Bear-ly A Hero (Bear Claw Security 2) (14 page)

Limes put them on, and Jamie bit her lip at the picture he made. 

“What? You don’t like me like this?” he asked wryly, not too weak for snappy comebacks.

“If I had a female willing to touch me when I looked like that, I’d stop talking and go claim her,” Bronson drawled. 

Limes glared at his partner. “I don’t need your input.” Then he let out a breath. “Thanks for coming.”

“Anytime, partner,” Bronson said. “Now get out of here.”

“Don’t need to tell me twice,” Limes said, leaning against Jamie in her wolf form as they started toward the house. Hopefully, no one would see them. “Gonna go claim the crap out of her.”

And then Jamie and Bronson laughed as she led her grumpy mate back to her house where she could take care of him.

W
hen they got home
, she pushed open the door, helping Limes in, and then shut the door and quickly transformed into her human so she could get him first aid.

He stumbled to the couch with his arm around her, and then appraised her with eyes that sparkled with appreciation.

“Oh, you,” she said, bringing out a large first aid kit she’d bought when she bought the house, never knowing when her clumsiness would get to her.

“Hey, I’m messed up, but I’d have to be dead to not notice my mate naked,” he said.

She let out a little huff and wondered how she’d ever found him scary. “All right,” she said, taking out an alcohol wipe. “This might sting.” She started to wipe at one of the larger cuts on his chest, and he grinned ruefully.

“Um, maybe we should just put me in the bath,” he said. “Honestly, I heal fast, and you could probably spend days wiping each little one.”

She sighed. “I suppose you’re right. How will I know if there are any big ones?”

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I just feel like a pin cushion.” He stood and was able to take most of his weight as they walked to the bathroom.

“That was a stupid thing you did,” she said.

He shrugged. “Not when it’s my mate.”

She shook her head as she sat him on the edge of the tub so she could run the water. She was glad she’d gotten a large Jacuzzi-style when she moved in. As the water ran and steam filled the room, she took a deep breath and let it out.

Now that they weren’t in any immediate danger, the tension between them became more apparent.

“So, um, I’m your mate?” she asked.

He nodded, his earring bouncing. “Yeah.”

“How’d you figure that out?” she asked, feeling nervous and vulnerable in bringing it up.

“Actually, it was remembering when you were almost kidnapped. You weren’t even close enough to scent, but I was desperate not to lose you. I’ve only felt that way one time in my life, and it damn near destroyed me.”

When the water was done, she helped him lower himself in slowly, hissing as the heat ran over his cuts.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said, submerging himself. “It’s worse than it looks. I promise. Plus, I need to talk to you, and I can’t do it if you’re just worrying about the blood on me.”

“True,” she said, heart racing at the thought of what he might have to say. “You said you felt that way before?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Hold on a minute.” He dipped his head under the water and rubbed his face and hair, rinsing them and then coming back up, basically clean.

If she looked over him, she could still see cuts and scrapes, but for the most part, he was okay. Thank heavens.

He put one arm on the edge of the tub and beckoned with the other. “Come in with me,” he said. “I’d rather have you close while we talk.”

She frowned. “I’m not sure you’re in the state for that right now.”

“Oh, come on,” he said. “Don’t deny a bear who nearly fought to the death for you.”

“I thought you said it wasn’t that bad?” she asked.

“Yeah, ‘cause I’m healing now. It was almost way bad. I could have died,” he said flatly.

“You aren’t above using this against me, are you?”

“If it gets me extra credit? No,” he said, and she laughed and finally got in with him.

She gasped at the heat all around them, her skin tensing in response. But then he pulled her between his legs to rest with her back against his chest, and the water was suddenly soothing and quiet.

He held out one arm in front of her. She looked down and saw the bird tattoo she’d asked about before. Back then, he’d dodged the question.

“I got this when my sister died,” he said. “Cancer. Stage four. Invasive.” He shook his head. “She wasn’t a shifter.”

“How does that work?” she asked.

“Different moms,” he said. “My mom was a bear. She left me with my dad, and my dad had my sister with another woman. They left my sister with me.”

She sucked in a breath. She hadn’t realized he’d had it so rough before the military. He’d never mentioned a family, and she knew better than to ask when someone didn’t want to talk about it. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. She was the ray of light in my life. I loved her dearly,” he said. “She gave me something to look forward to every day.” He shook his head. “Then she got sick. She passed out and had a seizure at school. They took her to the hospital, called me. Brain tumor. Inoperable.”

She bit her lip, tears welling in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Limes.”

“Have you ever had to tell a fifteen-year-old she’s going to die?” he asked. “Well, I didn’t.”

“What did you do?” she asked.

“I let her live happily. And she passed in her sleep. And I lived after that feeling like someone had blasted a shotgun straight through me, taking out everything inside me. I couldn’t breathe.”

“I can’t even imagine.”

“I joined the army,” he said. “There’s no room for grief there. I put it all away. I tried not to love her.” His arms wrapped tight around her. “I think I tried not to love you, too. Love is a terrible, frightening thing.”

She swallowed. “I can see why you feel that way.”

“But it’s also the only thing worth living for,” he said. “When you asked if I loved you, I couldn’t say. The thought hadn’t occurred to me because feelings like that were part of that place in me I couldn’t access. The place that was locked up. But when you threw me out of your house, I had no choice but to examine it.”

“And when you did?”

“When I did, I found you were as deep inside my heart as anyone could go. And I remembered I never regretted loving Tori. I just regretted she died.”

She didn’t know what to say. She was both completely touched and completely devastated for him. So much made sense. The way he hid behind humor. The way everyone called him grumpy. The way he seemed to distrust life and people in general.

When something that harsh happens, people cope however they can. Limes had coped by turning off.

“I’m glad you decided to love again,” she said.

“You made it impossible not to,” he retorted dryly, his arms holding her tight, like he needed her to survive. “You with that silly umbrella and your cute romance novels and your great cooking and your smile and your kindness and your inability to watch horror movies.” He kissed the side of her neck. “We’re working on that, you know.”

“Fine,” she said with a sigh, loving the feel of him. “I’ll try.” Then she thought of something. “That’s why you’d seen
Pride and Prejudice
,” she said. Then she clapped her hands over her mouth, wishing she hadn’t said it.

He turned her around in his arms, and she looked into his eyes. Despite the little scratches on his face, the bruise next to his eye, his severe short hair and hard features, he was the most handsome man she’d ever known.

“Never apologize for speaking the truth,” he said. “I want everything open between us from now on. I know it might hurt, but I don’t want to hide anymore.” He grinned ruefully. “And yes, Tori loved
Pride and Prejudice
. What teenage girl wouldn’t?”

She laid her head against his chest, setting the water moving and lapping around them. “I hope I’ll learn more about her.”

“You will,” he said. “I can only take a little at a time.”

“Understandable,” she said. “But we won’t forget her.”

“Thank you,” he said, sounding serious and touched. “For now, I just want to be with you.”

“Okay.”

For a moment, they just sat like that, floating in the water together. Then she grabbed a bar of soap and lathered it in her hands and began to wash his neck and shoulders, trying to make sure he was clean and there were no bigger scratches that needed attention. When she was sure he was fine, she rested in against his solid, warm chest, loving the muscles there.

“I love you, Jamie,” he said, running a strong hand over her back. “I always will. My bear knows it, my human knows it, and pheromones don’t have anything to do with it. You’d be smoking hot to me without them. Will you mate me?”

She looked up into his eyes. They were calmer than she’d ever seen them, not lit with irritation or tension or anger. They reminded her of grass on a spring day. “Of course I will,” she said. “I love you, too.”

His lips spread into a grin, and he placed a kiss on top of her head. “Perfect.” He sighed and gave himself a once-over. “What do you think? Good enough to claim you?”

She swallowed. “Hmm, yeah. Then again, I’d take you any way I could have you.”

He grinned wider and stood in the tub. She gasped at the size of his member, already ready for what they were about to do.

“Wait,” she said.

“What?” he asked, staring down at her in that intimidating way he had.

“How does mating work for bears?” she asked.

“Unprotected sex, at least with other bears. How about wolves?”

“Same thing,” she said. “Plus, um, both partners going…” She felt blood rush into her face, and he let out a deep laugh.

“Not really a problem when it comes to us, is it?” he asked.

“No,” she said, lifting her arms to wrap around his neck. He put an arm under her legs and easily picked her up, stepping out of the tub.

She knew he had to be tired, but she also knew he’d insist on carrying her to bed either way.

He set her down and she checked him over in concern. But while his body bore unmistakable signs that he’d fought for her, he looked well enough to claim her.

For the rest of the night, she’d make sure he was okay.

She stretched out on the bed as he came over her, straddling her with thick thighs. It wasn’t their first time together, but there was a warm anticipation because this would still be different from any other time.

She was so glad to see him like this, so okay and vital and alive and with her. “I’m glad Bronson showed up,” she said, running a hand over Limes’s thick thighs.”

“Pshh,” Limes said. “I had it under control.” Then he leaned forward possessively, nipping at her earlobe and surrounding her on all sides with one hand at each side of her head. “Don’t talk about other men, mate. I’ll get jealous.”

“What if I like you jealous?” she asked, and his eyes widened slightly. There was the fire she remembered.

“Then you’ll probably like me a lot,” he said. “Because I feel like I’ll be jealous every day for the rest of our life.” He licked the inner shell of her ear, making her shudder. “I’ll be jealous of myself, dammit.”

She laughed. “I like that.” She ran her hands up his broad, strong back, feeling the muscles there, lightly grazing her fingers over them.

He knelt and parted her legs in front of him, his eyes darting down to where they would come together. She could practically sense the satisfaction radiation through every part of his body. And she was already wet and ready.

This wasn’t just sex. This was giving each other everything.

He came back over her and positioned his head at her entrance. She wriggled in anticipation and then gasped as he came in with nothing between them. He felt like velvet, so slick and soft against her and then so hard as he moved all the way in, filling her completely.

She put her fist up to her mouth and bit the back of it. “That… oh my… Limes…”

He laughed. “I like hearing my name from you,” he said. “Josh or Limes, it doesn’t matter.”

“Limes to me,” she said. “It’s unique, like you. It’s not something everyone would understand, but it’s perfect for me.”

He froze and looked down at her, and then his brow furrowed in concentration. “How do you always know what to say to me?”

“I’m your mate,” she said brightly. “Or I will be.”

“Yeah, as long as I somehow have the self-control to finish this,” he said, kissing her forehead. “Nothing else could feel like this. I feel… home with you, Jamie.”

He was stroking gently, stoking a comforting fire inside her, rising like a slow tide. She loved relishing in the feel of it.

She wound her arms around his neck.

“We’ll make a new home together.”

“Do you think we’ll have cubs?” he asked.

“Or pups?” she asked. “I don’t know. I don’t even know if we’ll be mated in the way we would be with our own species.”

He shrugged and kept moving, and she bit her lip as the feeling grew more intense. “I guess we’ll have to see. All I know is regardless of what happens, you’re mine forever. You were meant for me from the moment I met you. My bear knew it, and I had to keep up.”

“And my wolf wanted you, too,” she said.

“So if they decided it, who are we to say no?” he asked, stroking deep, pressing up against her. She groaned and arched, loving the feel of it.

“You’re driving me crazy,” she said. She was getting close to the edge now, every stroke taking her palpably closer. She could almost taste the release that was coming.

“Just returning the favor,” he grated out, clearly getting close, too. “I love you,” he said, brow knotted in concentration.

Her arms gripped his as he stroked, and she got lightheaded as she began to be aware of the scent of the forest mixed with a moonlit night on the mountains. Whatever was happening between them, it was definitely special.

“I love you,” she said, biting her lip and closing her eyes as Limes sped up the rhythm, going deep inside her and pulling nearly all the way out and then plunging in again. The slap of their bodies coming together only heightened her arousal, and she felt her body start to kick over and let out a scream.

As her nails dug into him and she tensed with the first crest, she felt him tighten and jerk inside her. She could feel him spilling, joining them, rhythmically tensing as he released, even as intense waves of pleasure covered her, making her incoherent with happiness.

She looked up to see his eyes glazed in pleasure. His handsome features contorted, and felt she’d never see a more beautiful sight in her life than his body in the throes of passion as it joined with hers.

She felt the wolf inside her howl into the night as they came together, and when he finally fell on top of her, breathing harder than he had even during the fight, she felt peace completely consume her.

He pushed himself up to look into her eyes, and she could see he felt the same.