“Are you sure?” Jason asked as he ended the kiss.
“Yes.” She nodded. “I want to be with you. In this calm before the storm, I want to feel love. I want to feel hope.”
He kissed her cheek and then led her out of the kitchen and along the hallway. He paused outside the second door on the right and drank in the sight of her. Shannon’s stomach clenched with longing and she placed her hand on his chest, running it down over the hard contours of his muscles before resting her fingers in his belt. Jason opened the bathroom door and led her inside. As he reached inside the shower to switch on the hot water, she tugged his belt undone and unbuttoned his jeans. They slipped down over his toned thighs and pooled at his feet before he stepped sideways out of them.
Steam filled the bathroom as the hot water sprayed from the showerhead. Shannon tugged the hem of Jason’s shirt and lifted it up over his head before casting it aside, leaving her bear shifter butt-naked before her.
“Impressive.” She ran her fingers across his chest, the sprinkling of hair tickling her fingertips as she followed it down lower, much lower, to her prize.
He was hard, his desire matching her own as he lowered his head and kissed her lips. She gripped him harder, her fingers completely encircling his hardness. She squeezed him lightly and his breath hissed between his teeth as she started to move her hand up and down. He groaned as he lifted his head and their lips parted.
“You know you have to take your clothes off, too, if you want to shower.” He tugged at her dusty shirt.
“Oh, I thought I might keep them on so they could get washed, too.” She batted her eyelashes and looked up at him with an innocent expression combined with a barely hidden smile.
“Not a chance.” He unbuttoned her shirt and threw it in the direction of the laundry basket while she worked on unzipping her jeans and wriggling out of them. Her curvy hips were no impediment for a woman in need of a man.
“Impressive.” He arched an eyebrow as he gazed at with open lust.
“You’re enough to make a woman blush.” Shannon forced herself to keep her hands by her sides and not cover her body in embarrassment. She hadn’t been naked in front of a man for years and certain parts of her body were not as pert as they once were.
Jason didn’t seem to mind as he took a step closer to Shannon and threaded his fingers through hers. “Coming?” He inclined his head toward the steaming shower cubicle, and she nodded mutely as she followed him.
The warm water caressed her skin as she stepped into the shower. Jason reached for a sponge and shower gel and made a rich lather which filled the shower with a tangy scent. With a firm but gentle motion, he slid the sponge over her skin, washing her clean of the accumulated dirt and dust from the cave.
Grabbing the shampoo bottle, she tipped a generous dollop into her palm and washed her hair, piling it on top of her head while he sponged her neck and shoulders. As the soap washed away, he planted soft kisses down her spine, increasing her arousal until she could hardly focus on anything but him.
As she rinsed the last of the shampoo from her hair, she emptied a smaller amount into her palm and raised her arms so that she could reach his hair. Jason took full advantage of the situation and lowered his head, before sucking her nipple into his mouth.
She hissed as the sensation of his tongue circling around and around the taut bud connected with the signals her brain was receiving from each nerve ending Jason stimulated with the sponge. As his mouth savored her skin, she scooped up a handful of soap suds which she used to lubricate her hand as she curled it around his hard length.
Jason groaned and sucked harder on her nipple. Shannon’s stomach clenched and her need for him grew as she slid her soapy hand up and down, wanting to push him toward the same desperate need that consumed her. She wanted him to want her with such intensity that he could think of nothing else than burying himself inside her.
As she stroked him, she tightened her grip, stimulating him until his breathing became heavy and his hands encircled her waist. The sponge fell to the floor and rested against her foot as he lifted her up.
Shannon wrapped her legs around him, and he supported her with one strong arm before he guided himself into her with his free hand. Pushing down, she closed her eyes as he entered her, filling her with his hardness, stretching her inner walls as he drove his hips forward.
The water washed the soap from her overly sensitive skin as he made love to her. With a steady rhythm he thrust forward, filling her completely before pulling back out. Then he’d repeat the exquisite motion all over again. Changing the angle of his hips, he grazed her inner walls, igniting her arousal until she hovered on the edge of orgasm.
Shannon wanted him to come, too. She wanted him to experience the same release, the same pleasure. Tightening her inner walls, she gripped his hardness, while her fingers stroked and probed his body, committing each curve of his toned muscle to memory as she sought out his erogenous zones.
“Damn, I can’t hold on,” he ground out, his hand a tight fist against the tiled shower wall.
“Then let go,” she whispered against his ear before she sucked the fleshy lobe into her mouth and ran her teeth along the sensitive skin.
His hips jerked forward hard, impaling her on his hard length as he came. Shannon’s own release came swift and sudden, her body tense as wave after wave of pleasure covered her. This was pure bliss and if she was destined to be anyone’s mate, she sure was glad fate had paired her with Jason.
“At least we’re clean.” Shannon toweled her body dry with one, or maybe two, eyes on Jason as he dried himself off and then wrapped his towel around his slender hips.
“You know, if I missed a spot on your back, we could always get back into the shower,” he suggested with an innocent expression on his handsome face.
“If only we didn’t have a hoard of dragon treasure to find.” Her smile faded as the world came crashing back in on her. “It’s a good thing I packed a change of clothes when we went up the mountain.” She tucked the towel around her body and sidestepped him in the doorway before padding along the hallway to the kitchen where she’d dumped her backpack when they’d arrived at his apartment. Grabbing hold of it, she half-dragged it back to the bathroom. Which was now empty.
“You can change in here if you want,” Jason called from a room further down the hallway.
“I’m okay in here,” she answered as she opened her pack and took out a clean set of clothes along with a hairbrush. Clearing a spot in the steamed-up mirror, she examined her face. Her cheeks were flushed pink, she wasn’t sure if it was from the exertion of climbing the mountain or from the hot shower. Her cheeks grew redder as she recalled the feel of Jason’s hands on her body and the earth-shattering orgasm he drew from her body.
Switching on the cold faucet, she cupped her hands and let the water fill them before she dunked her face in the liquid to cool her flaming skin. It did little to help and her cheeks looked just as red as she patted them dry with a towel. Luckily, Jason, her mate, wouldn’t care. To him, she was the most beautiful creature on the planet.
“Not as beautiful as a dragon,” she murmured as she dried her hands and placed the towel back on the rail.
Pulling out her phone, she tapped the screen and typed a message to Lorcan. Hope everything is ok. Love you xx
She wasn’t expecting a quick reply, for all she knew her son might be covered in scales and learning to breathe fire by now. So, when her phone pinged with a message, it made her jump. Tapping the screen, she glanced down and her heart almost stopped. It was from her dad. Or at least her dad’s phone. From the message, she couldn’t tell whether he was the person who wrote the text of if he’d been caught by the dragon hunters. But something certainly felt off about the message.
I’m on my way to you. Can you tell me where to meet you? xx
Her dad rarely, if ever, ended a text with an x. And two x’s certainly felt like overkill from a man who hardly ever showed his feelings. It
wasn’t his thing. He barely showed any emotional sentiment when he spoke, and he certainly didn’t think kisses belonged at the end of a text. But he’d been away from them and under great stress for the last few days. Perhaps his emotions had leaked through his usual hard exterior.
Or perhaps they had not.
Throwing the phone down on top of her backpack, Shannon quickly dressed before gathering up all of her belongings and jamming them into her pack. Slipping her phone into the pocket of the thick fleece jacket she pulled on over her sweater, she left the bathroom and headed down the hallway to find Jason.
“Coffee?” He held up the coffee pot as she entered the kitchen, but as soon as he saw her expression, he placed it down on the counter and came around the table to meet her. “What’s wrong? Has something happened to Lorcan?”
“No.” She shook her head and ran her hand through her tangled mess of wet hair. She’d forgotten to comb it.
“Then what happened?” Jason placed his hands on her upper arms, his face contorted in anguish. “Do you regret...”
“No. Oh, no.” She cupped his face in her hands and kissed his lips. “Nothing like that.” She reached into her pocket and took out her phone, rereading the text before she handed it to Jason. “I don’t think that text is from my dad. It’s his number, but the text seems off. You know what I mean. People have a way of texting and my dad doesn’t do kisses.”
“You think the dragon hunters have found your dad and are trying to figure out where exactly you are?” He read the text and then handed the phone back to her.
“I think so. Or maybe he’s just been missing us.” Shannon’s damp hair hung around her shoulders as she stared at the text message as if an answer was suddenly going to jump out at her. “I don’t know what to do. I might just be suffering from acute paranoia and the time on his own worrying about us might have made a chink in the hardened exterior that surrounds his heart.”
“Is he really that hard-hearted?” Jason asked. “I’m just asking since this is a man who was willing to lead the dragon hunters away from his daughter and grandson without knowing the true cost to himself.”
“Well, since you put it like that.” She sighed and pursed her lips. “I suppose I struggle to see him as anyone other than the man who left my mom to raise me while he went off and did his own thing. The times when he did come home, I never felt loved by him. It was as if he was always holding something back. As if he were afraid to let me in.”
“Perhaps he was afraid that you might look too deep and he might reveal too much.” Jason arched an eyebrow. “Speaking from experience, I can relate to him. It took a long time to even think about letting others in. Only now, after meeting you do I know I’m capable of opening myself up to love.”
“So I should expect x’s from you, too?” Shannon asked.
“Absolutely.” Jason winked at her and she couldn’t help but smile at him.
“I still don’t know what to do.” She looked down at her phone.
“Ask him how he is and where he is. Then we’ll work with that.” Jason folded his arms as she tapped a message into her phone and pressed send. “I’ll pour that coffee.”
“If I’m still not sure by his answer, do I tell him to come here?” Shannon slid into a chair and rested her elbows on the table.
“He doesn’t know you were coming to Bear Creek?” Jason asked as he placed two cups of steaming coffee down on the table and sat down in a chair across from her.
“No, we agreed I wouldn’t tell him our location. Although, he does know we had a clue. He said he’d give us as long as possible to find the treasure by keeping the dragon hunters occupied. My dad led them into the mountains where he’d first met Letitia. He’d hoped he might be able to shake them off his tail and search the area for the treasure. If he came up empty, which he did, he would meet up with me once he knew he wasn’t being followed.” She cupped her hands around the coffee mug and let the heat warm her.
“We could direct him to another town and set a trap.” Jason looked at her through his eyelashes.
“That’s one option.” Shannon chewed the inside of her cheek as she watched her phone and tried not to cry. Crying would not help, but it was hard not to collapse into a puddle of tears at the thought of what might have happened to her father. If only she knew for sure he was safe. But there was no way to tell by text and calling him might be risky if the dragon hunters could trace the call.
“We don’t have many options open to us.” He reached out, his large strong hand covering hers. Warmth spread along her arm and fanned out across her body. He had more of an effect on her than the hot coffee in her cup.
“That’s what worries me. One wrong move. One wrong text and my dad could end up hurt. Or worse.” Her bottom lip quivered as she fought back tears.
“Don’t let your imagination run away with you and make it hard to keep going. One step at a time, we’ll deal with this and move on. I intend to have my happy ever after with my mate and no dragon hunter is going to stop me.”
“You’re right, I know you are, but between my fear for Lorcan and my fear for my dad, it’s stifling.” She blew the air out of her cheeks and ducked her head to stare at the coffee in her cup. She had to get control of herself. She had to be strong.
“You haven’t lost anyone yet and I don’t intend for you to lose anyone. Period.” He pulled his hand back across the table as her phone beeped.
“A reply.” She tapped the screen to reveal the message. I’m ok. I’m on my way back home. Need to see you urgently x There was that damn kiss again.
Jason leaned forward as she held the phone up for him to read the text. “Hmm, that doesn’t give us much to go on.”
“What if he really does need to see me urgently? What if that’s why there are kisses at the end of the text, because he knows something we don’t? Something that might affect Lorcan.” She shook her head in a state of confusion. Already, she was being forced to make choices about Lorcan, about her father.
“I have an idea,” Jason stood up from the table and reached for his cell phone. “I need to make a call. Then I’ll tell you where we need to meet your dad.” He hesitated. “It will mean sharing your secret with at least one other person.”
Shannon nodded, giving him permission. “I trust you, so if you trust them...” As she reread her father’s text one last time, she only hoped fate would lend a hand and they would all get the outcome they deserved, including the dragon hunters.
Yes, she hoped they got exactly what they deserved.
Chapter Nineteen – Jason
“Mac, I have a favor to ask.” Jason was calling in all the favors he could. All for his mate. Whatever she needed, he’d help her get. Including her father. If he’d been kidnapped by the dragon hunters.
“Shoot.” Mac was a straight-talking dependable guy who owned the local sawmill which he ran with the help of his extended family. He was always ready to give a person a second chance if he thought they deserved one. In return, he expected hard work and loyalty. Jason had known the guy for a while, he counted Mac as a friend, but what he was about to ask went above friendship.
“I have a situation.” The gravitas in Jason’s voice drew a grunt from Mac. “And I need your help.”
“What kind of a situation?” Mac asked. “I’m sorry, I can’t have anything illegal connected to me or the sawmill.”
“It’s not illegal. At least I’m not planning on it being illegal.” Jason gave a short laugh and raked a hand through his hair. Hair that had been lovingly washed by his mate’s hands. A shiver of desire rippled up his spine, but he forced himself to focus on the man on the end of the line.
Cell phones don’t have lines, his bear reminded him.
You know what I mean, Jason answered.
“The best thing is, you tell me exactly what you need, and we’ll go from there,” Mac said warily. “I have a couple of men here who need to steer themselves a mile wide of anything remotely illegal.”
> “Understood.” Jason pressed his lips into a thin line, unsure if this was the right thing to do after all. He didn’t want to cause trouble for Mac. But he could think of no other option. “I found my mate.”
“I heard,” Mac replied dryly. “Are you asking me to throw you a party, because that’s not my thing.”
Jason chuckled, his mood lightening a little. “No, no parties. She came to Bear Creek because some men threatened her boy.”
“Ah, I’m beginning to get the picture. You need muscle. Protection for your mate and her boy.”
“Sort of...” Jason hesitated, wondering just how much of the truth he was going to tell Mac. To tell him everything would put Fiona and Harlan in danger, too.
“Just say it, Jason. I’m the keeper of so many secrets, another one is hardly going to break me.” Mac was always forthright, it was one of the things Jason liked about the man.
“Her boy is a dragon shifter on the cusp of his first shift.” Jason paused but Mac didn’t speak so he continued. “There are some dragon hunters after him. At least they are after his treasure. And we’re not certain if they have Shannon’s father.” Still silence. “And I’m looking for a place to stage an ambush.”
Mac grunted again. “Dragon shifter, huh?”
“Yes.” Jason’s forehead creased. Did Mac think this was a joke or something? “They’re real, Mac.”
“Oh, I know, I had one pass through here a couple of years back. He was a hard worker. It was a shame when he moved on.”
It was Jason’s turn for stunned silence.
There are more of them? his bear asked incredulously.
“They’re a rare thing in this world. And they’re after the kid and his treasure?” Mac asked.
Jason - Silverback Redemption Page 14