“You say the sweetest things.” Ruth rolled onto her back, and stroked his chest as he hovered above her.
He leaned down and kissed her lips, his teeth nipped her lower lip, sending shockwaves through her body. Curling her fingers around his hard length, she stroked him, up and down, and he tensed, leaving her dress half open.
“You have a magic touch,” Michael told her when he regained some control. He worked fast, using his shifter speed to strip her naked.
“Not fair.”
“All is fair in love…” He kissed her lips.
“And war?” she asked, her hand working up and down.
“We are never going to war.” He eased his body between her thighs and she guided him toward her aching need. He teased her, thrusting forward, and then pulling back, until she wanted to cry out in desperation.
“Make love to me, lucky bear.” She cupped his face in her hands and raised her head, kissing his lips. Michael relaxed, lunging forward to enter her, his cock sliding against her inner walls. He groaned, gasping against her mouth. Nothing turned her on as much as the strength and depth of Michael’s need.
Ruth stroked his shoulders, running her fingers down his back, scratching his skin. His thrusts became more urgent, and she wrapped her legs around him, urging him on. In and out, the friction of their bodies creating static electricity that crackled and sparked as her fingertips stroked his arms.
Hooking her hands over his shoulders, she ground her hips down onto him. Urging him deeper, harder, as her orgasm raced toward her. Michael lunged into her, his breathing ragged, then he tensed and his essence spurted into her. He balled the covers in his fists, crying out her name.
Ruth adjusted the angle of her body and with each movement, Michael’s body grazed her clit. Her orgasm rushed toward her and she came, throbbing and pulsing around him, making his orgasm last longer, until he was utterly and completely spent.
“That was incredible,” he whispered in her ear as he lay across her body, his lips kissing her skin.
“There’s something I want to ask you.” Ruth’s tone caught his attention and he lay by her side, his face searching hers.
“Anything.”
Ruth sat up in bed and reached for her purse, which she’d dropped on the floor by the side of the bed. Opening it, she took out a small box. “Will you marry me?”
Michael jolted back in surprise. “Yes.”
“You don’t want to think about it?”
“No, I mean, I have been thinking about it. But I never had a chance to buy you a ring.”
Ruth opened the small box and showed him the engagement ring her mom had left to her in her will. “I didn’t know if I wanted to wear it. But having Frankie here, and meeting Jason and Jenny…”
“Take your time.” Michael kissed her cheek, cradling her head in his hands.
“I don’t want to forget the past. I don’t want to forget my mom. I want to wear this ring to remind me to live in the present. To enjoy each day as it comes. To celebrate those we share the journey with.”
Michael took the ring from the box and slid it on her finger. “I can’t wait for you to be my wife.”
“And I can’t wait for you to be my husband, and Jason and Jenny’s dad.” She looked at the ring on her finger. She didn’t need to run from her past, or fear that history might repeat itself.
She was her own person. Even if part of her belonged to the man by her side. The man she loved. The father of her soon-to-be children, Jason and Jenny. And she could not be happier.
Instead of tying her down, they were giving her freedom, to love and be loved.
Epilogue
“There won’t be any peas left if you keep eating them,” Frankie told Jason.
“I made sure we picked extra.” Ruth picked up a basket and set it on the table. “Help yourself.”
Jason took another handful, and grinned at Frankie, who said, “Ruth is going soft. When I was a kid, she would’ve told me off.”
“That’s not true. You got away with stuff all the time.” Ruth shook her head at Frankie. “Jason and Jenny will think I’m an old dragon.”
“Never,” Jenny replied, her eyes wide. “We’ve seen the dragon. She’s scary.”
Michael entered the kitchen and set a bucket down on the table. “Fiona’s not that bad.”
“Bucket off the table, please,” Ruth told her new husband in her best schoolteacher voice. “Or I’ll turn into a fire-breathing dragon myself.”
Michael lifted the bucket and set it down on the floor. “Who wants to come and help me feed the deer?” That got everyone’s attention. Jenny and Jason immediately left their seats.
“Are these the secret treats?” Jason asked, kneeling beside the bucket, which Michael had covered over with an old feed sack.
“They might be,” Michael replied, winking at his wife, who smothered a smile.
“Are you ever going to tell us what the secret recipe is?” Jenny asked hopefully. She’d fallen in love with the deer that visited the forest and had given them all names.
“Why aren’t you keeping it a secret?” Ruth asked theatrically.
“I am,” Michael told her. “But it’s a family secret.”
“Not fair,” Jenny replied. Michael chuckled and winked at Ruth.
Frankie looked up, as she slid the peas out of a plump juicy pod. “What’s going on?”
Ruth’s eyes went wide. “Nothing.”
“Oh, come on, you two should never consider a career in acting, you’re such hams.” Frankie then asked enthusiastically, “Do I get to know the secret recipe?”
“Yes, since you are family.” Michael looked down at Jason and Jenny.
“So, you’re going to tell Frankie, but not us?” Jason asked bluntly.
“No, I’m going to tell you as well.” Michael nodded at Ruth.
“But we aren’t family. Not yet,” Jenny answered. The adoption process had been tough on the two children, stretching on for months. Their excitement and enthusiasm had slowly been eroded, leaving them impatient to start their new lives.
“Aren’t you?” Ruth asked, sliding a piece of paper onto the table.
“You’re kidding?” Frankie’s face lit up as the news hit her. “I’m an aunty!”
“You mean…” Jason looked stunned, and Jenny threaded her fingers through his, needing his presence to give her strength.
“Really?” Jenny’s sweet voice asked before a sob erupted from her small body. “We get to stay here. With you?”
Ruth’s eyes filled with tears, tears filled with happiness for the two lost souls before her. They were anchored in her heart, just as Michael was. The four of them belonged together. The journey might have been filled with sadness and loss, but the four of them, together, could put that all behind them.
“Want to see your rooms?” Michael asked.
“Now?” Jason replied eagerly.
“Dean and Elizabeth brought all your stuff over this afternoon. They thought you might like to sleep over tonight. Tomorrow, we could go into Bear Creek and buy them a thank you gift.” Ruth put the peas from her pod into the bowl on the table. “Want to go see?”
“Yes.” Jenny nodded, her eyes wide, her hand still clutching Jason’s.
“Is this for real?” Jason asked, and Ruth’s heart ached for the young boy. He might believe in fairies now, but he wasn’t ready to believe things could work out for him and Jenny.
“It’s for real.” Ruth picked up the piece of paper and passed it to him.
Jason took it and stared at the words on the page for a couple of minutes. Then, slowly, a smile spread across his face. “Can we call you Mom and Dad?”
Ruth glanced up at Michael, his eyes were misted with tears. “We’d like that.”
She’d been a mother to her siblings, but she’d always been Ruth, their sister. With Jason and Jenny, she truly was a mother.
“Shall we go and see your rooms?” Michael asked, his voice hoarse with unashamed emot
ion.
“No.” Jason shook his head. “Not until we know the family secret.”
Michael laughed, a deep belly laugh, that infected them all. “Well, since we are all family.” He lifted the bucket up and removed the cover. The children, and Frankie, all looked at the contents eagerly. “You can try some if you want?”
“What is it?” Frankie asked, her nose wrinkling up.
“Pecans and blueberries. The deer love them.” Michael looked around the room. “Just like I love all of you.”
Ruth went to her husband and wrapped her arms around him. “Lucky bear strikes again.”
“I need a name change,” Michael told her, his lips brushing against her cheek. “Call me happy bear.”
Ruth nodded. They were happy. In that moment. Which was all that mattered. One moment, one breath at a time, that was how she wanted to live her life. Especially since she planned to fill each of those moments, each of those breaths with love.
Fated Bear
Silverbacks and Second Chances
(Book Three)
Frankie’s heart isn’t her own. Literally. So how is she supposed to know if the man she’s met is her fated mate, or that of her borrowed heart? Can she trust in fate?
Adam always though his fated true mate was dead. He’d built a life on the knowledge that he would be alone forever. Frankie turns all his plans upside down. Yet both of them have inner ghosts. Ghosts from the past that might destroy their future together.
In a desperate attempt to uncover the truth, Frankie and Adam must unearth the secrets of who they really are, and who is in charge of their destiny.
There is fun, there is flirting, but tissues may be required. You have been warned!
Chapter One – Frankie
“Thanks for taking the children out for the afternoon.” Ruth hugged Frankie, in the way a mother hugs a child, and then stood back, assessing her younger sister. “You do feel up to taking Jason and Jenny out for the afternoon?”
“Yes, I do. You fuss like a mother hen,” Frankie replied good-naturedly and kissed Ruth on the cheek, finding comfort in her scent. Ruth was the mother she’d never known, the person who had sacrificed her youth to raise her half-brothers and half-sisters when their mother died and their dad abandoned them. “Enjoy some alone time with your new husband, while I take Jenny and Jason for afternoon tea at the hotel.”
“Do I have to drink tea?” Jason asked in disgust, making a face as if he were about to gag.
“Yes, you do,” Jenny told him firmly. “Or you can’t have cake.”
“That’s not true,” Jason’s voice wavered as if he wasn’t quite sure.
“Yes, it is. If you don’t drink tea, Jenny and I will have to eat all the cakes.” Frankie grinned at Jason. Tough on the outside, but soft on the inside, Jason had still not learned to let his guard completely down. His fierce need to care for his sister was the reason they had ended up in foster care. When their father, grief-stricken from the loss of his wife, left them to fend for themselves, Jason had been forced to steal food. Once their plight was discovered, Jenny and Jason had been fostered by a local couple, which led to Ruth and Michael meeting them.
The rest, as they say, was history. But Jason had not learned how to give up his own history. Not yet.
Remind you of anyone else, Frankie’s bear asked.
“I know you’re not that mean, Aunty Frankie,” Jason told Frankie, while glaring at Jenny over her betrayal. His sister giggled and flung her arms around him.
“Ahh, you know how to hit me right in the heart.” Frankie put her hand over her heart, her palm pressed against her breast comforted by the steady rhythmical beat.
“Are you okay, Frankie?” Ruth asked with her usual concern as Frankie froze in the moment.
“Yes.” Frankie smiled brightly, putting up her own facade. “Perfectly all right. Come on, kids!”
They left the large wooden cabin Ruth lived in with her husband and their two adopted children, Jenny and Jason. Nestled in a clearing, surrounded by three hundred acres of forest, with a mountain range looming up behind it, this was the ideal place to raise two children. The forest was also perfect for bear shifters, and Frankie visited as often as she could, which was almost every day since she’d moved into Ruth’s old house in Bear Creek. However, Frankie made sure she didn’t impose, or outstay her welcome. Ruth and her new family needed time to bond and establish their relationships—without Frankie cramping their style.
“Make sure your seatbelts are on,” Frankie instructed as she got in her little red car and started the engine. More suited to town than country, it bounced along the trail leading from the road to the cabin. Jenny and Jason found it hilarious, while Frankie worried about her suspension. The last thing she needed was a big bill from the garage. “Are you ready?”
“Yes!” Jenny shouted out excitedly.
Frankie looked at Jenny in the rearview mirror. With her hair in a ponytail, she wore her best dress, which Ruth had helped her choose for the party they held after the adoption went through. “You look very pretty, Jenny.”
“Thank you.” Jenny lifted her legs and examined the skirt of her dress, which was embroidered with small forget-me-nots.
“What about me?” Jason gave Frankie a wide cheesy smile.
“You look very pretty, too.” Frankie giggled as Jason made a choking sound. “What was that? No cakes for Jason?”
“Not that again.” Jason rolled his eyes.
“Well, I guess you have been a good boy. So maybe you can have one cake.” Frankie switched her attention back to the trail and navigated around the worst of the bumps, but the rocking motion of the car still made her queasy. It was like being in a small boat, rolling over waves in the ocean.
“Jason has been good,” Jenny confirmed, clutching the side of the car as they left the trail and turned onto the road. “He helped me with my homework.”
“He did? In that case, he can have two cakes.” Frankie drove along the back road that took them along the edge of the mountains. Skirting Bear Creek, it meandered through breathtaking scenery, toward Bear Bluff. The Catherine Hotel was situated about halfway between the two towns and stood in beautiful grounds. Frankie had visited there twice before with Ruth and Michael. The owner of the hotel, Julius, had been on duty and made sure they had the best of everything the hotel had to offer.
Frankie sighed. Her sister and Michael were well suited and very much in love. And although she was overjoyed for her half-sister, Frankie could not help experiencing a twinge of jealousy. Not that Ruth didn’t deserve every scrap of happiness. She had given up her life to look after Frankie and her siblings when their mom died and their shifter dad went AWOL.
If not for Ruth, the children would have ended up in foster care. Instead, they grew up knowing they were loved and cared for by their big sister.
“There it is.” Frankie turned off the road and drove around the busy hotel parking lot until she found a space. “I think news of the scrumptious afternoon tea served here must have gotten out.”
“Will we still be able to have tea?” Jenny asked in a voice that was used to being disappointed. Slowly, Ruth and Michael, with help from Frankie, were building up her confidence and self-esteem.
“Julius booked us a table,” Frankie reassured her. “And he told me that Adam will take care of us.”
“I like Adam,” Jason stated. “He will make sure I get lots of cake.”
“Is that right?” Frankie grinned. “I haven’t met Adam yet. Whenever I’ve visited the hotel he’s been off duty.”
“You’ll like him,” Jenny told Frankie. “Even if he does look a little sad.”
“Does he?” Frankie asked. “Do you know why?”
“No. I heard Mommy and Daddy talking and they said it was because he lost his mate.” Jenny sighed. “He has a broken heart. I wish I could mend it for him.”
Frankie smiled to herself at Jenny’s faraway voice. Her head was filled with princesses and fairy godm
others, who could mend broken hearts with a flick of their magic wand. “I still can’t get used to you calling my sister Mommy.”
“She is our mommy,” Jason said defiantly.
“Oh, I know, and I am so happy you couldn’t begin to believe it…” Frankie shook her head. “But she’s my sister. And I never thought she’d have kids.”
“And now she has two,” Jenny said proudly as she leaned over and hugged Jason. Most boys Jason’s age would shove their little sister away, but Jason tolerated his sister’s affection and often hugged her back—as long as no one was watching.
“Two wonderful children, who have an aunty who wants to spoil them. So, we’d better get inside and eat cake until we can’t eat anymore.” Frankie opened the car door and got out. The children followed, closing their doors, and then coming around to join her at the front of the car.
“I love the hotel, although I’d like a castle named after me,” Jenny said in a whimsical voice.
“Girls.” Jason rolled his eyes at Frankie, obviously forgetting his aunty was a girl, too.
“One day you’ll appreciate them,” Frankie told him. “But not today. Today we are going to appreciate cake!”
“Yesss.” Jason jumped in the air and ran to the door leading into the hotel lobby. He hauled it open, standing to one side as Frankie and Jenny walked inside.
“Thank you.” Frankie bowed her head at him theatrically, and Jason made a low bow in return.
“You are welcome.” He let the door go when they were inside and fell into step beside his sister, who was taking the whole afternoon very seriously.
They walked over to the reception desk where a young woman stood, smiling at them. “Welcome to The Catherine Hotel.”
“Hello…” Frankie searched for the receptionist's name badge. “Emily.”
Emily smiled and patted her name badge. “How can I help you?”
“We have a table booked for afternoon tea.” Frankie looked down at Jenny and Jason. “Three for tea.”
Silverbacks and Second Chances Page 24