Logan had reached the momentous decision while standing in her cabin earlier that he was going to have her every way possible. His oldest brother was the unofficial leader of their clan and had decreed that they would not fraternize with guests to avoid complications. He’d never before been tempted to break that rule, but looking at Zoe, it was more than just temptation. It was determination. To hell with Barrett’s rules. And now that she was sober, marginally recuperated, and from the sweet scent wafting from her, clearly willing, there wasn’t anything to stop him. Just to savor it, he drew in another deep breath. There was nothing better than the sweet, sweet scent of a woman who was not just ready to be taken, but eager.

It wasn’t an opportunity that he intended to pass up. Beautiful, single, honey-scented women did not just drop into a man’s, or a bear’s, lap every day, and he would be a damn fool to ignore that. Still, it was obvious from her expression that she wasn’t quite over the embarrassment she’d suffered that morning. He didn’t particularly understand that; he’d never truly been drunk. As a shifter, the amount of alcohol it would take to get him inebriated was more than he was willing to consume anyway.

“I can’t stay,” she said.

Logan stepped forward, not enough to spook her, but enough to crowd her just a little. Instantly, he heard her heartbeat kick up a little, and then felt his own respond in kind when she licked her lips. He’d never seen a sexier woman in his life than Zoe Hawkins. “You have some pressing appointment with the minibar?” he asked with a slow, and what he’d been told was charming, grin. The answering blush that spread of her cheeks was all the answer he needed. He wanted to see color blooming her pretty cheeks for an entirely different reason. Recalling the sexy strip tease she’d almost performed for him that morning, he was more than a little eager for a repeat performance.

She gave him a baleful stare and tried to step back. Her elbow knocked into a rack of postcards and the whole thing almost tumbled to the ground. She managed to save it, just barely. Even then, a few “Welcome to the Smoky Mountains” cards littered the floor at her feet. “No. Well, I have a book deadline… but that isn’t exactly inspiring me to write.”

“What’s your book about?” He didn’t really care. He just wanted her to keep talking, to stay close enough to him that he could convince her to let him be a very good distraction.

For a moment, she looked like a deer in the headlights. Then her lips firmed and she said, “I just came in to get some supplies. Not to get the third degree on my career!”

He laughed at that. “I didn’t ask you for your yearly salary and tax info. What do you write, Zoe Hawkins? I might want to read one of your books sometime."

“I highly doubt that,” she fired back, her tone snooty and her nose in the air.

“I might be a hillbilly, Zoe, but I assure you that I can and do read… more than just roadkill recipes, too.” He wasn’t truly offended. She was hedging for a reason and had her back up like a spitting cat. He figured her reluctance to answer was more about her than about him.

“I didn’t mean to imply—well, of course, you can read. You intentionally misinterpreted what I said!” Her reply was clipped, but her expression was completely stricken. It was obvious to him she was mortified at having come off as pretentious and uppity, which was exactly what he’d expected.

Logan watched her draw in a deep breath and then with her gaze averted, she admitted reluctantly. “I write romance novels.”

“Really?” he asked, his smile widening. “I’ve read a few of them a time or two. They’re not my favorite genre but a good book is a good book. I always figured there’s a little romance in every story… least there is if it’s one worth telling.”

Watching her blink at him in shock was worth having admitted his shameful teenage secret. He and has brothers had all taken a few turns reading the ancient romance novels their mother had left behind. They skipped around a lot to get to the good parts, but they’d been worth it.

“You seriously read romance novels?”

“I have,” he answered honestly. “And I’d be happy to help you with inspiration, Zoe, if you’d let me.”

She just stood there, staring at him as if she was completely unimpressed. He imagined it was a line she heard often, but he was completely sincere. “I don’t think so,” she said, her tone saccharine sweet and liberally laced with skepticism.

He knew it wasn’t lack of interest. First, because he smelled her desire and it was driving him crazy. Second, she had the worst poker face of anyone he’d ever seen. Every thought was written plainly over her pretty face. “Yes, you do think so. You wouldn’t have come down here if you hadn’t wanted to see me again, Zoe.”

She opened her mouth and words flooded out in a torrent just like they had that morning when she’d been drunk and horny as hell. “I admit that I have thought about it. You’re very attractive. Extremely attractive. Better looking than any man ought to be for a woman’s peace of mind. Naturally, good looking men ought never be trusted. My granny always told me that.”

She paused to take a breath and Logan just nodded and offered an “uh-huh” to keep her talking. As long as she was talking, she wasn’t leaving, and that meant he still had a shot.

When she’d refilled her lungs to capacity, an act that caused her breasts to lift up beneath the incredibly soft looking sweater she had on, he glanced down. He couldn’t help it, but he did manage to drag his eyes right back up to her face.

“But I’m sure you already know that,” she continued. “I’m just as sure that every single female guest and some not single female guests throw themselves at you every time they’re here. Every maintenance call is a pitiful attempt to get you to come snake more than their drain—” Her hand flew up, clamping over her runaway mouth as her eyes widened in what he could only assume was horror at having uttered something so risqué.

Logan threw his head back and laughed. She wasn’t wrong. “I don’t think I’ve ever had it put quite so bluntly, but you might be on to something. Thing is, Zoe, me and my brothers have a rule here about fraternizing with the guests. And I’ve never even been tempted to break it ‘til now.”

“Never?”

He nodded. “That’s right, Zoe. I’m not a rule breaker… That’s never been a thing for me. I figure rules are there for a reason, and most of the time it doesn’t hurt a thing to abide by ‘em. But if I do it this time, if I left you walk out of here without telling you how much I want you—well, that one will hurt."

“I’m flattered and more tempted than I ought to be,” she admitted. “Especially after what you said this morning. But, I just don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Why not?” he demanded

Her hair had slipped forward, falling into her face. She pushed it back with an irritated gesture and said in a slightly snappish tone, “Because I’m too old for you… or you’re too young for me. However you want to look at it. Either way, I ought to be ashamed of myself.”

Logan blinked at her for a moment, trying to figure out if she was serious. He realized that she was. “I am legal,” he said. “Been that way for about a decade and a half now.” Shifters healed faster, aged slower, and generally had greater longevity than the general public, but it was a bit early to be explaining that to her.

“You are not in your thirties,” she said. “I don’t appreciate being lied to.”

That pissed him off. He was a lot of things, but he’d never counted liar amongst them. “Do you want to see my driver’s license? Maybe we can call my brother and you can ask him? Birth certificate might be around here somewhere if I look hard enough. I’m afraid you can’t ask my mother, she’s been gone for a long time now.” The last came out clipped. “I’m not a liar, Zoe. I don’t need to be.”

Now it was her turn to be on the defensive and she came out swinging. “And I don’t routinely get drunk and proposition men who look young enough to be my—my…,” she trailed off, clearly unable to come up with an appropriate word.

“Young enough to be your lover? Friend? Boyfriend? Husband? Fuck buddy? What exactly am I young enough or old enough to be to you, Zoe Hawkins?”

There must have been something in his tone, some predatory note that sent her scurrying back. She set down the basket of items and started to retreat. “I should go. This wasn’t a good idea… I don’t even know why I’m here,” Zoe whispered.

Logan moved toward her, stalking. In that moment, he could feel the animal inside him clawing to the surface. When he was close enough to her that they stood nearly nose to nose, he whispered softly, “You do know. You came here for the same reason I was knocking on your door this morning—because you want the same thing I do.”

She didn’t like being cornered. He could see it in the tilt of her chin, the way she squared her shoulders, and tried to look down her nose at him. If he hadn’t been so painfully, achingly hard that he thought it would kill him, he might have thought it was cute. But the need riding him went beyond attraction, beyond just lust. It was primal and the bear in him knew it.

“What exactly is that?” she demanded.

Logan had known she would ask. Without a second thought, he grasped her wrist, tugging her forward until her breasts were crushed against his chest, until the sweet scent of her overwhelmed him completely, and until his cock pressed into the softness of her belly and she could feel just how hard he was for her. “This,” he answered, before descending on her parted lips.

The taste of her was sweeter than he’d imagined, the softness of her lips beneath his was like a spark to tinder. He wanted more. He wanted everything and so did she. Her arms came up, closing around his neck. The hard points of her nipples were impossible to miss, as was the way she arched her hips against him.

Logan allowed his hands to drift over her soft curves, her back, the indentation of her waist, until he could cup the soft, generous globes of her perfect ass. He lifted her easily, pressing her back against the shelves. Without hesitation she wrapped her legs around him and he could feel the tempting heat of her sex against his denim covered cock. It was like flipping a switch in his brain. All he could think and feel was boiled down to one single word: Mine.

The bell tinkled above the door. Logan drug his lips away from her long enough to yell out, “We’re closed!”

“The sign says—”

“Closed!” he roared.

Whoever it was clearly thought better of questioning him again. The bell tinkled again as the person made their retreat. Rather than risk another interruption, Logan lowered her feet to the floor, but he didn’t let go of her. He kept her hand firmly in his as he moved toward the door of the shop and flipped the sign around. As an added measure of security, he clicked the lock into place.

“What are you doing?” she demanded. “You’re going to get fired!”

“I own a third of the mountain,” he said. “They can’t fire me. I’m family… But I don’t want to talk about that.”

“What do you want to talk about?”

He grinned. “How long it’s going to take to have your legs wrapped around me again…preferably with no clothing between us this time.”

* * *

Zoe couldn’t think. Hell, she could barely breathe. The idea of being naked with him should have terrified her. He was ripped, with muscles on top of muscles and abs that could be played like xylophone. She had dimples on top of dimples, and she had abs, somewhere. But that wasn’t the first thought that came to her mind. Instead, all she could think about was how good it would feel. Skin to skin. His weight on her, pressing down on her as he drove into her. She wanted it so bad it made her knees tremble.

“Then you better hurry before I come to my senses,” she said.

If there was anything else she could have said to spur him on quite so intensely she had no idea what it might be. He moved forward, leaned in, and lifted her up over his shoulder in a classic fireman’s carry. His hands roamed her thighs and her bottom as he strode the short distance to the office door, tucked behind the counter. She might have been upset about the less than romantic and certainly less than flattering pose, but it gave her such an amazing view of his truly impressive ass that any complaint she uttered would only be lip service. Everything about him was perfect. It was like the jeans he wore had been tailor made to fit him and showcase everything that God had given him.

When she was tossed backward onto the couch with enough force that she bounced, there was no opportunity to complain at all. Before she even stopped jiggling, he was on her. His lips were hungry, his teeth just a shade less than gentle as he nipped at her lips, and his tongue, dear, sweet Lord, his tongue. But it wasn’t just the kiss, it was the fact that his hands were everywhere. If she’d been able to think at all, she might have wondered at just how easily he supported his weight with only one arm. She might have even stopped to consider how easily he’d picked up all two hundred pounds of her and tossed her over his shoulder like she weighed nothing at all. But thought was quickly becoming a thing of the past. It was just sensation as he all but consumed her. Clothes simply vanished beneath his questing fingers, being tossed carelessly aside.

It wasn’t just hers, she realized, with a start. When he pressed his chest against hers, she noted that his own clothes were gone as well. She wanted to see him, to take in every glorious detail, but that would mean letting go of him. It would also mean giving reality a chance to intrude. The last thing she wanted was to come to her senses and deprive of herself of what was quickly shaping up to be the most satisfying sexual experience of her life. It would be nice, for once in her damn life, to have someone to say something was better than sex and be able to smile secretively and tell them, “No, it isn’t”. So, instead, she decided to learn his magnificent body by touch.

The crisp hair that covered his pecs teased her nipples. Her hands roamed over his chest, feeling every rippling muscle, every hard ridge and plane of a body that could have been carved by the Greeks. His thighs moved between hers and instinctively she parted for him. The heaviness of his erection against the soft skin of her inner thigh sparked her desire even more. She was so wet for him that, if she’d had a moment to think about it, she might actually have been embarrassed. He’d barely touched her yet.

His mouth moved from hers and then blazed a trail of hot kisses down her neck, over the arch of her collarbone. When he closed his lips over one taut peak, laving the hardened bud with his tongue, Zoe let out a soft, keening cry. The heat of his mouth on her was both soothing and maddening. It eased an ache she hadn’t even realized she had, but it only intensified the need that was driving her. Everywhere he touched her, she burned.

“Please,” she murmured. “I can’t take anymore.”

“You can,” he growled against her skin, and he nipped at the underside of her breast with his teeth.

There was an edge of danger with him that should have frightened her, but it didn’t. It only made her want him more. “Logan, I can’t wait!”

He wouldn’t be hurried. His lips and tongue moved over her breasts, teasing and tormenting until her nipples were so hard they actually hurt.

“You’re killing me,” she uttered on a hissed breath. “I’m dying here!”

“You’re not. You think you are, but trust me on this.”

He moved and Zoe felt the thick length of him against her thigh. It wasn’t just length, but girth. He was big in every possible way, and she hadn’t had sex with anything that wasn’t battery operated in a really long time. “Fine, but can we hurry a little?”

He pressed a kiss against her stomach and she could feel him grin. He moved lower and kissed her again. And the buzzkill thought for the day was that she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a bikini wax. Hell.

Before she could utter a token of protest, he’d descended on her completely. Sliding one finger inside her, he teased her with it, as his tongue circled her clit gently. Bush or no bush, he clearly knew his way around. She gripped the couch cushion, needing something to hold on to as he feasted on her. The scrape of his beard on her skin, the soft and silky glide of his tongue over her heated flesh was more than she could handle.

She shuddered as he pressed his finger inside her, curling it forward and stroking a spot that literally made the world go white. Light danced behind her eyes and her lips parted on a soundless cry as her whole body tensed. As she hovered there, on the edge of an orgasm that might actually be the death of her, he stopped abruptly.

Gasping, literally panting for breath, every muscle quivering on the edge of a release that he’d denied her, Zoe couldn’t even think. “Why did you stop? For the love of God!”

* * *

He’d stopped because he was losing control, not just of his need to consume her, but also of the bear that was growling inside him., demanding release. It wasn’t an experience he’d ever had before. He shifted when he felt like it, when he was restless or antsy. But he’d felt the claws ready to burst through his skin, his teeth sharpening and lengthening. This was something new, something dangerous.

How the hell was he supposed to explain it to her? I stopped because I’m on the verge of transforming into a three-hundred-pound black bear that might look familiar to you. That could not happen. If he told her the truth, he’d have blue balls for the rest of his supernatural life. Forcing himself to breathe through it, to tamp down that side of himself, the last thing in the world he wanted to do was hurt or scare her. This sobering thought did more to curb his inner beast than anything he’d actually done. So he held on to them, chanting them in his head the way some men recited baseball stats. Don’t scare the pretty woman. Keep your claws to yourself.

“Because I’m not ready to let you come yet, Zoe. You’ve had me tied in knots since last night.” It was a partial truth he could live with. He whispered the words against her skin, nipping gently at her inner thighs and then soothing with soft, feather light kisses. “The longer you wait for it, the better it will be.”

Her expression was one of not just disbelief, but outrage. If it was possible to be righteously indignant and completely naked at the same time, Zoe was there. “Logan, do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve had sex? Seriously? Any idea?”

He chuckled, his breath fanning over her skin in a way that made her see stars. “No. I don’t… Months?” he guessed. While the idea of Zoe having sex with anyone else bothered him more than a little, he couldn’t imagine that men weren’t knocking down her door.

“Double digit months and not in the damn teens, either! At this point I can almost measure it in years! Trust me… I’ve waited!”

There was no appropriate response to that. If he expressed disbelief or shock, she’d accuse him of calling her a liar. If he was totally accepting of it, she’d accuse him of not thinking she was attractive enough to get a man. Neither one of those was an accurate interpretation, but Zoe, he was learning, was a perverse and contrary creature. He was starting to think it was part of her charm.

Since talking would only get him in trouble, he decided to go with action instead. Logan levered himself up until he was on top of her, his weight resting on his forearms and the softness of her body pressed fully against him. She locked her legs around his waist, but it was her hand that had his full attention. Her fingers locked around his cock, squeezing and stroking but constantly guiding him forward until he was nudging between the hot, slick walls of her sex.

Logan couldn’t stop the growl that escaped him. She felt so good, so perfect, and so achingly tight around him. Pressing deeper, savoring every moan and cry from her, he didn’t stop until he was balls deep inside her.

“Jesus,” he muttered.

“Let’s not bring religion into this,” she said breathlessly. “Anything that feels this good will surely send us to hell.”

His laugh turned into a groan as she moved beneath him, arching her hips and circling them slowly, torturously against him. “You’re an evil woman, Zoe.”

“Then you’d better subdue me.”

It was the wrong thing to say to him. Or hell, maybe it was the right thing. But it sparked something inside him. It brought out the animal. Grabbing her wrists, he put her hands over her head, holding them in one of his own. It left his other hand free to roam, to cup the soft weight of her breasts, to tease taut nipples until she was crying out.

He withdrew, leaving only the tip of his cock inside her. She whimpered as he paused there, waiting. When her whimper became a cry of protest, he surged in again—deep, hard. The pleasure of it was so intense that light danced behind his eyes and he could feel his balls tightening. He wouldn’t last long, but he’d be damned if she didn’t go first.

“You feel so good,” he whispered against her ear, nipping at her earlobe, kissing her neck. He bit down not as gently as he should have. It would leave a mark. “So wet for me, Zoe…so hot and tight. Tell me what you want, baby.”

“More,” she whispered. “I want more.”

He gave it to her. With short, shallow thrusts he drove her higher, taking her back to that edge. Her thighs trembled around him. The quivering of her belly told him just how close she was. Dipping his head, he closed his mouth over one hardened nipple, scraping it lightly with his teeth and then flicking it with his tongue.

She shattered. Her soft, kiss-swollen lips parted on a harsh cry and her whole body trembled beneath him as her pussy clamped tightly around his cock. He could feel the spasms of her orgasm around him, milking him.

Logan closed his eyes, let his body give in to the need. Thrusting again, deep inside her, he went completely still as the pleasure washed through him. Every jerk, every spasm as he spilled himself inside her was perfection.

In the aftermath, resting his weight on his arms so he didn’t crush her, but still lying on top of her, Logan was in no move to hurry. As he nuzzled her neck and inhaled the scent of her that was now even sweeter, he felt his body stirring. Even for a shifter, that was a record. There was something about Zoe Hawkins that made her special, and while he didn’t know what that was, he intended to find out.

What he did know for a fact was that there would be hell to pay. He’d broken his brother’s rule. And for the next week, he intended to break it again at every possible opportunity. Whatever the fallout, she was more than worth it.