of his. When the truck slid sideways off of a large boulder that was embedded in the trail, her hand curled around his fingers in a death grip.
Harrison just laughed and squeezed her knee lightly again.
"This is all Uncle Jack's land," he lifted his hand from her thigh, escaping from her death grip easily so that he could gesture toward the valley that she was sure was going to be her grave, "Ethan's dad." He added, like she was supposed to know exactly who that was. She vaguely remembered Ethan as the cousin who owned the pub in town.
"Sometimes he rents it out as pasture land, good grazing up here for cattle. Our family's been in the area for years. Farther back than anyone bothered to keep track of, so there's a lot of land in our name out here."
Jessica nodded dumbly. Trying to memorize every word he uttered, while melting into the sound of his voice, while also holding on for dear life.
"My folks," he was going on, "they moved a few years back. Wanted to get someplace higher. Bought a big chunk of land in Idaho. I don't get out to see them so much."
He sounded a little sad about it. Like he missed them. It warmed Jess's heart to think th
at he loved his parents, that was a good sign.
The truck reached the bottom of the hill and Harris turned the wheel to follow the trail around the side of the hill through a wide valley. The trail was wider here, Jess was even willing to call it a road now, it was still bumpy but the risk of rolling to her doom had subsided. Jess let go of the handle above the door and began to appreciate the scenery.
They emerged from the back side of the hill to a view of Beartooth Bay and the ocean all spread out in front of them like a hand painted back drop in an old movie.
Jess exhaled in awe.
"It's pretty, huh?" Harris had pulled the truck to a stop in front of a locked gate that blocked the road.
Jess nodded, "yeah, wow. This is all family land?" She waved her hand to follow the barbed wire fence that etched a faint line across the hills.
"Yup, everything in the fence, be right back," Harrison jumped out of his seat and walked ahead of the truck to open the gate.
"Uncle Jack always said I'm welcome to some of it if I ever decide to move out of the city," he picked up where he'd left of as soon as he climbed back into the cab to move the truck past the gate. Then, he put the truck in park on the other side and jumped out again to close and lock the gate behind them.
Jessica admire the view-- of Harrison-- she'd seen the ocean and it wasn't nearly as good. She liked the way he walked, the way he moved. All powerful limbs and confident strides. He looked right out here in the wide open space. Less cramped, less nervous.
Or maybe that was because she'd just provided an outlet for all that nervous energy she'd always sensed in him.
She grinned to herself as she watched him head back toward the truck, and the best part was, he didn't seem the least bit regretful about that. In fact, he seemed downright into her.
Jess smiled at him as he climbed back it the truck again, she hoped that he'd be into her again in the very near future.
"So why is everything around here named 'oso' anyway?" She wondered out loud as they passed yet another sign for yet another place with "Oso" in the name.
Harrison laughed, the truck coming to a stop while he waited for an opportunity to pull out onto the highway, "Well, California used to have a lot more bears. We had black bears like we still do, and we had the California Grizzly," his voice saddened momentarily, "and they weren't just up in the Sierra like they are now, they were everywhere."
"These coastal ranges were full of bears," he waved his hand toward the mountains behind them, "and the valley down here all the way to the water," his hand gestured out to the beach in the distance, "bears, as far as the eye could see."
Jess laughed lightly at his exaggeration.
Harris turned his head toward her and gave her a narrow-eyed glance, "there were a lot of bears here, I'm not joking," but his tone gave him away and he cracked a smile.
"Anyway, when the Spanish explorers made their way up the California coastline, they made a habit of renaming anything and everything they came across. When they came over that rise out there," he pointed at spot far to the south where the mountains curved around to the beach, "they saw all the bears out here and everything became 'oso' this and 'oso' that."
"Oso is Spanish for bear?" Jess had never really given it much thought. She'd grown up in Ventura County, it wasn't like she'd never heard a Spanish word before. It just hadn't really occurred to her that all the place names actually meant something.
Harris glanced at her as they pulled onto the highway and headed toward the lot where she'd left her car, a smirk playing at the corner of his lips, "yeah, oso means bear," he said it simply with a hint of sarcasm, like it was common knowledge.
Jess nodded with a shy shrug, "Bears are cool."
Her eyes left the view of the ocean and turned to Harrison. She watched him watch the road in front of them as he drove. His thoughts far away, but his features relaxed and happy.
"Good."
He said it mostly to himself, so low she wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't been staring at his lips.
"Did I mention how nice it was to run into you today?" He turned his head toward her and gave her that wide grin that changed his intense features to pure boyish charm. It never failed to stir up the butterflies in her stomach.
She smiled back as he pulled up beside her car, "Any chance you might want to run into me again later tonight?"
Her heart pounded in anticipation of his answer.
He shut off the engine and climbed down from the cab to walk her to her car. He still hadn't answered her question and anxiety was wreaking havoc with her ability to breathe.
She unlocked her car and opened the driver's side door before standing and turning to face him.
He had closed the distance between them so that when she turned she bumped against his chest. Her breath stuck in her lungs as she tipped her head back to meet his eyes.
Hope cowered behind her erratic heartbeat, too afraid of the possibility of rejection to make a full showing.
Harrison looked down at her, a curious, intense look as though he was seeing her for the first time. A hint of gold light glowed along the edges of his dark brown irises.
Jess brushed it off as a trick of the sunlight even as a thrill crept down her spine.
"Where do you live?"
Jess was vaguely aware that she'd started breathing again.
"The trailer park up on Shoreline and Hill," she choked out, "Space 17."
His lips brushed hers, lightly at first before becoming firm, hungry, and possessive. She was backed against the frame of the open car door, one hand on the car, one hand clutching Harrison for support.
If he touched her anywhere, she'd be gone. She'd let him take her again right here in the parking lot.
His hand crept toward her hip as though he might pull her to him so she could feel the length of his desire growing against her.
If he did that, she was a goner.
He reluctantly broke the kiss, pulling away from her as though it took a lot of effort. His hand fell away from her, his fingers lightly brushing against her as he withdrew.
"OK. That'll make it a lot easier to run into you then," his voice was thick and groggy.
Jessica knew how he felt. She nodded helplessly as he gave her a weak smile and headed back to his truck then she fell into the driver's seat of her own car with a long sigh.
She was a goner.
Chapter 7
"So when do we get to meet her?"
His brother, Clay, had been asking about Jess for weeks now but Harris still hadn't made any official attempt at introducing her to his family.
She'd met Luke and Ethan already, it wasn't like he was hiding her from them but his brother in particular wouldn't shut up about "mates." It was rubbing his last nerve raw and even though he was the younger brother, he wasn't above reminding Clay whose bear was bigger.
"Jeez, man," Clay sulked after getting an earful of his brother's wrath, "It's just that you've been going on about this girl for a month now, not counting all the haircuts you got before you started seeing her."
"Seeing. Is that what they call it these days?" Grandt yelled from the other side of the boat as he pulled in the lines, "Face it, Clay, they've been so busy seeing each other, he doesn't have time to introduce her to us."
They'd only been out a few hours and they were already having to pull in the nets for the day. Not bad. They'd be back in port before 8 and he might actually get some sleep today.
Harris knew he'd been burning the candle at both ends. He was on the boat all morning with only a couple of hours of sleep before meeting Jess when she got off work.
It had crossed his mind that it'd be easier if she moved in with him. The rent she was paying for that little trailer was pretty high and he certainly had the extra space.
He didn't care what the guys said about mates or how his bear had grown attached to her already. It had only been a few weeks. He just wasn't ready yet.
He helped his cousin, Grandt, coil rope
s and secure the lines while Lucas steered the trawler through the narrow passage into the harbor.
"It's just not fair, Eeth and Luke got to meet her, why won't you introduce her to your own brother?" Clay had resorted to whining.
The five of them sat in their usual positions around the back room of Ethan's pub. Lucas staring out the window, keeping his eye on the sea and the weather as though there was a damn thing he could do about either.
Clay and Grandt playing darts and giving him hell about hiding Jessica from them while Ethan kept their mugs full and prepared to open up for lunch.
"Ethan met her because he and Mindy were down here when we came for dinner. Luke met her cuz he was with me when she came down to the dock to meet me when we got in. It's not my fault you weren't there. Maybe if you guys stopped throwing the M word around all the time I'd feel more comfortable with bringing her around." Harris lifted his mug to his lips.
"Well maybe if you admitted to yourself that you found your mate, you'd be more comfortable with the M word," Clay's dart bounced off the edge of the board and landed on the floor.
"It's hardly been a month," Harris growled, "I'm not even ready to tell her about my bear, let alone start calling her my mate and planning a future with her. We're just having fun."
He was too busy glowering into the foam sliding down the side of the glass to see the eye rolling and smirks that were silently exchanged behind him.
Chapter 8
Jessica stood at the kitchen counter of her little trailer house and flipped through the calendar pages again. Her finger lightly tapping each little block under the "Sunday" column.
No matter how many times she did it, she came up with five.
She went back and counted by days.
Same story.
She looked at the packet of little pink pills nestled in a circular pattern in the blister pack. She counted each empty spot. She counted backwards on the calendar.