by Jenna Kernan
She reached for his hand, holding it in both her tiny ones. “You saved me,” she whispered.
He forced a smile, trying to hide the disquiet roiling inside him. “Yes.”
“Thank you.”
He did not know why she touched him, but he accepted the gift and lifted his free hand fully expecting her to withdraw. When she didn’t he stroked the soft, velvety skin from her jaw to her cheekbone. Then he opened his callused palm and dragged it back the way he had come. He wasn’t prepared for the flush that blossomed over her.
“I’ve wanted to do that for months.”
She pressed his other hand over her heart. As if he needed that to sense the wild tumult of her emotions. He didn’t want to release her now or ever, so he slipped his hand to the back of her neck and drew her in until his lips brushed her ear.
“Why don’t you run like the rest of them?” he whispered.
He heard her swallow and his mouth went dry. She lowered her head in a gesture of submission as old as time. He let her draw back a few inches but only so he could stare down into the lush garden of her vivid green eyes.
“I’m not running.” She released his hand and glanced up.
“But you should.”
She stepped back. He allowed it, but kept control of her neck. Why didn’t she go?
He lifted one long finger and dragged it with excruciating slowness down her bare throat. She gasped at the gesture, catching her bottom lip between sharp white teeth. He leaned close, so she could feel the warm air he expelled, fanning her heated flesh.
Luisa lifted up on her toes and locked her hands about his neck. Even as she pulled with all her might, she could not bring his lips to hers. He hesitated another moment and then closed his eyes like a cliff diver preparing to jump into deep water. Then he lowered his mouth to hers, pressing their lips together in sweet surrender. He savored and tasted as she parted for him and delved deep, plundering her, marking her as his own.
She closed her eyes as she pressed more tightly to him and he felt his passion dance with hers and wanted more. She slid her knee between his thighs.
He drew back, holding her at arm’s length as if she were suddenly the dangerous one. She smiled but he only gazed at her with a grim, pained expression.
“Why didn’t you run?”
“You saved me.”
He put her aside with such speed, it made her dizzy. Was this some kind of payment? He felt suddenly sick. “It doesn’t mean you have to do this.”
“I know that. I just…”
“You may go.”
She didn’t.
He glanced over his shoulder, holding in the pain behind a grim visage.
“There’s a SUV outback. Keys are in it. Take it, please.”
“I want to stay.”
He stared at her in disbelief. He either hadn’t heard her correctly or she wanted to stay because she thought what she faced was more fearsome that being with him—the lesser of two evils.
He lowered his head. “Why?”
She stepped closer. “You make me feel safe.”
His gaze flashed to hers. “That’s an illusion. You’re still in danger, just a different kind.”
She stepped behind him, wrapping her arms about his waist and pressing her cheek to the center of his broad back. He lifted his chin and closed his eyes, savoring the feel of her embrace.
“What you’re doing now…it’s a mistake.”
“Like the mistake you made saving me?”
He didn’t answer at first. “Worse I think. Far worse.”
He enveloped her clasped hands in one of his, but whether to trap her or pull her from him, she was not sure. He broke the circle of her arms, pulling her before him.
Desire glittered in his eyes, dangerous as a knife blade and he let her see it all.
Luisa gazed up into hungry eyes.
The look he gave her now threatened in an entirely different way. The raw force with which he restrained himself against the naked need she recognized sparkling in his eyes should have terrified, but instead it aroused her, sending a seismic shockwave rippling through her. She wanted him.
“I wouldn’t hurt you,” he promised, then closed in, his mouth hovering just beyond reach.
His gaze drifted lower. He tried to stop himself, but found he was not as strong as he’d hoped, for his attention now lingered on the swell of her breasts, rising and falling with each frantic breath, before descending lower still, over her stomach to fix on her sex. At her sharp inhale of breath, his attention jerked back to meet her eyes.
“I can smell your arousal. It is driving me mad.” He nuzzled her neck and she groaned, giving in as she tipped against him, flattening her breasts to his hard, muscular body.
He stiffened and then captured her about the waist, bringing their hips together in a gesture as primal as her need.
She opened her mouth but found she’d lost the ability to speak. He slid a hand to the small of her back, closing the space between them. He gave a low growl as he lowered his mouth to her neck.
Her head dropped back as his lips touched her bare flesh. Heat flooded her as she offered herself to him.
He drew back, his breathing now coming fast as well.
She couldn’t think past her desire. She had never wanted a man more. Her eyes flicked downward to the magnificent ridge of turgid flesh pressing against the zipper of his jeans.
She gasped as her eyes flashed to him, taking in the sensual, playful smile that did not match the intensity sparkling in his eyes. This man was a killer and she was considering placing herself in the most vulnerable position possible. She gauged the strength in his arms, his torso, his legs, remembered what he had done in that clearing.
“I can keep you safe, but perhaps I am not as strong as you think,” he said. “I want you, Luisa. The wanting is strong, too strong to contain much longer. It rules me.”
She took another step forward. “You said you would not hurt me.”
“That is true. But I would take you to my bed.”
He opened his hand, asking her to accept him.
She laid her hand into his.
He sighed as he pulled her forward, trapping her in a grip that seemed excruciatingly tender, as he drew her to rest against the hard planes of his body. Her soft curves molded against him as Ty caressed her now from shoulder to elbow, making her sigh at the pleasure.
His mouth descended to her neck, his teeth grazing the sensitive skin of her throat. She shivered with anticipation and the sigh changed to a groan at the exquisite torture of his touch.
Madness, that’s what it was, this desire to have him even knowing the dangerous creature he was.
“I’ve never wanted a woman like this, Luisa.”
He turned her so she could see the earnestness reflected in his eyes, but at the contact of their gazes, the tenderness vanished, shifting into something dark and powerful.
She gasped as she recognized the passion he kept trapped inside himself and wondered if he was strong enough to contain it or, if he failed, if she were strong enough to take the full measure of his need.
He drew her in, as if to shield her from what she saw in his eyes, resting his chin on the top of her head as he imprisoned her in his arms.
“I’ve dreamed of you. But I never thought…”
“Thought what?”
“I’m an outsider, Luisa—not of your race. I did not wish to deceive you and I did not believe you would accept me if you discovered what I truly am.”
He was still, all that power and strength poised in absolute readiness.
His words now came in a whisper. “But now you know and still you accept me. I sense it, but I am reluctant to take you.”
He said he would not harm her. His words seemed poor protection from the giant who now held her. Desire and apprehension warred in her.
“Why reluctant?” she asked.
He cleared his throat. It did not keep the gruffness from his voice when he spoke. �
�It will make it even harder to give you up.”
Again she was struck by his power and her frailty. Did he mean he would try to keep her against her will? She shifted uneasily and his grip on her tightened slightly, echoing his words.
“It’s why I keep myself separate from your kind. Our parting is inevitable.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You humans live such short lives.”
The strangeness of this conversation raised gooseflesh on her body. She drew back and he hesitated an instant before letting her go, retaining only her hand, tethering her to him with the curling of his fingers.
“How old are you, Ty?”
She gazed in his eyes again, noting the sorrow reflected there.
“I’m young for an Inanoka and old for a human, very old for a man. I have not yet reached my first centennial.”
He did not defend his shocking revelation, just stood before her, letting his thumb sweep over the top of her palm.
“How lonely,” she said, at last.
His eyes widened and his face went pale. “You understand, then, how it is with me. If you offer yourself, I am not strong enough to refuse. But it will be worse for me, for I will miss you all the more. Even when among your kind, I am always alone.”
This time she came to him, forgetting her fear and seeing only his need. She lifted up on her toes in an unsuccessful effort to reach his ear and whispered.
“Not tonight.”
Chapter Four
Luisa reached for the top button of his shirt. He stilled her hand.
“That’s not necessary. All this—” he waved a hand over his attire “—is just an illusion, my coat in another form. But I would enjoy removing yours.”
He slid a finger under the waistband of her wool slacks releasing the clasp. She stepped away to slip free of her pants. The remains of her shirt followed, leaving her in only her tight silk undershirt and matching bikini panties. His admiring gaze roamed over her curves, heating her body and causing her nipples to contract into hard beads, straining now against the thin cotton fabric.
“Your scent is driving me to madness.” He ran his knuckles over his shirt, straight down the row of buttons and his clothing vanished. He stood gloriously naked before her except for the grizzly claw suspended from the humble leather cord about his neck. She looked at it now with understanding. This was not some poacher. The grizzly claw was a part of him. Her eyes drifted lower.
He did not shift or fidget under her gaze, but stood, poised as a predator that has nothing to fear from his prey. His shoulders looked even wider without the distraction of clothing. The heavy musculature reminded her of body armor, only this was warm, solid flesh.
Her gaze roamed over the six-pack of muscle of his abdomen to the slight curve of flesh above his hip bones. She followed the graceful line to the tight triangle of curling brown hair surrounding his sex that rose as she stared. He radiated power and stillness in a coil of potential energy that brought her up short. It was all she could do not to reach out and stroke him, but, despite his assurances, some part of her whispered a warning. He was the most desirable man she had ever seen, but he was not really a man, was he?
She lifted her gaze from his engorged sex to the striations of the muscles across his chest. It now cost effort to keep so still.
“Am I frightening you now?”
She could not deny it.
“Would you leave me?”
“Is if safe for me?”
“I was born a human and am still partly human even in bear form. Even if I were to change, I would still know you and remember…this.”
She could not get past the image of his throwing that sled. How much did that thing weigh? She recollected all the grim details of bear attacks and recalled this particular bear tearing the door off her truck.
“You have seen a sow with her cubs,” he said.
He knew she had, but she nodded.
“Then you know a bear has great ability for tenderness.” He stepped forward lifting a hand.
She hesitated and he stopped, giving her time to adjust to the sheer size of him.
Luisa voiced her worst fear. “Do you think you’ll change, uh…you know, when we are together?”
“Strong emotions can trigger a change, but I do not think passion will bring it.”
“You don’t think…you haven’t done this before?”
She saw the answer reflected in the complete honesty of his eyes. She held her breath.
“You are my first, my only.”
She wanted to weep for him, this Adonis of a man who lived like a monk. He had spent a century alone, without the love of a woman. Her heart broke for him.
“You have never tried…” Her words fell off.
“I have not seen a woman I wanted to couple with until you. But I did not think you would accept me.”
That melted her insides into liquid magma. She felt the warm honey of her arousal make her slick and ready for this man.
He inhaled deeply and she knew he scented her need.
“You thought wrong,” she said, grasping his hand and drawing him down with her to the thick area rug before the hearth.
He followed and she lay naked and helpless before him, but the fear was gone, replaced by the need to make his first time the most wonderful night of his life.
“You are so beautiful,” he said. Now he hesitated, as if afraid to touch her.
She grasped his hands and pressed his palms to the aching orb of her breast. She gasped at the stabbing pleasure the firmness of his touch gave her. He kneaded her flesh and she writhed before him, anxious for more.
She reached up, capturing his neck and tugged. He smiled, without moving, letting her feel his strength as she swung on him like a monkey. At last he lowered himself to his hands, looking as if he were preparing to do push-ups.
His eyes shut tight as he tried to control his impulses. But she made it difficult, licking her palm and stroking up and down the long length of his rigid sex.
He gasped and a growl of feral pleasure escaped her. She pushed at his shoulder, but he did not move.
“Lie down beside me,” she urged.
“You are ready for my taking now,” he said, clearly not wanting to wait.
“Did you know men sometimes take a woman many times in one night?”
His eyes narrowed as he considered this.
“Lie back now.”
This time he did as she suggested.
She threw a leg over his waist, keeping her wet cleft just beyond the reach of his erection as she kissed his mouth. His tongue glided over her lips and then delved, proving that instinct counted for as much as experience. His hands splayed her hips, drawing her back onto his sex. She strained to keep her position, but he glided her over him inch by delicious inch.
In a moment he had her on her back and damn the man, he withdrew.
His lips teased the shell of her ear. He moved down the column of her throat, kissing and nipping as she writhed beneath him, her need for patience forgotten in a red haze of want. When he reached her breast, she offered herself to him, arching to meet his mouth. He drew deeply, a definite groan of pleasure vibrating against her needy flesh as she strained to give herself to him. The exquisite sensation of his suckling lips nearly brought her to orgasm. She bucked her hips in impatience as he lifted his head to gaze at her with intent brown eyes.
“Do you wish to avoid a Halfling child?”
She blinked at him, confused. Sudden understanding slammed her like a wall of ice.
“I use birth control,” she told him. But his question raised others, like did the pill prevent the ubersperm of a shapeshifting grizzly bear?
“That is good.” He nodded his approval and she breathed a sigh of relief.
Before she could think what else to say, he was on the move again, his kisses taking him lower, down the slight curve of her belly, into the shallows of her navel and over the prominent ridge of one hip bone. Her head dropped ba
ck to the rug. The sight of his tongue lathing over her heated flesh was just too erotic. He parted her legs with hands too strong to refuse. He was gentle, but left no doubt that he would have her now.
“You smell so sweet,” he whispered.
And then his tongue was flicking over her, darting, in and out of her passage. He used his fingers and tongue together with a dexterity that defied anything in her experience.
“Holy hell,” she breathed, lifting up to meet the arousing stroke of his tongue, unable to keep herself from pressing tight to his mouth.
And then she couldn’t speak, could not form words past the building need. She flailed in his arms, but he merely tightened his grip on her thighs, controlling her as his tongue flicked over her.
Her first orgasm tightened inside her, coiling before a series of rippling contractions that erupted from her core and rolled like a tsunami to her limbs. And his mouth never stopped, his tongue never slowed, increasing the force of the breaking waves. He kept on stroking and sucking and biting.
Only when her body went slack did he lift his head, smiling triumphantly with his cheeks still glistening from the moisture of her aroused body. He rubbed his face against her inner thigh and then scaled her body.
“Don’t tell me you never…” She tried to look stern but it was impossible after he’d given her the most spectacular orgasm of her life.
“I can hear your heart beat, sense the changes in your body. It is easy to tell what you like.”
“Like? I think you mean love.”
His look of triumph faded, but he held his smile. Still the joy was gone from his eyes. She had taken it by mentioning love. Was that something he thought never to find?
She stretched back on the rug, her body now slow and lethargic. She wanted to close her eyes and rest, but the pleasure of staring up at his handsome face and killer body was too much to give up. She tried to lighten the mood.
“You made a logistical error.”
One brow quirked as he took the bait. “Have I?”
“I’ve come now and just want to rest.” She glanced down between them, his erection now brushing his navel. “But you look ready to rock and roll.”
His confident grin never faltered as he sat back on his heels and dragged her body forward so her bottom pressed to his lap as her legs splayed about his hips as she lay back on the rug. He released his hold and captured her shoulders, slowly dragging his fingers over her skin with a delicate touch that stimulated and aroused. By the time he reached her breasts she was breathing hard. His fingers roamed about her breasts, ignoring the tightening peaks of her contracting nipples as he continued on, to stroke her belly, hips and inner thighs. She planted her feet and arched up to offer herself, rubbing her cleft against the long length of his erection.
