She attacked the plate of mussels and slid one of the slippery butter soaked tidbits into her mouth. She moaned and closed her eyes. Rain loved that she didn’t hide her reactions. If she liked something, she let it show.

He only wished that she was as open about how she felt about him. He knew that she was feeling something. He could smell how much she liked him. What was behind her eyes told him that she was fighting her feelings.

Every moment she didn’t turn tail on him, he felt like they were moving forward. He couldn’t lie and say that it wasn’t still a valid concern. He might need another talk with his brother to sort out his next steps.

“I’m glad you’re hungry. Is there anything else you want?”

Quinn started talking with half a mouth full of food, “No, this is good.”

Rain grabbed a chair and moved it under her. She sat with a nod, and kept chewing. He figured staring at her while eating was crossing some kind of line, so he grabbed the plate of Ribeye and dug in. It was good, really good. But then, what would you expect from the Four Seasons. He was hungrier than he realized and put away the steak in no time. Quinn had moved on to the fries and started picking apart the hamburger, tossing the bun aside.

“Problem with the bun?”

“No, just too filling. I want to save room for the good stuff. I can have bread anytime.”

Leaning over he said, “Let me try.”

She hesitated a little like she didn’t want to give up the burger. She was eating it with a fork and knife, so she cut him off a huge bite.

Rain opened his mouth comically big and wiggled his tongue.

“Oh yeah. That’s hot, baby,” she snorted. She still fed him the bite.

“Not bad,” he mumbled around the bite.

“I know! So good. I could have this every day.”

“Don’t you think you could get too much of a good thing?” he asked.

She raised her eyebrow at him.

“You don’t count, Quinn. I’ll never get enough of you, and you are much better than a burger or some ribeye.”

“Gee thanks, honey.”

Rain glanced down at his plate. He wanted to ask her something and wasn’t sure if it was going to be an easy sell or he’d have to convince her.

Taking a slug of champagne, he swallowed and cleared his throat. “Uh, Quinn?

“Mm-hmm?” Quinn was poking at the steak tartare. “Are you supposed to eat this raw?”

Ignoring the question, he just stabbed some of the tartare and popped it into his mouth. She watched him chew then followed suit.

“Quinn, would you meet my family? Just my brother and his wife first. Not all of them. But I think you’d like them and I know that they’d love to meet you.”

Quinn had stopped chewing and was looking at him with bug eyes. She made an audible swallowing noise.

“Uhh…”

The feeling of sheer terror that passed over Quinn made her palms itch and her back start to sweat. Family? Quinn had no idea what to do with a family. That whole dynamic was so foreign to her; she had never even had dinner at a friend’s house, and now Rain wanted her to meet some of his family? At least he didn’t say his mother, that horror was too much for her to wrap her brain around.

She wasn’t ready. She was handling things pretty well, she thought. Guy that says he loves her, also says he can turn into a bear, whatever. But meeting his brother, the advice brother, was different than meeting Fin. Fin was kind of an idiot and it was easy to be comfortable around him. But Rain had talked about his older brother and his wife, no scratch that, his mate and their babies like it was his idea of heaven.

Babies, she could totally handle those. She liked kids. They were innocent and usually didn’t throw too much attitude. Kids were tolerable. Adults were judgmental assholes.

“Is there any way we could sideline this conversation say in exchange for sex?”

“Quinn, I’m always up for making love to you, but I’d still like you to think about it. My brother’s mate is probably the best person to answer any questions you might have. And she will totally not bullshit you about anything. She always tells it like it is.”

“I could never accuse you of not being honest, Rain. I’m just not sure I’m ready to delve into… all of this. I mean, come on, I haven’t even met this bear of yours.” She said this with a laugh. It didn’t mean she wasn’t horribly frightened by either potential outcome.

In one scenario, he stood there and made weird growling noises at her and she would have to figure out how to move out of state and still finish her degree.

How did one go about getting a restraining order anyway? In the other, the universe felt like mocking all of her assumptions about life and Rain would, in fact, turn into a big hairy critter. That scenario was actually more daunting than the first because then she wouldn’t have any reason not to believe everything he’d ever said to her. That horrible inner pessimist was rooting for option one. It would be easier to deal with and it would cement her current belief system.

“Then let’s spend our night together. We can discuss things again tomorrow.”

Gawd, he was so nice. He always comforted her when she expected him to be annoyed at her lack of enthusiasm about his devotion.

“Deal.” She would take the reprieve, gladly. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t try to keep him distracted from any more uncomfortable conversations as long as she could.

* * *

Rain knew that she didn’t want to talk about heavy things. He also knew that he wasn’t going to continue asking her about the visit with Cash while she was so lovingly providing him with his very first blow job. It was another experience that discussion and dreaming couldn’t have prepared him for. It was another burned memory for him.

They had made love twice more after dinner. Each time he’d let himself be more of his true self. He took her as he wanted and the more he demanded the more she gave. This was one place his mate didn’t hold back how she felt. Everything he wanted to try, every position, she gladly participated. She even showed him a few things that he hadn’t planned on for their first time together.

He would never have asked her to do what she was doing now. Not that it wasn’t a dream come true. Quinn had pushed him back down on the bed after they’d shared a long leisurely shower where he’d made her climax again while he soaped her body. He would have been happy if they had gone to bed after that. Instead, after toweling her off, she’d saucily sauntered out of the bathroom throwing a look over her shoulder at him.

Rain took that as the invitation she had intended. He wasn’t prepared when she waited for him to sit down, and then sank to her knees in front of him. He’d held his breath as her soft mouth slid down his shaft. Once, twice wetting the length of him until she sealed her mouth around the base of his cock.

He wasn’t sure if he’d ever breathe again. The air was trapped in his lungs as she lavished him with her tongue. She would suck him then alternate running her mouth along the underside of his cock.

“Quinn, you don’t have to…” It sounded weak even to his own ears. What man would want a woman to stop sucking his cock out of honorable intentions? Only a fool, that was for sure.

Quinn made an exaggerated lick over the end of his cock and gave him an almost wicked smile. “Of course I don’t, but aren’t you glad I am?”

She returned her mouth to his shaft and he decided not to distract her any further. He wasn’t sure how long he was going to last anyway, the sweet velvet of her mouth was delicate and strong at the same time. She was bobbing up and down his shaft; intently bring him to his climax.

“Quinn…” he gave a warning when he couldn’t hold back any longer. He expected her to slide off of him but instead she wrapped her hands around his back and held him tight to her mouth. He brought a hand up to her head lightly almost like he was finding a centering point to balance himself. Rain felt the tightening in his groin and almost resisted at the last moment, but it was no use.

He couldn’t hold back the first hot jet of cum that poured into her mouth. Quinn swallowed against the head of his cock as his hips, which he’d kept astonishingly still up until then, thrust against her tongue. He wanted to feel guilty, but he just couldn’t as the painful pleasure shot through him.

“Baby,” he said panting, “Off your knees.” He reached down and pulled her up against his body, laying them both back on the bed. He kissed her as soon as he could reach her mouth. “You, my love, are amazing. Thank you.”

“Are you going to thank me every time I suck your cock?” She was grinning so he decided to play along and pretended to think.

Looking back at her he said very solemnly, “Yes.”

She broke into peals of laughter and he couldn’t believe how lovely she was when she laughed. In that moment he knew without a doubt that he would die for her, kill for her, go to the ends of the earth to make her happy. She was his heart from now until forever.

“I’ll keep that in mind for the future.”

Rain didn’t want to acknowledge the future comment but it still felt good. He let it sink into his souls. If she could start thinking about them in future terms, his next plans might not make her so skittish. He fell asleep thinking about what he needed to do to make her life easier. She was going to fight him on it, he was sure, but it would be worth it.