Bear Mountain Bride: Shifter Romance

by Sky Winters

  So when he spotted Julia coming out of the mouth of the train station his body went rigid. He frowned and tilted his head as she walked slowly across the street and stood near the windows of the diner.

  She had obviously just come from Manhattan and he wondered if she had had an evening class or something.

  Didn’t matter. He had meant to go back to the store the next day, and get a bead drawn on her. To charm her and then to talk her into coming to dinner with him. He stood, tossing bills onto the table and signaling the waitress before striding out of the place and onto the street.

  “We meet again,” he said in a low voice.

  Julia jerked and turned to face him. Her lovely face paled. The lights of the diner picked up the small smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose, fr4eckles he had barely noticed before. He stared at them suddenly filled with the desire to drop a kiss onto them.

  She spoke in a rushed tone. “Oh, yeas. Hello. Did you decide on a shirt?”

  He studied her face. Color swept into her cheeks. Her tongue, a small pink triangle, came out from between her kips and swiped nervously across them. Her eyes shifted away from his and then back again and he read fear there.

  He dropped all pretenses. “You know who I am, don’t you?”

  Her eyes we3nt to the custom bike heeled over at the curb. Her dark head nodded up and down. “Yeah.’

  “Uh huh. You know this isn’t your crew’s turf too then.”

  Her arms came up and crossed over her firm and small breasts. “I do but…they are not my crew. I can’t help it that Walker is my brother. I am not part of them though. I never have been.”

  He knew that for a fact. If anything she was a prisoner over there. Walker gave her a very short leash and tended to yank her back when she strained against it from all accounts. He said, “I don’t that will matter much to some of my guys.”

  She swallowed hard. Her fingers yanked at the dangling sleeves of the silk blouse she wore. “I have to have a job.”

  “There aren’t any in Queens?”

  Her eyes met his. Anger simmered in hers. “Over there everyone knows me. You think anyone decent is going to give me a job? Especially in a place like the one I work in? You think anyone’s going to trust me with their upscale things knowing who my family is? They all just think I am trying to get the number to the safe or the time the trucks are coming in so they ca rob them. There’s a big market for stolen designer clothes you know”

  The bitterness on her voice rattled him slightly. He surveyed her face again. She was definitely pissed off. Definitely but he was not sure if she was mad at him or her circumstances. That she was mad at Walker was clear and that made him smile inside. That was good, very good. If she hated Walker and had no loyalty to him she would be easier to manipulate.

  He spoke softly, gently, like she was child. “I see your point. Look, I’m not pissed. I don’t care. If that’s what you want I’ll let my guys know you’re cool and I know you are here and that it’s fine.”

  She dragged air into her mouth. He caught a glimpse of very white teeth. Her eyes shifted from him to the street. “Thanks.”

  He slid a little closer close enough that he could smell her perfume and see the pulse ticking rapidly at the base of her long and creamy throat. Desire rose again, making the front of his jeans tighten. He shifted to hide that growing erection and said, “Sure. Anyone hassles you, come see me. I don’t take lightly to anyone going against my orders.”

  Her arms dropped. Her nipples jutted up against the fabric of her blouse, hard little pints that drew his gaze and made his dick stiffen and lengthen yet again. She asked, “Why would you do that?”

  He tore his eyes away from those nipples but the very vivid image of him taking those taut peaks into his mouth, sucking and nibbling them, stayed burned into his brain. He said, “I owe you something.”

  She looked bewildered. “What do you mean?”

  “Margo,” he answered. “You risked a lot to call me.”

  Her arms came up again, concealing those nipples. “I didn’t know anything about any of this back then. I wish I still didn’t.”

  His eye3s rested on her face. He had the uncanny ability to know when people were lying to him and she wasn’t. She meant every word. He said, “I bet.’

  “Yeah well,” she swallowed hard and shot a look around them. People passed by along the sidewalk. They stood under the diner’s awning and she shied nervously away as the door opened to let a few customers out into the warm summer air. “I, uh, look, I need help.”

  Shit. Had he just heard her right? ‘Come again?”

  “I’m willing to bargain with you. Trade what I know for protection.”

  Her words were a breathy squeak. The pulse in her neck began to beat even faster and more visibly. Her face paled and then color slammed into her face, heightening her beauty. She took two long fiery breaths. “I don’t want to be Pete’s old lady. I guess you might have an idea of why Walker’s trying to get me to be, and how far he will go to make sure I cave to that.”

  No use in beating around the bush. Especially since she was laying it all out there for him. The whole meeting was crazy and it felt somehow fated. Ace said, “Yeah I know. What’s that got to do with me?’

  She studied her nails for a second. When she looked up there was a terrified expression pasted onto her visage. “They’re hitting your street guys tonight. Around midnight. Right out here. They won’t be on bikes. They’ll be in cars. They’re coming in like narcs, but they’re not. They didn’t call in their dirty cops for this. They’re going to pile your guys into cars, rip off their dope, and beat them down. They know you just offer protection from busts and rivals, and that those guys are the street dealers not your personal dealers. They’re betting they will turn on you, and fast.”

  His ire rose but he kept his voice low and calm. “You know this how?”

  She gave him a glare. “How do you think?’

  “And you’re telling me why?”

  She swallowed hard and took a step toward him. That luscious perfume of hers came back to his nose, heightening the desire already coiling all through his body. “I told you. I need protection and I need it now. Right now. I am willing to bargain for it and to buy it with whatever I have. Whatever you want.”

  Her chest rose and fell in a lust inducing way. His dick stiffened again. Ace smothered a grin. Unbelievably enough she was offering to rat on her brother, and to bed him all in the same sentence. She must either really hate Walker or really not want to be with Pete or a combination of both. He figured it to be the latter.

  He said, “You know they’re going to kill you if they find out you let me in on this?”

  “They’re going to kill me eventually anyway.” The weariness in her voice smote at him. “I…I won’t be with Pete. I won’t be a bargaining chip for Walker to get what he wants. I won’t…I won’t give up everything I want just so he can have what he wants. I won’t. I won’t sacrifice my life for his….he’s evil. Pure evil. You have to know that. I can’t do it. So they will kill me anyway.’

  Damn, she had a point. He said, “You planning on going back?”

  Her head shook from side to side. Tears welled up in her eyes. “No. Yes. I can’t but I don’t have anywhere else to go.’

  Goddammit. He couldn’t take her to his place, not now. Not if there was some real dirty work to do tonight and what was more the whole thing now felt way too pat. He didn’t trust her. He said, “I tell you what. Go catch the train. Go to Ditmas. Here’s the address, memorize it.” He rattled it off and she repeated it. He nodded. “It’s a small place, in the back of a big house. There’s nothing there but furniture and a TV. It’s a rental for tourists. The key code is four, six, eleven. Got it?”

  “Four, six, eleven,” she parroted and nodded.

  He made a mental note to change the code as soon as she got in. She would be able to open the door from the inside of course but he had not been kidding, the pl
ace was just a furnished rental, one piece of their legit businesses. She would be out of the way there and under the watchful eyes of a man and woman he trusted with his life. If a single soul that was not supposed to be on that dead end and very dead quiet street showed up they would not ask questions, they would just get to work making sure the issue was resolved.

  She took a long breath. “I don’t know how to get there.”

  He said, “Get on my bike. I’ll take you.”

  She looked at the bike on the curb. Her fingers twisted together. She whispered, “You know I just made it impossible to go back there, ever?”

  “You asking for my protection?”

  Her head bobbed up and down on her neck. He said, “I said I would give it but I swear to God if I smell anything wrong, if I get even a hint that this is some kind of set up you won’t have to worry about Walker killing you. I will kill you myself.”

  She said, “I know.’

  He walked toward his bike. She hesitated for a second then followed him. He said, “Get on.”

  There was a larger fear in her eyes now. “I have never ridden before.’

  She had to be kidding His eyes took in the frightened expression and her uncertainty and he deduced she was being truthful. He asked, “Why not?”

  “My mom met Walker’s dad and he took her for a ride.” Tears trembled on the edges of her eyelashes. “She fell in love with him without ever knowing him, all she knew was how much she loved or ride on his bike. She got pregnant with me and he beat the hell out o her. She ran all the way to Hudson heights to get away but he always kept tabs on us. He didn’t care about us, you see, he just knew she knew things he didn’t want to get out. Like murder. Like …other things. She always said that she wished she had never gotten on that bike that day. I never wanted to get on one.’

  The bare admission made things come a lot more into focus. He knew she had been older, a teen when she had been placed with Walker and his ragtag family. She didn’t want to be there then, and he had seen it then. She did not want to be there now either.

  She let him help her onto the bike. Her body shook as he cranked it up and slowly left the curb and merged with traffic.

  As they rode Ace was aware of the fact that was a woman on his bike, and aware of it in a way that he never had been before. Most of the women who planed themselves behind them were deliberately sexy in the way they rode, bare thighs hugging the sides of his waist, their hands locking around his belly, their bodies sliding against his and their tits moving across the leather of his jacket in a way guaranteed to turn both him and their selves on.

  Not Julia. She was stiff and shaking. Her hands gripped at the loops that his belt ran through. It was like she was doing everything in her power not to touch him in any way that could be construed as intimate or sexy. She was too sacred to relax and let the ride happen. He had to be careful going around curves because she didn’t lean and her rigidity threatened to send the bike to the asphalt. Ordinarily that would have irritated him, and made him pull over and boot off whatever woman was back there because she was a danger to him.

  His patience level stayed high as he drove slowly, keeping a good pace but not going fast enough to unseat her if something happened. Her legs jerked a few times when cars got a little too close. That distracted him on more than one level. Her body heat and the smell of her hair as it whipped over his shoulder, the small distressed sounds she made every now and then, they all caught his attention and he had to force himself to focus on the road ahead of him.

  Ditmas was a high income neighborhood filled with stately Victorian mansions and single family house but not much else. Ace pulled up in front of one house whose driveway curved around the back. Lights came on. A door opened. He waved a hand and the door shut again.

  Julia looked around at the small yard and the tiny converted garage with a wary expression. He said, “It’s safe and you will be fine.”

  He led her through the yard and to the door. He tapped in the code and the door swung open. They entered and she took a look around as he found the light switch and flicked it on to reveal a small space dominated by one long room that served as both living and bedroom. A tiny kitchen area was in one corner and a door to the bathroom took up space on the opposite wall.

  Julia shot look at the bed, which sat behind a small partial screen. She asked, “does anyone live here right now?’

  Ace said, “No. It’s been empty for about a week. It’s clean and there are drinks in the fridge. If you get hungry there are some snack things in the cabinet. We use it as an AirBnB mostly and we…”

  He stopped when she burst into laughter. The sound, light and tinkling, made his heart leap. How long had it been since he had heard real and unashamed laughter? Her eyes crinkled a little at the corners and her youthful laughter slowly stopped. She said, “Sorry. I just never thought I would hear someone like you say AirBnB.”

  He grinned. “I bet. I have to go.”

  She gulped. Her eyes went around the space. It seemed to hit her then, what she had done and the enormity of it. She gasped out, “What do I do?”

  “You stay here until I can figure something out.”

  “I have classes day after tomorrow.” Her fingers plucked at the long coils of her hair. Her eyes went round the room, a slight frown puckering her smooth forehead. “I…I have to work.”

  Ace sighed inwardly. His sigh got longer as she suddenly burst into harsh sobs and sat down abruptly on the side of the bed, her face burying itself in her slender hands. Her shoulders shook. Tears coursed down her face. “Oh my God. I really didn’t think this through. I’m just so scared and…and I hate him so much! I hate him!”

  Walker, he realized. She hated Walker. He told himself to go but his feet took him to the bed and he sat down on it beside her, one arm going around her shaking shoulders. “We have that in common then.”

  Her head lifted. Tears streamed down her face. She spoke forcefully. “I do hate him. I hate him for all the things he does and wants to do. I hate all the things he uses against me and against anyone who gets in his way but mostly I hate him because when my mom died all he did was laugh and say there was one bitch they never had to worry about ever again. I know, deep down I do know, that the only reason he insisted on me going to him and his family was because they didn’t know for sure whether or not my mother had told me what it was she knew about him and his family and he wanted to make damn sure I couldn’t talk.”

  His arm tightened around her shoulders. Her body, slight but so richly curved that it sent passion crashing into his flesh, leaned into his. Her hair, silken and sweet smelling, spread over his shoulders. Her sobs grew louder. “The first night I was there, before that happened to your cousin and before they all took off to Florida? He beat the living crap out of me and told me that from then on out all I was, was property. That I belonged to them and nobody else, not even myself. Then they all left and left me there with that crazy bitch Carla, and your cousin, who was dying. You have no idea what that was like. None. Nobody does and I have had to fight for some kind of normalcy my whole damn life since my mom died. I hate him for that, hate him. Before I was there I had a good life and I want that back. I want that back so badly!”

  She was not going to get that yet, and maybe never. There was a good chance that she would not live past the week, not if Walker found her and found out what she had done.

  Ace felt a surge of protectiveness that he had felt in so many years. It was the same kind of protectiveness eh had felt for Margo but it was vastly different too. Margo had been family. This woman was not and along with that need to protect her came a rush of wanting of her so strong that it toppled his defenses.

  He had meant to seduce her, of that he was sure. He had meant to and he still wanted to but all of his reasons for doing it changed the moment her head lifted and his lips found her soft and trembling mouth.

  Chapter 6

  The kiss stole away Julia’s senses. Everything she had ever
felt before when being kissed vanished beneath the kiss that Ace gave her. Her body shook and her breasts flattened against his chest, that strong chest of his. Her hands came up and clutched at his shoulders. She felt the strength and flex of those shoulders as her fingers sank into the muscles.

  His flat belly and lean hips met hers. Her gasp as his tongue slid into her mouth, bringing the flavor of his mouth and even more sensation to her, sent her into a tailspin of desire that she could not deny, and did not want to deny. Her legs trembled and hot and sticky fluids dripped from her core, spilled onto the thin fabric of her panties. Her nipples went thick and stiff, poking against his chest while his fingers fisted her hair and yanked her head back so that he could ravage her neck with fiery kisses and nips that sent his teeth into her flesh in a way that bordered but never became actually painful.

  She knew she should stop tis now. He had not asked for this, he had not demanded it as part of the bargain. There were so many reasons not to do this. She didn’t know him well. She had dreamed of a man who loved her and wanted her more than anything and anyone else in the world taking her virginity. He was so much older than she had no idea of how to react to him, but her body seemed to have a mind of its own on that one.

  Her legs shook yet again as his fingers traveled down her back, his fingertips pressing into the raised knobs of her spine and then going lower until he was clutching the perky halves of her ass cheeks.

  She wanted him His age didn’t matter. The fact that he was an enemy of her family didn’t matter. All that mattered was the way his mouth made little fiery trails run along her flesh and the way that his body melded into hers, made her want to rip her clothes off and show him every inch of her flesh. His mouth came back to hers. His teeth caught her bottom lip and she cried out as he tugged gently at her lip with his teeth while his very masculine hardness prodded against her lower belly, sending more fluids into her panties, which were now soaked and laden with her oils.