by J. K Harper
She trusted him entirely, and wanted to open to him completely. “Yes,” she murmured, the word almost lost in the ragged breathing that filled the room. “Yes, Beckett. Anything for you.”
He groaned again. His teeth nipped at her ear once more, then traveled down her neck. Letting his other hand slip over her body, he first fondled her breasts, then gently tugged at her nipples with his fingers, setting off more quivering shudders of bliss deep inside her. His hand danced over her ribs, slowly curved over her side. The sensation of his teeth gently scraping over her skin made her want him to do exactly that farther down. Right between her legs, where she was afire with the aching need to be filled by him.
“Beckett, please,” she said, her voice a mix of pleading and demand. “Now!”
He pulled back, shaking his head and looking at her with a shuddering desire she could hardly believe he was managing to contain right now. “I’m in charge now, beautiful Pix. I’m leading this.”
Thrashing against him, bringing her longing hips up against his, she practically wailed, “No!” She spread her legs so she could wrap them around him, trying to pull him to her. Trying to make him take her. But Beckett was too quick for her again. He firmly pushed her legs back onto the couch, one at a time, and covered them with his knees to keep her still. She fought again, breath heaving with her completely uncontrolled need, until his hand suddenly went right to that one spot she wanted him to touch more than anything. She instantly stopped struggling. As soon as his fingers touched her wet folds, Pix moaned. “Ah, yes, right there. Right there.” Her voice was ragged.
Beckett groaned as his fingers explored her, one slipping inside and stroking her there while another gently twirled around her clit, driving her beyond wild. “You're so damned wet for me.” The deep baritone of his voice was bracketed by a rough edge that teetered on the loss of control. His gaze held hers, strong and soft at once. “I can't hold back, beautiful. Need you now.”
“Don't hold back,” she demanded. “Get inside me, now. I need to feel you inside me.” She was shamelessly begging and she didn't care. All she wanted was to have his gorgeous cock deep inside her, filling her with his hugeness, making her his. All his. “Beckett. I need to come.” She barely whispered the words, already so close to the precipice but unable to fall over it until he was inside her.
“That's what you need from me, beautiful? Me deep inside you, filling you all the way?” His heavy-lidded eyes looked into hers as he stroked her, his long finger making a beckoning motion inside her.
She thought her head was about to shoot off her body from the sensation. Her hips rolled in time to the rhythm of his touch. All she knew right now was him, this gorgeous man holding her close, teasing her to the point of explosion with his deliciously talented finger. She needed to shatter apart right now, with Beckett inside her. Claiming her as his.
“Yes! Please,” she whispered, her eyes locked on his.
“Pix,” he groaned. “Anything for you. Everything for you.”
He reached down to push her thighs apart, his fingers sliding along the slickness that had dripped there from inside her. Bracing his hands on either side of her, he looked at her with an expression that was purely feral. Hungry. Longing, and certain.
“Now,” he growled, driving himself deep into her hot center, slamming into her with such stunning force they both cried out. Just as quickly he pulled back, then thrust in again. Pix was so slick that he entered her without any resistance. Beckett filled her completely, fitting inside her as if he'd been made to do so. As if they were made for one another.
He slammed in and out, holding her gaze the entire time. The relentless need on his face captured her, spiraling everything inside her higher, higher. She grasped his back with her hands, urging him into her again and again. Sheer lust shuddered through her entire body as Beckett's eyes, still brightly lit by the glow of his bear, kept her grounded in the moment that was about to explode her into a million spasms of pure joy.
“Pix!” he snarled, cupping her face with one hand so gently, even as he thrust into her so hard they both slid across the couch. Then he swelled inside her even more as his hard length suddenly spasmed again and again. Roaring out a deep, guttural noise, Beckett kept his eyes open and on hers despite the shudders wracking his body and the cries he didn't bother to rein in.
Then, fast and sure and fearlessly, he swung down his head and bit her hard on the neck, his suddenly sharp teeth breaking her skin, claiming her as his. Claiming her as his mate.
Pix tumbled right over the edge as her own orgasm slammed through her, making her scream. Her entire body lifted up, slamming back against Beckett even as his teeth still gripped her. Her fingers held onto his back, her body heaving and shaking with the glorious force of it. She cried out his name, followed by a senseless babble of noise as the entire world seemed to explode into brilliant shards of light and a joy she’d never felt before.
Her mate. Her mate.
Slowly, so slowly, the rush of ecstasy gently ebbed away. In its place, a powerful wave of calm and connection spread throughout her. A sense of true belonging like she’d never felt before. Nuzzling at his neck, kissing him, she clung to him with a contentment that filled her very soul.
Only their heavy breathing surrounded them for long moments. Pix still felt aware of nothing else in the world but the sensations gently leaving her body, and the gorgeous man now gently settled on top of her. Slowly, she let the world come back in piece by piece, returning to her consciousness in small bursts of revelations as she remembered everything else that existed. She'd been so focused on Beckett and what they were doing that she'd literally tuned out all else.
He stirred, gently rubbing his stubbled face on her shoulder. “I'm halfway surprised we're still on this planet.” His voice rumbled into her body. “I almost forgot it existed.”
In answer, she just squeezed him closer. Beckett. Huge, sexy, strong, gentle and soft for her. Her mate. The beast that matched her beast. Her dragon softly rustled with agreement inside her. The man who felt comfortable and exciting at once, wild and docile at the same time. She traced mindless designs on his back with her fingers, feeling her breathing match his. Nuzzling her face into his neck, she murmured, “I know. I forgot, too. You're safe, Beckett North.” She pushed her head back into the pillow so she could look into his face. “Safe, and mine. My dragon says you are mine. My mate.”
His eyes, still bright, looked back at her with a smile in them. “My bear says the same about you. Mate,” he whispered, the word filled with awe.
She sighed, feeling her face crack open into an enormous smile. “Well, then.” Her voice stayed soft, but the strength in it echoed through the room with its crackling fire, the array of stars she could see through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the moving shadows of the pine trees outside. The cocoon-like feel of the whole place seemed—perfect. “I guess that means I need to stay here then, huh?”
Beckett stifled a yawn, his body heavy on hers. “You're definitely staying the night.” He tightened his arms around her, nuzzling her back now. “I want to see your beautiful face looking up at mine in the morning.”
Pix smoothed his back with her hand, marveling at the feel of his corded muscles rippling as he hugged her. “I mean,” she said, feeling a sudden giddy joy spreading over her, “I need to stay here. With you, forever. In Deep Hollow, Beckett. If you’re my mate, after all, I guess I need to stop wandering.”
His arms froze around her, as if she were a fragile piece of porcelain he needed to handle with the most delicate care. “Stay? Restless Pix?” He pushed himself back, leaning up on both his arms so he could study her face, his own abruptly serious. “Tell me this is real. Because I don't do half measures. You’re my mate, Pix, that’s for sure. But I won’t hold you somewhere you don’t want to be, even if it kills me.” His expression was a mixture of uncertainty, longing, and wild hope.
She nodded as her giddiness bubbled up into a smile. Pulling her h
ands out from under his arms, she reached up her palms to cradle his face. “Neither do I. Neither does my dragon.” Her dragon bellowed and called inside her, firmly echoing Pix's joy with a steadiness she'd never before felt. “She says you're mine. She's meeting your strength head on with her own.” She paused, then gently added, “And your bear? What does your bear think about this?”
Beckett paused, seeming to search inside himself. “My bear,” he said in a wondering tone, “doesn't want to rip down walls and get so crazy I can't control him. My bear says you're mine. And that's making him quiet, because he's happy now. You're soothing the savage beast, Pix. You tamed my bear.” Laughter rolled out of him, joyful and excited. She let it pour through her as well, until they both shook from it, laughing like happy lunatics at one another.
With one another. Forever.
“Well, okay then. Welcome to Deep Hollow, Pix,” Beckett said after the burst of laughter finally faded away. “Welcome home, my gorgeous dragon shifter mate.”
“Yes. I'm home.” She let the contentment of that deep truth, its absolute rightness, fill her every cell and molecule. “Home with my sexy bear of a man. With my mate. Now, kiss me again, Beckett North. Make me forget my own name for a while.”
Smiling, he leaned down to do just that.
* * *
I hope you enjoyed Taming Her Bear! Pix & Beckett made me laugh, smile, and cry as I wrote them.
What's next for the Silvertip Shifters? Cortez Walker’s story in RESCUE BEAR: CORTEZ. Scroll to the next page to read it!
Be sure to read more Silvertip Shifters:
Hunter’s Moon: Quentin - Quentin & Abby
Mountain Bear’s Baby: Shane - Shane & Jessie
Taming Her Bear: Beckett - Beckett & Pix
Rescue Bear: Cortez - Cortez & Haley
Ranger Bear: Riley - Riley & Marisa
Firefighter Bear: Slade - Slade & Everly
Superstar Bear: Bodhi - Bodhi & McKenna
Christmas Night Bear: Wyatt - Wyatt & Brynna
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Scroll to the next page to read RESCUE BEAR: CORTEZ.
Rescue Bear: Cortez
A woman on the run...
After Haley's life disastrously imploded, trusting a man again is out of the question. Seeking a fresh start, she lands in the mountain shifter town of Deep Hollow, home to the Silvertip grizzly bear clan. When she meets rowdy bear shifter Cortez, her life might change again—if she can allow herself to trust him.
A bear shifter on the edge...
Thrill seeker Cortez lived life on a risky edge—until a terrible accident changed everything. Tormented by his failure to protect his friends, he now struggles to control his troubled inner bear. Then he meets Haley and faces the biggest risk of all: opening his heart to claim the fascinating woman as his mate.
A shifter town about to join together to battle unknown enemies.
But when Haley's ugly past catches up to her, it will take more than Cortez's protective instincts and her own untapped inner strength to face it. It will take an entire town of wild shifter magic to unleash the fierce courage needed to protect everyone's safety—and to bring together two hearts destined to belong to one another.
1
One pivotal scene could alter the course of Haley Adams' entire life. It needed to be the best damn one she'd ever written.
Fingers poised over the keyboard, immersed in the climax of the book in which the heroine was about to rescue the hero after he'd been cold-cocked by the bad guys when he'd come to rescue her, her pulse thrummed wildly. This was it, the magic was about to happen, she could just feel i—
BAM BAM BAM.
“Shit!” Haley whacked her knee on the underside of the table and almost fell out of her chair.
Someone pounded on the front door so loud it sounded like they were planning to bring the thunder right into the house. Her heart joined her pulse, galloping hard enough she was half afraid it might jump out of her chest. She looked at the big grandfather clock in the corner of the living room. Six-thirty in the morning. Who was out there scaring the crap out of her at freaking six-thirty in the morning? Making her lose focus on the book she had to finish, or else she'd lose the tiny toehold she'd fought so hard to gain during this past year of shitasticness?
A-ha. She remembered now. The property manager had told her he would come over today to fix a slow leaking pipe in the upstairs bathroom. Great. She hadn't thought he'd meant this early. Or that he wouldn't call her first to let her know he was on his way. Sighing as real life took over the made-up-but-oh-so-real-feeling one she'd been working on, she took a quick glance down at her clothes.
Oh, fabulous. She was wearing her favorite ratty orange robe over her fleece jammy bottoms, the red ones that had little purple and black penguins sprinkled all over. Better yet, she also had her big old fuzzy moose slippers, complete with antlers and huge eyes, shoved onto her feet. They were her good luck ones that she liked to wear when she was writing.
Basically, she looked like a disheveled madwoman.
Oh, well. She'd met the guy the day she came to town, when he'd shown her the house she would be sitting for a year while the owners, his parents, traveled around the world. He had struck her as polite, professional, and totally uninterested in her. Which was completely fine by her. After she'd had her entire life blown up last year, men were the last thing on her mind. All she cared about right now was working hard to write the best damned book of her career. It was clear all he cared about was making sure any handiwork that needed to be done to his parents' house while they were gone got taken care of. So neither one of them should care about her hair or her unfortunate choice in sleepwear. Plus, it was six-thirty in the morning. What else should she be wearing?
Automatically smoothing her hands over her hair anyway, she frowned harder as she realized it was in a ridiculously messy bun caught at the nape of her neck. Great. But she shrugged as she went to the door. Writers at work looked scruffy and neglected sometimes. Dude would have to deal.
BAM BAM BAM! She jumped again mid-stride as the pounding sounded once more, even louder. It sounded like it could crack the door in two.
So rude. Now she was just plain irritated. "Hold your horses!" As she yanked open the door, she started to say in a pointed voice, "You know, there's a perfectly good doorbell—oh!” She chopped off her words. “You're not the property manager." She stared at the mountain of a man standing outside the door.
Big, huge mountain man with golden-brown eyes and muscles that bulged out even from beneath his tawny shearling jacket. Hoooly shit. He was really, really big. Light brown hair cropped close, a bristly beard that spread over his lower cheekbones and chin that she really wanted to scrape her fingers through to feel the scratch of it, eyes that gazed steadily at her from beneath a tussle of eyebrows. Jeans that fit him well, scuffed up but nice cowboy boots on his feet, a collared blue checked shirt that opened up just enough at his neck to show skin. Did she mention that he was huge? He took up the entire doorway, which was already supersized. Wow. Bear shifters sure did make for big humans.
He stared back at her, seeming just as surprised to see her. A beat up black toolbox he held in one hand bumped gently against his thigh. There was a moment while they both just looked at one another, Haley's mouth open. Finally he shook his head, still looking at her like she was spotted with purple dots. "Not the property manager, no. I'm his brother. Cortez. He had something come up, couldn't make it. Said there's a leaky pipe that needs fixing?" His voice rumbled through her like dark gravel, shuddering through her body and sending sweet chills dancing up and down her skin that had nothing to do with the cold air outside.
Haley finally remembered both her manners and to shut her foolish mouth. She stepped back so he could come in. Focus, she ordered herself. Right. Men were not to be trusted. Not at all. But this one, though, oh, he was kind of interesting. He was big and
sexy and smelled really good, all woodsy and manly, but not like fake cheap cologne. No, he smelled like an actual forest, like pine trees and deep, rich earth, with a streak of something wild running beneath it all.
Something wild like a bear shifter.
And here she was, wearing her ratty orange bathrobe with big fuzzy moose slippers on her feet. Great. Damn. She sternly told her inner girl not to care. Her world was all about her for right now, orange bathrobe and all. It had to be.
"Upstairs." She finally found her voice as he headed down the hallway with a quick stride, clearly familiar with the place and maybe in a hurry. "I'm Haley. I'm housesitting for your parents the rest of the year." Okay, stating the obvious. She clamped her lips down tightly so nothing else dumb could slip out.
Cortez stopped and turned back around to her. A slow, curious smile pulled at his lips, his eyes looking at hers with a careful friendliness that also seemed wary. Well, that makes two of us, buddy. Like he'd just thought of it, he reached out a big hand to shake hers. Although Haley had never considered herself to be a tiny woman, like her best friend Pix, she suddenly felt absolutely minuscule next to Cortez.
His hand wrapped around hers, warm and strong and just so darned big. "Sorry. That was rude of me to just barge in without properly meeting you.” Ooh, his voice. Okay. She really liked it. “Hi, Haley. That's a pretty name," he added, almost as if it were an afterthought. But his eyes lingered on hers, like the faint smile on his face.
"Thank you.” His searching gaze made her want to babble. “Actually, I always hated it because there was a girl in school more popular than me whose name was also Haley, and she told me no one was allowed to call me Haley. She was the only one allowed to be called Haley."
