Edward (BBW Western Bear Shifter Romance) (Rodeo Bears Book 1)

by Becca Fanning

  “That’s a different kind of heat, darlin’,” he told her, pulling her into his arms. “Don’t worry. When I’m with a woman, I stay a man, ’cause all that heat isn’t about self preservation.”

  “Oh. Okay.”

  “Okay?”

  She looked up again and a smile tugged at her lips. “I did wonder.”

  “Why don’t I help you gather some empirical evidence to prove it?” he suggested, wrapping his arms around her. “That way you can be sure the next time.”

  Her smile blossomed. “Why don’t you?”

  But when he leaned down to kiss her, she suddenly laid her hand on his chest once more and leaned back in his arms so she could see his face clearly.

  “Will there be a ‘next time’?” she asked, for the first time uncertain of where this was leading.

  He seemed to understand her question.

  “I know it seems kind of quick,” he said.

  “Only two days,” she reminded him.

  “The thing is, we Saint men tend to fall fast and hard, if you know what I mean.”

  “I think so.”

  He smiled. “We also tend to know, right from the get-go, who we want to spend the rest of our lives with.”

  “Do you?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Oh. Well. In that case…”

  She reached up to take his face in her hands and stood on her toes so she could reach him. When their lips met she felt the proverbial fireworks going off inside her, and as their kiss deepened, she knew that she would soon be able to fly.

  An angry car horn from the street below, brought her up short, and she pulled back just far enough to look around. They were standing right in the middle her living room windows.

  “Uh, maybe we should move this to the back,” she said, her breathless voice sounding strange to her own ears.

  Matt’s deep, rumbling chuckle was followed by a not-too-gentle nip on her jaw.

  “Good idea.”

  Mel laughed and pulled away, though she kept his hand clasped tightly in hers as she led him back to her bedroom, turning out the lights along the way.

  Once they were safely inside her bedroom, with only the streetlight outside her window for illumination, she raised her lips to his once more, and their hands began to roam. Matt slipped her jacket off and tossed it toward a chair while she pulled the tail of his shirt free, unbuttoned it then sent both shirt and jacket to the floor. He reached for the zipper on her slacks while she reached for his belt, thrilled by what she could see in the front of his jeans. In moments they were both naked and rolling across her double bed, which was dwarfed by his size.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured between kisses as he explored every inch of her body with his callused fingers, which sent tingles coursing through her.

  “I’m not really, you know,” she whispered, fighting to give as good as she was getting.

  “I guess I’m just gonna have to convince you, somehow,” he growled low in his throat, as his lips traced her face and moved on to her neck and shoulders.

  “I’m not very good at this, either,” she said, hating to admit it to him but somehow needing him to know.

  “Who says?” he murmured, as he shifted to let one callused hand cup one breast.

  She felt her world shift.

  “Well, I’ve only done this once before,” she said, hating to have to break that news to him at this point. “I was a sophomore in college. He was a grad student, with all sorts of experience, I pretty sure, and he said I wasn’t any good. I guess he was right, because I never did…well, I never...I mean, of course I’ve heard about orgasms, but I’ve never had one.”

  She felt herself blushing furiously, and when Matt stopped what he was doing to her, to take her face in both of his big hands, Mel had to force herself to open her eyes and face the music.

  “Darlin’,” he said, his smile surprising the heck out of her, “if you never had an orgasm, then it was the man who was doin’ it wrong.”

  “Really?” she asked, surprise overtaking her embarrassment.

  He grinned. “Oh, yeah.”

  He shifted once more, and the next thing she knew, those amazing lips were making a wet trail down to her breast, where he suddenly stopped and suckled.

  Mel thought she heard a scream as she all but lifted them both off the bed.

  She felt Matt’s laughter, as he wrapped his hands around her torso under her arms and lifted her up to feast on her breasts, first one then the other, until suddenly everything in her tightened and she felt wetness between her thighs as she was swamped with pleasure beyond her imagination.

  Matt lowered her gently to the bed when she finally went limp, still not quite certain of what had happened.

  “See what I mean?” he said, as he nuzzled her neck and ear.

  “Oh, yeah,” she gasped.

  Matt laughed and started to work on her again, but when she pushed at his shoulders, he rolled onto his back, allowing her to climb on top and straddle his thighs, so she could run her fingers through the thick curly hair on his chest.

  “My turn, big guy,” she said, surprising herself with the sultry tone of her voice.

  “Be my guest,” he said, reaching up to take both her breasts in his big hands.

  Mel found herself moving rhythmically against him, as she ran her hands over his chest and down lower, igniting sparks in both of them.

  “Careful, darlin’,” Matt said, when her hands found that part of him she had never seen before.

  She wished the streetlight showed her more, because he felt huge in her hand, and she had a sudden premonition that things were not going to work quite as easily as she had experience her one previous time.

  Matt didn’t give her a chance to change her mind but instead pulled her to him, flipped their positions once more, and went back to kissing her. This time, her legs fell open, allowing him to settle between them, and as he moved against her, she felt her own wetness lubricating him. Before she could decide how best to ask the question, she felt his fingers on her there, opening her to him, and in another moment, that part of him was slowing moving inside of her. She inhaled sharply, as she experienced his size in another way, but he was gentle and patient, pushing first in then pulling out, until her muscles relaxed enough to take all of him, and he was seated to the hilt.

  In another moment, they were moving together, and Mel felt the pressure build once more.

  “Matt!”

  “Just let go again, darlin’,” he admonished her, and she heard the strain in his voice. “I’ve got you.”

  “I can’t. Not again!”

  But she was wrong, of course. Matt reached down to touch her where they were joined, and she shattered once more. His roar joined her scream in perfect harmony as together they both found their release.

  Sometime later, Mel became aware of the world once more. Matt’s heavy weight pinned her to the mattress, but she never wanted to move again. She took as deep a breath as she could, and he shifted away.

  “No!” she cried plaintively.

  But he only rolled onto his back, carrying her with him, so that they remained joined. She felt him inside, not as big has he had been before, but still there, still a part of her. She wrapped her arms around him as best she could and hugged his thighs with her legs. She felt more alive than she ever had before and never wanted it to end.

  “I didn’t use anythin’ to protect you,” he said after a long moment, as his fingers played softly with her hair. “Is there any chance we could’ve made a baby tonight?”

  She felt the stickiness of his seed, and smiled.

  “If we did, I won’t mind,” she said.

  She felt him sigh, but she felt more than relief in it.

  “Then I’m gonna hope we did, darlin’,” he said, confirming her guess as he nuzzled her ear, “’cause there is one thing I forgot to mention.”

  “What’s that?” she asked, though she didn’t really care at this point.
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br />   “I love you.”

  Mel went still, and when she pushed herself up far enough to look down at him, she knew those golden eyes could see her tears even in the darkness.

  “What’s this?” he asked, gently brushing the dampness away with a tender caress of his thumb.

  “No one’s ever said that to me before,” she whispered, afraid to break the spell.

  “You’re just gonna have to get used to it, darlin’,” he said, suddenly serious.

  “Okay.”

  “Only okay?” he asked, frowning.

  “I can get used to it, because I love you, too.”

  He took a deep breath then his smile grew and spread until it lit his eyes.

  “Okay, then.”

  She giggled, but then he pulled her head down and went back to the serious business of kissing her. She contracted her muscles around him, felt him begin to grow hard within her again, and the world went away once more.

  Mark

  Bearly Saints II

  by

  Becca Fanning

  Addy Spencer stared at the neatly typed letter and felt her stomach drop to her toes.

  …The members of one of the bands we represent, The Four Saints, are very much interested in recording and performing the song you sent—or any other material you might have—and would like to begin negotiations for the rights to do so, if that would be agreeable to you. I can be reached at the address and telephone above, or, if you prefer, we could set up a face-to-face meeting, either here in Nashville or at a place of your choosing.

  Thank you for submitting your song to us. I look forward to hearing from you.

  Sincerely,

  Melinda Darling

  Konstantine Talent Agency

  Nashville, Tennessee

  “I can’t believe you sent them my song, Granny,” Addy said, fighting to keep her voice calm, though she could not stop the tremor in it. “Why would you do that?”

  “Because you’ve been hiding your God-given talent under a bushel for far too many years, darlin,’ and it’s time for you to come out and sing to the world.”

  Addy turned abruptly to face her grandmother, who stood at the kitchen table, steadily kneading a mound of fragrant bread dough with her small, strong hands.

  “But…”

  “I’m not gettin’ any younger, Addy, and I can’t stand the thought of you holed up here in the hills all by yourself for the rest of your life.”

  “Don’t talk like that,” Addy said. “It’ll be a long time before I’m havin’ to live alone up here. And anyhow, I like bein’ alone.”

  Granny Spencer sighed, because she knew the latter to be true. “I’m almost eighty-four years old, Adelaide Ann, and you know as well as I do that the only guarantee we have in this life is it’s gonna end, sooner or later. And bein’ alone ain’t the way we’re meant to live, girl.

  “You know that, too,” she added for good measure as she patted the mound of dough and turned it back into a greased bowl for its second rising. Granny then draped a clean towel over the bowl and set it on top of the warm stove.

  “I can’t do this, Granny,” Addy said, tears in her voice now, as she held the scrunched letter up in her fisted hand. “You know I can’t.”

  Granny sighed, wiped her hands on another towel then crossed the small room to reach out and take hold of Addy’s shoulders.

  “I know you think you cain’t,” the old lady said, her voice kind but firm. “But Addy, darlin’, how you gonna ever know for certain, iffen you don’t at least try?”

  Addy dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around her grandmother’s waist, hugging her close as she had since she was a little girl. Addy had shot up to be a good head taller than her elderly grandmother during her teen years, and she’d been bigger and stronger than the old lady for the past decade, but she felt small at this moment, and her beloved granny hugged her back.

  “I know you’re scared, darlin’,” she murmured, petting Addy’s thick, soft, sandy-blond hair. Addy had cut it herself again, and it was a shaggy mess, but she couldn’t make herself sit still long enough for Granny to cut it for her.

  When Granny pulled back and lifted Addy’s face to hers, her light green eyes met Addy’s deep golden ones, and Addy felt her grandmother’s frustration.

  “Fate wasn’t kind when it took your ma and daddy away,” she whispered. “You weren’t even old enough for them to know what you’d become, and your daddy never had the chance to teach you what you needed to know.”

  “Whenever I’m around strangers, I’m so afraid, Granny,” Addy whispered. “It seems like it’s only a matter of when, not if, this thing happens to me. I can’t control it. I can’t even predict it. How am I supposed to go to Nashville, if I can’t even be certain I’ll be me when I get there?”

  Granny sighed and pulled Addy to her once more. “I cain’t answer that, child,” she said. “I just know somethin’s gotta change, or you’re gonna just shrivel up and die all alone, and I just cain’t stand the thought of that happenin’ to my precious grandbaby.”

  They stood that way for a long moment, before Granny finally released her again.

  “Just promise me you’ll think about it. All right?”

  Addy sighed. “All right. I promise. I’ll think about it.”

  Granny smiled and gave her a quick kiss on her brow before turning back to the kitchen.

  “I need to get the soup on, iffen we’re gonna have it today. Why don’t you fetch your guitar and sing to me while I chop the veggies?”

  “I ought to help you chop the veggies, Granny.”

  “Nah. I can still chop just fine. And I do love to hear your music.”

  Addy sighed and headed for her room. Their log cabin was small by any standards, with one great room, that included the kitchen and living area, two tiny bedrooms, and a miniscule bath. When her parents had been alive, they had used the bedroom she used now. If they had not lost their lives in a freak accident—the mountain road they’d been traveling on had collapsed following heavy rains, sending their car to the bottom of a deep ravine—then Addy would have been living in the loft over the kitchen. From what Granny had told her, there had been talk of a new addition in the event of more children, but Addy hadn’t been quite two when her parents had died, so there had been no need for more space.

  The sun was streaming in through her window when she stepped into her bedroom. She loved sleeping on the eastern side of the house, so the sun could greet her when she awakened in the morning. As autumn deepened, she found herself rising before the sun, just as Granny did. They invariably shared their morning cup of tea in near darkness, out on the front porch in good weather, or sitting near the kitchen stove, as the kindling caught flame and crackled a cheerful greeting when it was cold outside.

  She reached for her guitar, which rested in its old, battered case in one corner of the crowded room. Her twin-size bed was neatly made, covered in one of Granny’s colorful quilts. A teddy bear she’d had since birth sat proudly in front of the pillow. Her small desk was littered with sheet music and scraps of paper holding promising scraps of song lyrics. Surrounding the small desk were bookshelves loaded with volumes on everything from Plato’s philosophy to Appalachian wildlife. Most of them had belonged to her parents before her, and she had read every one of them at least once.