Billion Dollar Bear

by Catherine Vale

  Becca opened her mouth and allowed Jericho to slide the fork into her mouth. She groaned a little as the creamy noodles touched her tongue, then closed her eyes and chewed. Pure heaven.

  “There you go,” he encouraged as she forked up another mouthful. “You’re looking better already. More color in your cheeks.” He picked up his own fork and knife and began cutting into the medium-rare steak on his plate, and for several minutes they ate in complete silence.

  “God,” she breathed, sitting back in her chair when the plate was empty. “Can I have more?” she asked.

  Jericho laughed. “They know to have several servings ready when I come,” he said, signaling for the waiter. The man materialized instantly at his side. “We’re ready for the next course.”

  More food was brought out, and Becca and Jericho dug in, though they took more time to savor the food now that the edge was taken off their hunger. “Now that we’ve had a chance to put some food in our bellies,” Becca said, “I’m going to ask you my next question, and you have to promise to answer it honestly.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Where were you really going tonight, before I texted you and asked you to pick me up from the airport?”

  Jericho actually winced at the question. “Will you promise not to throw that plate in my face and storm out of here?”

  Becca raised an eyebrow, her heart sinking a little. “It’s that bad?”

  “I was on my way to a date. With a she-bear.”

  Her heart dropped all the way to the soles of her shoes. “Oh.” She blinked the tears back from her eyes – what right did she have to be upset? As far as he’d been concerned, she’d rejected him and he’d had to move on. And yet…

  “You have every right to ask me to turn around and bring you back to the airport now,” Jericho told her. Sincerity shimmered in his blue gaze as he grabbed her hand and squeezed. “But know that I wasn’t going on a date because I wanted to replace you, but because my clan demands I choose a mate, and soon.” He sighed. “Before I went to France and met you, I was sort of promised to another.”

  Becca swallowed. “I see.” She took a minute to work past the lump in her throat before speaking again. “And this woman… was she someone you loved?”

  He shook his head, a scowl furrowing his brow. “No, not at all. It takes all of the patience in the world just to be in the same room with her.” He looked up at Becca, and the fire in his eyes told her that he was telling the truth. “There has never been anyone that even came close to stealing my heart. Not until you.”

  The same fear from earlier prickled against her chest cavity, but it was tempered by a kind of warmth that rose through her at the idea that he’d chosen her over the most eligible bachelorettes available. “What are you saying?”

  Jericho sighed. “I don’t know exactly,” he admitted. “I know it’s wrong for me to ask you to consider giving up your life in order to satisfy my selfish desires, but I can’t help wanting you by my side every second of the day. My heart has been aching without you,” he murmured, rubbing the back of her hand against his cheek, “and I thought I was going to go mad from it unless I drowned myself in work again.”

  He turned his gaze toward the Chicago coastline, where the sun had disappeared beneath the horizon, leaving a dusky blue twilight behind. “All I’m asking is that you stay for the weekend. Let me show you my city, introduce you to my clan. And if, by the time Monday rolls around, you can’t stand the sight of me for another second, I’ll send you back home.”

  Becca smiled sadly. “Part of the problem is that I’m afraid I’m never going to get tired of seeing you,” she said quietly. “But that doesn’t mean staying with you and becoming your mate is the best thing for me.”

  “Maybe not,” Jericho agreed, nuzzling her hand in a way that was both adorable and sexy, “but at least I’ll have been able to spend a few more days with you. And if that’s all you can give me, I’ll treasure it for the precious gift that it is.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Though the rest of their dinner was enjoyable, by the time Becca got back into the car with Jericho her stomach was heavy with a mass of bundled nerves that made her want to crawl out of her skin. As they drove through the streets of Chicago, her belly full with a ridiculously delicious and incredibly expensive meal, heading for Jericho’s home, she wondered just how out of her league she was getting into right now, and whether or not she was going to fall from the high perch Jericho had placed her on, and smash face-first into the ground.

  There was no way she was worthy of being a clan chieftain’s mate. No way at all.

  “You’re trembling.” Jericho reached for her hand, and gently ran his thumb over her knuckles, trying to soothe her. She sucked in a breath, and then let it out slowly; trying to ease the obvious display of nerves she hadn’t even realized she was creating. “What’s wrong?”

  “I… I’m just nervous.” She swallowed, trying to ignore the sting of embarrassment at her cheeks. “I’ve never done anything like this before in my life, Jericho. And especially not with a man like you.”

  He turned to face her then, a pained expression on his handsome face. “I wish you would stop thinking of me that way.”

  Becca gave him a puzzled frown. “In what way?”

  “As if I’m more than just an ordinary man.” He frowned at her before turning his eyes back to the road. “You didn’t treat me that way when we were back in Paris.”

  “That’s because I didn’t know who you were.”

  “I am exactly the same person I was when you met me in Paris.” Exasperation tinged his voice, tightening the corners of his mouth and eyes. “Just because I have a title and wealth doesn’t mean I’m any different. One of the reasons I like you so much is because you treat me like a normal person instead of someone to be feared or admired. Everyone else, even my closest friends and family, still look at me through the filter of my title, and it wears on me after awhile. I was hoping you would be different,” he said, and then sighed again, his shoulders slumping a little.

  Guilt stung Becca’s heart, flushing her cheeks with embarrassment as she realized what a hypocrite she was being. She, too, dealt with a similar stigma – as a half-breed no full-blood shifter would ever look at her and just see the person that she was; to them she was a mongrel, something to be shunned and hated. Sure, maybe being feared and admired were better choices than what she had to deal with, but at least she didn’t have to be around shifters. For Jericho, he was constantly in the spotlight, the mantle of power and responsibility a constant burden that couldn’t be shrugged off for any significant length of time.

  “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I didn’t really think of it that way, but you’re right.” It was her turn to take up his hand, and she lifted it to her lips so she could press kisses against the rough skin. “Just because I now know you’re a chieftain doesn’t mean you’re any different from the man I met.” She paused, taking a moment to figure out how best to phrase the next part. “But it does mean there’s a certain amount of baggage you carry that I didn’t know about before.”

  “Like a clan and a multi-billion dollar business?” he asked wryly, and she laughed.

  “That, and the mandate for you to take a mate and procreate.”

  He sucked in a breath at that. “Do… do you want to have children?” There was hesitancy to his tone that told her he was worried that she did not.

  Becca smiled a little. “I do… but any cubs we would have together would not be pure-bred, and that might prove an issue, especially with your clan.”

  Jericho scoffed. “I don’t personally have an issue with my cubs having a bit of human blood in them,” he said. “After all, our original makeup includes a bit of human DNA in it anyway. So I really don’t see what the difference would be if our children are a quarter human.”

  Becca arched a brow. “Sounds like you’ve had a lot of time to think about this.”

  “I have.” He squeezed her hand
. “And no matter how I look at it, there’s no reason to think that you aren’t the perfect mate for me.”

  Warmth suffused her at the compliment, and she turned away so that he would not see her cheeks heat, just in time as he pulled into the driveway of a three-story limestone and glass townhouse. Having expected either an ornate mansion or a modern glass and steel monstrosity, she was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable and charming the townhouse looked, with its green awnings perched over the glass windows and the blooming flower garden that ran around the front of the house.

  Maybe this won’t be so bad after all, she thought as the pulled up to the garage.

  * * *

  Jericho tried not to dwell on the heaviness in his heart as he pulled into the driveway of his Lincoln Park townhouse, but it was damned difficult not to do so with the somber mood that had settled between them. He’d hoped to recapture some of the lighthearted, carefree atmosphere that had surrounded them during his Paris trip, but the truth was, now that he’d brought her home he’d only stirred the seriousness of what was between them closer to the surface.

  After all, he wasn’t just asking her to spend more time with him. He was asking her to be his mate.

  God, why didn’t I think this through before I sent her those tickets? At the very least he could have taken some time to come up with a better pitch. Instead he’d spewed out some kind of heartfelt drivel that had made her look upon him with pity. Like he was desperate, or something. And he hated looking needy in front of anyone.

  Face it. The whole reason you acted so impulsively is because when it comes to her, you are needy. You need her like a bonfire needs kindling to keep its blaze going.

  “Is this your place?” Becca’s lovely voice drew him out of his self-abasement as he pulled into the driveway outside his townhouse.

  “It is.” Rather than opening the garage immediately, he lingered in the driveway, allowing her to take a moment to admire the visage. “What do you think?”

  Her eyes drifted over the limestone and glass, lingering on the elegant touches of iron at the windows and ledges, shaped into artistic patterns that had drawn his eye as well when he’d first looked into the property. “It’s charming,” she finally said. “I’d like to see more of it.”

  Jericho smiled. “And so you will.” He pressed the button on the clicker clipped to the sunshade, and the garage door slowly rolled upward. As Jericho parked the car inside, her eyes flicked to the beetle-green motorcycle parked to the right, lingering over the sleek lines and curves.

  “I didn’t know you rode.”

  “Didn’t have a motorcycle to run around with in Paris,” he explained, and then tossed her a roguish grin. “Maybe I’ll take you out while you’re here.”

  Becca grinned back. “Why don’t I take you out?”

  Jericho’s brows shot skyward. “You can ride?” he asked as they climbed out of the Audi.

  Becca cocked her head as she studied the bike. “Doesn’t really seem any different form the European models I’ve ridden, so yeah, I bet I could handle this baby no problem.”

  Jericho laughed. “All right Evel Knievel,” he said, taking her by the arm. “Let’s get inside already.

  He gave her a tour of the house, which was much bigger on the inside than it appeared on the outside – she counted eleven rooms total, between the living room, the den, the kitchen, the three bedrooms and bathrooms, and then the two rooms Jericho spent the most time in – his office and the gym.

  Or so she surmised by the fact that his scent was strongest in both these places.

  “You spend a lot of time working, or working out,” she mused, running her hand along the length of a punching bag suspended in one corner of the gym. Mirrored walls rang the length of the room, which boasted a varied array of high-tech equipment that would rival any professional gym.

  Jericho shrugged a little. “I do a very non-physical job,” he told her. “So I have to work a little extra in order to stay in shape. If I’m not the strongest of our clan, then I don’t deserve the right to lead or defend it.”

  “Well you certainly look strong enough to me,” Becca purred, running a hand down the length of his arm. Her elegant fingers expertly found the swells and crevices of his muscles even through the shirt he wore, and his pulse jumped as his mind instantly conjured up ideas for other places on his body she could be running her hands over.

  “Becca…” Jericho murmured as she pushed him gently against one of the mirrored walls. A hot shiver rippled through him as her fingers worked their way down the row of buttons lining his shirt, popping them open one by one. He’d ached for her since the moment she’d stepped off the plane, but he’d wanted their first time in Chicago to be a bit more memorable than just taking her on the floor of his gym. But when she reached up and lightly bit down on his shoulder, rational thought fled from his mind with a groan.

  “Shush.” Becca pressed the length of her body against his. “It’s been too long. I want you right here. Right now.” She kissed him fiercely, and he was instantly lost to the tempest of their passion, wrapped up in a whirlwind of desire that left him hot and aching and feeling like they both had far too many clothes on. Before he had time to think about it, he shrugged his shirt off and then used his claws to slash a line down the back of Becca’s dress.

  “Hey!” Becca jerked in his arms as he protested, and the dress slid down her body, revealing her naked body beneath – which was just the way he liked it.

  “I’ll buy you another one,” he growled, scooping her up in his arms so he could feel her skin against his. Her nipples rasped against his chest, hard and puckered and ready for his touch.

  He laid her down on one of the weight benches, spreading her legs so that they dangled off to the side, then stepped back a moment so he could drink her in. “You’re so beautiful,” he rasped, his gaze lovingly tracing the dips and curves of her body and coming to rest on her pussy, which was pink and already glistening for him.

  Smiling, she raised her arms up, reaching for him. “Come to me.”

  He did, but not before divesting himself from the rest of his clothes. Kneeling by the edge of the weight bench, he pulled her closer to him so that he could bury his face between her legs and taste her. She cried out, jerking up into a sitting position as his tongue lapped at her folds, teasing her clit with slow, lazy strokes. Her fingers curling in his scalp felt like heaven, massaging him and urging him forward, begging him to go faster, to press harder, to give her more. And when he sucked on her clit, she exploded in his mouth, her juices flowing free as she shuddered and moaned his name long and low in the back of her throat.

  By the time she was done, his cock was hard and aching and ready to burst as well. “Ride me,” he grunted, lifting her by the waist and reversing their positions so that he lay on the bench and she was straddling his legs. He knew he would crush her if their positions were reversed, and besides, he loved the way her breasts looked from this angle, so full and round and perfect as they swayed above him.

  He reached up to cup both of her breasts in his hands as she lowered herself onto his cock, and they both moaned in unison as he filled her to the brim. He gently massaged her breasts as she rode him slowly, rubbing her nipples beneath his thumbs in time to his thrusts, and reveled in the way she looked at him, her eyes shining, her face flushed, her lips swollen from his kisses.

  I love you with every beat of my heart, he wanted to say, but he didn’t want to scare her off by putting even more pressure on her, so he simply gripped her hips and held on tight as she increased the pace, enjoying the moment as she pushed them closer and closer to the edge. And when she threw back her head, curls rippling down her back as she cried out her pleasure, he joined her there in that blissful place.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Oh my God. I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

  Becca smushed her face into her hands as she sat – no, cowered really – on the toilet seat in Jericho’s bathroom, hiding from
the veritable crowd of were bears milling about downstairs. She’d woken up this morning to a cup of steaming coffee and Jericho’s smiling face thinking it was going to be a great day, only to be told that he’d invited the entire clan over to meet her and that they were arriving in twenty minutes.

  Twenty minutes, of course, meaning now.

  She’d hidden herself away in the bathroom ten minutes ago so she could ‘freshen up and change’, and though she was as visually ready as she was ever going to be, she just couldn’t make herself walk out that bathroom door. She could hear the buzz of chatter from downstairs, and the smell of all those full-blooded were-bears all crowded into one room was giving her a serious case of the creeps.

  Half-breed lesson number one: never toss yourself into a den full of full-blooded were-bears who hate your kind.

  Okay, maybe there wasn’t specifically a rule that was worded exactly that way. But there definitely should be one. What Jericho was asking her to do went against everything she’d ever been taught about how to survive as a half-breed. If it were any other person, and any other clan, she’d have high-tailed it to the nearest airport right now. What he was asking was almost certain suicide.

  “Becca?” Jericho’s worried voice drifted through the door. “Are you alright in there?”

  “I’m fine,” Becca called back through the door, though her voice was more muffled since her face was still firmly buried in her hands.

  Evidently Jericho wasn’t buying it. “Can I come in?”

  “Sure,” she said with a defeated sigh, knowing that he wouldn’t leave her alone anyway until she showed her face.

  He opened the door cautiously and stepped inside the massive black and white marble bathroom, looking casually gorgeous in a blue button-down that matched his eyes perfectly and a pair of jeans.