He remembered old Uncle Pierre warning him, “Bear magic is powerful, boy, you be careful how you call it up. And if your mate takes hold of you in the night, well you might as well put your pecker in a wringer.”
Joey took one look at his brother’s tented jeans and chortled into his mug of coffee. Wasn’t nothing going to get his flagpole to half mast, so Len had to run up and down ladders in agony.
* * *
Hannah, with her dark curls still mussed, and sleep creases on her face, sipped weak tea at Maddie’s kitchen table. She was feeling a little fragile this morning. “It’s my second trimester,” she complained. “I’m supposed to have lots of energy and no more nausea.”
“You probably overdid things yesterday,” Maddie said soothingly. “Do you feel up to some toast or something?”
“Dry toast, please. If I don’t eat, I’ll feel worse later.”
“Do you think Len made his move when he took Erin home?” Maddie asked when she had fed Hannah.
“Even a bear from French Town could recognize an opportunity like that. But Erin nearly blew it. Jack had to kick her under the table, as she was insisting she could drive home.” Hannah chuckled.
“Well, she is a little skittish. I don’t think she’s had much experience with decent men,” Maddie said. “Doug blew me away the first time I met him, but he’s just a more intense version of my brothers. Both Adam and Connor are one hundred percent alpha males, born to lead and defend in equal parts. The only wonder is why I was ever deceived by my dirtbag ex.”
Maddie shook her head at her own bad taste. “But Erin acts as though the best deal she can get from a man is to give herself without being actively hurt. That’s not even a goal worth pursuing.”
Hannah nodded. “I thought I had had some unsatisfactory boyfriends before I met Jack. But as soon as I met him I just knew he was the husband of my dreams—caring, strong, gentle and committed. It broke my heart when he took off without a word for two years. Because I never expected him to abandon me after we had bonded.”
Maddie wrinkled her nose. “Doug talks about our bear bond. And for sure he is the only man for me. But since I’m not a bear, I don’t know if I am really bonded.”
“How’s he doing right now?” Hannah asked.
“This minute?”
“Yeah, right this minute.”
Maddie tipped her sleek red head to one side, “He’s having fun. He’s mischief making.” She wrinkled her nose and laughed. “But I’m probably extrapolating, because he’s been humming with amusement since he found out the boys from French Town had gone a wooing.”
Hannah’s phone tinkled. She glanced at the screen and picked it up. “I’m feeling better. Maddie has made me tea and toast and I’m not even dressed. Um. Love you too.” She turned her cell off. “I guess that sort of thing never happens to you?”
“Well, now that you mention it, Doug does have a tendency to show up or call whenever he thinks there is a problem.”
“I don’t think Erin is even ready to deal with a half-way decent male, let alone a guy like Len who would die for his mate,” Hannah said. “I think she needs a little bit of encouragement. Or at least a nudge.”
When Erin showed up with the sheet cake she had baked for lunch dessert, she was dressed again in jeans and an oversized tee-shirt. Her lavish curves were totally camouflaged. Her jeans had seen better days, but at least they had been cut for a woman.
“This is great,” Maddie said enthusiastically taking the cake from Erin. “Thanks. I’ve got the pork roast in the oven and all we need is to lay the tables.”
Hannah wandered into the kitchen, rubbing her tummy. “Look at this,” she said. She held up a coral colored tunic. “It won’t fit. I swear I grew in the night.” She held it out to Maddie. “Any good to you?”
Maddie held it against herself. “I don’t think this is my color,” she lied. She put it up against Erin’s face. “Lovely. Don’t you think so?” she asked Hannah.
Hannah nodded her agreement. “It’s a great color for you. Try it on.”
They ignored Erin’s protests, and when she put it on, they refused to let her replace it with her baggy tee. “But I have to go to work right after lunch,” she reminded them.
“So change then. Throw that man a bone,” Maddie said.
“What man?” Erin said blushing.
“Leonard. Come on, sister, tell all,” Hannah encouraged.
Erin blushed deeper. “He just took me home,” she said.
“That’s it?”
“That is all I am prepared to say,” Erin laughed merrily, enjoying the girl talk. Privately she wondered if there had ever been another man who would have turned down what she had offered, so that a pair of young boys wouldn’t get the wrong idea. But at least it was clear Len was interested. But in what exactly?
It seemed every day she fell more deeply in love with her hero. He had rescued her brothers from a life of crime and set their feet on the path to righteous manhood. Even if Lenny returned to French Town and left them behind, if her boys grew up to be one half the man Len was, she would be happy. If Lenny’s lessons stuck once he was gone and they had no decent role model. Which certainly was not a given.
If she allowed herself to dream of a future where she married Len and they went back to Yakima Ridge and lived happily ever after, she was going to doom herself to heartbreak. Mind you, that ship had probably sailed. Her heart was in such trouble. And with the sorts of X-rated dreams she was having, probably her mind was too.
* * *
Len took one look at Erin in something other than her drab tee-shirts and turned a dull red. The soft drape of the coral colored tunic followed the opulent curve of breast and waist and flowed over her hips in a manner that made it plain she was built for bear. He had been in torment all day, but the sight and scent of his mate pushed him past horny into some realm of unquenchable agony.
It didn’t help that all his cousins took one look at the anguish on his face and smirked until he wanted to wipe the floor with their boar hides.
“What’s the matter?” Erin asked in her sweet, husky voice, standing close enough that he could smell the waves of scent coming of her. “Are the boys okay?”
It was as if the kiss last night, and his dream had made him even more acutely sensitized to her. He wondered if she was as unaware of her effect as she seemed to be. He struggled to act normal. “They’re fine,” he croaked.
Around him the deep laughter of a roomful of bears thundered in his ears. He bared his teeth in what he hoped was a pleasant smile. But judging by the hasty way Erin stepped backward, it was just short of a scowl.
Cord and Hunter rushed in, bringing the chill fall afternoon with them. They pushed Len out of the way and hugged their sister hard. She smiled and put her arms around them and hugged back. “Hey, there,” she said. “How’re my favorite brothers?”
“We’re your only brothers,” Hunter replied, as Cord said, “We’re fine. Ms. Winnie let me use her nail gun. And Roman said he’d teach me to ride a motorbike when I’m older.”
Erin clutched Cord and looked at Len. He smiled reassuringly and patted Cord’s back. “When you’re older, son, and you have a permit. And your sister’s permission,” he said gravely.
Erin relaxed.
“Did you sleep well?” Len inquired standing close beside her and the boys.
“Um,” she blushed recalling her vivid, orgasmic dreams of him. “You?”
“You might say that I spent the night a slave to my imagination,” he said in a gravelly whisper.
“What’s that mean?” asked Cord.
“It means he was having wet dreams,” said Hunter with a crude guffaw.
Len’s big hands were instantly on his shoulders. “Excuse us, Erin,” he said grimly, as he propelled the boy out onto the deck.
“What?” said Hunter sullenly.
“Did you intend to embarrass me or your sister in front of my kinfolk?” he asked his captive.
“Sometimes, son, the difference between being grown and not is keeping your mouth shut. You know any reason you should be talking about sex in general, or wet dreams in particular, before ladies?”
“No, sir.” Hunter looked up. “I was making a joke.”
“I know. But you crossed a line. You embarrassed me. You embarrassed Erin. And probably any of the other women who heard you. Which means their husbands are mad too.”
Hunter looked stricken. Len nodded. “How are you going to make it right?” he asked. “Boys make mistakes, that’s part of the hard road to maturity. But men fix their mistakes. How do you figure you can make amends?”
“Do I have to?”
“Unless you want to wait in the car while we eat lunch. You can’t drop a bomb like that one and not apologize.”
“Jeez.”
When Len and Hunter returned to the living room the conversation paused and then quickly restarted. Hunter went right up to Erin who was speaking to Doug. Erin gave him a tight smile. Doug stared hard-eyed at him and kept right on telling Erin about the beauties of the Kittitas.
When he was done, Hunter said, “Can I apologize?”
“You can,” Erin said gravely.
“I’m sorry I was rude. I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that. I won’t do it again.” Hunter’s blue eyes looked penitently at his sister.
“I forgive you.” Erin gave him a kiss.
Doug continued to glare at him.
Hunter cleared his throat. “I apologize, Colonel Enright, for being vulgar in your house.”
“You might want to repeat that to Miss Maddie. This is her house.” Doug’s stern demeanor did not alter.
“Yes, sir.” Hunter hustled over to beg forgiveness from Doug’s fiancée.
Erin turned to Len and blushed remembering her dreams. Her breasts prickled and her temperature rose. She struggled for normalcy.
“You wouldn’t believe how changed Hunter is since Len took him in hand,” she said to Doug. “I know he was out of line, but two months ago I would have waited in vain for an apology, let alone one that was genuine.” She patted Len’s forearm. “Thank you.”
“He’s got a ways to go yet, but he’s coming along,” Len said gruffly.
“Can’t be much rougher than you and Joey,” Doug said.
“Lord, we were little hellions weren’t we?” Len agreed.
“Miss Erin, those boys were pretty much unbearable. Barely human, I can tell you.” Doug informed her in confidential whisper with an eye on his red faced cousin.
“So there’s hope for my brothers?” Erin said.
“If you can bear with Lenny here,” Doug went on.
“Haw,” said Lenny glaring at his cousin.
At the lunch table, Erin found herself sandwiched between Asher and Gideon Bascom. “I’m not sure exactly how you are related to Len and Joe,” Erin said to Asher.
“Our family is a little complex,” Asher admitted. “But Len and Joe are double cousins to Gideon and me.” He grinned into Erin’s face and his blue eyes twinkled. “My mom and their dad were brother and sister, and their mom and my dad were too. So we’re cousins twice over.”
“Oh.” Erin still felt confused.
“You’ll have to take our word for it that it’s not at all incestuous,” Gideon put in. “Because it is confusing. Glen Bascom married his third cousin Carol. They’re our ma and pa. You following me so far?”
Erin shook her head.
“Charles Benoit married Glen’s sister Debbie. So they were also third cousins. They’re Len and Joe’s folks. So the four of us are double cousins, and truth to tell, Miz Erin, we’re as close as brothers. Growing up, me and Ash used to follow Lenny and Joey around like puppies.” Gideon beamed down at his cousin’s chosen bride.
“You’re probably wondering why Len didn’t do his military service,” Gideon went on.
Since that had never crossed Erin’s mind, she just looked curious.
“Well,” Gideon said softly. “It’s no secret that the men in our family do tend to get killed in battle. He shook his dark head mournfully. “Len’s mother was widowed when the boys were just sprouts. She made Len and Joey promise they wouldn’t both enlist. So they arm-wrestled for it and Lenny lost. So Joey went in the reserves and Len joined the French Town Fire Department.”
“That I did know,” said Erin. Arm-wrestled!
“Did he tell you he’s the captain?” asked Asher.
Erin shook her head.
“Well, he is,” said Asher. “Me and Frank Crawford both are filling in for him while he’s here in Portland. Takes the two of us to fill his shoes, ma’am.”
Erin was bemused and charmed by these two enormous men who clearly hero worshipped their cousin. It was plain they had set themselves to assure her that her suitor was neither a coward nor a shirker. Neither of which had occurred to her as potential flaws in hardworking, manly Lenny.
But it showed that Yakima Ridge was operating under a code where a man unwilling to serve his country was a man unworthy of a woman. Was this a world where she would feel at home?
CHAPTER TWELVE
Lenny’s midnight seductress was sitting with her buttocks facing his chin, her hair falling over his crotch while she explored his package with nosy, probing fingers. She pulled gently at the hair covering his balls and cupped them in her warm hands while he groaned like timber cracking open. He tried to raise his arms so his hands could lift her lush bottom and play too, but his limbs were rigid with desire and powerless to move.
A soft giggle punctuated the darkness as his dear one moved her hands to the stiff flag pole she was teasing with her fall of curling hair. Len could feel his love rod moving like a living thing as she fondled it. His groans grew louder. His taunting paramour seemed to enjoy them because she chuckled and bent her head to take his organ deep into her mouth.
Her hands ran up and down his rock hard thighs as if making sure he was wound up tight enough. “I am,” he thought desperately. “Now please, my darling,” he pleaded silently.
Only the great, deep groans of a mating bear resounded in the room. His beloved’s soft palms cupped his balls and fingers circled the base of his shaft and pressed and released again and again. He felt spasms of pleasure as the suction of that soft warm mouth matched the rhythm of the pulsing fingers.
His succubus seemed intent only on her own pleasure, for after a last lingering kiss on the sensitized cap, she rocked forward and rose up. Her fingers abandoned his cock and he moaned as his package protested being left in agony. A soft laugh. Then the softness of her mouth was replaced by the snug slipperiness of a dripping sheath. She sat down until her buttocks were massaging his belly and then rose, almost leaving his cock altogether.
He needed to grasp those inconsiderate hips, to force them to a pace and depth that pleased him, but he could not. His nocturnal mistress had other ideas, and she drew out her long and tortuous ride. She adjusted herself so that he could feel her bud being rubbed by his cock, even as her passage and swollen labia held him in a rippling grip.
He was sweating and his guttural moans were hoarse. Silently he pleaded with his sweet, unpracticed seductress. But she was deaf to all but her own pleasure and it was long minutes before she was ready to ascend to her own peak. Her shriek of pleasure and the fierce contraction of her vagina and buttocks transported his over-excited love stick into a frenzy of ejaculation. He bellowed his release and then lay spent and too tender to be touched. His tormentor giggled and rose up. A cruel hand patted his curled up manhood and tickled his damp thicket.
Soft lips brushed his and he heard his sweetheart’s laugh. His eyes popped open and he was lying on his mattress with the sheets in a sweaty tangle and his package feeling as sore as if he had been sticking it in Uncle Pierre’s wringer. His little Erin was clasped in one fist and he set it down carefully with fresh respect for the Benoit magic.
He was too damned o
ld for such carryings on. He needed to be married up with his mate lying snug in bed beside him every night.
* * *
Len’s bedroom door opened and Cord peeped in. Lenny had tossed his soaking blanket aside, but he pulled it up to his waist. Great, now he had woken the boys—probably shouting in his dreams.
“Yes?” Len whispered hoarsely. His voice sounded hard and mean even to him.
“I had a bad dream,” Cord said fearfully. He opened the door wider and came into the room. He looked as bad as Lenny felt. His blonde hair was matted on one side and damp. His pajamas were limp and he stank worse than Len. Great. Now he was going to have to explain about wet dreams to a kid on the cusp of manhood.
Lenny reached for his jeans and pulled them on carefully trying not to jostle his poor exploited package any more than he had too. “Let’s go get us some milk, son,” he said.
“Do you want to tell me about it?” he asked Cord when they were both seated at the kitchen table with glasses of milk and the package of crackers and the jar of peanut butter. The only light came from the street lights outside.
Cord nodded. “I keep having the same one,” he said hesitantly. He stopped and put an entire peanut butter cracker in his mouth.
Len decided to save the etiquette lecture for another time. “Go on,” he encouraged.
Cord swallowed and took a gulp of milk. “I keep dreaming I’m turning into a bear,” he blurted.
Len nodded. So Joe had been right all along. “Hmm. Is that scary?”
Cord nodded vigorously and gulped more milk. Lenny filled up Cord’s glass again and thought desperately.
“What happens in your dreams?” Len asked at last.
“I turn into a bear. And then I fight people.” Cord’s voice rose in anguish. “I bite them and then they die.”
Whoa, buddy. Now that didn’t sound like adolescent bear dreams. At least not Lenny’s. Probably different if you didn’t grow up knowing you were a bear and longing for your first shift.
Bearly Begun (BBW/Bearshifter Romance) (Bachelor Bears of Yakima Ridge Book 1) Page 8
