“You came back?” I ask with a shaky voice. “I don’t think Carl will let you back in.”
“I never left.”
I gulp.
“You… waited here? For what?”
But I already know. I can feel it inside.
“For you,” he says as his blue eyes bore into mine. God, I want to run my hand through his blond hair so freaking badly. “I waited for you.”
We stare at each other for a long moment and the spring air charges with electricity all around us. I can feel the sparks tickling my skin.
“What did you mean when you said… I’m yours?” I ask him.
He steps up close and I suck in a breath. My lungs stop working as he reaches up and tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
“I mean what I said.” Fuck, his voice is like sex for the ears. “You belong to me.”
“I do?”
I’m standing there staring up at him like a dope. I should storm out of here like the feminist I thought I was. I should tell him that no man owns me. That I belong to no one but myself.
But I can’t. I want to be his. My whole body is begging me to submit to his every desire.
I can’t explain it. I don’t understand any of these intense emotions swirling through me.
“You do,” he answers in a deep territorial voice that fills me with lust. I want him to pick me up with those big strong hands, throw me into his truck, bring me home to his bed, and do every naughty thing that’s racing through my mind right now. “Your sweet lips are mine alone to kiss. Your hands won’t touch another man’s skin but mine. We’re mates, Kimberly. Now. Forever. We belong to each other. You’re mine. I’m yours. That’s how it is.”
He says it with such certainty that I can’t dare to question it. I already believe every word he said.
“You’re a bear shifter?”
He slowly nods his head up and down.
His possessive blue eyes are locked on me, making my heart pang, making my breath quicken, making my pussy even wetter.
“And you think I’m your mate?”
“You are my mate,” he quickly corrects. “Can’t you feel it?”
I do. There’s something between us that’s growing with every second this beautiful man is in front of me. A connection, a bond, a something that I don’t want to let go of just yet. I want to explore it and feel it some more.
An older couple pulls into the parking lot and excuses themselves as they walk past us to the front door.
“Maybe we should talk about this somewhere else,” I say when I remember that I’m standing in front of my place of work. And with the heated way this sexy rugged man is looking at me, I don’t want to be in view of my coworkers when what I’m hoping is about to happen next happens.
“Let’s take a walk,” he says as he wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me away from the diner. “We can get to know each other.”
“Okay,” I say as his hand slides over mine. My heart does a little flip when he takes it.
Feeling his skin on mine sends a jolt straight to my throbbing clit. My core clenches as I feel his strong fingers wrap around my hand.
“So, you’re a fireman?” I ask. “And a bear shifter?”
He nods.
What the hell? Did I just win the single woman lottery or something? How did I get all the luck?
He tells me about his family that lives in three towns over—his parents and two younger sisters. He moved to Blackcloud Point when he saw that the firehouse was hiring. Him and Blake had hit it off right away and he offered him the job.
“And what about you?” he asks. “Where have you been hiding from me all of these years?”
I smile as his grip on my hand tightens.
“I’m actually from Canada. Manitoba.”
“Why did you leave? Did you have a bad experience up there?”
I notice his body tighten as he waits for my answer. This man is already so protective of me, ready to run off and hunt down anyone from my past who’s ever treated me poorly. I don’t have anyone who fits that description, except maybe Jenny Collins, the bitch who bullied me in the ninth grade.
“No, it was fine,” I say, opening up to him as we walk over a quiet bridge that arches over a lazy river. “Just boring. I felt a pull to come down here, so I did. And then I found the awesome excitement that is Carl’s Diner.”
“You felt a pull to come down here?”
I stop in the middle of the bridge when it hits me. It was the pull of my mate I was feeling. I was being pulled to him, just like I am right now.
“Mates can be on the opposite sides of the planet and still feel an irresistible attraction to one another,” he says as he looks down at me with a hungry look that sends arousal coursing through my body. “This was inevitable, Kimberly.” He steps in closer and I feel my body heat up. My cheeks blush and my pussy burns. I’m wondering if he can smell my arousal as he lets go of my hand and grips my waist with his big palms. “We are inevitable.”
My heart is stopped and my nipples are hardening against the inside of my bra as he moves so close that I can feel his hot breath teasing my flushed skin.
“So, to answer your question from earlier… Yes. You are mine. Your body was made for me and I’m going to protect it, cherish it, love it, spoil it, worship it, and make love to it every second I can.”
Oh god… His lips are so close. I’m so fucking wet.
His grip on my waist tightens and I whimper as he pulls me closer. So close that my breasts press against his chest. So close that all I can smell is his intoxicating scent. So close that my chin is arching up, begging for his sexy lips to touch mine.
“You belong to me, Kimberly,” he growls on my lips. “This thick sexy waist, these beautiful round tits, your hot little pussy that I can smell is craving me, and these soft luscious lips. They’re all mine and there’s nothing that’s going to stop me from claiming what’s mine.”
His arms wrap possessively around me and I melt into his embrace as he kisses me hard. My legs buckle, but his strong arms hold me up as his silky tongue slides between my parted lips and he claims my mouth as his own.
My heart races as I recognize the intense beautiful feeling. It’s so familiar. I’ve felt it before…
The loving presence I felt whenever I touched myself… It had no face before, but it does now. It’s Westin and it always has been.
He is my mate. There’s no denying that now.
I wrap my arms around his massive body and kiss him back with everything I have, finally feeling like I’ve arrived home.
Chapter Four
Westin
Kimberly’s hands are moving up and down my arms as we crush our lips together. It’s a hard desperate kiss that’s fueled by all the time we’ve spent apart.
These are the first lips mine have ever touched and they’re softer than I could have ever imagined. I don’t know how I’ll be able to break apart. I feel like I could fall into this kiss forever.
I slide my hands up her thick curvy body and she moans when I pull the elastic from her ponytail to let her hair fall down.
“Mmmmm,” she moans into my mouth as I sink my hands into her thick sandy-brown hair. Her silky waves swallow my hands as I massage her scalp and kiss her deeper.
My cock is rock hard and aching as it strains against my jeans, desperate to get out and penetrate something. I feel the wetness as pulse after pulse of pre-cum oozes out and makes a mess in my boxer briefs.
Her breasts are pressed against my chest and I can feel how hard her nipples are. It’s taking every last ounce of self-control and restraint I have not to tear every shred of clothing off her sweet soft body. I’d strip her naked, bend her over the bridge railing, and thrust my hard cock into her tight little pussy if there wasn’t the risk of people driving by and seeing what’s for my eyes only.
“Westin,” she gasps as I pull away from her mouth and start kissing the side of her jaw. “I believe you now.” Her sexy throaty voice is bar
ely above a whisper. “I am yours.”
I’m kissing her neck when the beast in me starts to make his demands.
Mark her neck. You’re right there…
Do it! Make her ours!
My body starts trembling as my lips connect with the spot where my mark should be. My thoughts turn barbaric, my desires primal.
She’s too pure and innocent for what I have planned for her. I should leave her innocence, but I know I’m not going to do that. This girl makes me weak. I’m helpless when it comes to her.
I need every inch of her. I need her to be mine.
My grizzly is getting impatient as I lay a soft trail of kisses along her neck. I dig my erection into her thigh and the moan that leaves her swollen red lips makes my body burn with need.
I’m drawn back to the spot on her neck where my mark belongs. I kiss it over and over again as I feel her heart pounding against mine.
I can smell this girl’s arousal and knowing that any shifter that walks by can smell it too is making me and my bear crazy.
I need to have my mark on her. I want every shifter who sees her to run in the opposite direction or risk facing my wrath.
My bear wants the same. He’s urging me, begging me, snarling at me to sink my teeth into her soft flesh and mark her as our own.
The thought of those wolf shifters with their eyes on her, with Lincoln’s arm around her waist, is pushing me over the edge.
My whole body gets tense. I start to feel twitchy all over. A surge of adrenaline flushes through my veins, causing a pounding in my ears. When I picture his hand on her waist, his fingertips digging into her flesh, something in me snaps.
My bear charges up and my body swells. My canines extend and I feel him close to the surface—close enough to fill my head with his possessive thoughts.
Do it! he screams and this time, I listen.
With a possessive growl, I sink my sharp teeth into her neck and mark this ripe curvy girl as my own.