chapter TWENTY-THREE
Berg pushed the double doors open and together they walked into the suite.
“Wowwwwwww,” Charlie sighed.
“I didn’t even have to duck,” he noted, looking up to see that he still had headspace beneath the doorframe. “It’s like how I imagine heaven.”
Steps led down into the living room.
“I want to live here forever.” Charlie did a little spin around. “Look at this place!”
Berg closed the doors. “Does this mean I need to be nice to the weasel?”
“Absolutely not!” She grinned before diving onto the couch. “Look at the size of this couch!” She ran from one end to the other. “It’s as big as Nebraska!”
“It’s bear-sized. So a polar can sleep on it comfortably.”
“Or an elephant.” With a laugh, she flopped onto the cushions. “Fabulous!”
Berg came around the couch and dropped down next to her. “Look. A basket.”
“For us? Or do we have to pay for that shit like with a minibar?”
Not knowing the answer, Berg reached over and grabbed the greeting card from the basket. “I’m guessing you’ll need this,” he read out loud. He took hold of the handle and moved the basket to the coffee table in front of them. The plastic wrap was a dark red so he couldn’t see through it. He opened it and snorted.
“Love basket,” he announced.
“Ugh,” she said, rolling her eyes. “He is such an asshole.”
Berg took a closer look before relaxing back into the couch. “Condoms. Oils. A couple of vibrators.” He shook his head. “Subtle.”
“The reason my sister likes Dutch so much is because he’s as subtle as she is.”
Now, right next to him, Charlie rested her head against his arm. He could see the exhaustion on her face, knew she’d had a long day and probably just wanted to go to bed. Alone. Without some big guy trying to sidle his way up to her so he could get laid. No matter what she might have said in the restaurant.
He pulled his arm out so he could put it around her shoulders and pull her in close.
“Get some sleep.”
Her body relaxed. Her head now against his chest. “Okay.”
After a few minutes, Berg thought Charlie was asleep until he heard her take in a deep breath.
“This new allergy med Stevie turned me on to is rocking my world.”
Berg had to laugh. He’d never heard anyone talk about medications the way the MacKilligan sisters did.
“I can smell everything. It’s like a new world has opened up to me.”
“Now you can tell the difference between bears, I hope.”
“Especially since you guys take it all so personally.”
Charlie continued to sniff and Berg smiled, closing his eyes when he realized he was as tired as she was.
That was . . . until she suddenly turned her head into his body and began sniffing him.
* * *
She felt Berg jerk under her nose.
“Wha . . . what are you doing?”
“You smell awesome. But”—she took several more sniffs—“no cologne.”
“I don’t wear cologne. It bothers most of us . . . shifters I mean.”
Charlie turned her body and took more sniffs, letting her nose lead her up to his neck, taking in Berg’s scent.
When she pulled away, about to say again how awesome he smelled, she found his gaze locked on her face, jaw tight, brow pulled low. It should have frightened her, that particular expression, but nope.
Charlie leaned in, keeping her eyes locked on his, not wanting to lose the contact. Not wanting to lose him.
As she had earlier that morning—Christ, had that only been this morning?—Charlie pressed her lips against Berg’s.
She really wasn’t tired anymore. The thought of going to sleep now . . . no. She didn’t want to do that.
She continued to kiss him, his body rigid beneath her.
Maybe he’d suggested getting some sleep because once he was alone with her, he wasn’t really interested. Didn’t really want to be bothered with a crazy female and her even crazier sisters and the psychotic family they belonged to despite the fact the family wanted nothing to do with Charlie and her siblings.
What sane male wanted to be part of all that?
Realizing she’d made a mistake, Charlie started to pull away, but he must have felt it. Must have felt her retreat because his big hands suddenly framed her face and he kissed her back. Hard and wonderfully overwhelming.
His tongue slid into her mouth, tangled with hers, while he pulled her onto his lap.
All sleepiness and doubt wiped from her mind, Charlie could only think about getting Berg Dunn’s clothes off. She went for his T-shirt first, gripping the fabric with her hands and lifting, revealing abs and a chest that Charlie had assumed she’d only find in comic book hero movies.
Berg pulled back and lifted his arms so she could remove his shirt, then quickly returned, kissing her again, like he was trying to crawl inside her. Become one with her.
She should have been freaked out by his intensity. When guys she’d dated in the past, full-humans, attempted to come on to her like this, she couldn’t get away fast enough. They’d made her uncomfortable, made her envision hard breakups that involved stalking.
But not Berg. She didn’t get that vibe with him. So she let him overwhelm her. She let him grab her tight around the waist and pull her even closer, his lips never leaving hers.
His hands moved over her skin, fingertips sliding over scars and bumps, and he didn’t seem to care. Scars weren’t ugly to him, just reminders of what it meant to be the daughter of Freddy MacKilligan.
She didn’t even know when he got her shirt off. Or her bra. She just knew her top half was naked and his mouth was on her breasts, sucking her nipples, his hands enjoying the weight before moving to her back, her waist.
Charlie gasped, his mouth on her nipples felt . . . different. Weird. Not bad, though. Not bad at all. More like outstanding. Yes. Outstanding. Like he had two mouths on one nipple.
Yeah. That was definitely weird. Weird she’d even thought of that.
But before she could try to figure out what was happening, he had her on her back, her jeans and panties down around her ankles.
She thought he’d take off her jeans completely but he didn’t. He just lifted her legs, her knees bent, and pushed them practically over her head. It was like the jeans were ropes, keeping her legs trapped. Just the thought had her wet.
Then his face disappeared and his mouth was on her pussy.
Charlie gasped. She felt it again. Like there were two mouths on her rather than just the one. She didn’t get it. Didn’t understand it. But couldn’t really even think about it too much. Not when he began to eat her out. His tongue was sliding inside her like he wanted to devour her. Lips playing with her clit. Twisting it this way and that. Owning it. Ruling it.
Reaching above her head, Charlie grasped the arm of the couch and held on for dear life. Twisting from one side to the other. It seemed like her body wanted to get away. That what it was feeling was just too intense. But no. She didn’t want to get away. She wanted to stay here as long as she could, letting Berg Dunn twist her around his big fingers like the finest bread dough.
Her grip on the couch tightened. Her legs trembled. She heard roaring and realized it was in her ears. Like a tsunami crashing down on her.
Her back arched off the couch, but Berg—thank God!—held on. Kept her grounded to this moment as he made her come once . . . then again. One orgasm right after the other and she couldn’t stop it. Not that she wanted to but it didn’t matter.
She cried out at some point, but she didn’t know when. She just knew that she was coming all over Berg’s face and he didn’t seem to care. He just kept licking and playing and holding her pinned to that giant couch that she wanted to take with her wherever she might move in the next ten thousand years.
When the second orgasm finally left her body, she realized she had Berg trapped between her thighs, unwilling to let him go.
She forced herself to release the man, panting harshly as she turned on her side.
Charlie gave herself a moment to calm down. She didn’t want to say anything stupid. Do anything stupid that could ruin what had just happened. But she made the foolish mistake of looking up at the bear sitting beside her. His arms were stretched out across the back of the couch, his gaze focused straight ahead. Then his tongue lashed out and licked her juices from his face.
It was like he was licking the remnants of that honey bun they’d had earlier. Like he’d never tasted anything better.
And he was tasting her.
She shoved her jeans, panties, and sneakers off, then launched herself at the bear, shoving him down on the couch.
His eyes widened in shock.
“What’s happening?” he demanded.
“Shut up,” she ordered. She unzipped his jeans and yanked them down far enough to get his cock out. She grabbed a condom from Dutch’s stupid—but helpful—love basket.
She had the condom on him, and that’s when he decided to start talking.
“Charlie—”
She covered his face with her hand before grabbing his cock with the other and holding it steady so she could drop her pussy on it. She did and . . . holy shit.
Holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit . . .
* * *
All his best intentions out the window.
He’d planned to do the whole taking his time, getting her to another orgasm thing. He’d planned on a good half hour for their first time. But then she’d attacked him. She’d come after him like a cheetah after a gazelle in one of those Animal Planet documentaries.
And God, he’d liked it. Loved it. Knowing she wanted him as much as he wanted her.
The problem now was that the bear in him wanted her. Not the man. The bear wanted her and Berg wasn’t sure he could do much about it.
He decided to risk it. To take a chance that Charlie MacKilligan was really up for this ride.
He gripped her hips and in one move rolled them over—while keeping his cock inside her—putting her in the same position he’d had her when he’d given her head.
She gasped in surprise but she didn’t try to push him off. She didn’t seem pissed. Just curious.
He bent her knees and pushed her legs back so that when he leaned in, her ankles rested on his shoulders.
Placing his arms on either side of her, he loomed over her. And, again, she didn’t seem to mind. He moved his hips a bit. This way. That. Until he heard her make a sound that was distinct. And he felt it. The way her pussy clenched hard. Knowing he’d hit the right spot, he plowed into her. Not taking his time. Not really thinking about much besides how good she felt.
He just fucked her. Hard. But he’d been smart, like most bears. Found the right spot so that, as he fucked her, his cock kept hitting it. Kept slamming into it.
Now her entire body clenched around him. Her hands reached up and grabbed hold of the couch arm again. He was grateful, too, because her claws came out, ripping into the leather rather than his flesh.
Her eyes were open wide and she stared right through him. Her breath shortening, her body beginning to shake. And he just kept going. The grizzly had taken over, claiming what was his, making Charlie his . . . at least as far as the bear was concerned.
She began to curse. The same phrase over and over. “Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit.” Until it was one, long word: “Ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshitohshitohshitohshit!”
Charlie exploded around him, her curses becoming a silent shout, her sweat mingling with Berg’s, the couch arm devastated by those claws.
And he came right behind her. Unable to stop himself once he’d looked down into that beautiful face and saw such pleasure. Such happiness at what he was doing to her. Oblivious to what she was doing to him.
When the last spasm rolled through him, he collapsed on top of her, unable to move for at least two minutes. Then he was afraid he would crush her, so he moved them both onto their sides, staring at each other. Panting. Sweating. Smiling.
“This doesn’t have to mean anything,” she finally said, not hurting his feelings because he could hear the teasing in her voice.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah. It could just be the haze of first time sex. I bet, if we try again . . . we’ll find out it was a fluke.”
To Berg’s amazement, even before he registered what she was really saying to him, his cock understood. It twitched, still inside her. Still wearing the condom.
“We should definitely try again.” He was still panting, but his body didn’t care. He reached over her to the basket, grabbed another condom. “You know . . . to be sure.”