by T. S. Joyce
He bit her bottom lip hard enough to burn as he pressed his finger in deeper and faster.
“I’m gonna—”
“Come for me, baby,” Boone murmured against her ear.
Her body exploded around him, pulsing with blinding pleasure as she bowed against him and cried out. She raked her nails across his back as he pressed into her again and again, drawing out her aftershocks.
“That’s two times now, Trouble. Two orgasms from a man.”
Cora rubbed her cheek against his as he stroked her slowly, pulling every last pleasurable throbbing sensation from her satiated body. “You keeping score, Boone?”
“Hell yeah, I am. We’re just getting started, you and me.”
“Really?” Hope bloomed in her chest as the first tingle of pressure began to build in her middle again.
“You ever had someone fuck you like a werebear?” Boone laughed as he ducked her swat.
“Boone Leland Keller, you would bring up Nasty Eddie right now, wouldn’t you? I think my vagina is drying up.”
“It’s not,” Boone said, nibbling her lip as he slid his finger inside of her again with a slick sound.
“Well, keep talking about my ex, and it’ll shrivel up and blow away. Just dust in the wind. And besides, I can’t imagine that being fun for the girl. Eddie’s side-chick sounded like she was faking it.”
Boone’s lips dipped to her neck, and he trailed down to her collar bone with biting, sucking kisses. When she looked down, he had himself in hand, stroking. A drop of moisture sat at the tip, and she lowered herself and sat on the mossy trunk. His finger slid from her, but that was okay. She wanted to make him feel good now. She kissed the salty drop from his erection and teased the swollen head of his cock with her tongue.
Boone groaned and jerked his hips forward.
“So sensitive,” she whispered. She gripped him at the base and applied pressure.
Boone inhaled sharply as she slid him into her mouth. His hips and legs flexed as if he couldn’t help himself.
Cora pulled his hands behind her head and eased off him. “Tell me what you like, but be gentle about it, yeah?”
Boone’s nostrils flared as he nodded his head sharply. She smiled at the fact his eyes had gone that gold-green color and he looked completely feral right now. She’d done that to him, pushed him to the edge of his control.
His finger entwined with her hair, and he pushed her slowly over him. “Touch yourself,” he rasped out.
With a wicked little smile for him, she spread her knees wider and slid her hand under the elastic of her panties, then rocked her hips as she pressed her finger inside of herself.
Boone’s breath came in short pants now, and when she looked up, his pupils had dilated to pinpoints, his focus between her legs.
His grip tightened in her hair as she set a faster pace on him, to match what felt good as she took care of herself.
“Fuck, Cora,” he growled out as his hips jerked faster.
His body tensed, matching how her insides felt. Arms tight, breath rushed, his eyes intent on where she was pushing into herself.
Pressure, God, the pressure between her legs.
“Stop, or I’m going to come in your mouth,” Boone gritted out.
Pulling her mouth off him, she gasped out his name, then leaned back on a locked arm and plunged her finger into herself again.
“Not without me, Trouble,” he said, pulling her up. Boone spun her and yanked her jeans down. Bending her forward, he gripped her hips with one hand, and used the other to guide his dick into her from behind. She was ready for it, wet and stretched out, so desperate to feel him inside of her that the tightness she should’ve felt wasn’t there.
Locking her arms against the stump, she arched back to give him a better angle, and he pushed into her again. Boone trailed gentle bites up her spine, then slammed into her again. She gasped, rocked by how good he felt like this.
“Harder,” she begged.
Boone growled and thrust into her with more force. Desperate to feel him, she reached back and cupped her sex where he was sliding in and out of her. Her swollen clit was so sensitive, all it took was a touch from her fingertip and her nerve endings went crazy.
“Oh!” she cried, arching, arching, inviting him to drive into her as hard as he liked.
Boone snarled and grasped her hips in a bruising grip, pulling her back against him with every thrust. The growl turned feral as he rammed into her and froze. Pulsing jets of warmth encouraged her own explosive orgasm, and she closed her eyes against the pleasure driving through her body.
He swelled and released another hot stream into her, and she pressed back, and back farther, wanting all of him. How could anything feel this good? This right?
A deep shudder took her, shaking her shoulders as Boone strained into her again. When he pulled slowly out of her, she fought the cold that took the place of where his body had touched hers.
She was boneless, completely unable to walk or engage in any kind of competent conversation. She wanted to tell him how much she’d enjoyed that, and how much she liked being with him, but couldn’t form a single word. All she could do was close her eyes and savor each deep aftershock.
Boone settled a blanket he’d tied to the backpack over the pine-needle forest floor and scooped her up, as if he knew how useless she was right now. Gently, he laid her down and pulled his jacket over them as he spooned her.
“You trusted me,” he murmured against her ear.
Cora shivered at the delicious sensation of his mouth brushing her earlobe. She smiled at the gold shapes the sunlight made across the wilderness floor and snuggled back against him, reveling in the feel of his warm chest against the planes of her back. “Oh, I know you can be a dangerous man, Boone, but you’d never hurt me.”
She’d spoken the words loud and clear, so he could hear how much she believed them.
His lips pressed against the back of her neck, and he smiled against the skin there. “Truth.”
Chapter Eleven
“You’re stalling,” Cora accused through an unapologetic grin as she pulled her sweater over her head and straightened the hem around her hips.
“I’m not stalling, woman. I’m trying to help pack all this up so you won’t have to do it.” Boone clipped the rolled up blanket to his backpack and handed it to her.
“Aw, you’re such a gentlebear,” she said, scrunching up her nose at how cute he was.
Boone chuckled and stuffed his folded clothes into the front zipper. “You won’t say that when you feel how heavy this is. I didn’t think about you having to carry it after I Change.” He frowned at the blue nylon material. “I think I packed too much food.”
“Please,” she grumbled, flexing her arm and smacking it with a kiss. “I got this.”
“That’s my girl.”
That warm, glowing feeling threaded through her veins again, and she pulled her shoulders up to her ears in an attempt to hold another awww back. “I like being your girl.”
Boone kissed her on the nose and sidled around to her back where he slid the straps of the pack over her shoulders.
Turning to face him, she fiddled with the camera and said, “Come on you sexy, furry bear. I want to pet you.”
“Cora,” Boone growled out as he hooked his hands on his hips. “I’m not a dog.”
Focused on his long dick that swung with every movement of his legs, she murmured, “I can’t hold a conversation when you have your trouser snake out like that.”
“Trouser snake?” His lips turned up in that sexy, crooked smile she breathed for.
“Yogurt slinger.”
“Cora, stop it.” His grin grew brighter, though, and she didn’t need that much encouragement to play this game.
Okay, now she was getting a case of the giggles. “Taco Tickler.”
“All right, I’m Changing.”
“Womb Raider.”
“Jesus,” he muttered through a laugh just before he hunched
inward. His bear blasted from him in the span of a heartbeat.
The ground shook beneath her feet as Boone fell forward onto all four paws. His fur was a lot lighter than she remembered his brothers’ being. It was so light it almost matched his blond hair in his human form.
“I always wanted a pet,” she said in a higher pitch than she’d intended. She knew it was Boone—knew it—but that didn’t stop her heart from drumming against her breastbone faster with every step he took toward her. Boone was massive. A thick muscled neck delved down to powerful legs and four inch claws that raked the earth with every movement. His eyes were that strange gold color, making him look even more inhuman, and when he opened his mouth to let off a soft grunt, his teeth were long and white and sharp as razors.
“Holy meatballs, okay.” Cora froze and closed her eyes. “Don’t hurt me. I didn’t mean to call you a pet.”
Boone bumped her backward with his oversize block head, and she grabbed the scruff of his neck instinctively to save herself from falling and blasting her tailbone through her throat. His fur wasn’t as soft as she’d imagined, but instead was course and thick. “Oooh,” she exhaled on a shaky breath. “Good werebear.”
Boone snuffled his nose against her belly, tickling her, and she squirmed and laughed, expelling some of the nervousness. His ears angled back, as if he heard something, but then his eyes relaxed as he eased back and took her in.
He sat down and waited—for what, she hadn’t a guess. Slowly, she approached, hand extended. “Please don’t bite me.”
Boone made a huffing noise in his throat.
“Are you laughing at me?”
He nodded slowly, ears forward.
Steeling her reserve, she brushed her fingertips down his chest. The fur was much softer there, so she stepped closer and ran her palm down his belly.
“Boone, Boone, you hung the moon,” she sang softly. “Is it strange that I like your bear side, too?”
He canted his giant head and shook it once, forcefully.
“Good. Now take me someplace beautiful. Someplace only you could find.”
Boone swayed under her touch, then stood and strode a few paces in front. Hesitating, he looked over his shoulder, as if waiting for her.
She smiled and adjusted the viewing screen on the camera. Her hiking boots made muffled sounds as she padded through the dried pine needles to his side. Resting her hand on the giant hump between his shoulders, she walked beside him in silence, listening to the cicadas and late season birds who weren’t scared off by the threat of a Colorado winter quite yet.
The hike was breathtaking, pure evergreen wilderness. She’d been excited to take the job here years ago when she’d been offered it, just to get to live in a place so beautiful. But the woods around town couldn’t touch the forest here. Here, she saw things no other hiker would ever see. A willow near a creek of running water, completely private when she followed Boone into the shadows under its arching branches. A cave in a small cliff that wasn’t too deep to explore entirely. Perhaps this was Boone’s chosen shelter when he was in this form. But it was the scenery at the end of the trail that stole her breath away completely.
She saw it first through the screen on the video camera, thinking they were still a ways off, but when Boone stopped and looked over his massive shoulder at her, she heard it then—running water.
Mountain water tumbled down a stony cliff and created a giant cloud of mist where it hit the stream below. A beautiful waterfall, and one she would’ve never known existed. She stepped out of the shadow of an ancient pine tree and onto a pebbly river bank, the rocks crunching under her shoes. It would freeze soon in the winter months, but for now, it was stunning.
“Oh, Boone,” she whispered reverently, afraid to disturb the magic of the place. “It’s perfect. Can we eat here, on the bank?”
Boone rubbed his head down her side roughly, knocking her forward and extracting a trill of giggles from her. “Stop it, you oaf. You’ll knock me into the cold river.”
Hooking a powerful arm around her, Boone pulled her in against his chest and made a contented sound deep in his throat.
“Are you asking if I like your place? It’s incredible, Boone. Change back so I can properly hug you. Your paws have too many weapons.” Already he’d snagged a rip in her jacket.
With a grunt that sounded painful, he shrank back into his human form. His skin was pale and his flesh covered with goosebumps.
“Oh! Here,” she said, pulling out his clothes from the backpack as quickly as she could manage.
“Thanks,” he said in a hoarse voice.
“Are you okay?” she asked, helping tug his shirt over his head. He was tall and his muscles were twitching in waves, making her efforts clumsy at best. “That looked like it hurt a lot worse than Changing into the bear.
“Nah, I’m okay. It gets harder if I shift a lot. I just need a few minutes.”
Worried, Cora rushed to lay the blanket beside the towering pine as he dressed the rest of the way. Three shifts in the last two days, and a car wreck on top of it…no wonder he was sore this time around.
Boone sat heavily, leaned against the tree bark, not bothering with shoes.
“Will food make it better?” she asked, unsure what to do.
“Yeah, but first, can you come here?”
Cora crawled over the blanket and sat in the space he’d made between his legs. Exhaling a deep sigh, Boone gathered her into his arms and pulled her tight and safe against his chest. His chin rested on her hair, and she relaxed against his warmth, watching the waterfall.
“Is this your place?” she whispered.
“My brothers and Ma and I all divvied up a large plot of land, and when we went to choose where we would put our houses, this place called to my animal. It’s why I chose this part of the property. I come here when I need out of my head.”
Cora pointed with the toe of her boot to something bright and red near the tree line. “Is that yours?”
“The kayak? Yeah. I’m going to take you when it warms up. The water is too cold right now, but this river has some badass scenic views.”
“Now I can’t wait for spring.”
His deep chuckle reverberated through his chest and against her cheek. “You know, you are the most affectionate female I’ve ever met.”
She stopped stroking his hand and looked up at him. “Does that bother you?”
“No,” he answered, looking a little surprised. “With anyone else, it would make me uncomfortable, but you settle my bear. I like it when you touch me.”
“What about public displays of affection? Would that bother you?”
“Like what?”
“Like holding hands when we are in town, or kissing at a street corner as we wait for a light to tell us to walk? You know, mushy stuff in front of strangers.”
Boone inhaled a deep breath as his eyes tightened. “It’s your public image I’d worry about then. You have a job in television. I’m pretty sure cozying up with a bear shifter would hurt people’s perception of you.”
“People would get over it, especially the longer bear shifters are out in the open. Someday, you’ll be able to Change and walk down Main Street, and nobody will even bat an eye.”
“What if that kind of acceptance doesn’t come for a long time?” His eyes were serious and clear blue as he stroked her hair away from her face.
Cora sighed and rolled her head until she could see the waterfall he’d shared with her again. “Doesn’t matter how long it takes, Boone. I’m not going anywhere.”
Chapter Twelve
Cora knocked softly on the production manager’s office door. “Hey Mark, do you have a second?”
“Of course. I wanted to talk to you, anyway. Sit down.” He rubbed his balding, shiny dome and gestured to the plush chair in front of his desk. Leaning his elbows on the desk, he clasped his hands in front of his mouth. “What’s going on with you?”
“I’m sorry?”
“I mean, wh
at was with you verbally sparring with Deanna tonight.” He pushed a button on the black remote on his desk and began to play a clip of tonight’s news, as if he’d had it queued up on the off-chance she stopped by his office.
She, Deanna, and Brandon were reporting on the fire in Fairplay that had taken a man’s life. It was the part where they were wrapping up the segment and were allowed to converse openly. Sometimes there was a little debate during this time, but mostly they just cracked jokes they thought would appeal to the audience. Brandon, especially, was known for his one-line zingers. But tonight, Deanna had swung her gaze right to Cora and said, “It’s surprising that the bear shifters aren’t better at their job, what with their extra abilities and all. It’s a shame the man who died was a victim of slow reaction time.”
On the tape, Cora sat straight up, as if someone shocked her with the end of a live wire. “Well, Deanna, bear shifters are people, too, and extra strength or not, they aren’t magicians. I’m sure every loss is very difficult for them, just as it would be to any other firefighter.”
Deanna’s eyebrows winged up nearly to her hairline, and she looked straight at the camera. “There you have it folks,” she snapped. “Our hearts go out to the family of Mr. Campbell who lost his life yesterday. Have a good night.”
Mark clicked the television off. “People don’t like to watch news so they can feel uncomfortable.”
“No, people watch the news for current events and for honest reporting. Deanna was baiting me with the bear shifter bullshit. I talked to Boone Keller, and he was cut up about the man who died. He was there, trying to save him. Deanna is a judgmental twat who let her mouth run away with her opinion. If I get a lecture, she should be getting a slap on the wrist, too.”
“And she will, but as it stands, we’ve been fielding disgruntled phone calls since we went off the air. We aren’t a big station, Cora. If our audience leaves, we can easily be replaced by a bigger station. Hell, Denver even talks about extending this far out now. You’re a fantastic reporter, and you continue to increase our audience, but you’re also a bit of a loose cannon about the shifters. You’ve gone off script a few times now, and I’ve let it slide just to see where you took it. You are fantastic at finding human interest pieces, but the bear shifters are controversial, and if it looks like we’re taking a side, our viewership goes down, and we can’t afford that right now. Just keep it professional out there, okay?”