The four of them searched for another half hour but didn’t find anything else that looked out of place.
“Okay, let’s call it a night,” Uncle Bill said at last. Mary heard his shoulders popping as he stretched. “We’ll resume searching in the morning, when we’ve got daylight. Let’s meet back here at 8:00 a.m. sharp.”
After Dane and Owen had left, Mary and Uncle Bill spent a few more minutes cordoning off the store with bright yellow police tape printed with “CRIME SCENE – DO NOT ENTER.”
“See you in the morning,” Uncle Bill said as they stepped out onto the sidewalk.
He paused as he spotted Tyler leaning against his pickup truck, speaking with Bill Hawkins.
“…and if your insurance won’t cover a full rebuild, I’ll do it myself just for the cost of materials,” Tyler was saying.
Hawkins smiled, lightening his weary expression, and clapped Tyler on the shoulder. “Thanks a lot, son. Your dad would be real proud of you right now.”
Mary saw Tyler tense. Then he said calmly, “Anything I can do to help, you let me know, okay?”
She remembered what Tyler had told her earlier about his strained relations with his father and wondered why Mike Swanson hadn’t been able to see his son’s inherent generosity of spirit.
Then Tyler caught sight of her and straightened up.
“Hey,” he said, with a smile that warmed her from head to toe. “I thought you might want a ride back to the house.”
Mary smiled back, feeling a spark of excitement as his words reminded her of their unfinished business.
“What, you thought that three blocks was too far to walk?” she teased.
“Aren’t you two moving a little fast?” Uncle Bill asked in a low voice. “I saw how you were with him this morning, and then Zack said—”
“Zack has a big mouth, and he needs to learn to shut up once in a while,” Mary interrupted sharply.
With an effort, she softened her tone. “Look, I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself. And if you give him half a chance, you’ll find that Tyler’s a pretty nice guy underneath all those tattoos.”
Uncle Bill frowned and scrutinized Mary’s new housemate. “Well, Elle did mention that Tyler really cleaned up his act after leaving town.”
“Yes, and no one seems to be able to remember that part,” Mary commented. She turned and kissed her uncle on the cheek. “Good night, Uncle Bill. See you in the morning.”
Then, her heart beating with anticipation, she walked toward Tyler.
* * *
“So,” Tyler said as they turned left off Main Street and headed for his house. His voice broke the anticipatory silence building between them. “Do you think I’m moving too fast? I, uh, don’t want to scare you off or anything.”
“Did you hear me protesting?” she asked.
Mary saw him swallow hard as he reached for her, and his big hand settled possessively on her thigh. The gesture sent a jolt of heat through her.
“I want you, Mary. I want you so badly that it’s all I’ve been able to think about since this morning.”
“When we kissed?”
Tyler shook his head. “Nope. When I saw you in your pajamas on your front lawn. I feel like I’m seventeen again, with a huge crush on the prettiest girl in high school. You.”
“I–I don’t know what to say,” Mary admitted, warmed by the compliment.
No way was I ever the prettiest girl, in high school or anywhere else. But she loved him for saying that she was.
“So you know I’m totally going to jump your bones when we get back to the house, right?”
“I’m counting on it,” Mary assured him. Her heart was beating fast at the mental images he was stirring up.
The next few minutes felt like an eternity. Finally, they reached the house and parked.
As soon as they had both exited his pickup truck, Tyler took her hand and practically dragged her up the walkway.
Not that she was protesting one bit.
He kicked the front door shut behind them, then grabbed her shoulders and pushed her up against the wall next to the door. All the lights were off, and the house was dark and cool.
“Hey, baby!” Bogey shouted from his cage on the other side of the house. “Nice ass!”
Mary couldn’t help laughing. “Hi, honey, we’re home,” she called back.
Then Tyler drove Bogey’s existence clean out of her mind by sliding his fingers into her hair and capturing her mouth in a hard kiss.
She made a noise of pure need deep in her throat and arched against him, feeling the hard bulge of his erection behind the layers of clothing separating them.
Her fingers scrabbled against the fabric of his T-shirt, pulling it out of his jeans. She was desperate to feel his bare skin, taut and warm against hers.
“God, we both reek,” Tyler said, drawing back just far enough to speak.
His lips brushed hers with every word, making it hard to think.
“Then why don’t we take a shower together?” Mary suggested.
He was right—they both stank of smoke and sweat.
Tyler drew back a little, his breath coming fast. “Genius idea.”
He leaned in for another kiss. She turned her head, needing to tell him one more thing. “I’m not on birth control right now.”
“I’ve got condoms,” he promised, right before another devouring kiss reduced her to mindless need.
She yanked his T-shirt up to his armpits and felt his fingers leave her hair. An instant later, he was tugging at the buttons of her uniform shirt.
“This way,” Tyler said, his eyes sheened with shifter gold.
They stumbled through the house, stopping every few steps to divest themselves of another piece of clothing, and arrived at the bathroom clad only in their underwear.
Behind them, a trail of sooty, smoke-tainted clothes stretched all the way down the short hall and lay scattered across the living room floor.
As she’d suspected from those tight T-shirts he wore, Tyler was mouth-watering when he was dressed in nothing but his ink and his bulging briefs.
Mary forced herself to stop kissing him long enough to appreciate his sheer masculine beauty. Whoever had done his tattoos had been a real artist. The artwork across his chest and down his arms was a stylized landscape of pine-covered mountains done in the style of a classical Chinese painting. Half-hidden among trees and boulders were bears, wolves, cougars, elk, deer, and even a bald eagle that soared above the peaks.
Tyler's arms, chest, and shoulders were heavily muscled under his tattoos, and he had an impressive six-pack. His legs were thick with muscle as well and marked with thin, jagged white scars down their length.
She had heard that he’d been badly injured back in February, when his Chevy Tahoe had hit a patch of black ice and gone off the road into the trees.
“Are you having second thoughts?” Tyler asked, and she saw the uncertainty in his gilded eyes.
“Nope, just pausing to enjoy the view,” she assured him. “How about you?”
In reply, he gathered her back in and kissed her until she felt her blood pounding through her everywhere. His skin was hot against hers, and the hard bulge in his briefs pressed eagerly against her bare belly.
“I wasn’t kidding about wanting you as my girlfriend,” he said, his voice hoarse with desire. “After this, you’re mine.”
That mine felt like a shot of whiskey hitting her stomach, spreading heat and light like a miniature sun.
It was such a contrast to her previous relationship with Evan, where she’d had to tiptoe around her growing feelings for him because any hint that they’d become more than just “friends with benefits” would have sent him running for the hills.
And now here was Tyler, who apparently had no problem with demonstrating his feelings. And he was apparently head over heels for her, if his behavior today was anything to go by.
She’d be crazy not to want him as her boyfriend. No matter what her pac
k—or for that matter, anyone else in town—thought. Especially once Zack had the chance to tell all the shifters that he’d smelled Tyler and sex on her.
Her wolf liked Tyler’s scent, his strength, and his caretaker generosity towards his family and friends. He’s a keeper.
Mary smiled up at him and stroked her fingertips down his cheek. “Does that mean you’re mine too?”
“Yes,” he said immediately. “I think I’ve been yours since high school. No one else I’ve dated since then has ever come close to you.”
Her wolf half howled with joy at his declaration.
In reply, Mary bent and pulled his briefs down to his ankles, watching hungrily as his impressive cock sprang free, erect and ready for action.
Mary sank to her knees on the cool tile floor. Surrounded by the scent of his musky desire overlaid with smoke, she licked his thick shaft from base to broad tip. It felt smooth and burning hot against her tongue.
Tyler groaned and reached for the vanity drawer, jerking it open. As Mary took him into her mouth, she heard him rooting around in the drawer. A moment later, a condom packet dropped to the tiled floor next to her thigh.
Well, there’s a hint if ever I saw one.
And she was fine with that. It was time—way past time, with all the interruptions they’d had. She wanted him so badly…
She tore open the packet, then smoothed the condom down over his stiff length with long sensuous strokes. She liked the way he shook under her touch…and how his cock throbbed eagerly under her fingers.
“You’re killing me in such a good way,” he rasped and pulled her up with effortless strength.
He swiftly unhooked her bra and then buried his bearded face against the side of her neck, nipping and licking at her, driving her crazy with need.
When he finally yanked her panties off, she was so turned on that she felt that she could come at any second.
“Tyler,” she gasped, pulling his face up to hers. “Please don’t make me wait any longer.”
His eyes blazed gold. “Oh fuck, yes.”
He reached past her to turn on the shower.
Then he put his hands on her waist and carried her effortlessly into the wide shower enclosure. She felt the cool marble tiles press against her back as warm water cascaded over her shoulders and breasts. He put his hands under her hips and lifted her.
“Open your legs,” he ordered.
She eagerly obeyed and was rewarded by the tantalizing sensation of his cock sliding against her wet, aching pussy.
Mary usually didn’t make a lot of noise when she had sex, but the sensation made her moan with pure need.
In response, he invaded her with one powerful thrust.
“Oh. My. God,” she breathed as she felt herself stretch around his thick length.
He filled her completely. She wrapped her thighs around his hips and clung to him.
He took her fast and hard against the shower wall, his mouth covering hers, muffling her moans as he moved against her, his hard length caressing her nerve endings with every powerful thrust.
Mary wound her arms around his neck and returned his kisses as every part of her body seemed to catch fire.
He filled all her senses, so she clung to him and closed her eyes and just let herself feel what he was doing to her.
Something inside her shifted and settled into place, like a puzzle piece filling the empty place that had tormented her all throughout her failed marriage and mating.
Ours. He is our mate now, her wolf pronounced smugly.
Her eyes flew open and she turned her head, breaking the deep kiss.
“What the hell?” she demanded.
Chapter 11 – Naked-Man Coffee
Tyler froze.
“You…felt that too?” He looked as bewildered as Mary felt right now.
Something inside of her eased when she realized that this hadn’t been some trick on his part. Apparently, his bear hadn’t warned him, either.
I’m mated? You mated him without asking me? she demanded of her wolf.
You wanted him as your mate. Why else are you having sex with him?
“What on earth is going on?” she asked, hoping against hope that her wolf was just playing a cruel trick on her…even though her lupine half had never been anything but brutally honest with her.
In response, Tyler closed his eyes and went completely still. Still cradled in his strong hands, her arms and legs wrapped around him, Mary waited.
When Tyler opened his eyes again, the human hazel had been completely consumed by shifter gold. He smiled brilliantly down at her.
“After all this time, I didn’t think I’d ever find my mate. Holy shit.”
Those last two words were breathed in wonder, not spoken as a curse.
“But…this can’t be happening,” Mary protested, bewildered. “We’ve been dating for less than a day!”
And now I’m committed to him. Forever.
She tried to summon outrage. Or at least worry about the fact that her wolf had chosen a lifetime bond to a bear shifter she barely knew.
Tyler Swanson, the one-time Teen Terror of Bearpaw Ridge.
Tyler Swanson, the head of a very successful construction firm, she reminded herself. Loyal son to his Ordinary mother. Volunteer firefighter.
My mate.
With that thought came a deep, warm sense of rightness that spread outward from her chest. This was right. He was right…and he was hers.
“Are you okay?” he asked,
She nodded.
“Good.” Tyler moved against her, reminding her about what they’d been doing before lightning struck. “Let’s talk about this later.”
Mary drew a sharp breath as her body agreed wholeheartedly, and she drew his face down to hers so that she could resume their kiss.
In response, Tyler growled against her mouth. His fingers dug into her hips as he resumed thrusting, sending jolts of pure sensation through her with every powerful movement.
It didn’t take long before Mary’s climax started deep inside her belly and spread out with powerful pulses of pleasure. It went on and on without dying away, lifting her on waves as if she were surfing a sea of overwhelming pleasure.
Tyler stiffened against her and roared, a deep primal sound that vibrated through her, body and soul. She felt every muscle in his body tense as he came, his thrusts going even deeper and harder than before.
It felt good to know that he was enjoying the sex as much as she was.
When he was done, he shifted his grip and lowered her gently until her feet touched the floor.
Okay, time to talk about what just happened, Mary thought as he slid open the shower door and swiftly disposed of the used condom in the bathroom’s waste basket.
But that thought was driven out of her mind when Tyler grabbed a mesh puff, squirted it with some unscented shower gel, and began to lather her skin with gentle circular strokes.
She quickly discovered that as satisfying as their frantic bout of lovemaking had been, she wasn’t anywhere close to done.
Neither was Tyler. He was ruthlessly thorough in scrubbing her from head to toe, letting the shower puff linger lovingly over her sensitive nipples until she was panting and sliding her hands over his chest and torso in slippery caresses.
When he bent to give her another one of those deep, mind-blowing kisses, Mary reached down eagerly for his rapidly reviving cock. It pulsed eagerly against her palm as she slid her fingers around the thick, bare shaft.
She fisted him, then drew her hand slowly up his length, enjoying Tyler’s reaction. When she reached the swollen, sensitive head, she caressed it with a wet thumb and was gratified to hear him groan.
That sound was music to her ears. She gave his lips a gentle nip and broke the kiss as she sank to the tile floor of the shower and took him into her mouth.
His fingers sank into her wet hair as she began to caress him with her lips and tongue.
Time disappeared, flowing over and around
her like the warm water from the shower as she drank in his taste, his scent, and best of all, the sounds he made as she worked to pleasure him.
She felt powerful and sexy to be able to drive her mate to distraction like this. Her arousal, rekindled by his caresses, flared to urgent, throbbing heat between her legs as she sensed him nearing climax.
“Mary,” he groaned. She felt him trying to pull out of her mouth and resisted. “I’m going to—”
She interrupted him with a wicked swirl of her tongue, applied some suction, and felt the bone-deep tremble of his orgasm begin in the hard muscles of his thighs and buttocks.
Tyler clutched at her, his hips jerking helplessly with his release as she drank him down, enjoying her newfound power over him.
When he was done, he lifted her tenderly to her feet and just held her in his arms under the spray of the shower. She rested her cheek against the broad, wet expanse of his chest and listened as his breathing gradually slowed and the frantic beat of his heart calmed.
He made her feel cherished and safe in a way that none of her other lovers ever had.
“What the hell did I do to deserve you?” Tyler murmured and kissed her softly on the forehead.
“Tyler Swanson, you can’t fool me. I know that you’re a gorgeous, sexy, and kind man,” she said, not sure how to handle the conflicting emotions coursing through her. “You’re definitely underappreciated in these parts.”
His arms tightened around her, and she realized that he had needed to hear that. “Thank you.”
Mary hugged him, then went up tiptoes to kiss him. “You’re a good person,” she told him between light, teasing kisses on his lips. “But just bad enough to show a girl a really good time.”
He laughed, a deep rumbling sound that moved through her. “I’m glad to hear that you’re having a good time so far.” He paused and cupped her face between his big hands. “I’ll do my best to show you that I can be a good mate.”
She knew that she should be worrying how her parents and her pack were going react to the news of her unexpected mating. She didn’t bother lying to herself. It was going to be rough.
But all she could think about right now was how sexy—and happy—Tyler looked, smiling down at her.
Smoke (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 7) Page 11
