I gasped as I looked down at my body, sporting the granny panties I’d worn in an attempt to keep myself away from Sterling. I’d forgotten about them. The matching white bra was just as embarrassing and they were both stained dirty from the mud and rain. My bear was chanting for me to get on with it. She wanted me to turn around and jump Sterling’s bone. I was a little more reserved, though. While I wanted it, seeing my giant underwear on display like that was mortifying. I’d just gone from feeling sexy to feeling frumpy in seconds flat.
I pulled away from him and held the sides of my torn dress closed. “I changed my mind. Let’s do this some other time. Raincheck.”
His eyes burned bright through the rain. “Is it the underwear?”
Angry that I had just flashed him the awful panties, I put my hands on my hips and glared. “What’s wrong with my underwear, Sterling?”
He grinned, slow and steady. “You’re still wearing them?”
I wanted to stay angry, but I couldn’t. My bear was shouting too loudly for me to drop the ego and jump on him. I still kept my dress pulled together, though. “These were supposed to keep me away from you. These were underwear with a purpose, dammit.”
“They can have a new purpose. If anyone attacks, we can wave them in surrender. Just get over here.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You’re saying they’re flag sized?”
“Jesus, woman! I don’t know what size they are. You won’t let me see them for long enough. You want to fight, or you want to come over here and get some lovin’?”
I thought about it. I kind of wanted to do both. I was feeling feisty.
Sterling shook his head and came at me. He wrapped his arms around me and yanked me into his chest. Before I could argue, he slammed his mouth onto mine and kissed me quiet.
For a first kiss, it was rough and demanding. There was nothing sweet and tender about it, but it was perfect for us. His hands tangled in my hair, tugging as he tilted my head back to deepen the kiss. I wrapped my arms around his waist, feeling the muscles in his back work as he walked up backwards. His tongue stroked over my lips and I opened for him, tasting the rain and something that was purely Sterling.
A moan escaped and he swallowed it while exploring my mouth. As my back hit something hard, his hand stroked from my neck, down to my hips. I felt his fingers slip into the side band of the panties and yank. The material bit into my other hip and inner thigh before snapping and flying off. I tried to pull away to complain, but he followed my mouth, not letting me get away, consuming all of my complaints.
Bare from the waist down, I squeezed my thighs together, trying to ease the tension that was building faster than I could believe. I wanted to touch him as much as he was touching me and it was all I could do to not beg him to just take me right there. I stroked my hands under his shirt, the wet material clinging to him. Moving lower, I slipped my hand into his jeans and cupped his firm ass. His hips bucked forward, rubbing his erection against my lower stomach. Hunger pulsed through me and I wrapped my leg around his, needing him to brush against my core.
His hand locked onto the front of my bra and I felt something sharp brush my chest before the bra fell away, exposing my breasts to his gaze. I looked down to see his hand returning to fingers instead of claws.
I gaped at him. “You can do that?”
He ignored me while drinking in the sight of my chest. He cupped me and groaned when my breasts filled his hands. “Fuck. Your body is a dream, Ophelia.”
My head flew back and a cry left my throat as he dropped his mouth and sucked in one of my hardened and sensitive nipples. I dug my fingers into his ass and pulled him into me harder.
His mouth switched to my other nipple and he devoured me, tugging and pulling with his teeth before soothing with his tongue. His hands pushed my shredded dress off my shoulders and went to my ass. He easily lifted me and then pinned me against the stone behind us. Rain pelted us, but neither of us noticed it as we focused on the sensations of each other.
I wrapped my legs around his waist and tugged on his hair. “Need you.”
His hand slipped below my ass and his fingertips brushed over the folds of my core. He growled as I gasped his name and then slid a long, thick finger into me. “So wet and tight for me.”
I was a woman lost. My body belonged to him and there was no hope of me ever getting it back in one piece. With one finger, he was more skilled than any man I’d ever had before. I clenched around him and found his mouth with mine. Kissing him hard, I felt him add another finger. He scissored them in me, stretching me.
Sterling kissed down my chin and throat before nuzzling his mouth against my neck, igniting a fire in my body. Wetness pooled around his fingers and he eased in a third one before curling them and rubbing an untouched spot inside of me.
Stars flashed in front of my eyes as my mouth fell open in a silent cry. I dropped my head to the wall behind me and blinked away raindrops that fell against my face. Pleasure surged through me as he moved his fingers, pumping in and out of me at a maddeningly slow pace, like he didn’t have a care in the world, like I wasn’t on the verge of dying from the pleasure he was giving me.
“Tell me you want me to take you right here, O. Tell me what you want and how you want it. I want to hear it from your sexy mouth.”
I lifted my head and opened my eyes to find him gazing at me with so much intensity that I couldn’t do anything but give him what he’d asked for. “I want you right here, right now, Sterling. I need you. I need you fast and hard and naked. Why are you still dressed?”
He pulled his fingers from me and pushed my legs down until I was standing. Then, he stripped the wet clothes off faster than I would’ve thought possible.
Gloriously naked, looking like some mythical sex god, he strode to me and grabbed my hair again. This time, when he kissed me, it was a promise that I felt all the way to my toes. He was just getting started with me.
I didn’t know if there was ever any going back.
9
Sterling
Seeing her standing in front of me, naked, against the backdrop of my cave, hit me like a ton of bricks. Mine. Ophelia was mine. Why hadn’t I been trying harder to make her see that? I just needed to show her what she meant to me. Starting with giving her orgasms enough to send her soaring to the moon. I wanted to make her come harder than she ever had before.
My bear hated the thought of men touching her before us and wanted to brand her, erasing every memory she had of anyone before me. He demanded that I sink my teeth into her neck and mark her. I agreed, but wouldn’t dare do it without her permission.
She wasn’t ready for that, I was willing to bet. So, I’d keep my teeth to myself. For tonight, anyway.
I picked her up again and, that time, when her legs locked around my waist, it was with my dick trapped against her hot core. Her moan was pure seduction and immediately set me teetering on the edge of losing all restraint. I wanted to take my time and be gentle with her, but if she kept moaning like that, there was no telling if I’d be able to maintain control.
“In me. I need you in me, Sterling. Please.”
That was it. My control snapped. I shifted my hips to line our bodies up. Her head fell backwards and her nails raked down my back as I plunged into her, entering her in one fast stroke. Her body gripped me like a glove. I clenched my jaw and braced one arm on the wall behind her to try to find some semblance of stability while the rest of the world fell away around us.
“Sterling! Yes, please!” Her broken voice cried out to me as her walls pulsed around me, squeezing and releasing, milking me until the pleasure damn near had my eyes crossing.
I somehow managed to slide out of her and then pushed back in. Lust dictated the pace and it was fast and hard. I wrapped my arm around her back to keep from hurting her against the rough wall behind her and took her mouth in a kiss that was just as hard and fast.
Her hands were all over me, raking and scratching. Her mouth, as sweet as the rest o
f her, gave as good as she got. She fought me for control of our kiss and let out a wild cry when I lightly bit her bottom lip. “Too good!”
I buried my face against her neck and growled as her scent beckoned me. I wanted to claim her and mark her as my own. I needed it. Taking her flesh between my teeth, I bit, not hard enough to mark her, but enough to let her know what I wanted. Like a switch, she exposed the entire length of her smooth neck to me. Raking my teeth along it, I stopped at the spot my bear chose and sucked hard on it.
Ophelia screamed my name and her body clamped down on my dick as her orgasm hit her. She practically vibrated against me, her wetness flooded out of her.
I was wasted. There was no way I could watch my woman come and not follow her right over the edge. I growled and let out a roar as I slammed home in her once more before spilling everything I had into her.
My knees shook as I tightened my hold on her and carried her back into the cave. Both of us, naked and wet, moaned as I sat down in the chair with her still impaled on me. My dick was somehow still hard and I felt like the life was being sucked from me every time her walls pulsed around me. She was a fucking goddess. She was everything.
I leaned back in the chair and pulled her with me until her head rested on my chest. Her hands came up to rest there, too, her fingers lightly running over the dusting of chest hair.
“Was that the mate bond?” She didn’t lift her head and I got the feeling that she felt silly asking.
I pressed a kiss to the top of her head and grunted. “Never had a mate before, but that was the most amazing thing I’ve ever felt, and I give you full credit for that.”
She let out a soft giggle that made my dick jerk.
“Calm down, big guy.”
“Like that’ll ever be possible with you anywhere near.”
She sat up, her arm naturally crossing her chest to hide her bareness. “This is dangerous.”
I caught her arm and moved it, taking in the rounded curves and pink nipples. I moved one arm from behind her to cup her breast and flick my thumb over her nipple. My mouth watered and I leaned forward to flick my tongue over the tip of the other one.
Her breath caught and she rocked her hips over mine. “Sterling… Just tonight. That’s as far as we can go with this.”
I straightened and flexed my hips to fill her even fuller. “You really still gonna pretend that’s an option?”
She braced her hands on my shoulders and rocked again. “You really expect me to believe you want more than that?”
I lifted her hips in the air and held her there while I thrust into her from below. I held her gaze and nodded. “Hell yeah, I do. Hell yeah, I want more than one night. A whole lot more.”
She shook her head, even as she moaned and gave herself over fully to me. “I can’t. You know why.”
I yanked her body down to mine and held her face in my hand. “We’re mates. Do you know what that means?”
Her body responded to the rougher treatment and she practically purred against me. “Not really.”
I caught her wild hair in my hand and tilted her head to the side, exposing her sensitive neck to me. “It means that nature made me for you and you for me. It means that every single fucking part of me wants to sink my teeth into your neck and claim you so the whole world knows we belong to each other. It means that no matter what, no matter how hard you try to pretend otherwise, this connection will always exist between us. We can’t run from it. We can’t act like strangers. I’m yours. Just as much as you’re mine.”
She held on desperately to me as I raked my teeth over the spot where I wanted to mark. Her fingers dug into my shoulders and she shook as the beginning of an orgasm built in her. I could feel it in the pulsing of her walls.
“I want to put my mark on you. Right here, so the world can see it.” I bit the skin and sucked, leaving a mark that would fade after a few days. “This is happening, Ophelia. You came to me tonight, and I don’t think I can let you go again.”
With a broken cry, she came again, clinging to me and repeating my name over and over.
10
Ophelia
“What made you start racing? It doesn’t seem natural for a bear. I felt like my bear was going to crawl out of my skin just watching you.” I was curled in Sterling’s arms, knowing that I should’ve made him take me home. Instead, he’d started a small campfire in the cave with a few twigs he’d found strewn inside. We were snuggled, watching the rain fall outside and the flames quietly dance off the golden walls.
“It was one of the few things I was good at. When I was sixteen, driving a piece of shit beater, I outran a cop. Before he locked me up, he suggested I find an outlet for my skills. It stuck.” He shifted in the chair and ran his hand over my hair. It’d dried into a mass of wild curls that he seemed to love touching.
“So, you were a bad boy, huh?”
He laughed. “I was… exciting. Hutch was the responsible one, taking over everything after our dad died and our mom fell into a depression. I didn’t really have a role to fill. I had a lot of pent up emotions, and no one to notice or care, so I just went with asshole.”
I rested my head against his shoulder and looked over at him. “And you still go with that?”
His other hand was on the curve of my hip and he lightly slapped my ass. “We called a truce while we’re in here. This is a cave of sex and good things. Not anger and name-calling.”
I grinned and shrugged. “Just curious. The guy in here with me isn’t the guy I heard rumors about in town. I want to know which is the real Sterling Mallory.”
My heart raced as he remained quiet. I didn’t know which I was really hoping for. If he was the generous guy who’d given me more orgasms than I’d ever had at the hands of another in my life, I was going to be crushed when I walked out and had to call it quits. If he was the chronic womanizer, I was going to be crushed when I walked out and he didn’t think twice about me after I just had the most incredible night of my life.
“This is me. I mean… At some point, I was that asshole. I can’t act like I haven’t done shitty things. I slept around, I made a joke of everything, I hurt your brother because I could. Dealing with the consequences of my actions, though, has kind of put things in a different perspective for me. You’re my mate. I fucked up enough to make my mate think that I was too horrible to be with. That kind of hurt runs deep.”
I sighed. Shit. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I’d given in and I didn’t know if I’d be able to quit him. Already, I felt like an addict. Lying in Sterling’s arms was the most I’d felt at home since being back in Burden. I couldn’t be with him, though. I owed Kyle my loyalty. He was the only family I had left. I had to be there for him.
“I’m sorry for what I did to Kyle. Now. Because of you. I’m sorry I hurt your brother. The guy can be a dick, but I fucked up. I should apologize to him, but every time I’m near him, he tries to knock my teeth down my throat, and I’m not sorry enough to let that happen.”
I groaned. “He would be so hurt to know that I’m here with you.”
Sterling’s fingers tangled in my hair and pulled my face around to his. “We’re mates. He’ll get over it.”
I laughed and couldn’t help running my fingers over the stubble on his face. “You don’t know Kyle. He hates you. And he doesn’t understand mates. Plus, he never wanted to know anything about bears since he didn’t get the trait. He was always bitter that his sister was a bear and he was just human. If only he knew how much I would’ve been willing to trade him.”
“Why?”
I sat up and looked at him. “Seriously? I turn into a furry bear. Not just a furry bear, but a fat one. Not just a fat, furry bear, but a clumsy fat, furry worthless bear who has no understanding or knowledge of life in the outdoors. I sprout fur at random times if I’m upset and I break things. It’s horrible.”
He looked at me like I’d spoken a foreign language. “Ophelia, bears are big. That can’t be helped. And your
bear isn’t worthless. Every cub learns about nature the same way, by exploring. Didn’t your parents teach you?”
I shook my head. “My dad wasn’t a shifter. Mom was, but she was so worried about upsetting Kyle and Dad all the time that she tried to minimize what being a shifter was actually all about. I never really played outside as a bear. If I had to shift, I’d hide out in my bedroom.”
Sterling grunted. “Seems Kyle has always been a dick.”
I frowned. “He’s my brother, Sterling. He’s nice to me. He used to come all the way to Nashville to see me if I was ever having a hard time.”
Sterling stood up, setting me on my feet and held my shoulders. “It’s been a good night. Let’s not talk about Kyle anymore. Can I see your bear?”
I frowned even harder. “No, Sterling, you cannot. She’s not cute.”
He gave me a stern look. “Let me be the judge of that.”
I growled. “Sterling, it’s embarrassing. With the exception of the granny panties, I’ve felt sexy with you all night. I don’t want to ruin it by turning into some fat, hairy beast.”
He moved away from me and winked before shifting. Suddenly, a huge brown bear was standing in front of me. Sterling’s ocean colored eyes stared out at me and he seemed to be grinning. He casually leaned against the cave wall, slipped on a slick rain-splattered rock and fell backwards on his butt.
I doubled over in laughter before I could stop myself. It was hilarious to see such a formidable animal look so silly. When I straightened, I had tears in my eyes. “Fine. I’ll shift. Only because you’re so foolish, though.”
I moved farther away and took a deep breath. I closed my eyes and focused on letting my bear out and within seconds, I was her, standing in all my furry glory in front of Sterling’s bear. I fought the urge to cross my paws over my chest. It just felt so weird shifting in front of another person.
Bears of Burden Complete Series Box Set Page 33