Grizzly Beginning (Arcadian Bears Book 2) Read online

  Shouldn’t she be freaked out by his method of manhandling her?

  No. This was Austin. He loved her. His heart and soul were wide open to her. She poked around in his head and found nothing but love and lust and need.

  With his free hand, he cupped her breast, pinching the nipple between two fingers without warning.

  Her pussy clenched at the sharp pain followed by a rush of arousal that caused wetness to coat his thigh between her legs.

  He moaned as if he knew exactly the effect he had on her. His hand trailed to the other breast to give it the same attention.

  She arched into his touch, pleading with her body for more of the same.

  Last night, she’d controlled everything. It had been wonderful. Perfect. Exactly right for her first time.

  But tonight…

  As the sun slid out of sight, the room grew darker. Nuria’s attention focused on every inch of her body as it came alive under his touch.

  When Austin slid his hand down and reached between her legs, separating her from his thigh, his fingers immediately found her clit and flicked over the tip rapidly.

  She gasped into his mouth and broke the connection in order to breathe. “Austin.” His name came out on a sharp warning. She was going to come if he didn’t stop.

  Austin smiled at her as he thrust two fingers into her core and pressed his palm against her clit. “So. Fucking. Sexy…” He kept thrusting until she rose up on her tiptoes and hit her head against the wall. “So hot. So tight. So wet…” His voice trailed off again while her vision swam.

  She closed her eyes, concentrating on the way he made her feel.

  “Nuria.” One sharp word that demanded her attention.

  She blinked her eyes open to find him gazing down at her.

  “Come for me.”

  She shattered, her pussy gripping his fingers and milking them hard. Her clit pulsed against his palm. Her entire body stiffened to concentrate on the fucking amazing thing taking over her frame.

  Before she was totally finished gripping his fingers, he started thrusting again.

  She squirmed, needing him to stop. It would be too sensitive. Too much friction. Too… Ahhhh… Holy cow. What was he doing?

  He added a third finger. The pressure was so tight she stopped breathing. When he bent his knuckles to rub his fingertips over her G-spot, she closed her eyes again. Her mouth hung open. She was only half aware of that fact and unable to do anything about it. Her lips were so dry it didn’t matter. It wasn’t as though she needed to swallow in order to keep from drooling.

  When he lowered his face and sucked a nipple into his mouth, she screamed. Tugging on her wrists proved futile once again. She wanted to touch him. He wasn’t having it.

  He sucked half her breast into his mouth and flicked his tongue over her nipple rapidly. Also amazing.

  Nuria did the only thing she could to control the situation—she lowered her heels flat on the floor and pressed her pussy down to get more pressure from his hand trapped between her clit and his thigh.

  In a heartbeat, his hand and thigh disappeared.

  She gasped, closing her mouth. Words of protest hovered just inside her but wouldn’t come out. She never had a chance in any case because two seconds later, he lifted her off the floor with huge hands around her waist, spun around, and set her ass on the edge of the kitchen table.

  With a swipe of his hand behind her, a flurry of papers she’d piled up on the surface earlier went flying across the kitchen. He lowered her back to the table and grabbed her knees to press them up and out so fast, she couldn’t find the words to protest.

  She was glad when seconds later his lips landed on her pussy and sucked.

  Her hands slid over his short-cropped hair and cupped the back of his neck while her feet dangled bonelessly, draped over his forearms.

  When he thrust his tongue inside her and nuzzled her clit with his nose, she came again, shocking herself with how powerful a second orgasm could be on the heels of the first. Especially when she wouldn’t have thought it possible.

  She let her head roll back and forth against the table while her mind opened up, exposing whatever small tendrils of privacy she’d maintained until that moment. “Please, Austin. I need you inside me,” she communicated.

  He didn’t hesitate. One second his tongue was inside her, the next he replaced it with his cock. He still held her thighs up and open, but he tugged her body close to the edge of the table and thrust into her so fast her breath whooshed from her body.

  A slice of heaven. A glorious slice of heaven.

  Not an ounce of pain lingered from last night. Pure bliss, captivating her with its intensity.

  Austin thrust hard, holding her steady with his giant palms wrapped around her thighs.

  She set her hands on top of his because that was the only part of him she could reach. Her fingers spread wide to hold on to his larger ones.

  So good.

  If she’d realized sex was this fucking amazing, she would have… No, she wouldn’t have. And it would never have been like this with another man, shifter or not.

  Austin was hers. She knew it in her soul. Just like she knew she was his.

  It was complicated, and there were details to work out, but she was not leaving Silvertip. Ever.

  As another orgasm peaked, she called out his name. He kept thrusting, tipping his head back and growling loud enough for the entire mountain to take notice as he shot his own orgasm into her.

  When he finally slowed his thrusts to more of a glide, she tried to meet his gaze with her still-glassy eyes. “Austin…”

  “I know, baby. I know.” He pulled out of her and leaned forward to haul her to sitting, pressing his torso against hers and holding her so tightly she thought she might actually break.

  His face nuzzled her neck right in the sweet spot that demanded he claim her fully.

  “Austin…” she repeated, pleading with him to do it. “Bite me. Do it. Do it now.”

  He groaned against her neck, licked the spot, and lifted his face to meet her gaze. “No way. Not like this. Not under duress. You need to make that decision sober.”

  “I’m not drunk,” she teased.

  He smiled. “Same thing. High on sex.”

  She moaned, her body throbbing with the need to bind. Every inch of her skin crawled with the innate draw to bite him. In fact, she lowered her gaze to his neck, pondering the possibility of taking the choice out of his hands the same way she’d taken his options away from him last night when she lowered her pussy over his cock without warning.

  He shook his head. “Not tonight, Nuria.”

  She sighed, lowering her shoulders as some of the tension ebbed. For a long time, he held her. When he finally slid out of her warmth, she missed the contact as if he’d removed an appendage from her body. In a way he had.

  She licked her dry lips as she met his gaze. “I think I’m hungry now.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Austin laughed at the way she managed to change the subject from sex to food so quickly. Though he knew she had to be starving.

  She lifted a brow. “Are you going to feed me?”

  “Always. For the rest of your life if you’ll let me.” Was he saying too much?

  She rolled her eyes.

  For a heartbeat, he worried he’d indeed said too much.

  But then she giggled. “Please save me from grilled sandwiches and frozen pizza.”

  He smirked. “Hey now, I make a mean pancake too.”

  “Oh… Pancakes…” Her stomach growled so loud at the mention, he thought the room shook.

  “Pancakes it is.” He lifted her off the table and set her on her feet, steadying her with both hands until he was certain she wouldn’t fall if he let go. When he released her, he grabbed her clothes off the floor and handed them to her.

  He watched as she dressed while he dragged his jeans over his hips and then bent to find everything else.

  “I should point out th
ere’s still no food in this house,” she stated, confusion furrowing her brow.

  “My place.”

  She flinched. “We’re going to your place? Have you even been there? Your parents said it’s a mess. No thanks to me…” Her voice trailed off as she added that last line.

  Austin lurched forward, took her chin in his fingers, and forced her to meet his gaze. “Stop it. Enough blaming each other for shit we can’t control. It’s not your fault some jackass wants to run you out of town. You aren’t leaving. That’s final. Whoever it is can get over themselves.

  “I don’t give a fuck about material possessions. I was pretty certain my heart had been ripped out of my chest while I raced down the mountain to get to you and make sure you were okay about an hour ago, but I don’t give a fuck about spray paint and eggs and nasty messages. Not one fuck, Nuria. As long as you’re not injured, that’s all that matters.”

  She nodded in his grasp. “Okay.”

  He kissed her gently. “I also won’t be chased from my home, and you shouldn’t, either. We’re going back there. We’ll clean up whatever’s urgent tonight and leave the rest for tomorrow. And then we’ll make pancakes and drown them in syrup, and I might even lick some of it off your lips.”

  She sucked in a sharp breath at the description.

  Good. He liked to have her on the edge of sanity. Fuck their history. They were going to have to find a way to bridge the gap and get over themselves because Nuria was his. And he was never going to let her out of his grasp again.

  “Okay,” she repeated with more umph as if his proclamations were sinking into her head and giving her strength.

  He nodded. “Okay, then. Let’s go.”

  Twenty minutes later, they pulled into his driveway. He turned off the engine and faced her. “Ready?”

  The one word was loaded. He knew it. She had to know it too.

  She nodded. “Yes. For anything.”

  He smiled at her and then opened the door and climbed down from his truck, thanking whatever weird fate was as work in their lives for causing him to leave the truck at her place earlier in the day when he stormed up the mountain. Coincidence? Probably not.

  He took her hand and helped her down from the cab, continuing to hold her fingers as they turned toward the house. Sure enough, the front door was spray-painted with green letters.

  The closer he got, the clearer the words became. DIE BITCH. He shuddered. The thought that anyone would wish Nuria dead was more than he could stand. He didn’t bother reading any of the other words painted on the side of his house. Instead, he opened the door with his key and let them in.

  “Austin…” Her voice trembled as he shut the door behind them and turned the lock.

  He spun around, took her face in his hand, and met her gaze in the dim light of the dark house. “It’s paint, Nuria. Paint. It will come off. Is anyone hurt?”

  “No.” She swallowed.

  “That’s all that matters.”

  She was shaking so badly he grabbed her and drew her against his chest. Threading his fingers in her hair, he cupped the back of her head and pressed her cheek against his pecs.

  “What did I ever do to a single living soul to deserve this?” she asked his shirt.

  “Nothing, baby. People are just damn stupid. They think if they hurt someone else, it will take away some of their own pain.

  She grabbed his shirt at his lower back with both hands, fisting the material as she held on to him.

  He reached out to his parents. “Mom. Dad. We’re at my place for the night. Can’t say I’m not a little concerned.”

  “We figured that would be the case. Alton’s on his way over there now.”

  Austin inhaled Nuria’s scent deeply, wondering why his younger brother would give up sleep for any reason. He was twenty-five and had started working in the family-owned brewery after completing his degree in engineering two years ago. Austin rarely saw him outside work.

  “My brother’s coming over. Alton,” he clarified when she stiffened.

  She tipped her head back. “Of course. Sorry. I haven’t seen Alton since I got here. He was ten when I moved away. Jeez. That makes him twenty-five now.”

  “Yep.”

  “I won’t even recognize him.”

  Austin smiled. “Hell, I don’t recognize him most of the time. He went to the University of Calgary and stayed six years.”

  At least that distracted Nuria from stressing over the graffiti. She giggled. “Six years? What took him so long?”

  Austin shrugged. “Who knows? It wasn’t because he flunked classes or anything. He just liked school, I guess, so he got more than one degree and switched around a few times.”

  “Wow. I guess I better brace myself. He isn’t in fourth grade anymore.”

  “Nope.” Austin leaned back, putting a few more inches between them without letting her go. “You okay?”

  “I don’t know. I’m not fond of getting death threats. Nor am I fond of putting others in danger.”

  “Me?” He pointed at himself.

  “Yes. For one. And anyone else from your family who puts themselves in harm’s way to protect me. I assume that’s why Alton’s coming. What’s he planning to do? Stand guard or something? This is crazy, Austin. We should leave. I should leave. Get the hell out of town. Stay in a hotel. Something.” She shoved against his chest.

  Austin didn’t release his grip on her. In fact, he threaded his fingers together behind her and held on tight. “Don’t be ridiculous. There’s only one motel in town, and you aren’t going there. Ever. Nor are you leaving town. Didn’t we just establish that fact about a half an hour ago?”

  She chewed on her lower lip and then set her forehead against his chest again, hiding her face.

  He took that as a good sign. Anything he could do to get her to see reason was a step in the right direction.

  Austin felt his brother outside before he knocked. He reached around Nuria and opened the front door without saying a word.

  Alton climbed the front steps and entered the house, shutting the door behind him. “Is there a reason you’re standing in the dark?” He chuckled.

  Nuria pushed away from Austin and turned to face his brother. “Hey, Alton. It’s been a long time. You’ve…grown,” she teased.

  He laughed harder. “Fifteen years will do that to a kid.”

  Austin flipped on the lights next to the front door.

  “Ah, lights. I was wondering if I should even approach when I saw the place was totally dark inside.”

  Austin groaned. “Don’t even go there, man. We just hadn’t gotten around to it. We’ve been here like five minutes. More importantly, what are you doing here? Don’t you have a hot date or something?”

  Alton headed across the room and straight for the fridge. Of course. After grabbing himself a beer, and not offering anyone else one, he took a long swig. “I’m insulted. Can’t a guy help out his brother without getting the third degree from everyone in the family?”

  Austin narrowed his gaze as he took Nuria’s hand and led her to the couch. “No.”

  Alton’s eyes widened, and he gave them a fake look of total shock. “My own brother.”

  “Who rarely sees you outside of work because you’re too busy for anyone. I’m convinced you’re leading a double life. When you were gone for six years, were you really at the University of Calgary? Or was it all for show, and you now secretly work for the government?”

  Alton rolled his eyes. “So dramatic.”

  “So evasive.” Austin had no idea what Alton did in his spare time, but he undoubtedly had a woman he wasn’t willing to introduce to the family. The question was, why? Maybe she was human… That was possible.

  “Austin tells me you got an engineering degree.”

  “Yes. Two of them, actually. I wanted to be sure I out-educated my brother.” He chuckled again and took another swig of his beer.

  Austin glanced at the ceiling. “Accounting is hardly easy street. And do
n’t forget, I also majored in business. And I at least managed to get my two degrees in four years,” he teased.

  If there was one good thing about this banter, it was putting Nuria at ease and taking her mind off the stupid threatening graffiti on the house.

  Austin met his brother’s gaze. He was sure Alton hadn’t come over to hang out for purely altruistic reasons. “Tell me why you’re really here?”

  Alton gasped. “What have I ever done to cause such suspicion?”

  No time like the present to press the issue. “Let’s see, you went away to U of C for more years than necessary. And then you moved back here two years ago, got your own tiny apartment in town, and you spend almost no time with the family. You come to work. You leave. No one sees you. So I have to assume you either turned into a recluse or you’re hiding a woman.”

  Alton’s face turned so red so fast that Austin felt bad for being so pushy. If Alton had a woman, it was nobody’s business.

  “Shit, man. I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”

  “Nah, I get it. If I were you, I’d be suspicious too.” Alton dipped his face toward the floor and played with his beer bottle between his legs. “Can you just trust me on this issue for a while longer? You know me. You know I wouldn’t be doing anything illegal or dangerous.”

  “Of course. Consider it done.” Austin pushed off his knees and stood. “I need a drink. Nuria?”

  “Now’s a good time for a beer. Yes. Thanks.”

  “All kidding aside,” Alton continued, “the truth about tonight is that Dad set up a rotation of us to come over here and keep an eye on the perimeter of the property all night. I drew the first shift.”

  Austin shook his head as he leaned into the fridge. When he returned with three open bottles, handing one to Nuria and one to Alton, he faced his brother again. “Why didn’t you just say something?”

  Alton shrugged. “And ruin the fact that you thought I was just a good brother coming over for a social call?”

  ∙•∙

  Two hours later, after a giant pile of pancakes and listening to more warming banter between Austin and his brother, Nuria stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in one on Austin’s towels. She had stayed in there forever trying to warm her body and chase away the deep chill that didn’t come from the cold but from the words on Austin’s front door. DIE BITCH. She hadn’t even seen any of the other graffiti on the house. That one phrase was enough.