FIVE
After Grant slipped out of Laura yet again, they lay happily together on the bed until Laura suggested, “You really ought to call your sister. And that’ll give me a chance to change the bed.”
Grant chuckled at her. “Yeah, we have made kind of a mess in here, haven’t we?”
She kissed him and patted him on his furry chest. “A wonderful mess.” He returned her kiss with a steamier one. Then she gave him a little shove and said, “Go on. Call Kendra.”
“Okay,” Grant sighed, starting to pick himself up from the rumpled and moistened sheets. “You just get this bed ready for a hell of a lot more banging.”
She sat up on the bed and watched him stride over to the door to the bedroom, having left his phone in his pants when he stripped them off to do her on the living room sofa. He paused there in the threshold and gave her the dirtiest, sexiest look she had ever seen. He took hold of the long, thick hose between his thighs, shook it at her, and pointed at her with his other hand right where he meant to put what he was shaking. He nodded sexily at her, and she giggled and blushed. Then he turned and padded his way out.
Watching his rear end disappear from her bedroom door and anxious for it and the rest of him to return, Laura rested a moment on the bed, and into her mind came all the sights and sounds and sensations of him that had filled her world since last night. This is, without question, the most dirty, filthy-minded man I have ever met, she thought.
To which she added, GOD, he’s adorable.
In the living room, Grant plopped himself down on the sofa and reached to the floor for his trousers where he had left them before the reaming he had given Laura there. He plucked his phone from his pocket and found it held a message that he’d missed from earlier in the morning. Sure enough, it was from Kendra Boone: Are you on the road? Call me.
Dropping his trousers on the floor again, he rested against one arm of the sofa, hit Kendra’s number on the speed dial, and got an immediate answer. Grant pictured Kendra where she most likely was, in her office between patients, with her silky brown hair tied in a ponytail and a pen tucked behind her ear while a clipboard with a patient’s chart rested on her desk and other patient folders awaited her attention in the in-box. Saturday mornings were one of the busiest times in Kendra’s practice, with people coming in and bringing their children in at a time when they were not working. But, of course, she would pause in her weekend routine to talk to him.
“Grant?” Kendra said.
“Yeah, Sis, it’s me.” Though Grant was the older sibling, Kendra was the one with the more stable life, a fact that was understood between them, but she never rubbed it in his face. “Busy Saturday as usual?”
“As usual,” said Kendra. “But I’m planning to hand things off to my nurse practitioner in a little while. Are you on your way?”
With a little wince that he was grateful she could not see, Grant said, “Um, yeah…about that…”
And with arched eyebrows that Grant could well imagine, though he could not see them, Kendra said, “Uh-oh, I know that tone. What is it?”
“I was just gonna say I wish you hadn’t rearranged your office schedule on my account.”
“Why?”
“Well, see, I was kind of on my way out of town, and…”
That was all Kendra needed to hear. Or almost all. “I knew it. What’s her name?”
“Now what makes you ask a question like that?”
“Two things. I’m your sister, and I know you. What’s her name?”
Grant groaned, and not from the kind of thing he liked to make him groan. He could never get anything past his little sister. “All right. Her name’s Laura.”
“Uh-huh,” said Kendra. “And let me see…you just met her last night.”
Rubbing his eyes with the inevitability of her questions, Grant answered, “Yeah.”
“And you’re with her right now.”
Grant’s expression was ever more pained. “Kendra, no! I’m not ‘with her’ right now. I mean, I’m not with her, with her. She’s in the other room.”
“And what room is that?”
“Kendra!”
“Well, look, Grant, the math on this is easy enough. If you’re not on your way home like you’re supposed to be, there could only be one thing holding you up. You wouldn’t put off leaving—and not bother to call and tell me—unless there was a woman. So…is Laura human?”
“What difference does that make?” he asked.
“It makes a difference because I’ve heard you talking to your friends. You like human women best because they’re the most impressed with a werebear having twice the sex drive of a human male. You stay with human females longer than you do with ours because you think they’re the most fun.”
“Have I ever told you,” asked Grant, “how obnoxious it is that you can remember every little thing I say and throw it back in my face when I least want it?”
After a pause, Kendra ventured to ask, “So, when do you think you’ll be coming? No, let me put that another way. When do you think you’ll be getting here?”
Feeling a twinge of guilt over how much he wanted this conversation to be over, Grant replied, “She invited me to stay for the weekend.”
“The whole weekend? With a guy she just met last night? My, you must be showing her a good time.”
“As a matter of fact,” said Grant, “we’re getting on just great.”
Kendra refrained from correcting him, You mean you’re getting IT on just great. Instead, she asked, “Where did you meet her?”
“What does that matter?”
“I’m just interested, that’s all. Did you pick her up in that place, that Scarlet and Crimson place?”
“If you must know, no, I didn’t pick her up at Scarlet and Crimson.”
“You didn’t?”
“No.” And after a beat, Grant said, “She picked me up there.” Grant could positively feel his sister rolling her eyes at that.
“I see,” Kendra responded. “And did she have any idea where she was and who she was surrounded by? And did she have any idea what it was she was picking up?”
“It was her first time there,” Grant answered. “First timers never know.”
“Right,” said Kendra. “So once again, you’re having casual sex with a human woman you’ve just met, who has no idea what she’s in bed with.”
Feeling a bit offended now, Grant answered, “Like you’ve never slept with a guy you just met. We both know better.”
“And you know I don’t make a regular habit of it. And not with human men.”
Grant tousled the thick hair on his head and rolled his own eyes. “Okay, I admit it. I’m a bear-slut. That’s what I am. Are you happy now?”
“I’ll be happier,” said Kendra, “when you’re back home and ready to start on what you’ve committed to doing. Jumping into bed with human women may be a casual thing, but the Games aren’t. You know what it means if you win the Games. Your whole life is going to be different, Grant.”
“Not that different,” he said. “I’ll still do the same things I’ve always done. I’ll just be doing them all in Talon Valley.”
“It’ll be different,” Kendra pointed out, “because people will be expecting things from you. You’ll have a commitment. You’ll have to settle into something. It’s a responsibility, Grant. You’ll have to be responsible to the community.”
“Like I don’t know what responsibility is? Kendra, I work. I meet deadlines. I pay bills. People know they can count on me. I’m responsible.”
“Well, you’ve never been responsible like this,” said Kendra. “Not for as long as this is going to be, if you win. Unlike all the women, this is going to be a long-term thing.”
Grant let out another grunt. “I know that. I wouldn’t have put in for the Games if I didn’t know that. Look, maybe I’m getting a little tired of never being in one place, doing one thing. I wanted to be out in the world for a while, see things and do things. And I’ve done that. I’m happy with that. I turned thirty last year. It’s time to land somewhere for a while. And what’s this about if I win? Do you believe I won’t?”
“I believe you probably will,” said Kendra. “You’re a big, strong bear, and you probably will. I just want to make sure you’ve thought through everything this will mean.”
“I’ve had plenty of time to think it about it,” Grant said. “I just went out to find somebody last night, my last night in this town, just to have one last time when I just did something and didn’t think the hell out of it. On Monday morning, I’m getting back in my truck and going home to get ready for the Games, and I’m gonna play to win, and if I win, I’m committed. This weekend is one last thing to do just because I can do it.”
“Uh-huh,” said Kendra. “Like you’re going to be celibate after the Games.”
“After the Games,” said Grant, “I’ll be settled down there for the duration, but there’s no need to be celibate. There are available females there. And a lot of human women visit Talon Valley.”
“We ought to have a warning sign at the border,” Kendra said, shaking her head.
“What fun would that be?”
“Grant!”
“Kidding, kidding. God, I’m gonna be in the Games, and I can’t crack a joke anymore?”
“All right, fine. I’m sorry. It’s just that I like the idea of you going through with this. I think you’d be good for the community if you’d just commit to this, and then, if you win…”
“When I win.”
“…when you win, really focus and commit yourself to what comes next.”
“Well, I’ll have to be focused on winning the Games first. And I will. And I promise I’ll be serious about all of it. Look, I wouldn’t have come out for the Games if I wasn’t serious and I didn’t think I’d be good for the community. Listen, when did you ever know me not to be good at something?”
Kendra shrugged and nodded. “Well, that’s true,” she said.
“Sure it is. Your big brother has always been good at everything he does.” After a pause, he said with a naughty, sexy look that came through in his voice. “Just ask any woman I’ve ever met.”
“I’d have to make a list first,” Kendra said. “Which would take up a whole notebook.”
“Hey!” Grant mock protested.
“‘Hey’ what?” she said. “You are my big brother, and I do know you.”
“And I love you, Sis.”
“I love you, too. So, can I expect you by Monday afternoon?”
“Yeah, definitely. For sure. Monday afternoon, no later. But right now, there’s somebody else I’m keeping waiting.”
“Fine,” Kendra said, exhaling. “I’d say don’t overdo it, but I know better.”
“No such thing as overdoing what I’m gonna be doing,” Grant cracked. “But don’t worry, I’ll be there Monday, and I’ll be ready.”
“Okay, Grant,” said Kendra. “I’ll see you then. Bye.”
“Bye,” he said and ended the call.
Setting the phone on the coffee table, Grant lay back on the sofa again and contemplated the talk he’d just had with his sister and everything they had said about what awaited him back home. It was true that everything that Grant had ever done in his life was just about him: what he wanted, what he needed, and what pleased him. And there was nothing wrong with that. He refused to believe what some people liked to argue, that making oneself happy is selfish. Never thinking of oneself was no way to live. It was as bad as always thinking only of oneself and never going out of one’s way for anyone else. And yet, what Kendra had said was true. The outcome of the Games would truly be about living differently: staying in one place and thinking of the needs of others as well as his own. He had searched his heart to make sure he was ready for it. And he was sure that he was.
The ache and stiffness that he felt down below told him he was also ready for something else. By now, Laura should have had the bed changed and ready for the business of the rest of the weekend. He got himself up and made his way back to the bedroom.
He found Laura there, clad only in a smile, sitting on a fresh bedspread, turned down, with fresh sheets and pillow cases in place, and the linens on which they had been rolling and he had been humping her since last night now resting in a hamper in a corner of the room. Grant stood in the frame of the bedroom door with a copulating smile, his arms held out to his sides, displaying himself, and made his erection bob up and down at her. She let out a tiny squeal of excitement and crooked her finger at him.
Grant strode quickly from the doorway to the bed, and just as quickly, Laura climbed onto the bed and made room for him. At once, he was upon her, and they became a tangle of arms and legs, their hands going up and down and everywhere, their mouths playing eagerly and hungrily together. Between wet, hot kisses, Grant said, “Miss me, babe?”
“Every minute I spent changing the bed,” Laura said between licks and sucks at his lips, “I thought about what you were going to do to me on it.”
“You got that right,” he said, kissing her deeply, squeezing her bottom and pressing her bosom against the hairy slabs of his chest. She broke the kiss and pushed them apart a little. “What’s the matter?” he asked. “You’re ready for it, aren’t you?”
“Oh yes…yes, you know I am,” she replied. “I was just wondering…is everything okay with your sister?”
“It’s all good,” he replied. “Thanks for asking.”
“Are you sure?” asked Laura. “Because I know we’re having a lot of fun together, but I’d hate to be causing trouble for you with your family.”
Grant smiled. He was charmed. “You’re really concerned about that?”
“It’s just that family is important,” said Laura. “Or the way family affects us is important. Your relationship with your family makes a difference in your life, that’s all. There’s guilt and obligation and all that. The way you are with your family makes a difference in other things. I’d hate to think of you messing up your relationship with your sister. If she was expecting you, she might feel like you were letting her down, and the two of you would have that resentment to deal with. I wouldn’t want us being together to strain that relationship. I’d feel bad if it did.”
Grant took all that in, and for a moment, he was as silent as he had been on the sofa after talking to Kendra. He took a good, long look at Laura. Since last night, he had been as intimate with her as it was possible for two people to be, and yet somehow, he felt as if he were seeing her now for the first time. “You know something?” he said.
“What?” said Laura.
“I like you.”
Laura felt a warmth spreading all over her skin. She could imagine herself turning a deeper shade of pink from head to toes. Her nipples felt as hard as diamonds. “Grant…” was all she could say.
“No, I do,” he said, fingering and squeezing at one of those little diamonds of flesh on her bosom. “It’s not just these.” He slipped his hand down below to brush her pubes and caress the lips of her sex. “And it’s not just this.” He moved his hand around to fondle her buttocks. “And it’s not just this. Though believe me, I’m gonna get a hell of a lot more of all of ‘em.” He moved his hand back to the moistening curtains of her passage. “Especially this. But I like you.” He kissed her with a tenderness that belied the raw sexuality of their being together. “You,” he repeated. “You went out to a place you didn’t know, looking to get laid. And you’re gonna get laid a hell of a lot more before I’m through, I promise. I haven’t even gotten started on you. But in the middle of all that, you’re actually worried about me and my sister. That’s just nice. That’s…not selfish, I guess. That’s thoughtful. I like that.” He kissed her again. “I like you. And I’m gonna spend this weekend giving you the best banging you’ve ever had.”
“You already have,” said Laura. “You already are.”
Grant kissed her again, deeply holding their mouths together and letting her suck at his tongue. He held her close and maneuvered the tip of his uncircumcised third leg to the half-parted lips of her womanhood. He slid it up and down and sent vibrating waves of delight through her body.
Breathlessly, Laura said, “You’re so perfect. Your face, your body, and what you have down there. And you’re so wonderful every time. I want you so much.”
Licking her lips, Grant said, “You’re gonna get me, babe. Like you’ve never gotten a man before. I want you, too. A lot. You deserve to be screwed within an inch of your beautiful little life, and that’s just what you’re getting.”
“Oh, Grant…” she exhaled before he took her mouth again in his fiery kiss.
“How about giving us another suck first?” he asked.
Grant rolled onto his back and pulled Laura on top of him, and without hesitation, she once again kissed and nuzzled her way down the hairy body that was giving her the greatest pleasure she had ever known. In a moment, she was at the mighty root of her ecstasy, and Grant flexed his muscles, arched his back, and moaned passionate curses at the delicious feeling of Laura swallowing and pulling at his meat and carefully squeezing his plums.
Laura sucked him and took in the long, low animal sounds that he made as she did, satisfying herself in satisfying him. After a long bout of oral pleasuring, Grant reared up on the mattress, gently pulled her face from his crotch, and growled, “Come here and lie down; I need to get back in you.” She practically lunged for her pillow to give him what he wanted and take what she wanted. Just as quickly, he had her on her back, her thighs up around his hips, and slid his moistened and steel-hard length into her. He brought himself down on her and drilled her like a madman, making her give out a little half-scream with every stroke and blow. He thrust away in and out of her and banged her like the animal she did not know he was, making her think he would shag the very sanity from her, until with one final ram and a roaring sound, he released his wet payload deep inside her yet again. Laura, sensing his climax, tightened her limbs around him as if to absorb the ecstasy from his body.
When Grant finally pulled out, he descended Laura’s body, lingering with his tongue at her breasts and nipples, then buried his head in her muff and mound and licked and sucked her to a mind-ripping orgasm of her own. When they were both done for the time being, Grant ended up resting with his head on her stomach. Laura brushed her fingers through his hair, taking in the feeling of him using her stomach for a pillow while Grant savored the rise and fall of her skin as she breathed. He mumbled sweet curses at her, and she smiled at the fulfillment of his promise. Surely, no man had ever pleased her as much as he did.
“I’m just getting warmed up on you, baby,” he said.
“Good,” she sighed.
And Grant continued to be as good as his word. They stayed in Laura’s bed for most of the day, except for a break when Grant thought to bring up his bag from his truck, for which he had to get dressed again—a necessity that they both hated. However, the break gave her an opportunity to make them lunch, for which she put on just a robe, and as soon as Grant returned to the apartment, he set down his travel bag by the door and left every stitch of his clothes in a heap beside it. They took lunch at the table, Grant sitting naked and Laura with her robe open, and while eating, Grant reached over to play with her breasts, making her laugh, and slipped his foot up from the floor and between her legs to play at her sex with his toes, which made her laugh more. This time, they did not bother to clear the table. Grant had the robe off her as fast as it took to tell it and again carried her to the sofa, laid her down on it, and climbed on top of her for another hard frenzy of humping. His climax made them both feel as if they would shatter to pieces, and they lay together panting, laughing, and kissing sloppily when it was over.
Somehow, they managed to get themselves back into bed. Grant straddled her bosom and worked his tool in and out of Laura’s mouth, carefully feeding it to her, tossing back his head and letting the feeling of his meat stroking between her lips and over his tongue consume him. Eventually, he pulled out of her mouth, straddled her ribs, and thrust his length between her breasts while she held them together, forming a groove of softness in which he worked. After a time of this exquisite feeling, Grant stretched himself out on the bed and let her climb atop him and impale herself on his stiff and livid pole. She wailed for joy as he put his feet together and fired himself up into her like a marksman releasing an arrow. His massive shaft pumped into and out of her from below while he used his fingers to strum at Laura’s tender bulb, bombarding her with two kinds of pleasure and driving her to a shaking and quivering climax. Feeling her come, he made a white geyser up into her, and she collapsed on top of him, letting him wrap those mighty arms around her while he filled her with his eruption and gradually slipped out of her.
They drifted off to sleep for a while, lying like spoons again, until Laura awoke to the feeling of his fingertips at her opening again, followed by his strong hand once more lifting her leg, the better to let his third leg penetrate deeply into her from behind. Banging against Laura’s buttocks and driving himself into her from tip to sac, Grant again pleasured her lady knob with his fingers, drilling and strumming her to another orgasm and answering hers with another gusher of his own.
In a dreamy, sex-soaked voice, Laura said, “The weekend will be half-over soon.”
Grant buried his head on her shoulder, nuzzling and kissing. “What are you talking about, half-over? We’re going into Saturday night, that’s all. And I’ll still be going into you lots more. We’ve got all tonight and all of Sunday ahead of us.” He kissed her shoulder and squeezed her stomach. “I’m gonna be in and out of you the whole time.”
“You just don’t quit,” Laura purred. “You’re like a big, gorgeous, wild beast.”
At that, Grant lifted his head, his eyes snapping wide open. Suddenly, his mind was flooded with the conversations he’d had with Johnny at the bar and his sister on the phone. So once again you’re having casual sex with a human woman you’ve just met, who has no idea what she’s in bed with.
He stayed frozen that way, unable to breathe, for a long moment. Hearing Laura say that while in his arms made him feel as if he had grabbed a live wire. It took him the full length of that moment to get hold of his nerves. He reminded himself of what this weekend was about. It was only for sex. It was only for the two of them to enjoy each other before he went home and Laura got on with the rest of her life. Wasn’t it?
What if Laura wanted more of him? What if his aim to sex her as she had never been sexed in her life left her with a craving for him? What would he do then?
Grant rested his head on her shoulder again. He would deal with that when and if it became necessary. That would be then. This was now. And turning his thoughts to right now and the rest of the weekend gave him a renewed stirring in his loins.
Kissing her ear and licking her lobe, Grant said, “It’ll be time for dinner soon. How about we have ourselves some appetizers first?”
Laura turned in his arms and met his willing mouth in a kiss. “Love to,” she said, and made her way down his outstretched body to his manly tower once more.