Sheltered by the Bear (Trapped in Bear Canyon Book 1)

by Terry Bolryder

  He grinned at her again. “If you say so.” She liked that he rarely argued with her. He respected her opinion, unlike Corey. In fact, there were so many things he did as her friend that made it plain just how wrong for her Corey had been.

  Perhaps that’s why she was finally ready to pack up their camp.

  As they hiked back to where she’d come from, they talked about the rest of today’s matches. Riker was betting against her on Francis winning the whole thing. He was thinking a former runner-up named Brick was going to take the whole thing.

  She had no idea, but it was fun to think about it.

  Rock was with her, voting for Francis, but Ryland had picked an underdog, a skinny wolf shifter with odd powers that had been allowed to enter if he promised not to use them. His name was Gene. But she was pretty sure Ryland would be disappointed.

  Francis for the win.

  She chuckled to herself and caught Riker looking down at her.

  “It’s good to see you lighthearted,” he said as they entered the clearing where her camp had been set up.

  Her smile faltered as she looked around and saw it just the same as she’d left it. It was eerie.

  He tried to keep things light by walking forward into the center of the camp. He crouched in front of the little makeshift cookstove and then stood and looked at the large tent they’d assembled.

  “Nice tent,” he said. “Not that I understand why you humans are so set on camping.”

  “Really?” she asked sarcastically. “You live in the woods.”

  “I live in a cabin,” he said. “But you’re right. When I feel like being in nature, I can just go out as my bear.”

  “That must be nice,” she said, sitting on a nearby log and resting her cheek on her hand.

  He sat next to her. “But humans like you, you’re as likely to get eaten by a bear as not, camping out here in bear country.”

  Her eyes widened. “I guess you’re right.”

  He bumped her shoulder with his. “I guess it’s good that ol’ douchebag left you here so you could come find me instead. I shudder to think what would have happened if the bears found you first.”

  She shivered and looked up into his eyes. He looked fairly relaxed, his gaze fixed ahead of them on the trees and the horizon.

  “I’m glad he left,” she said, leaning against him tentatively. “I’m glad it led me to you.”

  He was speechless, his body tensing slightly, as it always did when she touched him.

  “Still determined not to let anything happen to us, huh?” she asked, sitting up bitterly.

  He nodded. “If I can avoid it.”

  “Why?” she asked. “Wouldn’t you enjoy it?”

  He gave her a smirk. “Of course I would. That’s not the problem.”

  “What is it, then?”

  “I’ve never been one to live in the moment,” he said softly. “I think, even if I wasn’t a shifter, I just wouldn’t be able to. It’s always been about what I was supposed to do. Doing the right thing. Maintaining responsibility. I’ve deprived myself of what I wanted for a long time. I can deprive myself of this, too.”

  Her heart shattered a bit at his words. “But why should you? And what are you depriving yourself of?”

  “I can’t go out there like them. Like my brothers. Someone has to stay here. No matter how lonely.” He sighed. “The town depends on me. They need someone here to protect them. And the Brawl…”

  “Outdated,” she muttered.

  “That may be, but it’s my heritage.”

  “I’m tired of hearing that,” she said. “Your heritage should be happiness.”

  He looked at her in shock, a muscle in his jaw twitching. “What?”

  “Your heritage should be to have a life for yourself,” she said. “Your brothers know it. That’s why they left and why they only come back for this. I’m sure they’d love for you to move on as well.”

  “This is all that’s left of our family,” he said, looking in the direction of the town. “We still own a lot of the business that goes on there. Sure, there isn’t much going on when it’s not tourist season, but it’s something. I can’t just walk away. I’d be abandoning the town and my responsibilities as sure as Corey abandoned you in the woods.”

  She flinched. “Yuck. It’s not the same. But I’m not going to be able to talk sense into you, am I?”

  “Nope.”

  She stood, brushing her jeans off, and walked over to the tent. “Still, it’s a shame we never got to use this.”

  He let out a growl of jealousy that made her giggle.

  She opened it up. “I mean, it’s so spacious. Plenty of room for two people to… roll around in.”

  He snorted. “No, it’s not.”

  “It is,” she said, crawling in. “Come on. I’ll show you.” When he didn’t come, she poked her head out and gave him a pout. “Come on. Hang out in it with me. At least then I can say I used it.”

  He frowned.

  “I’ll be less sad,” she said.

  He groaned and stood. She had him.

  As he brushed off his jeans and walked to the tent, she felt a crackle of electricity in the air between them. He crouched and gave the small opening a skeptical look and then began crawling in.

  She was reminded of the fable about a camel in a tent. If you let it put its nose in, you’ll end up with the whole camel.

  And if you convince a reluctant bear shifter in, you might just end up with a giant man on top of you when he trips on the zipper.

  He caught himself with quick reflexes, holding his body just hovering above her, but her senses immediately reacted.

  His scent was spicy, fresh pine and exotic, and his nose was just inches from hers. She could see the little bump she didn’t know the cause of. Her eyes darted to his lips. Full. Masculine.

  He wet his lower lip with his tongue as his arms trembled slightly. His legs were on either side of hers. He’d been right. The tent wasn’t roomy at all. Maybe it would have been with a much smaller Corey. But with Riker inside with her, it was downright crowded.

  In all the right ways.

  She teased her hands up to his shoulders, wriggling against him as he let out a groan.

  “Just give me a second,” he growled. “I’ll get off of you.”

  She reached around his elbows and pulled, causing him to drop on her.

  “Hey,” he said, trying to regain his position. “You did that on purpose.”

  She locked eyes with him and nodded slowly. Heat was pooling between her thighs, and she was practically aching for him. Scratch that; she was actually aching for him.

  It seemed like the most important thing in the world at that moment. Having him inside her. Filling her. Holding her.

  Her brain nearly exploded at the thought, and she wrapped her arms around his wide back, unwilling to let go.

  She could feel his heart hammering against hers as she held him, and he let out a long breath.

  “I told you I wasn’t going to do this as long as I could avoid it.”

  “You can’t avoid it anymore,” she said, keeping her face buried against his shoulder.

  He sighed, exasperated, but she could hear the husky note in his voice. Feel something huge, hard, pressing against her thigh.

  “You want me,” she said.

  “Of course I do,” he said. “Anyone would. But I respect you.”

  “Then respect that I’m a grown woman and I want you. Inside me. Now.”

  “But the future—”

  “Fuck the future,” she said, frustrated. “I want you right now. All we have is right now. For all we know, we could hold back and get struck by lightning tomorrow. All we have is this moment.”

  He was quiet.

  She ran a hand through his hair and finally had the courage to face him. He was flushed, and she could see the amount of effort he had to put into trying to resist her.

  “I’m just asking you right now to live in the moment,” she said.
“No promises after that.”

  “It’s not who I am,” he said, shaking his head.

  “Fine,” she said, trying to roll out from under him. He nearly let her go and then gently pushed back her shoulder with one strong hand.

  “Wait,” he said. “Hold on.”

  She did, resting back in her former position beneath him. It just felt right to be there.

  “So we do this. Is it once? Is it more? And what happens when it’s over?”

  “When what’s over?” she asked.

  “The Brawl,” he said. “When the canyon opens and you can go home.”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I guess I go home? I can’t say what's going to happen in a few days' time. I can’t even say what will happen tomorrow. If you asked me a week ago, I would have thought I would still be with Corey. Things can change in the blink of an eye. I’d rather do what feels right in the moment then wait for something that might never happen.”

  He lowered his head, and she knew she had him. Her heart pounded. She was falling for him, and he cared for her, too. She’d felt it in his kiss. He would be gentle, and she’d never forget him.

  Nothing between them could ever be wrong.

  It was her last thought before he lowered his lips and his kiss wiped away all lucid thought, leaving only exquisite, aching pleasure in its wake.

  7

  Riker felt all his inhibitions melt away as he kissed Ana. His misgivings, his doubts, every reason he’d told himself there was no point in getting involved with this woman miraculously disappeared as he felt her soft, luscious lips on his.

  He knew there would be hell to pay when reason kicked in after all this. But for the first time in his life, he wanted to let loose. Let the bear inside him, as well as the man he buried beneath responsibility, do all the thinking for once.

  Riker leaned over Ana, deepening the kiss and pushing them farther into the tent, backing her into the corner until there was nowhere else to go. Her lips parted gently, and without hesitation, his tongue delved into her mouth, sweeping across it, wanting to pleasure her as badly as she wanted to be pleasured.

  A soft moan came from Ana’s throat as their tongues intertwined, and he reveled in the wetness and warmth.

  After several long minutes, Riker pushed off his boots and turned around to zip the door to the tent shut. But no sooner had he done it than he found himself pressing on all sides of the tent as he tried to turn back around to get to Ana.

  Clearly, it was the type of tent that claimed to have a three-person capacity, but even one Riker was too much for the claustrophobic conditions surrounding them.

  But the closeness of it all, the forced proximity of their bodies, only made things hotter, as their bodies brushed constantly no matter what position they were in.

  “I hope you didn’t pay too much for this tent. One wrong move and I’ll be putting an arm or leg through the side,” Riker said, positioning himself back over Ana where he was before, her pert red lips slightly swollen and looking even more kissable than before. The tent was warming up more by the second, and her cheeks were flushed. So hot.

  “I don’t care. It was worth it,” she replied as he leaned down to nibble on her ear. He started lightly at first, then bit down on the soft earlobe as she gasped lightly, her hands grasping his shirt as he did.

  Outside, a gentle breeze blew past the tent and, with it, the powerful scent of pine and mountain wildflowers mixing with her soft, floral scent into something altogether heady and unique.

  Spurred by the sounds of her pleasure, Riker moved lower down Ana’s neck, sucking and biting on her skin, pushing her deeper into the pleasure she was experiencing.

  As he came lower down her chest, he reached the zipper of the sweater she was wearing, and he hesitated for a second. The farther they went, the harder it would be to stop. And not just stop wanting to pleasure her, wanting to make her scream out her release into the empty forest around them. But also wanting to know her. To be with her.

  But he was pulled back headlong into it as he kissed the barely exposed flesh of her breasts, and she let out an excited gasp, a catch in her breath that let him know she wasn’t here for just a taste.

  “Don’t stop,” she said, her voice breathy and enticing.

  And with that, Riker was all in.

  He felt no hesitation as his hands cupped both her breasts, bra and all, and squeezed them, pressing them together as she arched back. His mouth came to the center of her chest, kissing and licking as it found its way beneath her shirt and to the line of her bra, so close to her nipples he could almost taste them.

  Knowing that trying to take her shirt and bra off in such cramped space would be hell, Riker instead reached behind her and undid the clasp of her bra. Then he pulled the loose bra and her tank top lower, leaving her breasts free and exposed to the warm air inside the tent. Already, each perky, pink nipple had formed a soft peak, and he wasted no time in ravishing each to his heart’s content.

  With calculated pressure, he bit down on one nipple, intensifying the pressure as her body responded more and more. Then he’d release, letting his hand massage the beautiful, full breast as he then sucked on the other, leaving her no time to recuperate.

  When he was finally finished with her there, she was gasping, taking deep breaths between kisses as he continued to lave his tongue over her nipples. Quickly, he undid the zipper of her jeans, then realized there was no space for what he’d originally had in mind to do with her there.

  “Here, let’s switch places,” Riker said, and Ana obeyed as he lay on the ground and she came above him. It took no small amount of effort to get the task done, but finally, she was atop him, breasts still bare, zipper undone, a few wayward curls of her hair loose around her face, having escaped her ponytail.

  Riker had to bend his knees just to fit inside the tiny tent. But this was the only way this would work…

  “What are you—”

  But before Ana could finish asking, Riker grabbed her ass, enjoying the feel as he did, and shifted her forward until her hips were positioned right over his face. Then, using one hand to pull down the soft pink panties she wore, his tongue found her clit.

  Immediately, she arched back and moaned loudly, her head brushing the short roof of the tent. His free hand moved to support her back, and once she’d regained her balance, he licked over her center again. As he did, his other hand cupped her breast from beneath her shirt, squeezing gently in time with the stroke of his tongue.

  “Riker, oh…” Ana cried out, losing track of her words as he continued to plunder her clit, pulling every ounce of pleasure out of her that he could.

  And as he did, she rewarded him with that same pleasure. Showed him exactly what she wanted, what she liked. How hard. How fast. Tiny circles or a long, slow lick.

  The bear inside him just wanted to rip her clothes off right now so he could see her naked and beautiful and perfect. But the last thing Riker wanted was to leave her without clothes out here, away from home or replacements.

  And naked or not, this was heaven. With every alternation, every change in pace, Ana’s body continued to writhe and tense around him. He could feel she was close, could tell she wanted release.

  And so he gave it.

  Cupping her ass once more and squeezing firmly, he pressed her forward into his mouth. At the same time, his tongue covered her clit entirely, then licked upward in one torturously slow lick, and she immediately orgasmed above him.

  Her entire body curled in like a spring coiling, then released as she cried out his name. Riker could feel the pleasurable spasms coursing through her as he held her tightly, anchoring her in the tiny tent that was their entire world right now.

  And while she came, he flicked his tongue against her center once, twice more, pushing her release even harder as she came and came for many long, amazing seconds.

  By the time she regained control, Riker had no clue how long it had been, how long they’d been in this tiny tent
, making love in a way he never had before.

  Then to his surprise, she reached a hand behind her to the front of his jeans, and without hesitance, her hand ran along the length of his incredibly hard cock.

  “Damn,” she swore in ecstasy, still in a haze of euphoria from her release. “Of course, the perfect man had to come with the perfect package as well.”

  But by the way she said it, there was nothing but want in her voice, raw desire Riker knew he felt for her, too. And as hard as it was to rush into things, it was even harder to focus while her hand was doing what it was doing and with the feel of her soft thighs on his shoulders and her half-naked body above him.

  “Are you sure you want this?” Riker asked, his last defense against what might be the most stupid decision of his life. But somehow it also felt it was the most important, the most necessary.

  “I need this,” she responded, unwavering in her request.

  He just couldn’t say no to her.

  Supporting her with one hand, he switched their positions with one quick motion, hopeful that if his calculations were right, he wouldn’t tear any walls off while he did. Thankfully, the tent groaned and flexed but didn’t budge as he came above her.

  By now, her skin was glowing, either from the release or the heat inside the tent. Or both. Her pale skin was pink from exertion, but he could see in her eyes she wasn’t nearly done.

  Quickly, Riker undid his jeans and lowered them, watching with amusement as Ana gazed at him hungrily. Then he pulled out the condom he always kept in his wallet because he wasn’t an idiot about sex—even though he knew he could only mate her once she had seen and accepted his bear form—and put it on.

  While he did that, Ana wriggled out of her jeans and panties, distracting Riker and making him even harder at the sight of her now mostly naked body beneath him.

  Thankfully, the tent was pitched on a meadowy patch of grass, and the ground beneath them was soft and cushiony, despite lacking any formal padding.

  As he positioned himself between her legs, Riker could feel his bear beneath the surface, growling and satisfied, even if this wasn’t fully claiming.