Shifters of Grrr 1 (20 page)

The fire crew was not gone for long. He was still unloading several boxes from his truck into the apartment Jack had lent to him when it came rolling back in. He gave Harley a friendly wave, to which she promptly ignored him. The third person in the crew, whose name he did not know smiled and waved back, either oblivious or uncaring of the byplay.

Throwing the box he was carrying down on a table, he looked over at the firehouse, and then back at the small pile that was his belongings. It was unlikely that Harley wanted to see him at this point in time, but his bear wasn't going to calm down until he looked into her gorgeous blue eyes again.

He walked out front of the little apartment just as she was exiting the firehouse. She stopped and stared, a shocked look on her face for a moment, until she regained control. His footsteps crunched on the gravel as he approached her, the silence between them amplifying the sound.

"Are you okay?" He spoke first, hoping to start things off on a good note.

"Do I look hurt? I know how to do my job." She rolled her eyes in exasperation, but stuck out her arms and rotated them back and forth anyway, to show that she was unharmed. It wasn't much, but it was the littlest sign to him that she didn't entirely object to his interest in her well-being.

"I'd like to take you to dinner tonight."

"I'm on shift until morning for one, and two, no."
 

"You can't deny what's happening between us," he said bluntly for the first time.

"I can't? Watch me. I just met you this morning buster, trust me, there is
nothing
happening between us."
 

Before he could say more she walked away, headed back inside the firehouse. Chuckling mildly to himself at her feisty temper, he jogged after her. Stopping her before she got inside, he put an arm out in front, resting it on the brick wall. Although Harley could have gone around him, she stopped in her tracks, looking up into his eyes.

Stepping forward, he pushed himself through the building tension between them, as though the air was made of molasses. Each inch he closed between them made it harder for him to continue. He reached out his hand to hold her wrist, feeling her tremble as their skin made contact.
 

Her pupils widened as he pressed her hand to his chest, before stepping even closer, so much so that their bodies were touching. She never moved away, though she swayed slightly in front of him. At one point, her body made contact with his. His cock, already hard as steel, throbbed in response to the gentle caress from her stomach while he inhaled sharply as her large breasts pushed up against him.

A soft, barely audible gasp escaped her lips at the same time. He so badly wanted to reach out and cup her chin softly before pressing his lips to hers, sealing the distance with a kiss. Her nipples were hard and pushing through the thin white fabric of her Fire Department shirt, driving his bear wild.
 

He couldn't, however, not this time, not right now. She wasn't ready for him or his bear. If he pushed onwards now, it was likely that Harley would relent, and let him do as he pleased with her. But not only was she supposed to be on duty with an important job, but she would never trust him after they were done. She would figure that he was only there for sex, and not the long haul. That was unacceptable to Calan.

It took all of his incredible willpower to step back, putting a few inches of space between them. They both visibly sagged as the moment passed, the blood rushing back to the rest of their bodies. Although Calan knew she was the one for him, that he would one day mark her and make her his mate, it was not this day. She wasn't ready, he needed a longer courtship, one that showed her who he truly was, and one that made her believe in love once again. He promised her silently that he would show her how a bear should really treat his mate.

"I'm not going to give up, but I can see that you need more time. We'll take this a little slower." He let go of her hand and let his arm drop from the wall, moving away from her and into the firehouse, giving Harley some space for the time being.

A tune on his lips, he jogged up the stairs to Jack's office. Although he was busy filing reports and did not have time to talk, he acknowledged Calan's acceptance of his job offer and told him to be ready tomorrow for testing. That was that, and he headed back to the apartment to assess things.
 

Outside the old building, Harley was nowhere to be found.

***

Harley

Her heart was still hammering as she sat on the tailgate of her dads truck, parked behind the station. She looked down at her hands, which were shaking with nerves even now, minutes after he had left. The strength of her reaction was actually scaring her, making her nervous about letting it proceed any further. Although, when he had been pressed up against her...

Get it together woman, he's not serious!

She latched on to that thought, letting herself get used to the idea that he only wanted her for a roll in the hay. To Calan, she was nothing but a challenge, something to keep him occupied while he was in town.

Her dad had told her a little bit while they were out on the call, about how he had left town after his parents were killed, though he didn't say how. For the first few years, her dad had kept track of him, staying in touch with the odd email. After awhile Calan stopped replying, and from what she had gathered, the last few emails had not been very happy. Apparently he had wandered from town to town, from a big city to little village, all over the country.

His nickname had become 'Rogue' because he was always moving on, never staying put. She snorted at the lameness of it, wondering if he ever called himself by the moniker. Other than that tidbit of information, her father had not offered up much, telling her she should ask him about it. Frustrated at his lack of information, she had stomped off to a different section of the campground, taking her wrath out on a group of campers who had used lighter fluid to help start their fire.

If she was honest with herself, the anger was self-directed, at her inability to keep her body calm anytime she even laid eyes upon him. Even now, without Calan in sight, Harley wanted to have him nearby, to feel his thick, strong arms wrapped around her, holding her close. She had felt his cock through his jeans earlier, the hard length of it pressed against her stomach, indicating his arousal.

That, that was what she was having difficulty accepting. In her mind she called him a rogue, scoundrel, drifter and worse, but something like what had just happened was so powerful, it brought her entire world down until it consisted of nothing but the gorgeous, muscular man in front of her. Even now as she relived it in her brain, her panties flooded with warm honey, preparing her to take his hard-as-steel cock deep into her cunt.

Without thinking, Harley found her hand inside her pants, pushing down past her panties. The tips of her fingers became slippery as she gently them inside of her, trying to relieve the itch that Calan had caused within her. Glancing around to ensure she was alone, she rubbed herself slowly, her heart pounding in her head with nervousness that she might get caught.

The pressure was too much though, she had to forge on, curling first one, then a second finger inside her wet canal. Her palm rubbed her clit as she moved her hand back and forth, bullets of pleasure shooting through her body more and more frequently. The images of Calan inside her head promised a swift climax if she continued her motions. Not wanting to deprive herself after pushing this far, Harley let her fingers move of their own accord, dancing across her clit in an ever quickening pattern.

Her back against the wall of the pickup truck, she felt like a horny teenager all over again, doing whatever it took to give herself even a little sexual release. The pressure built rapidly, and before long her free hand slipped under her shirt and bra, tweaking her nipple in time with the back and forth movements of her other hand.
 

The cliff was fast approaching, and Harley tried to throw herself over it, opening herself up to the orgasm that was bearing down on her. She desperately needed this release, to clear her head and think rationally about the man who was currently fucking her with abandon in her mind. A gasp escaped her lips and she moved her hand faster, trying to force the explosion of pleasure from her wet pussy.

"Harley?" A voice yelled from the firehouse.
 

Fuck off!

With a scream of sexual frustration she punched the worn black lining of the pickup bed and hopped out, slamming it behind her in anger. The blue truck rocked slightly under her punishment, but she wasn't putting her strength into it, simply trying to release some tension.

It was Sam. She had told him not to bother her for twenty minutes unless something came up that was urgent. As much as she wanted to ignore it, the professional within her had to respond.

She longed to shift into her bear and roam the forests nearby, but there was no way she could do that while on duty. It would have to wait. With another sigh, she headed inside to see what he needed.
 

As she walked, her clit still ached to be touched.
 

***

The soothing rattle of rain against her metal roof woke Harley several days later. It was, she noted, not looking like the best weather for taking the firefighter testing. Oddly though, the thought did not amuse her the way she had expected. Refusing to think on it anymore, she got up, dressed and ready to head into work. If she knew one thing about Calan, it was that she had no idea how she felt.

The rain had driven many of the normal tourist campers away, which meant the day was likely to be slow. Therefore, Harley found herself sitting on the back of her jeep, watching as her father put Calan through his paces. Three days of crash-course training was far short of the normal process, but things operated slightly differently in the country.
 

The first part was the physical evaluation.

The constant bulging of his arms, or the flexing of the muscles across his back, as he lifted hoses and other equipment in rapidfire sequence, helped to make the experience more enjoyable for her. There was no denying that he was a gloriously sculpted figure of male sexuality. When he had initially rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, Harley had almost bitten right through her lip. She could stare at him from a distance like this for a long time.
 

The second part of the testing was a time-challenge in the training building. Out behind the newer firehouse was a building constructed entirely for testing purposes. There were smoke generators, heated door traps, and at the top, a two-hundred-pound dummy that the trainee had to rescue. It was here that the majority of newcomers failed.
 

Sam came over to speak to Calan as he was donning the suit he would have to wear for the final test. The thick, fire-resistant material would certainly slow him down, though she wondered by just how much. From what she had seen, his physical abilities were off the charts compared to the rest of the department. As a grizzly bear shifter, he was destined to be larger than other shifters, but even for one of them he was massive.

His thick hands made short work of the remaining clasps. She admired his dexterity as well, wondering just what he might be able to do with them. The immediate spark of heat that thought generated was more than enough to ward off the penetrating cold of the day. She pushed her thighs closer together, trying to scratch the itch between her legs that had suddenly cropped up.

The effect that Calan had upon her physically was maddening to the point she almost wished she were blind. If that were the case, then she wouldn't become aroused the instant his steely-eyed gazed turned her way, as it was doing now. She looked around in mild embarrassment as he continued to stare at her. He was at least one hundred feet away, but his presence was so large it was as if he was standing there right next to her.

The two then turned away and looked at the course he was about to run. With a few quick gestures, it seemed to her as if Sam was giving him some advice on the course. It irked her to no end to not know what they had been saying about her, before so casually turning away. She vowed to have a word with Sam, to find out just what they had been discussing.
 

Harley let her ego stew for a minute as Calan began the course. He proceeded swiftly but not recklessly, as if he had been training to do the job for years. It had taken her three tries to successfully complete this section of training, but it looked to her that he was going to do it on his first. He wasn't going to complete it in record time, but it was going to be very close by the looks of it.
 

Then, without warning, one of the external stairs he was ascending collapsed under his weight. Her heart stopped as he hung awkwardly, his legs dangling in midair, almost two stories up. She cried out and began to run towards the building. This wasn't part of the training, and in a real situation he would have a team around him to help. She wasn't the only one, both Sam and her father were rushing towards him.

Before they could do anything to help him though, Calan managed to pull himself up and onto the next step. This one seemed to hold, though he crawled up several more before trying his luck at standing up. Her hands covered her mouth as she watched in terror, hoping that nothing more would happen to him.