ROMANCE: Bear Naked Passion (Billionaire Bear Trio Book 2) (10 page)

Chapter 10

Liam's hands were around Jenna's body and she felt his grip getting tighter and tighter and his tongue thrust in her mouth and her body arched backwards under the force of his kiss. Everything else in the world melted away as she was consumed by the kiss, and she hated herself for liking it so much. He was vampire, and she could barely believe that he was true, but now it all made sense. The fact that he could only meet at night, and the way he was so cultured and so...
different
from everyone else she knew. Part of her wanted to surrender to him, for the kiss had lighted something inside her that had lain dormant for a long time, but she managed to muster the courage to pull away, and although he was still handsome and still the same man that she had spent such an enchanting night with, he was also a creature of the underworld and the taste that lingered on her lips was bitter.

“You're...a vampire?” she said, tilting her head and looking at him with disbelief.

“Jenna...it doesn't mean I am any different. Everything I have told you, my personality, it is me. I am the same Liam you have been talking to all this time. I know there is something between us.  I know we have both felt it and even now I can see it in your eyes, just as you can see it in mine.” He took a step forward and reached out for her hand but she stepped back and pulled it away.

“This is...this is unreal.”

“Am I unreal? Jenna, you've told me that you've been waiting for something exciting to happen in your life. This is it. What I am offering you...it is something you should not take lightly. I do not make this request...this desire to anyone who I do not deem worthy. You are rare and special and I want you by my side. Please, tell me that you'll consider it.”

Liam had an imploring look in his eyes but all she could see was a vampire, images of horror and death filled her mind and it was like the world was closing in on her.  She continued to step back, and this time Liam did not follow. He looked disappointed, and all she could do was offer her stammered apologies as she retreated into the night, then turned and ran until the echoes of her footsteps faded into the night.

When she returned home she flung herself into bed, trying to hold back the tears, and failing. She sobbed into her pillow and felt the wet stains under her skin. The night had been going so well and she had been truly falling for him in a way that she had never thought possible. After all the disappointments she had endured Liam had seemed like the one who was going to make it all worthwhile, yet it turned out that of all things he was a vampire. It still seemed impossible to believe but she couldn't imagine why he would lie about something like that. And it did make sense, the way his skin was so pale and cold, and how he had this mystical aura about him. Thinking about him brought about mixed emotions because she was still  intensely attracted to him  but her fear had seized her, she only wondered if she had made the right choice.

As she ran her tongue along her lower lip she could still taste the lasting  effects of  his kiss and her gaze fell to the window  as she looked at the full, pale moon. A groan rose up from her stomach and escaped into the air, for all she wanted was to meet a nice, normal man. The date with Liam had been perfect, but a vampire...to be his mate was inconceivable. Jenna had a life of her own, she couldn't simply give that up, and it was unfair of him to ask that of her without any warning.

Chapter 11

The following day began with a heavy heart. Jenna had barely slept and even when she splashed water on her face she felt half-alive, and she couldn't even muster a smile at the irony. When she opened the door she half-hoped that Liam had left her flowers or a note, but there was nothing on her doorstep, empty, like her hopes. Now that she had had time to reflect she wondered if she had made the right choice, and while she walked down the sidewalk she thought about what would have happened had she said yes. Would he have bitten her then and there? She rubbed her neck subconsciously as she imagined what it would feel like to have his teeth pierce through her skin, and it only served to make her shudder.

As she went about her daily business she looked around at everyone around her and knew that they knew nothing about the secret world. Just a day before she had been one of the ignorant as well, but now her life would never be the same. If she ever met someone else with pale skin she would always wonder if they were a vampire, not to mention other things like werewolves...in the daylight it was fine, and she wasn't seized by fear, but as she walked home she felt paranoid in the darkness. The dark corners were fraught with danger and her heart beat rapidly within her chest.

When she reached home and felt the door close behind her she breathed a sigh of relief, although the danger outside was only replaced by the emptiness all around her. Before her date with Liam she had looked forward to finally ending her solitude, and embracing someone new into her life, filling her apartment with romance and excitement, but now that she had turned her back on Liam she wondered if she would ever have the chance again. He had been the closest she had ever come on Tinder, and she started to think that perhaps she had made a mistake in refusing him so readily. After all, it wasn't like the life she was clinging to was that good...and Liam had been correct, she had wanted a new beginning.

She checked her phone, hoping that Liam had tried to get in touch with her, hoping that she had a second chance, but there was nothing waiting for her and she flung her phone onto the bed, where it landed with a soft thud. Trying to escape her own mind she decided to have a shower in the hope that it would wash away some of her frustration, but as her reflection in the mirror became cloudy she was reminded of Liam, and as the water cascaded down her body she could not escape him. The kiss haunted her and the feelings that had risen through her body could not be quelled. Something had awoken within her, something dangerous, and as the steam enveloped her she felt herself being consumed by arousal. She thought about the way he looked and felt, how good it was to be with him, and the way he looked at her, as though she was the most precious thing in the universe. Water ran down the curves of her body and her fingers followed the path, until the found the sweet space in between her thighs, and she started to moan in pleasure. Her head arched back and her eyes closed, letting the hot water fall all over her face. The heat made her skin prickle and moans squeezed out of mouth as her fingers curled within. The cold tiles reminded her of Liam's skin, and she rested against the walls she imagined that he was holding her, that it was his body inside her, thrusting deeply, causing her skin to flush and tingle. Her knees trembled as her body started to shake as the fantasy took a hold of her, and it wasn't long before her mind cracked and explosions popped through her body, but as she thought about him kissing her neck the image of his bared fangs shocked her eyes open. 

Her vision was blurred by the water running around her and she was suddenly starkly aware of her loneliness. She sighed loudly and resumed washing herself. The pleasure she had just experienced had been empty for there was nobody to share it with, and all she wanted was Liam to be with her, to feel his touch against her skin.

When she turned the faucet all the warmth seemed to evaporate from the room. Jenna wrapped a towel around her body and walked back into her room. She slid under the sheets, trying to lose herself in the comfort, wishing that the world outside would simply disappear. Clutching her phone, she scrolled through her messages, still hoping that Liam had tried to get in touch with her, but it was to no avail. She thought about sending him a message, but she had no idea what she would say. It was all too sudden, too abrupt, and even now she didn't know if she would accept if he asked her again. She started to think that perhaps she was too lonely and any offer was better than the pain she was enduring, so she took one last look at the messages she had Liam had exchanged, and then she closed the app and turned around to bury her head in the pillow, hoping that sleep would offer some semblance of relief.

Chapter 12

Over the following few weeks Jenna tried her hardest to put Liam out of her mind, although it was a much harder task than she envisaged. It took a real effort to avoid the pull of Tinder, as sometimes when she was bored she felt an urge to go on it and waste some time,  but she knew that if she did it would lead to her using it again, and she didn't want to see Liam's profile again. But whenever she was out she often saw something that she thought Liam would like, and felt a small thrill, only for it to dissipate quickly when she realized that she would most likely never see him again.

Often she thought about sending him a friendly message but that would have been pointless because nobody on dating websites wanted to be friends, they only wanted to hook up or date, and if Liam had been true to his word then he wouldn't have settled for anything less than someone who was worthy of being her mate. It did help her confidence to know that she had been deemed that worthy, and sometimes she felt a pang of jealously as she wondered if Liam had already found someone else. That was the other danger, the other thing that pulled her on Tinder. She had an irrational fear that she would load up the app only to find that Liam wasn't there anymore, because he had found someone else, and that could prove to be devastating.

When she was alone in bed he invaded her thoughts and she wished that she could have shaken him from her mind. But she kept living in the past, in that night when they had been sitting together at the bar, lost in each other’s eyes. The memory of romance and intimacy warmed her, and her mind continually wandered down the path of what might have been. She wasn't sure whether she believed in destiny or not, but she had the uncanny feeling that somewhere in the cosmos there was another version of her that had said yes, and she could only imagine that that version was happier, because she was miserable.

It was becoming an untenable situation. She had remained true to her promise not to use Tinder after Liam, but it only meant that she had nobody to focus her mind on. She'd tried spending time in coffee shops and bars but she felt awkward going there alone, and it wasn't like in the movies where hundreds of pretty single people were hanging about, and every time she came home feeling defeated. So, on one dark night when insomnia had struck she pulled out her phone and opened the app. When she did she felt a gnawing sadness inside, a guilt, a shame, but she ignored it because there was no other refuge for her, and she wanted to feel as though she was at least taking some sort of action into improving her way of life, even if it hadn't worked out so far.

At first she played the game, and swiped right and left, until it came up with a flashing circle, telling her that there were no other men in her area. She smiled grimly, it would figure that she had gone through every eligible man in the city and not found anyone who excited her...anyone but Liam. She scrolled to her messages, her throat tightening for she was afraid that Liam had found someone else, and she felt a strange sort of relief when she saw that he was still on there, yet she was also filled with regret as well.

When she clicked on his profile she saw that he had been online not too  long ago, so he was still searching, although part of her did wonder whether he was looking at her profile the same way that she was looking at his, and if he had been plagued by thoughts of her too. But that ship had sailed. She wanted something simple. Something normal. She went back to her other matches and looked through them, just in case she had missed anyone. There were a few people that actually seemed to want a conversation, but none of them had intrigued her in the same way as Liam had. Still, she replied to their messages in the hope that something would click.

It wasn't long before one of them replied, and she was soon engaged in a conversation, yet every time her phone buzzed she didn't feel the  same thrill as she had felt with Liam. In some ways it felt disingenuous to this man, for he would always be second best to Liam,  but she told herself that she was being silly and in person it would be different. All she had to do was meet someone she was incredibly attracted to and it would all work out. Nothing could have been simpler...right?

Chapter 13

When Tony suggested meeting Jenna took a long time to reply to the message, unsure if she wanted to put herself through the stress of meeting someone again. In the end she decided to be honest and told him that she had been through a rough time of it and was getting a bit tired with being let down,  but he said that she would never know anything different, and just because everyone else hadn't worked out it didn't mean the next thing wouldn't. Jenna was bored and lonely and he made sense, so they arranged to meet, another evening date.

The moon was full and Jenna knew that Liam must have been out in the city somewhere, for this was his time to play. She wondered what they would have been doing together had she taken him up on his offer, but then she met Tony and she put Liam out of her mind, or at least tried to. They met at a pleasant bar and had a pleasant time. It was clear to her that Tony was interested, it was in the way he leaned forward, and always tried to make a double-entendre out of everything. He paid for everything even when she insisted that she would get a round. He was well-dressed and well-mannered—charming, even—and he had that smoothness that gave her the sense he had been on many dates. Any other time she would probably have enjoyed herself but there was something about the evening that was odd.

She found herself looking beyond the confines of her own body. She floated up and looked down at herself on this date, and it struck her as so shallow and foolish, that they were both taking part in this dance but there was no real emotion involved and it would end up like everything else always ended up. He was in the middle of saying something when she burst out laughing.

“I'm sorry,” she said, “but I just...doesn't this strike you as absurd? We all go on this merry-go-round hoping to find someone that we click with, but we're always looking to the next date, and it all has to be perfect. What's wrong with just accepting someone for who they are?”

“Um...nothing? I'm not sure where you're going with this.”

“I'm sorry, I don't think I'm ready to date right now. I think I need to sort myself out first and figure out what I really want. It was nice to meet you Tony, and good luck in your search,” she said, and got up to leave. Tony protested and followed her out of the bar, but she ignored him and walked off.

Yet he persisted, calling after her, and his words soon turned abusive. She heard him run to catch her up and she tried to outpace him, but there were no cabs around and before she knew it he was upon her, grabbing her bag.

“I'm going to get something out of this night,” he said, and dragged her to an alley where they were out of eyesight. She tried to scream, but as soon as she opened her mouth his hand clamped around it, suffocating her. He wrested her purse away from her and pushed her against the wall. The air was driven from her lungs. He looked through her purse and cursed when he saw how little money she had.

“I'm going to get something out of tonight,” he growled, and walked towards her menacingly. Jenna cowered against the wall, hoping for a miracle. She tried to scream but she was so frightened that it only came out as a squeak, and as his feet crushed gravel she closed her eyes and turned her face to the wall, hoping that it would all be over quickly.

Then, she heard a swooping sound. Tony cursed, before his surprised words were cut short by an uppercut. Jenna heard him sprawling over the ground. She twisted her head and saw Liam standing over Tony, picking the frail body up as if it weighed nothing and then bringing it crashing down to the floor. Tony's eyes were groggy and glassy and blood trickled out of his mouth. Liam kicked him in the stomach, hair flying forward, and Tony doubled over, clutching his stomach. Liam was about to stamp on him when he turned and caught Jenna's eyes. He stood there, panting, and brushed the hair away from his face. Then, he rushed over to Jenna and cradled her in his arms. She wrapped her arms around him and held on tightly as he carried her away from the alley, into the safety of his car.