Bucking Bear (Pounding Hearts #3) (8 page)

L
ess than a week
.

I’ve known Max for less than a week, but already I’m falling
hard
for him.

If I had a choice, if things would have worked out any differently, I would have waited a long time before introducing him to Hope. I’ve never introduced her to any of the guys I’ve dated before. Not just because they were mostly losers who didn’t deserve to meet her, but because there’s this real fear that she’ll grow attached, that in the end she’ll get hurt. As her mother I feel like I need to be shielding her from the hurts of this world for as long as I can, not bringing them to her door.

Watching Max with her, following her around the zoo and swinging her up, sitting her on his shoulders so she can see over the crowds is both elating and terrifying—and it’s not because he’s so tall. There’s this ease to him when he’s interacting with her, as if it just comes natural. As if he really cares.

She insists on holding his hand and tugs him around, pointing out all of her favorite animals. And she’s just jabbering away, telling him things like how hippos can’t swim, they can’t even float, and he’s listening, absorbing every word.

“Hey, look,” I call out to get their attention and point to the enclosure I’m standing by.

The two of them were just happily walking ahead of me, off in their own little world. And for a moment, the briefest moment, I let myself believe this was something more. I know Max likes me, I know he’s extremely interested in me, otherwise he wouldn’t be here. But seeing him holding Hope’s hand, trying to keep up with her as she skips along—her blonde pigtails swinging to and fro—from back here the two of them look just like the other fathers and daughters walking around here. And it was such a beautiful sight, such a beautiful thought, it
hurt
.

“What’s up?” he asks as the two of them turn around and walk back to me.

“You’re walking past the best animal here,” I smirk.

Hope drops Max’s hand and walks up, grabbing onto the safety rail. Lifting up on her tiptoes, her eyes scan the cave-like structure. “What animal is it, mommy?”

Hunching down, I wrap my arm around her shoulder and then point to the big brown ball of fuzz curled up in the corner. “There. He’s being a lazy butt, napping in the corner.”

Max snorts behind me, amused.

I cast him a quick glance over my shoulder. “Isn’t he like family? Aren’t you going to say hi?” I ask innocently.

“Nah,” Max says coming up behind me. “You don’t wake a sleeping a bear.”

“I thought the saying was don’t wake a sleeping tiger?” I retort.

“Yeah,” Max rumbles, and he’s standing so close now all the little nerves in my body are suddenly hyper aware. “Don’t do that, either.”

“Look, Mommy!” Hope bounces up and down, drawing my attention back to her.

The bear stretches out on his back, waking up from his nap.

“What do they say about bears?” I wonder out loud as the bear in the enclosure scratches his belly before rolling over onto all four paws. “Oh yeah, it’s don’t poke the bear, right?”

Hope isn’t even paying attention to us anymore. She’s watching the grizzly with rapt attention as it stalks around, straining her little body against the safety bars.

“Yeah, I think that’s what they say,” Max answers, bending over me, his breath hot against my ear.

I shiver and feel myself leaning back, molding against him. His lips brush against my ear and I have to fight back a moan. It’s been a hellish week of seeing him every night for dinner but unable to do anything about all this sexual tension building between us because I had to work.

“This bear can’t stop thinking about poking you,” he whispers.

With a flush of heat, I pull away before I completely forget myself. It’s insane how he can get me so worked up with so little effort on his part. It’s like my body has this secret dial that gets cranked all the way up when it comes to him. Everything is more amplified, every touch, every whisper, every promise is felt tenfold.

“Mommy!” Hope squeals and backs away from the safety rail as the bear stalks towards us. She’s afraid, and honestly I can’t blame her. From afar the bear is all fat and fuzzy, deceptively cute. But as the beast stalks closer, its size and eyes are fierce and intimidating.

“It’s okay, honey,” I say and pull her closer. “It can’t get to you.”

Besides the safety railing there’s a small ravine carved into the artificial stone separating the bear from us, but still the animal seems determined to reach us. After stalking back and forth and accepting that it can’t cross the ravine, the bear leans back and stands up on his hind legs for extra height.

“Mommy,” Hope whimpers, clutching at my skirt.

“It’s okay—“ I start again but Max steps in.

“Come here, little one,” he rumbles and gently pries her fingers off of my skirt.

She turns to him and grabs at his shirt, clinging to him now. As he swings her up into his arms, she lets out this little sigh like all is right in the world now.

Max chuckles and we share a brief look. My heart is heavy in my throat.

Walking back up to the rail, Max stares the bear down until it lowers down to all fours and wanders away.

“Even if he could get across,” he reassures her as she lays her little head against his big shoulder. “I’d never let him get to you.”

“Watch closely, Grace, this could be the future of your genetic offspring. Already the fifth set and he’s just now breaking into double digits!” Brett taunts from behind me as I try to line myself up with those stupid little fucking arrows on the bowling lane.

I can feel my manhood sliding down the lane in the gutter as the ball follows it.

I fucking hate bowling.

I stare long and hard down the lane, willing the ball to pop out of the gutter and make a spectacular splash into the pins. Nope, it stays right the fuck there in the gutter as it sails past the pins.

“You would think even with how bad he is, eventually the ball would want to stay on the lane,” Chase says loudly.

I turn around, growling. Both of them sit there with their girls, laughing away as if this is some funny joke.

Fuckers.

Avery and Mandy are laughing right along with those guys, it’s fucking horrible. I turn to the one bright spot in this place, wanting comfort for my poor ego.

Fuck.

Walking over to her is like the walk of shame. Grace is trying really hard not to laugh but it isn’t working. She has her hand over her mouth, but the way her face is turning red and the way her breasts are jiggling she is seriously holding it in.

Slumping down into the seat next to her, I say, “Even you, Grace?”

She bursts out laughing with the rest of them. “I thought you were kidding when you said how much you don’t like bowling. Maybe you just weren’t that good. But…”

Looking up at the scoreboard I see the number twelve in my row of boxes. Every single person here is solidly beating the shit out of me, especially Grace. Fuck me.

“I wasn’t kidding, bowling is the bane of my existence,” I say.

“But Brett was so sure when we set up this group date that you would love going.”

Glaring over at him, I can see that cocky little shit setting this up, along with his big fucking cohort next to him, Chase.

“Brett is an asshole of the highest caliber who deserves to get fleas on his balls,” I say as Brett walks by, laughing even harder.

“That’s right, funny boy,” I say even louder when he picks up his ball and sets himself up to go down the lane. “Drop that ball right on your big head.”

Fucker bowls a fucking strike.

Grace stands up for her turn and kisses my cheek with gusto. “I’ll protect your honor, baby, don’t worry.”

That just makes everyone around us laugh all the harder as she goes on to bowl a spare.

The one saving fucking grace to this is when Grace walks with the ball those hips move in the most delightful way. It’s like poetry in motion. Bounce, bounce, swish, swish then a lunge as she shoots the ball down the lane.

The sexual tension between us has been building so quickly this last week that it’s all I can do not to take her right here on the bowling lane in front of everyone. One of the very few things stopping me is I want to keep her sexy bits all to myself. Those little parts are for me to ogle and lust over.

The hickey, she informed me tonight on the ride over to the bowling alley, is still there. Good, I am going to have to leave another one somewhere else.

I like the idea of marking this chick as mine.

I teased her I was going to give her a hickey belly chain and she made me swear I wouldn’t. Hope might somehow see it and she so didn’t want to have that conversation yet. Hickey or a ring, one way or the other I will be marking this girl as mine.

The sexual tension is killing me. I want her. I want her with everything in me. When she comes back to the seats and plops herself right down in my lap, I growl.

Giggling, she leans back into me as she pulls my arms up around her. Tilting her head back, she whispers “Mmm… Maybe the bear is poking me right now.”

She’s right, my cock is so ready to get hard for her just the warmth emanating from her ass is making me get firm. Shit. That’s all I need right now, to try bowling with a full-fledged hard-on.

She wiggles her butt but it’s so slight, so innocent, I bet no one can tell how bad the little minx is torturing me.

Groaning, I want to thrust upwards so bad. Fuck the game, fuck the rules about things like this in public.

I want to fuck her right now.

I want to peel these skin tight jeans down, off her thick ass, and past those succulent thighs. I want to bend her over this seat, aim my thick rod right at her tight little pussy and just push all the way in. Seating myself inside of her slick warmth. Fuck.

My voice sounds even rough to me when I say, “Grace… be good. You are killing me.”

She smiles up to me and slides off to the seat beside me. Pulling my ear down to her lips, she gives the lobe a small lick before saying, “This is how I have been feeling all week. I am dying more and more each day we don’t…”

“Yo, lovebirds! It’s the big baby’s turn again. Let’s see how much further he can fall,” Chase calls out to us.

I look over at him and Brett, and they grin back at us. Thank god those two ugly mugs help settle the beast that is trying to tear its way out of my pants.

Lifting the ball, I look back at Grace who is beaming. I shake my head, she was doing that on purpose, I know it. But damn does she know how to make me get caveman about her. I really want to drag her to my lair and have my way with her all fucking night long.

Sending the ball back down the gutter helps eliminate the erection I had forming completely. Yep. Fuck whoever invented bowling, fuck ‘em to hell.

W
e’re
all sitting around a big table, stuffing ourselves full of pizza. It’s not the greatest pizza in the world but it’s pretty good. The restaurant on the side of the bowling alley was a no brainer for us once we all got hungry. Thankfully, I don’t have to hear the sounds of balls and pins clanking together. Did I say I hate bowling?

Looking down at our empty pizza pan, I grumble, “Where did it all go?”

Grace begins to giggle. “Don’t look at me. You ate more than three fourths of it. I had two pieces and I already feel stuffed.”

She’s right, something about pizza makes me really hungry. I must have eaten it all.

We are all hugging goodbye for the night when I sweep a squealing Grace up into my arms. I shift her into a threshold carry as I pull her away from a chattering Mandy and Avery.

“What are you doing, Max?” she asks all high voiced.

“Taking my woman back to the cave. I have eaten, now I need to take care of other needs.”

Giggling, she wraps her arms around me and says, “I like the sound of that, it sounds fun.”

Leave it to Brett though to open his big mouth. “Go for the gutter, Bear!”

Everyone, including Grace, is laughing at me as I carry her to the SUV.

M
ax is driving
us to his house and I don’t dare touch him.

The sexual tension has been building inside me all week, and I’ve reached a boiling point in sexual frustration. Night after night I’ve twisted and tangled myself up in my sheets, trying to sleep but unable to stop thinking about him.

His mouth, his hands. His monster cock that fills all my darkest parts.

Taking care of myself wasn’t enough. How can my own hand, my own little fingers ever compare to what only he can give?

I know his intentions after he stated them so plainly to everyone when he swept me up and carried me away from my friends like a caveman. I know what he wants after grinding myself against his cock between sets—he wants me just as bad as I want him. I know if I reach over and bridge that small distance between us I’ll start touching him and I won’t be able to stop touching him.

I’ll beg him to pull over, to tear my jeans down and slam that giant cock of his into my throbbing pussy, regardless of protection.

Just the memory of him sliding into me, skin to skin, nothing between us, has me biting my lip and squirming in my seat. Knees squeezing together, the ache pulsing inside me is so strong, so warm, it’s driving me fucking crazy.

In all my twenty-two years on this earth I don’t think I’ve ever felt this horny before. I have to squeeze my hands into little fists, nails digging into my palms to keep myself from unbuckling my seatbelt and throwing myself at him.

In all my twenty-two years I’ve never wanted someone so bad.

I cast a quick glance over, watching the lights of the night flash across his skin. He’s so fucking beautiful, so fucking perfect.

If I were given the tools, I couldn’t have created a more amazing man. He’s big and strong, the very definition of burly. I know those big paws of his are gentle with me but they’re more than capable of causing some serious destruction. Rippling beneath his surface is a beast trapped inside his skin, a beast that wants mayhem.

And I want his mayhem.

I make a small, mewling sound as I remember the last time, when I pushed him to let go and he shed his control, fucking me like he wasn’t afraid to break me.

“Grace…” he groans, glancing over at me. In his eyes I see my own agony reflected back at me. His hand starts to cross the space between us and I shake my head.

“Don’t,” I plead, scooting away to escape his hand.

If he touches me I’ll break, and I want it to be his cock not his hand that causes my destruction.

“Fuck,” he curses, hand returning to the steering wheel. He squeezes it so tightly I wouldn’t be surprised if he crushed it in his grip.

“I want you so fucking bad, Max,” I groan and squirm against my seat, trying to ease some of the pressure. “I can’t stand it.”

He growls so viciously all the little hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. “I’m going to fuck you so hard.”

“Promise?”

“Fuck yeah, I promise,” he says, his voice thick and gritty with his passion. “I’m going to fuck you so hard you’ll never want another man.”

I shake my head and have the strongest urge to reach up and grab my own breasts. I know, logically, that the bowling alley isn’t that far from his place but this feels like the car ride that will never end.

“You doubt me?” he asks, hitting the gas.

“No, of course not,” I gasp. The throbbing between my thighs is so strong, so distracting I struggle to focus on his question.

“Then why did you shake your head?”

We take a curve around the lake and then the car slows, coming to a stop in front of his garage. My hand is shaking so hard as I try to unbuckle my seatbelt that he has to reach over and help me undo it after unbuckling his.

Pulling me onto his lap, I groan and shudder. So sensitive, I nearly come when my thighs spread, the throbbing increasing. His rock hard bulge brushes against the seam of my jeans, teasing my clit.

Reaching behind me, his fingers slide through my hair, and his hand cups the back of my head.

“Why did you shake your head, Grace?” he asks, staring hard down at me and I can’t stop my shiver. He looks a little… pissed. “You don’t think I’m going to fuck you until you forget all other men?”

I want to shake my head again but can’t with him holding me like he is. So I lick my lips nervously and my blood ignites with heat as his eyes watch my tongue, following its progress.

“Grace,” he growls impatiently.

Somehow I finally find the courage to answer his question, “No. You can’t.”

“What?” he snaps, his face reddening.

“You can’t,” I repeat and rock my hips, shamelessly grinding myself against him just to ease some of the pressure.

“I think I can,” he groans, fingers tightening in my hair as his other hand slips under my shirt and slides up until it reaches my breast.

“You can’t,” I gasp and still in anticipation.

His hand covers my breast, so hot, so big, completely curving around it before he squeezes it.

“Max,” I cry as he squeezes and squeezes, my nipple tightening against the cup of my bra.

“Tell me I can,” he demands, head dipping down, hot breath puffing against my moist lips.

“You can’t,” I whine and his grip on my breast eases, fingers going slack around me in punishment.

His mouth touches mine and he kisses me furiously. He kisses me as if he’s trying to brand his taste on my lips.

When he pulls away, it’s all I can do to try to catch my breath. His eyes wander down, burning a path down the cut in my blouse and locking on my cleavage as my breasts rise and fall with each shuddering pant.

“Tell me,” he growls, and when I don’t answer his hand that was on my breast drops to the button on my jeans, easily snapping it open.

“Max,” I gasp as he yanks my zipper down with a loud zip.

“Grace,” he says with expectation as I take a deep breath.

“You can’t fuck me tonight until I forget all other men,” I tell him. His eyes fly back up, full of disbelief and hurt like I just slapped him.

Reaching out, I grab his face as his fingers loosen in my hair and hold him. “You can’t do it,” I pant, staring into his eyes. “Because you already did.”

I watch the hurt in his eyes melt away, and begin to relax. A smile pulling at my lips I slump against him, glad to get that off my chest.

But his eyes, they shift, darkening. There’s a new emotion in there, something feral and bordering on madness. Something that looks a lot like… possession?

“Fuck,” he growls and pushes forward, easily breaking the weak grip of my hands. His mouth reclaims my mouth. Kissing me hungrily, kissing me until I’m breathless and dizzy from the lack of oxygen.

“That’s it,” he says, tearing his mouth away and shoving his door open.

The night is warm but the breeze that hits me feels cool against my inflamed skin.

Lifting me up just like before he easily stands with me in his arms, kicking the car door shut behind us.

“You fucking said it,” he grunts with effort as he carries me forward. Legs wrapped tightly around his waist, I’m bouncing in his arms, and I know it’s not my weight that is trying him. It’s taking every ounce of strength I still possess to keep from begging him to take me right here, right now, on his fucking doorstep. “I’m not going to let you take it back.”

“I don’t want to take it back,” I assure him as he pushes his front door open.

“Fuck,” he yells out and stops dead in his tracks. Body shuddering, his head drops forward and he breathes heavily for a moment before his head pops back up.

“We’re not going to make it to the bed,” he informs me.

I open my mouth to tell him
okay
,
I’m good with that
, but I’m stopped by his mouth covering my mouth. He pushes me up against the wall and his hands grab the front of my blouse, tearing it open.

“Savage,” I gasp as his kiss moves from lips, teeth scraping against my jaw and nipping a trail down my neck.

“Yes,” he agrees and rocks his hips forward, grinding against my smothered pussy with his trapped erection. “And don’t you fucking forget it.”

His mouth licks, nips, and suckles across the swells of my cleavage. Grabbing the little strip of fabric that connects the cups of my bra together, he says, “I’ll buy you a new one,” before pulling and popping my bra open.

“I don’t care,” I moan and my back arches as his mouth completely covers the nipple of my right breast. I don’t need clothes; I just need him. “Fuck my clothes.”

His tongue swirls around my areola and then he pulls back a hard suckle. “My tits,” he says before moving on to the other breast.

Tipping my head back, I close my eyes, struggling against all the need coursing through me as he plays with my breasts. I swear my body feels like one great big pulsing throb.

While his mouth pulls and suckles, his hands help me unwrap my legs from around his waist and push them down.

Once I’m standing, he’s shoving my jeans down to my ankles. My knees weak and wobbling, he steps on my jeans for me, helping me step out of them.

“My pussy,” he growls and his hands tear at my panties, ripping them off.

I’m so wet, so swollen with need I feel like I just might die from it.

Grabbing me by the ass, he hauls me back up just before I fall over. I’m all trembling and weak, just the touch of his skin against my skin is like a caress.

Pushing me against the wall, he uses his weight to trap me, keeping me from slipping down as his hands work between us. Looking down, I watch in fascination as he breaks open his zipper, freeing his massive erection.

I rock my hips forward, ready to take him deep inside my pussy but his hands pull me back.

Why
, my eyes ask before the word makes it past my lips.

“I know, baby, I’m sorry,” he groans and kisses me while he fumbles between us.

A moment later he pulls away and I glance down to see a condom now covering his thick dick.

I’m so out of my mind with lust for him that I completely forgot about protection again.

He slaps one hand against the wall, close to my head, while the other grabs his cock, positioning it at my entrance.

Fist pumping up and down his shaft, he takes a deep, shuddering breath. “I’ll try to be gentle.”

“Don’t,” I groan and rock my hips forward, ready to take all of him.

“Dammit, baby, I don’t want to hurt you,” he groans and eases the crown of his cock into my soaking wet entrance.

It feels so fucking good, so fucking right, I tip my head back and moan as I stretch around him.

“Fuck, you’re so warm,” he groans as he slides in inch by slow inch. “So fucking wet.”

Once he completely bottoms out, he holds himself still. Giving me a moment to adjust to the sheer size of him. Head leaning down, his forehead presses against my forehead.

Just like before, I feel so full, so overwhelmed, it’s an emotionally intense experience. There’s literally a piece of him inside me, joining us together.

I’ll never get enough of being connected to him like this.

“Does it hurt?” he asks, his voice cracking.

“No,” I groan and my thighs tighten around him, my pussy clenching. “You feel amazing.”

He shudders and curses. “Don’t do that.”

My thighs twitch and my pussy grips hard, trying to pull him deeper. “I can’t help it.”

“I’m trying here…” he groans and slowly pulls his hips back.

Immediately, I dig my heels into his ass to stop him.

“Grace,” he growls, slamming his cock back in as if he’s trying to teach me a lesson.

“Max,” I cry out, all the little nerves in my pussy awakening. It feels so good, so amazing, I just have to tell him. “Don’t stop, please don’t stop. I love having your big cock inside of me.”

“Oh, fuck,” he growls, reaching down and grabbing two big handfuls of my ass. “Tell me again.”

“I love your giant cock, Max,” I cry out as his cock glides back out, leaving me feeling so empty without him.

“I love your tight little pussy,” he grunts out as he drives forward, fingers digging into the meat of my ass.

I jerk, my spine bending like a bow and my hands clawing at his shirt, wishing there wasn’t fabric there. I want to feel more of his skin.

“I love this fucking ass,” he says, using my ass to lift me up. Then he slams me down on his cock, burying it deep.

The stake of pleasure that slams into my core is so sharp, so intense, the world in front of my eyes goes black.

Up he lifts me, slamming me down on his cock, over and over again. “Your body was built for me to fuck, Grace,” he says viciously as he fucks me.

I crash back into the wall but it doesn’t hurt. No, it’s just another sensation to add into the mix.

“You’re mine.
Mine
,” he declares just as the first wave of my orgasm rolls through me. “And I’ll fucking kill anyone who tries to come between us.”

Somehow, someway, he lifts me higher and pounds into me faster. Fucking me like a madman.

I’m mindless. Completely senseless. It’s like he’s fucked into a whole other world. All I feel is him and his dick.

And so much wet, hot sensation.

The pressure builds and builds until every nerve in my body is screaming in a pleasure so strong it borders on agony.

It hurts so good, I love it and I hate it.

I explode around him, the walls of my pussy spasming and locking down on his shaft in a vice grip.

“Fuck,” he roars and I feel him swelling inside me, growing even bigger. Pinning me against the wall, I’m trapped as he grinds into me slow and deep. Twitching and growling above me.

It’s the never-ending orgasm, it just goes on and on.

I swear I’ve never gushed so much before.

I’ve never come so hard before.

When the last tremor passes through my body, I slowly peel my eyes open to find him staring down at me.

His eyes are full of warmth and softness. I have no idea how long he’s been watching me as I was lost in my throes but it felt like they went on for several minutes.

Reaching down, he tenderly brushes my hair back, out of my eyes.

“All right?” he asks, the word a soft, vulnerable question.