Bucking Bear (Pounding Hearts #3)

by Izzy Sweet

  “Yeah!”

  I hop out of the car and follow behind them, feeling a little nervous about how Hope will react. Will she love it or hate it?

  If she’s hates it how is Max going to take it?

  After punching in a security code, Max opens the front door and stops, holding his other hand out for me. I place my hand in his and take comfort in his strength, in his strong fingers wrapping around me and tugging me close.

  He leads us down the hallway, stopping two doors past his bedroom.

  “Ready?” he asks Hope.

  She bounces and squeals.

  I hold my breath, afraid that once he opens that door she might be disappointed by what she finds in the room.

  With a grin, Max pushes open the door wide and hangs back. Hope bounces into the room and lets out another loud squeal.

  A moment later she bellows, “I love my new room!”

  Curious, I peek my head around Max to get a look. Surely her new room can’t be that spectacular. We didn’t even know we were moving in until last night, yet…

  Somehow Max has managed to have the room completely furnished for a little girl. The walls are still white and bare but the furniture more than makes up for it.

  “How?” I ask as Hope climbs up on her new full-sized pink canopy bed and starts jumping on it.

  The entire rooms looks as if it was furnished for a princess in a fairytale.

  Max shrugs as if it’s no big deal but from his grin I can tell he’s really proud of himself. “I have my ways…”

  “This wasn’t here the last time I was here… was it?” I ask.

  He shakes his head.

  Hope jumps off of her bed and the concerned mommy inside of me winces and calls out, “Be careful, honey.”

  “I will, mommy!” she cries back automatically as if she expected it and races towards her royal toy box. Throwing back the lid, she lets out another earsplitting squeal to find the box already filled with dolls.

  “Max,” I frown and poke him in the ribs. “You went toy shopping too?”

  He shakes his head. “Nah, didn’t have time.”

  “How?” I ask again. Did he hire someone to do this? Or has he had the stuff secretly stashed away, all along planning this?

  He smirks. “Brett owed me the favor for that other night.”

  “Oh,” I nod in understanding. Finally getting it.

  Just before Max’s fight we were lookouts out in the woods for Brett so he could pull off a special proposal for Mandy. “So you had him do all of this?”

  “Yeah,” Max grunts.

  I laugh, picturing Brett picking out all this stuff for a little girl.

  “Told him to put together a room fit for a princess, looks like he took it literally.”

  * * *

  Max cooks dinner for us, and he and Hope spend most of the evening discussing what color she wants to paint her room. She spends most of the night gushing on and on about how awesome her room is, and how much she loves it and all her new dolls.

  I shoot off a quick text to Mandy, asking her to thank Brett for me when we all settle down on the couch to watch football. Knowing that Hope is happy here and has no idea of what’s going on with her father makes everything so much easier. It’s one less weight sitting on my shoulders, crushing me.

  With Hope snuggled up between the two of us, I glance over at Max expecting to find him watching the game but he’s watching me. There’s this mixture of heat and possession in his eyes that steals my breath.

  With Hope snuggled between us, there’s just something about this that feels completely right. He’s sitting on his side, all relaxed with his arm thrown over the back of the couch, his fingers touching me. Hope leans against him while she plays with her dolls, her little legs draped over my lap. With the TV buzzing in the background and the lights dimmed for the night, it’s almost like we’re a real bona fide family enjoying our evening together.

  It’s not long before Hope falls asleep, her little body curling up against Max, seeking his warmth in her dreams. He lifts her up and she looks so tiny, so fragile in his arms. I follow him as he carries her to her room. Stepping back, he gives me enough space to bend down, tuck her in and kiss her on the forehead good night.

  We step into the hallway and I stop Max as he begins to close her door. “Don’t. She might wake up and be frightened if it’s too dark.”

  Nodding, he takes my hand and quietly leads me down the hall. We step into his room and I hesitate for a moment as he closes the door, knowing exactly where this is leading.

  Tugging me towards his bed, his warm mouth covers my mouth and he begins to push me down while kissing me sweetly.

  I kiss him back but refuse to bend, stiffening.

  “What’s wrong?” he asks, breaking the kiss when I remain stiff. Staring deeply into my eyes, he strokes my hair back.

  I want him. I need him. It’s been too long and I’ve been through so much stress I want to get lost in his love, lost in his kisses. But how can I be intimate with him knowing Hope is just down the hallway and she might hear us?

  I glance towards his closed door with worry and he smiles, easily guessing what the problem is. “My walls are thick, she won’t hear us.”

  I shake my head and poke him playfully in the chest. “But you get really, really loud. I’m pretty sure the neighbors across the lake can hear you roaring in the heat of the moment.”

  Max laughs, a great big loud rumbling laugh and I wince, half expecting to hear Hope call out for me. “Want me to put some music on?”

  I consider it for a moment before nodding in agreement.

  Reluctantly, he drops my hand and walks over to his speaker dock. After hooking up his phone, a Britney Spears song immediately starts playing. Not a big surprise by any means, the guy has to be her biggest fan, literally. It takes me a second to recognize the song though, it’s one of her older ones. I’m a Slave 4 u, I think.

  As he walks back around the bed to me, I notice there’s a little pep to his step that wasn’t there before. And as he passes beneath the poster of Britney still up on his wall, I’m struck by this sudden fear that wasn’t there a second before, something I remember Mandy mentioning.

  “Max…” I gasp and his eyes widen, rushing the last couple of steps to me.

  “What’s wrong, baby?” he asks, big paws grabbing me by the arms while his worried eyes search my face.

  I glance towards the poster then back to him. How the hell do I even ask it? It feels utterly silly but completely terrifying.

  “Grace?”

  But it would explain why he’s so crazy for me, and why he’s willing to do so much for me… Why else would he put up with this Carson shit?

  I take a deep breath, trying to calm my panicking heart. I’ve just had a rough couple of days and it’s all hitting me now, I’m being irrational.

  Letting the breath out, feeling calmer, I’m pretty sure Max loves me for me. Not because I somewhat resemble a pop idol.

  Max’s eyes still demand an answer though.

  I take another, deep, deep breath and look pointedly toward the poster before I ask. “Are you only with me because I look like her?”

  His eyes widen even further and his jaw drops a little. He follows my line of sight and then the big oaf is laughing at me.

  I poke him in the ribs, seriously not finding this funny.

  “No, I’m not with you because you look like her,” he tries to reassure me and maybe it’s because he finds it funny I begin to relax. Believing he’s telling the truth, I feel even more silly for thinking it. Seriously with everything that’s going on I was worried about this?

  “Hey, it was a valid question,” I say in my defense as he keeps chuckling. “You seem to be pretty crazy about her.”

  His laughter dies away and his eyes darken as they swing back to me. His gaze slides down, scorching over my body all the way down to my toes before snapping back up to my face. He takes a step forward, pushing me to take a step back
.

  The bed hits the back of my knees and I swallow back a nervous gasp. Did I piss him off? He looks really intense all of a sudden.

  “I’ve thought about it,” he says fiercely, grabbing me gently by the back of the neck and pulling me close like he’s going to kiss me. “And I’ve decided I like her so much because she looks a little like you.”

  “Oh,” is the only word I’m capable of saying, all the silliness draining away. It’s a miracle with the way he’s holding me, the way he’s looking at me like he wants to eat me, that I’m still capable of breathing.

  “But she only looks like you a little,” he growls, his face closing the distance between us. His mouth lingers just a breath away from my mouth and my lips tingle, waiting for him to kiss them.

  “Only a little?”

  He nods slowly and then there’s this wicked gleam in his eyes before he says. “You’re much prettier.”

  He kisses me and any doubts I may have still had go flying out of my pretty little head.

  Bending me back, Max uses his kiss to sink me down onto the bed. Feeling myself succumb to gravity, my hands clutch at his shirt as he lowers his weight down on top of me until I’m spread beneath him.

  He’s so big, so massive, he should crush me yet he feels like he was meant to be on top of me. Our bodies were made to fit into each other’s grooves and spaces.

  I have this sudden primal urge to tear his shirt open, to feel his skin against my skin. To rake my nails against it.

  He growls into my mouth and my sex clenches. I don’t know if it’s him or the sudden spike of neediness but I feel so hot it’s feverish.

  I love being beneath him, I love the way his body sinks my body into the mattress. I love the way his teeth bang into my teeth as he kisses me passionately.

  Fuck, I love him, all of him.

  I must have said it out loud because he growls, “I love you too,” and deepens the kiss.

  It takes a bit of maneuvering, a bit of wiggling and me whining as his weight lifts away but his hands grab my shirt and rip it open. Just like before, he grabs the little bit of fabric that connects the cups of my bra together and just pulls, popping it open.

  My breasts seem to freeze in mid-air before dropping and jiggling.

  Tearing his mouth from mine, his eyes gaze hungrily down at them.

  “These breasts,” he growls and his head drops to taste them. Tongue flicking against just the tips. “These fucking breasts kill me. I’ve never seen such fucking beautiful, perfect breasts.”

  Hands covering my aching globes, he squeezes and kneads them as his mouth kisses a path down my stomach.

  “Max,” I gasp, my back arching off the bed as he stops to dip his tongue into my belly button.

  Teeth scraping against my belly, he lingers near my hip, sucking hard on it.

  “You’re so fucking sexy, I have to mark you,” he grunts as his mouth moves away. Sure enough he left a small hickey that will probably darken by morning. “You’re mine and I’ll fucking kill anyone who touches you.”

  His eyes meet my eyes and I should be terrified by the way he’s talking about killing someone but I’m only turned on more by his possessiveness.

  “And this pussy…” he growls, dragging his eyes away.

  I suck in a breath just as he slides down and his hot breath hits my tender, throbbing flesh.

  “I’ve never tasted a sweeter pussy, Grace. Fuck, you’re like cream on my tongue. I could lick you for days.”

  Hands giving my breasts one last parting squeeze, he has to grab me by the thighs and hold me open for him.

  “Max, please…” I plead with him. I know I must have somehow upset him with the Britney question but if he starts to lick me to prove a point there’s no way I’m going to be able to keep from screaming.

  “I’m sorry, baby, but I have to taste you,” he apologizes and grins.

  It’s so obvious he’s not sorry at all. And my butt might be squirming against the bed in anticipation but I swear I’m scowling down at the top of his head.

  I slap a hand over my mouth to muffle my moan as his tongue drags slowly through my folds and flicks at my clit.

  “Fucking delicious,” he rumbles, the vibrations of his deep voice causing my sex to clench.

  He flattens his tongue and laps at my pussy hungrily, hot tongue hitting it over and over, again and again.

  I have to bite my hand to hold back the scream building inside of me, the pressure, the pleasure is so intense I want to burst with it.

  “Come for me, baby,” Max growls. “Stop holding back.” Using his shoulder to keep me open, he thrusts one thick finger inside of me.

  I want to tell him I can’t, but he sucks my clit into his mouth and it’s all over. By some small miracle I come silently, the throes so overwhelming they swallow up the scream I was holding back.

  Aggressively he growls, licking and sucking on me, finger pumping furiously in and out of me, frustrated by my silence.

  When he’s done licking me from his lips, from his finger, he rises above me, his eyes so dark with challenge they’re practically glowing black.

  “Grace…” he frowns and I lower my hand away from my mouth. I bit it so hard I almost broke the skin.

  He looks to my hand and then he’s grinning again.

  “No, don’t!” I cry out as he grabs up both my hands and pins them above my head.

  “You shouldn’t have held back,” he justifies before his head dips again and he’s kissing my neck.

  He’s figured out where my weak spot is. There’s this sensitive bit of flesh he tortures with his tongue, teeth and lips. A spot that feels like it has a direct connection to my clit.

  It doesn’t take much before I’m melting again, squirming and writhing beneath him. But this time I can’t cover my mouth to muffle all the little sounds I can’t stop myself from making.

  I want to lock my knees together to smother the throbbing pulse growing in my core but he’s between them.

  “Max,” I whine, if he doesn’t stop I’m going to come just from this.

  “Mmm,” he rumbles.

  “You’re still dressed.”

  His mouth pauses against me as if he’s just realizing it and then he’s grunting in agreement.

  Pushing up, he traps both of my wrists in one of his hands. Using his free hand, he grabs the bottom of his shirt and rips it up and over his head. His hand leaves my wrists but it’s only for a second. I try but fail at getting away from him. Grabbing my wrists again, next come his pants, unbuttoned and shoved down his hips, freeing his magnificent dick.

  His cock twitches as I gaze longingly down at it. No longer intimidated by its sheer size I ache to feel it filling up all of my dark, empty spaces.

  “Fucking hell,” Max curses.

  His weight comes back down fully on top of me until I feel trapped beneath him. His bulging arms cage me in. My breasts are smashed beneath his rock hard pecs. My nipples are hardened into such tight little points they’re stabbing into his chest.

  His erection digs into my stomach, leaving a sticky trail of precum all the way up, past my belly button.

  Hips grinding against hips, he kisses me again. Torturing me. Our tongues clashing as if this is some battle one of us must win.

  I rock my hips up, unable to remain passive any longer.

  “Grace,” he groans, breaking away first as if he’s in some kind of awful pain.

  I have to move, I can’t help it. There’s too much franticness coursing through my blood, too much neediness trapped inside my skin.

  My clit is throbbing between my thighs and my sex is clenching down on emptiness.

  “Fuck, I forgot a condom,” he groans and pushes up.

  “I don’t care,” I cry out as his skin peels away from my skin.

  Freezing above me, he stares down at me in disbelief. “You don’t mean that.”

  “I do,” I insist and arch up. I’d grab him and pull him back down if he didn’t have my ha
nds trapped.

  “You’re just saying that because of the heat of the moment…”

  “No,” I deny and shake my head. “I mean it. I want you inside me, Max. I don’t want anything between us.”

  He groans such an agonized groan it sends chills down my spine. “But you could get pregnant, baby.”

  After everything he’s done for Hope and me, I feel safe with him. I want to make a baby with him. I didn’t know it before this moment but there’s a rightness to it.

  But I don’t say that, I whine and beg, “Please,” while rocking my hips instead.

  “Fuck,” he curses, finally giving in.

  Lowering his weight back down on top of me, I bask in the heat of his skin.

  There’s a pause, a long hesitation after he settles his body over my body.

  His cock slides through my folds, slicking it up with my wetness before he asks, “Are you sure, baby?”

  “Yes,” I ensure him. I don’t know how or why but I’ve never felt more sure. I know I won’t regret this.

  With a groan, I feel the crown of his erection pushing against my entrance.

  “Fuck, you’re so tight and wet,” he hisses and then he’s pushing in.

  His huge cock spreads me wide open.

  There’s not as much as resistance now, my body eager and ready for him. My walls grip and pull him in. But still it’s an incredibly intense experience. There’s no other feeling like this. He’s hitting every little spot, every little nerve as sinks deeper and deeper.

  Joining my body with his.

  His head falls forward, his breathing harsh and loud against my ear. He just holds himself there for a moment once he can go no further.

  I’m still beneath him, just reveling in it. It’s like the calm before the storm. Any moment now all hell is going to break loose and I’m going to need my breath.

  His tongue finds my ear, tasting me as he pulls back a little. My thighs tighten around him and he slams back in.

  I make a little squeaking sound of surprise and he pulls back a little just to ram it home again.

  The louder the noises I make get, the more he pulls back and the harder he slams his cock in. Before long it becomes too much of a struggle to remain quiet, it requires me to hold on to too much of my control when all I really want to do is let go. When all I want to do is revel in being connected to him.