He made her eat first. Alyssa couldn’t believe it. What man delayed sex for any reason? But he was adamant, and so she shoved too hot potpie into her mouth while her belly jumped and tightened in anticipation. He, on the other hand, took his time as he ate huge forkfuls of the meal. He coiled his tongue around his fork while he winked at her. Then he made noises of appreciation that she’d only heard when her brother watched porn with the volume dialed up.
“You’re terrible!” she said after a particularly loud smack of his lips.
“You’re not finished,” he said, pointing with his fork at her plate. “And you’re going to need all your strength.”
She rolled her eyes. “Promises, promises,” she taunted. “You’re going to pump twice and be done. Then two minutes later, you’ll be snoring and I’ll be left high and dry.”
He arched a brow at her. “Is that a challenge?”
“Hell, no. I’m just reminding you that you said some very specific things a few moments ago. I expect you to be a man of your word.”
“I thought you wanted a man with a tongue.”
“Can’t I have both?” she asked before she popped the last bite into her mouth.
“You can tonight.” Then he looked at her plate. “You done?”
She took her time licking her fingers, mimicking his erotic sounds as best she could. She didn’t think it was working until she glanced at his hands. His expression remained flat, almost casual though his nostrils flared. But his hands kept spreading on his thighs before curling in and make deep imprints on his jeans. Open, then slowly curling into claws.
Oh yeah, she was getting to him.
Finally, she popped her last finger out of her mouth and wiped it on a paper towel. Then she smiled and sighed. “Yeah,” she said trying to make it sound like a moan. “I guess I’m done—Eep!”
She was over his shoulder and being hauled into her bedroom. She started to laugh but that made the bounce on her full stomach too much. So she settled for gripping whatever part of him she could squeeze, starting with his trim waist and extending down to his taut butt. But she didn’t get in more than a single fondle before he was flipping her back over before she dropped onto her bed with an “Umph!”
Laughing, she said, “Well, that was decisive of you.”
He didn’t answer as he stripped off his jeans and tee, leaving him naked and proudly erect. She flashed back to that afternoon and the feel of him hot and hard as he’d rubbed on her in front of all his men. At the time, she’d been flustered, aroused, and embarrassed, but not now. Right then, the memory made her skin burst with a flash fire of heat.
She sat up and put her hands to her T-shirt, planning to pull it off, but his hands were on hers before she could bare more than her belly button.
“I’ve got it,” he said as he brushed her hands aside. She wouldn’t have let go, but he also flicked his fingertips across her belly, which made her gasp. And in that moment of response, her fingers went lax and he slipped beneath her clothes.
Hot fingers, large hands, and a gentleness that had her skin trembling in response. He pulled up her tee while skimming across belly and breasts. Her nipples hardened but she didn’t move. It was too exquisite to feel a man touching her so sweetly.
He pulled off her tee then unhooked her bra. She’d always hated that she was a full-figured gal. Breasts sent the wrong message in business and frankly, they got in the way whenever she worked out. But the way he looked at them bouncing there before him made all the annoyance disappear. He touched them reverently and the slow, tentative touch was more erotic than anything she’d ever felt before.
“Simon,” she said on a groan.
“Lie back,” he said as he nuzzled her neck. His five-o’clock shadow sensitized her skin and when he nudged her with his nose, she giggled. He pulled back in surprise, but she didn’t let him go anywhere. She had her hands around his back, stroking up and down as she felt every muscle and tendon. Damn, he was one fine man.
“It’s just nerves,” she explained. “I haven’t done this in a long while.”
“Shhh,” he said as she toppled backward onto her pillow. “This is the most natural thing in the world.” And then he began to kiss her.
He started high, along her cheeks and lips. Then she felt him press kisses to her eyes before he nuzzled in her hairline. It was light and playful, but he was also very thorough. He seemed to need to touch and taste every inch of her. At first it was gentle and sweet. But soon her skin began to tingle and her breath grew short. He hadn’t even touched her breasts yet and she was aching for him in the worst way. She tried to pull his face around to hers. She wanted to kiss him long and deep, but he was unwilling to move from where he was scraping his teeth along her jaw. He had no problem with the way her hands roved over his body and, God, she loved the feel of his skin hot and strong beneath her fingertips.
He was sucking lightly on her collarbone, slipping lower on her body. She stroked her fingers across his short buzz cut hair, liking the way it felt like velvet. Better yet was the way he hummed when she used her nails over his scalp. No other way to describe it except as a deep hum of approval that vibrated from his chest through hers.
Then hallelujah, he found her breasts. Lots of time here while he nipped or sucked at them. Her aching nipples got the attention they wanted and her breath stuttered while her knees fell open. Oh yes, he had a marvelous tongue. And oh God, she was going to melt or explode or just die from the pleasure of it all.
“Simon,” she gasped. “I can’t wait.”
She unbuttoned her jeans with fumbling fingers and pushed them down. But he didn’t let her up so she could strip them completely away, and he didn’t rush what he was doing. No man had ever nuzzled her rib cage beneath her breasts. No man had ever rubbed the edge of his teeth along her less-than-flattering belly fat. But he did, and by the sounds he made in the back of his throat, he was well pleased with what he found.
By the time he put his lips to her mound, she’d lost all shame. She wanted him between her thighs now. He tugged her jeans past her knees, so she could finally work them off and kick them away. And then just when she thought he would fulfill his first promise to her, he pressed his fingers deep into the crevasse at the top of her thighs.
Her muscles there tensed in reaction, but then fell open with a flexibility she hadn’t ever felt before. She wanted to ask what that was, but she hadn’t the breath. And the need to have him touch her was overriding all other thoughts.
Thankfully, he did exactly that. He used his fingers and his tongue to work her open. He inhaled deeply and murmured his pleasure at her scent. And then he licked. Everywhere. Every way.
She came almost immediately. A detonation that had her hips lifting off the bed while her knees tightened around his broad shoulders. But that didn’t stop him. While she was crying out in delight, he just kept licking. Deep inside, across her mound, and then with slow broad strokes across her clit.
Never had she guessed any man could be so steady, so unchanging in his attentions. He was going to lick her everywhere while she rode wave after wave of pleasure.
Insane. And amazing.
She gave herself up to it and to him.
“Turn over,” he said when he had finished kissing her legs.
She hadn’t the breath or the strength, but he was implacable.
“Turn over,” he repeated as he rolled her onto her belly.
He kissed the back of her calves then licked the crease behind her knees. He spread her legs and nuzzled between her thighs. Then suddenly she felt the grip of his hands on her hips. It was so different from the steady strokes of his tongue that she was startled out of the haze of pleasure.
“Simon?” she whispered. She didn’t have the strength for more.
Then she gasped as he hauled her hips up and set her on her knees. Her upper body was still collapsed on the mattress, but he didn’t allow her to stay that way. He pulled her up and braced her hands. Then he set himself over her, his size only now really embedding itself on her thoughts. She nearly fit beneath him this way. He lay on her back and fondled her breasts, squeezing them before twisting her nipples.
She’d been in a lulled daze a moment before, so now his touch felt like lightning bolts to her breasts and nipples. And then she felt his penis push between her folds, thick and hot and so beautifully hard.
Yes. She’d wanted this for what felt like eons. Yes, yes, yes. Every panting breath was an echo of what her heart and mind was singing.
And still he fondled her breasts while she arched her back. She wanted him inside. So large. So hard. But first he had to—
He thrust and she cried out, startled because it was so quick. One minute he’d been teasing her, and then suddenly he was inside. Too big. There’d been a flash of pain, the steady stretch to accommodate. So big. She felt split open.
He started to draw out. He straightened off her back and his hands slid to her hips. Part of her thrilled at the possession. Most of her thrilled at it, but a tiny part of her brain was screaming. She’d needed him to do something first. He had to—
“Condom,” she gasped. Then she repeated it louder. “Condom!”
He wasn’t listening. His hands had tightened on her hips now, and he was thrusting inside. A steady pulse of penetration. In and in and in.
She started to struggle, but he held her fast. He couldn’t release. She couldn’t get pregnant!
“Simon! Stop!”
He didn’t. He wasn’t. So she became frantic.
She slammed forward and twisted. She grabbed his hand and tried to push him away. She had to stop this!
His hands tightened. God, he was so damn strong! She’d barely made it a few inches, and he made that up with his next thrust.
“Stop!” she bellowed.
He froze, completely embedded inside her. She was twisted around, trying to look at him. She saw him blink twice and focus. His breath was coming in heaving pants and his eyes burned with intensity. But he didn’t speak, so she had to.
“You need a condom, Simon. I could get pregnant.”
She watched his nostrils flare and knew her words had been a mistake. He wanted children.
She scrambled forward, and this time she managed to escape. He fell out of her, and she nearly moaned at the loss. But she used her momentum to lurch to her bedside table. She pulled it open and grabbed a foil packet. Spinning around she held it up between them.
“You have to wear a condom.”
His penis was wet and dark as it bobbed between them. His breathing was the same as it was before, harsh and steady, and his eyes were the same intense stare of incomprehension.
He was being a bear, she realized. In a place so primal that it couldn’t communicate, and it sure as hell didn’t understand modern birth control. So it was up to her.
He was still kneeling on the bed, looking at her with dark, steady eyes. She ripped open the packet and pulled out the wet latex. She’d never done this before, but she knew the basics.
First, she stroked him, sliding her fingers across the wet head and thick stalk. He rumbled, low and deep, so she did it again though she added some pressure. He made the sound again, this time louder and she knew he was pleased.
Now came the awkward part. She kept stroking him with one hand while the other managed the condom.
His rumbling came at a higher pitch this time, the sound tighter and slightly annoyed. But she didn’t let it stop her. She kept stroking him as she rolled the condom down. And then when it was done, she looked up into his eyes.
“Now it’s okay.” She touched his cheek and then went in for a kiss. His lips were tight, but she teased the seam of them with her tongue. And when they relaxed and opened, she invaded him. She pressed inside him and felt the shudder that went through his body.
And then suddenly, her knees were swept out from beneath her. She was abruptly dropped onto her back as he landed on all fours above her. No more kissing as he wordlessly looped her legs over his arms.
And then he widened her and thrust inside.
Impaled. Split open. Any of a thousand different words cut through her consciousness. But they all meant the same thing. She was completely vulnerable to him, wide open and barely able to move. While he did what he wanted.
He thrust into her. Deep strokes that she felt all the way to her back.
Steady pound as he pierced straight through her core.
An unrelenting beat as her body grew taut around his. As the thump of his body against hers had her legs tightening, her breath stuttering, and her body gripping him. Taking him. Sucking on him.
He went on and on as she arched and gripped. Thighs, belly, core. She tightened around him. Harder. Thicker. Stronger.
Her toes curled and her head dropped back.
And still he kept pounding.
Orgasm.
Waves of pleasure while she writhed around him.
He was the center, and she was the one spinning wildly around him.
Yes.
God, yes!
It went on forever while she pulsed and sighed. Pleasure so beautiful. Sweet waves that lapped at her while she remained anchored to him.
Had he come? He must have. His expression was blissful. And yes, she felt the pulses of his organ, but it was a minor thing compared to the pleasure that kept her heart and mind aglow.
And when she was completely boneless lying there, still impaled by him, he leaned down. It was a slow movement, so she saw it coming. She stretched forward, but hadn’t the strength to meet him. So he came to her.
His lips to hers. His mouth on hers.
A kiss. A long, slow kiss with a tongue that was thorough in her mouth.
And when he was done, he pulled back. Not just away from her mouth, but from her body as well. He dropped back onto his calves and he stared at her. There was love in his eyes, but also a vague confusion. As if he didn’t know what to do next.
“Still deep in the grizzly, aren’t you?” she asked.
He didn’t answer, so she took that as a yes.
“That’s okay. I like your grizzly.”
So she cleaned him up. She disposed of the condom and brought a wet towel to wipe his body of the sweat. He chuffed as she worked, clearly wanting to touch her. But she held his hand away, feeling both too tired and too energized to allow more sex play. It was a new feeling, this whisper in her heart. She didn’t have to look too closely to understand it.
Tenderness. Affection.
Love.
She was in love with Simon. After less than two days, she’d tumbled headlong into love. With a bear.
If she weren’t feeling so wonderful, she’d call herself an idiot. Instead, she tossed aside the washcloth and nudged Simon until he lay down in her bed. Then she burrowed beneath the covers and his arm so that they could spoon in their sleep.
Two breaths later, and she was out. The last thing she remembered was Simon pressing his lips to her neck for one last, sweet lick.