Bear Down: BBW Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance (7 page)

Laughing and holding hands, April and Nathan stumbled out into the alley behind the restaurant. True to his word, Dave had pulled the truck around; the keys were in it. April scrambled up into the passenger's seat.

They couldn't even meet each other's eyes without breaking into laughter.

"This is ridiculous," April gasped, wiping tears of laughter out of her eyes. "I can't believe we're doing all this cloak and dagger stuff just to sneak away from your friends! Please tell me small towns aren't like this all the time."

"No, no," Nathan reassured her, laughing. "The next nine days' wonder will come along soon and they'll forget all about us. In the meantime, I suggest we find a place to lie low for the rest of the day, at least until the reporters go away."

"Well, bear counting is out for the time being," April said. "Seeing how we don't have a plane right now. I'm taking a little time off, anyway."

"You'd be willing to go up with me in a plane again?"

The look on his face touched her heart. "Of course I would. It wasn't your fault, and I could see you did everything you could to keep us safe."

Nathan broke into a relieved smile—the smile that still made her weak in the knees. "Well, how about a picnic?"

"On the tundra?"

He nodded. "If you want to. I've got a tent in the back of the truck. We don't have to come back until the vultures move on to their next target. Only if you want to, of course."

Peace and quiet. Just the two of them. "I think it sounds wonderful."

Nathan pulled into the parking lot of the town's little shopping center to pick up some picnic food. He planted a hand on her head and pushed her down across the seat. "Here, you better hide while I go get the stuff. If it's just me, I can get out pretty quickly, but if they see you? We'll never get away. I'll have to set fire to the building to provide a distraction this time."

April, giggling, lay down across the seat. The door slammed and she heard Nathan's brisk steps crunching away across the gravel parking lot. She folded her hands on her stomach and lay on her back, looking up at the underside of the truck's roof.

He was back in a few minutes with several shopping bags, which he dropped into the back of the truck. "Keep lying down," he informed her quietly as he slid inside. "Those reporters from Dave and Ellen's followed us here. They must've seen my truck."

April giggled softly and shifted her position so she was stretched out across the seat with her head in his lap. "How about this?" she asked, smiling up at him.

"Quit wiggling. You're not making it easy to drive."

April grinned and squirmed a bit more, nestling her head more securely into the space between his firmly muscled thighs, then lay still while he drove. They jolted over some ruts and took a couple of sharp turns.

"Okay," he said. "I think I've lost them. You can sit up now."

April squirmed back to her seat and pushed herself up so she could see out and fasten her seatbelt properly. They were on a gravel road stretching from nowhere to nowhere. All around them, the tundra rolled wide and empty.

It should have frightened her, she thought, after their experiences yesterday. But instead it just felt serene and peaceful.

"Where are we?" she asked, combing down her mussed hair with her fingers.

"This is a utility road heading out to the power plant. Nobody ever comes this way except plant workers. And there's a turnoff to the shore near here. I like coming down here to swim."

They turned off the gravel road after another mile or two, and jolted and bumped over the tundra. Twin wheel ruts were barely visible ahead of them. The truck's beat-up suspension groaned as Nathan eased them down a rough, steeply sloping bank to a wide gravel beach. He killed the engine, and the sound of surf swept in through the half-open windows.

April opened the truck door and stepped down. Her hiking shoes crunched on jagged beach rocks. The wind's fresh chill made her glad of her jacket, although the sun was warm on her hair.

The storm had blown through and away, leaving stitches of cirrus clouds scattered across deep blue skies. Waves purled along the shore, drawing back and rolling in again to shatter in low arcs of ice-cold spray. In the sunlight, there was a deep emerald underlying the water's Atlantic gray.

She and Nathan were the only people in sight. The shoreline curved gently away, until the white lace of the breakers could no longer be distinguished from the gray pebble beach. Flecks of ice dotted the water; the farther out she looked, the more ice there was, like a reflection of the white clouds in the blue sky.

Nathan appeared around the nose of the truck. "You like it?"

"I do." And she couldn't help thinking it was prime polar bear habitat. No wonder it appealed to him.

But this was clearly a special place for him. It flattered April tremendously that he was willing to share his private place with her.

Nathan climbed into the truck bed and tossed down the bundle of the tent. "Hey, no need to help me set up camp. You want to take a walk on the shore, explore a little?"

She got the idea that he was trying to get her away from the truck, but if he wanted to set up something special, she wasn't going to stop him. "Sure," she said. She got her camera out of her bag.

"Yell if you see any bears, okay?"

April tossed a grin at him over her shoulder. "I'm not afraid of bears."

She walked a short way up the shoreline, close enough to the water's edge to feel the stinging spray and taste the salt on her lips. Chunks of ice were melting among the rocks where the waves had carried them ashore. April crouched and touched her finger to one of them. It was hard sea ice, polished like beachglass. Ice from the North Pole, she thought.

When she eventually circled around to the campsite, she found that Nathan had set up the tent in the lee of the truck, using the truck's body as a windbreak. It was a large, four-man tent with an awning over the door. Nathan was sitting in front of the tent, one long leg stretched out, gazing out to sea. He looked up and smiled that brilliant smile when he saw her.

"Find any bears?" he asked.

"Just one," she said, and leaned into him, her hip against his shoulder. He turned his head to bury his face against her stomach. She ran her hand across his sun-warmed hair. "Did you have fun making camp?"

"See for yourself," Nathan said. He unwound himself from her hips and reached to pull back the tent flap.

April went down on hands and knees to peek inside. The rich scent of roses greeted her. There was a sleeping bag spread out across the tent floor—huge, fluffy, very much like the one that had been in the plane—with roses scattered around the edges. Sunlight filtered dimly through the tent canvas, illuminating the whole thing with a warm, golden glow.
Like a bower,
April thought, amazed.

As she leaned in, she felt Nathan's warm bulk settle over hers. He kissed his way across the nape of her neck, and slid his big hand under her jacket, running his palm across the gentle curve of her stomach. "Like it?" he asked.

"It's great." She twisted around to kiss him. "What did you do, buy out the entire florist's department?"

"Every rose they had," he admitted. "North edge of the Canadian tundra is not really great for roses. But I wanted to make this special for you."

April kissed his nose and then poked him in the side. "Our first time was wonderful, you silly, romantic jerk."

"April, I made love to you under a tarp after crashing our plane in the remotest part of Canada. Nothing about that is romantic."

April laughed. "It felt pretty good to me."

"Well," he said, pushing her gently down onto the sleeping bag, "let's see if we can make it better."

She grinned helplessly, looking up at him kneeling above her, straddling her hips. "Just the one sleeping bag, huh?"

"It worked pretty well for us before."

April began to unbutton her shirt, but Nathan gently moved her hands away. "Let me," he breathed. "We have all the time in the world. I want to take my time with all of you."

So she lay back and let him unwrap her like a present. He opened her shirt and pulled it down from her shoulders, then trailed kisses between her bra-clad breasts. Sliding a hand under her back, he carefully undid her bra. When he pulled it off, she felt her breasts come free, and saw the way his eyes darkened and his breath quickened at the sight of her generous breasts and rapidly hardening nipples. His erection was already pressing against his jeans.

But his movements were controlled and gentle, the powerful hands incredibly delicate as he cupped her breasts, caressed her nipples, and then leaned down to take one of them into his mouth. April gasped, tipping her head back, as his tongue traced circles around the hard nub.

She was already slick and wet. She lifted her hips, begging wordlessly for release. Nathan unfastened her jeans and slid them over her hips, then rubbed her through the silky fabric of her panties.
Glad I wore the good ones today
... she thought, with the tiny part of her brain not consumed by the heat radiating out from her sex. With every stroke of Nathan's skilled fingers, a flare of delicious anticipation surged up her spine.

He played her like an instrument, stroking her through the panties, rubbing her nipples with his other hand. When he leaned down and laid his open mouth over the crotch of her panties, tongue probing with delicate strokes, she gave a soft cry. She was so wet, quivering,
ready
. "I want you inside me," she gasped.

He smiled, then came back up to kiss her. One of his hands guided her fingers down to the waistband of his jeans. She struggled with the zipper while he consumed her mouth with his, and then she got his jeans down and wrapped her hand around the firm length of him.

She'd forgotten how big he was. His cock filled her hand, hard and hot and ready to fill
her
. Nathan helped her strip off her panties and then she guided him into her warm wet entrance.

His first thrust went deep, stretching her in new glorious ways, and she arched backward. She was so incredibly close.

Nathan cupped his hands under her buttocks and lifted her, pressing her onto him as he pumped his hips. With each thrust, a great wave of ecstasy rose in her. "I'm going to," she gasped, "I'm," and then she came, rising into it, with a searing jolt of pleasure.

Nathan kissed her through the waves, his mouth holding hers.

As she came down from it, he pulled out of her and then flipped her over, turning her facedown on the sleeping bag. Her pleasure-hardened nipples brushed the cool fabric with little electric jolts.

"I want to take you like this," he said into her hair.

"Yes," she gasped, "please, don't stop." Her entire body was still quivering from the first orgasm, every sense heightened, every part of her incredibly sensitized.

He wrapped an arm around her and pushed into her wet, open entrance from behind. He covered her completely; she was wrapped in Nathan, filled with Nathan, surrounded by his heat and the friction of skin on skin. She could feel him shaking with his own need, holding it back, thrusting into her as her own renewed excitement built toward a second climax.

As he urged her onward to greater heights, Nathan nipped at her shoulder, at the back of her neck. Blunt human teeth, but still, the sharp little jolts made her gasp. Every part of her was on fire, inflamed by his touch, his presence.

She felt her orgasm coming, building, rising in her. As her muscles began to clench around him, he came with a deep cry and a hard, shuddering thrust. April flung her head back against his broad chest, her brain whiting out on a wave of pure sensation. They rode out their mutual orgasm together, hips thrusting in perfect sync.

Then, sweat-drenched and exhausted, they collapsed onto the sleeping bag.

April felt like she should probably get up ... do something ... say something, anyway. But Nathan still had a possessive arm over her, his body spooned against her from behind. And all she wanted to do was stay here, floating in the endless moment.

After April fell asleep curled against him, Nathan quietly untangled himself and withdrew quietly from the tent. On the beach, he changed to bear form.

For a little while, he prowled up and down the beach, checking for danger with both his bear senses and his human mind. But there was nothing. No other bears had been near this place lately, and no people either, as far as he could tell. There was nothing to disturb his beloved, or the bower he had made for her.

He loped back to the tent, and went human-shaped once more. The wind off the ocean was chilly on his bare human skin, and with some relief, he crawled into the tent.

April was sleeping as he'd left her, curled on her side, naked and glorious. She stirred slightly when he entered, but he brushed her cheek with a hand, and she leaned into his touch and settled back to sleep once again.

She was gorgeous, the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. All he wanted to do was sit and worship her with his eyes, with his hands. He ran a gentle hand down her bare shoulder. She pressed into his touch, and, in her sleep, snuggled closer to him.

There would be things to discuss in the morning. Her bear survey, for one. And more questions, all the many questions that two people had to answer when they decided to spend their lives together: where to live, how many children to have, what kind of house they wanted.

But all of that could wait. Right now, it was just the two of them, and his beautiful mate was sleeping the deep sleep of a happy, sated woman.

His beloved. His mate.

His. Forever.

***

A note from Zoe Chant

Thank you for buying my book! I hope you enjoyed it. If you’d like to be alerted by email when I release my next book, please
click here
to be added to my mailing list. If you'd like to contact me, my email is
[email protected]
. I love hearing from my readers.

Please consider reviewing
Bear Down
, even if you only write a line or two. I appreciate all reviews, whether positive or negative.

Cover art: background, airplane, and bear ©
Can Stock Photo
. Man ©
Stefano Cavoretto
on
123rf.com
.

***

More Hot Paranormal Romance by Zoe Chant

Bought by the Billionbear.
BBW + billionaire bear shifter + bachelorette auction = one broiling-hot story!

***

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