Stuart groaned into her mouth and twisted out of the kiss. “Damn, Lila. What’s gotten into you tonight?”
She kissed across his jaw and down his neck. “Are you complaining?”
“Hell no.” Stuart lifted her off her feet and spun her around until her back was pressed against the cool front door. He lowered his head and claimed her mouth once again.
Lila squirmed against him, so close to getting what she needed, and yet denied by the clothing separating them. She pulled out of the kiss and stared up into Stuart’s eyes, feeling desperate and needy—two things she wasn’t used to experiencing. “Please, Stuart. I need more. I need you. Let me down.”
“Okay. Whatever you want.” Stuart eased her down onto her feet.
Lila didn’t waste any time kicking off her shoes and wiggling out of her pants and underwear. All modesty was forgotten in her pursuit of satisfaction. The second she was bare, Stuart lifted her back up. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, and held on tight. Stuart sandwiched her between his hot body and the cool door once again. He kept one arm under her bottom and used the other to shove down his pants. He buried his face in the curve of her throat, kissing up and down the overheated flesh between her ear and shoulder. Lila tilted her head, giving him more room to work.
“Want you,” he growled against her throat.
“I want you, too,” she panted.
“Let me claim you.”
“Soon, baby, I promise. Just not tonight.” Despite how desperate she was for him, she knew letting him claim her now was a mistake she would instantly regret. She’d heard the stories about what could happen if newly mated couples were separated. Mating sickness was no joke. Since she couldn’t be with him all the time yet, she couldn’t let him claim her and risk tormenting them both with the possible side effects.
Stuart mouthed her throat and breathed against her skin. “Okay. Soon. I can wait. I can wait for you.”
“Please,” she whispered, hoping not being able to claim her wouldn’t deter Stuart from following through with making love to her. She was desperate to feel close to him, to have him scratch the itch deep inside her that burned for him alone.
He reached between them and lined his hard shaft up with her soft center. Before going further, he lifted his head and looked down at her. “Ready?”
She made eye contact and held it. “Yes. Do it.”
He thrust forward, burying his impressive length inside her in one slow stroke. He instantly started to move, driving into her harder and harder with every pass. She did her best to move with him, to rock her hips, and use the leverage at her back to push into his every thrust forward. His blunt fingers dug into her hips and bottom as he held her up against the door and drove her crazy.
Lila threw her head back and moaned, overwhelmed at how amazing being with Stuart felt. She’d begun to think she’d over-exaggerated their one encounter in her mind. If anything, her memory had downplayed exactly how perfect their bodies fit together and the exhilarating rush of friction between them.
Stuart kissed up her neck and across her face until he reached her lips and could cover them with his own. Their mouths clashed and their tongues tangled as Stuart kissed her like a man possessed. He drove into her over and over, never stopping, or pausing for breath.
The tension in Lila’s body coiled tighter and tighter every time Stuart pushed inside her. She clung to her man, her body straining to merge with his. Her channel clenched around Stuart, trying to hold him inside. She froze and moaned, rapture sizzling through her veins. “Stuart... Stu... oh God.”
Her orgasm crashed over in wave after wave of pleasure so strong it stole her breath and darkened her vision. She slammed her eyes closed and trembled through the delirium.
Stuart groaned and shoved deep, spilling his release inside her. He held still, his muscles straining, and panted hard against Lila.
She recovered first, her senses coming back while Stuart still quivered through the aftershocks against her. She ran her fingers through his hair and kissed his temple. Emotion welled up inside her for this man who’d appeared out of nowhere, refused to give up on her despite her baggage, and gave her a new lease on life.
“I love you,” she whispered into his ear.
He lifted his head and gazed down at her with a tender expression. “I love you, too.”
The sweet moment was interrupted by the ring of her cell phone. Lila shook her head when Stuart started to pull back. “Just let it ring.” Whoever it was could wait a few minutes.
“It’s all right. Go on and answer your phone. It might be important.” Stuart eased away from her and set her back on her feet. “There’s a bathroom right there, if you want to take your phone in there with you and clean up.” He pointed down a short hallway to the left.
“Okay.” She scooped her pants and underwear up off the floor and rifled through her pockets until she found the phone. Since it had already stopped ringing, she carried it and her things down the hall and into the bathroom. Before she could so much as wet a washcloth to clean up, her phone rang again. This time she saw who was calling and answered right away. “Hello.”
“Thanks goodness,” Mom said. “I’m sorry to bother you, sweetheart, but I need you to come home right away.”
“What’s going on, Mom? Is Quinn okay?”
“Quinn’s fine. I’m afraid your Aunt Patricia has fallen and hurt herself. She’s in the hospital and scheduled for surgery in the morning. Your father and I need to drive down to Florida and be there for her while she recovers.”
“Oh my goodness. I’m so sorry to hear that. Is she going to be all right?”
“She will be eventually. She just needs a little help right now. You know that good-for-nothing son of hers won’t lift a finger to help her.”
“All right. Well, let me get my things together and I’ll be right home.”
“Thank you, sweetheart. Drive safe.”
Lila hung up the phone, did a quick clean up, and redressed. She stepped out of the bathroom and found Stuart waiting for her in the living room. “I have to go.”
“I heard. I’m sorry about your aunt.”
Of course he did. Shifters seemed to hear everything. “Thank you. I don’t know very much at the moment, but I’m sure Mom and Dad will let me know what’s going on once they’re down there with her.”
“Well, I hope everything turns out okay.” He walked her to the door. “Be careful and call me tomorrow, okay?”
“I will.” She gave him a quick kiss and headed outside to start the short drive home.
Chapter Nine
As it turned out, Patricia had broken her leg in two places and needed more help than any of them could have expected. Since her parents were retired, they offered to stay in Florida for the duration of her recovery so she wouldn’t have to go into a rehabilitation center.
Lila sent her love to her aunt, told her parents to let her know if they needed anything, and tried to make do on her own for the time being. It shouldn’t have been a big deal. With the exception of the last couple of months, she’d been on her own with Quinn since he was born. But having his stable home life altered yet again set Quinn in a foul mood that showed no signs of abating any time soon.
Lila went to work, came straight home to keep an eye on her moody son, and sent up a silent SOS to the universe to keep her son from experiencing his first shift until his grandfather came home to help him through it. By the end of the week, she was feeling pretty surly herself.
Any chance of spending time with Stuart went out the window the minute her parents left town. As much as she loved her son, she didn’t trust him to stay alone. Not when his hormones were going crazy and his sense of right and wrong wavered depending on his mood.
The closest they could get to a date was talking over the phone, which wasn’t going to satisfy either of them for long. Near the end of the week, Stuart suggested an afternoon date on Saturday and told her to bring Quinn along
with her. There was a fall festival happening in town that weekend. He had to attend for work since it was his last chance to see and be seen by the people who would be voting in the coming week. He thought Quinn might enjoy the festival and it was a good chance for the three of them to spend some time together.
She readily agreed, anxious to see Stuart, and happy to have an excuse to get her two favorite guys in the same place at the same time so they could get to know each other. She felt certain Quinn would like Stuart if he just gave the man a chance. Not to mention the sooner Quinn came to grips with Stuart being a part of their lives, the sooner they could move forward with their mating. That couldn’t happen quickly enough for her. Every cell in her body yearned to be closer to Stuart. The longer they went without seeing each other, the worse her need for him became. The yearning was maddening at times. If she hadn’t been so busy, it would have driven her crazy.
When Quinn woke up in a particularly foul mood on Saturday, Lila’s hope of having a nice day plummeted. She did everything she could to rouse his spirits, cooking his favorite breakfast and lunch, and letting him invite Justin over for junk food and video games in the afternoon. By dinnertime, she knew taking Quinn out to meet Stuart in public was just asking for trouble, since Stuart was looking to make a good impression on the community. With a heavy heart, she called and let Stuart know they weren’t going to make it. The disappointment in his voice when he told her that he understood broke her heart.
Trying to remain positive, she invited Stuart to come over for a nightcap and some dessert after he’d finished networking at the festival. If Quinn didn’t like her having Stuart in the house, then he could just get over it. As much as she wanted to keep the peace and make everyone happy, she wasn’t willing to reduce her relationship with Stuart to phone calls and the occasional work lunch. She wanted their lives to move forward, not back.
Feeling a little better about the prospect of at least seeing Stuart later that night, she fixed the boys some grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner and let them eat in front of the television. Since everything was copacetic, she excused herself and went to change and primp a little, wanting to look her best for Stuart.
While in the bathroom, she heard raised voices. Figuring the boys had gone back to playing video games, she didn’t think anything of it. It wasn’t unusual for Quinn to scream at the characters on the TV, especially when he was playing one of those shoot-’em-up games he liked so much. She went on with freshening up her makeup.
The sound of glass breaking reached her ears and had her running back toward the living room. She stopped just over the threshold, confused about what she was seeing. The coffee table was overturned, the plates and glasses from dinner lying broken on the floor. The boys were rolling around on the floor, their arms and hands swinging at each other.
“Hey! Stop that.” She darted into the room and tried to pull Justin off her son.
Justin refused to budge. He growled and looked over his shoulder at her with eyes as dark as night. The lower half of his jaw bulged forward, misshapen and out of joint. When he snarled, it revealed a mouth full of partially distended teeth much too large for a normal teenage boy.
Struck by the realization of what was happening, Lila released her grip on him and jumped back. She glanced down at her son and recognized similar symptoms. In addition to the bulging jaw and enlarged teeth, Quinn had dark circles ringing his normally bright eyes and his skin was covered in a slick film of sweat.
She was so busy looking at her son she didn’t see Justin moving until it was too late to do anything but take the hit as he barreled into her legs and knocked her off her feet. She went down hard, slamming her elbow and shoulder into the floor. She looked up and froze, mesmerized by the sight of Justin’s human façade slipping away. While she looked on in wide-eyed fascination, Justin’s skin split, his muscles stretched, and his bones snapped and reshaped. Fur as black as midnight spurted from his pores and covered him from head to toe, revealing his new form as that of a mid-sized black bear. Within moments, his transformation was complete and he was prowling toward her with renewed purpose.
Shocked at the turn of events, she crab-walked backward, trying to get away from the out-of-control shifter. Her heart raced, sure the bear shifter was going to attack her at any second.
“Justin,” she said in the calmest voice she could manage. “Everything’s going to be okay. All you have to do is calm down and shift back to your human skin.”
The bear stopped and tilted his head as if he was listening to her.
“That’s it,” she said. “Just breathe deeply and picture your human form and you’ll change back.”
Just when she started to believe she might be able to talk Justin down from the ledge, Quinn roared in pain and surprise and started his first transformation from man to beast.
The second she saw the bear’s attention divert to what was happening with Quinn, Lila climbed to her feet and raced from the room. She ran for the kitchen and the cell phone she’d left lying on the counter. Behind her a loud crash sounded in the living room, followed by a monstrous roar. Desperate for help, she crouched behind the counter and dialed Stuart’s number with trembling fingers.
* * * *
Stuart walked around the fall festival, greeting those he knew by name and introducing himself and shaking hands with those he didn’t. Despite the crowd around him and the festivities happening everywhere he looked, Stuart had never felt so alone. To say he was disappointed that Lila hadn’t been able to make it was an understatement. He missed his mate and his bear was confused and irritable at her absence. While he understood and respected her need to put her son’s well-being first, he was growing impatient to claim his mate. Now that he’d found her and was so close to having everything he’d ever wanted, it was torture to keep waiting.
He rounded a corner around the apple butter booth and spotted his competition for the sheriff’s position standing in the center of a group of middle-aged good ol’ boys. A cloud of smoke billowed around them from the cigars they were smoking. As he looked on, several women walked by the group, wrinkled their noses at the smell, and shot disgruntled looks toward the men.
Frank McGovern fit right in with the rest of the rednecks. The man was seventy if he was a day and about as narrow-minded as they came. Stuart shuddered to think what would happen to the community if McGovern won the election. It would be sliding them all right back to the Fifties.
Stuart walked by the group and didn’t spare them another glance. If McGovern got elected, then something was seriously wrong with the people who voted for him.
He passed a booth full of handmade jewelry and slowed to peruse the items for sale. A beautiful tiger lily pin caught his eye and made him think of Lila. Acting on impulse, he purchased the pin and stuck the little box into his pocket for safekeeping until he could give it to her later that night.
He turned away from the booth and immediately got cornered by a group of young boys asking him to explain what it took to become a police officer. He patiently explained the process and then watched them run off to find their next point of interest.
The smell of the funnel cake booth wafted under his nose and made his mouth water. He followed his nose to the source and placed his order for a large funnel cake drizzled with honey and smothered in fresh berries. He paid and stepped to the side to wait on his completed order when his phone rang. A glance at the screen showed Lila’s cell phone number.
He swiped the screen and lifted the phone to his ear. “Lila? Change your mind?”
“Thank God,” Lila said. “I’m sorry to mess up your night, but I need you to get over here right away. The boys started fighting and it somehow spurred them both into shifting.” Something crashed in the background. “There are two damn bears in the house with me and I have no idea what to do.”
“Lock yourself in the bathroom and stay put until I get there. I’m on my way.” Stuart took off toward his police cruiser. He’d left it parked sev
eral blocks away in the hopes of keeping it from being blocked in by tourists.
“I can’t do that,” Lila said. “Quinn might need me.”
“Quinn is on even footing with Justin. You’re the one who’s vulnerable. Being the only adult in the house isn’t going to help you. They’re not going to respond to your orders. They’re going to tear each other up, the house, and you too if you get in their way.”
“Okay, I—” Lila’s voice cut out at the same time a loud crash echoed through the line. The phone went dead, leaving Stuart to worry about what happened to his mate.
He picked up his pace, sprinting toward his car. Several people called after him, asking him where the fire was, and several were forced to jump out of his way. He wasn’t going to let him anything stop him or slow him down. Lila needed him. Nothing was going to get in the way of him reaching his mate when her life could very well be depending on him.
After what seemed like an eternity but was probably less than five minutes in all actuality, he reached his vehicle and climbed behind the wheel. He started the engine, flipped on the lights, and raced toward Lila’s house, breaking several speed limits in the process. He’d never forgive himself if something happened to Lila when he could have easily prevented it. The idea of his mate trapped indoors with not one, but two inexperienced and volatile shifters was unbearable. God only knew what kind of mayhem they were causing while he sat perfectly safe and useless inside his vehicle. His bear chafed at being trapped inside the metal can on wheels and pawed at his control, trying to force Stuart into shifting.
A lifetime passed before he screeched to a stop in front of Lila’s house and killed the engine. He jumped from the vehicle and ran across the yard. Adrenaline spiked through his veins, propelling him to go faster. He flew up the steps, barely holding onto the reins of his humanity, and reached for the doorknob. It twisted beneath his grasp and he shoved the door inward, already letting go of his humanity in favor of letting his bear out to take control of the youngsters. After so many years of practice, the transformation flowed over him like water. One minute he stood on two legs, calling Lila’s name, and then next he was crouched on all four limbs, a mighty grizzly bear enraged at the pungent scent of his mate’s fear hanging in the air. He sent out a roar of warning and charged forward, determined to take control of the situation and teach the inexperienced cubs a lesson.
Pleasant Valley Bears: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Pleasant Valley Shifters) Page 16