Bear No Loss (6 page)

“Why did I come? Well, I… I really liked the conversations we’ve been having, Memphis,” she started, looking from him to the fire, her eyes following the flames. “And honestly, that one night we had together was more fun and a lot more connected than I’ve felt with anyone or anything in a really long time. I tend to overanalyze and worry about things for so long that I might miss a good thing when it’s staring me right in the face. But this time, everything seemed to be coming together despite my efforts to fuck it up.”

She shrugged her shoulders, looking back to Memphis. He hadn’t seen her look so insecure or so sad before, and it took everything he had to keep from pulling her into his lap and cradling her in his arms. That dash of vulnerability was just about all he needed to confirm to himself that she hadn’t been lying to him and whatever game it was that Nicky was playing was not orchestrated by April in the least.

But you have to be sure,
he reminded himself, and he wasn’t entirely sure if he was referring to the topic of her being there because she really liked him or that old polar bear doubt of choosing the right woman—not that they ever had anything to argue about, because fate treated each of them right.

Memphis reached a hand to hers and laced his fingers with hers on the arm of her chair.

“I know how that is. Truth be told, I can get stuck in a rut of my own creation far too easily and make circles around myself until whatever I was worryin’ about is long gone to begin with. I’m glad you came, April. Trust me when I say this isn’t somethin’ I do. I don’t just invite someone out to the middle of the woods with some untoward plots in my head.”

He paused for a moment to smile at her, catching that hint of a grin on her lips as well, as she let her hand rest in his.

“Yeah? So I should consider myself special, then?” she asked, chuckling. “Because I can promise you, I don’t make a habit out of hanging out with hockey players or coming to see them in Idaho!”

“Oh, trust me, sugar, you should consider yourself
very
special,” he said, chuckling.

He didn’t miss that comment she made about hockey players not being her usual MO, and a part of him tucked this information away to reconsider at a later time. Not in reference to her, but to Nicky. He had to wonder if the star struck roomie actually had some sinister motives in mind or if she simply got off on screwing with other people’s happiness. Both seemed like likely candidates, considering the kind of people Memphis had been forced to deal with.

Better keep an eye on that girl,
he thought grimly, making a note to pay closer attention to anything Nicky said in the future as well.

The stars came out in full force as the sun tucked itself away behind the mountains, leaving Memphis and April in the flickering warmth of the fire, underneath a magnificent, star-studded sky. He leaned back in his seat after having added wood to the fire, admiring the blanket of stars.

“I’d forgotten how many there were after moving to Chicago,” he said, his hand still holding April’s.

“You don’t see anything quite like this in Cheyenne either,” she answered quietly, the silence between them as comfortable as the conversation, which still completely floored Memphis.

He was the kind of guy who didn’t say much, compared to guys like Heath who could rattle on for hours, but it was a rare case when he could spend hours with someone and not feel the need to fill the silence. Most of the walk up to the campsite had passed in silence, for example, and Memphis had never felt so at ease.

“Do you like it? The quiet? The stars? The… not-city?” Memphis inquired, pausing to look at her and having April catch his gaze.

She nodded, a thoughtful crease on her brow before looking back up at the starry night.

“I do. I was raised in the city and I rarely got out, really. But ever since coming to Shifter Grove, I’ve felt oddly at peace. Maybe even inspired.”

“Inspired to do what?”

“You’re going to think it’s silly,” April said, her voice earnest, not fishing for the “No, tell me anyway” that so many men fell victim to with women who had little substance and had to make up for it by playing coy.

“No, I want to know. Tell me,” Memphis pried, his attention now squarely on April.

What could this little gem of a woman be hiding inside of her? He already knew she was sweet and just sassy enough, and her hidden appetite when they were together was a pleasant surprise as well, but he was insatiable. He wanted to know all there was to know about her, and even then he doubted it would be enough.

“I… I want to write. Novels. Romance, actually!”

He could see the blush sparking up on her cheeks even in the darkness and he grinned, squeezing her hand again.

“And why don’t you, then?”

“That’s what you ask? Not ‘Why would you want to write chick lit’?”

“Is that what I’m supposed to ask?” Memphis quipped, doing his best to look innocent.

“No,” April laughed. “Okay. Why? Because I think there’s enough evil and pain in the world. I think people deserve to have a way to escape from it, and if I can write something that allows someone to forget about their daily burden for a while, I think that would be incredibly rewarding. I’ve always struggled with doing things for me and I think I’ve never really sat down and made a go of it because I was afraid to fail or afraid that I’d be wasting my time and anyone’s who happened to read it…”

“If it’s in your heart, you gotta follow it,” Memphis said matter-of-factly, the words resonating in him as much as he hoped they did in her. “If you sit around for a lifetime hopin’ for the right time to come, it might never arrive. You have to make your own fortune in a way. If you think you’d be happy writin’ romance novels, go for it!”

Looking at her, he found her becoming more and more beautiful by the moment. It wasn’t just that she was a curious little thing that made his bear growl with desire, but that she was an intelligent, sweet, thoughtful woman even when the world tried to turn her and everyone like her into someone much more jaded and detached. Memphis appreciated the fact that she had seemingly managed to hold onto her dreams and that the thought of starting over from scratch, even while it was terrifying, was something that she was willing to consider.

“Speakin’ of which, I see somethin’ that I want, too,” he said, his voice almost a purr as he leaned over across the arms of the chairs and caught her lips in a kiss, the first one they’d shared since the night in Cheyenne.

She gasped as their lips brushed together and it was a sweet sound, making Memphis cup her chin with his other hand and draw her nearer for that lingering taste, his tongue slowly pushing into her mouth and twisting against hers. When they broke the kiss, both of them were breathing a little bit harder, and April’s gorgeous eyes shined with the same kind of unashamed desire that he’d seen in them the first night.

But this time it wasn’t just something that had the makings of a one-night stand, something simple and easy. No, this time Memphis was gambling with his heart, and he hoped she was as well. Because one thing was for certain, he had already lost his to April, even if he didn’t admit it yet.

You’ve gotten yourself in deep, Memphis,
he thought with a grin.

He couldn’t have been gladder for it.

CHAPTER SEVEN

April

It hadn’t taken long for April to go from kissing Memphis to suddenly being in his lap, and then being carried into the big tent he’d set up that she hadn’t even looked into before. All the while her hands were clinging to his neck, and she wouldn’t leave his lips for a moment, their tongues involved in an intricate competition of trying to figure out who wanted the other more. So far, it was a solid tie.

Compared to the cold outside, the tent was warm, almost balmy, as the battery-powered space heater had been working hard while they’d been enjoying their dinner and conversation. When Memphis set her down, her hands went to the zipper of his jacket as he pulled off her fur hat and cupped her face in his palms again, kissing her deeply.

“Are you sure about this?” Memphis asked when April pushed his jacket off his shoulders, her hands already slipping under his sweater.

“What does it look like?” she asked, eyes hazy with lust and her body burning up with the need to touch him and be close to him again like they had in Cheyenne.

“It looks like you’re sure,” Memphis said with a chuckle, taking her jacket off in a flash and tossing her sweater and shirt after it a moment later, all the while standing hunched over because despite the size of the tent, he was still too damn big for it.

“So that much we agree on,” April quipped back, feeling completely brazen around this sexy man who seemed to understand her better than anyone else did.

Memphis Corley was a rare man in the sense that April had a damn hard time imagining him doing anything that would really hurt her. Having grown up with emotionally abusive parents, who shied away at nothing to get their children to be the right kind of puppets in their convoluted little dance of power-mongering, April’s first instinct about people had been to doubt their sincerity. But with Memphis, she was perfectly happy thinking that he would never willingly hurt her and that made her all the more eager to enjoy her time with him!

They kicked off their boots and undid each other’s belts, all the while kissing like horny teenagers, and when April’s back hit one of the thick sleeping mats, she couldn’t help but laugh. It was a happy sound, her giggles continuing as Memphis got down next to her to unhook her bra off and she ran her hand over the thick, throbbing bulge in his pants.

“What’s so funny?” Memphis asked between kisses.

“Just… everything! How scared I was to come here, how I was convinced this would be a horrible idea and we’d just end up hurting each other. It seems so ridiculous now.”

“Good,” Memphis murmured, kissing a trail down her chest while her hands were busy ripping his belt open. “Because as much as I love our conversations, I really just wanna fuck you right now.”

“The feeling’s mutual,” April purred back, unbuttoning his jeans and sliding her hand down the front of his pants.

They must have groaned at the exact same time, April from finally getting her hands on that cock she’d been daydreaming about since their first night together, and Memphis for… well, much the same reasons, probably. April grinned wickedly as she gripped him tightly through his boxers, jerking up and down with her hand with maddening slowness, making Memphis twitch with every movement. She could completely understand now why he had been so content just to play with her last time instead of going all the way—watching him writhe against her was almost as fun as being the one who was at the center of attention.

Instead this time she didn’t want to go without knowing
exactly
what he felt like. While she’d gotten swept away last time in how good it felt to have his fingers in her and his mouth on her, this time she wanted more, clearly shown by the way she was tugging his pants down now and wiggling her hips against him so he’d return the favor.

There was a lantern in the tent giving them light while the outside was pitch black, but it cast shadows over Memphis’s muscles and made him look like a god rather than a man. Every ridge and slope of his carved body was revealed to her greedy eyes as he pulled off first his own pants and then hers as well, though the latter April hardly even noticed because she was too busy staring at his cock.

It wasn’t completely hard yet, but it perfectly fit the giant of a man she’d come to know. Her mouth fell open a little and she sat up, just staring at that thing, giving Memphis a moment to peel off her bra. She reached her hand out again and gripped it, missing a good solid inch or so for her fingers to meet. A glistening bead of precum clung to the head, and before she could let any thoughts of proper tent-fucking manners veer her off the path, she leaned forward and licked it up, the taste perfectly salty in her mouth.

“I… wow,” she stammered, looking up into his stormy gray eyes now.

Memphis grinned, scooping her up in his arms and pulling her mouth to his, which April allowed with an eager murmur.

“Like what you see?” he asked.

“Love it,” she whispered in response, nipping at his lower lip with her teeth.

“Good, that makes two of us then,” he growled back and as April’s hands clasped around his neck, he lowered himself down on their makeshift bed.

April straddled him, suddenly very aware that she was buck naked as his hands traveled up her sides, cupping her breasts and having them fill his big, rough palms perfectly. He kneaded them as April kissed him, her pussy getting wetter by the second and her body grinding against his as she hovered over his hips, his cock pressing against her stomach.

She couldn’t keep toying with it, her thumb spreading a bead of precum as it appeared on the head, making him heave for breath. She adored how she could make him react, how she could draw growls and whimpers out of him with just her hands. The need grew in her steadily until it was too much to ignore and she rose higher, moving the head of his cock to her wet slit.

Memphis’s hands went to her hips and as she pushed down, he kept her there as he slowly thrust upward, filling her inch by inch. The sound that emitted from between her lips was some bastardized mix of a scream and a mewl, his huge cock splitting her open and filling her just like she’d dreamed it would every time she’d touched herself since they’d been together. But it was even better, the paradox of pleasure and pain, his hungry eyes looking up at her, as if drinking in every second of the sensations they shared and getting as much from her expressions as he was from her body.