“How…”
“Like I said, it’s in the bloodline. It’s just something that my family’s always done.” He brushes my hair aside to reveal my neck, and lightly sucks on a patch of skin. “Damn, you smell nice.”
“Is this why you never hit on me? No matter how many times I flirted with you? Because you’re a bear and I’m not?”
“Humans are off-limits,” he admits, and he doesn’t sound pleased about it. In the next moment, though, he squeezes me against him. “No one’s taking you from me, though. You’re my mate.”
“I am?” I squeak.
He nods and his hand goes to my belly. “I took you and I might have given you a baby.”
“So?”
“So, I want to be the father of your child. If you have one,” he adds. “We don’t have to start a family right away.”
“Gee, thanks,” I say sarcastically. I’m trying to be mad at him, but it’s so difficult when the man I’ve lusted after for three long years is kissing my skin and talking about starting a family together. “Cole?”
“Hmm?” He nuzzles the curve of my breast.
Shivers move through my body, and I feel my pulse picking up at his touch. “Are you going to be in trouble for sleeping with me?”
“I don’t care. As long as we keep the secret, I’ll manage things. I’ll talk to Eli.”
Eli is the owner of the vacation lodge. I frown at this bit of information, and then gasp when Cole licks my nipple. “Wait, you’re distracting me. Why do you need to talk to Eli? What’s the secret?”
“Bears,” he says, and licks my nipple again. “That’s the secret. And Eli’s the one in charge.”
“One in charge?” I echo. Man, it’s getting hard to think with all of the touching going on.
“Yup.” He buries his nose between my breasts and pulls me tighter against him.
“Everyone in town?” I ask in a faint voice. “Shifters?”
“Pretty much.”
“Except me?”
“You and a few others.”
“Leo?”
He hesitates a moment. “Shifter. You won’t say anything, will you?”
“Who would I tell? You think anyone would believe me if I called the local news and said ‘Hey, guess what, my boyfriend can turn into a bear’?”
He grins, his teeth gleaming white in the darkness. “So I’m your boyfriend?”
I feel a little flustered at that. What else would I call the man nose-deep in my cleavage? “Yes?”
He growls again, and the sound is pleased. “Good.”
“My assistant Jenna? The Millers?” I ask as he moves up to kiss me. “Are they bears?”
“They’re in the clan, yes.” He changes directions and kisses my chin instead, then moves to my neck.
“What about Pat?”
“Not Pat.” He snorts. “The man’s an idiot. And let’s not talk about him again.”
No Pat. Okay. “What about—”
“I’ll tell you more later, baby. But right now, all I can think about is your scent.”
“M-my scent?”
“Bears have an intense sense of smell…and you smell fucking amazing, Adelaide. Did I ever tell you that?” His hand slides between my legs, and I feel his fingers push into my sore *. “I love that this is mine, baby.”
I moan and my arms go around his neck. We’ll talk about things later. Right now, all I can think about is Cole’s mouth on my skin, and his fingers sunk deep inside me.
I wonder if bears have a lot of stamina.
???
Some time later I learn that yes, bears do indeed have a lot of stamina. Several rounds of enthusiastic sex later, Cole has me tucked under his arm and we’re drifting off to sleep. There’s a twig poking into my back from under the tarp, but I don’t care. I’m too boneless to care.
My mind won’t stop working, though.
“What about Francine at the coffee shop?”
He chuckles. “Adelaide.”
“Sorry. Right. The whole town.” I snuggle down closer against him. “And they won’t be mad that you told me?”
His arms tighten around me. “Baby, I don’t care if they’re mad or not. You’re mine and I’m never letting you go.”
For some reason, I love that. I sigh happily and drift off to sleep.
9
Cole
“You sure you want to come in?” I cut the engine. I ran and got the truck this morning because no way was I making Adelaide walk all the way back to the road.
“Yes. We’re a couple, right?” She flicks her index finger between us. Cautiously, I nod yes. “Then we go in together because we’re both involved. Besides, what if Eli goes off on you? I’ll be there to tell him that I forced it out of you.”
I run my eyes over her sexy frame. Even if Eli bought the improbable story that Adelaide forced me to do anything, I wouldn’t let her take an ounce of the blame.