I gripped her thighs and then ran my hands up to her waist. “So fucking soft.”
Her hands fumbled at the button of my pants for a second before she gave up and palmed me through them. “So fucking hard.”
I grabbed her ass and pulled her off the counter. With her legs wrapped around my waist like a vice, I carried us to my bedroom. My face was buried against her neck so I could bask in her scent. My bear was roaring his pleasure, but with my mouth against the smooth skin of her neck, he beckoned me to mark her. He wanted me to claim the female as our own, to keep her with us forever.
Elizabeth ran her hands through my hair and tugged. “You stopped.”
I’d been so lost in fighting the urge to mark her that I’d just frozen. I planted a kiss on her neck and forced myself to pull away from it. I kicked the bedroom door closed and tossed her on the bed. “I was thinking about how many ways I could take you before the sun comes up.”
She raised up on her knees and slowly unbuttoned the top button of the flannel. I’d never loved that shirt more. Her eyes moved over my body, heated and heavy-lidded with desire. “Take off your pants.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’re the boss now?”
The button gave way and her hands moved down to the next one. “Maybe. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”
I growled, unable to stop the response. I was seconds away from slamming my dick into her and she wanted to toy with me. She didn’t understand how little self-control I had at that moment.
“Woman.”
Her grin was slow and her eyes bore into mine.
“Man.”
I unfastened my jeans and pushed them lower on my hips.
“You first.”
She worked another button loose and then dropped her hands to the bed.
“I want the pants, Alex.”
I’d never been with a woman who pushed back against me. Something about her demands, about her projecting her own dominance rocked me. I wanted to fall to my knees in front of her and beg for the opportunity to touch her. My pride refused to allow that, though.
Instead, I shoved my pants down and stood naked in front of her. I watched her eyes go wide and felt my muscles flex in response. Her arousal scented the air more heavily and I tilted my head back to breathe it in.
“Your turn, little one.”
She went back to unbuttoning the shirt, painfully slowly, with her eyes glued on me. When she got to the last button, she undid it and then held the shirt closed with her hands.
“Ask nicely.”
Without thinking, I jumped on the bed and tackled her into the pillows behind her. I grabbed her wrists and held them above her head.
“You’re a tease.”
Her eyes flashed and her chest rose and fell faster. I could hear her heartbeat racing.
“The word tease implies that I’m not going to put out.”
I bent down and nipped at the skin on her collar bone.
“And are you?”
She arched her hips and my dick settled against the bare lips of her pussy. Her wetness coated me as she rocked her hips back and forth.
“Yes. I’m yours for the night, cowboy.”
And there it was. The night. My bear huffed and urged me to claim her. Don’t let her leave. It couldn’t be just one night. On night wasn’t nearly enough. I ignored him and took my time ogling her body, spread out under me.
Her skin was smooth and naturally sun-kissed. My thoughts filled with images of how good she’d look swimming in the stream behind my house, naked. Hell, she’d look good anywhere naked.
I cupped her breasts, unable to resist for any longer. They filled my hands perfectly. Her nipples were small, pink buds, hard against my palms. I dipped my head and took one into my mouth. Her taste exploded on my tongue, honey and sweetness.
“Alex!” Elizabeth’s voice was higher as she locked her hands in my hair and pulled my mouth closer to her flesh.
I flicked my tongue over her and then moved to the other one, teasing it in just the same way. When I ignored them to move down her stomach, she whined. Her skin was soft under the stubble on my chin and as I rubbed it across her stomach, she shivered.
Her fingers tightened almost painfully in my hair as my mouth burned a trail to the sweet spot between her thighs. I stroked my tongue up the junction of her legs and labia, wanting to drive her insane before delving into her. I sucked at a spot on her thigh and left a mark, satisfying the bear a little bit.
She lifted her hips, giving herself to me. “Please, Alex.”
Hearing her beg pushed me over the edge. I ran my tongue up her slit and then parted her lips to flick my tongue over her clit. She tasted sweet and it sent me back for more over and over again. I teased her with long strokes until her nails dug into my scalp. Then, I slipped a finger into her as my tongue settled over her clit.
Elizabeth rode my face like a champ. Her hips twisted and rolled, putting my mouth wherever she wanted it. When I slipped a second finger into her, she damn near busted my nose with an especially excited thrust of her hips. My little firecracker wasn’t shy about her needs in the bedroom.
The bit of fight for control spurred me to give her more. I fucked her with my mouth until she was screaming out my name and coming on my fingers. Her thighs shook under me and as I glanced up at her, I saw how flushed her entire chest and face got as she came. It was the damn sexiest thing I’d ever seen to watch the creeping blush rise as her body shuddered and convulsed in pleasure.
She used her grip on my hair to tug me up and then kissed me like she couldn’t get enough of me. I kept my fingers in her, though, readying her for me. I scissored my fingers and then pushed in a third. I swallowed her moan and thought of anything I could to avoid shooting off early.
“Fuck me. I need you in me.”
Her ragged voice called to me and I barely restrained myself from sinking my teeth into her shoulder and leaving her with a claiming mark. I slid my fingers out and then stroked her clit.
“Condom?”
I reached over to my nightstand and grabbed one before sitting back and rolling it on. I looked back at her and noticed the slightly annoyed look on her face.
“What?”
She shook her head.
“What?” I repeated.
“You’re prepared.”
I grinned down at her and then rubbed the head of my dick against her. “Jealous?”
CHAPTER 8: Alex
Something in Elizabeth’s face told me she was. My bear was delighted that our little human was already feeling possessive of us. Although, I knew she wouldn’t understand. It was different for humans. They didn’t understand the attraction of true mates like bears did.
She reached down and grabbed me.
“Are you going to fuck me?”
My hips rocked into her grip naturally.
“Oh, yeah.”
She lined our bodies up and wrapped her legs around me.
“Then do it. I want you. Now.”
I kissed her as I slowly thrust my way into her tight body. She gripped me like a vise and I had to push in harder to get all of my length in. When my dick was all the way in, I stayed still to let her adjust. My chest was heaving from the effort of not coming. I’d never been gripped like she was gripping me. Her hot little body was holding mine like both our bodies had been waiting our whole lives for just this connection.
When I could move, Elizabeth came alive under me. She pressed her mouth to my ear and begged me for it as I pumped in and out of her. I rubbed my face over her neck and dragged my teeth over the skin there, teasing myself with the potential of tying us together for the rest of our lives. I wanted to. Lord help me, I wanted to sink my teeth in. What had started as my bear roaring at me to claim her had turned into the man wanting it.
“You feel so fucking good.”
She moaned and nipped my ear.
I moved faster and harder, showing her that it could be even better. She tightened even
more around me, tempting my body to lose control.
Elizabeth rocked her hips into me and tightened when I pushed into her until my eyes were damn near rolling back in my head. I knew I wasn’t going to last much longer, so I angled my hips higher so with every stroke my pelvis would rub her clit. Just a few thrusts more and she raked her nails down my back while crying out my name. She sank her teeth into my shoulder and it was all I could handle.
I came harder than I ever remembered coming in my life. My body felt like it was being sucked through my dick as I jerked and spasmed inside her. I grunted out her name and wrapped my arms around her while rolling to the side slightly so I didn’t completely suffocate her.
Several minutes passed before either of us moved. When I did slip out of her, she groaned and buried her head against my shoulder. I reached down to take the condom off and felt it hanging off of me in shreds. I looked down and cursed.
“What’s wrong?”
I leaned back so she could see and watched her eyes go big.
“That’s not good.”
My chest tightened and I had a moment of panic, fearing the worst. My bear nudged me, telling me that it was okay, that this was how it was supposed to be because she was mine. I knew she was my mate, but still, thinking that she could potentially get pregnant with my cub scared the hell out of me. I wasn’t ready for anything like that.
“Are you by chance on the pill?”
She sat up and fumbled to get the flannel shirt back on.
“No, but let’s not panic. I’ll just take a morning after pill.”
My chest tightened even more. Why didn’t I like that? Fuck, I wasn’t even sure what I wanted or needed. I reached out and tugged the shirt back off of her shoulders.
“Come here.”
Her body was stiffer than it had been, but I didn’t know how to fix it at that moment. I just did what felt right. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into my chest.
“Rest, little one.”
CHAPTER 9: Elizabeth
I woke up before Alex and squeezed myself out from under his heavy body. The man slept like the dead. I was used to that, though. Sam slept the same way.
At the thought of Sam, I felt sick. It wasn’t the way I thought it would be, though. I thought I’d feel sick because of what I’d done with Alex the night before, but instead, I felt sick thinking of having ever been with Sam. Thoughts of Sam settled in my stomach about as easily as a brick.
I went to the bathroom and then brushed my teeth using some of Alex’s toothpaste and my finger. My hair had dried into a weird mess, so I braided it down my back and then pulled my slightly stiff but dry dress back on.
The spark I felt for Alex had grown into a torch. I couldn’t even look at him without feeling slightly unbalanced. He was kind and seemed like someone I would actually enjoy being with outside the bedroom as much as I did inside. I stifled a giggle. Inside the bedroom had been amazing. The sex was earth shattering. I’d actually lost my mind and bitten the man. I’d never bitten anyone during sex before.
The connection between us, my incredibly strong attraction to him, it was all so strange. One night stands had never been my kind of thing. Meeting him and feeling comfortable enough to come back to his trailer with him and sleep with him all on the same night was so unlike me. I just instinctively trusted him and felt drawn to him. Everything about this sounded so stupid in my head, but there it was.
I pulled my legs under me and stared out of the windows across from Alex’s couch. None of what I was feeling for Alex mattered. I couldn’t stay. I had to go back to DC. Wyoming hadn’t been my dream. I came because of Sam. I didn’t even have a job here, no friends, family, connections, nothing. Now that things were over with Sam, it was time for me to go home..
“Come back to bed.” Naked, Alex stood in the doorway to his bedroom, leaning on the door jamb looking confused and grumpy.
“Sleep better with you there.”
My chest ached painfully and I shook my head. I wanted to go back to bed with him. I wanted to pretend like I’d come to Wyoming to be with him instead of Sam, and that things were going great. I wanted last night over and over again. But that wasn’t reality. Reality was that this hot, sexy, sweet man and I just had an awesome roll in the hay which temporarily took my mind off of the fact that my life was a mess, and now it’s time to put on my big girl panties. I had to rip off the band-aid, and face my future.
“I have to go.”
He rubbed his hands down his face and then pushed them through his hair. It went all over the place but, somehow, he ended up looking even sexier.
“Why?”
“I have to go home.”
He growled and stepped towards me. “To your ex?”
I shook my head. “To DC.”
“No. It’s too early. Just come back to bed.”
“I can’t. I have to go, Alex.”
He went back to his room and came back out a few seconds later with a pair of pajama bottoms hanging low on his hips.
“You can stay here. Stay until you get on your feet.”
Tears filled my eyes and I had to look away so he wouldn’t see them. “There’s nothing for me here in Landing. Everyone treats me like I’m diseased. I came here because of my ex and now it’s time for me to go. I need to put my life back together.”
He sighed. “I can’t make you stay, but I wish you would.”
I nodded and stood up. “I have to go by the motel and grab my wallet, at least. I have to buy a bus ticket and get out of here.”
“I’ll drive you.”
Sam was gone, luckily, so I ran in, grabbed my purse, and quickly packed a bag. I held my tears in all the way to the bus stop. I was confused about how much pain I was feeling. I swear it wasn’t over Sam, or even leaving this place. It pained me to leave Alex. I didn’t know Alex well enough for any of the feelings I was having towards him to be genuine. I bet a shrink would tell me that it was some sort of misplaced something-or-other and that I had transferred feelings I’d wanted to have for Sam over to Alex, or some mumbo-jumbo like that.
Regardless, I felt a massive, weighty sorrow from saying goodbye to this man I barely knew. He insisted on buying the ticket for me, and then slipped his number into my purse while we silently waited for my bus to arrive.
When it did, I stood up on shaky legs and awkwardly backed away from Alex. I was weak and let the tears fall as I turned and got on the bus without hugging him goodbye. I’d never felt anything quite as intense, and the entire ride back to DC was spent crying over this man that I’d known for less than twenty-four hours. I was going home but it had never felt less like home.
CHAPTER 10: Elizabeth
Five Months Later…
I’d arrived in Landing, Wyoming the night before and had stayed in the same motel where Sam and I had lived for those couple weeks. Landing was exactly the same, although, for me, everything about everything had changed. I woke up early, feeling like shit, as usual. My body was revolting. I’d heard of people having easy first trimesters. I wasn’t one of them.
I stood in front of the floor length mirror that was attached to the back of the bathroom door and stared at my body. In my floral sundress, my pregnant belly was slightly blending in. So far, the rest of my body had stayed the same. Except my breasts. They were exploding all over the place.
Pregnant after a one night stand with a stranger. I was living in a Lifetime made for TV movie special.
I’d gone back to DC and had thrown myself into my work. I was fortunate in that I had been offered my old job back. They really didn’t need me, but had hired me back anyway out of the kindness of the boss’s heart. I’d practiced, daily, forcing myself to forget about Alex, although it never really took. I’d dreamt of the big man every single night, and daydreamed about him every single day. I was living in a constant haze, a fog that I hadn’t been able to lift.
The first month back, I’d been able to act like my missed period was nothing. With a
ll the thoughts buzzing around in my head five months ago, on the morning I’d left Landing, I’d forgotten to take the morning after pill. Still, I’d convinced myself that my missed period was due to stress. The first month.
By the end of the second month, I realized that something wasn’t right. I started getting sick in the mornings. When I was finally able to get away from work, I took a pregnancy test and, sure enough, two pink lines. Positive. I was pregnant. Not only that, but I knew, without a doubt, that the baby was Alex’s.
I spent the next couple months arguing with myself about what I should do. The internal conflict was tearing me up. I didn’t want to be that girl. The girl who showed up at some guy she barely knew’s doorstep with stork news. I also didn’t think it was right for me to keep this news from Alex. Maybe he’d want to know. A part of me just wanted to see him; another part worried that I was asking for more heartache. I couldn’t help the fact that I really did want to see him. Something about that man drew me like a moth to a flame. I just hoped I didn’t get burned.
It was scorching hot outside as I walking towards Alex’s trailer. I passed a several people on the way, a few stared at my stomach with wide eyes. How bizarre. I looked down and rubbed it. “It’s okay, little guy. This town is just weird.”
I didn’t know for sure I was having a boy, but I just felt in my gut like I was—a mother’s intuition. I smiled to myself and shook my head. As crazy as it seemed, I felt good about my baby. Everything was tense and up in the air when it came to work and Alex, but I was solid when it came to my protectiveness of my baby. I would be taking good care of this little one.
Alex’s trailer came into view and the little tornadoes in my stomach started turning like crazy again.
His truck wasn’t in the drive, so I didn’t figure he’d be there, but I knocked anyway. Sure enough, no answer.
The next place I looked was the stadium. There were a few cowboys standing around outside, but Alex wasn’t one of them. Sweat was rolling down my chest and face. I started feeling a little panicked.
Bears of Burden: THORN Page 37
