Justin moved lower, covering her throat with kisses and the occasional nip, then traced the line of her collarbones with lips and tongue.
Elle squirmed beneath him, silently urging him to go lower. His earlier teasing touches on her breasts had left her hungry for more.
Justin raised his head and smirked at her.
"Is there something in particular you'd like me to do? Go on, you can ask me anything…," he purred.
"Damn it, Justin Long," Elle exploded. She arched her back and offered herself to him. "You know what I want."
"Maybe," he teased. "But I just want to hear you say it."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "You look like a cat playing with a mouse…but I'm no mouse," she warned him with pretend menace. "I'm a bear, and if you push me too far, I'll just take what I want."
"Ooh, now, that could be fun."
Laughing, he rolled off her and flopped in pretend submission onto the mattress next to her.
"Please don't hurt me," he begged playfully. "I've never been taken by a bear before."
"Justin!" she all but screamed in frustration.
He just looked up at her, smirking.
"Please. Come back here," she tried in a softer tone. "You're just so…manly, and I want you so badly."
He raised one tawny brow. "And…?"
"And I want you to touch my breasts. Now," she growled, then added, with an effort, "Please."
He laughed. "You should know I can't resist when you ask me so nicely." He moved back over her. "Now…where was I?"
A moment later, his teeth closed delicately around her nipple.
Elle gasped at the jolt of pleasure that shot through her.
The sound seemed to encourage Justin, and he spent a long time worshipping her breasts. He seemed to know exactly what she needed—when to caress her with a feather-light brush of his lips or tongue and when to use his teeth.
Elle's gasps quickly turned to moans under his attentions.
She was aware only of pure, throbbing need as he finally began to make his way lower with soft kisses.
His warm, wet tongue circled her navel, then he went lower as she eagerly spread her legs.
Justin dipped his head between her thighs and did something with his tongue that had her seeing stars. She arched and cried out and saw him grinning.
"Glad you liked that," Justin said, with justifiable smugness.
Then he bent his head and applied himself as she panted and squirmed and made noises that probably would mortify her if she thought about it later.
Right now, though, she was rising higher and higher on a cresting wave of almost unbearable pleasure. She clutched at his short hair, silently urging him on.
When she climaxed, it felt like she was falling through a sky filled with bright points of sensation. Elle cried out, racked by intense waves of pleasure and unable to restrain herself.
She had barely floated back down, her climax still rippling through her, when she heard Justin growl, "I can't wait any longer, Elle."
He moved up and over her. She reached down and eagerly guided his thick length into her.
With a groan, Justin thrust his hips forward, filling and stretching her. It felt divine to feel him against her and inside her. Her arousal, which hadn't died away despite her climax, kindled back to life.
He took her fast and hard, and to her surprise, she climaxed a second time before he stiffened against her and groaned with his own release.
When he was done, he kissed her softly.
"I've been wanting to do that since I met you," he confessed. "Thank you."
Elle had never been thanked for sex before. Were all Texans this polite?
"The pleasure was all mine," she responded and then heard herself giggling like a teenager.
When she got herself back under control, she kissed the corner of his mouth, feeling the exciting scrape of stubble against her lips. "I should be thanking you. It's been a really long time for me."
"Me, too," he agreed. "But worth the wait. Elle, you are a very special lady."
They cuddled together for a while, exchanging gentle caresses that quickly stoked the fire inside Elle once more. She could feel Justin's rapidly renewing interest pressing against her thigh, and smiled with anticipation.
She felt happy, beautiful, and sexy. And very, very glad for shifter stamina as Justin lifted her on top of him and filled her once more.
They made love for hours, by turns slow and gentle, hard and fast. His scarred body shone with sweat in the moonlight as he moved tirelessly inside her, and his mouth and fingers worked the most delightful magic on her body.
In the depths of the night, Elle felt like someone who had been wandering in a desert for a long time and had finally come upon a spring of clear, life-giving water.
Justin's caresses were like that water. She felt renewed and revitalized and thirsty for more. No matter how many times he brought her to climax, she felt like she couldn't get enough of him.
And he seemed to feel the same about her.
Too bad this isn't going anywhere real, she thought, much later, when she was on the verge of drifting off to sleep in his arms. I wish he wasn't leaving so soon.
Make him stay, her bear informed her.
Oh honey, I wish I could.
* * *
In the morning, it felt so good and so right to wake up with one of Elle's arms flung across his waist, in a soft bed filled with the scents of their lovemaking and a flood of warm golden light spilling around the curtains and pooling on the antique Persian carpet.
I want her for our mate, his cat informed Justin.
Me, too, Justin responded, still groggy with sleep.
Then memory and reason kicked in. So did regret.
He didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay on this ranch forever, with Elle sharing this bed with him every night.
Was there some way he could parlay this temporary affair into something more permanent?
And would Elle even be open to a long-term relationship? Justin was old enough to know that a quick fling like the one they were currently enjoying didn't involve messy relocations or family politics the way that a more settled arrangement would.
On the other hand, he and Elle were now connected by marriage. Even if he left now to pursue his plans back home in Wildcat Springs, they'd see each other again at Thanksgiving. And maybe enjoy another night like this one.
It was the most sensible and grown-up way to handle things.
So why did it feel so unsatisfying?
His cat wanted to make a move to claim Elle as their mate on the spot, before any rival male could show up and court her.
And Justin knew there were rival males out there, hungry for the lovely widow. So far, he'd only met one of them, a pathetic Ordinary, but Bearpaw Ridge was a shifter community.
It was only a matter of time before he'd lose her to someone willing to commit to her.
But she's already been a widow for a long time, Justin's human half argued.
His cat didn't care.
As if his restless thoughts had touched her, Elle stirred and opened her eyes.
She stroked Justin's torso, tracing a set of scars that crossed his ribs from side to side. "Morning," she murmured.
"Morning." He smiled at her and gently pushed her soft, tousled hair out of her face before giving her the kind of thorough kiss that someone as special and sexy as Elle deserved.
That led to fresh wave of seductive scents rising from her, which in turn roused his animal hungers and stirred him to action.
It wasn't long before she was gasping and trying to restrain those lovely moans. That only inspired him to greater efforts.
Elle was everything he wanted in a woman—soft and responsive and enthusiastic, with a steely core of strength.
She demonstrated that strength when she unexpectedly turned the tables on him.
Justin suddenly found himself on his back with his hips pinned to the mattress and Elle's warm,
deliciously plump lips wrapped around his cock as she worked to send him straight to heaven.
When he was teetering on the brink, she straddled him with those long, lovely legs of hers, and ruthlessly rode him over the edge to their mutual satisfaction.
Damn, but he loved a woman who wasn't afraid to take control once in a while!
And best of all, she apparently found him as irresistible as he found her.
"Mrs. Swanson, you're a damned sight better than coffee in the morning," he joked, when she was cuddled up against him in the afterglow.
He was spooning her, with her head pillowed on his bicep, the lovely soft curve of her bottom nestled against his groin and one soft breast filling his free hand. He loved stroking it and feeling the nipple rise and stiffen against his fingers as the scent of her renewed arousal filled his senses.
Elle chuckled. "And you're turning me into a sex maniac, Mr. Long," she responded.
"All just part of my evil sabertooth nature," he assured her. "I intend to have my wicked way with you until you surrender."
"And then what?" Her hand came up to cover his.
"I haven't quite worked out the rest of the plan," he admitted. "I'm having too much fun with the wicked ways stage."
He liked making her laugh. It was such a joyous sound, coming from her, and he loved the way that her soft brown eyes lit up.
Burdened with running a ranch and raising five boys on her own, it seemed to him, she probably hadn't had a lot to laugh about.
Well, he intended to change all that. While he was here, anyway.
After a while, she kissed him and sat up. "Want to join me for a shower before I fix us some breakfast?"
"Sure," he agreed.
Then he heard his cellphone ringing from the pocket of his jeans, currently located somewhere on the floor.
He and Elle exited the bed from opposite sides.
Justin grabbed his jeans and fumbled to locate his phone. If someone was calling him this early, it had to be important.
"I'll get the water going. Come on in when you've finished your call," Elle said and vanished into the adjoining bathroom.
Justin finally managed to extricate his phone. He saw it was Jim de León, and hit Answer.
"Hey, it's Justin."
"We got a big problem," Jim said without any preamble. "If you're still fixin' to become Pride First, you need to get your ass home as soon as possible."
Chapter 9
It was a beautiful day for a ramble through the Salmon-Challis National Forest.
After sharing a leisurely shower and an even more leisurely breakfast with Justin, Elle had packed a cooler filled with delicious leftovers from the wedding reception. Then she'd taken one of the ranch's pickup trucks and driven them both several bumpy miles up an access road before parking in a meadow thick with yellow and white flowers.
Justin gallantly insisted on carrying the cooler for the three-mile hike to her secret lake.
Though the only trails in this area were those created by deer and bighorn sheep, Elle confidently led the way through the trees and up grassy hillsides.
Justin seemed lost in his own thoughts for most of the walk, but when they climbed one final hillside, following a game trail that zigged and zagged up a steep slope and emerged into a small valley, he stopped and looked around.
Elle watched him closely for his reaction.
"Her" lake was really more of a pond created by a beaver dam built across a mountain stream.
She had been coming here since she was a teenager. It was her special place, the surface of the lake blanketed by water lilies, and the whole thing framed by smooth boulders along the edges of the pond and the high, jagged peaks of the mountains surrounding the valley.
The only people who knew about this place were the Swansons. When the boys were younger and still coming to terms with their ability to shift, she had brought them here to practice.
"You were right," Justin said, and she saw delight and wonder in his expression. "This is the perfect place for a picnic." He turned to her, his eyes shaded by his cowboy hat. "Thank you for sharing it with me."
"I've always loved this place," she replied. "Whenever I'm stressed or upset, I know that if I come here, I'll calm down and find some inner peace."
The corners of Justin's mouth quirked. "And how often did you come here after finding out that your son's new mate was a sabertooth shifter?"
Ouch. Elle smiled wryly.
"A couple of times," she admitted. "But mostly because Thor was being very protective and kept pushing my buttons."
She looked around and took a deep breath, tasting all of the clean, wild scents.
"I came here a lot in the weeks after Ashton's death," she said. "The world felt horribly out of balance, and I was trying to stay sane and keep everything running smoothly with four little boys and while hugely pregnant with Ash." She shook her head. "I don't know what I would have done without Margaret. She had three children of her own, but she was willing to babysit mine when I needed to get away for a couple of hours."
"I felt the same way after Liza died," Justin said quietly. He walked over to Elle and put an arm around her shoulders. "She was a geologist with Sigil Oil and on assignment in the Gulf of Guinea, just off the coast of Nigeria. A violent thunderstorm blew up suddenly, and her helicopter…" She heard him take a deep, shuddering breath. "Disappeared. They eventually found the wreckage, so at least I didn't have to wonder what had happened to her."
"How old was Cassie when your mate passed away?" Elle asked, putting her arm around his waist.
"Twelve." Justin gave a dry chuckle. "Let's just say we had a challenging few years before she graduated from high school and headed off to attend college in Austin."
They stood at the edge of the tiny lake for a few moments longer. Then Elle urged Justin forward.
"Let's put the cooler down here and shift," she suggested.
He obligingly wedged the cooler between two boulders, then glanced up at her, his blue-green eyes twinkling. "Aren't you supposed to hoist this up in a tree or something to keep the bears from looting it?"
Elle had already removed her hiking sandals and was in the process of pulling her T-shirt up and over her head.
She stopped long enough to point at a set of claw marks gouged into the bark of nearby tree.
"They wouldn't dare," she said firmly. "I made sure to claim this lake years ago and to maintain the territory markers. This place is mine."
Justin laughed and bent to pull off his boots. "And I imagine none of the local bear population dares to challenge you for it."
"They know better," Elle assured him.
When they had both stripped off their clothes and stood naked in the warm sunlight, Elle took a moment to admire Justin's body, scars and all.
He was as lithe and tightly muscled as a panther, she thought, with dark golden hair sprinkled across his chest and clustered at his groin. The long parallel lines of his scars only highlighted the clean lines of his chest and torso.
The deep scratches that Matt had inflicted yesterday were scabbed over and well on their way to healing.
After their shower together this morning, Justin had refused the offer of a fresh set of bandages, on the grounds that fresh air and sunshine would help the healing process.
Elle completed her shift before Justin did. Shifting between her human and bear shapes was a mildly uncomfortable process as her body stretched and rearranged itself, but at least it was over quickly.
When she was in her woman-shape, Elle's senses were many times sharper than an Ordinary human's. But that was nothing to the rich tapestry of scents and sounds that opened up to her when she shifted to her bear form.
The world as experienced in her human shape was made of pale watercolors and muted smells. But when she was a bear, the universe around her sprang into glorious high definition, and the air became thickly fragrant with a rich, organic brew of scents.
She stretched happily and took
a deep lungful of pine and water, sun-warmed rock and decomposing leaf litter, and all the living things in this place, from beetle grubs deep in a rotting log to the golden eagle soaring overhead.
Elle glanced over to Justin, who was still in the middle of his shift.
The process looked agonizing, and it took a long time compared to that of wolves and bears. She had once been told that the oldest shifter lineages also had the most difficulty shifting.
Based on what she was seeing now, that sounded about right.
She felt a stab of guilt at seeing him writhe in agony, caught halfway between man and sabertooth cat, and decided to give him a modicum of privacy.
So she made the rounds of her lake, renewing her territorial markers by using her long, curving claws on tree trunks and rubbing her back and sides against other trees in the area.
When Justin rose to four feet at last, she found his other shape utterly magnificent.
As a sabertooth cat, Justin was larger than a fully grown lion. His tawny brown fur was a shade or two darker than his human hair, and thick and shaggy, with faint gray spots and stripes. He had an impressive mane of chestnut brown tipped with gold, and a pair of impossibly long, wickedly sharp fangs descending from his upper jaw.
He padded up to her, sleek and graceful, and touched his nose to hers before rubbing his cheek against her muzzle and under her chin. She heard him purring, the sound nearly as loud as the generators at yesterday's wedding reception.
He walked around her, rubbing the full length of his body against hers as he passed, the deep vibrations from his purrs caressing her through her thick pelt.
His scent, wild and musky, rose around her, and she realized that he was marking her in the same way that a house cat did.
The bear liked the fact that Justin's cat was claiming them in some way.
Elle wasn't so sure.
This is only supposed to be a fling, she reminded herself. Maybe Justin does this to every female he encounters while he's shifted.
Oh, her bear didn't like that at all. And neither did Elle, truth be told.
Burn (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 5) Page 7
