I turned to ask her what the hell was wrong with her, but she slammed the door in my face and laughed wickedly. I pushed at it for a few seconds, but she was holding it firmly shut.
Sighing, I turned around and nearly screamed. Standing in front of me was Hutch, wearing a tux and holding a huge bouquet of roses. I put my hand over my heart and tried to calm the frantic thing.
“Wha… What are you doing?”
He smiled at me, a sheepish but genuine smile that, as big as the man was, reminded me somehow of a sweet little boy. “Fighting. I’m fighting for you, Veronica Maddox. I’m trying to win you over. Will you go on a date with me tonight? Please?”
I looked down at myself and cringed. I was wearing an old pair of once-black leggings that had been washed so many times they were grey, and a baggy, oversized and somewhat-wrinkled T-shirt. I didn’t have a stitch of makeup on and I’d clipped my hair back with bobby pins at some point in the day and had forgotten to take it down. I was a mess.
I halted my assault on my looks and frowned. “I told you I’m done, Hutch.” My looks didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to play games anymore.
“I’m not done. I’m never going to be done with you.”
I sighed. I felt so exhausted, and he didn’t get it. “I have no more fight left.”
“You don’t need it. Go on a date with me tonight. Let me fight for you. It’s my turn.”
I opened my mouth to argue but he held the flowers out to me. I took them and stared up at him. “Thank you. I… I don’t know if this is a good idea.”
He stepped forward and stroked his hand over my cheek. “Give me one more chance. That’s all I’m asking. One more. Give me a chance to show you that I will fight for you. I promise I’ll try my hardest not to fuck it up this time.”
When I started to shake my head, he caught my chin in his fingers and forced it up and down instead. I felt like crying. I wanted to run home and protect my heart from him. He was too dangerous.
“Say yes, V. I can’t live without you. Let me show you that.” He stared at me with so much desperation on his face that I caved.
“Just tonight.”
“If I can’t convince you to give me another go after tonight, I don’t deserve you.”
I grunted. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”
He gave me a look that was all dark intensity and it went straight to the granny panties I was wearing. Oh! I was wearing hideous underwear. I’d actually gone to the store to buy it, just so I wouldn’t have to be walking around in sexy lingerie while I was heartbroken. Suddenly, that seemed like a mistake, though. Not that Hutch would be seeing them, but still.
“I need to go change.”
He shook his head. “No. If I let you in your house, you’ll never come back out. We’re leaving from here.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I don’t appreciate being bossed around.”
His lips curled up and he raked his eyes down my body. “I’m sure that’s not always true.”
My cheeks flushed and I reached up to hastily take the bobby pins out of my hair. I finger combed my hair around my face and did anything else I could think of to distract from the telling heat in my cheeks.
“Come on. We’re taking a little trip.”
I watched him walk around me and huffed. “At least take off the jacket and bowtie, Hutch. I feel like your scruffy maid right now.”
He wagged his eyebrows. “You trying to get me naked already?”
I rolled my eyes and followed him out of the bar and into the parking lot. “Where is everyone? I’ve never seen the bar empty.”
He opened my door for me and looked down with a secretive smile. “Out, I guess. To be fair, though, you’d never seen the bar at all until a few weeks ago.”
I gasped as his big hands went around my rib cage and easily lifted me into the truck. His hands lingered and I bit my lip as I looked out at him. I was weak. I wanted him. I wanted him as much as I ever had before. More.
24
Hutch
My dick hardened as she licked her lips and leaned into me. I wanted to accept that invitation. She had no idea how hard I was fighting the urge to take her mouth in a punishing kiss. I’d missed her. Her scent was affecting me more than I’d even thought possible.
I’d spent too much time planning the night to just give in and take her in my truck like the horn dog that I felt like. I had to make this perfect for her. I wanted her to know how special she was.
I closed the door and heard the little growl she let out. Smiling as I walked around the truck, I couldn’t help but look back at her. She was stunning. In simple clothing and without makeup, she was the woman I’d first run into. Having her like that felt like a chance to start over. Like I could go back in time and do it all over. The right way. Because I knew, too late, that I’d done everything wrong.
She was scowling at me as she tucked her hair behind her ear and crossed her arms over her chest. I couldn’t tell if she was wearing a bra and it was driving me to distraction.
I climbed into the truck and her scent curled around me until I was tenting the pathetic material of my pants. I was so hard that it wouldn’t have surprised me if seams started ripping.
She stayed silent as I drove out of town and took the little side road that careened up one of the larger mountains around Burden. It wasn’t dark yet, so she’d be able to see the dangerous drop-offs on her side of the truck.
“This is the mountain my dad used to bring me to when we hung out together.” I took a hairpin turn going as slowly as possible to avoid scaring her and then continued up. “Sterling was more of a Momma’s boy. He didn’t like coming, so it’d just be me and Dad. There’s a spot to park at the very top and it looks out over everything around. We’d sit up here and he’d talk to me about what it means to be a man.”
She turned to face me and nibbled her lower lip.
“He was a great man, my dad. He always did the right thing. No matter what. He found his mate young, married her, had two sons right away, and worked his ass off for his family. I don’t remember him ever being angry or raising his voice. I don’t think he ever drank more than one beer at a time. Always had a smile on his face.”
“What happened to him?”
My chest tightened the way it always did when I thought of Dad. “He had a massive heart attack when I was fourteen. I found him, sitting behind the wheel of his truck, just slumped over. The doctors said he went quick.”
The sadness on her pretty face was genuine and I felt bad for causing it.
“You were so young. What happened to your family after that?”
I kicked the truck into four-wheel drive and powered through a few deep ruts in the road. “The bills piled up. Mom hadn’t worked while they were married. Dad made enough for them to get by on comfortably and he liked that she was home when he got off work. He said it made him happy. The funeral was expensive and we owed on that. Finances dwindled fast. Sterling was a boy still.”
She grinned. “So were you.”
I shook my head. “All those talks with Dad had taught me something. Once he died, I became the man of the house. I convinced a guy in town to let me work for him even though I was underage at fourteen. I quit school and I worked my ass off to make sure Mom and Sterling were taken care of and were okay.”
“You dropped out of school? You supported your family at fourteen? Hutch, you were just a boy.”
There. Now she knew I wasn’t very educated. “I had to make a living. I worked constantly. I saved enough that when the owner of the shop wanted to retire, we worked out a deal and I bought it from him. Now, I still work constantly. What happened to our family when Dad died… I can’t imagine letting Mom and Sterling go through that again. I want them to be taken care of if anything happens to me. And, now you.”
Her mouth fell open and her cheeks burned. “Nothing is going to happen to you.”
I shrugged. “I’m just saying.”
&nbs
p; “Well, don’t.”
Finally at the top of the mountain, I backed the truck up to the viewpoint and got out. Walking around to open her door, I found her already standing beside the truck when I got over to her.
I sighed. “This is a date. I’m supposed to open your door and shit.”
She laughed, the first sweet laugh I’d heard from her, and it melted everything in me. That real glimpse of the woman inside took my breath away. I cupped her face in my hands and pressed my lips to hers.
It was a first kiss. No games, no anger, no fighting. Genuine. Just the two of us, man and woman, experiencing something for the first time.
I pulled away before it went deeper and stroked her lips with my thumb. “You’re beautiful. I’ve thought so since the first moment I saw you. I want you to know that.”
She turned away from me and looked around us. The view was stunning. The town sat below us and, farther, Big Bend National Park. When the sun went down, it would be even prettier. The stars would shine bright enough that it would feel like you could just reach up and touch them.
“This is so pretty. I never knew this place existed.”
I came up behind her and whispered in her ear. “That’s because it’s a shifter secret.”
She shivered and spun into me. Her hands went to my chest and she lightly dug her nails in before pushing me away. “Well, now it’s ruined. I’m no shifter. In case you missed it.”
I grinned and slid my hand over her back as I moved past her to lower the tailgate. I slid my arms out of my jacket and slipped it around her shoulders. “Hold that for me, would you?”
I grabbed a couple of blankets and a couple of pillows from the backseat and carried them to the bed of the truck. I made a makeshift bed and then pulled a picnic basket out.
“I didn’t know what you liked, which is my own damned fault, but I made a few different things.”
“You cook?”
I hesitated. “Well… I bought a few different things.”
She laughed and sat cross-legged at the edge of the tailgate, facing me. “What did you buy?”
I opened the basket and pulled everything out. “Fried chicken, with all the fixings. Pizza. Sub sandwiches. Chips and dip. I also packed beer and some wine. I don’t know anything about wine, though. I just grabbed the first bottle I saw.”
She held it up and bit back a grin. Her eyes sparkled as she met mine. “This is cooking wine, Hutch.”
“No good? Well, I got sweet tea and water, too.”
She grabbed a slice of pizza and took a huge bite. I watched her mouth move as she chewed and heard the little moan of pleasure she released. “I’m starving. I haven’t had much of an appetite lately…”
Because of me. Her head jerked up and I knew she hadn’t meant to say that to me. She swallowed her bite of food and then frowned. “I’m sorry. You did all of this and I’m not going to throw anything in your face. Tonight is a freebie. No bad blood from the past shall be brought up.”
I smiled at her, grateful for what she was giving me. “How is it?”
She smiled back at me. “Is pizza ever not good?”
25
Veronica
The sun set with us eating and talking. Since this date had started, my heart had stumbled over itself practically nonstop, eager to leap across the truck and find its home with him. My brain, however, was still wary.
The man sitting in front of me was as much a stranger as he was my mate. He was so different from the hard-bitten, Harley-riding, bad boy I’d always thought Hutch was. He was a man who had been supporting his mother and brother since he was a boy. Sure, he was a scary looking, giant of man, but inside he was warm and good and leaned in when I talked. He laughed when I joked and grew angry when I told him horror stories from my childhood about my family forgetting me places.
It was too easy to be with him as the stars and moon came out. He put our leftovers away and then suggested we lay back and watch the stars. I sighed happily as he pulled me into his side and curled his arm around me. We pointed out the constellations we knew and I felt my heart winning over my head.
“I didn’t know it would be like this, V. I’m sorry. I’ve been working constantly for so long, I thought dating was the only way I’d have any fun. I was so stupid. I got scared and thought being mated would just mean more responsibility piled on me and I didn’t know if I could live up to that. Shit, to be honest, I had images of us sitting around, reading. I’m not a reader, V. I just…made a lot of assumptions that were wrong.
“I fucked up. I’m so sorry I hurt you and I deserved you walking away from me. If what I was feeling was anything like the way you’ve felt for the past year, then I have a hell of a lot more making up to you to do. I hope you let me. I want this. I want you. I want to prove to you that I want you. Like this, or all sexed up in some tiny dress. I wanted you the first day I saw you. I’ll want you forever.”
Staring at the big dipper, I swallowed a wave of raw emotion lodged in my throat. I blinked back tears and shuddered as his hand held me tighter.
“You don’t have to say anything yet. The night’s not over.”
My heart raced as I thought about what he was saying. “You don’t feel like that anymore? You don’t think being with me would be too serious and your life would be miserable?”
He turned his head to look at me and shook his head. “No. Life with you would be a lot of fun. Sexy, wild, hilarious, and always exciting. Mating with you would be a constant surprise.”
“You want me to be your mate?”
He swallowed and licked his lips. “I’m afraid if I told you how much I wanted that, you’d run screaming.”
I looked back to the big dipper and took a deep breath. “I should hate you. I should want to make you suffer. That’s not me, though. I don’t want any more suffering. I want you.”
He reached over and cupped my cheek before turning my face to his. “You want me?”
Granny panties be damned, I wanted the man. I rolled over on top of him and stared down at him. “If you change your mind, I’ll kill you.”
His hands immediately cupped my bottom, but he moved them right away. “Sorry, got too excited, and, V, there is no changing my mind about this.”
I sat up and yanked my shirt over my head. Braless, I felt sexy and free under his gaze, under the moon. “Put your hands back. I want you now, Hutch.”
He looked up at me with a hungry stare. “The date isn’t over, V.”
I rocked my hips against him and raked my nails across his chest. “Fine. We can do the rest after. I need you right now. I want to feel you.”
He growled and rolled us. “I need you, too. I’ve missed you. I don’t want to fight with you anymore. Just for you, baby.”
I worked at his buttons while he tried to push my leggings down. After the first button flew off, I just ripped it open. At his shocked look, I shrugged. “I can sew them back on.”
He ripped my leggings and tossed them aside. “I can’t sew those back together.”
I tried to kick my granny panties down to keep him from seeing them, but he grasped my hips and held them still. “Stop looking at those, Hutch. I bought mourning panties.”
He moved down my body and pressed his mouth against my core through them, leaving a wet spot. “You look hot in them. But, fuck, I’m going to rip them off, too.”
Before I could protest, he did just that and then put his mouth back on me. With long, rolling strokes, he brought me to the edge of an orgasm right away. I scraped my nails over his scalp and chanted his name. My neck and head arched, the stars floated around my vision as Hutch calmed me down with less focused strokes and then took me to the edge again. He did it again and again until I screamed his name in frustration.
“Hutch! Please!”
He looked up at me and winked before moving to just the right spot and flicking his tongue. He pushed his fingers into me and curled them.
It was all I could handle. I came with a loud cry
and clenched my thighs tight around his head.
He kicked off his pants and grinned up at me. As he moved up my body, he trailed kisses over my sensitive skin and groaned when I reached down and took him into my hand. “Careful.”
I stroked him and gave a growl of my own as he nipped the underside of my breast. “You be careful.”
He rolled over and took me with him, looking up at me with so much hunger I was startled into stillness for a few seconds. “Well?”
I laughed and leaned down to kiss him before trailing kisses down his chin and jaw. I spent a little while kissing his neck and shoulders, finding the spots that made him groan the most, before moving down to his nipples. I flicked my tongue over them and grinned as his hands tightened in my hair.
My mouth watered as I moved even lower and trailed my lips lightly over the length of his shaft. With his moans and hands urging me on, I took as much of him as I could into my mouth.
Before I even finished one stroke, Hutch pulled me off of him and up higher on his body. “I need to be in you. More of that later.”
I gasped as he pulled me down on him. He filled me and stretched me until I dropped my head back and moaned loud and long. Feeling every inch and ridge of him, I rolled my hips and then fell forward, into his chest, when the feeling was too much.
He grabbed my hips and lifted me before dropping me back down on him. His lips pressed to the side of my head as he used my body. “So fucking good.”
We moved like that until I felt my orgasm building again. I lifted my head and moaned his name. “I’m so close.”
He grunted and dug his fingers into my skin. “I want to mark you. I want to claim you.”
My body reacted instantly. My walls tried to milk him as I came violently against him. I jerked my head to the side and exposed my neck to him. “Now. Do it now!”
Hutch growled and sank his teeth into my neck, sending white hot pleasure coursing through me. I screamed as my orgasm continued on and on. Hutch came in me with his teeth still in my neck. His arms banded around me, holding me to his chest until we both went limp.
Bears of Burden Complete Series Box Set Page 29