Axman Werebear (Saw Bears Book 5) (6 page)

“Damn, woman.”

“I did good?”

“That was the best non-sex I’ve ever had.”

She laughed and curled up between his legs. “I’m filthy,” she mused as the cold air hit the wetness he’d left on her back.

“I like you like this,” he rumbled, nibbling at her ear.

“It’s gross,” she argued half-heartedly.

“No,” he said, pushing two fingers in her slowly as the aftershocks subsided. “It’s natural. And on you, it’s beautiful.

He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. It was a gentle kind of kiss. One that he could’ve used before they fooled around to get her excited but had instead saved for the end when it would show her how much he cared.

Bruiser liked her. Accepted her, wild hair and all, and was willing to go against her father to keep her safe.

And now, as she lay curled up against him, daring to hope that she could live longer and spend more time with him, it was clear as crystal that Bruiser Keller was the most dangerous threat her kind had ever faced.

This was what Father had meant when he said love had killed the dragons.

Bruiser stroked Diem’s dark hair away from her face so he could see it better in the gray morning light. She was stunning, his wife.

Wife.
A trill of excitement shot through him at the thought of that word.

A small smile played across her full lips in her sleep, and he wondered what she was dreaming about. A selfish part of Bruiser hoped she was thinking about him.

The movements of the other members of the Ashe Crew had awoken him. It was time to get ready for a day out on the jobsite, but damn if he could manage to lift Diem’s head from his chest. His arm had gone numb twenty minutes ago, and he still couldn’t make himself move. She was so beautiful like this, all tangled up with him.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this, was it? He’d never seen his mom and dad together, so he wasn’t sure of their feelings toward each other, but adoration like this was supposed to take longer. Right? He thought of Tagan and Kellen. Of Denison and Brighton and what they’d gone through with their mates. Sure, it wasn’t an easy kind of love, but there had been a connection between them and their mates that was as quick as the snap of a rubber band.

Maybe this was just how it was for bear shifters—that instantaneous knowledge that he’d knocked into the right woman. No, not just bear shifters. He could practically smell the happiness rolling off Diem last night. Not just when they’d been fooling around either, but when she’d been talking to the Crew and casting Bruiser heavy-lidded, shy smiles across the bonfire.

She was happy here with him.

Fuck it. He’d woken up trying to convince himself she wasn’t real, but she was. This was real and substantial—this feeling inside of him. His bear was pledging his fealty to the woman snuggled up against his chest, smiling in her sleep.

“Hey,” Kellen said, sticking his head through the doorway.

Bruiser wasn’t going to waste his breath telling Kellen he needed to knock next time. He didn’t get personal space like other people because of the way Kellen had been raised, so now, Bruiser didn’t even bat an eye. He just covered Diem’s bare back with the covers and pulled his finger to his mouth to shush the giant.

“Tagan says twenty more minutes, but you weren’t at your house. My truck needs a jump-off.”

Bruiser smiled at the vision of his shitty old pickup jumping off Kellen’s white, jacked-up, fine piece of muddin’ machinery. “Yeah, man. I’ll do it. I’ll meet you in twenty.”

Diem stirred against his arm and rolled her head, eyes bleary from sleep. “Hi, Kellen.”

“Good morning. You have very pretty skin. And you’re very intelligent. Bruiser is lucky to have found such a mate as you.”

A beat of silence followed as Bruiser tried and failed to hide his grin. Kellen was just…well…Kellen.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Skyler says you’re a flier, and she’s very excited about having another flier in the crew. You make my mate happy.”

“Kellen,” Bruiser warned when it seemed words had failed Diem at this early hour and unexpected bedroom visit.

“Right. Twenty minutes.” He disappeared from the doorway but returned shortly. “Congratulations.” He spun and left.

When the front door had clicked closed, Diem buried her face against his chest and laughed. She had this tinkling giggle that was so adorable. Bruiser gripped her hair and kissed her forehead as he snickered at what she must think of his crew.

“Does he ever knock?”

“Nope. Sorry, D, but you’ll just have to get used to that one. Half the other crew members don’t believe in it either.”

“This place is really different from where I’m used to living.”

“Was it solitary at your dad’s house?”

“Very.”

“Does this place make you uncomfortable?”

“I’m still deciding.”

“Look, about today. I know it’s kind of our honeymoon—”

“Trailer park stay-cation—”

“But I just got back from Colorado yesterday morning, and I feel like a jerk bailing on the guys after a week off and with them behind on deadlines.”

“Bruiser, stop. It’s fine. I can explore this place without everyone here, and after the whirlwind of our…marriage…yesterday, it would probably do me good to get some alone time and figure out where my head is at.”

“Hey,” he said, cupping her soft cheeks in his palms. “About our marriage. I know it wasn’t either of our choices, but I’m really happy you turned out to be…you.” Her smile made his heart thump harder, and harder still when she pressed her hand against his chest as if she wanted to feel how she affected him.

“You aren’t just my wife, Diem. You’re my mate. One my bear approves of. You settle him when you’re around. You feel just right in my life. I just wanted you to know before I leave that you’re it for me, and I’ll work to make you happy as long as you’ll let me.”

Diem scrunched up her pert little nose, then drew her shoulders up as a soft squeal left her throat. She snuggled closer against him until he couldn’t see her face anymore, so he gave up trying and rested his chin on top of her head.

“You make me happy, too,” she whispered. “I think I like you.”

“Oooh, the cold dragon does harbor warm feelings after all.”

Diem pinched him and giggled, then said, “Don’t make me eat you. I get terrible indigestion when I eat big burly men this early in the morning.”

“Speaking of eating,” he whispered against her hair.

“You hungry?”

He bit his lip and glared at the door, calculating how long he’d been lounging in bed with his mate. He probably had fifteen minutes before Kellen came back. “Yeah, for you.”

“Meaning?”

He cast her a wicked grin, then threw the covers over their heads and went down on her. She tensed when he spread her knees apart, but relaxed into his touch when he kissed the sensitive nub she’d discovered last night. Damn, she tasted as good as she smelled.

Her hips rocked when he pushed his tongue into her for the first time, and he knew he had her. Hands in his hair, gripping, begging for more, soft pants and moans coming from her lips as he ate her. Fuck, she was sexy, all vulnerable and open with him like this. Three more strokes of his tongue, and her body clenched around him hard. His name came to her lips soft, like a prayer, and she loosened her grip in his hair as she rolled against him a couple more times. He didn’t leave her until he’d felt every aftershock, and when at last he eased away and bit her inner thigh gently, she shuddered and let off a satisfied sigh.

He couldn’t help the triumphant grin on his face if he tried. His mate was a noisy little critter when she was with him, and he reveled in the fact that he was able to draw those sexy sounds from her.

If his niggling guilt would lay off for a minute, he would’ve begged a sick day and spent from sun up to sun down with Diem, exploring her body. With a low growl, he lifted off her, kissed her neck, then made for the bathroom. His erection was so hard it was uncomfortable.

Diem sauntered into the bathroom and crossed her arms, hungry eyes on his dick. “That was difficult.”

Worry slashed through his chest as he checked the temperature of the tap water he’d turned on in the shower. “What was?”

“Not asking you to make love to me.”

He rolled his head down until his chin rested on his chest from the relief that washed over him. He looked back up at his mate, all sleep-tangled hair and bright eyes, naked and open, and looking like a goddess come to the trailer park. “I like that you didn’t just call it breeding.”

“I know the difference now.” Her voice pitched low as she dropped her gaze to the gray bathmat under his feet. “It wouldn’t be like that—cold and unfeeling. Scientific. Not with you.”

“No, it damn-sure wouldn’t. I like you too much to just fuck you. You’re special to me, Diem.”

“I know.” Her smile was shy and slow. “I can tell.”

****

Before Father had fired her from helping with his companies so she could perform as his prized broodmare, Diem’s days had been full and busy. And though she didn’t miss being slammed from the minute she woke up until the minute she fell into bed every night, she had been filled with a need to constantly do something because of her years handling his business affairs at all hours of the day and night.

After waving Bruiser off this morning, it had become clear she didn’t know how to relax and enjoy downtime. Not by herself. She’d already walked every inch of the place, trying to remember who lived in which trailer. Bruiser had told her when she got hungry for lunch to let herself into his house next to 1010 and fix what she liked.

Still, it was strange walking into someone’s home for the first time without them being there. As she stepped over the top stair of his porch, she got the overwhelming urge to knock first, though she knew no one was there.

With a steadying breath, she pushed open the door and padded into the entryway. This trailer’s floorplan was similar to 1010, but flipped. An open kitchen with dark countertops filled up most of the space on the right, and on the left was a long living area. The master bedroom seemed to be on the other side of a small breakfast nook, and it looked to be only a one bedroom house. A fine leather sectional in front of a big flat screen television brought a smile to her face. Fancy.

It made her want to pick apart what made Bruiser…Bruiser. The furnishings in his tidy home said he liked possessions of a finer quality, but his mud-splashed old pickup truck hinted at just the opposite. For some reason, he was loyal to that thing. And he’d become instantly loyal to her, as well, and had said as much. That was just the way he was, but only with certain things. Things he cherished.

And for some reason, comparing herself to his old beat-up pickup truck made her happy. She wasn’t perfect, but he cared for her despite her flaws and hang-ups. He’d come into this forced relationship, mad as a hornet if throwing his hard hat and cursing loud enough to scare birds from the trees yesterday was anything to go by, but never once had he blamed her for the situation. He hadn’t been resentful that she was changing his life, or cruel when he could’ve been. Bruiser seemed to look at this marriage like a team, and she was an equal part of it.

Diem made her way through the kitchen to his bedroom and ran her finger down the smooth cherrywood dresser that housed the only picture frame that she’d seen in the place. It was a black and white photograph of a family. A proud looking, flaxen-haired woman stood over a brood of five boys, all with platinum blond hair but one. The dark-haired boy was the one who drew her attention. She cradled the photo in her palms and studied it closely. The other boys were smiling with big, gap-toothed grins. One had his arm slung casually over the dark-haired boy’s slim shoulders, but he wasn’t smiling at all. He was staring sadly at the camera, mouth turned down like he’d never smiled a day in his life.

She’d recognize those intense, dark eyes anywhere, no matter what age the photo depicted. Bruiser. He was adorable as a kid, but also obviously unhappy in the moment this picture was taken.

Frowning, she set the picture down just where she’d found it. Why would he keep this? She couldn’t hold the gaze of the dark-haired child in the image. It made her too sad, but Bruiser thought highly enough about this picture from his youth that he kept it in his bedroom.

Danielle had said no one ended up here without a past that pushed them to find a group of friends like the Ashe Crew. Perhaps that was true of Bruiser, too.

A weight settled across her shoulders like a yolk attached to sloshing water buckets. She knew very little about Bruiser—how he had turned into the settled, easy-going, happy, take-charge kind of man he was now. She’d missed a huge part of his life and was only coming in when he’d weathered the experiences that turned him into the person he was today. A feeling of loss clogged her throat, and she turned away from the picture, then leaned back on the dresser, arms locked.

They’d done this backward. A relationship was supposed to come before marriage, and now she was having to play catch-up. They both were.

A soft knock sounded at the door, and she straightened her blouse and padded into the living room. Brooke stood there, full-moon belly leading the way as she offered Diem an easygoing smile. Her blue eyes twinkled as she asked, “May I come in?”

“Of course! Although, that sounds a little weird inviting you into a house that isn’t even mine.”

Brooke laughed and waddled over to the couch, then sank into the leather cushion. “The lines of ownership blur in this community.”

“I’ve noticed. Kellen walked right on into 1010 this morning to find Bruiser.”

“Oh dear God, were y’all doing anything?”

“No.” Diem’s cheeks heated to blazing. “But I didn’t have any clothes on… Oh, God, I can’t believe I’m telling you this. I was covered up, but still felt…”

“Vulnerable?”

“Yeah, that’s the word.”

“Have you not Changed in front of other shifters before?”

Diem shook her head as her stomach bottomed out. “My shift isn’t pretty, and we don’t Change openly.”

“Want to know a secret?”

Diem nodded and sank onto the couch beside Brooke.