"Nope." Ryker started up the stairs. "He and I will be spending the remainder of tonight with you here. Tomorrow, we are going to have this place wired with a security system, but at night, you'll be sleeping at our place."
"Now wait just a damn minute," Hannah said in a tone that said she was more than just a little pissed off, but he ignored her, closing the door on his laughing clan once he reached the top of the stairs and moved to place Hannah as gently as he could upon her bed.
"No," Ryker said, holding her gaze with his own. "Twice now, you have been hurt. Andmeand my bear find that absolutely unacceptable. You need to understand something, Hannah. You are my mate. You are Bastian's mate. And we have been doing everything we can to protect you while giving you time to get to know us. One of us has been sleeping across the street in our damn car watching over you. How the fuck do you think Bastian got here so damn fast? Someone wants to hurt you, Hannah." Ryker wanted to take his words back when he saw fear fill her beautiful green eyes and she flinched. "Bastian and I are going to do anything and everything we can to keep that from happening again. So, please for the love of all things holy,pleasejust let us do this and don’t give us any more shit."
He was surprised when she acquiesced so quickly. Perhaps she was more scared than he had realized.
"Do you think it's Ash?" Bastian asked quietly in the dark from the pallet he'd made on the floor with blankets, pulling Ryker from his own thoughts.
Ryker sighed. "Yes, I do. But I have no idea how."
The two were quiet for a moment. "You are going to kill the bastard, though, right?" Bastian asked.
Ryker grinned in the darkness. "With a smile on my face while I do it, brother."
****
“Move it just a little more to the left,” Hannah instructed, standing back to get the full effect. “Yes, there! That’s perfect!” She watched as Ryker and Bastian muscled the large hoist into place, the last of the large equipment that she’d ordered for the workshop. She refused to acknowledge that was the exact spot they had first placed the hoist ten minutes ago, but from the looks both men gave her, she figured they knew it, too.
“Christ,” Ryker panted as he dropped forward to rest his hands on his knees, panting slightly. “Do you think she is deliberately trying to give us both hernias? Or do you think this is just some sick way she gets her kicks?"
"Hell, bro, it could be a mixture of both as far as I'm concerned." Bastian laughed breathlessly as he stood tall, lifting his arms above his head and moving from side to side.
Hannah swallowed to bring the moisture back to her mouth as she watched the impressive display of muscles moving beneath the thin cotton of his shirt. This was one drawback to having the two men helping her out in the garage. And by drawback, she really meant turn-on.
"You like what you see, Hannah?" Her stare lifted to meet Bastian's heated look, and she bristled at the smug expression on his handsome face.
"Stop fishing for compliments," Hannah said as she moved back toward the office, the lack of glass in the wall a visual reminder of the eventful evening the night before. "It’s an unattractive trait in any man. Now, it's late and the two of you should head on out so that I can get some rest. I have to finish Mrs. Greer's Buick tomorrow morning, and that’s going to take some work."
Hannah had just stepped into the office, using the door despite the opening beside it, and walked three steps into the office, then found herself gently swept into two masculine arms and spun until her back was pressed to the wall. Ryker leaned into her until they were pressed together from shoulder to knee. Hannah inhaled sharply and felt her body heat a little further at the scent of the man. He was a lethal mix of woods, man, and cologne that drew her in and had her head spinning.
"I think you should answer Bastian's question," Ryker said in a voice that was at least an octave lower than usual, and the timbre of it made her shiver. "We've seen the way you look at us, and we sure as hell aren't hiding the way we feel when we look at you. Come on, Hannah. Throw a bear a bone."
Hannah snorted at his joke, and when he grinned back at her, she felt another little piece of her heart slide away in their direction. "Who would have thought you were both so desperately in need of having your fragile male egos stroked?" Ryker barked a quick laugh then bit his lip. "What? Why are you biting your lip like that?"
"I am trying to behave," Ryker said with a sigh, "and I promised Bastian I wouldn't pressure you with innuendos or outright pleading, but when you throw down a line that includes the wordsdesperatelyandstrokedas you just did, I find it hard not to point out a more sensitive part of my anatomy that desperately needs stroking." Hannah burst out laughing even as color swept into her cheeks. "At least it needs to be stroked by someone other than myself, because if I'm to be perfectly honest with you, love, Ihavestroked it a lot since I met you."
This time it was Hannah's turn to bite her bottom lip. The thought of this man taking himself in hand and seeing to his own needs to alleviate sexual pressure that she caused had heat pooling within her. If he and Bastian thought that they were the only ones that had taken pleasure at their own hands over the past few days, then they were very much mistaken. Each night, after the two men had left, both kissing her with a passion that had left her breathless and aroused, she had gone to bed with her little battery-operated friend so she could relax enough to fall to sleep.
"What went through your head just now, beautiful?" Bastian murmured, and when Hannah focused more on her surroundings, she saw that Ryker had moved slightly to the left so that Bastian could step closer to her. "Whatever you were thinking about it had your heart leaping and your body heating in the most delicious way."
Hannah locked her gaze to Bastian's not wanting to say what she had been thinking, but certain that the truth would be evident on her face. When a slow, wicked smile formed, she knew he read it correctly. "Damn." His voice was a husky whisper.
"What did I miss?" Ryker asked as he tilted his head back and inhaled. "Whatever the hell it was it excited our mate." Hannah wanted to cringe at the thought of these men being able to smell her arousal, but she was too goddamn turned on to care.
"I don’t think it's just been you and I taking our own release at night to get some relief from the sexual tension building between us," Bastian said, his voice filled with heat and sin.
Ryker growled low. When he leaned in to inhale against her neck before pressing a quick, open-mouthed kiss to the sensitive area where her shoulder swept up to her neck, Hannah couldn't hold back her moan. "Fuck, the thought of you taking your own pleasure and riding your damn hand is so fucking hot."
Hannah arched her neck, giving him better access. She put her left hand on Ryker's hip and reached out to lay her left hand on Bastian's chest, shivering at the jolt of awareness that shot through her.
"N-not my hand," she whispered. "I have a toy."
Both men froze at her words, and, for a brief moment, she thought perhaps she had said something wrong, but in the next second, they were both pressing tighter against her, growling. Hannah somehow knew the sound as being one that spoke of arousal and needs and nothing to do with biting and bleeding.
"Christ, the thought of you using a vibrator has me so damn hard." Bastian's voice was a little harsh, and she wondered if perhaps she heard a little of his bear in his tone. "Feel me, baby." He gently took her hand from his chest and pulled it down to the impressive bulge behind the zipper of his jeans.
Despite the harsh and heavy material beneath her fingers, Hannah could feel the heat of his impressive erection. She would have moaned aloud for the second time, but any sound she would have made was swallowed by Bastian as he claimed her mouth. She’d been kissed by both men on multiple occasions over the past three days. In fact, it had seemed to her that they had seized every opportunity they could to take her mouth, but none of them compared to this.
Bastian took her mouth with an intensity that had her shivering. His kisses were usually light and playful, but this was deeper, striking her at a more visceral level. He told her so much with that kiss. Above all the emotions she felt in his kiss, his hunger for her rang through loud and clear. Hannah kissed him back just as urgently, wanting him to see her need as well.
When Bastian pulled back with a moan, Hannah only had a moment to draw a quick breath before Ryker moved in and completely took over her mouth. Or at least that's how it felt to her. He licked deep into her mouth, taking everything he wanted from the kiss and giving just as much back. Hannah simply had to hold on and hope she could withstand the maelstrom he built within her. When he pulled back, biting her bottom lip enough to give a slight sting before sweeping his tongue across it to ease her, she started to shake.
"One day." Ryker's voice was deeper than usual and had Hannah shivering. "And one day soon, we are going to have a turn with that little toy of yours, but not now. Come home with us, Hannah. Let us love on you and show you what it's like to be the mate of two bear shifters who adore you. Say, yes, please."
Hannah could feel her heart pounding within her chest. She looked up at Ryker and could read his need and hope clearly in his expression. When she shot a quick look at Bastian, she recognized the same emotions shimmering there. At any other time, and with any other person, Hannah might have thought of this as way too fast to move to a more intimate relationship. And the mere fact that she was contemplating this move with more than one man would have seemed preposterous.
But this was Ryker and Bastian. And she was Hannah. And this was the way it was supposed to be, so there was really only one thing left to say.
"Yes."
