“You could have explained, instead of, you know, freaking me out.”
I wrap my arms around her, leading her to the couch. I push the damn pillows to the floor, and make room for us. “I’ve been hurt before. Just like you. So I shut down, I know it’s no excuse but—”
“I get it, Blaine. I became a bigger, more outgoing version of myself to overcompensate for getting hurt, you did the opposite.”
I swallow, wanting another chance with Harley so damn bad. “Opposites attract, though, right?”
She nods, and our eyes lock. “That’s what the songs say, isn’t it?”
“What do you say though, Harley?”
She smiles. “I say that you shouldn’t have let your mom shop for you. That’s a girlfriend’s job.”
I can’t suppress the grin spreading across my face. “Are you saying you’re my girlfriend, Harley MacBeth?”
She nods and I pull her in for a soft, sweet kiss. It’s tender and romantic and my heart fucking fills with pride at the thought of her choosing me to be her boyfriend.
When she pulls back her eyes shine. “Now blow out these candles and take me to bed.”
I don’t need any more prodding. I pull Harley to stand. “Not the bed yet. I have something I want to show you first.”
I lead her to the back door and flip on the patio lights. “You wait out here.” Then I grab the wine from the counter and a six pack of beer from the fridge. I meet her outside, and pause for a second, watching her take it all in.
“I didn’t realize your backyard faced the lake.”
“The cabin is simple, but this view? It’s why I bought the place.” I pour her a glass of wine and twist the cap off the beer, setting them on the patio table. “When I saw you that day, at the river, I thought, damn, that girl would look pretty painting out here, looking out at the lake.”
She turns to me. “That was you. You were the bear?”
I nod. “It was.” I reach for her, scared that she will be frightened of me, but she doesn’t flinch, she moves her body toward me as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.
“You saved me,” she whispers, my hands are on her face, memorizing every detail.
“No, it’s you who is saving me.” My mouth crashes against hers and I pull her to a lounge chair, leaning over her as I inhale her wild scent, her deep longing.
For me.
For us.
I run my hand up her thighs, under her sundress. My fingers run over her bare ass.
“No panties?”
She bites her lip. “I came here hopeful.”
I brush my hand over her sweet pussy, a deep growl escapes me, sending shivers over her skin. She loves it, my hot breath against her ear, my fingers pressing against her needy clit, my hard cock heavy against her thigh.
What starts slow, turns to something fast and frenzied. Like three days apart has caused a swell of desire to rise within us both, but now the dam is breaking. Now she is mine. I pull the dress over her head, my mouth desperate to lick her nipples, and when I see she doesn’t have on a bra either, my cock becomes nothing but a raging rod of desire.
“Fuck, woman,” I groan, kneading her full tits with my big calloused palms.
“I want to see you, taste you,” she pants. I stand, shoving off my clothes, returning to her body in seconds, her fingers already wrapping around my length.
“God, you’re so hard.”
“And you’re so fucking wet.” I spread her knees, taking in her pink pussy, my fingers spreading her now swollen lips as I begin to grind my hand against her clit. She starts coming hard, and she lets go of my desperate cock, her head falling against the cushioned lounger, her back arched as I finger fuck my sweetheart into submission.
She begs me to go faster, harder. So I do. I bang her tight little pussy until my hand is soaked, until she is breathless yet somehow still screaming my name.
“Oh Blaine,” she moans, past the tipping point. Her sweet channel dripping with release, her eyes close as she orgasms against my hand, over and over again. Her toes curl as I dip my head to her entrance, as I lick her up and down, inhaling her release as if it was just for me.
“Come here,” she urges, her fingers threading through my hair, pulling me up to her. Her words echo in my mind, my heart. I need you in me. All of you, please.
I listen to her call, it’s not a voice I ever want to push away, it’s the sound I have been longing for since the moment my lips first pressed against hers, bringing her back to life.
When Harley calls, I will answer.
Chapter 14
Harley
When he enters me, I wrap my arms around him, holding on for dear life. I can’t bear the idea of letting go. Not after that. This connection is so real. So deep.
And his cock is so big and he fills me up so good.
“You feel so right,” he tells me, his tongue running down my neck as we make love.
My body hums in pleasure as he makes me come again. Finally, his own orgasm rushes through him, and I can feel the hot spurts of his release filling me. “I need you. More,” he growls, lifting me up from the chaise lounge.
He carries me in through the house, placing me on his bed. And that’s all it takes, inhaling the scent of his sheets, to be craving him all over again. He takes me there, this time I’m on my hands and knees, his hands are on my hips, steadying me as I guide his still hard cock deep inside me. My breasts sway as he fucks me hard and fast, his fingers tugging on my hair, my back arching as he fills me up in a ravenously animalistic way.
I love it, being thrilled like this, not knowing how we will ever get enough of one another. I can’t imagine a time where I wouldn’t want the thickness between his legs deep inside my pussy.
“God, Harley,” he groans as he finishes, his hot cum filling me up until I’m clenching the pillows beneath me, until my skin is slick with sweat, until we are both spent in the most intoxicating way.
“I never want to leave this bed,” I murmur, collapsing against his chest when he rolls on his back, pulling me with him. My smile is so wide I feel like my face might break.
“That is a definite possibility,” he growls against the top of my head.
We lay together, spent, satisfied, and I know it’s not just the bed I don’t ever want to leave. It’s Blaine.
“So this whole mate thing...” I run my fingers across his abs. “Tell me more about it.”
“It’s—”
My phone buzzes from somewhere in the room.
“Do you need to get that?”
“No. It’s probably just Addie checking in on me.”
When it starts ringing a second time, he sits up. “You sure? I don’t want them thinking I kidnapped you.” He grins down at me. “Because I have every intention of keeping you here.”
“I guess I should tell her that I’m staying.” I roll away from him, finding my phone when it starts ringing a third time.
I frown down at the unidentified number.
“I’ll make us something to eat while you take that.” He pulls a pair of low riding sweats on.
“No protein shakes,” I say.
He chuckles, then disappears around the corner.
“Hello?” I answer the call.
“You haven’t returned my calls.”
“Chad.” I breathe out heavily. “Because I have nothing else to say to you. We’re over—”
“I get that you needed some time. But I think you’ll change your mind when you hear what I have to say.”
“I won’t—”
“Red & Gaither have agreed to show your pieces.”
“Red & Gaither?” They’re one of the biggest art dealers in Seattle. It was hard enough to get an invite to one of their shows and impossible to have them ever look at any of my work. “How?”
“I pulled a few strings, showed them a few of the pieces you left at my place. They’re interested in seeing more.”
“I...”
Blaine come
s into the room, carrying a tray of fruits, cheeses, and cured meats.
“Come back to Seattle with me,” Chad says.
I’m aware of Blaine watching me. He sits down on the bed, placing the tray beside him, a frown tugging at his lips.
“I’m staying here. This is my home now.”
“Harley, it’s an opportunity of a lifetime. What you’ve worked your whole life for. What you said you always wanted.”
“What I wanted changed.”
“You’re being a fool.” His words are hard and laced with anger. “You don’t belong in this wasteland. You won’t be happy—’
“I have to go.”
“The offer will expire, Harley.”
“Goodbye, Chad.” I hang up and frown down at my phone.
“What did he want?” Blaine asks, a gruffness to his voice.
“Nothing important.”
“I may still be getting to know you, but I know that look. He said something that upset you.”
“No.” I place my phone on the bedside table, then crawl onto the bed, picking up a grape and tossing it in my mouth. “He was just trying to manipulate me as usual.”
“How?”
“By offering me the opportunity of a lifetime.” It was meant to sound sarcastic, but I’m aware that the words were almost wistful. Chad was right, a few months ago I would have given my left pinkie for a spot in Red & Gather’s gallery. But I wasn’t lying when I said what I wanted changed.
Blaine brushes his knuckles across my cheek. “Tell me.”
I shrug. “There’s a gallery in Seattle, a pretty big one, and they want to see more of my pieces.”
“That’s good, right?”
I shake my head. “If they gave me an offer, it would mean I’d have to move back. At least for a few months, probably more like a year, maybe longer.”
The muscle in his jaw twitches. “Then you should go.”
I raise a brow at him. “You want me to leave?”
“I don’t want to stand in the way of your dreams, Harley. I won’t be that man.”
“My dreams changed. I’m happy here.”
He sighs. “But for how long?” I see the flicker of insecurities in his gaze. “You’ve only been here a few months. The winters are brutal, there aren’t any fancy shopping malls like you’re used to—”
“I’m starting to think you’re trying to get rid of me.”
“I just don’t want you to give anything up for—”
“For you?” I finish his sentence. I shake my head at him. “We’re mates, right?” I straddle him and wiggle my brows. “You can’t be without me, right?”
“I was without you for twenty-six years and did just fine.” His walls are up again, and even though I know it’s just a defense mechanism, his words still sting. “And I’m starting to think I was wrong about the whole mate thing.”
I roll off him. “Wrong?”
He stands and goes to the window, his back to me. “We have good chemistry. The sex is fucking fantastic. But you’re not my mate, Harley.”
“But you said…”
“I know what I said.” He turns, his gaze hard, ice cold, and he’s dead set on pushing me away. “I was mistaken.”
I swallow. “So I’m...I’m not your mate?”
He drags a hand over his face. “No.”
I let his words filter through me, and it’s like a rock drops in my stomach. Trembling, I reach for my clothes and start to get dressed.
“If I’m not your mate,” I say, pulling my shirt over my head, trying to process this new revelation. “Then that means someone else is. Right?”
He hesitates, and for a second I see a flash of pain in his eyes.
“Yeah. I guess so.”
I blow out a shaky breath. “Okay.”
Can I be with him, knowing there’s someone else out there that he should be with?
“I think...” My emotions are clouding my thinking. “I’m going to go.”
“Harley.” He stops me when I start to turn. “I want you to be happy.”
I was. With him. Thinking I belonged. That what we had was something special. Something no one could take away.
“I want you to be happy too.” Even if that means me walking away.
Chapter 15
Blaine
I toss and turn all night. A cliche maybe, but after meeting Harley, my head and my heart are filled with romantic notions. It’s insane, how hard I fell for her.
I fell hard enough to know that I need to let her go.
She doesn’t need to stay in Alaska on my account.
The next afternoon a few of my brothers come over. It was just supposed to be Weston, he’d wanted to come fishing on my lake with his daughter Finley on our day off. Bennet is manning the guide shop today. But then Gunnar’s mate filled him in on what went down here last night, and he calls, insisting on joining us.
By the time Gunnar, Weston, and Finley show up I’ve got the grill going and beers on ice. Maybe having food in my house isn’t the worst thing to happen. I can’t think of the last time I hosted anyone here without grabbing food to-go.
They tease me, opening my damn cupboards and laughing over the fact I have a stocked pantry.
Finley is thrilled. “Uncle Blaine you have Oreos!” The look on her six-year-old face is priceless and Weston tells her she can have a few, which seems to make her day.
“Didn’t realize I was the biggest bachelor of the group,” I say, trying to take it all in stride. The thing is, I guess times really are changing for the Kolemans. Gunnar is getting married and having a baby. Weston, of course, gave up lots of his wild ways years ago when he became a father.
Still, as I add T-bone steaks to the grill, I’m wishing Harley were here. It’s where she belongs. But then I remember the look in her eye when she spoke about the art show. It was like her dreams were coming true, and I had no place in them.
Letting her go is the right thing to do, even if it kills me.
“Can we go to the lake now, Daddy?” Finley asks her father.
Weston takes his daughter’s hand. “Sure, let’s go grab our poles from the truck.”
The pair walk off and Gunnar uncaps a beer. “So you wanna talk about it?” he asks.
I grunt, not wanting to discuss a damn thing.
“You may be the biggest idiot I’ve ever met,” Gunnar says.
“You didn’t hear her when she talked about the gallery,” I try to explain as I turn the steaks. “It’s her dream. I’m not going to stand in her way.”
“So you lied to her.” Gunnar takes a drink from the beer and opens a bag of chips he brought.
“What else was I supposed to do?” I ask.
“Not that.” He shakes his head at me. “Addie said she’s been a mess, that she’s actually thinking about going back to Seattle.”
“Good.”
“You don’t mean that. Look at you, you’re even more miserable than you were before. Imagine what you’ll be like if she actually leaves.”
“I never wanted a mate in the first place. I’ll be just fine.”
“Bullshit.”
“You know, I get that you’re a family man now, Gunnar, but you don’t know everything. I know what Harley needs.”
Gunnar isn’t having it. “You know what? I’m done trying to talk sense into you. If she is your mate, your job is to protect her.”
“Maybe she isn’t my mate. Maybe I was wrong.”
“Like hell you were. Stop being a fucking asshole.”
I reach for a tray and set the cooked steaks on it. “Look, I’m trying to have a chill afternoon, if you want to talk shit, go somewhere else.”
“I’m not talking shit,” Gunnar says. “I’m speaking the goddamn truth.”
“Everything okay up there?” Weston asks, his eyes narrowed on the pair of us, I’m sure he can sense our need to let our bears out. If we tackle one another to the ground, maybe we can stop this conversation. But he’s walking with Finley, fis
hing poles and a tackle box in hand. The last thing my niece needs is to see her uncles getting in a fight.
“Everything is just fine,” I say. “Don’t worry about us.”
Finley smiles, unaware. “Okay, keep the grill on, Uncle Blaine. I’m gonna go catch us a trout!”
She walks away, a skip in her step and Gunnar and I share a knowing look. It’s not the time or the place for this conversation. We may be bear shifters, wild at heart, but we understand that family always comes first.
“Look,” I say, trying to make amends. “I appreciate you caring so damn much about Harley and me. But I got this, Gunnar.”
He nods. “You’re right. It’s not my place.”
We shake, clapping one another on the back. At the end of the day, we are brothers just as much as we are bears.
“Now, you wanna eat before these steaks get cold?” I ask.
He grins. “How is that a fucking question?”
Chapter 16
Harley
After moping around the apartment for twenty-four hours, my friends are over it. They said I needed to get out of the house, and fast. I don’t want to. I want to lie in bed and binge watch shows on Netflix, eating a pint of double chocolate fudge ice cream in my PJs, but apparently, my girlfriends know best.
“This look just isn’t working,” Piper says, her finger circling my yoga pants, messy bun, stretched out tank top and no-shower look.
“Whatever,” I groan. “Can’t I have a pity party for one more day? I feel like I earned it.”
But Piper just claps her hands and takes charge. “Addie, get the shower running. I’ll find her something to wear, and Kate--can you provide sustenance?”
Kate smiles. “And by sustenance you mean a bottle of Rose?”
“Obviously,” Piper says deadpanned.
I’m dragged out of bed, given a mason jar filled with pink wine and ordered to wash my hair.
“I’m going to hold this against you, you all realize this don’t you?”
Untamed Lovers (Mountain Men of Bear Valley Book 2) Page 7
