Bearlebrity: (BWWM) Paranormal BBW Bear Shifter Romance Standalone (2 page)

He shrugged. “It’s an unpleasant thing.”

“Marriage?” she asked.

He shrugged and kept her delicate chin lifted toward him. He came closer, till their lips were almost brushing. He was careful of her foot. She leaned back against the bar to look up at him. So tall, so stunning. His lips hovered over hers.

“But they’re together now, however unpleasant that may be for them,” he said. “We, on the other hand, can talk about much more pleasant things.” He stroked the side of her cheek softly and she felt small and vulnerable.

And horribly, achingly turned on. She pressed her full lips together and resisted the urge to lick them as she studied his gorgeous mouth.

“Plus, you called me a tease,” he said quietly, coming even closer, till their breaths mingled as one. “I resent that.”

Then his mouth closed over hers.

T
he kiss was wondrous
, intense. It sent pleasure surging through her as if her blood was made of the finest wine, heady and sweet and drunken. It was everything she’d imagined, even if the scenario was not.

She opened her mouth and he deepened the kiss, sucking at her bottom lip and then biting lightly before diving deep inside with a tongue almost too deft to be believed. She groaned against his mouth, and his hand tightened into the back of her hair, holding lightly on to the curls there and tilting her head back so he had even better access. He lowered his mouth to her neck and took what he wanted, kissing and licking the skin there until she felt she’d explode if he didn’t take his tongue somewhere even better, and soon.

She dug her hands into his soft, thick hair. She could feel the product there, wondered what his hair routine was like. This was a person who made his living off his looks after all.

Kissing him, letting him kiss her, she could almost imagine she was the romantic lead in one of his movies, being kissed under the rain as he tore his flannel shirt off and let water slide over his chest. The thought made her hotter and she groaned again lightly as his hand found her full breast.

This, yes, was exactly what she’d wanted from the moment she’d first met him. She wasn’t a girl who asked for promises or long-term commitments. She took her pleasure as she found it and she lived mostly in the moment. Sure, she could hold a grudge, but she was forgiving Riley Hart for pretty much everything he’d ever done right in this moment.

His mouth was so hot, gently breathing against the skin below her ear that he’d tortured a moment earlier. “Do you like that, Leslie?” he asked in a low voice as she squirmed against him.

She didn’t give him an answer. Arrogant man shouldn’t need one.

“I can’t tell,” he said, teasing. “I guess I better keep going.” He nipped her earlobe, caught it between his teeth and ran his tongue swiftly along its captured edge. She gasped at the feeling and squirmed more against the hand that held her breast. Kneading, caressing. “Or that?” he asked.

But he wasn’t really asking. He was showing, the scoundrel. And she was letting him. She wasn’t drunk enough to not know what he was doing. She was just drunk enough to let it happen even though they were on the floor behind her bar.

But who cared where one was when one was being kissed by Riley Hart?

She sighed and held the corded back of his neck as he nibbled her earlobe again.

She couldn’t believe she was making out with
the
Riley Hart on the floor of her bar. Dreams really did come true.

When should she tell him she’d fantasized about this long before she’d actually thought meeting him was a possibility?

He groaned and pulled back, cupping her cheek gently, looking into her eyes with those pretty hazel wonders.

Green, gold, even little flecks of blue. She could look into them forever.

“You’re so drunk,” he said, sounding sorry about it.

“No, I’m not,” she said, trying to pull him back to her neck.

He gritted his teeth and pulled back to look her over. “Stay here for a minute. Do you have a first-aid kit?”

“In the closet in the back room.”

“Do I need a key?”

She sighed in resignation and handed her keys over.

He stood, leaving her in a haze of her own lust, and walked to the back. He came back with a roll of gauze.

“Dammit,” she said. “I want you to take care of me, but not exactly in that way.”

“Well, unfortunately, we’ve gone about as far as we can go without you properly able to consent.”

She snorted. “I can consent.”

He shook his head. “Well, if you still feel like that later, when your buzz has worn off, I’ll take things up where we left off.”

“That a promise?” she asked wearily, after a small hiccup.

He assessed her with wary eyes as he wrapped her ankle gently. He didn’t answer.

“You’re good at this,” she said, looking at her foot.

“Thanks, I was pre-med before I was discovered,” he said.

“Think you’ll ever go back?” she asked.

He looked slightly sad at that, but it flashed away and his easy smile was back. “I don’t know if it’s possible for a celebrity to go to med school. I’d be harassed constantly.” He finished wrapping her foot and put tape to hold it in place. “There you go. Upsy-daisy.” He reached under her and lifted her easily in his arms.

She gasped. She was a big girl and had never been carried like this. But with his extreme height and muscle, she felt perfectly sized, and perfectly safe. She sighed and let her head rest against his chest. When the buzz wore off, she’d probably be angry with herself and him to boot. But for now, she was enjoying the fantasy.

She felt like the heroine in a chick flick. Which was just so not her life.

She snuggled in and let him carry her toward the door.

R
iley sighed
as he carried Leslie to the door, still painfully hard from making out with her. Damn, he’d been picturing kissing those hot lips since he’d first seen her.

Even before his brother had laid claim on Janna when they first entered the lodge, Riley had noticed Leslie. Seen the want in her eyes.

And it wasn’t the typical fangirl want, the need to check Riley Hart off a bucket list. It was something else.

She was luscious, too, just like he liked his women. Lush, fiery, tall enough that he didn’t have to break his back reaching down to kiss or hold her. Curvaceous enough to give him something to hold on to, generously proportioned enough to make him feel safe giving her all he had to give.

He bit his lip at the feel of her body in his arms. If only all the Hollywood chicks throwing themselves at him back home knew this was what he preferred. He guessed he was going to start getting rumors about being a snob soon, but really, he just didn’t feel much attraction to the girls around him back in Los Angeles.

Leslie, however… She’d been a pain in his groin since she sashayed into his life with that incredible butt and that incredible hair that should be splayed out over
his
pillow. Forever.

He caught his breath at the direction of his thoughts. She made him think of things he’d promised himself he wouldn’t think about.

Commitment, love, forever. Things that someone like him could never have.

His bear growled in response and he shoved it away.

Though he was a bear shifter, Riley was determined to live as a human. He’d shoved the bear side of himself far away, until there was no risk of anyone seeing it, ever.

After all, that’s what had gotten his mom killed. It was a painful secret that Riley had never told anyone.

He still remembered the phone call.

His heart went cold as stone, and it at least made it easier to carry the lush burden in his arms.

It was a good reminder of who he was and who he wasn’t.

Hollywood was the perfect place for someone like him. He’d been acting all his life.

Neither his brothers nor his father knew he’d played a part in his mother’s death, and he’d be damned if he told them now.

No, he’d do his penance, but he would never expose himself like that again. He knew that no one would ever be able to accept all of him.

That was fine. Well, except that it wasn’t. But Riley hoped that if he just kept telling himself that it was, maybe things would work out.

Leslie murmured something and nestled against his chest, and his groin went hard again. Did he have no control with her? She had an effect on him that no other woman had. He’d been trying to fight it since he met her.

Ryder had told him hands-off until he had Janna’s agreement to be his, and Riley had used that as an excuse to avoid the delicious female. Given what Riley had cost his brothers, he figured he owed them just about anything they asked for.

His brothers didn’t know the real him. They thought he was a joker, a player who wanted a harem of women.

In reality, Riley just wanted to be alone.

Well, surrounded by a ton of people, but alone in any way that actually mattered.

He looked down at her restful face. Her eyes were closed, but he wasn’t sure if she was asleep.

He didn’t want to hurt her, but he did want her. With a want more powerful than anything he’d experienced. What did that mean?

His bear growled something but he ignored it. He hated his bear. It had ruined Riley’s life.

He knew that he shouldn’t live at odds with himself, but he couldn’t help it.

He didn’t think he’d ever forgive himself for that night.

He opened the door to his Jaguar and deposited Leslie gently in the passenger seat. He went to the driver’s side and started the car so it would warm up, and then went back to lock the door to the bar. He jogged around the back to make sure the back door was also locked.

When he was sure all the lights were off and nothing was in danger of burning down overnight, he jogged back to the car. The rest would have to wait until tomorrow.

He shouldn’t have brought his friends here. Then again, Ryder should never have called them. With Ryder soon to be married, he seemed worried that Riley would sink into one of his depressed moods. But he wasn’t upset that his brother was getting hitched and ending their days as three bachelors.

If he was honest with himself, it was just hard seeing someone else get the one thing he didn’t think he’d ever have.

Something that he wanted, deep down, in a secret part of himself.

Riley got into the car and looked over at Leslie. She had snuggled into her seat, and he had to move her slightly to get her seatbelt on.

“Leslie? Where do you live?” he asked. He didn’t want to take her back to his place at the lodge because that wouldn’t be as close to the doctor, and he planned to take her there in the morning.

He really hoped her ankle wasn’t too messed up. He knew she needed her feet for standing at work.

A little idea worked its way into his mind, but he brushed it away. First, he needed to get her home.

“Les?” he asked, nudging her lightly.

“No, not today,” she mumbled.

He sighed and then nudged harder, tickling her at the waist. “Les? I need your address.”

She mumbled it to him and he put it in his GPS.

It was close to the bar. He turned down a couple of side streets and found himself in front of an apartment complex with large, modern apartments.

He shoved the keys in his pocket and went to pick her up.

When he lifted her, she pushed at him, panicked.

“No, gerroff me.”

His face tightened but he picked her up anyway. She looked up at him and calmed in his arms with a sigh.

“Oh, it’s just you,” she said.

He frowned, his blood going icy as he remembered what had happened at the bar. Ben was lucky he hadn’t been there when it happened. He’d probably have beaten him unrecognizable. Even the thought of another man touching Leslie had him responding with killer fury.

He’d never felt that way before.

His bear growled again, and Riley pushed him back into his subconscious.

He pulled Leslie’s keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door.

It was dark inside, and he carried Leslie in and kicked the door lightly shut behind him.

She weighed nothing to him, but he wanted to set her down where she’d be safe while he found the lights and oriented himself. So he walked into the living room, which was lit by the streetlights outside, and deposited her on a nice brown leather couch. He stared at her for a moment, so peaceful, thinking that he wanted to look at her forever, and then flicked on the lamp next to her.

She stirred and blinked her eyes. “Riley? Why are you still here?”

“I just brought you home. Here, I’ll get you upstairs. Then I’ll take you to the doctor in the morning.”

“You don’t have to,” she mumbled, turning over on her side on the couch. She tucked her legs up and then moaned in pain, and he felt even worse for what his “friend” had done.

Ben had threatened to sue him when Riley had slammed him up against the wall. But Riley had pointed out that he had way better lawyers, and knew a lot more people, and that had shut Ben up.

When Riley got back, he planned to let a few important people know about Ben’s behavior. Keep him from repeating shit like that.

Ben had made a big mistake doing it to the woman Riley had his eye on.

Riley told himself it was just her lush body, that she was just his latest conquest, and the fury of his passion was simply that he hadn’t had her yet.

But a part of him disagreed. He silenced that part and picked her up again to head upstairs, where he figured the bedrooms were. He walked slowly, making sure not to brush her against the narrow hallway. He pushed the door at the top of the stairs open with his foot, and saw her bedroom.

It was painted in white and blue, and the bedcovers were navy with ocean-themed pictures printed on them. He grinned. Did she dream of sailing the seas? Maybe he should invite her on his yacht sometime.

No, scratch that. She lived here, he lived there. When things were sorted out with his dad’s will, he’d be gone from here. Back to the life he’d made in LA.

Back to the hordes of fans, the cameras in his face.

Back to the loneliness and sometimes wishing he had turned down that scout and stayed in school.

But it was pointless having regrets. He was lucky, privileged. He knew that. He set her on the bed and sat next to her. He checked his watch.

Leslie sighed and snuggled into the covers and he pulled them over and around her.

She’d probably kill him for letting her sleep in her clothes, with her hair all over the place and her makeup still on.

He knew from wearing makeup on set that it wasn’t something you slept in.

He ran a hand through his hair, thinking that a shower wouldn’t be too bad right now.

Anyway, as much as she might kill him for letting her go to bed in her clothes, she’d kill him in much worse ways for changing her when she was unconscious.

He rested against the bed board and looked down at her with amusement. She was so fiery, so sassy and flirtatious and strong normally. Drunk, she was sleepy, snuggly, and tended to murmur things that made no sense.