“Yes, it still feels a bit strange, but I saw that wound heal, I saw you change from a mountain lion to a human,” she said, a shiver running through her.
“Are you scared of me?” he asked, bracing himself for her answer.
“Not of you, no, but I am scared for you,” she said. “That bear wanted to kill you, Justin. Does that happen all the time?” Beth asked, even though she’d promised herself that she wasn’t going to start questioning him.
“Not when I’m home; we live in harmony with the animals in our forest, and it’s been like that since I can remember. But here, well, they don’t know me, and that bear didn’t give me a chance to explain that we didn’t mean him any harm,” Justin explained.
Beth considered his explanation, and he could see the curiosity in her eyes, but instead of asking another question as he’d expected, she said, “Dinner is going to get cold. I know we have a lot to talk about but let’s save that for later.” Then she took his hand and led him to the table.
It was awkward at first, the unknown sitting between them like a barrier, but soon they both began to relax, and Justin had Beth laughing at a story about the terrible things his brothers used to do to him. By the time Beth set two huge pieces of chocolate cake down on the table, he could almost believe that the day before had never happened.
He took one look at the cake and knew that he wasn’t going to be able to eat it. “I don’t think I can eat this,” he said, sending her an apologetic look. “I’m so stuffed.”
Beth looked relieved. “I’m glad because I was thinking the same thing. We can save it for later,” she said, getting up to clear the table.
Justin jumped up and tried to help her, but the little kitchenette was too small for them both, so she shooed him away. “I’ll just wash these up really quickly; it won’t take long,” she said, giving him a little shove toward the other side of the room.
***Beth***
Beth couldn’t help looking over at Justin standing on her little balcony as she washed the dishes; she could only see his back, but she could imagine the rest of him, and it sent shivers down her spine to think of what she’d planned to do tonight. She’d had plenty of time to change her mind, the entire day in fact, and never had it crossed her mind that she was doing the wrong thing, that she’d ever see tonight as a mistake.
But that didn’t mean that she wasn’t nervous, that she wasn’t afraid that Justin might reject her, and she wasn’t sure she could survive that. Up until now, he’d been careful with her, only taken things so far before stopping; it was both charming and frustrating. She’d been ready before yesterday and nothing had changed that, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t a little worried about what was to come.
Unlike most of her friends she’d never had a boyfriend in high school; her mother hadn’t allowed it, and that meant that when it came to sex, she was innocent. She knew how it worked, had felt the flashes of desire and pleasure that she’d read about in books, but that didn’t mean that she had any idea what she was supposed to do.
Her worst fear was that she’d disappoint Justin, that she wouldn’t know what to do when the time came. But each time she let the fear creep in, she reminded herself of what it felt like when Justin kissed her, how he responded when she explored his body with her hands. The entire time she was sick, she’d dreamed of this day, listened to her friends talk about it; now it was here, and it was so much scarier than she’d imagined.
But it was time for her to become a woman, and Justin was the man she’d chosen to make that happen. She loved him, of that she was sure, and if down the road things between them didn’t work out, she’d never be sorry that she’d given herself to him first. But there was more to it than just that; tonight she wanted to show Justin that it didn’t matter what or who he was, only that he was with her.
Squaring her shoulders as if she was about to face something terrible, she walked out onto the balcony and slipped into Justin’s arms, a soft sigh escaping her throat when his arms closed around her. They stood looking out at campus in silence for several minutes, then Justin turned her to face him and took a deep breath.
“Beth, there are some things we need to talk about, things you need to understand before we take this any farther. I’d like to just ignore them, but they might be real problems, and I want to make sure you know what you’re getting into,” Justin said, his green eyes locked on hers.
Beth reached up and stroked his cheek with her thumb, loving the stubble that seemed to appear almost as soon as he shaved and a wave of desire that washed over her when she thought of him shaving. She couldn’t help but smile realizing that she was completely lost in Justin, so lost that just the thought of him shaving made her insides tremble.
She could tell that Justin was confused by the smile, but then she said, “I only have one question for you. Do you want to be with me?”
“For the rest of my life,” he answered without even thinking. “I love you, Beth; I have from the moment I met you.”
“I love you too, Justin, all of you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you; I don’t care that you’re a shifter as long as we’re together. We’ll take it one day at a time and figure it out along the way; life’s too short to waste it worrying about tomorrow,” she said, then pulled his head down, and for the first time, she kissed him.
Justin was so overwhelmed by what Beth had just said that he didn’t respond to the kiss at first and she was beginning to think that she was doing something wrong, but then a low growl escaped from his throat, and he pulled her up against him. He let her kiss him; she was tentative at first, her tongue darting in and out of his mouth, but soon lost herself in the kiss, feasting on his mouth the way he had on hers.
Justin picked her up like she weighed nothing, never letting their mouths part and carried her back into the room. He laid her down on the bed, then laid down next to her, desperately wanting her but not sure she was ready.
Beth understood his hesitation, “I want you, Justin. I want you to show me what love feels like,” she said, stroking his cheek, then lowered her hand and unbuttoned the first button on his shirt.
She heard the breath catch in his throat as her hands worked the buttons on his shirt, and when she ran her hands over his chest, he sucked in a breath and closed his eyes. He let her peel the shirt off his shoulders, then he reached for her and crushed her body to his, the feeling of her breasts pressed up against his chest making him growl through the kiss he was giving her.
Feeling braver, Beth reached for the button on his pants, but Justin stopped her hands. “Are you sure about this, Beth?” he asked, cursing the protective instinct that made him ask.
“I’ve dreamed of this day for most of my life. I always knew that it would be special but with you, it’s more than that; it’s perfect,” she said, unbuttoning his pants. “I want you to show me what love feels like.”
Justin understood what she was trying to tell him, and even though he knew that it shouldn’t matter, he was glad that he was going to be the first man to make love to her. “I love you, Beth, and I promise that I’ll never hurt you, not tonight, not ever.”
Chapter Ten
***Justin***
Justin undressed Beth slowly, kissing each section of exposed skin before moving on to the next, and by the time she lay next to him in only her bra and panties, she was desperate for more. Her lips were swollen with kisses, her panties wet with her moisture, but Justin was in no hurry, he wanted to bring her to the brink and back again before finally letting her tumble into ecstasy.
He wanted her first time to be wonderful, to show her what was possible between two people who loved one another. He knew that it was going to take all the restraint he had not to drive himself into her too soon, not to quench the thirst for her he’d been resisting for so long. His instincts were screaming for fulfillment, for immediate gratification, and if Beth had been a shifter, he would have let them loose, but Beth was a fragile human, and he’d have to treat he
r that way.
Looking down at her body in only a skimpy bra and panties, he realized that she was even more beautiful than he’d thought, her body slim but full in all the right places; it called to him. A blush had crept into her cheeks as his eyes had roamed and it gave her a glow that made his heart leap with joy that she was his.
“You’re beautiful; promise me that you’ll never hide your body from me,” he said, then slipped his hand under her and unhooked her bra and threw it aside.
Before Beth could answer, his mouth was on her breast and waves of pleasure so intense they took her breath away and rushed through her. She arched her back and grabbed his shoulders, the world suddenly unstable as wave after wave of pleasure left her breathless and dizzy. He slid his hand down her stomach and between her legs, pausing just long enough for Beth to begin to writhe in anticipation.
He slowly stripped her panties off, letting his hand rub the inside of her leg as he slid them down. When his fingers parted her folds and found her swollen nib, she cried out with pleasure and dug her nails into his shoulders. She was wet and hot, making it impossible for him to resist sliding one finger inside her velvety passage to stroke her into a frenzy.
When he knew that she was close to tumbling over the edge, he drove her harder until with a stifled cry her body began to shake, her muscles clenching around him, the moisture from her body soaking the bed. As her body began to relax, he knelt between her legs, poised to enter her, but he needed to feel the connection between them, needed this to be more about the way they felt about each other than just the act.
Sensing his eyes on her, Beth opened her blue eyes and met his green ones, still reeling from the effect he had on her body but feeling the need for something more, she raised her hips in an invitation Justin couldn’t refuse. He slid into her slowly, letting her body adjust to his, the feeling of finally joining his body to hers affecting him far more than he’d thought it would.
It was more than just physical, it was emotional, and the connection between them deepened, strengthened by the simple act of them becoming one. When he’d buried himself deep inside her, he paused until he felt her begin to move her hips under him, then with long gentle strokes, he moved inside her until she began to moan.
When she wrapped her legs around him and pulled him deeper inside, he whispered her name, the feeling of being so deep inside her enough to drive him to the edge, but he resisted, not wanting it to end. But what finally pushed him over was the feeling of her body responding to his, her muscles clenching around him as she fell once again, clutching his shoulders and crying out his name.
As he emptied himself inside her, he knew that together they would be stronger than they would be alone; he’d found the woman he was meant to be with, that love would sustain them through the rough times. Their life together would never be easy, but it would be full of love, and that was what mattered most. It didn’t matter what his family thought; they were meant to be together, and no one was ever going to take her away from him.
***Beth***
She woke slowly, not wanting to disrupt the cocoon of happiness that had descended around them, but the light coming in through the curtains told her that it was morning. Justin stirred next to her, pulled her closer, then went back to snoring quietly beside her; as wonderful as last night had been, waking up in his arms was even better.
It would have been wonderful if they could have stayed in bed all day, but it was mid-terms, and they both had papers due and tests they had to take so she slipped out of bed and quietly made coffee. When she gently nudged Justin awake, he woke with a smile on his face, then pulled her back into bed and kissed her.
“Good morning,” he said, then sniffed the air. “Do I smell coffee?”
“You do, and I have bagels and cream cheese if you’re hungry,” she said, trying to get out of bed.
Justin held her down and began to nibble on her neck. “I think I’ll just have you for breakfast,” he said, then covered her mouth with his, making her forget anything but him.
Hours later, she made another pot of coffee and brought Justin a cup in bed; it felt like a wonderfully intimate gesture, and her heart swelled to think that this was what the rest of her life would be like. But once she’d snuggled back into bed with him, she grew curious about all the things she didn’t know.
They were leaning up against her headboard, his arm around her, so she looked up at him and said, “Tell me all the things you wanted to tell me last night.”
He sighed, then sat up a bit straighter. “I’m not sure where to start,” he said, afraid that what he was going to tell her would change things.
She pulled out of his arms and turned to look directly at him, “Whatever you have to tell me, it’s not going to change the way I feel about you. I realized that when I woke up yesterday morning. I love you, Justin; if you’re different than everyone else, that’s okay because I’m different too.”
Justin relaxed again and pulled her back into his arms. “My family has always had this ability; I told you that before, but I really didn’t explain what that means,” he said, then stuck his arm out, showing her the scars from the bear. “One thing that makes us different is the ability we have to heal ourselves; it not only means that we’re stronger but that we live longer, sometimes twice as long as normal humans.”
Beth thought about that for a minute. “So that means that when I’m old and gray, you’ll still be young?”
“Kind of; we still age, just not as fast, and we can’t die from things like cancer; we usually die from old age, organs wearing down, stuff like that,” he said, tucking his arm back under the covers. “It can be difficult if a shifter lives around a lot of other people; most move around a lot to avoid people noticing how long they live.”
Beth could understand the implications of what he was telling her only too well. “What else?” she asked, wanting to move on from the topic of death.
“We have control of when we change; we’re not like werewolves, but our bodies demand the change, need the rush we get when it happens,” Justin explained, not sure if she’d understand.
“That’s the power I feel when I’m around you, it’s like you have a battery inside you or something,” Beth said, surprising him.
“My dad calls it running hot; it happens when we haven’t changed for a while, but I’m surprised that you can feel it,” Justin said, wondering what it meant that she could.
Beth shrugged her shoulders. “I felt it that first day we met when our hands accidentally brushed, and I’ve felt it several times since then.”
Justin thought about that. “It’s been hard living here in the city. I’m a young shifter, and we need to change more often; sometimes I feel like I’m trapped. I’ve tried changing into other animals but the only thing that really makes me happy is the mountain lion,” he finally admitted.
Beth knew exactly what he meant. “I understand what it feels like to be trapped, I spent so much time in bed when I was sick that it began to feel like a prison. My mind was fine; it was just my body that didn’t work right.”
Love washed over Justin; he’d never imagined that she’d understand what he was feeling, but she did. “I sometimes forget that you’re a lot stronger than you look, Beth,” he said, then leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.
She settled down deeper in his arms, feeling like nothing he’d told her was that big of a deal. “How often do you need to change?” she asked, beginning to feel completely comfortable with the topic.
“Right now, as often as I can, but as I get older it won’t be so often,” he explained, then a wicked grin spread across his face. “It’s kind of like sex; you want it all the time when you’re young, but the need fades in time.”
Beth playfully slapped him, pretending to be shocked, but was just a little bit aroused. “Justin, you’re terrible; we’re having a serious conversation.”
Before the words were out of her mouth, he’d slid them down in the bed and covered her b
ody with his. “I am being serious. I seriously want to have sex with you again,” he said, sliding his hand up the inside of her leg. Beth giggled and tried to slap him again, but his mouth came down over one of her nipples, and all that came out of her mouth was a gasp.
***Justin***
The sun was beginning to set before they managed to get out of bed and get dressed; they were both starving, and Beth didn’t keep much food in her room. Instead of heading for the cafeteria, they spoiled themselves and went to the steakhouse where they’d had their first date.
When they sat down, and he’d placed their order, Beth looked around at the décor in the restaurant, which was modeled after a rustic log cabin. It was a striking contrast to the white linen-draped tables, covered with sparkling sliver and glassware, but it seemed to work.
“Is this what the ranch looks like?” Beth asked.
Justin thought she was kidding but then saw that she was serious. “No, not at all; the house is made of logs, but inside it’s just as modern as any house. You should come visit for Thanksgiving; my mother would be happy to have you,” he said, which might not be exactly true, but he wasn’t going to think about that. “I’d love to show you Fairplay and South Park; it’s beautiful even this time of year.”
Beth loved the idea of seeing his home, but she knew that she had to go home for Thanksgiving, her mother would have a fit if she didn’t come, especially if she told her it was to go home with a boy. Her mother would have to be told about her relationship with Justin and Thanksgiving was the time to do it, but it made her shudder to think of all the lectures she was going to have to suffer through.
“As wonderful as that sounds, I think I better go home for Thanksgiving; my mother would never forgive me if I didn’t,” she said.
“Are you going to tell her about us?” Justin asked, wondering exactly what she was going to tell her parents.
FairPlay Shifters Prequel: (A Paranormal Romance Story) Page 6
