Ian (BBW Bear Shifter Wedding Romance) (Grizzly Groomsmen Book 4)

by Becca Fanning

  "So…they saw you like that?" Maya furrowed her brow. Adam grinned furtively.

  "Trust me, I don't think it came as too much of a surprise to them."

  "Whatever you say," she shrugged. After a pause, she took a deep breath, then continued.

  "On the beach, when you were…shifted. I've never seen that before."

  "Seen what?"

  "Someone so in control of it. You know? I didn't think you were going to hurt me or anything. It was…new."

  "Trust me, you never have to worry when you're around me," he reassured her, dabbing at his cut with the towel some more.

  "But…I thought I always would. With you being a shifter, and everything. I guess I just wanted to say that I think I might have been…wrong?"

  "You don't say?" Adam raised his eyebrows sarcastically, and she swatted at him playfully.

  "Look, you don't know how long I've been told that I should be scared of people…things…like you. And now that I'm not, I don't really know what to do with that feeling." Maya tried to explain. "I saw today…I saw you, and I saw that wolf, and I could see the difference. You were still in control, and I didn't feel scared or threatened or…anything."

  "I never want you to feel like that around me. I never want anyone to feel like that around me." He stated emphatically. He looked up to meet her gaze, and Maya sat down on the ledge of the windowsill. She needed space between them, needed time to think.

  "I can't just let go of everything I've been raised with. My mother…" Maya waved her hand in the air agitatedly. "If she found out that I was even talking to you, she'd probably never forgive me."

  "I don't go about announcing it to everyone I meet," Adam replied flippantly. "I mean, most people I know, they've got no idea. They don't have to, because it doesn't affect the way I live my life."

  "I know. You're just a person." Maya admitted, the words feeling foreign in her mouth. But she couldn't deny it any longer, with Adam sitting in front of her, right then, right there, she couldn't argue with the fact that he was no better or worse for what she'd seen on the beach.

  "Do you shift…often?" She asked, needing more information, needing to find something to rebel against. He shook his head.

  "Only when I need to, and I've got to say, the requirement to become a giant bear doesn't come up that often." He replied solemnly. Maya giggled, and felt a familiar flutter in the bottom of her stomach. Adam got up, and sat next to her on the ledge, pulling the towel away from his face and wincing slightly.

  "I don't think there's anything else I can do to convince you that being with me is safe," he murmured, covering her hand with his. "All I can do is prove it to you."

  And with that, Maya couldn't take it any longer. She leant in and pressed her lips against his, it felt like an age since their first kiss the night before. But this kiss felt different. It felt honest, and sweet, and open-she felt his tongue slip past her lips and into her mouth, and a wave of relief passed over her. She wanted Adam. She really did. And nothing was going to get in the way of that.

  Adam wrapped his arms around her waist, and drew her even closer to him. She draped her legs over his lap, and cupped his head in her hand, he tasted of sea air and cigarettes and something else, something she couldn't put her finger on. Outside, the storm raged on, even harder than before, but Maya couldn't have cared less. All that mattered to her now was Adam, and the knowledge that she accepted him for who he was.

  Adam stood up, and pulled Maya's legs up so they were around his waist. Carrying her over to the bed, he enmeshed his hand in her hair, pushing her back so that she was beneath him on the bed. The heat and strength of his body was almost more than she could bear, it had been a long time since she'd been with anyone, and she never thought her next hook-up would be with a shifter. She never thought any hook-up would be with a shifter, yet here she was, and all she could think was that she wanted more.

  "Is this okay?" Adam pulled back for a moment and whispered, looking into her eyes intently. She nodded, and pulled him back down, arching up her hips to meet his. It might have been the adrenalin of the last hour, the newness of him, or any combination of the above, but she felt a sudden urge to have him closer, to go further. He slid a hand under her top, running his fingers along her exposed ribcage and up towards her chest-her breath hitched in her throat, and she closed her eyes, losing herself to the sensation of it. Adam quickly pulled off his shirt, and she did likewise, pressing their bodies together again so their bare skin was touching. He felt even better than he looked on the beach, and Maya half-wondered why she hadn't just gone and done this the night before. He peppered kisses from the top of her throat all the way down to her breasts, hooking his fingers over the cups of her bra and yanking them down so she was exposed. He trailed his mouth across her breast, teasing her with the scrape of his teeth against her nipples, and she let out a small moan.

  "More?" He asked softly, flicking his tongue out across her skin tauntingly.

  "More," she gasped, grabbing his head and pulling it up in line with her mouth once again. As their lips met again, his hand snaked down, undoing the button on her jeans and wriggling across her panties. Even feeling his fingers through the fabric was almost painfully erotic, and Maya lifted her hips, meeting his touch. Their tongues were hard and fast and needy against one another's, their bodies moving in almost perfect unison.

  After ever-so-lightly tracing the outline of her panties for a moment, Adam slid his hand inside her underwear and quickly found her clit. She gasped with relief, she had never wanted someone to touch her so much before. He slowly skimmed his fingers across her sensitive flesh, brushing his hand across her labia and the crease where her pussy met her thighs. She groaned in exasperation, needing more, and needing it now, and he obliged. Sliding his fingers down, he entered her, slipping two digits into her slit. She sank her hands into his back, as if holding on for dear life-his lips found her neck once again, and he built up a rhythm, moving in and out of her with luxurious slowness as if he was savoring the sensation.

  "I think these need to come off," Adam murmured, moving his hand and sliding down her jeans and her panties. Maya gratefully kicked them off, her breath coming in short sharp bursts as she watched him undress himself. He threw himself back down next to her, staring into her eyes for a moment, and then kissed her once again, but this time his lips travelled further South, past her neck, down her breasts, across her stomach, until he was hovering his mouth only a few inches away from her pussy.

  "Can I?" He inquired, and as he spoke, his hot breath tickled her skin. She writhed underneath him, only able to give him a nod in response. But that was all he needed.

  Sealing his lips around her clit, he started by drawing slow, gentle circles around her sensitive nub. Maya groaned, reaching down to mesh her fingers into his hair, guiding his mouth against her. She could feel the ache growing deep inside her, and didn't know how much more she could take without some kind of release.

  He continued, licking with long, slow strokes from the bottom of her pussy right to the tip. She shuddered underneath him; if she'd known how good hooking up with a shifter would be, there's no way she would have left it as long as she had. She closed her eyes, and focused on the feeling, the feeling of his tongue darting artfully against her clit, the feeling of his mouth on her. It had been so long since she'd wanted a man the way she wanted Adam, and it felt so good. Arching her back up, she squirmed back and forth on the soft hotel sheets, silently begging for more. He seemed to read her mind, tracing quick shapes across her clit, leaving her shuddering with pleasure. Her breath was ragged, her skin burning, and she knew it would happen any minute-

  When she came, it felt like a revelation. It was far from the first orgasm she'd ever had, but something about the entire situation made everything more intense. Maybe because she knew she was breaking some kind of taboo, maybe because of everything that had already happened, but she felt a palpable sense of relief as her orgasm crested and broke, and Adam slow
ed his strokes down to practically nothing. Pulling his head back, he pressed one last kiss against the inside of her thigh before he crawled up level with her again. Her eyes were still closed, but she groped for him anyway, pulling him back on top of her and fumbling for the drawer next to the bed.

  "I really need you to fuck me right now," she moaned, her voice low and husky and still getting over the last few contractions of her orgasm. Her fingers finally connected with the "what-if" condoms she'd thrown into the suitcase last minute, and she pulled one out and handed it to Adam. He paused for a moment, looking at her, as if taking her in for the first time.

  "Please?" She prompted, and he snapped out of his reverie, grinning at her and placing a quick kiss on her temple before unwrapping the condom and sheathing himself. He leant back down over her, pulling her leg so that it sat over his shoulder, and positioned himself at her entrance.

  "Ready?" He panted, and Maya realized she could still see some of her own wetness on his lips. She pulled him in for a kiss, and in the same moment, he entered her.

  The feeling was exquisite-Maya had never much been one for doing anything beyond her first orgasm, but feeling Adam inside of her changed all of that. She pulled back from the kiss to look at him, his eyes were squeezed shut, and his teeth were just resting on his bottom lip as he was trying to hold back a cry of pleasure. Maya pushed herself up, grinding against him, trying to match his pace, and they began to move together.

  It felt as if they carried on for an eternity-holding each other close, feeling every moment of their first time. Maya couldn't get over how good it felt to be close to him, how incredible his skin felt against her's, cool and soft and new. She ran her nails down his back and gripped his butt, pushing him even deeper into her pussy, and he groaned-hearing the animalistic noise from between his lips reminded Maya exactly who he was, what he was.

  He grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her up, so that she was sitting astride him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she moved up and down, setting the pace, slowing everything down so that she could feel every inch of him inside of her. He looked up at her, almost reverently, and Maya felt another orgasm wash over her, this one softer, more mellow, but just as hot. She threw her head back theatrically and moaned loudly, knowing that Adam was appreciating the show. He thrust up into her, hard, and a few moments later she felt him find his own release inside her.

  They sat like that for a few moments longer-rocking back and forth, letting their breath return to normal, allowing their pulses to settle and the fog of arousal to clear from their minds. Maya slowly lifted herself off Adam, and he quickly disposed of the condom before the two of them lay next to each other on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Adam reached for her hand, and they interlocked fingers, the last thing Maya remembered before sleep took over was how sweet the gesture was, and how much she wanted to do all of that again as soon as humanly (or non-humanly, as the case may be) possible.

  When Maya woke a few hours later, it was dark, and her body was aching. She couldn't tell if it was from the cold and the rain and the running, or from the fuck session that had followed it, and frankly, she didn't care. Adam was sprawled out on the bed next her, gloriously naked, and she sat up so she could admire him fully. Part of her wanted to wake him up and do it all again, but she knew he'd be tired after a long day. Sliding out of bed, she grabbed her robe and headed to the shower.

  Slipping under the hot water, she contemplated everything that had happened, they were still in danger, but somehow, she felt safe. Adam was right, even though she'd been told her entire life to fear creatures like him, he was no more or less dangerous than any other guy she'd hooked up with. And, well, he was certainly a lot better at it than a lot of the guys she'd done before. Maybe Adam was a sign from the universe, telling her that she didn't have to believe everything she was raised with, and in fact, it was probably better for her that she didn't.

  Maya stepped out of the shower, quickly towel-drying her hair until it wasn't quite the sodden mess it had been earlier in the day. Pulling on her robe, she stepped back through to the bedroom, only to realize that Adam was already awake.

  "Sorry, did I-" Maya started, but Adam had already leaned forward and pulled her on to the bed before she could get the sentence out.

  "Yeah. But I'll find some way for you to make it up to me," Adam grinned, pulling her in for a kiss. And in that moment, none of it mattered, none of it even came close to him.

  Breakwater: Leo

  Star Bears I

  by

  Becca Fanning

  As a little girl, Annie had pictured how her dream wedding would go. She’d wear a white dress and walk down the aisle, looking out over a sea of smiling faces as she approached the altar. Her groom she had pictured less as a specific person and more as an amalgamation of traits she wanted: kind eyes, a warm smile, broad shoulders… things she associated with a gentle, good-hearted man. Her mother would be alive, and her father would be sober.

  She had always known this little fantasy of hers had been a mess of impossibilities. She just hadn’t pictured it going this awry.

  Running a hand over the bodice of her dress, Annie stared at herself in the mirror. Her reflection looked morosely back out at her. One pale, manicured hand ran over the bodice of her gown, fingers tracing over the thousands of crystals dotting the fabric like stars. Annie had never been this close to a diamond before. She’d certainly never thought she’d be wearing this many of them. Her auburn hair was piled on top of her head in an elaborate series of braids and curls and there was shimmering powder swiped across the lids of her grey eyes, making them seem bigger and brighter.

  Annie had never looked better, and she had never felt worse.

  Not for the first time since she had received the news of her own impending nuptials by way of her father drunkenly sweating through a confession, Annie cursed at the series of mundane-to-regrettable events that made up her life. She’d always been told growing up that if she worked hard enough, she could be and have anything she wanted. Bright-eyed idiot that she had been, she hadn’t realized that it was just a condescending platitude doled out to the have-nots of the universe to make them more complacent with their lot, to shift the blame away from the people overworking and underpaying their employees. Instead, she’d planted her feet, ignored the throngs of people she’d known growing up who worked hard day in and day out and barely had enough to eat, and decided to become a politician.

  She’d ended up as a waitress at dive bar instead. It hadn’t been all terrible—the other servers were friendly and she got free drinks—but spending anywhere between eight and fifteen hours a day avoiding groping hands and belligerent drunks hadn’t been how she wanted to spend her life. This was without her father showing up and explaining that he needed money—just this once!—and that he wouldn’t spend it all on cheap booze, only for a friend of his to call her to come pick him up once he’d drunk himself unconscious. At the time, it hadn’t seemed like much, just a continued state of existence tinged by the frustration that she could be so much more. Now it seemed like paradise. It was funny what made you learn to appreciate what you had. Sometimes it was a death, or a breakup, or getting fired. Sometimes it was your father telling you he’d accidentally sold you into being what amounted to a sex slave for a demonic autocrat with a warship that could eat the sun and a private army decked out in gear reminiscent of Civil War uniforms.

  Annie had laughed when her father had first broken the news, and she hadn’t laughed again since. The next week had been a blur of the sickening realization that no, it wasn’t a joke, and she needed to go to a meeting point, where Captain Jacob Strathmore of the ITC Appomattox had looked her over with his pale eyes like she was a side of meat and declared her acceptable as a wife so long as she knew her place. She’d been whisked away for fittings and lessons. The dress, decorations, and a priest had appeared seemingly by magic. It was impressive what one could do when his footsteps echoed across the universe. It h
ad been so hectic that Annie had barely had time to plan her escape.

  The best course of action, of course, would have been to disappear while still planetside, but that hadn’t been an option. As it were, she had looked at her choices, fluttered her eyelashes at the gaunt, spidery tyrant who owned her, and done her best to seem cowed. She had convinced him that he couldn’t see her in her dress, and he had smirked down at his pretty, witless bride-to-be and agreed to adhere to her charming little superstition. He had, of course, had a few of his agents watch her and serve as makeshift bridesmaids; all three of them lay unconscious on the floor, the spiked punch making a sticky puddle where one had dropped her cup on the way down. Annie felt a pang of remorse for the women who Strathmore would doubtlessly punish severely when he discovered her absence, but then again they had all continued to wake up and put on their horrendous uniforms and do an unhinged warlord’s bidding day after day when the mechanics behind putting a blaster to their heads and pulling the trigger were fairly simple. She quelled her sympathy and checked the hallway outside her door.