Carter's Devotion (Blackwater Bears Book 3)

by Lynn Howard

  His attention jerked up to her eyes and the glow began to recede, leaving behind his dark brown eyes. He took a huge bite of an egg roll and talked with his mouth full. Yep. Something else a friend would do. “Yeah. Mainly baseball. But I like hockey, too.”

  “Favorite teams?” she asked, splitting a crab Rangoon in half.

  “Cardinals and Blues. Duh. As if there were any other choices.”

  June didn’t even look up at him. She just shook her head and smiled. Die hard St. Louis fan. Even if they didn’t technically live in St. Louis – Cedar Hill was in a different county – he was still loyal to the home teams.

  Gradually, they began to talk about little things, small talk but not quite small talk. Like, they never talked about the weather, but they did talk about their favorite seasons. Things like that. It was like they were trying to get to know each other better. Because they were friends. And that was what friends did.

  Who was she trying to fool? How many times had she told herself that? Maybe she was just trying to hypnotize her leopard into believing they didn’t want Carter and the mark was a total and complete mistake. Like repeating the word over and over was her own type of metronome.

  The conversation began to fade off as they both filled their plates again. She loved that he had a hearty appetite. It made her feel a lot less self-conscious about how much she was eating. Then again, he was also a large male. But she wasn’t exactly tiny. At five ten she was tall for a woman. She’d never been dainty, even as a child. She’d always been taller than the rest of her peers, had always wore bigger sizes, her breasts had developed by twelve. She’d been pretty popular amongst the local leopard boys and hated by the females, as if she had any choice in how fast her body developed.

  “Have you tried that sushi place in House Springs yet?” Carter asked, breaking into her memories.

  She swallowed her bite as she shook her head. “Not yet.”

  “Let me take you. You’ll love it.”

  June narrowed her eyes on him. It sounded like he was asking to take her on a date. “I thought we agreed no dating,” she said.

  “As friends.”

  “Then I’ll pay for my own. And I’ll meet you there,” she said, lifting her chin haughtily.

  It seemed like Carter had leaned forward the slightest bit and his eyes were on her lips again as she spoke. Her traitorous tongue snaked out and moistened her lips and Carter’s eyes instantly flashed bright amber.

  She needed to stand up. She needed to put space between them. She needed to ask him to leave. She didn’t do any of those things.

  A purr sounded in her head a second before Carter closed the space between them, his hands raising to cup her face. She threw her arms around his neck and smashed herself as close to him as she could get the second their lips touched.

  There was no easing into it, no chaste feather of the lips. They instantly wrapped themselves around each other as their lips opened and their tongues danced. It was heady and sexy and forbidden. Or it was supposed to be. But somewhere between the first touch of his hands and the second their lips locked, she was lost. Lost to the moment. Lost to Carter. Lost to her need.

  They were moving, sliding from the chairs and onto the floor. Carter’s hands were roaming her body, stroking down her shoulders, her arms, up her ribs until his thumbs touched the underside of her breasts. She grabbed the bottom hem of his shirt and yanked up, needing to feel him, to touch him. She needed to be skin to skin. She needed his heat against her.

  They broke the kiss only long enough to pull his shirt over his head and for him to yank her tank top off. But she was still wearing a bra. Kneeling on the floor, Carter lowered his head, pulled one of her bra cups down and sucked her pebbled nipple into his mouth, using his other hand to massage the breast he wasn’t laving with his tongue and pulling between his lips. A sharp pinch of his teeth made June hiss with pleasure. She gripped his hair hard and held him closer, begging for more.

  June’s hands released his hair and ran over his shoulder, smoothed over his defined pecs, down his washboard abs. The man was like an underwear model. And he wanted her. It was obvious the moment her hand cupped his cock through his jeans. He was hard and ready for her.

  His hips bucked forward when she touched him and she couldn’t help the small smile that tipped up the corners of her lips.

  There was a thought somewhere in the back of her head. Why wasn’t she supposed to get naked with Carter? Who cared? Nothing could stop her from wrapping her legs around his waist and urging him to slide inside of her.

  Carter released her nipple with an audible pop and June chuckled softly. His hands were on her face, cupping her cheeks as he slanted his mouth over hers again. They were kneeling on the hard kitchen linoleum.

  “Bedroom,” she breathed against his lips.

  Carter stood, dragging her up with him. He hooked his hands around her thighs, urged her to wrap her legs around his waist and carried her down the hall, kissing her silly the whole way.

  He pushed open two doors before finding the right room. When his knees hit the side of her bed, he turned and sat, leaving June to straddle him, her breasts pushed against his hard chest, his hands cupping her full ass. Her size no longer mattered to her, not with Carter touching her like this, not with his arousal pushing up against her through his jeans, rubbing against her sensitive clit through her thin shorts. His hands urged her to move. She writhed against him, their tongues moving to the same rhythm.

  Holy crap, she was close. Already. And they were still dressed from the waist down. That needed to be fixed. Now.

  Reaching between them, June undid Carter’s button and ripped his zipper down, the sound mingling with their heavy breathing and moans. She slid her hand into his pants and wrapped her fingers around his shaft and almost lost her nerve. She couldn’t even close her fingers. How the hell had she taken all that without being sore the next day? She should’ve been walking like a cowboy after having sex with Carter all night.

  Carter’s fingers wandered under her shorts and slipped right under her panties, pushing the crotch to the side. His thick finger slid into her with ease. She rolled her eyes closed. It felt so good.

  Slowly, Carter worked his finger in and out of her, stretching her, preparing her for his size. Pulling his mouth from hers, he nipped along her throat and the sensitive spot below her ear.

  “Condom?” he said against her flesh, his tongue making circles before he ran it over the mark he’d left on her.

  That should’ve snapped her out of her stupor, but it didn’t. The tingling sensation made her want Carter all that much more.

  “Nightstand,” she said, tilting her head back to give him better access.

  He stood and carried her to the side of the bed, only laying her down so he could rifle through the top drawer. When he pulled the silver wrapper out, he ripped it open with his teeth and June watched in awe as he rolled the latex over his length, her mouth going dry at the size right there in front of her. She wanted to taste him. She wanted to swallow as much of his size down as she could, but Carter was beyond the foreplay stage.

  Shoving his jeans to his knees, he knelt between June’s thighs and pulled her shorts and underwear to the side. His finger found her again. He added a second. “You’re so wet for me,” he growled out as his eyes flashed even brighter. She knew her own eyes were bright, too.

  Carter pulled his fingers from her, gripped his shaft and guided his cock to her opening. Slowly, so agonizingly slowly, he pushed into her, his eyes squeezing tight and his jaw clenching. He was trying to keep from pounding into her. He wanted her to find her release first. She had no idea how she knew that, but it felt like he’d spoken it directly into her heart.

  June lifted her hips and took him the rest of the way in. They didn’t know each other well, but she needed it hard and fast. That’s how she’d always preferred it, even though she’d never had the guts to ask for it.

  But Carter read her like a freaking cr
ystal ball. His hands gripped her ass to hold her in place, pulled almost to the tip and slammed back into her. She threw her head back and screamed. That made him stop.

  “Please. Don’t stop,” she begged, her voice deep and breathy.

  June opened her eyes and gasped at the intensity in his eyes, the heat, the lust. And something else she couldn’t name. A slow smile spread across his face and she mirrored it. She hadn’t been this hot and bothered in years. Even with Jackson. He’d never made her feel so out of her mind she’d do just about anything to feel him deep inside of her.

  But with Carter, she was more than willing to beg.

  She didn’t have to, though. Rough hands on her ass, Carter started a rhythm, slow at first, his length rubbing all the right places and pushing her toward the edge. Then that rhythm picked up. The sounds of flesh hitting flesh, mixed with Carter’s grunts and June’s moans as he brought her to the precipice, filled her bedroom.

  Every muscle in her body tensed as her core clenched around Carter. A deep, long moan left her lips as she threw her head back and squeezed her eyes shut.

  “Fuuuck,” Carter growled out until he slammed into her three more times, tensing as he came with June’s name on his lips.

  And then he collapsed on top of her, his weight held up on his elbows, his face buried in her hair, his breath warming her neck, right over his mark.

  ****

  As the endorphins wore off, reality slowly seeped in. Shit. He’d just screwed June. Again. After he’d promised they were just friends and were going to hang out and play cards. But she didn’t stop him, either. She was just as into it as he was.

  Carefully, Carter pulled out of June. She sighed and released her grip around his back when he rolled to the side, keeping one leg draped over her thighs. Either the reality of what they’d just done hadn’t hit her yet or she was having a change of heart. He really hoped it was the latter. Now that his bear had claimed her, both verbally and physically, Carter couldn’t make himself walk away from her. She was like a freaking magnet and he was a huge sheet of metal. No matter how hard he tried to pull away, he was dragged right back to her.

  Afraid to speak for fear of spoiling the moment, Carter sucked in gulps of oxygen as the air cooled the sheen of sweat covering his body. He rolled his head to look at June; her eyes were still closed and a tiny smile softened her expression. A rush of manly pride made his own grin spread. He’d taken care of his woman.

  Not his woman. You can’t have her, Carter reminded himself. She said she didn’t want a relationship. Didn’t want to date. And he’d respect that. Or at least he’d try to. Unless she changed her mind.

  Raising an arm, he slid it behind his head. And then he watched as June’s dark brows pinched together and her body tensed. He was watching her realize what had just happened. She was no longer floating on cloud nine. Nope. Now she looked embarrassed. And pissed. When she opened her eyes and rolled her head slowly to look at him, he could almost feel the daggers hitting his chest from her eyes.

  “I told you I only wanted to be friends,” she hissed at him, sitting up and pulling her bra and panties back in place.

  She stomped across the small bedroom and pulled a shirt from a drawer, pulling it over her head.

  Carter removed the condom, tossing it into a nearby trashcan, and pulled his pants up his legs. Fuck. They hadn’t even gotten fully naked. This might be the last chance he ever got to be with June again and he hadn’t even seen her fully naked. He’d wanted to kiss every inch of her body, taste her, make love to her with his mouth.

  Instead, he’d pushed her underwear aside and fucked her. No wonder she was so pissed.

  But she’d been just as desperate as he had. She’d been the one to pull his shirt off. She’d held his head to her tits with a hand tight in his hair. She’d been the one to release his dick from his pants.

  “Then why didn’t you stop it?” he asked, his own anger rising. “You seemed like you were enjoying yourself just fine.” He flinched when he almost caught the skin of his shaft in the zipper of his jeans.

  June’s eyes were full of fire as her cheeks went bright pink and she slapped her hands on her hips. “I wasn’t the one who seduced you,” she said, taking slow steps toward him. “You kissed me,” she said, jabbing a finger into his chest, punctuating each word with a stab of her fingernail.

  Oh shit. The madder she got, the more turned on he got, and the more the scent of her arousal filled the air. She could fool herself all she wanted, but her body was on a whole different page.

  Her eyes dropped to the mark on his chest, the mark she’d left the first time they’d ever been together. When they raised back to his face, that glow was back. Her lips were pink and kiss swollen, her chest rose and fell with her deep breaths. And then she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck as her lips slammed onto his.

  Carter had two choices: he could stop this now and leave, or he could let this woman dig deeper under his skin and into his heart.

  When she wrapped one leg over his hip, opening herself for him, he knew damn well there was no way he could leave now. Not until he had her fully naked, under his hands, under his body, writhing against his tongue.

  Within minutes, he had her clothes off completely and spread out on the bed like an offering. He kept his jeans on this time. That way, if she wanted him, she’d have to remove his pants and she couldn’t blame him for another round of banging.

  She came with his name on her tongue, panting and moaning. As her aftershocks faded, Carter sat up and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and watched her. She was by far the sexiest woman he’d ever been with. She was sexy when she was merely eating, sexy when she was pissed, and beyond sexy when she was in the throes of passion.

  Carter was kneeling on the bed when she pushed up, ripped his pants open and jerked them down his thighs. “Off. Now. All the way,” she said, her throaty voice deeper with a hint of growl.

  She put her mouth on him the second he kicked his jeans off the bed. She was the one who rolled the new condom over him. She was the one who pushed him onto his back and straddled his waist. She was the one who gripped him and guided him to her core, dropping down hard and fast and taking him to the hilt in one motion.

  Carter’s teeth clenched. She was so wet, so warm, so tight. Just the like the first time, he had to will the orgasm away. He wanted her to take what she needed from him before he let his body explode. If only he could feel her without the fucking rubber between them.

  June rode him hard. He forced his eyes open so he could watch those tits he’d fantasized about for the last two days bounce and sway. He couldn’t help himself; he reached up and cupped them in both hands. They spilled over his large hands.

  June’s head was thrown back as she continued to chase her orgasm. He figured he’d help her along. Releasing one of her boobs, he reached between them and used his thumb to stroke her clit. That did it.

  June bent backward, her hands landing both of his thighs and cried out, her core clenching him, milking him, tearing his own release from him so hard he got dizzy.

  When June finally straightened, that look of anger returned to her eyes. “What is wrong with us?”

  She lifted, earning a groan from Carter and threw her leg over, climbing off him.

  “Should I lay here and wait for round three?” he asked. He’d meant it as a joke.

  June turned to him as she pulled a new set of clothes on, this time a pair of sweatpants and a thick sweatshirt, obviously chosen to cover her from head to toe. Her eyes glistened in the light coming from the hallway.

  “That shouldn’t have happened,” she said, her voice so small it hurt his heart.

  Sitting up, he discreetly removed the second condom, tossed it onto the first, and pulled his jeans on. He followed June back into the living room where he found his t-shirt laying beside hers on the kitchen floor. At least they’d made it to a bed this time.

  Carter dressed and sat besid
e June when she lowered onto the couch and pulled her feet under her.

  “Why not?” he asked when she sat silently for so long Carter grew uncomfortable.

  Her brows pulled up and together as she turned to look at him. “Seriously? I literally told you twice today that I didn’t want a relationship. That I just wanted to be friends. Instead, I can’t keep my hands to myself when it comes to you. It’s like my body becomes possessed just being around you. Shoot, I even thought about finding a private room at Havanah’s so you could bend me over and take me there.”

  Carter huffed out a surprised laugh but covered it with a cough. He’d had that same thought.

  “What is this?” June whispered. Her eyes glistened again and wrecked Carter. He hated when women cried. And he really didn’t want to be the cause of those tears. “I was so pissed at you. And you were being such an ass. And then…” She slapped her hands together. “Boom! I was naked and riding you. It’s like hypnosis or something. I don’t know. I’m rambling,” she said, dropping her face into her hands.

  He knew the feeling, though. He’d told himself he’d respect the fact she just wanted to be friends. Even though he’d already decided he’d still try to win her over. But the second her little pink tongue darted out and licked her bottom lip, he’d become a man possessed. Or obsessed. Maybe both.

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. He had a theory, but he wasn’t sure June wanted to hear it.

  Their animals had broken through and marked each other. And his bear had claimed June. What if what they were feeling was the pull of the bond? He knew his Clan brothers and the wolves in Big River were constantly touching their mates. He’d heard Noah and Colton making love to their wives on many occasions over the past two years.

  “You should probably go,” June said, moving and putting her feet on the ground. She clenched her knees together and Carter scented her arousal on the air again.

  Holy shit. His girl was insatiable.

  “Apparently, I no longer have any control over my body. So, yeah. You should go before I do something stupid. Like get naked with you again.”