She fought him, but only for a moment. She stiffened in his arms, she pushed at his chest, and she tightened her mouth against him. But somewhere between one heartbeat and the next, she surrendered. He’d barely touched her lips when she began to open to him. He hadn’t even gotten his arms around her when her hands changed from pushing him away to clutching him closer. And then she whimpered, a sound that was both lust and surrender.
And now she understood. She hungered for him as fiercely as he lusted for her. She didn’t want to. Neither did he. A human Maxima caused all sorts of problems. But this was undeniable. And so they kissed.
Hard. Hot.
He wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up. The bear in him had taken over. She belonged in his bed. And he was going to claim her.
Now.
CHAPTER 9
I’ve lost my mind. That was all Becca could think as she felt Carl lift her up. Of all the insane things that had happened in the last few days, this had to rank as the most bizarre. She was kissing a man who turned into a bear. She was kissing a man who had dragged her unwillingly into his terrifying world of magic. And yet she couldn’t stop.
He’d protected her when she’d thought he’d abandoned her.
He was marshaling people throughout the state to find Theo.
And he kissed her like she was his last breath.
Maybe it was the adrenaline. After all, she’d been keyed up all day, with no way to expend her energies.
Maybe it was because she hadn’t been touched in a long time, and certainly not the way he was touching her. Even his gaze was like a physical caress, and she’d been feeling it on her since she’d woken up in his bedroom eons ago.
He set her on her feet beside his bed, simultaneously kicking the door shut. Then he unbuttoned her blouse while pressing tiny, licking kisses across her cheek and jaw.
“I can’t stop,” he murmured against her ear. “I can’t. Tell me you want this, too.”
Her fingers curled into the soft fleece of his red checked shirt. Then she began to pull apart his buttons. “Yes,” she said. And when his hips jerked in response, pressing the hot ridge of his cock against her, she tilted her head up to look him in the eyes. “No diseases, right?” she asked, before she lost all reason. “No weird shifter thing I should know about beforehand?”
“All human normal,” he said, his eyes dark and intense as he looked at her. Then he flashed a wicked smile. “Though my endurance might be legendary.”
He tugged her blouse off her shoulders, and she hated that she had to let go of him to strip it away. Then he slid his palms around her rib cage to unhook her bra. He was so big, it felt like he could touch all of her.
“Legendary?” she said breathlessly. “That’s quite a statement.”
“I like filling a woman,” he said. “The feel of her wet and hot around me.” Her bra released and he tossed it aside. “I can stroke her all day until she can’t stand it anymore.”
The idea made her insides clench in hunger. The way he said it though—with a growl low in his throat—set everything in her to wild. She wanted to climb onto him, spreading her legs so he could take her standing.
Meanwhile, he moved to press tiny licks across the curve of her shoulder. “You taste amazing.”
She had his shirt unbuttoned, but couldn’t do more than press it off his shoulders. At least she could feel the muscled strength there, the broad expanse and— Ooh!
He abruptly cradled her head and shoulders while lifting her knees. She upended into his arms so he could lay her out on the bed. It added to her topsy-turvy feelings and she embraced them willingly, shedding the last of her inhibitions. Nothing was sane. Nothing was stable. She might as well hold on to what she could: him. And the exciting way he made her feel.
He settled her on the bed, her torso bared to his mouth as he began to lick her nipples one after the other. He didn’t bite, but when he chose to suck, lightning seemed to arc straight to her womb.
“Not enough,” he said against her breast, and she couldn’t have agreed more.
She felt his hands fumbling with her jeans. She thought about helping him, but had more fun stroking her hands across his chest and using her thumbnails to scratch at his nipples. He growled the first time she did it—a low rumble that made her smile. Half purr, half hunger. She could listen to that forever.
Then suddenly his touch disappeared. Her breasts ached at the loss, suddenly cold and erotically tight. He loomed over her, his gaze roving over her body. Then he moved, putting his hands on her jeans and jerking them down with a single flick of his wrists. She’d been stripped naked in a split second. Perfect. Then she helped him by kicking the pants away when they caught on her heel.
“You glow, did you know that? What I see …” He stroked a hand down her quivering belly. “Golden bright.”
She didn’t know what to say to that. She could only stare at the wonder in his face. The moment felt startlingly intense to be the subject of such amazement. As though he worshipped her even as he slowly—firmly—pulled his hands down her hips and thighs to spread her knees.
He took a deep breath, his eyes rolling back slightly.
