Rapid Pulse: A Limited Edition Spicy Romance Collection

by Gina Kincade

  Star felt around for her gun, realizing with horror that she’d left it behind in her bathroom. She edged backwards towards the door.

  “You’re pretty,” the man said.

  Her fingers found the door handle. Her palms were sweaty, sliding over it, unable to fully grasp it. The man was coming closer.

  Recognition hit her. She knew this man. He’d changed so drastically that for a moment she couldn’t fully comprehend that it was really him.

  “Gavin?” she asked him, shocked.

  He looked surprised. “You finally recognized me.” He laughed bitterly. “I look different now. That’s what crack does to a person.”

  They’d done drugs together, along with Ryan. She hadn’t known Gavin well, but back then he’d been so different. She stopped trying to open the door, really looking at him. She sensed a kindred soul, a defeated person just like her. Yet Gavin was still using. Perhaps she could help him?

  But I changed. I changed so much even I don’t recognize myself.

  “I know what you’re going through,” said Star kindly. “I’ve been through it.”

  She pulled her sleeves back, one at a time. The scars of track marks were still there, branding her forever.

  “I can help you,” she told him.

  He shook his head. “You can’t help me. You did this to me! You made me into this freak who lost everything!”

  He pulled a small gun out of his pocket and aimed it at her head. She stifled a scream, panic setting in.

  “Don’t do this,” Star begged. “Please.”

  “You made me,” said Gavin. “I can un-make you.”

  His finger trembled on the trigger for a moment. Star closed her eyes, suddenly realizing she didn’t want to die. For so long she’d craved death to escape her past. Now she had a new life and she was moving on. She had so much to live for.

  There was a loud growl. She opened her eyes to see Gavin thrown aside by the paw of a polar bear.

  What the fuck?

  Chapter 5

  The bear turned to her. She pressed herself against the door, more terrified than ever. She’d known this junkie once upon a time who was obsessed with animals. He knew everything, including the fact that polar bears were the largest land based predators. She was in mortal danger.

  A gun shot ricocheted around the alley. The polar bear roared in anger and charged towards Gavin. He dropped his gun and ran. The bear stopped and sniffed the weapon before turning back to Star again.

  What the hell do I do?

  She held her hands out. “I mean you no harm.”

  She noticed blood on the bear’s shoulder, which brought out her long dormant nurturing side. The bear seemed to wobble on its huge paws before falling against the wall.

  What the hell...

  She ran to the bear, watching as its huge belly rose and fell. It seemed to be breathing normally, but the wound was still bleeding.

  “I’m just going to check the wound,” she told it. Her voice was calm. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

  The bear looked at her and seemed to nod its head. She shrugged her shoulders and pulled the thick white fur aside to check the wound. The bullet had gone right through the flesh and out the other side. Even now the blood was clotting. He was going to be fine.

  “You’re going to be okay,” she said, smiling.

  She watched with growing fascination as the wound started sealing itself up right in front of her. In the space of a minute, there wasn’t even any indication that the bear had even been shot.

  “What’s going on?” she mumbled.

  The bear turned to her. She stepped back, confused, wondering whether this was all some sort of hallucination. Maybe she had taken drugs after all and none of this was happening.

  EVERETT COULDN’T TAKE the confused look on Star’s face any longer. She looked like she was about to pass out.

  I have to show her.

  He took a deep breath and allowed the change to come over him.

  “Hi Star,” he said, his voice rough. It always was after he’d been a bear. “It’s me, Everett.”

  Suffice to say Star was even more gob smacked than before. She shook her head, as if denying that what she was seeing was real.

  He stood up. His shoulder still ached. The flesh under the skin was still healing, and would be for another few days.

  “What’s going on?” she demanded.

  “It’s a very long story,” said Everett. “You sure you want to hear it?”

  She crossed her arms, seemed to calm down. “Sure.”

  He was about to explain when he felt dizzy all of a sudden. The last thing he heard before passing out was Star screaming for help.

  “ARE YOU TELLING ME he’s a...a were-polar bear?”

  Cable laughed. “That sounds very long winded. I prefer polar bear shifter.”

  “How long have you known about this?”

  “About as long as I’ve known him.”

  “This is batshit crazy! Are there other things out there? Werewolves?”

  “I don’t know. He doesn’t know, either. As far as we know, he’s the only one of his kind.”

  “Oh. That’s kinda sad.”

  Everett opened his eyes, focusing on the scene. He was in Cable’s bed in his apartment above the bar. Queen memorabilia was all over the walls, including a portrait of Freddie Mercury Cable had painted himself. He was a good artist.

  “So Gavin’s parents haven’t seen him?” Cable asked.

  “I seduced him with drugs and I ruined his life. His father told me I was the devil.” Star shook her head sadly. “Gavin killed his mother while high. He’s wanted for murder and theft and a million other crimes.”

  “This isn’t your fault.”

  “It is my fault. I know that. When I met Gavin he was just a teenage runaway. I got him started on the drugs. He blames me for his shitty life and he’s right.” She sighed heavily. “First the weird calls and then Gavin and now polar bears.”

  “Weird calls?”

  “Damn. It’s Gavin, isn’t it?”

  Star turned her eyes on Everett, noticing he was awake for the first time. She shot Cable a glance as if telling him to be quiet, but it was too late. He knew everything now, or at least most of it.

  But what made her turn to drugs in the first place? I thought she was a computer programmer in Silicon Valley.

  “How do you feel?” Cable asked. “You okay?”

  He sat by the side of the bed, feeling Everett’s pulse with his cold hands. Star gave him a reassuring smile before exiting the bedroom. Everett was sad to see her go. He wanted to know more about her. She was a mystery.

  “I’m fine,” Everett insisted, sitting up. “Why am I tucked up in bed like an invalid? I feel like an old man.”

  “You were shot,” said Cable. “You fainted.”

  “I’m fine. I heal like Wolverine, remember?”

  “You gave me a shock anyway. Don’t flake out like that on me again. You were out for a whole day!”

  “A whole day?”

  His sister would be fuming with him. He was supposed to be taking his nieces to the cinema. He’d have to come up with a good excuse.

  Everett climbed out of bed, stretching his shoulder. It still felt stiff, but he could cope with the pain until it healed properly. He’d just never been shot before. How could he know how his body would react?

  “That was a rush,” he admitted.

  Cable looked confused. “What do you mean?”

  “When I saw Star being threatened, I felt something inside...some kind of need to protect her.”

  “You always were the hero. Why do you think you joined the army?”

  “I shot terrorists.”

  “Protecting the people who would’ve been killed by them. You were always a hero. You just didn’t realize it.”

  Everett nodded, realizing Cable was right. He’d always had a protective instinct, right back from the time he’d stopped one of his friends from crushing
an ant when they’d been at kindergarten.

  “What does this mean?” Everett asked.

  “Maybe you would be a good deputy after all,” Cable conceded.

  Everett nodded. “Maybe I will.”

  But would that be enough? He knew he didn’t want to go back to the army. He’d had enough of guns and bullets to last a lifetime. Yet if he became a local deputy he’d be required to carry a gun around with him.

  Except when I’m a bear I have the power, more power than any gun.

  “I’ll think about it,” he said, eager to get back home and change clothes. He still smelled of the alleyway. “I’ll think about it a lot.”

  “Anyway, I’m off to the wholesalers again,” said Cable. “They’re giving me a discount on this great new microbrew. Rest.”

  Everett ignored him as he left. He didn’t have time to rest. He had to really think about what to do now. Being a deputy wasn’t enough for him. There had to be another way.

  Star cleared her throat by the doorway. “You okay?”

  “I heal pretty quickly,” he admitted. He smiled up at her. “Thank you.”

  “You were never in any danger of dying.”

  “I know, but I’d much rather wake up here than in a filthy alleyway.”

  She sat by the bed, seemingly torn over what to say. He knew what she was feeling. He’d felt the same way when he first realized he could change into a polar bear. Her whole world had changed.

  “Ask anything you want,” he said.

  She stared into his eyes. “Your eyes stay the same.”

  “Do they?”

  “I think I knew it was you all along. My brain just wouldn’t put two and two together.”

  “You were very brave out there.”

  Star looked away shyly. “I freaked out. I could’ve taken him normally. I know how to defend myself. I had to learn how to defend myself. But when I saw that gun...it brought back too many bed memories and I froze.”

  She shivered. He grasped her hand. She tried to pull away like he was trying to attack her, but he gripped tighter, staring into her, proving that he meant her no harm. She stopped struggling.

  “I haven’t had sex in a while,” she admitted.

  “Is that an offer?” he asked.

  “Make me believe that all men aren’t scum.”

  “What happened to you?”

  She climbed onto the bed, ignoring his words.

  Star’s mouth against his sent his head in a tizzy. He sucked on her tender bottom lip and moaned in her mouth. Everything about this felt so wrong. He would have pulled away if it weren’t for his hands kneading her nipples through her tight top.

  This is Cable’s sister! He’d never forgive me!

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, uncertain. “You don’t want me?”

  The hurt in her voice made him feel like a bastard. “Of course I do.”

  “But we only really just met,” she admitted. “I’m not the same girl you knew in high school.”

  “You’ve changed.”

  She pressed her hand against his pants, feeling the shape of his hard cock straining against the material.

  “I want sex,” she demanded. “I want it now.” She pushed against his cock and he groaned. “You want me, too. I can feel it.”

  STAR FELT HER WETNESS growing, and her patience wavering. She needed him right now. His saving of her had driven her so hot with desire she was surprised she could control herself. She didn’t care that he could change into a polar bear. It was the man she craved. It was the man she’d always craved, right from the very moment she realized she could feel that way about a man.

  Everett cupped her breast and squeezed. She moved her hand across his neck. His skin was soft and he smelled so masculine it was driving her crazy. He wouldn’t be able to resist her. She was a temptation that he couldn’t ignore, no matter that she was his best friend’s sister.

  Star moaned. “Oh god, you feel so good.”

  “We could stop,” he suggested.

  He was giving them both a way out, to stop this before it got any further. Their one act of lust and passion could destroy Cable if what they did ever got out.

  Cable is in love with him. This would devastate him.

  “Don’t stop,” she ordered.

  Her brother didn’t have to know, did he?

  He smiled. “I don’t want to stop, either.”

  He undid the buttons on her top. She loved the semi-shocked look on his face as he realized she wasn’t wearing a bra. She never wore a bra. They made her feel restricted.

  His mouth on her neck made her gasp for breath. His lips were rough, the whiskers of his beard prickling her skin. What would those lips feel like on other, more intimate parts of her body? What would his tongue feel like, licking her, lapping at her?

  Everett took one of Star’s breasts up to his mouth. His eyes caught hers, both of them realizing they had so much to lose, but they ignored it. She bit down on her bottom lip gently as she pushed his head to her breast. She needed the contact of his tongue.

  Everett sucked the hardened nipple in his mouth. She moaned hard.

  He looked up at her again. “You have a tattoo of a dove on your left breast.”

  “Kiss it,” she commanded.

  His tongue swirled mercilessly around her hard nipple. His mouth was hot and warm as his tongue slipped down, tracing circles around her tattoo. She had many more tattoos. She was going to make him caress them all.

  He pulled away and climbed off the bed. She slowly pushed her jeans down, taking her panties with them. There were tattoos on her legs, small ones of butterflies, each one bursting with color. He kissed each one, including the tattoo of a phoenix that almost touched the edge of her vagina.

  When she lay down, he spread her thick toned legs and proceeded to lick her. Everett flattened his heavy, fat tongue against the juicy folds of Star’s lower lips. He sipped on her sweet juices and drew maddening circles along the inner folds of her pussy. He was very, very good at going down on her.

  This is the first time a man has gone down on me. Who knew it felt like heaven?

  Star tangled her fingers in his hair and ground her hips upward. Everett took her engorged clit in his mouth. She cried out, squeezed her eyes shut in a bid to hold on to what little sanity she could maintain. She felt like she was on fire. Her skin burned everywhere Everett touched. Everett sucked hard. He moaned his intentions as his erection pushed against his jeans, the force and power of it almost ripping through. She knew he wanted to be inside of her. He was desperate.

  Star rolled her hips against his mouth. She was on the verge of a searing orgasm and wouldn’t let him go until she came. Everett began to slide his tongue in and out, in and out. His tongue probed deep inside her sweltering wet walls.

  HER SWEET, SPICY TASTE thrilled him. His head throbbed with tension from the buildup. Star’s second orgasm came as a tsunami wave smashing against the shore. She shook violently as her body gave into its most primal desires. Everett increased his pace as he feasted on her.

  When her body grew limp, he stood up over her. Her dark brown eyes still closed, she looked like a sleeping angel. Everett paused for a second to gorge himself on the sight of her. Had he ever met anyone, seen anyone, as delectable as this? Had he ever felt such unleashed lust before?

  His mind briefly flickered back to Aina. Their lovemaking had been good, sometimes great, but it had never been like this, so off the leash. Maybe he was better off without his Japanese beauty. Did they ever really belong together anyway? Was he only holding on to her because she’d been the safe option? Everett didn’t like safe, he never had, otherwise he never would’ve taken up such a dangerous profession as an army sniper. He wanted passion and danger and mystery and the unpredictable. Star was certainly all of those things, rolled up into one sexy package.

  She inhaled sharply and opened her eyes. He liked the way her tanned skin caught in the soft bedroom light. She almost shined.

 
“I think it’s your turn now,” she said, winking at him.

  STAR CRAWLED ON ALL fours to the edge of the bed. Everett stood perfectly still as she slowly unfastened his belt and pushed them down his thick, muscular thighs. The hairs on his tanned legs were like peach fuzz.

  She took a deep breath before pulling down his boxer briefs. His erect penis almost hit her in the face as it was freed. It was thick, about nine inches long. His pubic hairs were black and wild, untamed, and his balls hung low and big.

  Star took his erection in her hand and began to stroke it. Everett rocked on his heels. He shifted his weight and planted his feet to keep from falling. Star kissed his exposed hipbone. Her soft, wet mouth lingered on the sensitive pressure point. Everett moaned and rolled his head back. He seemed to be enjoying the feel of her lazily tracing the lines of his body.

  She drew his hard cock into her mouth. Everett gasped. His eyes rolled upward as she sucked his thick manhood. Star took her time. She savored his masculine scent and taste. Slowly she sucked his bulbous head and shaft until Everett’s blood rushed to his lower head. She filled her mouth with his hard on. She sucked it deep into the back of her throat and gagged on the size of him.

  She used her hand to grip his tight butt cheeks as he continued to pump his cock into her mouth. His dick bounced against the back of her throat. Her mouth filled with saliva as she held it open for him. Everett held her head and pushed his cock to the back of her throat until it disappeared in her mouth. Star clenched his hips and held her breath. Her eyes squeezed closed as low oxygen set in. Everett pulled it out and her mouth spilled saliva. She was able to suck in a few quick breaths before he repeated the action again. Over and over she deep throated him, as Everett’s face grew red as his mounting orgasm turned his blood to fire in his veins.

  Everett’s orgasm was at the tip of his cock. Star wrapped her hands around his shaft and stroked up and down while she concentrated on his sensitive head. Everett moaned and rocked. He locked his fingers behind his head as he tried to control himself. He whispered Star’s name. The combination of her hands and mouth was sending him into a wild frenzy. Star pulled free of Everett’s cock. Not yet.