A Bear Victory (6 page)

Kimberley watched impassively as the dark liquid was poured out, and as Cannon passed the class to her over the countertop, she picked it up, their hands touching for a fleeting moment again. It came with a hot flash, just like when he walked past her, his touch always setting her on fire. Like nothing else ever could. Kimberley took a quick swig, slightly too deep maybe, the bitter liquid going down her throat and making her grimace.

“Whoa there, don’t tell me you don’t know how to drink anymore! Aren’t they keeping you sharp up in the north?” Cannon asked, leaning on the counter with his elbows.

He’d taken off his coat and for the first time in years, Kimberley could truly look at him. Up close and personal.

Fuck. Unfair. He isn’t supposed to look so hot,
she thought with a twinge of regret.

Sure, she’d seen him in magazines and on social media every now and then, when she’d broken down and checked up on what her ex was up to, but that was different. His shoulders were so wide and his chest so toned with heavy workouts and throwing people around on the ice that he looked like he might pop out of the T-shirt. His biceps bulged against the fabric as his arms flexed in the position he’d chosen and Kimberley couldn’t help but stare a little.

When her green gaze flicked up to him though, she was relieved to find out that she wasn’t the only one ogling. Kimberley smirked, putting her weight on one hip and cocking a brow.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.”

“Take your clothes off and I might,” Cannon shot back with a wide smile, equal parts impossible and completely irresistible.

“Yeah, in your dreams, Pucky,” she said with a dramatic roll of her eyes, turning her back to him and walking over to the couch.

“Pucky?” he asked, laughter in his voice.

“Just something I called you when I thought you weren’t my past mistakes incarnate.”

“Aw, come on. It wasn’t
all
bad,” Cannon said, and there was a definite hitch of grief in his words.

So maybe she put in a bit more saunter than she would have for anyone else before she sat down. By the slightly pained way that Cannon cleared his throat behind her, she considered it a success as the big lug of a bear followed her. When he passed her as she was sitting down, she got one more good look at him. No longer the boy she remembered, but most definitely a man.

The kind of man who made people get out of his damn way when he barreled down the ice. The kind of man who made her heart beat faster in her chest by the mere thought of being around him. The kind of man that still made her blood boil, thinking back to what they’d gone through.

Kimberley gritted her teeth, her pleasant moment of thinking filthy thoughts about him broken by her own sense of rationality. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, hoping against hope that she’d somehow gotten a few bars and could call someone,
anyone
to get her out of Shifter Grove before she did anything stupid.

But the phone was dead as it had been before. And one look at Cannon told her that she was already doing the “something stupid” just by being alone with him.

You’re supposed to have more of a spine than this,
Kimberley thought, taking another sip of the scotch and gulping it down greedily, as if there’d be any more wisdom at the bottom of the glass.

“There’s never any reception here. There’s one corner in my bedroom where you can get a few bars, if you need to make a call,” Cannon said, his eyes lingering on Kimberley with far too much cleverness to them.

“Oh, you want to show me your bedroom now?” she asked, pursing her lips.

Oh God, why am I playing along?!

“Always,” he replied, not missing a beat.

He got that glint in his eye. The one that told her that she could be on her back in a few minutes, screaming his name as he gave her the best fucking she’d ever had. She knew he could, the current one on record was with him, after all.

Just one time? For old time’s sake? I can scream at him all I want tomorrow,
she thought, almost longingly, playing with the rim of her glass.

Yes, she knew it was a stupid idea. She wasn’t supposed to be the girl who shows up looking for one guy and finds the man who’d completely broken her heart instead. She wasn’t supposed to be
thrilled
at seeing him, but that was exactly what had happened. And worst of all, she could still feel the kiss they’d shared in that parking lot coursing through her, making her tingle all over and her breath come in tiny stutters.

Damn him. Damn him all to hell.

“So show me the bedroom,” Kimberley said, finishing her scotch and making a decision she wasn’t yet sure if she’d regret.

Live on the edge a little, right? The bleeding edge of your own heart, at least.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Kimberley

The moment Cannon’s shirt came off, she knew she definitely wasn’t regretting any of it. For the moment, anyway.

It had taken them about two seconds to go from looking for a spot with cell reception in Cannon’s big bedroom to making out like teenagers, Kimberley sucking on Cannon’s lip while his hands clasped around her waist. He pushed her up against the wall in the corner with the fabled reception and Kimberley heard her phone buzz repeatedly in her pocket, missed messages coming in one by one.

She couldn’t care less.

Her hands tugged up his shirt and Cannon gave in willingly, tearing it off with a hungry look burning in his eyes that Kimberley remembered all too well. Oh yes, she knew what would follow next, and she couldn’t wait!

Cannon was kissing her again a moment later, his lips pressed against hers, his breath coming in snarls as her hands ran down his chest, feeling the tight, coiled muscles still pumped up from the game that day. Not that he needed any additional pump. No, this man was all muscle and testosterone and raw strength. More so now than when she’d known him last. It only made him hotter, and her failure to stick to her high morals all the more delicious.

“Fuck, you’re hot, baby,” Cannon rasped, pulling her ponytail loose before he pulled her T-shirt over her head too, leaving her in a white bra and jeans.

As if they’d rehearsed it, lips still locked, they fumbled with one another’s belts and buttons on the jeans, frenzied hands peeling off clothes while Cannon tugged her back toward the bed. Kimberley let out a little yelp as Cannon practically tossed her on the bed, pulling her jeans off a second later and tossing them on the floor without a care.

She let out a little groan as he got on the bed, rough hands seeking out her chin and neck, holding her where he wanted her while he slicked his tongue into her mouth and kissed her like he was a man in a desert and she was the only water around. The pit of her stomach twisted as she pressed his jeans over his hips and slipped one hand into his boxers, completely shameless about how much she missed how his body felt.

Cannon hissed in a breath as her palm clasped around his cock, semi-erect but already thick in her hand. She pumped it a few times, grinning as he shuddered, but he wouldn’t let her toy with him for too long. Her bra came off in a flash and Kimberley found herself on her back in the soft sheets, Cannon’s strong hands holding her down by the hips as he dipped between her thighs.

He didn’t even bother to peel off her panties. She yelped, fingers coiling in his hair as he pressed her legs apart and lapped his wide tongue over her inner thighs, biting gently in a few spots and making her twitch every time. Her legs shook from that contact and she tossed her head back, arching as he pulled the lacy fabric aside with one finger and ran his tongue over her wet slit in one long, teasing motion that ended at her clit, making tight, concentric circles around the swollen nub.

“Cannon!” she whined, not entirely sure where she was going with it, but her voice was full of need and lust that hadn’t been there since… well, the last time she’d been with him.

Closing her eyes tightly, she whimpered as Cannon pushed a finger into her pussy, sending rivulets of pleasure wringing through her as she pumped her hips up to meet the motion. She could
feel
the grin on his mouth, his slight stubble scratching against her delicate lips in the most maddening way as he practically feasted on her. Another finger followed the first one and Kimberley’s nails scraped across his scalp and neck, pushing him away and pulling him closer all in the same motion.

“Yessss, don’t you fucking stop,” Kimberley hissed, lips parted as her body twisted underneath Cannon.

He chuckled in response and it sent a rumble coursing through her, deep and primal, only adding to her excitement. Her thighs were almost cramping now, trying to lock around him, but he played her so easily. Her breath came in quick, fluttery little bursts as she opened her eyes and watched him now, eating her out like she was the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted.

His blue eyes met hers and the look in them was
demonic
. Smug, impossible, and yet at the same time completely taken with her. It was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen, and it wasn’t even because he had two fingers up her pussy and she was grinding down around them.

Though it certainly didn’t hurt.

“Cum for me, baby,” he commanded in a growl, an involuntary shiver passing through her at that voice.

He didn’t use it often, but when he did, she always turned into mush. She remembered the
exact
pitch of it and now it was there again. She’d come to Idaho looking for a good conversation and maybe a hot make-out session, and she’d found the one man who could twist her up with need like a damn pretzel and leave her screaming for more.

“Will you do that for me, Kimmy?” Cannon asked, one hand coming off her hip now and trailing slowly along her inner thigh, tracing her shudders with a grin.

“Yes,” she mewled and when she saw his grin, she knew that was the only thing he’d been waiting to hear since they came into the bedroom.

He didn’t say another word, just bowed his head, closing his eyes as he pressed his tongue against her clit and flicked over it in quick bursts that left her reeling, trying to hold onto her sanity and failing completely.

The first screams out of her mouth were so loud that she thought the roof had to be shaking above her, but she only got louder as Cannon thrust his fingers deeper in her, moving up her body with his mouth and lips as he grazed his thumb over her clit instead.

By the time he’d made it up to her lips, unclasping the bra with a deft hand slid between the mattress and her back, Kimberley was a shuddering mess, latching onto Cannon and practically purring. Hot and cold flashes ran through her and it felt like every muscle in her body was at the same time inexplicably tight and relaxed.

He kissed her and she drank him in, shaky hands clutching his shoulders as Cannon pulled his fingers out of her pussy. He trailed his fingertips up the length of her body, making her squirm a little, before pulling away from the kiss and sucking the fingers into his mouth, enjoying one more taste of her.

Kimberley’s lips parted in breathless want as she watched him, so enraptured with her body and her taste. He never made her doubt for a second that she was everything he wanted.

“Take your jeans off,” she said, every bit as much of a command as when he’d told her to cum.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied with a grin, though he pulled off her panties first before shucking off his own.

Kimberley got up on her knees, shaky as they were, her gaze drawn to Cannon’s cock, fully erect now with a tiny bead of precum at the tip. She reached out, running a finger up from the sac to the very tip, gathering the precum on her finger and bringing it to her mouth, making sure to have eye-contact with Cannon when she licked it up. She could see the moment he let out a shaky breath, his blue eyes wide with amazement and need.

It was her turn now. She pushed him back gently until he was lying on the covers and then straddled him, letting her slit rub up and down the length of his cock as she kissed his neck several times over. His skin tasted salty, beads of sweat forming, and his body was solid as a rock below her. His warm, rough hands clutched her hips again, grinding into her slowly, but not penetrating, letting her rock back and forth on him until she was tight with need again.

He was so damn big. She wanted him wet with her juices, and frankly kissing his chest and neck and cheeks was something she could never get tired of. Finally, when his fingers started gripping her harder and she could feel the need pulse through him, she maneuvered the head of his cock to her entrance and pushed down oh so slowly, both of them clinging to one another as she did so.

“Fucking hell,” he growled, the muscles of his chest contracting. “I forgot how damn tight you are.”

Kimberley couldn’t reply. She was too busy trying to keep her sanity in check while her eyes rolled back, taking him inch by inch until she had to buck forward a little and then sink lower again. He filled her beautifully, girthy and long and utterly delicious as he was. When she could finally sit up on him, gasping for air because of how full she felt, he was practically vibrating underneath her.