Candice giggled as she turned back to Wyatt, splashing him with the glistening water. The sun was setting, streaming colors across the sky, and Wyatt’s heart felt heavy in his chest. The bear inside him grumbled and growled at his reluctance to take the woman they both knew was his true mate.

What did it matter what the department thought? He and Candice had their whole lives ahead of them, and waiting for the investigation to be over seemed like too much to ask the animal within.

His sheriff shouldn’t even have him on this case anymore. Wardens sometimes investigated hunting homicides, but this case had a suspect with a motive. It was not his area of expertise. He told himself he would tell the sheriff in the morning that he would no longer work on the case. That would clear the way for him and Candice.

She sank into the lake and turned to him, treading water with her arms. He moved toward her slowly, wading farther in until he came to stand in front of her. She looked up at him, the sunset glowing on her skin.

He slid his hand up her arm, pulling her toward him until her curves pressed against his chest. Her hazel eyes became wide circles as she gazed up at him.

“Candice, about this morning,” he said, growing hard as her soft body pressed against him.

“It’s fine,” she said, her voice throaty.

“No. I was wrong. I shouldn’t be on this case in the first place. I’m going to tell the sheriff in the morning that I’m resigning from the investigation.”

“Oh.” Her eyelids fluttered.

“You are quite a woman, Candice. The kind of woman who comes along once in a lifetime. I want more than just a vacation fling. A lot more.”

He ran his hands up her shoulders. She shivered in the warm water as he slid his thumb over her jawline. “I feel the same,” she said, her breasts heaving against him.

Even if he could get off the case, there was still the question of whether or not Candice would accept him for what he truly was. So many humans had come out as shifter haters; she could be one as well. Would she want him if she knew?

He ran his thumb over her full bottom lip, and her pink, wet tongue flicked out to lick its tip. A shiver of desire went down his spine, and he went rock hard. Candice wrapped her lips around his thumb and sucked it into her mouth. A deep rumble erupted from his throat, and he pumped his thumb in and out of her mouth. The sight of her lips wrapped round him made the animal in him burst through.

He reached down and grasped her ass, pulling her up around his waist, resting her on his hardness. Candice gasped and giggled, but he stopped her laugh with his mouth, kissing her deeply.

Wyatt flicked the ties at the sides of her bikini bottoms and the little piece of fabric fell away. His cock pressed against his boxers, straining to get inside her wet warmth. Candice moaned, grinding against him.

She drove him wild. His bear roared in his mind, barely restrained inside him. He flicked the tie at the back of her neck, and the bikini top slid down her chest.

He gazed down at her wet breasts. Growling, he took her nipple between his lips. As he nibbled on her tight flesh, she shuddered and threaded her fingers through his hair. Her legs clenched around his waist as he held her.

Running his tongue around her nipple, he could feel it pucker at his touch. God, he loved turning her on. It made his cock vibrate with need. He claimed her mouth again, thrusting his tongue in and out until she was breathless.

Wyatt tore the remnants of her bikini away from her body and found her warm slit. She breathed his name as he pressed the tip of his cock against her need. She gasped, pushing into him.

“I don’t have a condom,” he groaned with disappointment.

“I don’t care if you don’t. I’m protected,” she said, pushing down on him.

He gripped her ass and held her still, wanting to control her body with his hands. With a hard thrust, he pumped inside her. Candice wailed, digging her nails into his shoulders. She threw back her head, accepting his body as he drove into her.

* * *

Wyatt filled her to the brink, and Candice exploded. She’d wanted him, wanted nothing more than to have him inside her again. But she hadn’t expected him to come to her like this, to make love to her in the water like an animal in the wild.

Her orgasm rolled in waves of pleasure, bursting in her sight like the streaks of orange and pink light across the sky. Wyatt didn’t let up or slow down. His intense thrusting only increased, pumping hard into her. Water sloshed around them.

She felt the swell of orgasm coming toward her again as he gripped her hard, and she shuddered, gasping. His seed shot deep into her womb. Hot and sticky, it filled her with the essence of him.

He groaned deeply as the last of his cum spilled from him. Wyatt held her still in his strong arms as he slid from her. She found her feet at the bottom of the lake, and he held her tight.

“Wyatt,” she whispered, nuzzling into his wet chest. He ran his hand up and down her back, kissing her neck as he heaved a heavy breath. “That was much too good to ignore.”

“I know, and I don’t intend to ignore it any longer.”