by Lynn Hagen
Bear and his men did one more sweep of the place before putting their bunker gear away. Removing his helmet, Bear wiped at his brows. This had been one long-ass afternoon.
“Ready?” Reno said as he walked over to Bear. He knew the man was anxious to get home to his mate. He felt bad that there were only four of them in the department.
That put a lot of strain on all of them.
Once they made it back to the firehouse, Bear put his bunker gear away and took a long, hot shower, pissed that his lunch was now cold. He was so damn hungry that he was feeling cranky.
There were some things in the kitchen to eat, but Bear was not in the mood for a yogurt or ham sandwich. He was starving and needed a large meal to fill him up.
“Hey, boss. There’s someone here to see you,” Bailey said when he stuck his head into the shower room. “He’s cute, too.” The man’s sage-green eyes were shining with good humor.
Spencer.
“Show him into my office. I’ll be there just as soon as I get dressed.” Bear towel dried off and then grabbed the stack of clothes he had set on the bench.
Tucking his T-shirt into his jeans, Bear glanced at his reflection in the mirror. He looked at the image of a man who had climbed out of the gutter of poverty and had made something of himself. It wasn’t so long in his past when Bear had looked at his reflection and told himself that he could do it, that he could change his life. It hadn’t been easy, but here he stood, fire chief.
A sense of pride washed over him.
He also noticed that he needed a shave, but that was going to have to wait. He wanted to look good for Spencer, but he didn’t want to leave the man standing around.
Despite fighting his way to the top and never giving up, there was always one thing missing in Bear’s life.
A mate.
Now he had found him, and Bear planned on doing whatever it took to make Spencer happy. With that in mind, he strolled from the shower room and headed toward his office, feeling a small pep in his step.
As he passed Bailey in the hallway, he saw the smirk on the human’s face. Bear couldn’t help but return the smile, his earlier crankiness forgotten with the knowledge that Spencer was waiting on him. He couldn’t wait to see the man again. Their earlier encounter had been too damn short for his liking. He was hoping he got more time now that Spencer was in Bear’s territory.
Stepping into his office, Bear closed the door behind him. Spencer was perched in the black-cushioned chair in front of his desk, glancing around the room. “Sorry about keeping you waiting.”
“Bailey explained to me that you had a call.” Spencer smoothed his hands down his thighs as he turned toward Bear. Seeing the move, Bear wanted to put his mate at ease. He knew he was a large man and most found him intimidating. Bear didn’t want Spencer feeling that way. He wanted Spencer to be at ease in his presence.
He walked around the U-shaped desk and took a seat, removing his overwhelming size from the equation. Now he wasn’t towering over the man.
Bear started to ask Spencer to tell him a little about himself and then realized how stupid that sounded. This wasn’t a damn interview.
“Nice office.” Spencer glanced around, seeming just as nervous as Bear felt. They were both sitting there twiddling their thumbs, not saying a word.
Hell, Bear couldn’t do this. Not touching his mate was driving him crazy. He needed some contact and he needed it now.
He pushed from behind the desk, walked around the dark wood, and hauled Spencer from his seat. Spencer yelped as Bear sat on the edge of his desk and had his mate straddle his hips. “Much better.”
And it was. Just feeling the man in his arms settled something inside Bear. It was as if a missing part of him had finally been filled. Spencer’s arm snaked around Bear’s neck as he held on.
Spencer leaned back, gazing up at Bear with a sparkle of humor in his eyes. “Presumptuous?”
God, the man was sexy.
“Nah, just hoping like hell.” Bear placed the palms of his hands on either side of Spencer’s face, leaning forward to taste the shifter for the very first time. He slid his tongue across Spencer’s bottom lip, breathing in the small puffs of air from his mate’s mouth.
Remember, slow.
Bear was fighting his animal for control. His grizzly bear wanted to consume Spencer, to pull the man under, claim him right here in the office. He knew he couldn’t do that. His mate was timid and—Bear was taken by surprise when Spencer opened his mouth sucked Bear’s tongue down his freaking throat.
He wasn’t sure what happened to slow. That movement was tossed out of the window as Bear turned and planted Spencer’s back onto his desk.
It wasn’t him that was going wild. Spencer was pulling at Bear, tightening his thighs around Bear’s waist, and trying to suck his goddamn tongue from his mouth.
Whoa. What in the hell was going on here? Was Spencer really a wildcat in disguise? Bear wasn’t sure, but he wasn’t foolish enough to pull away. His hands gripped Spencer’s hips tightly as he ground his uniform-covered cock against Spencer’s ass.
God, what he wouldn’t give to have them both naked.
He prayed like hell that he came from the friction and hoped like hell that he didn’t. It was confusing, but Bear knew that when he came for Spencer, he would rather be buried deep inside his mate’s ass—or mouth. Both images drove him crazy.
He could feel his canines growing long as he took back control of the kiss. His mate may be excited, but Bear was a true predator. It wasn’t in him to give up control. He gave off a low growl as he pulled his tongue from Spencer’s mouth, nipping the man on his bottom lip.
But Spencer wasn’t giving up so easily. He tried his damnedest to regain Bear’s tongue. Finally, Bear pulled back. “Trying to dominate me?”
Spencer’s cinnamon-brown eyes were glassy, his breathing ragged. Bear’s eyes zeroed in on the man’s kiss-swollen lips. They were red, plump, and Bear was ready to ravage the man some more.
“I don’t know what came over me,” Spencer confessed as he lay spread out under Bear. “It was like I was possessed.”
“Do you normally give kisses this passionate?” Bear asked, wondering why he was looking for an answer. Did he really want to know about Spencer’s past lovers? Hell no, and he was dreading to hear Spencer’s answer. He didn’t want that image in his head.
“Since you’re the first man I have kissed, I would have to say no.”
Bear’s nostrils flared at that knowledge. The heat was rising inside of him, his blood feeling as if it were on fire. Everything about this man was perfect. He was in serious danger of becoming addicted to Spencer—especially after what the man had just confessed.
As much as he wanted to claim Spencer, Bear knew it wasn’t going to happen in his office. Besides it being the least romantic place he could think of, his men always barged in on him no matter how many times he had told them to knock.
If one of them barged in on him now, Bear would probably kick his ass. So, to save any embarrassment Spencer might suffer, Bear reluctantly pulled back. “I have to finish my shift tonight, but I’m off tomorrow. I would absolutely love to take you home and gobble you up. Can I pick you up after work?” For the first time since starting this job, Bear cursed his long hours.
Now he knew how Reno felt. The anticipation was going to kill him.
“I get off at five, big boy.”
Oh yeah, Spencer was one hell of a wildcat.
Chapter Three
I get off at five, big boy.
“I acted like a total goober.” Spencer let his head drop to the table as he groaned at his remembered stupidity. What had he been thinking? Big boy? God, he was such a dork. His very first kiss and he had acted like a complete idiot. What was he thinking, trying to dominate a dominant male? Was he insane? Spencer lived with nothing but alpha males. He knew how they acted, so why had he expected Bear to behave any differently?
That was exactly why he hadn’t wanted
a dominant mate. He was a total dweeb around those kinds of men. Spencer was more comfortable with people like him and Johnny. He didn’t have to try and impress someone small like him. But when he was near Bear yesterday, Spencer had felt the pressure of trying to impress the man.
Again, he was an idiot.
“How bad was it?” Johnny asked as he patted Spencer on the hand. “It couldn’t have been all that terrible. I bet you are making a big deal out of nothing. I embarrass myself with Hawk all the time, but you don’t see me groaning about it.”
Spencer lifted his head up just enough to stare Johnny in his blue-grey eyes. “I tried to take control, to be the dominant one.”
Johnny pulled his hand back as if he had been burnt. “Oh.”
Yeah exactly. Oh.
“How? He’s almost twice your height. I can’t even imagine that scenario in my head.” The man looked like he was actually trying to picture Spencer taking Bear down. He so didn’t want his friend thinking about that. “Well look on the bright side,” Johnny said with annoying enthusiasm. “He’s your mate. You’ll definitely get a second date and sex is a given.”
Spencer’s head bumped the table as he dropped it back down in utter shame. At this point, he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. Even though Spencer had thought all large men were lug heads, he had decided that since fate had given him Bear, it knew what it was doing.
But after leaving Bear’s office yesterday, Spencer realized that it wasn’t so much what he thought about large men, but how he acted around them—all large men who didn’t live with him. Those guys didn’t count. It was almost as if he had an inferiority complex.
“Oh, by the way, I saw Harley at the gas station arguing with Damon. They were so loud that I heard what they were saying.” Johnny sat back with a big grin on his face. He was baiting Spencer. He was waiting for Spencer to ask what he had heard.
Okay, he was interested. “Spill it.”
“I thought you were too busy beating yourself up to be interested.” Johnny sat back, plucking imaginary lint from his pink jacket. “Are you sure you want to know?”
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll let Hawk know that his warning for you to stop telling everybody’s business has gone unheeded.” Spencer could play just as dirty as Johnny. The little bugger sometimes liked to dangle the carrot in front of Spencer’s face. Most days he went along with it, but today Spencer was short on patience.
Johnny’s blue-grey eyes narrowed to tiny slits as he pounded his fist on the table. Spencer had never seen the guy look so put out before. He wasn’t actually angry, more like miffed. “You wouldn’t dare. I had to do a lot of favors for him just to get this job—although most of them were my idea.”
Sitting up, Spencer crossed his arms over his chest in triumph. “Then talk.”
“Fine,” Johnny said, sounding really mad that Spencer hadn’t gone along with his little game. But once he started talking, his face brightened up like the sun at noon on a warm summer’s day. “Apparently, Damon found out about Harley’s other men.” Johnny tossed his hands up in the air, palms out. “Wasn’t me. I swear. Anyway, Damon told Harley that if he came near him again, they wouldn’t be able to find the body.”
Spencer couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He knew what Harley was doing was going to eventually catch up to the man, but damn, threatening to kill the guy? That was a little extreme in his opinion. “He threatened his life?”
Johnny nodded just as Spencer saw Bear walk through the door. Spencer had gotten off of work an hour early just so he could talk to Johnny and hadn’t paid attention to the time. He looked at his watch to see that it was five thirty.
Johnny leaned forward, cupped his mouth, and whispered, “Is that him?” Spencer inwardly groaned. Johnny had been around enough shifters to know that they could hear a pin drop. His whispering was useless. “Is that your mate?”
Spencer pulled his eyes away from Bear to look at his friend. “How did you guess?”
Johnny rolled his eyes. “I know that goofy, I’m in love look. Not only have I seen it too many times, I’ve worn it myself. Good luck.” Johnny jumped up from his chair, gave Bear an overexaggerated wave, and then skipped his happy little ass back behind the counter, leaving Spencer alone.
“Priest told me I would find you here.” Bear leaned forward and placed a kiss at Spencer’s temple. “You ready?”
Not really. All the bravado he’d had in Bear’s office yesterday was gone. Now he sat here with his insides coiled so tight that he felt like he was going to be sick. “Sure am,” he said with a false sense of readiness.
Bear leaned forward and pressed his lips to Spencer’s ear, blocking out the noises of the people chattering and the sounds of the machines behind the counter. “Liar,” he whispered, the warm air tickling the side of Spencer’s face and making his cock pulse with the intimacy. “You’re a scared little rabbit right now. Come to my place, Spencer. We’ll just talk, I promise.”
Spencer grabbed his ice tea from the table and followed Bear out of The Café. He hugged the damn tea like a lifeline as Bear directed him toward what looked to be a brand-new full-size truck. The dark-blue paint job was shining from the sunlight, the chrome sparkling. The word Ford was stamped on the grill.
“Nice truck,” Spencer commented as Bear opened the passenger’s door for him. “Looks brand-new.” He liked that his mate had manners. Once Spencer was settled into his seat, Bear closed the door. Even the interior smelled like Bear had just purchased the truck.
Bear settled in next to him. “It’s a year old. I just like keeping it clean.”
Now Spencer was afraid to touch anything. He swiped his hand around the condensation on his cup and then wiped it on his jeans. He prayed like hell his mate wasn’t this finicky about everything.
Spencer liked things clean as well, but heck, he didn’t see one speck of dust anywhere. He had an urge to lift his feet off the floor mat just so he wouldn’t dirty the dark-blue fabric with his shoes.
“I never did get to ask you,” Bear said as he pulled away from The Café and headed out of town. “What kind of shifter are you? No offense, but you smell a little like prey.”
Was that supposed to make him feel better? If anything, Spencer was ready to jump out of the truck. Steeling his spine, Spencer jutted his chin out proudly. “I’m an impala. And if you try to eat me, I’ll make sure I give you very bad indigestion.”
It was a lame threat, but the only one Spencer had to give. Bear was twice his size in height and girth. The man could shift and probably eat him whole.
“I said you smell like prey.” Bear winked at Spencer. “There’s only one part of your body that I want to taste.” The sexual innuendo was heavy in his mate’s tone. Aside from Bear being a very large man, Spencer was nervous because he had never been intimate with anybody before. He knew he was winding himself up, but he couldn’t stop himself from feeling the panic set in.
Maybe he could fake a headache.
“Relax, my little impala. You have nothing to fear. Mating is sacred to me. Nobody, including myself, is going to hurt you.” Bear seemed to relax as he drove down the long country road.
Spencer couldn’t say the same for himself. Even with Bear’s affirmation that he had nothing to worry about, Spencer was a tight bundle of nerves. This was it. He was going to be unvirginized, claimed, and stamped with ownership. How the hell was he supposed to relax with that knowledge?
“I’m one hell of a cook,” Bear stated in the quiet interior of the truck. “How do steaks on the grill sound to you?”
“It sounds great, only I’m not a big meat eater.” Spencer felt his body flush with heat at Bear’s wide grin. He wasn’t sure if the man had taken the contents of his statement as sexual or if it had reminded him that Spencer was prey.
“I’ll make sure your steak is small.”
Spencer could now see that Bear was just teasing him, trying to lighten the tension in the air between them. The guy began t
o talk about how he seasoned his steaks to perfection. The longer he talked the more his melodic voice lulled Spencer into relaxing. By the time they pulled up to Bear’s house, Spencer’s nerves were settled…somewhat.
“I usually like to marinate the steaks a day or two before I cook them, but since this visit is sudden, I’ll have to make do. They should still come out tasty.” Spencer followed Bear onto the porch and into his mate’s home. The place looked more like a small log cabin. The man had definitely picked a secluded place to live.
Spencer felt better already. His mate’s truck might be OCD worthy, but his house looked comfortable and lived in. It wasn’t how Spencer would have thought. The place wasn’t grandiose, befitting a grizzly bear shifter. It was small, cozy.
“I don’t need much room to live,” Bear stated. “I have plenty of room to run and that’s all that matters.”
The living room had an open floor plan. It flowed right into the kitchen. The walls and fixtures were all made of some sort of wood. There was a fireplace on the right side of the living room, a large couch in front of it. Spencer saw a handmade blanket draped over the back of the couch.
The kitchen consisted of appliances, counter space, and a table with two chairs. As sparsely as it was decorated, Bear had managed to pull off a homey feeling to the place. Spencer liked the house he lived in, but was envious of his mate’s. Although a lot smaller, it held a world of charm.
“Let me show you the back deck. I love sitting out there.”
Following Bear out of the kitchen door, Spencer was taken aback by the breathtaking view. He could see why his mate loved sitting out here. The property dropped off right behind the house, making the builder have to elevate the porch.
Off to the right was a set of steps that led down the side of the house. To the left a grill set off to the side along with two comfortable-looking chairs, a small table in between. The porch was covered, which was perfect for rainy days. “I love your house,” Spencer said as he placed his forearms on the railing and stared out over the terrain. There was a small brook below that Spencer would love to go investigate.
