Jared stood there frozen for a second, not knowing how to react, and then he reached his arms around her and held her close. A long breath escaped his body. He felt as if a part of him was leaving, a part that had kept him going, kept him moving as if down a long tunnel. Now before him it all opened up. He was at a crossroads; he just needed to choose which way to go.
Chapter Fourteen – Kelly
The air was cool and fresh on her face as they headed into the woods. All around them, the wildlife went about its business, taking no notice of the two people who passed by. They were all too busy gathering food for their young in burrows and nests. Kelly smiled to herself. This trip had rejuvenated her, had given her something outside of her mundane existence to focus on.
“What do you usually do when you come here?” she asked, as she followed him along a deer trail.
“Walk, run, explore. Although these days I know the mountain so well, I just tend to hit my favorite trails.” He gave her an odd look. Was he holding something back? The moment passed and he turned to focus on the path, ducking under branches and stepping over fallen logs, always keeping an eye on her and whether she was coping with the terrain.
“You know, from what I saw of you at the office, I would have put you down for a stuffy suit type.” She stepped over a log, her hair catching on a low branch. Pausing to extricate herself, she saw him smile and then come back to help her.
“A stuffy suit. Is that what my employees call me?” he asked, his fingers deftly untangling her hair. Instead of walking on further, he stopped and looked into her eyes. Humor replaced the desire she had seen last night. He was laughing at her, and she could see why. He was a lot fitter than she, and her breathing was becoming labored and her cheeks red, not to mention her hair probably looked tempting to any passing bird to set up home in.
“I look that bad?” she asked.
Immediately his arm snaked around her waist and he pulled her close to him, she could feel the press of his cock against her hip. Damn, that made her feel horny.
“You look beautiful. Wild.” He stroked her hair back from her face. “And fierce.”
She laughed. “You don’t have to humor me. You pai…”
“Don’t say it.” Then his lips claimed hers, taking the words from her. Confused, she wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him as her legs threatened to give way. His hand moved lower, sliding over her bottom and caressing her flesh, exciting her body, while his lips moved against hers, soft, sensual, leaving her breathless.
“Do you want to explain what the hell is going on?” she asked, when at last he let her go.
“Not here.” He looked around them and then his eyes locked with hers. “When we get to the waterfall, I’ll try to explain.”
“Try to explain? Is it that complicated?” she asked, worried what secret it was he might be hiding.
“In a way, yes.”
He released her and headed off up the trail, his pace quickening as if he was eager to get to their destination. With her curiosity getting the better of her, Kelly half-ran to catch up, finding the stamina to keep up with him as they followed the winding path through trees, across an open plain, and then up a steep cliff, where he had to help her, pulling her up the steep parts, until they reached a wide ledge. There he stopped.
“This is one of my favorite views,” he said, gazing out across the mountainside.
“Wow. I didn’t realize we had climbed so high,” she said, taking in the small silver river that sparkled in the afternoon sun as it threaded its way through the green valley below. “It’s beautiful.”
“Feels like we are in a different world, doesn’t it?” he asked.
“Yes. I can see why you like to come here to escape.”
“Do you like escaping your life, Kelly?” he asked, and when she looked at his face, she could see it was a sincere question.
“In some ways.” She thought about it for a moment. “But I couldn’t just run away and leave my family.”
“Are they that important to you?” he asked.
“Yes. Why else would I have shackled myself with two jobs to keep us afloat?” She studied his face. “Just like you took on the responsibility of your family when your dad left.” She laughed. “You made a much better job of it, though.”
“I got lucky, and I traded on that luck.”
“Don’t undersell yourself. You might have had one lucky break, but that doesn’t automatically mean you can turn it into a fortune. Or in your case, a megafortune.”
“So even if I offered you a cool million, you wouldn’t run away with me?”
The smile vanished from her face. “You can’t buy me like that.”
“I thought I already had.” He stepped closer, the full weight of his animal magnetism almost crushing her.
“For one weekend, and that was just my body, remember?” She made herself sound confident.
“Haven’t I bought your soul too?” His eyes were dark, and a shiver of apprehension passed through her.
“No, Jared, you have not bought my soul. Nor my mind.”
He relaxed and smiled at her. “Shall we go?”
“What? Are you mad?” She stepped in front of him as he was about to walk off. “You can’t just throw out comments like that and then walk off.”
“I just did.” His eyes were dancing, and a smile fluttered over his lips.
“Was that a test?” she asked, appalled.
“In a way.”
“Why? What do you want from me, Jared?” For some reason she was beginning to feel like his equal, and equals used first names. “Jared?”
“When we get to the waterfall.” He towered above her, and she should have felt intimidated, but something in the way he treated her made her feel as if he would never hurt her. Those exact words he had said in the car came back to her: all I can tell you is I won’t hurt you. I swear, and she stepped aside, wanting to know what exactly Jared Sinclair was up to.
Chapter Fifteen – Jared
He was going to tell her everything. He knew he must be crazy, but for once he and his bear were in agreement. It was time to quit messing around; they wanted their mate in their life, and that was not going to happen unless she knew about his bear.
And if she freaked out? He’d pay her off, pay for her silence, and live the rest of his life pining for her.
The waterfall was only a hundred feet away; the thundering water could already be heard. Thanks to the spring rains, it would be at its most impressive right now, and as they turned a corner in the path, he heard Kelly gasp as it came into view. There was a large plume of spray hovering over the pool that the water plummeted into, giving the whole scene an ethereal quality. He liked that, it would make what he had to show her more believable.
Watching a man turn into a bear was much more natural when you were surrounded by trees and animals and nature. If this had taken place in the city, she would be more freaked out.
Wait, he had no idea if she was going to freak out anyway.
“This is amazing.” She rushed forward, running to the pool, her hair already damp from the spray and curling around her face. “Can we swim?”
“It might be cold,” he said, knowing his bear blood would stand it, but as a human, she would find it freezing.
“Who cares,” she said and began to strip. First she pulled her sweater off, and then she undid the buttons of her shirt. Looking up at him, she grinned. “Too chicken?”
“No.” He came to her, and took his clothes off, naked in front of her, with his cock hard. She just had that kind of effect on him.
She glanced down at his erection, and shook her head. “You are insatiable, Jared Sinclair.”
“Only for you.”
She laughed. “If you keep saying that, a girl could believe it.”
Before he could answer, she had stripped off the rest of her clothes and was sliding into the pool, a screech rising above the thundering falls as the cold hit her. Wanting to impress her, h
e dived in over her head. He knew this pool so well, he knew exactly where it was deep enough to dive, and where it was too shallow. Jared had spent many days up here, swimming in this pool, both in human and bear form.
As he came up for air he was so tempted to shift into his bear and surprise her. But he was worried he would panic her, and he didn’t want her to drown. Instead, he took a large gulp of air and then dived down again. This time when he surfaced, he was right next to her.
“It is cold,” she said, teeth chattering.
“If you swim, you’ll warm up,” he said, and began to swim away from her, turning briefly to check she was following. She was. With strong strokes, she was catching up with him, and he led her towards where the waterfall crashed into the pool. Going to the edge of it, he swam through the curtain of water, making sure he positioned his body to ensure she wasn’t caught in the drag of the immense flow.
“This is like a secret cave,” she said, as they trod water, looking out to where the sunlight caught the water and produced rainbows of color.
“It is.” He knew this was the moment. She was relaxed and calm, looking with wonder at the water. If only she would look at him in the same way. He got out of the water, and then held his hand out to Kelly. “There’s something I want to show you.”
“I can’t get out, my clothes are back there,” she protested.
“Please,” he said.
She looked at his hand, and then up at his face, trying to gauge what was going on, but eventually she put her hand in his and he felt the shock of recognition pass between them. Her eyes went wide, and he knew she had felt it as strongly as he had.
Once out of the water, she hugged herself, shivering as the cold air chilled her. He wanted to hold her in his arms and warm her up, but he had a much more burning need first. Maybe it was his bear exerting his influence on Jared, he couldn’t say, but the need to explain to her exactly what he was became so strong, he had to fight to take a few steps away from her, to give himself some space.
“I have something to show you.”
“What?” she asked nervously, looking around the cave.
“Nothing bad.” He shook his head, trying to form the words he needed to tell her. “I’m different than other people, Kelly.”
“I know.” She sounded wary.
“Not in the way you think. I mean beyond the money, and the power … and the arrogance. There is another side to me.”
“What kind of other side?”
He would have loved to know what was going through her head right now. Maybe she thought he liked to dress up in women’s clothes, but he bet whatever she was thinking, what he was about to show her wasn’t it.
“An animal side.”
“Animal.” She took a step away from him.
“Don’t move. Please, just let me show you.”
“You’re scaring me.”
“I know. And I’m sorry.”
“Is this why you paid me? Not because of sex, but because you wanted to hurt me.”
“No, I told you. I could never hurt you.”
“Why?”
“You’ll see, and then you’ll understand.”
He let his bear come forth. Once she had seen him, he would change back and explain everything to her. If it was possible to explain it all. The change was almost instantaneous, his human form shimmering out of existence for a nanosecond before he returned as a bear.
In that nanosecond, there was no mate bond, there was no Kelly, there was nothing, and when he returned to stand in front of her as a bear, all he could hear was her screaming, and all he could see was her taking a step back, tripping over a rock and landing heavily on the ground. He rushed forward, trying to save her, forgetting he was a bear. She held her hand out in front of herself to protect herself from him. She was scared.
He stopped, lowering his head and puffing warm breaths over her. Couldn’t she see it was him, couldn’t she tell by the look in his eyes? He would know her anywhere, but then he carried the shifter gene, and she didn’t.
Yet then she looked, and then looked harder, her hand touching his snout as she said, “Jared. Is that you?”
Her fingers laced into his long, thick fur, and he trembled at her touch, and with the knowledge that she understood.
Chapter Sixteen – Kelly
“Jared?” she repeated. What the hell was she saying? There was no way this bear in front of her could be billionaire businessman Jared Sinclair, it wasn’t possible. Yet when she touched him, she felt that same spark of static electricity that had passed between them when he pulled her out of the pool. “I don’t understand.”
The bear stepped back from her, and then the air shimmered, and Jared was there in front of her in all his naked glory.
“Shit,” was all she could mutter.
“Kelly,” he said, coming to kneel by the side of her. “Are you OK?”
“You just changed into a freaking bear in front of me, what the hell do you think?” Her breathing was becoming rapid, and a panic attack seemed imminent.
“Breathe. Just breathe. I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? I think you should have paid me more than half a million dollars. Damn, we didn’t use any protection. Was that your idea, to impregnate me with a freak?”
“It’s OK.” He held out his hands as if to calm her. “If I can just explain.”
“Explain?” She shook her head in disbelief. “All that stuff I shared with you. Was what you told me a bunch of lies? Telling me we were so similar, when in fact there is nothing about us that is the same? You’re a bear.” She put her hand to her head, feeling her temples begin to throb, and at the same time her teeth began to chatter as the shock mingled with the cold air to chill her.
“It was all true. It’s why my mom took it so hard when my dad left. You see, shifters mate for life. There is this bond between them and their mate.” He looked at her in that funny way again, his eyes ablaze with longing.
“You mean me? I’m your … what did you call it … mate?” It all made sense now, why he wanted her. He hadn’t had a choice. “And the money?”
“At first I wanted to deny the bond. I didn’t want a mate, because I didn’t want to risk my heart been broken like my mom’s. But at the same time I thought I could purge you from my thoughts, from my soul, if I made love to you. I thought that once the mating was over, I would be able to walk away, or at least keep you at arm’s length.”
“But you can’t?” It explained so much, and yet was totally unbelievable.
“No.” He looked almost defeated as he sat next to her on his haunches. This man who she had watched fire employees, and crush businessmen as if it was nothing to him, looked beaten. “Please, Kelly.”
“You’re not exactly selling it to me, are you?” she said, thinking on what he had said. “You’ve practically told me that if it wasn’t for this mating bond, you would never have wanted anything to do with me.”
“It’s not like that,” he said. “I thought you would understand. You know what it’s like, having to support your family. Hasn’t it put you off wanting a family of your own? Knowing what it’s like to carry responsibility. Of seeing how other people’s decisions, a father’s, a mother’s choice, can hurt a child. I don’t know you and I was scared that I might end up like my mom. And our kids might end up like me and my brothers.”
“What’s changed? You can’t think you know me already?”
“I know enough. I’ve learned enough.” He leaned towards her, and when she didn’t move away, he closed the gap and pulled her into his arms. “I want you in my life, Kelly.”
“It’s going to cost you.”
His face clouded, and he took in a sharp breath, as if she had punched him in the stomach. “How much?”
Kelly moved close to him, and stroked his chest. “Everything you have.”
“Everything?”
“Yes.” Her hand closed around his cock, and his breath hissed as she moved it up and down really slowly
.
“Kelly. I can’t. My family. My mom.” He bit his lower lip as she squeezed him a little harder.
“I’m not talking about money, Jared. I’m talking about your body and your soul.”
“They are already yours,” he said, and then he lowered his head, his lips capturing hers in a kiss that made his body shudder, and she knew this man, so powerful, so arrogant, had surrendered the last of himself to her.
“Lie down, Jared.” She released him, and he almost fell back away from her. But then he regained his composure, and a smile flittered across his lips.
“Whatever you want.” He lay down on the cold stone floor, and she moved to straddle him, her thighs resting on his. Then she rose up, supporting herself on her knees, while her hand wrapped around his cock and continued to bring him to life.
He was confident once more, he could sense his victory, and he was right to. She had liked Jared Sinclair from the moment she had set eyes on him: who could resist those dimples? The fact he had paid her to come here with him had confused her; she couldn’t understand why he hadn’t simply asked her to go out with him. However, knowing his secret, she understood this was never going to be as easy as asking her to the movies.
As she slid down onto his cock, letting him fill her, she saw the bliss spread across his face. “You know I’m going to have to pay you the money back.”
She lifted herself up, and then let herself sink back down onto him, a moan escaping his lips as she rocked her hips backwards and forwards. It was a few minutes before he could speak. “I want you to keep it, to help your mom.”
“I can’t. I don’t want it hanging over us for the rest of our lives.”
His hands went to her hips, his fingers digging into her flesh as he held her in place, and thrust up into her, his cries filling the cave. She rode him, her hands resting on his chest, fingertips tweaking his nipples, feeling him react to her touch, until her orgasm rushed toward her, and she was swept away by the sensations flooding her body. Closing her eyes, she let her body move instinctively, her sex gripping his cock as it pulsed, her head thrown back, and she pressed down onto him, impaled on his rock-hard cock.
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