One in a Bear-llion (Polar Heat Book 3) (5 page)

“That’s true,” he said. “But right now, you aren’t either. Maybe lower your standards.”

She harrumphed. “Right, because that’s what I’m known for. Low standards.”

He walked over to her, and the minute he stood beside her, she could feel his heat, his towering presence. When he wanted something done, he just did it. She envied him.

Then he snatched her brush out of her hand, dipped it liberally in some blacks she had mixed on her palette, and swiped it right across the canvas.

She gasped and yanked back the brush, but it was too late. A large, dark streak ran across the entire fresh, white canvas.

“You ruined it,” she said.

“Or did I?” he said, stepping back with folded arms to look at the canvas. His handsome face was slightly mocking as he considered his work. “I think it looks infinitely more interesting than a blank one.”

She let out a frustrated huff and set down her tools. If she didn’t get away from him, she was going to slap him.

He caught her by the arm and easily whirled her against him, holding her to his chest. His large arms circled her, keeping her safe. She exhaled, trying to relax. It was just a canvas. There would be more.

“Let it out,” he said. “There’s too much pent up in there. When are you going to get angry?”

She let out a low growl from some place deep inside that was aching to be free.

“That’s right,” he said. “When are you going to take vengeance?”

Her growl quieted. There was nothing she could do.

“No,” he said, running a hand over her arm, soothing her. “You’re a bear. You’re strong. No one gets to do this to you. We’re going to catch him; we’re going to end this. We’re going to show him no one can mess with you.”

She nodded, wishing she felt as sure as he did.

“Believe me,” he said. “I’m an ass sometimes, but I know right from wrong, and I don’t just sit by when something is really wrong.” He stroked her hair softly, and she shivered at the feel of his touch. Already, she just wanted to go back to the bedroom with him and get lost in the pleasure and forget all of this.

“Damn, I want you,” he said. “Like I’ve never wanted anyone. But that’s not what you need right now.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“You need your bear.”

She frowned. “I can’t. I could ruin things.”

“What about at night? How about we wait until nightfall? Perhaps after you’ve let out your bear, your anger, you’ll be able to paint again.”

She felt something inside her growl in approval, so she nodded. “Fine. But we have to find a place where no one will realize two bears are running around.”

He nodded. “Leave it to me. You don’t think we never shifted growing up, do you?”

She shook her head. “I doubt you do it often, though.”

“Right,” he said. He looked at his watch. “I need to get some things ready. Stay in the room and relax. You have a balcony pool you could use, but keep your phone close and call me if you need me.”

She didn’t like the idea of him leaving, but she needed a break to deal with the emotions that came from trying to paint and not being able to. When he’d swiped black over the canvas, he’d made it seem so easy. Made her feel like a joke for not being able to do it.

But her whole life, she’d been the meek little artist. Snarky inside, polite outside. Perfect with fans or her family. Never out of line. Never rude. Never savage like the bear inside her that was screaming for vengeance.

Her bear hadn’t been out in so long she felt when it did release, it would be out of control.

She went into her room and changed into a swimsuit to go out on the balcony. Storm clouds were gathering overhead, turning the perfect blue sky to a beautiful lilac. The world was darkening all around her.

She just wanted to get lost in it, so she set her phone by the side of the pool and sank in.

When her phone buzzed, she checked the messages, trying not to get it wet.

I’ll be there around sundown tonight. Wear something comfortable.

She blinked. She couldn’t believe the man who hadn’t even wanted her around now seemed to be going out of his way to arrange things to help her.

“
W
here are we going
?” she asked, looking out around them as they drove. The tropical foliage was getting thicker and more frequent on the sides of the road as they went up a hill and took a long curve toward a large house in the distance.

It was set slightly apart from anything around it, and as they pulled up on a paved driveway, she noticed it was completely surrounded by a hedge and tropical gardens behind it, with lush palm trees rising over it. When they stopped, he got out of the SUV they’d driven out here and went around to open the door for her.

As she got out, the sweet, fresh smell of tropical plants surrounded her. They were farther from the ocean here, far from the crowds, and it felt secluded and almost sacred.

“Did you come here as a kid?” she asked.

“Not exactly,” he replied. “I sort of changed our plans, but I thought this would work well.” He led her around the side of the house, which was large and built into an L shape. It was white with white trim, and in the backyard there was a huge square pool with glistening, pale-blue water framed with beautiful tiles. Also, a Jacuzzi stood not far away.

But the garden behind the house intrigued her most. She looked toward it, and he nodded. Her bear had been pacing inside her ever since he’d mentioned letting it out as a possibility, and now something inside her was growling fiercely to be free, even for a moment.

Free from the pretty, comfortable silks she wore. Free from the politeness. Free from the Mara who acted like everything was fine, because it didn’t matter if she told them things weren’t fine.

Even when she’d met Leah and reunited with her cousin Kim, she’d acted like she was just hoping to paint. She hadn’t told them anything about the stalker. It was too painful to risk someone saying she was taking it too seriously. Making too much of it.

Perhaps, though, she shouldn’t have thought most people would react like the cops did. But if the cops didn’t protect her, then who would?

Scott, it seemed.

“Do you like it?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said. “Are you sure it’s okay we’re here?”

“I know the owner,” he said. “I have permission to use it.”

“Damn, I didn’t know such pretty houses existed here. All I see is hotels and resorts.”

“The houses are spendy, but they do exist.”

“So who lives here?” she asked, eyeing the house again and the sparkling pool.

“Someone who likes their privacy,” he said cryptically.

“Okay,” she said. “Should I just shift, then? I warn you, it’s been a while since I’m a city bear, and I might not be able to stay in bear form long.”

“It’s fine,” he said. “I don’t mind seeing you naked.”

She blushed and laughed. When shifters shifted back, they were naked, having either taken off or torn off all their clothes. “Look away,” she said.

“Aw, man,” he joked, but he turned.

“Or you don’t have to,” she said. She liked the way he looked at her body. His open admiration was such a refreshing change from the way she’d felt stalked and pursued the past few years.

He turned around immediately, hands in his suit pockets, blue eyes bright with lust as she started to unbutton her silk blouse. When she slowly shrugged out of her shirt, leaving her only in a tight blue tank top and skirt, he let out a low growl that aroused her all the way down to her toes.

Male attention could be amazing when it wasn’t scary.

She stripped off the tank top and stood before him in her bra. “Can you help me?” she asked.

She knew she could undo her own bra, but she wanted to feel the light brush of his fingers against her skin. She’d never been this attracted to a man before, and that had been before he offered to protect her from the nightmare that had been plaguing her.

He strode over, and she loved his clean, masculine scent. Spicy, high-end cologne and sharp, fresh male. She could feel the heat of his tall, muscled body as he slowly flicked open the hook closure and let the bra fall away. He took a step back as she turned toward him, pulling off her skirt and staying only in her underwear. A pair of black lacy panties.

He swallowed, staring intensely at her, like he was trying to devour her with his eyes.

Then she slid off her underwear and focused on transforming. She was a peaceful creature and had an easier time transforming when she was calm, unlike some who were better at transforming under pressure. She focused on her bear and hummed as she tried to picture the places her bear liked. The woods behind her childhood home, any lake or place where there were trees. She promised her bear time in the beautiful gardens behind the house and felt herself change in the blink of an eye, her canines lengthening, her hands turning to paws, her entire self larger and more powerful.

By the time she opened her eyes, Scott had already transformed, and her bear liked what she saw. He was easily twice her size, a huge polar bear male with beautiful pale fur and a strong, muscled body with wide shoulders.

But he still had those beautiful blue eyes. Damn, he turned her on, even as a bear.

Watching him waiting at the entrance to the forest, something rippled through her, and a word she’d never considered flooded her mind.

Mate.

Her bear wasn’t disturbed by it, but her inner human was confused. Her parents hadn’t said anything about picking mates. They were liberal and in touch with their human sides, despite being full-blooded alphas, and they only said they wanted her to mate for happiness and no other reason, unlike some bear families who’d gotten very aggressive in trying to pair up their offspring.

But she’d heard things, growing up or from other bears, about fated mates. Even from other shifters, like wolves, which were more plentiful. Some people believed certain shifters only found one mate in their lives and that was it for them.

But certainly there were those that probably just found someone who was right for them, even if others could have been right for them as well.

Scott scampered off into the garden, leading the way for her. She went after him, feeling heavy and unwieldy in her bear form. But all too quickly, as they ran through the foliage and around the trees, she felt at home. She felt powerful and free for the first time in a long time.

She hadn’t thought becoming a bear was the answer. After all, a big part of her life was painting, and she couldn’t exactly do that as a bear.

But she’d missed being like this. It was wonderful. Unfortunately, as she chased Scott and he turned and growled playfully and chased her back, knocking her gently to the ground to play and wrestle, she realized being in her bear had another, less intended effect.

She knew why she was so into him. Why she liked being around him. Was so attracted to him. It wasn’t just because he was strong and built and looked like a model.

He was her
mate
.

If someone had asked to her to explain how she knew, she’d have said she didn’t understand. It was just plain to her. As plain as the fact that the sky above them was filled with beautiful pinkish-red clouds as the sun set in the distance.

He was frustrating, difficult, and seemed deeply repressed, but he was hers. She reached a paw up to touch his muzzle, and he flinched and stepped off of her, eyeing her with a confused bear stare.

She got up and wiggled her butt and ran again, and he followed with a playful growl. They weaved through the trees, trying to catch one another, and then fell in a pile together, exhausted, out of energy.

She changed back into her human, and he tucked her protectively against his furry chest. She felt even tinier spending time with him as a polar bear, but she also felt safer than she ever had in her life. She knew nothing could happen to her with him there.

“This is perfect,” she said, looking up at the sky above them. It was dusky blue and soon might show them some stars. “I know you probably expected me to get angry and start felling trees, but I’m just not that kind of person.”

“I know,” he said. “But as long as you get to relax, that’s okay with me.”

“You sure you want to stay in your bear?” she asked.

“Why not?” he asked. “I’m strong, I could stay like this for a while. Plus, you’re safer from me like this.”

“What?” she asked.

He went silent and just snuggled around her. She didn’t understand him. Emotion seemed to make him nervous, but she didn’t know why. Nor did she think she was really demanding anything from him.

“Why would I be safer from you?” she asked.

“Because,” he said, talking in his bear form. Shifters could growl and talk in both of their forms without issue. “Because if I were human right now, I’d want to take you. And we both should be focusing on other things.”

“I don’t know about you,” she said. “But after that little game of chase, my bear is all horny.”

He snorted. “Mine too.”

“You sure you don’t want to change? We could have fun.” She pushed his paw down and arched back, showing him her breasts, which were glowing from the exercise.

The next moment, he was transformed. Fully naked, a carved statue come to life in perfect, tanned flesh. He growled as he pressed her back over the soft plants around them. The smell of flowers and trees and something animalistic wafted over her, and she inhaled deeply. She’d never be somewhere this beautiful again, and she wanted to enjoy it fully.

Even if part of her kept saying he was her mate, she knew that didn’t change anything. She couldn’t make him see that, and she couldn’t spend her life with someone who was begrudging of his feelings.

But damn, they were compatible in bed together, and she could savor that while it lasted.

She took his face in both hands and kissed him deeply, thrusting her tongue between his teeth like she could own him. The growl in his throat deepened as his tongue thrust with hers. They were completely naked, entwined, with only beautiful plants and flowers all around.

She knew they could probably go inside or on one of the lawn chairs, but somehow, right here where their bears had been playing felt perfect.

“Are you sure?” he said. “I don’t deserve you.”

“Shut up about that for a minute,” she said. “And make yourself deserve me.”

“Fine,” he grated out, pinning her hands over her head. “Damn, you’re beautiful. Your bear is beautiful too. Mine wanted to take her.”

“Same to you. Bears in the wild are fairly promiscuous, though,” she said.

“Mine wouldn’t be,” he said simply. She opened her mouth to ask what that meant, but she could tell by the way he immediately started kissing his way down to her breasts that he didn’t intend to say more on the matter.

She wasn’t the type to push people for things anyway. What he was giving would have to be enough.

His hands worshipped her breasts as he continued to kiss his way down her body. He stopped at her belly button and licked around the center, making her quiver. His hands still pinned hers down. She was so small compared to him, but she loved it.

He finally let go of her to part her legs in front of him. When he did, he stared at her for a moment, as if spellbound. She loved the look of him in the waning sunlight and the shade of the trees. It seemed to emphasize each curving muscle in his powerful shoulders, the striking bone structure of his handsome face.

Damn, was someone like that really supposed to be hers?

He looked down at her legs, gently stroking up the insides of her thighs until he found her center. His fingers played lightly, exploring and parting her until he found the nub at the top and flicked it.

She gasped and arched. The ground was soft beneath her. “Scott,” she said breathlessly. “Don’t torture me.”

“I’ll do what I want,” he grated out. “And you’ll like it.”

She swallowed. Damn, that was hot. And he was right, because as he kept that hot gaze on her that looked nearly red in the waning sunlight, he stroked her lazily to a feverish intensity until it felt like every muscle in her body was tightly coiled, begging for release.

She squirmed beneath him, unable to move away as he kept his other hand on her thigh, keeping her open. Her hands kneaded the soft flesh of her belly as he slowly circled her aching center. She wanted him inside her.

He slowed, letting her calm slightly. She huffed at him. “You’re torturing me.”

“You love it,” he said.

She did. Who could complain about a man so focused on her pleasure? She just wanted him to skip forward to the part where he plunged inside her and joined them together. That was the most exquisite feeling, and even the building pleasure at his deft fingers couldn’t match it. She pictured it—him over her, moving steadily in and out, the scents, the noises—and suddenly, she went over the edge.

His finger pressed down, stroking against her as she writhed and arched, overwhelmed by her release. She opened her eyes to see him watching attentively, an intense expression on his face. She wished she could ask what he was thinking, but all she could do was close her eyes as another wave of ecstasy rolled through her, leaving her a quivering mass of joy.

When she was done, he was already parting her legs again, his gaze on her as he readied himself at her center.

She bit her lip and nodded anxiously. It felt like she’d burst into pieces if he didn’t take her soon. She didn’t know why, but she needed him inside her. Right. Freaking. Now. He’d made her feel amazing, but there was still tension coiled within. Tension that could only be eased by him stroking deep inside.

He hesitated, his hot member just teasing her entrance, and ran his hands over her thighs, her legs, her breasts. She writhed, trying to move closer to him, and he held her still. Then, with an uttered oath, he slid inside her with one smooth stroke.

She gasped at the fullness, but just like before, the intense feeling soon turned to pure, raw, pleasurable sensation, like being on fire from the inside out. And then he began to move.

Nothing else existed but that incredible movement inside her. Those blue eyes looking down at her. Those full lips uttering silent oaths as he increased his speed. His lips moved over hers, taking them in a slow, romantic kiss as he stroked in and out.