Mountain Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Romance (Bear Haven Book 1) (10 page)

“I didn’t know what to expect. All I know is I’ll never be able to get enough of what you alone can give me,” she replied, her voice husky.

“Oh, trust me. I intend to give until you aren’t able to walk anymore,” he replied, leaning down over the edge of the tub and kissing her deeply. 

All the pain Ruby had suffered from men in her life up until this point, all her plans and expectations, all her haphazard attempts at love, none of that mattered compared to what she had here with Shane. Though they still had a lifetime of getting to know each other better, Ruby knew deep in her heart that there would never be another man she could ever love more on the entire planet than Shane McAllister. No man she would ever feel closer to, more committed to.

While still pressing their lips together, Shane stepped one foot into the tub, then the other. While doing so, he turned off the water, then brought his hand to her cheek, cupping it. Then he leaned over her and deepened the kiss farther, opening her mouth and delving in with his tongue, which made small, deft motions inside her that filled her mind with desire for even more. 

Ruby wrapped her wet arms around him, loving the feel of his hard body pressing into her breasts as his tongue filled her mouth and made her wild with passion and want. 

She felt her breasts cupped by his warm, water-covered hands, and a gasp was pulled from her lips as he kissed at the base of her neck. The hot water created a slick surface for Shane’s hands as he squeezed her breasts, then lightly pinched her nipples.

Every touch was like lightning, every kiss was like wildfire on her skin. Shane’s mouth came lower, licking one nipple while his hand found her clit. 

“Take me.” She gasped, so ready and wanting that she couldn’t bear it much longer. 

Shane growled in response, and he brought his hips lower to meet hers. She opened her legs for him, wanting to feel his hardness deep inside her. 

He didn’t wait teasing at her entrance this time, but instead moved straight into her, slow and agonizingly incredible. Her body felt just barely the right size, a perfect fit for this bear of a man that knew exactly how to pleasure her.

Shane stroked once, and it felt so amazing Ruby almost lost it right there. She bit down on her lip to try to hold back her body’s response, but it was clear Shane wasn’t planning on keeping any pleasure from her.

“So hot. So beautiful,” he said in a deep voice, then stroked again, his hard, slick heat pressing all the way into her and pushing her past her body’s limit. 

Maybe it was the hot, steamy water or maybe the fact that everything was so right between them. Or the anticipation of watching his beautiful body revealed. But all at once she felt herself orgasm, the pulsing, powerful pleasure coursing through her made only stronger by the feel of him inside her, filling her and engulfing her with sensation at the same time. 

As her body slowly came down from the high, already she could feel the pressure building once more. Shane moved again, this time quicker and more intense. Her own body moved in time with his thrusts, and every inch of him was even sweeter ecstasy than the last time she remembered, his unsheathed length softer than velvet and harder than iron.

Shane drew ragged moans from Ruby’s throat as he pushed into her faster and faster, and every second that went by, her body begged for more release, reaching an incredible high she wanted to last forever and wanted to feel explode inside her at the same time.

Ruby looked up into her mate’s eyes and saw pleasure there too, his muscles glistening with strength and the condensation of the tub. Shane’s own breathing was picking up just as she could feel her heart racing.

She was so close, so close.

With one last stroke, Shane pushing all the way into her and their hips meeting, skin to skin, Ruby felt her mind and body slip over the edge of everything and nothing. Complete, blinding, engulfing pleasure. A split second later, she felt Shane’s body jerk inside, followed by the satisfying feel of him coming with her.

Even as she felt his seed fill her as his body tensed and his eyes closed before opening and locking on hers, Ruby’s own body came with such force that she grabbed onto his wet shoulders and dug into them. Every nerve, every inch of skin was engulfed in pleasure that overtook her completely as she screamed his name to the heavens. 

For a split second, in her mind’s eye she saw the two of them sitting together on a blanket on a hill overlooking the ranch, watching several small children play around them, but then it was gone. Her body gave one last push of pleasure through her, then finally stopped, leaving her sensitive and satisfied and spent.

For a long moment, Shane just held her close, the both of them resuming their normal breathing and coming down from the supernal elation they both felt. 

After a long embrace, he gently came out and stepped out of the bath, quickly toweling himself off, throwing on one of the robes, and then helping Ruby up and putting one around her. 

He picked her up, beaming with satisfaction as he held her in his arms and walked back into the bedroom, where he put her lightly on the bed. He nestled in next to her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight to him.

“Here’s to forever with you, honey,” Shane whispered into her ear.

“Forever. I love the sound of that,” she replied, squeezing his muscled arm and loving the feel of his warm body next to her. 

As the last remnants of her orgasm ebbed away, Ruby felt herself fast getting sleepy. Later today, they would talk more about their engagement and getting married. Plan for her to move her things out here to Montana. Discuss the logistics of their future together. But for now, that could wait.

Nothing so grand had ever happened so quickly in Ruby’s life before. But as she felt Shane’s breathing slowing as he drifted off to sleep, she knew in her heart that nothing had ever felt so right before either. 

Whatever happened, she knew at least they had each other. And through thick and thin, storm or sun, she knew Shane would protect her and love her always. And she would love him always too. Her own personal mountain bear.

“
S
o are
you going to miss your friends?” Shane asked Ruby as they sat on the porch of the main lodge together as the sun was setting over the beautiful mountains ahead of them.

“I’ll be okay,” she said, wrapping her arm around his hard waist and sinking in against his warmth. “I have you.”

Bonnie and Harmony had left earlier than morning, taking the rental car back, at the end of the week they’d taken off together. But they’d promised to come back soon, and they’d been as happy as could be for Shane and Ruby and their quick engagement.

Ruby had decided she wanted to get married, even though it wasn’t necessary for being mated, which they already were. It just felt more official to her. She was human, after all.

She rested her head on Shane’s strong shoulder. “I’m gonna miss them though, yes.”

“You aren’t the only one,” Shane said, looking in the direction his two brothers had ridden off in earlier. “I think there were a couple people who kind of hoped they would stay.”

Ruby shrugged. “Harmony and Bonnie are their own people. They have more waiting for them in New York than I did. And well…Bonnie is engaged. For now at least.”

“We understand,” Shane said. “I guess in the meantime, we should probably hedge our bets by setting profiles up for my brothers? If we want to keep the land, that is.”

“We could always wait for Maverick to kidnap someone,” she said, a teasing smile quirking her lips.

“Don’t even joke about it,” Shane said, letting out a groan as he picked up a small rock and sent it skidding over the dirt road in front of the lodge.

“Maybe we should have him write the ads,” she said. “He was good at it before.”

“I like to think it was fate, rather than believing in Maverick’s lady-winning abilities.”

“That could be,” Ruby said, laughing and nudging her husband in the side to remind him to relax. “We’ll figure something out. Hey, maybe if I just gave Maverick a haircut…”

Shane raised a dark eyebrow, and she took one more good look at her mate’s gorgeous green eyes. One in a million, just like he was. Just like their match was. “I don’t know,” he said. “Mav’s fur is a part of who he is. Besides, you’re probably getting rusty by now, and he might just be outside your skill level. Outside anyone’s skill level.”

She pretended to be offended and then laughed as she shoved him off balance. He righted himself and took her by the shoulders, coming in for a quick kiss. She sighed as a quick kiss became a longer kiss, filled with feelings that kept growing stronger every day, and already felt strong to begin with.

This was love. Warm. Comfortable. With the evening sun streaming over them and the quiet rustling of the leaves in the low mountain winds. She couldn’t wait to see this place in the fall. She could just imagine it with the leaves changing colors and the mountains looking like they were painted.

This place was hers now, now that she and Shane were together, and she was loving it, and him, more every day.

With a final soft tug of her lower lip, Shane broke free and looked down at her lips before meeting her gaze. Heat shone in his eyes, lighting an answering awareness in her.

“Should we take this to our cabin?” he asked, standing up and reaching out a hand.

“I think so,” she said.

They walked hand in hand, down the path that led to Shane’s cabin, the trees overhead shading them with dappled shadows.

When they reached the cabin, she folded her arms and paused.

“I could cut Mav’s hair,” she said, cocking her head to one side. “It would be like my final masterpiece.”

Shane laughed. “If you could get him to sit in a chair for you, it really would be a masterpiece. Anyway, if you’re determined to get one of my brothers hooked up, I suggest you start with Jesse. He’s already housebroken. Mostly.” He gave her a crooked grin, as if to suggest that none of the McAllisters would ever be truly tamed.

She didn’t care if that was the case. She liked her wild bear just the way he was. As long as they got to share a cave.

“Fine,” she said. “Maybe we’ll worry about Jesse first.” Her voice turned more serious. “I just don’t want you to lose your land. I know you have a few more months, since the deadline moves as each of you marry, but…I don’t want it to all be for nothing?”

“For nothing?” His eyebrows flew up and he stopped unlocking the door and stomped over to her in indignation, stopping in front of her with folded arms and his buff, intimidating chest right at eye level. “You gonna say this is all for nothing?” He grasped her by the shoulders and pulled her in tight, crushing his mouth over hers in a kiss that quickly turned gentle and searching.

She sighed against his mouth. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Well, I’m kind of a sensitive bear when it comes to us.”

“Yes you are,” she said. “But I just meant, this land means a lot to both of us. I want to make sure you can keep it. I mean, the rush of it all for nothing.”

Shane nodded, swooping her up in his arms. She could feel her own heartbeat racing as he carried her up the steps to the cabin and kicked open the door to carry her inside.

“Don’t worry about my brothers,” Shane said. “I trust fate to take care of them the way it takes care of me. And as for the land, if we lose it, we lose it. But as long as I have you, any land I find will be home.”

She sighed deeply as he carried her to the bedroom and laid her on the bed. She pushed up on her elbows so she could look him deep in the eyes.

“You’re my home too,” she said.

He grinned and kissed her once more, his hand sliding over her back, finding its way under her shirt to tickle the skin there as he grazed over her.

His lips kissed the hollow of her throat, lightly exploring and nipping as her pulse heated and sped.

He raised his head and gave her a curious look, as if waiting for her to say it was okay.

She laughed and threw her arms around his neck so she could whisper in his ear. “Take me for a ride, cowboy.”

“The best you’ve ever had,” he said.

And then he did just that.

H
i
, thanks so much for reading Shane and Ruby’s story. I hope you enjoyed it! If you did, I’d love for you to leave a review to help others find it! It really helps me as an author.

Jesse’s book is out now! Get it here:

Rancher Bear

H
i
,

Jessie’s book is out now. Here is a sample!

Jesse pressed Bonnie against the wall of the barn, her hands pushing against his chest, both of them heaving hard breaths after the strongest kiss of their lives.

“It’s wrong,” she said. “Seth and I are only taking a break. We’ll get back together again. We always do.”

“He doesn’t love you,” Jesse said. “I can.”

She pushed hard, gasping, and he finally stepped back. He was impossibly bigger than her, with his hulking muscle and tall height. His blond hair was swept back in a low, short pony, and several strands were hanging loose in his face, framing fiery blue eyes.

“Has he ever kissed you like that?” Jesse rasped. “He can’t, can he? No one can.”

Jesse’s eyes glowed in the dim light of the barn, where they hid from his brothers and her friends, who would never understand what had happened.

Bonnie had been drawn to him from the moment he’d visited her and Ruby at the hospital where she’d been admitted for a bad stomach flu.

From the first glance, lightning had struck between them.

There was just one problem.

She’d been engaged.

But not anymore. At least for now. When she’d gotten home, she and Seth had fought over the length of her stay and the fact that he hadn’t cared when she’d been sick. Seeing her friend Ruby with her man, Shane, had made it clear just how much was missing between her and Seth, and she’d needed to take some time to think.

She also had to come out to visit her friend and celebrate her wedding. The couple had quietly eloped, but they still invited her and her friend Harmony down to visit after the honeymoon.

So here she was, almost shacking up with the groom’s brother.

Just great.

But she and Seth would get back together. They always did. They’d been friends since childhood. Well, if you could call friends a one-sided exchange that always seemed to benefit Seth and not her.

However, Seth had always been everything she’d wanted in a relationship. He was refined, came from a good family. Handsome, the right height, tall but not too tall. Intelligent and educated. A veterinarian, while she was only his assistant.

Okay, they'd gone to school together, but she’d been fine starting a practice with him. It was natural for a boyfriend and girlfriend to partner up. And besides, as Seth had said, she wasn’t the type to start something up on her own. She was too mild. Too meek.

She didn’t feel mild and meek right now, with her heart thundering hard over a kiss nothing like anything she’d had before from a man who looked like he’d stepped out of a mountain fantasy.

Jesse was wearing a denim top and bottom, as he often did, and beneath that, the powerful muscles of his chest strained under a white tee. His thighs—dear goodness, his thighs, which had been pressed against her a moment ago—they were heavenly. The feel of hard muscle…

Jesse wasn’t anything she wanted intellectually. He was all wrong for her and her family. She had duties to fulfill.

But just right now, while bad for her mind, he was so good for her body.

Jesse thumped a hand on his leg and strode across the barn to one of his horses, putting his hand through the animal’s mane and uttering soothing words, though she didn’t know if it was for the horse or himself.

In the time she’d spent at Bear Haven, she’d noticed a marked difference between Jesse and his brothers. He was more cooped up, almost had a cramped feeling about him, as if he kept everything packed down deep inside.

But his eyes. His blue eyes were always burning. Especially when he looked at her.

His expression was cool in the semidarkness. “What makes you think you two will get back together this time?” he asked. “You left. Don’t you think that’s a bad sign?”

“I needed time to think,” she said tremulously.

“He can’t give you everything,” Jesse murmured.

“I know,” Bonnie said. “But neither can you.”

Jesse walked forward and caught her by the arm just as she was about to reach the exit, where light was streaming through. “You know you’ll never be satisfied with a man like him.”

She narrowed her eyes on him, a flashing light green like spring trees. “I’d never be satisfied with you either.” She shook her red hair and jerked her arm away from his warm grasp, no matter how she wanted to stay there. “As much as you seem to think otherwise.”

“I’ll win you over, Bon,” Jesse said in a deep voice as she opened the door to the barn with a loud creak. “You can’t run forever.”

She just shook her head and sighed as she let the door close behind her, keeping the memories of what just happened between them safely tucked away.

Just like she wanted them.

She walked toward the main house and saw Ruby striding toward her. She still wasn’t used to how different Ruby looked since taking up residence in Montana. She’d traded cute skirts and trendy shoes and tops for flannel, jeans, and sturdy cowboy boots. And she looked absolutely glowing with happiness.

Ruby threw her arms around her and held her tight. “Where were you? I’ve been looking for you.”

“Oh, just on a walk,” Bonnie said, feeling guilty for misleading her friend, but not ready to hear her reaction to what had happened with Jesse. With the chemistry between them, it was bound to happen.

“Well, don’t disappear on me. I don’t get a lot of time with you. I have to use what I have.”

“Okay,” Bonnie said, nodding and hoping to hide her flush.

“And how is Harmony doing?” Ruby asked.

“Why don’t you ask her yourself when she gets here in a few days?” Bonnie asked.

Ruby frowned, her beautiful pink lips pursed. “I can’t wait that long.”

“We keep in touch over Facebook, you silly creature,” Bonnie said. Still, the feel of her arm around Ruby’s waist was nice. Familiar. The three of them had been friends since becoming roommates in a shared apartment their first year of college, despite going to different schools. It had just worked out well.

Ruby had light-blond hair, so light it was nearly as light as her pale skin. She had cornflower-blue eyes and a complexion Bonnie always envied. She herself had thick, bright, carrot-red hair and green eyes and a ghostly pale complexion dotted with freckles.

Also, while Ruby was curvy and fashionable and seemed to own it, Bonnie had always felt shy about her size. Perhaps it had to do with the cruel words her mom had always said to her about it. About how she should be lighter, how lazy she looked. But no matter what she did, no matter how she exercised or tried the latest diet plan, nothing worked.

So she’d grown to accept it. And Seth had never had an issue with it. Then again, sometimes she and Seth had felt more like friends than lovers anyway. Their kisses had been perfunctory, and their sex?

Well, they’d decided to wait until marriage, though she hadn’t told either of her friends about it.

They picked on Seth enough.

“So are you breaking up with that jerk for sure this time?” Ruby said eagerly, opening a raw wound without meaning to. “Because I think you should just move out here, find you a mountain man, and work on the ranch.”

Bonnie sighed. “I don’t know what you all have against Seth. I’ve never felt the same way about another man.”

“You mean comfortable? Safe? Secure?” Ruby said sardonically.

Bonnie nodded. “There’s nothing wrong with that. We’ll have a good life. A secure one.”

“So why did you cut him off, then?” Ruby asked, folding her arms and cocking a hip. “You hoping it’ll make him change? It never has before.”

“Well, I never ran off to a ranch before,” Bonnie said. “And yeah, I don’t know. Maybe I am hoping for some passionate gesture. Maybe I just need space to think. I don’t know, girl.”

Ruby’s blue eyes softened and she looked out at the land around them. “Well, this is the perfect place to come. I’m here if you need to talk, and you have all the space you could want. That’s for sure.”

“I’m glad,” Bonnie said. “Still, can you imagine? Seth running to the rescue?”

“You’ve never needed to be rescued,” Ruby said. “Frankly, you’ve done all the saving in that relationship.”

“What do you mean?” Bonnie asked.

“Nothing,” Ruby said, pressing her lips together. Bonnie got the feeling her friends often kept something back from her. But the part of her that wanted to stay in her comfortable denial of whatever it was didn’t care to ask them what they thought.

She should know better than anyone else what was good for her. Harmony had perfectly terrible taste in men, and before Ruby had met Shane, her hot, tall, dark and handsome mountain cowboy, she had dated only disappointments as well.

And perhaps not everyone needed the kind of passion Ruby shared with her mate. Maybe some people were more suited to a quiet passion. Raising a pair of perfect Persian cats, and running a successful vet clinic that brought her into contact with all the animals she could want.

She wondered if she’d have a chance later to go see the horses, when Jesse wasn’t around. He liked to be around the stables, and she sensed he was almost more comfortable with animals than people.

A strange trait for a rancher that owned several restaurants that served his own premium beef.

“What’s that look on your face?” Ruby asked, catching her dreamy expression as she’d been zoning out. “I’ve never seen you look like that.”

“Nothing,” Bonnie said quickly. “Come on. Let’s go meet Shane. You said we were all having lunch together?”

She gulped. She hoped Jesse missed that meeting. He should have gotten the hint from what she’d said in the barn, yet she had the feeling if she spent more time with him, especially alone, she’d be taking those words back and he’d be taking her up against the barn door.

She felt her pale cheeks flame and walked intentionally ahead of Ruby to hide it. What had gotten into her, thinking of such things when she was planning to get back together with Seth?

But she also knew many people planned things, only to prove themselves wrong later. She hoped that wasn’t the case here.

But when she walked into the private dining room where Shane was waiting, she was dismayed to see Jesse had somehow gotten there first. He was leaning back on his chair with his hands lazily placed behind his head, a placid expression on his unbearably handsome face.

And he was looking at her with no indication that anything had happened, the bastard, when she knew her face would be glowing.

It was going to be an interminably long two weeks.

Rancher Bear