Kylie couldn’t believe this was happening to her. She’d fantasized so much about him doing exactly this that it was far too easy to slip into the actual situation in real life.

She’d had a full life, hadn’t really thought about men before he came into the picture. And then it had been just months and months of unrequited lust.

And it had nothing to do with her being an amputee, because he didn’t know. He just felt the same then as he did now, that she wasn’t the right type. She’d like to know exactly what he wanted, aside from someone just like him.

Narcissus.

But it didn’t matter. That golden body, rippled and curved and hard all at the same time, impossibly huge, was hers, at least for this moment. It didn’t have to be forever, as long as she had now. She could go back to teaching, to her boring, normal life, and always have this to think back on.

She was going to have sex with the Ryan Hart. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined it would actually happen, even when she’d been chasing him.

She’d told herself there was something between them, had sometimes wondered if she imagined the way he looked at her. Now, seeing him on top of her, getting ready to make love to her, she knew she’d been right. He was attracted. He was just fighting it because she wasn’t right for him in other ways. Well, that was fine. But it remained to be seen if either of them could walk away after what they shared today.

If it was as good, as explosive, as she hoped it would be, she was pretty sure it would be hard to leave.

But he’d left before. Hadn’t even made it look difficult. She’d almost been too pissed to want to go pull him out of his self-pitying misery when his family had asked her to. But she was glad she had. If it took showing him one of her weaknesses and letting him help her learn something, then she was happy to do it. She couldn’t help caring for him. It felt like she had before she’d even known him.

Or maybe she’d just always admired him, ever since he burst onto the snowboarding scene years ago. Many women did, but for Kylie it was different. It wasn’t just the muscles or the looks. It was the determination, the sense that he’d been through difficult things and conquered them, and the feeling that he was unstoppable.

He was definitely unstoppable now. He pressed her hands suddenly above her head, her wrists pinned together under one of his. She looked up, lips parted in surprise.

“Ryan?” she asked, wriggling slightly beneath his hold.

“Pay attention,” he said, pressing her wrists down and coming forward to cover her mouth with his. Perhaps she’d just been unable to really believe this was happening, and that’s why she’d been distancing herself from it. But when his hips pressed into hers, and his lips opened hers as his tongue swept inside, and she felt heat between her legs in response to his touch, his control, she focused in completely.

She was his. She couldn’t be otherwise. She turned in his arms, struggling lightly as he deepened the kiss, not letting her get away. It was a heady thrill, to feel so wanted by him after being rejected for so long. She knew if she really wanted to get away, he’d let her go in an instant, but she enjoyed playing with it, pretending to struggle so that he could demonstrate how easy it was for him to pull her back, how much he must want her for him to be doing so.

His kiss was harsh, punishing, as he held her head in place, but aroused her to her core. He was just as dominant, just as overwhelming, as she’d known he would be. She pushed up against him, rubbing her breasts against his chest, and he groaned against her mouth and pulled back to look down at her.

“Do you trust me?” he asked, stroking one finger along her cheek and jaw as he continued to hold her hands down with the other. She felt utterly powerless but completely safe.

“Yes,” she said.

He released her suddenly and she sort of regretted answering. Then he disappeared through the bedroom door. Where was he going? She ran a hand over her swollen lips. They’d only begun. It couldn’t be over now.

Then he entered the room again, carrying only a scarf. A long, black, soft-looking scarf. What could that be for? It couldn’t be… She felt herself blush deeply as he walked forward, eyeing her with those icy eyes as he wound the scarf around his hand. He looked so powerful, so calm compared to how she felt. But she could see the fire in those eyes. Not unlike the fire she saw when he was in the starting position before a competition.

And he looked very intent on winning.

He hopped on the bed in one smooth move. He was so large but had a cat-like way of moving that was so smooth. She wondered if all athletes were so coordinated. He leaned over her and unclasped her bra, pulling it over her hands and tossing it gently to the side of the bed.

Then he lifted one of her hands in his and pulled it toward the bedpost, and it finally clicked what he meant to do with her exactly.

“I didn’t realize your needs were so kinky,” she said, letting him tie her hand in the scarf which he then tied to the bedpost. He straddled her to reach for her other wrist, and she realized that what she’d thought was one scarf was actually two.

“Not kinky,” he said. “Just fun. Something about how small you are, how curvy, how you melt in my arms, makes me just want to dominate you.”

She just flushed and blinked up at him, not knowing how to respond to that, except that it sounded super hot.

“And then you had to go and struggle a little, and I had to restrain you…” He eyed her as he finished tying the other hand and then a slow grin curved his lips. Damn, he had gorgeous lips. Naturally pigmented, deeply curved at the top. A nice contrast with those icy, light-blue eyes. “And then you enjoyed it so much, I thought you’d enjoy this even more.”

She looked at both her hands and then back at him. She sighed. “Enjoy what? Being tied up?”

“No,” he said, leaning forward to lick a long line from her belly button up between her breasts to the base of her neck, where he placed a light kiss. “How it feels when I do this and there’s nothing you can do to get away.”

She squeaked as his hand closed over her breast. For some reason, she felt much more sensitive, much more ticklish, with her hands restrained. But as his hands stroked over her, she quickly relaxed into the exhilarating feeling.

It was nothing like she’d pictured it, but she’d be lying if she said she hadn’t thought about him pinning her to a wall, holding her hands up. This was just like that, except that he had his hands free.

And oh, the things he could do with those hands. He covered both of her breasts and squeezed them lightly. Then he tweaked the nipples with his thumbs as he took her mouth in a deep kiss.

She arched against him and pulled at her bonds, pleased when they didn’t give. Then he gave a possessive little growl and caught her chin in his hand, holding her there as he took her mouth and gave her almost more pleasure than she could stand.

She’d wanted him so long, and she’d already given up on more. And then he’d kissed her the other day, and her heart had woken up and started hoping again. And that was dangerous. And so she’d decided to tell him they needed to cool it. And he’d agreed.

And yet both of their bodies seemed to have different ideas.

“I’d love to make love to you outdoors,” he said in a breathless tone. “Under the stars. In the snow. Anywhere. I’ve been thinking of your body for so long.”

She bit her lip as he took his mouth down to her nipple, licked it gently and then took it in his mouth and grazed his teeth against it lightly. Shocks of pleasure shot through her, straight down between her legs, where she was becoming wet and ready for him. He teased and played until her nipple was a hard, torturous peak. Then he pulled back and blew over it, hardening it further, making her writhe in response until his hand gently covered that breast again and he moved his lips to the other.

“You have amazing nipples,” he said, nipping one and watching it pucker. “So pretty. So pink.”

“Stop,” she said, blushing. “I don’t know how to do dirty talk.”

“It’s not dirty,” he said. “It’s just true.” He raised a finger and tweaked the sensitive peaks between his fingers. “I’d love to take you out in the snow, run a little ice over you and watch it melt against your gorgeous skin.”

“Sounds cold,” she said.

“Just for a second, and then I’d warm you up again. With my tongue.” As he said it, his eyes locked on hers and he took her nipple in his mouth, sucking and pressing against it in a way that made her arch in pleasure. Such strong sensations, and he was only starting. He released her breast to the air, and, as he had before, breathed on it softly. She gasped at how cool it felt, despite the warm air in the room. Her breasts missed his warm lips, but then his closed his hands over both and kneaded gently.

“Your body is amazing,” he said.

“It’s fat,” she muttered, looking to the side, since she couldn’t wrap her arms around herself. She’d always been chubby. She didn’t usually mind it, but in the presence of so many muscles, she couldn’t help but think of the podium girls that had wrapped themselves around him in the past, and their long, lean bodies.

He ran his hands down over her waist, squeezed her soft stomach in his hands and ran one thumb along the sensitive inside of her belly button. When she squirmed, he got a light in his eyes and leaned down over her stomach. “Not fat. Creamy. Smooth. Soft. Gorgeous. Perfect.”

He punctuated each word with a kiss to her belly button, her sides, and her stomach. She couldn’t help but feel sexy under the attention, forget any self-consciousness she might have felt for a fleeting moment. Ryan Hart had her tied to his bed, was saying she was beautiful, and was proving it with his hands and mouth. What more did she need? She felt like she’d never need anything more in the whole world.

Once she’d had him completely.

“May I?” he asked, hooking his fingers into the waistband of her underwear. She gulped and nodded.

“As long as you return the favor,” she said, eyeing his bulge.

He grinned. “Soon. I don’t want it in the way.”

“In the way for what?” she asked, biting her lip as he pulled her panties off in one smooth move. “Oh, that,” she said, as he rested his mouth between her thighs. First he just kissed the sensitive skin above her mound. Then, seemingly pleased with the way her eyes widened in anticipation, he moved lower, till he was kissing her in that private, forbidden area where no one had ever been before.

She’d been so young when her life changed. She hadn’t been fully sexually awakened, hadn’t paid a great deal of attention to that side of herself. She wasn’t the type.

Until now. She arched against the pleasure. Maybe she just wasn’t the type who liked it solo, because the brush of his hot lips against her, the swipe of his deft tongue up her center, was causing a pressure to build in her much faster than anything she’d tried on her own. Even when she’d thought of him, fantasized about him to get off, it hadn’t been this powerful.

Nothing was like the real thing.

“Do you ever play with yourself?” he asked between kisses.

She struggled against the scarf, wishing her hands were free so she could dig them deep into his hair and hold him right where he was. But she was powerless, and that made all of this more intense.

“Yes,” she said, turning her head so he wouldn’t see the blush.

He reached up and turned her head gently to face him, then went back to his position between her legs. He gave her another long, slow kiss. “Did you ever think about me doing this when you did?”

She swallowed and nodded, closing her eyes as another deep kiss with tongue made the pressure rise higher. She tightened her legs together, trying to hold off the inevitable, just so she could feel it a little longer.

He pulled her legs apart, spread her wide for him, and put his lips directly over the nub where all the sensation seemed to be centered. “Naughty,” he said, clearly aware from her increased breathing and her writhing that she was close to losing control. And he liked that, she could tell from the gleam in those hot blue eyes. “I like it.”

Those words, combined with a final swirl of his hot tongue, sent her over the edge. She arched, pulling against the scarves and swearing as the first wave hit her. She felt blinded to everything but the pleasure surging inside her, seeming like it would overwhelm her. She couldn’t move, couldn’t reach for him, couldn’t curl up, so she had no choice but to writhe and let him watch her with those hot eyes that aroused her even as she was coming.

He loved watching her go; she could see it, see how much he enjoyed the power he had over her. And when she lay back against the soft covers, hands on either side of her, resting in the scarves, she could see in his expression that he wasn’t done. She took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh.

“You, big guy, are overwhelming.”

“So I’m told,” he said. And then his mouth was back at her center, making it impossible to think of a retort. She no longer wanted to. All she wanted to do was throw her head back and give into the escalating pleasure that was threatening to overflow once again.

So she did.

---

As he watched Kylie go over the crest into her second release, Ryan thought nothing could be closer to heaven. Not dropping into the half pipe, not winning an Olympic medal, not anything else in the world.

She was his, his. He didn’t care whether she was a bear, or an athlete, or an amputee, or impossibly frustrating and a little too short.

Writhing there on his bed, with her beautiful body bound and on display for him, shaking with the pleasure he had given her, she was everything he wanted. Everything he’d ever wanted. He’d been silly for fighting it. Silly for running away.

He wanted to stay beside her and pleasure her forever. Wanted to make sure no one could ever touch her.

Maybe he should have realized it when he couldn’t stand for another man to even carry her or drive her home. Maybe he should have realized it when wanting to help her pursue a dream, like learning to snowboard, was the only thing that pulled him out of the depression he’d been in when she’d found him.

Who cared when he should have known, though? It only mattered that he realized it now, and that he was going to show her.

When her panties were off and she was totally bared to him, he didn’t think he’d ever seen a more beautiful sight in his life. Maybe this is what he’d always been avoiding with her. This awestruck feeling that he’d give anything for her. It made him feel powerless before her, even though she was the one tied. He wanted to worship her.

As she gasped and recovered from her release, he slid off his boxers and knelt over her. He grabbed a condom from the desk and tore it open. Her eyes weren’t on him. They were on his…business.

“You’re huge,” she said. “It’ll never fit. Never.”

“I admit your size relative to mine has always been kind of a concern for me. Not that I’d considered it in exactly this context, but it was an issue.”

She sniffed. “Well, I’m sorry for being short.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “Good things come in small packages?”

“And large ones, apparently,” she said, still staring with wide eyes at his member.

He laughed and crawled over her to untie her hands. She looked at him questioningly.

“I want you to be able to hold me when you go this time. I want to feel you against me, holding me,” he said.

“What if I try to get away?” she asked mischievously.

“I won’t let you,” he said, giving her a warm smile. Of course if he ever got any idea that she was actually not enjoying it, if she told him no or gave any indication, he’d jump off quick. He had zero interest in doing anything that she wasn’t enjoying as much or more than him. Preferably more. All he wanted was to give her pleasure, and doing anything she didn’t want was the opposite of that.

He curled his body around and over her, holding her tight, feeling himself right at the wet heat of her entrance. He positioned himself and slowly moved against her, testing it. She was so tight. She squirmed slightly in his arms.

“Is it going to hurt?” she asked.

He pulled back abruptly. “What?”

She blushed and looked to the side. “It’s my first time… I—”

“What?” He ran a hand through his hair as shock washed through him. He hadn’t expected that. “I didn’t know. Why?” His gaze flicked to her leg, but she shook her head.

“It’s not that. It’s more like I wasn’t really interested in men until you came along. I guess it takes a lot for me to take notice.”

“I’m glad I came along then,” he said, lowering down again. She bit her lip and tensed, and he stroked a hand over her breast and then over her belly, trying to relax her. “I’ll be gentle. We won’t do anything you don’t want.”

She nodded.

He tested her, moving just the tip in, waiting as she squirmed and adjusted, then, when she let out a little sigh and moved as if to take him deeper, he pushed harder and moved all the way in with one long stroke. When he settled in against her, feeling tightness and warmth all around him, he felt his whole body tense up against the pleasure of it. But he’d hold out, he had to. He wanted to enjoy this longer, and he wanted to make it good for her.

“That was easier than I thought,” he said, eyeing her as she laughed. She put a hand to her lips and gingerly bit the nail.

“Well, it’s not like I don’t have dildos,” she said, grinning.

“You,” he said, letting out a little growl and snuggling against her, giving her time to adjust to him.

“So, what now?” she asked.

“Now,” he said. “I move.” And he did, starting slow, coming almost all of the way out and then pushing smoothly back in, enjoying the look of wonder on her face as the new sensations ran through her. They fit together perfectly. He loved the feel of her and could tell she felt the same about him.

“Do you use a vibrator?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said.

“I’ll have to bring one next time. Or you can bring yours,” he said. “I can use it on you while we’re doing this.”

“How?” she asked. But then he increased the speed of the stroking and she bit her lip and arched against the covers. Her hands twisted in the sheets.

“Hold me,” he said.

“I’ll hurt you,” she said.

“Battle scars,” he said. “I love it.”

“Fine,” she grumbled, wrapping her hands gently around him. But when he reached between them to gently stroke her sensitive center as they thrust together, she gasped and dug her nails into his back.

That’s it, baby, he thought. Hold on.

And she did, digging her nails into his back and gasping as he kept going, as the pressure built inside him and he fought to hold it off until she found her release so that they could go together. As she closed her eyes and he felt her body tense up in preparation, he felt the pleasure in him crest as well.

He let it go just as she did. Heard her cry out and caught her lips with his, mixing his groan with her cries of ecstasy as they came, vibrating together with the waves of release.

He heard his name from her lips, over and over, and loved it. As his body shook with pleasure, he wondered how and why he had ever resisted. He fell over her and held her against him as she gasped little breaths that almost sounded like sobs as she held him as tightly as he held her. Damn.

“You okay?” he asked, pulling back and looking at her. Her face was flushed, beautiful, and overwhelmed by pleasure.

“Yes.” She nodded. “Yes.”

He grabbed a towel from the nightstand and put it beneath himself as he pulled out. He strode into the attached bathroom to quickly clean up and then came back to her. He jumped on the bed and curled around her from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist and shoulders and pulling her tight against him. She felt so right. So perfect.

Now that they’d been together, he couldn’t fight it anymore. He knew why she’d been in his mind when he’d crashed. Why she’d been getting under his skin since he first saw her.

She was meant to be his mate. She might not be what he’d ever been planning, she might be screwing up his plans and what he thought would happen in his life in a big way, but she was his. He couldn’t ignore that anymore. He’d felt close to the mountain, to the wild, to his bear when he’d been inside her, and he’d suddenly understood how his brothers could be so ignorant about their own mates.

It was easier to see it happening to others, it was hard to see it happen to yourself. Because sometimes fate mixed you up with the oddest people.

But, as he held her, thinking of how different she was from anything he’d imagined, he also couldn’t help but think that she was perfect.

She stirred against him and put her hands over his, rubbing lightly over the hair on his arms. His body felt relaxed and heavy. She let out a deep breath and then yawned, and he yawned in response. He put a hand in her hair and pushed it back from her face, enjoying the feel of it in his hands.

“If you want to nap for a bit before we go out there, I’m fine with that,” he said.

She shrugged and nestled into his arms. “Maybe I could. What about you?”

“I’ll keep watch. You never know.”

“Yeah,” she said, yawning again and stretching before curling up in his arms again. “There could be bears around.”

The thought made him blink. Both Janna and Leslie had been threatened by rival bear shifters once his brothers had started on the path of claiming their mates. Would he face a similar challenge? Well, never mind, he thought, pulling her close. Let them try.

No one could take her from him.

She relaxed in his arms and began gently snoring. He grinned and turned her in his arms so he could rest her against his chest and watch her.

“Thanks,” she mumbled, as if talking in her sleep.

“No problem,” he said.

“Taylor,” she said, pulling the blanket around her.

Ryan’s eyes went wide.