Beauty and the Bear (Werebear Shifter Billionaire Paranormal Romance Standalone) (3 page)

If the beast was smelling her, then he – and Bella
suddenly felt very sure the beast was a he, though she could not have said why
– he must know of her desire. The thought was strangely troubling.

She felt him exhale once more, her nightgown swaying
and her traitor body responding. The beast’s head lifted, and she felt as
though she was being studied.

With a low whimper she was not able to suppress, Bella
closed her eyes, terror once more winning out. Whatever was happening here, she
did not know if she could take it. This night had grown so strange, and she was
not ready to die.

Seconds lengthened into long moments with her heart in
her throat. As her pulse calmed, Bella dared to open her eyes once more.

She was alone in the darkened halls of the castle
Ursus. Whatever beast had come for her, it had passed her by. She had come to
no harm in the night.

~

"Bella."

She looked up from her labors at the sound of the
Baron's voice, unusually gentle. "My lord?"

"A moment of your time."

Bella bit her lip and stared after his retreating form.
He must have known what she had done. Or maybe he wanted to speak about the
kiss the day before.

She sighed, almost too tired to be nervous. Everything
in this house was shrouded in mystery, and even though she was trying to make a
difference here, she couldn't help feeling she was making things worse.

Nervously, she stood, smoothing her hands on her dress,
and followed the Baron to his study.

For once, he was not at the desk looking to ignore her,
but rather seated in one of the great claw-footed chairs by the fire. He
gestured to the other one. Her unease growing, Bella sat.

"You were out wandering the halls last
night."

Bella bowed her head. She didn't see how she could deny
it. "Yes, my lord."

The Baron's voice turned harsh. "Why?"

She felt a flutter in her stomach at his tone. The last
thing in the world she wanted was to upset him! "I..." Did she dare
tell the truth? "I thought you might need me."

"Me?"

Did he sound confused, or angry? She couldn't read the
look on his face. There was something dark moving behind his eyes, something
that troubled her, but also stirred something deep within her.

"Yes, my lord." She bit her lip again.
"My lord, I'm sorry. I'll resign if you wish."

For several long moments, he didn't speak. Not knowing
what else to do, she stood, getting ready to curtsy.

"No, Bella. I don't need your resignation."

"Sir..."

“Stay in your room, Bella.” The Baron gave her a sad
smile. “This time I’m not ordering, I’m asking. It’s dangerous here, and you…
you have become important to me.”

The words hung in the air, and Bella dared not think
about what they meant just yet. “Thank you, sir,” she whispered.

The Baron turned away. “No one has stayed with me so
long except my father. It is I who should be thanking you.”

This time she did curtsy, blindly, blinking back the
sting of tears. She ached to go to him, to soothe the hurt behind those words.

She couldn't help herself. She did.

He didn't seem to hear her approach, only turning when
she touched his shoulder. The Baron stared at her uncomprehendingly for a long
moment.

And then he lowered his mouth to hers, and her world
began. His lips were soft and hard all at once, the sweetness of the kiss
piercing the very core of her. Bella trembled against his mouth, grabbing to
his muscled arms to keep from falling. But he plied her with skill, his tongue
flicking between her lips and coaxing a low moan from her as she clutched him
for balance.

At her moan, he pressed her to him, as though he too
had been holding back a dam of need. Bella crushed her breasts against his
chest, feeling the heat of him as their mouths joined, feeling a rising tide of
desire that she didn't know if she could withstand. His cock was now pressing against
her hip, hard and long, and she ached to see it, to have him inside her.

The Baron's hands were at her neckline now, working the
buttons of her dress. Feverishly, she helped him, stripping the thin fabric
from her and stepping out of it all in a moment. No sooner was she standing
before him in her bra and panties than he grabbed her once more, groaning as
their lips joined.

Bella pulled at his jacket as they moved, stumbling, to
the floor before the fire. There, on a great bearskin rug, they explored each
other, her sliding her hands to finally untuck his perfect shirt, him cupping
her buttocks and drawing her down beside him. They fit so well together, Bella
thought, and for a moment wanted to cry.

She stroked her fingers down his well-muscled chest,
tracing them lower and lower. But he caught her hand, and she looked up at him
in wordless protest.

Even disheveled and dark with desire, he was handsome.
He quirked a crooked smile at the protest on her face, and put a finger to her
lips. "Lay back."

Heart pounding, she did as he ordered.

She closed her eyes against the cheerful crackling of
the fire, wanting to savor every sensation - the fur on her buttocks, his skin
against hers, the feeling of him about to fit himself inside her. But it was
only his hands she felt, gently removing her bra and panties until she lay,
naked and exposed, on the Baron's floor.

"Sir..." she began softly, but then he was
moving on her once more, and she did not know what it was she meant to say.

It was not his hands she felt this time, but his mouth.
That glorious, perfect mouth and full lips, lowered to kiss her thigh. Bella
moaned and spread her legs. She ached for him to touch her with that mouth.

His probing tongue trailed along her thigh and then
gently slipped between her lips. Bella whimpered, unable to help herself. The
Baron's mouth was warm and firm, laving her in long strokes as he drank in her
juices. He moved so sweetly and gently that she could almost no longer tell
where his tongue ended and where her pussy began. He drank in her juices,
suckling her clitoris and then moving again in the long, slow strokes that
built pleasure within her until she needed to scream.

It was the most perfect sensation she had ever felt.

He gently pressed her thighs back into the bearskin
rug, holding them firmly with his large hands. The Baron took another long
lick, his skill urging her to new heights. The pleasure was building now,
impossibly hot in the core of her, exquisite and aching. She could feel it
crashing through her, desperate and fulfilling at once.

As he moved once more to her clitoris, she felt as
though her whole body was engulfed by his mouth. Bella gasped and cried out,
pressing his face deeply into her pussy. He held it there, deep inside her, as
she came, cresting the wave of pent-up need that joined them both.

For long moments, he held there as her breathing
slowed. And then, he began again.

Bella shuddered against him, lost in the afterglow of
her climax and aching with the need to have him continue, to touch her
everywhere, to drive his hard cock deep inside her. She gasped against the wave
of pleasure that crashed over and through her, breaking against the tongue at
her cunt and leaving her full of a need so exquisite she had trouble breathing.
Her toes curled, and she fought the urge to completely succumb and press the
Baron's face more firmly between her legs. 

She could see the muscles in his shoulders flex as he
held her still, and with each move of his head he brought her to new heights of
desire she had never before known. The pleasure was like nothing Bella could
have imagined. She screamed as she came once more, her pussy pulsing against
the Baron's lips.

"Please," she whispered.

Slowly, slowly he rose from between her legs, his face
heavy with desire but also a strange look of fear.

"Bella," he whispered, his voice husky with
need. "I have to fire you."

Bella stared at him in shock. "What?"

"I have to let you go."

"But - " But she was naked on his floor. But
he had just pleasured her in ways she had not ever known she could be
pleasured. But he had already told her he needed her to stay. Bella bit her
lip, wanting to say all of those reasons, and none of them.

"Bella, please." The Baron's voice sounded
strangled now. "Get out."

Slowly, Bella stood and gathered her clothes, feeling
dirty and ashamed. She didn't know what had happened. She didn't want to leave.

Once more she turned to him before she left, wanting to
speak, but the tormented expression on his face as he stared into the fire left
no room for discussion. She went.

~

Not knowing where else to go, Bella found herself
walking down the hall to her father's room at the assisted living facility. Was
it only yesterday she had been planning how to tell him he would be able to
come live with her in the castle, that they wouldn't have to be apart? How had
everything gone so wrong so quickly?

She still didn't understand what had happened. Bella
and the Baron had finally come together, been close, and he had given her the
best orgasm she had ever known. But what she couldn't understand was the pain
in his eyes afterwards. He had ordered her to leave, but she couldn't help
feeling as though it was a punishment for him as well as her.

Then why make her go?

With a sigh, Bella let herself into her father's room.
He was sitting by the window, staring out, but he looked up when she entered.

“Bella? What's wrong?”

“Oh, Daddy.” She knelt by him, putting her head in his
lap. “I'm so confused.”

He stroked her hair, and Bella finally let herself cry
the tears of hurt and confusion that she had been holding back since she left
the castle.

~

The next morning Bella woke, determined. Somewhere in
the night she had come to a conclusion: the Baron hadn't truly wanted her to
leave. And she didn't want to leave him.

She deserved an explanation.

Steeling her courage, Bella went up to the castle as
usual that morning. It was almost the time she usually arrived for work, and
for a moment she was able to pretend that it was all a bad dream, that she
would be welcomed inside as always.

But when her knock fell, the door didn't open for
several long minutes. She hadn't been expected. For a moment, Bella worried
that the Baron might not even open the door for her at all.

He did.

They stood for long moments, looking at each other.
Bella thought the Baron looked as though he'd had a rough night. There were
dark circles under his eyes, and his normally immaculate suit was wrinkled and
looked as though it might still be the one he wore yesterday.

“Ms. Peters.”

Her heart pounding wildly, Bella held her ground
against the coolness in his voice. “We need to talk.”

The Baron looked away. “I don't think that's wise.”

“Please.”

Slowly, the Baron opened the door further. Still
refusing to meet her eyes, he sighed. “Just a few minutes.”

That's all I need
, Bella thought.
Allowing herself to feel hope, she stepped inside.

To her surprise, returning to the castle felt like
coming home. The great tapestries, the wooden banisters, the silver
candlesticks she had cleaned... everything felt familiar to her as the back of
her hand.