Nodding, I relinquish my hold on his belt buckle and watch as he bends to take the hem of my dress in his hands. The juxtaposition of the delicate material against the tanned, callused skin of his hands is not lost on me. In fact, it makes me feel small and feminine – something I don’t feel often since I tend to be taller than most women.
I’m left standing in my strapless bra and thong, thanking my lucky stars I chose beautiful lingerie for tonight instead of my serviceable underwear I don under my uniform. Bear’s appreciative hum makes it clear he too approves. His gaze traces every curve of my body, dropping ever lower.
His eyes snag on my abdomen, on a spot just above the waistline of my panties, and I silently curse a blue streak. The previous time we were together, we were too consumed with fucking like rabbits to worry about the subtleties. This time, we’re taking it slow and paying more attention, which is about to lead to explanations I’m not ready to share.
Explanations I might never be ready to share.
But it doesn’t seem I’m going to have too much of an option here, since Bear’s the kind of guy who won’t be put off. His gaze finds mine, a million questions swimming in their dark depths. He knows what he’s seen, and there’s no escaping the questions that will inevitably come.
I consider stalling – you know, kissing the hell out of him, and hopefully he’ll forget. Well, for the moment, at least. But as I trace his features with nothing more than my gaze, I understand that it would be unfair to him. Even as “just a friend”, he has the right to know about my past. That’s what friends do, isn’t it? They share.
With the lightest touch, Bear rubs a fingertip back and forth across the raised scar. “Wanna talk about it?” His tone is as gentle as his touch, letting me know he’s aware there’s a story here that might be painful.
“Not really,” I reply with a shake of my head. “But I have to talk about it at some point. Now may as well be the time.”
Bear lowers his head and kisses me, cradling my head as if I’m made of spun glass and might shatter into a million pieces if not handled with the utmost care. “At your own pace.”
I gulp in a breath, yet somehow the room appears to lack air. Another bracing breath, and I stiffen my spine. “My partner and I caught a call for an armed robbery. We chased the perp – he had no intention of going down. We exchanged fire, then Hunter took a direct hit.Hewent down …” I swallow hard as free emotion surges to the surface. I thought I had a decent grip on them, but it would seem not as good a grip as I’d thought.
He peppers kisses on my temples, forehead, and the top of my head; his hands rub up and down my arms. His touch brings comfort. “Take your time.”
Steeling myself to finish it, I pick up the story. “I stopped to check on him, and he kept yelling at me to catch the fucker, so I continued to chase him. I finally managed to maneuver him into a dead-end alley, and when he realized he was trapped, he came at me like the cornered rat he was.
“He fired at me until his clip was empty. By the grace of God, only one hit me.” Looking down at my abdomen, I sigh. “This one,” I say, placing my hand over the unsightly mark on my otherwise blemish-free skin. “It only took that one to almost kill me.”
A heavy moment of silence hangs, thick and oppressive, before Bear asks, “And the perp?”
“I managed to get a single shot off, which hit him, paralyzing him.”
“Good,” is all Bear growls in response.
“Could we please change the topic?” I ask, hoping to stave off any further questions that could lead to the more difficult issue of the consequences of my injury.
“Absolutely,” he agrees quickly.
Relieved, I seek to forget this painful moment by going up on tiptoes and placing my lips on his. With every intention of losing myself in the heat of passion, I pour everything into the kiss. Bear meets me halfway, giving as good as he’s getting. He cups my ass, boosting me up, and I wrap my legs around his waist.
Forced to break the kiss or risk suffocating, I reluctantly drop my legs and end up dangling in Bear’s arms as I wait for him to put me down. Instead of lowering me to the floor, he buries his face in my neck, and we stand like that for a long moment catching our breath, time suspended as we silently cling to each other.
When my feet can finally touch the floor, Bear’s teeth clamp onto my earlobe. “Time to get that sweet body of yours naked, sweetheart.”
I think I might just set a personal best time in how quickly I manage to shuck my underwear. Crawling up onto his huge bed, I make myself comfortable against the headboard as I watch Bear divest himself of his clothes. Before long, he’s gloriously naked as the day he was born, clearly ready for action, his thick cock pulsing where it lay against his flat belly.
He places a knee on the bed, his cock and sac hanging heavy between his thighs, and I lick my lips in anticipation of what’s about to happen. My hands itch with the need to touch. Spreading my legs to accommodate Bear’s body as he crawls across the bed toward me, my body softens in surrender to the pleasure I know is about to come.
16
BEAR
The sight of Eloise lounging against my pillows, the glorious strands of her hair spread out around her like a fiery halo, has my blood running hotter. I’m so hard it’s painful. All I want to do is sink into her wet heat and erase the image her revelation conjured up in my mind.
The mere thought of this strong, brave woman being so brutally hurt twists me up inside. I’m just thankful she lived to tell the tale. Putting these heavy thoughts aside, I blow a stream of air across the glistening lips of her sex, and she shifts restlessly.
Unable to resist the temptation, I flick her swollen bud with my tongue, humming in appreciation as her taste hits me. I turn my head and nip at the tender skin on the inside of her thigh. She yelps at the sensation, and I soothe the sting. Licking and sucking my way down her inner thigh and back, I grin as Eloise squirms.
Spreading her sweet pussy wide, I growl with approval as my hot gaze rakes her swollen flesh, begging for my touch. I lower my head and suck her clit into my mouth, pulling deeply. Slipping first one finger, then a second one into her wet heat, I stroke in and out of her body. I feel her tighten in readiness as I curl my fingers. Eloise cries out, crashing right over the edge.
She’s not shy to let me see her enjoyment, and it’s a delight watching her freefall into pleasure so spectacularly. “Again,” is all I say as she comes down from her high.
