Bad Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES fur BEARS Book 1) (3 page)

She made no effort to pull
her blouse close and cover herself up. She just stood there with her
back pressed against the wall, letting Marcus caress every inch of
her with his eyes. He stared at her with raw want and longing. He
wanted her and hungered for her, and the way he looked at her made
her feel so beautiful and desired.

She felt Marcus's hot breath
on her neck as he leaned in and growled, “I want to taste you.”

The words sent a powerful
jolt of lust through her as the image of him going down on her
flashed through her mind. She could feel herself getting wetter as
she looked up into his burning blue eyes.

Unable to speak, all she
could do was give a barely perceptible nod. That was enough.

Marcus hitched her skirt up
to her waist and parted her legs. He knelt in front of her and
ripped her panties away. The sound and feel of the tearing fabric
aroused her further. Marcus put one hand under her knee and guided
her leg to his shoulder.

With one leg over his broad
shoulder, Staci braced herself against the wall and blinked rapidly
as she felt his lips on her pussy.

“Oh God...” she
whispered.

Marcus sucked and licked
greedily at her hot, wet pussy before sliding his tongue along her
slick folds. His mouth kept moving against her pussy as he fingered
her. When his tongue touched her sensitive, pulsing clit, Staci had
to bite the back of her hand to stopper her scream.

He kept lapping and sucking
at her engorged nub, driving her out of her mind. His mouth and
hands were relentless. Marcus knew just where and how to touch her,
when to increase the pace and pressure, and when to pull back and
make her pant for more.

It felt so good, so damn
good, but she wanted to come. She was going to come…

“Don't stop,” she
panted. “Don't stop, Marcus, please don't stop...”

Marcus obliged by plunging
his tongue into her and fucking her senseless.

She was teetering on the very
edge of her orgasm when the door of the bar crashed open noisily.

Light and loud music spilled
out of The Round Table and drunken, obnoxious laughter floated
towards them.

A conga line of witches
whooped and weaved out of the bar. Staci froze in horror and
mortification as the witches headed straight into the alley.

Finally, Staci found her
voice and gasped. “Stop, Marcus. Stop!”

CHAPTER
SIX

Marcus surged to his feet and
stood protectively over Staci, using his broad body to shield her.
She scrambled to button her blouse and smooth her skirt down over her
thighs.

Marcus growled at the line of
drunken, dancing witches. Gramma was at the head of the line with
Ne-ma immediately behind her. Ne-ma's spectacles sat askew on her
nose and her hair was sticking out at odd angles from the usually
neat and perfect bun at her nape.

The singing witches came
literally to a screeching halt in front of him. A few of the witches
in the line actually screeched in shock when they saw him.

But Gramma and Ne-ma merely
blinked at him and shrugged. “Oops, wrong turn,” Gramma
said.

Instead of reversing out of
the alley, Gramma did a U-turn so that every witch in the line had a
chance to dance past Marcus as they jiggled and jostled their way out
of the alley. The witches gleefully resumed their boisterous singing
and some of them made a “Call me” gesture at Marcus as
they sidled past him.

Marcus stood still like a
statue as his bear snarled at the infuriating witches. Those witches
had really bad timing. He had been about to feel Staci come against
his mouth, but the witches had to ruin everything. He was
frustrated, angry and his entire body was hard as hell. He felt as
though he might just burst a blood vessel any second now.

A bespectacled, blond witch
brought up the rear, and she made loud smooching sounds at Marcus as
she slung her hips every which way. Winking at them, she slapped her
ample hips and shouted, “Yee-Haw!” before lurching out of
the alley.

At last, the long line of
witches receded down the street. Marcus could still see their
bobbing shadows and hear the echo of their cheerful, tuneless song.

He turned around to see Staci
standing silently behind him. She was smoothing her trembling hands
down her clothes and hair and blushing furiously. She looked
terribly embarrassed.

Peering past his shoulder,
she hiccuped a nervous little laugh. “I should go—while
the coast is clear,” she said with a gulp.

“Staci,” he said,
reaching out to touch her but she sidestepped him and smiled
awkwardly.

“My car is just round
the corner. I better get home. It's getting late,” she
mumbled quickly.

Marcus picked up her bag from
the ground. It had fallen off her shoulder when he unbuttoned her
blouse.

“I'll walk you to your
car,” Marcus said as she took her bag from him.

“You don't have to...”

“Don't worry. I won't
stalk you. But...I would really like to see you again, Staci.”

She sucked in a breath
through her teeth. “Ah...”

“I'd like to take you
on a date,” Marcus clarified in case she thought he was just
trying to get into her pants.

She adjusted her bag on her
shoulder and fidgeted. “I'm really busy these couple of weeks
so...”

“I understand.”
Marcus walked down the street with her, his hands in his pockets.
From her body language, it was clear that she didn't want to be
touched right now. The color was still high in her cheeks, and her
heels were clicking a frenzied rhythm as she quickened her pace. She
was suddenly in a great hurry to get away from him.

Staci reached her car and got
in. “It was nice meeting you, Marcus,” she said.

“You okay to drive?”
he asked with concern.

“Of course. I only had
one beer, and a margarita. I'm not drunk,” she said huffily.

Marcus smiled. “Okay.
I'll see you.”
Tomorrow.

No way was he letting her
disappear on him. He should have asked her where she worked, but no
matter. He would find her. He knew her scent intimately now. His
bear would track her down tomorrow.

With a quick wave, Staci sped
off.

His bear wanted to chase its
prey but Marcus wasn't going to let his beast go after Staci and
terrorize her. Staci wasn't a shifter. Shifter females relished the
hunt and the chase. Being hunted by their mate was exciting and
arousing to them. But Marcus was sure that being hunted by a
ferocious, sex-crazed bear wouldn't count as foreplay in Staci's
book.

She was human, and he sensed
that she was used to doing things by the book.

If he wanted her, he would
have to train his bear to be more...civilized. He could be
civilized, patient and...relentless.

“Staci,” he said
her name like a promise as he watched her car disappear round the
corner.

CHAPTER
SEVEN

Staci glanced in her
rear-view mirror and saw Marcus starting after her car. She gasped
and shook her head, and immediately Marcus froze. It was as if he
could see her shake her head at him. He simply stood in the middle
of the road and watched her drive away, his eyes glowing softly in
the dark.

She turned the corner and
checked her mirror again. Nope, Marcus hadn't come after her. She
felt both disappointed and relieved.

Blowing out a shaky breath,
Staci fanned herself with her hand. That free mug of beer had gotten
her into a lot of trouble tonight. With too much beer in her belly,
she had gotten too bold and brazen. She had made out with a big bad
bear in an alley and lost her panties.

She squirmed when she
remembered how his hands and mouth felt on her. He had almost made
her come right there in the alley, with the cool night air against
her bare breast. God, she had bared herself to a complete stranger,
and almost had an orgasm in front of an audience of drunken witches.

Staci groaned. She really
shouldn't drink so much if she couldn't hold her liquor and her
libido. Marcus seemed like a nice guy but she doubted she would see
him again.

It was just one drunken
encounter in a bar and when they saw each other in the harsh light of
day, they would probably just smile at each other politely, maybe a
little awkwardly, and go their separate ways.

Staci grimaced. She hoped
things wouldn't be awkward between them. She liked Marcus. Maybe
they could be friends? Ah, who was she kidding? How could they be
just
friends if she was so attracted to him? He was a
fantastic kisser, and he was sweet and protective. It was clear that
he wanted her, but he wasn't pushy and domineering. He had tried to
shield her when the witches burst into the alley and he had respected
her. If she got to know him better…

“I could fall for a man
like that,” Staci muttered to herself.

Staci shook her head hard.
Nah, love wasn't on the cards for her. She had moved to Shadow Point
to get away from her ex and his new love. Love didn't last, she
realized. It might feel nice and fuzzy at the beginning, but once
the novelty wore off, she would be traded in for a new, younger,
better-looking model.

Marcus was a hundred times
hotter than David. A sweet, sexy man like Marcus could have any
woman he wanted. She was sure there was no shortage of females
waiting to climb into his bed. He was just having some fun with her.
He would tire of her pretty quickly and drop her like a hot potato.

Staci chewed hard on her lip.
She was judging him, even before she had really gotten to know him.
She wasn't being fair to Marcus, or herself. Marcus's attention had
been solely on her even when there were scores of beautiful women in
the bar. There had been a whole line of flirty, pretty witches
making eyes at him but he never strayed from her side. He wanted
only her.

Staci sighed and forced
herself to stop thinking about Marcus. She was new in town, and she
should just go out and meet more people. If Marcus wanted to flirt
with her, fine. She was an adult. She was entitled to have some
no-strings-attached fun. She shouldn't expect anything more.

Glancing over her shoulder as
she turned into her street, Staci frowned when she saw a car behind
her. That car had been following her since she drove away from
Marcus. She was pretty sure it was the same car.

She turned into another lane
and waited. But the car didn't appear.

Staci heaved a sigh of relief
and chided herself. “It's just my imagination. And that
damned beer.”

Slowly, she circled back to
her house and slotted her car in the driveway. She had rented this
nice one-bedroom house from an elderly couple who would be overseas
for a year, visiting family and attending all their grandkids'
graduations. The timing was just right. Her transfer was just for a
year. She would be in Shadow Point for only one year, unless...she
found a reason to stay.

Staci locked her car and
hurried to her front door. She looked over her shoulder as she
turned the lock. Somehow, she still couldn't shake the feeling that
she was being followed. But there was no one there.

Rushing into the house, she
bolted the door and tiptoed to the window.

For a while, nothing moved.
Then she saw a man walking towards her house from the end of the
street. Staci held her breath as the man walked past her house. He
had his hat pulled low over his face. The man kept walking, but she
saw him turn his head slightly to stare at her front door. Was he
the same man who was in the car behind her?

Staci exhaled shakily once
the man was out of sight.

She checked all her doors and
windows and went to peek out the front window again.

“I need to sleep,”
Staci muttered. “Or I'll start to imagine monsters under my
bed...”

CHAPTER
EIGHT

Staci walked into the bank
and greeted Claire as she strolled past the reception counter. “Good
morning, how's your night?” Staci said brightly.

Claire giggled and pulled
down her collar to display two neat pinpricks on her neck. “It
was fang-tastic!”

Staci paused and leaned
forward. She didn't know if it would sound rude but she was so
curious. “How was it?” she whispered.

Claire's eyes rounded. “How
was what? Oh, you mean, sex with a vampire?”

Staci nodded and glanced
around, hoping Claire would keep her voice down.

“Depends on the vamp,”
Claire said with a shrug. “Some are better than others. Some
are more skilful, more generous, more adventurous...” Claire
frowned suddenly and said, “You mean you've never done it with
a vamp?”

Staci shook her head.
“I...I've only been with one man. He was human. And not very
good.”

Staci sighed but Claire
punched her arm and said firmly, “Well then, I say good
riddance to that not-very-good human. You deserve a good man,
Staci.”