“I would love to have a wedding like that,” she said before she could stop herself.
“Well then,” Graham said, puffing out his chest and jerking a thumb at himself. “I'll have you know that I'm not just the best man. I'm the wedding planner as well!”
“You? The carnival was your idea?”
“Uh-huh.” Graham smirked. “I came up with the idea and I told Damien about it. He thought it was a fantastic idea, and we planned it together. We wanted to give Penelope a big surprise, and involve everyone in the wedding preparations and celebrations!”
“You did an incredible job,” Lisa breathed, impressed.
“Damien and the guys helped with the plans and the logistics. But it was my idea!” he emphasized. He wasn't passing up the chance to blow his own horn and totally impress Lisa.
“I...I'm a good guy,” he tacked on. It sounded lame and desperate, but he had to let her know that he was a good guy, a great guy! He'd never had to work to win a woman before, but by God, he would do everything in his power to win Lisa. And if he had to toot his own horn, he would do it, loudly and proudly.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Lisa bit her lip, resisting the insane urge to kiss that sexy smirk off his face. How could a man look so sexy when he was being all smug and arrogant? She thought she liked humility, reticence and introversion in a guy, but apparently she was dead wrong about her own preferences.
She couldn't remember the last time she'd gone on a date or had a man in her bed. She realized a long time ago that sex was just a mechanical act that didn't involve any emotions. Even lust was sometimes absent. Oh, there was some attraction and desire, but she had never felt that primal, scorching animal lust with any man.
But Graham was making her feel all kinds of strange, tingling, delicious sensations in her body. And the way he was staring at her made it almost impossible to breathe.
Lisa swallowed and sucked in a shaky breath. No man had ever looked at her like that before. Like he wanted to eat her, in a very good way.
The urge to kiss him was growing stronger by the second. Lisa stared into Graham's smoldering, hazel eyes and the part of her brain still functioning made the decision for her. It was an insane and utterly irrational decision but she had to do it.
Just. One. Kiss.
She had never kissed such a hot, handsome hunk before.
Lisa squared her shoulders and stepped forward. Graham's eyes widened just a fraction when he realized what she was about to do.
In a flash, his eyes glowed with a fierce, feral hunger. As Lisa gasped and staggered back a step, his muscular, powerful arms closed around her waist and yanked her to him.
“Graham,” she whispered. His name was the only sound that escaped her lips before his mouth crushed against hers.
Lisa clung on to Graham's shoulders, feeling her entire body go limp and boneless under the assault of his skilful lips and tongue. Graham was a great kisser, and his kiss was both demanding, passionate and yet infinitely tender.
His hands pressed into the small of her back to hold her tightly to him as he kissed her hungrily and relentlessly. He didn't come up for air, didn't let her go. The low, predatory growl rumbling from his throat sent shivers down her body, and she felt the molten heat bloom low in her belly and pool between her thighs.
Lisa whimpered when she felt his huge, hard erection pressing against her body. She began to rub against him wantonly, needing to feel more of him.
“Lisa...” Graham growled. There was a warning note in his voice.
She looked up at him, breathing heavily. What she saw made her even bolder. She saw lust and hunger in his eyes. Yes, lust. No one had ever lusted after her before. Graham desired her as a woman, and for the first time, Lisa felt beautiful and desirable.
It took Lisa a moment to realize that the loud growling and panting wasn't coming from Graham. She was the one making all that noise.
She bit her lip hard and shot a furtive glance at Graham. But he didn't look turned off. Quite the opposite. In fact, judging by the bulge in his pants, it was obvious that he found her unladylike sounds a huge turn on.
Graham licked and kissed down the column of her throat and Lisa moaned softly as she speared her fingers through his hair. He nipped at her neck and Lisa tilted her head to the side to give him better access.
She felt the sharp tips of his canines pushing into her skin and the sensation of his teeth on her was highly arousing and sensual.
When Graham grabbed her and pressed her tightly to him, she gasped but didn't resist. At the back of her foggy mind, she instinctively knew what he was about to do. But instead of pushing him away, she pulled him closer to her.
She could feel his canines elongating and his skin felt feverishly hot to the touch. His bear was rising, rearing up to claim its mate.
Holding her firmly, Graham roared and sank his teeth into her shoulder.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Graham bit down hard, holding Lisa in place. His bear refused to let go of its mate. Lisa was his, and his bear was determined to mark and claim the sweet little human.
Graham's human mind tried to reason with his bear. But somehow he couldn't find the right reasons to convince his bear not to mark Lisa. After a brief struggle, his logic and lust seemed to align themselves. The man and the bear were in agreement. Every fiber of his being knew that marking Lisa was the right thing to do.
Lisa was in possession of a dangerous serum, and there were people who would stop at nothing to get their hands on that serum. He wanted to protect her, and he wanted to be able to track her if anything happened to her. Not that he would ever let anything bad happen to her. But humans could be so unpredictable and some were downright unscrupulous. He didn't know what drastic measures her ex-boss might resort to just to achieve his aims.
Graham knew that once he marked Lisa, it would be impossible to lose her. If Lisa wore his mark, he would be able to track her down even if she was dragged to the ends of the earth. There was no way her enemies could hide her from him. He would be able to find her, wherever she was. He wasn't just marking her for himself. He had to mark her—for her own safety.
His bear rose and pulsed under his skin as he pushed his teeth deeper into her flesh. Lisa jerked and let out a small cry. Her nails dug into his shoulder and her eyes widened in shock and pain. She gripped him harder, but it wasn't to push him away.
She was pulling him closer, wanting more of him. She writhed against him as she threw her head back to expose more of her neck to him.
As Graham released her and licked the fresh, red mark on her shoulder, Lisa stared at him with a fierce hunger in her eyes. The scent of her arousal filled the room and when she fisted his shirt and yanked him to her, Graham let out a deep, primal growl.
“Lisa...”
She didn't speak. She growled. Forcefully, she ripped his shirt apart, scattering the buttons all over the floor.
“I need...” she panted, fumbling blindly with his belt. “I need you, Graham...”
Graham grabbed her wrists to stop her and she let out a cry of frustration and fear. “W-what's happening to me?” she whispered. She shook her head. “I've never felt like this before...” She groaned and began to rub her body against his. The friction both eased and inflamed her. Impatiently, she pulled her blouse up over her head and tried to unhook her bra but her hands were shaking too much.
Graham held her to him and she sighed when she pressed her body and face against his bare chest. He knew what was happening to her. By marking her, he had triggered her mating heat.
But a female would only experience the intense, consuming need to mate when marked by her mate.
His bear was right. Lisa was indeed his mate.
“Graham,” she moaned, wrapping her arms around him. “Please...”
She writhed and shivered in his arms, almost mindless
with need. He could feel her body temperature rising, and her fever would keep burning until she had been claimed by her mate. The mate mark had put her body into heat, and if he didn't claim her and finish the mating, the mating fever would keep burning in her, driving her out of her mind.
Graham took a sharp breath. He'd only wanted to protect her with his mark. But instead, he had triggered her mating heat, and the pull towards each other, their burning need for each other was too powerful to deny. And he could never ever deny her.
He had to finish what he'd started.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Lisa shook her head hard, trying to clear it. She tried to get her thoughts in order and come up with a logical explanation for what was happening to her body.
All she knew was that when Graham bit her, she experienced a fleeting pain, followed by the most exquisite pleasure.
Endorphins, her scientific mind explained. Chemicals and hormones released by the body to reduce the sensation of pain. In large amounts, endorphins could either relax or stimulate a person, and affect a person's emotions and moods.
Well, that explained why she was feeling so...stimulated. All her nerve endings had come alive, and every inch of her body was tingling and throbbing. There was a maddening ache in her core, and if she didn't get naked with Graham right now, she was sure she was going to explode and die.
Lisa knew that Graham had marked her with his bite. She had studied shifter behavior extensively for her research. There were different kinds of bites among shifters. Some bites were to assert dominance or ownership. Some shifters wore their Alpha's mark to announce their membership to their pack or clan. In fights for power and territory, the victors sometimes bit their opponents to humiliate them.
But all shifters marked their mates.
Lisa frowned slightly and fingered the mark on her shoulder. Was this a mate mark?
She experienced a strange sense of euphoria and pride at the thought that Graham had marked her as his mate.
Did she...really want this to be a mate mark?
“Yes.”
Lisa bit her lip when she realized that she had just uttered the word out loud.
Had she been thinking aloud as well? She couldn't seem to get rid of this habit. It annoyed her colleagues, and strangers and waitstaff sometimes gave her odd looks when she talked to herself over dinner.
Graham's eyes blazed with pure heat and hunger as he grabbed her shoulders. “Your answer is yes,” he said.
“Answer?” It suddenly dawned on her that Graham had asked her a question. But the distracting internal monologue in her head had drowned out his question. But from the look on his face, 'yes' was apparently the answer he wanted to hear.
“Um...did you ask me something? If so, can you repeat your question?”
Graham sucked in a breath. The corner of his mouth twitched, and he cupped her face and kissed her hard on the forehead. “Do you know just how adorable you are?”
Lisa looked up at Graham in astonishment. He wasn't at all annoyed or put off by her strange, unusual habits and mannerisms. No one had ever described her as adorable before. She had been called queer, eccentric, weird, even freaky, but never adorable.
“I'm not adorable,” she blurted out.
“No. You are more than adorable. You are the hottest, sexiest, most amazing woman I have ever met, and I want you so much I am going out of my goddamn mind,” Graham said.
“Y-you want me?” she stammered. “You mean, you want to have sex with me?”
“This won't be just sex, Lisa,” he said, his eyes flashing. “So I will ask you again, since you didn't seem to register my question earlier. Do. You. Want. This?”
Lisa whimpered, feeling her muscles tighten. The ache in her core was becoming unbearable.
She knew what Graham was asking. He was going to take her and claim her. But he wanted her answer. He wasn't going to claim her against her will.
This won't be just sex.
“Yes,” she said. “I want this. I want you, Graham.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Graham grabbed Lisa's hands and pinned them against the wall on either side of her head. He kissed her deeply, growling when she parted her lips and arched her back.
Their tongue touched and heat exploded between them. Graham tore Lisa’s bra off and bent to suckle her furiously. She cried out in pleasure and panted hard, begging him to take more.
She needn't beg. Graham knew he would never have enough of her. She was so sweet and intoxicating, and he was already drunk on her scent alone. He needed to taste her, and know every intimate inch of her luscious, curvy body.
Snarling, he began to yank her jeans and panties down her legs, and Lisa kicked them off impatiently. When he tried to remove her waist pouch, her hand gripped her pouch possessively and wouldn't let go.
No matter. He could still go down on her. In fact, she looked incredibly hot wearing nothing but her waist pouch. Graham knelt in front of her and parted her legs.
Lisa shuddered and moaned when he swirled his tongue around her clit. He kept licking and sucking at her engorged nub until she cried out and begged him to fuck her.
Throwing one leg over his shoulder, Graham pushed his tongue into her slit and tasted her sweet, sticky juices. His cock jerked painfully when he began to fuck her with his tongue. His cock wanted to be buried in that slick, tight heat, but Graham wasn't done devouring her hot, little pussy.
He kept moving his tongue in and out of her as he massaged her swollen clit with his thumb. With a keening cry, she came hard against his mouth.
His name tumbled from her lips as she fell forward. Graham caught her and hoisted her up. Her legs automatically wrapped around his hips.
Graham tugged his zipper down and freed his hard, throbbing cock.
Looking deep into her eyes, Graham slammed his cock into her and stilled when she screamed. “Don't stop...” she commanded hoarsely, digging her nails into his neck.
Her muscles clenched and rippled around his huge cock. Graham clenched his teeth and fought for control as her channel tightened and pulsed around him. She felt so fucking good.
With a gasp, her eyes finally fluttered open. Graham thrust into her again and again, taking her hard against the wall. She clung to him as he pounded into her, her generous breasts bouncing and heaving in time to his thrusts.
Pulling reluctantly out of her, he threw her over his shoulder and carried her to his room. He wasn't finished with her.
When he laid her on the spacious, king-sized bed, Lisa purred contentedly as she snuggled into the pillows. This was his bedroom. His scent was all over the sheets, and Lisa seemed to want his scent all over her skin.
She didn't protest when he licked down her body and went down on her again. It was only when he attempted to remove the waist pouch from around her waist that she jerked violently and her fist shot out.
“Ouch!”
“Sorry,” Lisa mumbled and rubbed her knuckles. She had socked him squarely in the jaw. “The pouch never leaves my body.”
“Okay,” he said with a lopsided smile. He raised both hands and promised, “I won't touch it. I only want to touch you.”
She smiled a slow, satisfied smile.
“Now, get on the floor Lisa,” Graham ordered. “I want you on your knees.”
Lisa blinked at his authoritative tone. She blushed and bowed her head submissively. Without a word, she obeyed his command.
Lowering herself to her knees, Lisa looked up at him through her long, dark lashes. Her lips were parted and she was breathing hard and fast. The scent of her arousal was heady and intoxicating.
He wanted to grab her and just fuck her hard on the floor, but he held himself back. He wanted her to take him, own him and claim him. Every hard inch of him belonged to her. He was hers, and hers alone.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Lisa realized that she had become even wetter at Graham's command. She liked it when a guy took charge in the bedroom but she'd never had a lover who was both gentle and assertive, who could dominate her yet make her feel cherished and protected.
Graham knew what she wanted, and he gave it to her. She might be on her knees, submitting to his command but in truth, she was the one in control right now. She had Graham in the palm of her hand, literally.
When she closed her fist around him, she was rewarded with a deep growl. Smirking, Lisa squeezed hard and began to stroke down the entire length of his thick, throbbing cock.
Graham groaned when she swirled her tongue around the tip of his cock. He fisted her hair and his eyes almost crossed when she took him fully into her mouth.
She began to bob her head, feeling his hard, smooth cock slide between her lips. He was huge and she loved the taste and scent of him. She ran her hands down his corded thighs and she felt his muscles tighten and pulse as she took him deeper. She dug her nails into his firm buttocks possessively, pressing him closer to her.
Graham tugged at her hair and groaned as she moved faster. She could taste his pre-cum and she lapped greedily at the head of his cock, wanted more of him.
Lisa felt a violent shudder course through Graham's body and she sucked harder, determined to drive him over the edge.
With a roar, Graham pulled out of her mouth and lifted her up. He threw her on the bed and flipped her onto her belly.
Pulling her hips up, Graham nudged her legs apart and thrust into her from behind. Lisa whimpered and panted as he filled her completely. He filled her and stretched her, but she loved, simply loved how good he felt inside her.
“Oh, Graham,” she panted when she finally found her voice again. “Fuck me, fuck me hard...”
Guardian Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES fur BEARS Book 7) Page 4
