by M. L. Briers
He’d wrapped her in a thick duvet and layers of blankets while he’d run a bath and built a fire to warm the cabin. His eyes snatching back to check on her every chance that he got.
He’d listened to the sounds of her mewing and whispering words that he couldn’t quite make out as he’d unwrapped her once more and carried her into the bathroom, and then he’d turned her within his arms and lowered them together into the lukewarm water, slowly adding in heat as her body temperature started to climb.
Her damn teeth were chattering in her head the whole time, and she’d melted back against his body in the tub, searching for the natural heat of his skin against her back as he curled his body around hers the best that he could…
“W-what…?” And there she was, slowly coming back to him, back to the realisation of where she found herself as he shifted her enough that she could turn to look up at him.
“Now don’t go rushing to the wrong idea. You were half frozen to death when I found you and I needed to get you warm and fast.” It was the truth wrapped in the lie of what he wasn’t saying.
Nick felt her body stiffen but as she slowly devoured his words and reason took over, she started to relax against him once more.
“I – I g-got lost…” She managed to push out of her lips, they were still quivering from the bone cold ice that wracked her body.
Nick reached out a hand to the mixer taps in the middle of the large bathtub and allowed in some more heat to the water.
“Fuelled by Scotch.” He berated her, growled a little, and she stiffened again.
“T-that’s so none of your b-business…” Kristy bit out, annoyed with her body for shaking and her stuttering when she wanted to sound indignant. Her limbs felt tight and her body stiff, and yet she could feel herself melting into his heat.
“My… mountain, my resort, my business.” Nick had almost slipped up and claimed her as his. His bear wasn’t best pleased that he hadn’t. Now they were both pissed off at him.
Kristy bit down on her annoyance. She guessed she’d had it coming. It had been an act of stupidity, but in her defence she was a little worse for the booze, and yet that wasn’t really a defence either.
He was right. It was his mountain. His business in every respect of the word – she knew that. She also knew that if he hadn’t come along and found her then she very well could have died out there in the snow – that wouldn’t exactly have been a good advertisement for his business…
Then again, it didn’t mean that she had to like being half naked in a bath tub with some bad tempered, half naked shifter bear stranger – while being berated by him. Not when her body wanted nothing more than to accept everything that he was offering her. Heat, safety in those big arms of his…
“I want to get out o-of t-his bath…” She tried to move, tried being the operative word. He had one strong muscled arm wrapped around her that held her in place.
“Another stupid decision, and not one that I’m going to even consider until your warm enough.” He growled a little and she tossed him a look over her shoulder.
His eyes were dark, more than dark they were bordering on jet black, and his eyebrows were down in the kind of scowl that should have warned her to be careful, and yet, the thought of him hurting her in any way never crossed her mind.
“Who died and put you in charge of me?” She rallied then. Her pride was on the line. He could see it in her eyes.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
~
“You nearly did.” Nick growled back.
“And stop with the damn growling.” She huffed out. She had been backed into a corner by her own words on the back of her own stupidity – that was a bitter pill to swallow.
“I’m a bear. It’s what we do…” Nick bit out, wanting to ease his beast’s torment at the sound of their mate berating him.
“How did you ever prevent detection?” She sniped back.
“That’s different.” Nick’s growl was still rumbling along in the background.
Sure, he was pissed at her antics, but that growl was changing now, becoming hungrier, because the feistier that she got the more he knew that she was going to be alright. The pressure was off.
That wasn’t to say that his protective side wasn’t still in full force, it was, just that now his mind could stray to other thoughts. Like having her half naked against his body, skin to skin in places, and damn it, but he liked the feel of that – heaven and hell in one bath tub.
She shivered and he reached out and added more hot water.
“And why do I have to be almost naked?” She bit out, flashing him a sour look.
“Wearing your damn snow jacket would be kind of overkill, don’t you think?”
He had a point, and she didn’t like that he kept scoring them against her. She felt irrational, emotional, and frustrated all in one heady mix.
“What I think is…” She stopped talking. She just wasn’t sure anymore.
He made her feel irrational. He certainly made her feel frustrated – like she wanted to punch him on the nose and kiss him senseless all in one go…
Oh my God! I can’t believe I just thought about kissing him…
It must be the shock…
I could have died, that has to do something to a person’s brain, right? Right!
I certainly do not want to kiss the man…
I’m getting married in less than two… oh God… married… to Jackson… I should have kept walking, it would have been so much easier than trying to tell the man that…
“I’m waiting.” Nick’s voice cut right through her thoughts and she went from a frown to a scowl…
“For what?” She floundered.
“You were about to tell me why submerging you fully dressed in the bathtub was a good idea.”
“That’s not a…” She absently shook her head.
“Which is what I said and why I took your outer clothes off.” Nick shot back.
“Well fine, you got what you want, I’m naked.” She bit out, annoyed with herself for letting her mind wander.
“You think this is what I want?” Nick scowled.
“That’s not what I meant…” She tried to pull away from him again but he wouldn’t let her go.
“Just lay still.” He growled out.
“There’s something hard digging in my back…” She grumbled and heard his growl change… it sounded a lot deeper, a lot sexier…
“Oh my God is that your…?” Every muscle in her body snapped to attention as she held herself rigid against him, almost as rigid as what was sticking in her back…
“Shifters are very…” He paused for thought.
“Horny.” She snapped back.
“I would have phrased it differently, but yes, for want of a better word.” Nick wished to the spirits that he could have made his cock to go even semi hard, but there was no way in hell that he could be around his mate, not having already claimed her, and not be in need.
“Wow.” She bit out in disbelief. “Just bloody wow.” She hissed.
“Don’t take it personally.” Nick tried to defuse the situation but she shot a backwards look over her shoulder at him, halfway between disbelief and rebuke.
“Seriously?”
“Yes.” Nick lied.
It was personal. Very damn personal.
“That’s just…” She shook her head. “You’re a real butthole, do you know that?”
“So I’ve been told.” Nick’s bear rallied within him. It didn’t take kindly to the way that this was going. In the beast’s mind they were supposed to be wooing their mate not repelling her.
“Well… they’re right.” She huffed again.
What else could she do – she could probably demand that he let her up, but she didn’t think the man did anything that he didn’t want to do. Or she could continue to fight a useless battle with him.
So he’s happy to see me? So what?
I’m old enough to know that men get that at the drop of a damn hat…
/>
Don’t take it personally… wow. Butthead.
It’s a fact that he never learned damn manners, or propriety, or manners… or when not to get a raging…
Doofus.
When he moved about her to put more hot water in the bath she eyed him with suspicion. Nick did a double take at her…
“Relax, Princess. You’re not my type.” Nick lied and his beast growled in anger within him, but it was more the flare of her eyes that held him spellbound and piqued his interest.
“Good to know.” She lied right back. She couldn’t believe that she felt kind of slighted by that admission. It actually kind of bugged her, a little, a lot. “Is it because I don’t have a… you know… bear?” She finally asked and turned her eyes towards him only to see a scowl on his face.
“No.” He bit out. The he kicked himself – he should have said yes and the damn conversation would have ended right there, instead she looked interested in continuing it.
“So, you’ve been with a woman before…” She nearly rolled her eyes within her head – she knew all about him from the stories on social media- the man was a hound dog, but she kind of had a need to pay him back for the not my type jibe.
When his mouth fell open and his eyes questioned her sanity for a long moment – she wanted to laugh out loud, but she held it at bay.
“Of course I’ve been with a woman…” Nick grumbled a growl. “I’m a little old to be a damn virgin.” He bit out.
Kristy couldn’t help the grin that took her lips. Just trying to imagine this sexy, musclebound shifter as a virgin wasn’t even computing inside of her mind.
He was way too sexy to have been off limits for most of his adult life – in fact from what it said on those shifter groupie websites, she would surmise that women threw themselves at him regularly.
“I meant non shifter woman…” She chuckled, but she also tried to kill that sound and ended up snorting her amusement instead.
“I don’t think this is the time or the place to talk about my damn sex life.” Nick grumbled.
He was starting to feel decidedly caged by her line of questioning, especially when he wanted nothing more than to touch her, run his hands over her body. Hell, he wanted to strip off the rest of her clothes and run his tongue over every inch of her creamy white skin…
“So you haven’t?” She pressed him. She was curious as to what he would answer, more than curious, it sort of unsettled her to think of him with those other women... not that he was with her, just... she wasn't sure what it was.
“Of course I damn well have.” Nick growled out, taking it as some sort of slight to his virility.
“Thought it wasn’t the time or place to talk about it?” She couldn’t help but tease him. The man seemed to be wound up tighter than a spinning top, and she did owe him one for being so damn sanctimonious.
“That’s…” He scowled at her, twisted his head on his neck and gave her such an intense look of scrutiny that she felt as if her damn skin was on fire at her cheeks… “You should never poke the bear, did you never hear that saying?” He growled and that beaming smile was back on her lips.
“Well, that kind of depends if the bear deserves to be poked, and what you’re poking the bear with, don’t you think?” She shot back, now there was a fire in her eyes.
She was feisty – he hadn’t seen this side of her before. He liked it.
He liked the way that fire in her eyes was centred right on him, making his cock harder than hell. He wished he was naked so that he could feel her skin against his length…
He wished a lot of things, but he needed to remember that she wasn’t his. Not really.
“No.” Nick bit back trying to keep his mind on the big picture of who she was to Jackson and not him.
“Yeah, well, I do, and now I know which buttons to push to get a rise out of you.” She gave him a smug look and his eyes narrowed on her.
“I think we both know that you already got a rise out of me, Kristy.” His eyes flicked downwards and hers followed, but all that she could see was his naked muscled chest and no further, but her mind snapped to an image of exactly what he was implying, and her cheeks grew hotter still…
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
~
Kristy wasn’t entirely sure why that thought excited her so damn much – the thought of him naked – the thought of him hard for her… She didn’t need the hot water to heat her body, the thought of him with no clothes on did that all on its own.
“That’s not even good conversation. I’m married.” She muttered.
“Not yet you’re not.” Nick growled back.
The thought of her marrying Jackson clawed and gnawed within him. He didn’t like it, not one damn little bit, and here she was using it as an excuse… when she’d already said that she had cold feet.
“Oh, as near as.” She scowled over her shoulder at him. “What? You think I’m going to blow up my wedding for one night with you?” She snorted her contempt for him, but deep down somewhere inside of her – that damn thought thrilled her more than she wanted to think about.
She was a horrible person. Disgusting.
Who did that? Who stepped out on their intended a night or two before their wedding?
“You think it would just be one night?” He growled then, loudly, possessively, and there wasn’t a damn thing that he could do to stop it. His bear was edgy, very damn edgy…
“I’m not your damn type, remember?” Kristy tried to push forwards away from him, but Nick wasn’t about to let her go. Not now, not yet.
He wanted to hear from her own lips that she was planning on marrying Jackson. He needed that wound carved deep into his very soul to able to let her go.
“I lied.” Nick cupped her cheek with his free hand and bought her face around so that he could see her eyes. He wanted her to be looking at him when she delivered the heart breaking news.
“Well, I’m taken, and I’m not that sort of girl.” She snorted her contempt for him, batting at his hand, but only doing it half-heartedly.
The warmth of his skin against hers caused her nerves to tingle. At least that was what she assumed that feeling to be, maybe it was a shifter thing.
It felt good. He felt good…
She pulled her face away from his touch and turned in the tub to look anywhere but at him. She would have folded her arms across her chest if she could have, but he still had that one arm wrapped around her waist…
Then she felt that arm slowly release her, and her mind traced that feeling as it faded from her skin. A part of her mourned the loss – she told herself it was just the heat of his body that she was missing as she pressed forwards in the tub…
Nick pushed up. She snatched a quick look at him as water cascaded down his body, down the jeans that he still wore. He looked sinfully good, all hard planes and rolling muscles in his chest and arms.
His eyes locked with hers for what felt like the longest and loneliest of her life. Then he was gone and she had never felt more alone.
~
~
~
Zoe sat on a stool at the bar where she could keep an eye on Chloe without her friend beckoning her over with her eyes every two seconds. She pitied the woman, but she was safe with her mate, and she wasn’t going to rush into the fray – magic flying – and get between them.
It was a choice that Chloe needed to make on her own. To mate or not to mate – that really was the question.
“Waiting for me?” Zav slipped in beside her and she instantly rolled her eyes around in her head to bring them down on him.
“This is getting old.” Zoe eyed him. “You know you’re a vampire and not a stalker, right?”
“Now where does it say that I can’t be both?” Zav shot her a smile. It was a good one, it sent a jolt of something real fine right to her womb and made her stomach start to flip inside of her…
That wasn’t good. She had to knock that right on the head before it started to get worse or out of hand.
/>
“Right on the first page of the witch’s handbook.” She offered back. “Right next to how to castrate you, permanently.” She offered him an evil, wicked grin, but his smile just grew on his lips.
“Why spoil the party by doing that?” He leaned in towards her and she was tempted to lean back away from him, and yet, she couldn’t quite find it within herself to do that. “You know it’s going to be one hell of a party, don’t you?”
It was right there in his eyes. A look that promised so much, and she knew just how damn good one night with him would be.
The trouble was – she didn’t really feel like berating herself and slapping herself upside her head for the rest of the month.
Vampires were definitely an acquired taste, and it was one that she’d never found that she had.
“Well how does your head fit through the door with an ego like that?” She deflected and they both knew it.
“It’s not ego when it’s the truth, Zoe, and you know that.” He grinned again, but there was no sign of his fangs elongating, and she had looked.
“Can’t you go and play creepy vampire guy with someone else?” She sighed as best she could.
“No.” He drawled on a small frown. “Unfortunately for me I seem to be attracted to you and only you here tonight…”
“I’m…”
“Flattered.” He slipped the word in there.
“I was going for nauseous, actually.” She gave a small shrug off her shoulders and his grin widened.
“Admit it to me, to yourself, or not, but you are attracted to me. I can scent it coming from you. I can smell it in the air, raw sexual attraction of the very best kind.”
“In your dreams… because that’s the only place you and I are ever going to be having sex.” She whispered as she pushed down from the stool and palmed her glass, turning on her heels, she strolled away from him.
“Oh you will be in my bed by the time the sun rises.” He muttered to himself as she walked away. The sway of her hips was mesmerising.