Billion Dollar Bear: BBW Paranormal Billionaire Romance (Bad Boy Alphas) (11 page)

      “You
what?” Becca’s mouth dropped open, but before she could say anything more the
waiter bustled back in with their dishes. She waited until Jericho dismissed
him before continuing, not even touching the shrimp that beckoned enticingly
beneath her nose. “You… you’re a clan chieftain?”

      Jericho
inclined his head, flourishing his hand toward her as if he were making a bow.
“Chieftain of the Moon Bay Clan, at your service.”

     
Holy
shit.
Becca only stared at Jericho, unable to twitch a single muscle. She
was completely frozen in shock. From what she was able to surmise her sire had
been fairly common stock, making her common stock as well. “What are you doing
here with me?”

      Jericho
arched a brow. “I thought we’d have dinner,” he said, indicating her untouched
food with his fork.

      Becca
didn’t even bother to roll her eyes at his flippancy. “You’re a clan
chieftain,” she said again, more definitively. “You could have any she-bear you
wanted, and in fact you have a duty to mate with the strongest female possible
in order to strengthen your clan. So why would you have anything to do with me,
a half-breed?”

      Jericho
scowled. “First of all, you know damn well that I do not, and have not ever
cared that you’re a half-breed,” he said. “Just because you’re not a full were
doesn’t mean you aren’t a strong female. And secondly,” he said in a quieter
voice, “you are the she-bear that I want.”

      Becca
swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. “I don’t know if I can handle
– ” she began, but Jericho cut her off by pressing a finger to her lip.     

      “Shh. You
don’t have to make a decision right now.” He reached over and twirled some fettuccine
onto his fork, then lifted it to her lips. “Don’t worry about any of that right
now. Eat something. It’ll help settle your nerves.”

      Becca
opened her mouth and allowed Jericho to slide the fork into her mouth. She
groaned a little as the creamy noodles touched her tongue, then closed her eyes
and chewed.
Pure heaven.

      “There you
go,” he encouraged as she forked up another mouthful. “You’re looking better
already. More color in your cheeks.” He picked up his own fork and knife and
began cutting into the medium-rare steak on his plate, and for several minutes
they ate in complete silence.

      “God,” she
breathed, sitting back in her chair when the plate was empty. “Can I have
more?” she asked.

      Jericho
laughed. “They know to have several servings ready when I come,” he said,
signaling for the waiter. The man materialized instantly at his side. “We’re
ready for the next course.”

      More food
was brought out, and Becca and Jericho dug in, though they took more time to
savor the food now that the edge was taken off their hunger. “Now that we’ve
had a chance to put some food in our bellies,” Becca said, “I’m going to ask
you my next question, and you have to promise to answer it honestly.”

      “Shoot.”

      “Where
were you really going tonight, before I texted you and asked you to pick me up
from the airport?”

      Jericho
actually winced at the question. “Will you promise not to throw that plate in
my face and storm out of here?”

      Becca
raised an eyebrow, her heart sinking a little. “It’s that bad?”

      “I was on
my way to a date. With a she-bear.”

      Her heart
dropped all the way to the soles of her shoes. “Oh.” She blinked the tears back
from her eyes –
what right did she have to be upset?
As far as
he’d been concerned, she’d rejected him and he’d had to move on. And yet…

      “You have
every right to ask me to turn around and bring you back to the airport now,” Jericho
told her. Sincerity shimmered in his blue gaze as he grabbed her hand and
squeezed. “But know that I wasn’t going on a date because I wanted to replace
you, but because my clan demands I choose a mate, and soon.” He sighed. “Before
I went to France and met you, I was sort of promised to another.”

      Becca
swallowed. “I see.” She took a minute to work past the lump in her throat
before speaking again. “And this woman… was she someone you loved?”

      He shook
his head, a scowl furrowing his brow. “No, not at all. It takes all of the
patience in the world just to be in the same room with her.”  He looked up
at Becca, and the fire in his eyes told her that he was telling the truth.
“There has never been anyone that even came close to stealing my heart. Not
until you.”

      The same
fear from earlier prickled against her chest cavity, but it was tempered by a
kind of warmth that rose through her at the idea that he’d chosen her over the
most eligible bachelorettes available. “What are you saying?”

      Jericho
sighed. “I don’t know exactly,” he admitted. “I know it’s wrong for me to ask
you to consider giving up your life in order to satisfy my selfish desires, but
I can’t help wanting you by my side every second of the day. My heart has been
aching without you,” he murmured, rubbing the back of her hand against his
cheek, “and I thought I was going to go mad from it unless I drowned myself in
work again.”

      He turned
his gaze toward the Chicago coastline, where the sun had disappeared beneath
the horizon, leaving a dusky blue twilight behind. “All I’m asking is that you
stay for the weekend. Let me show you my city, introduce you to my clan. And
if, by the time Monday rolls around, you can’t stand the sight of me for
another second, I’ll send you back home.”

      Becca
smiled sadly. “Part of the problem is that I’m afraid I’m never going to get
tired of seeing you,” she said quietly. “But that doesn’t mean staying with you
and becoming your mate is the best thing for me.”

      “Maybe
not,” Jericho agreed, nuzzling her hand in a way that was both adorable and
sexy, “but at least I’ll have been able to spend a few more days with you. And
if that’s all you can give me, I’ll treasure it for the precious gift that it
is.”

Though the rest of their dinner was
enjoyable, by the time Becca got back into the car with Jericho her stomach was
heavy with a mass of bundled nerves that made her want to crawl out of her
skin. As they drove through the streets of Chicago, her belly full with a
ridiculously delicious and incredibly expensive meal, heading for Jericho’s
home, she wondered just how out of her league she was getting into right now,
and whether or not she was going to fall from the high perch Jericho had placed
her on, and smash face-first into the ground.

      There was
no way she was worthy of being a clan chieftain’s mate. No way at all.

      “You’re
trembling.” Jericho reached for her hand, and gently ran his thumb over her
knuckles, trying to soothe her. She sucked in a breath, and then let it out slowly;
trying to ease the obvious display of nerves she hadn’t even realized she was
creating. “What’s wrong?”

      “I… I’m
just nervous.” She swallowed, trying to ignore the sting of embarrassment at
her cheeks. “I’ve never done anything like this before in my life, Jericho. And
especially not with a man like you.”

      He turned
to face her then, a pained expression on his handsome face. “I wish you would
stop thinking of me that way.”

      Becca gave
him a puzzled frown. “In what way?”

      “As if I’m
more than just an ordinary man.” He frowned at her before turning his eyes back
to the road. “You didn’t treat me that way when we were back in Paris.”

      “That’s
because I didn’t know who you were.”

      “I am
exactly the same person I was when you met me in Paris.” Exasperation tinged
his voice, tightening the corners of his mouth and eyes. “Just because I have a
title and wealth doesn’t mean I’m any different. One of the reasons I like you
so much is because you treat me like a normal person instead of someone to be
feared or admired. Everyone else, even my closest friends and family, still
look at me through the filter of my title, and it wears on me after awhile. I
was hoping you would be different,” he said, and then sighed again, his
shoulders slumping a little.

      Guilt
stung Becca’s heart, flushing her cheeks with embarrassment as she realized
what a hypocrite she was being. She, too, dealt with a similar stigma –
as a half-breed no full-blood shifter would ever look at her and just see the
person that she was; to them she was a mongrel, something to be shunned and
hated. Sure, maybe being feared and admired were better choices than what she
had to deal with, but at least she didn’t have to be around shifters. For Jericho,
he was constantly in the spotlight, the mantle of power and responsibility a
constant burden that couldn’t be shrugged off for any significant length of
time.

      “I’m
sorry,” she said quietly. “I didn’t really think of it that way, but you’re
right.” It was her turn to take up his hand, and she lifted it to her lips so
she could press kisses against the rough skin. “Just because I now know you’re
a chieftain doesn’t mean you’re any different from the man I met.” She paused,
taking a moment to figure out how best to phrase the next part. “But it does
mean there’s a certain amount of baggage you carry that I didn’t know about
before.”

      “Like a
clan and a multi-billion dollar business?” he asked wryly, and she laughed.

      “That, and
the mandate for you to take a mate and procreate.”

      He sucked
in a breath at that. “Do… do you want to have children?” There was hesitancy to
his tone that told her he was worried that she did not.

      Becca
smiled a little. “I do… but any cubs we would have together would not be pure-bred,
and that might prove an issue, especially with your clan.”

      Jericho
scoffed. “I don’t personally have an issue with my cubs having a bit of human
blood in them,” he said. “After all, our original makeup includes a bit of
human DNA in it anyway. So I really don’t see what the difference would be if
our children are a quarter human.”     

      Becca
arched a brow. “Sounds like you’ve had a lot of time to think about this.”

      “I have.”
He squeezed her hand. “And no matter how I look at it, there’s no reason to
think that you aren’t the perfect mate for me.”

      Warmth
suffused her at the compliment, and she turned away so that he would not see
her cheeks heat, just in time as he pulled into the driveway of a three-story
limestone and glass townhouse. Having expected either an ornate mansion or a
modern glass and steel monstrosity, she was pleasantly surprised at how
comfortable and charming the townhouse looked, with its green awnings perched
over the glass windows and the blooming flower garden that ran around the front
of the house.

     
Maybe
this won’t be so bad after all
, she thought as the pulled up to the garage.

* * *

Jericho tried not to dwell on the
heaviness in his heart as he pulled into the driveway of his Lincoln Park
townhouse, but it was damned difficult not to do so with the somber mood that
had settled between them. He’d hoped to recapture some of the lighthearted,
carefree atmosphere that had surrounded them during his Paris trip, but the truth
was, now that he’d brought her home he’d only stirred the seriousness of what
was between them closer to the surface.

      After all,
he wasn’t just asking her to spend more time with him. He was asking her to be
his mate.

     
God,
why didn’t I think this through before I sent her those tickets?
At the
very least he could have taken some time to come up with a better pitch.
Instead he’d spewed out some kind of heartfelt drivel that had made her look
upon him with pity. Like he was desperate, or something. And he hated looking
needy in front of anyone.

     
Face
it. The whole reason you acted so impulsively is because when it comes to her,
you are needy. You need her like a bonfire needs kindling to keep its blaze
going.

      “Is this
your place?” Becca’s lovely voice drew him out of his self-abasement as he
pulled into the driveway outside his townhouse.

      “It is.”
Rather than opening the garage immediately, he lingered in the driveway,
allowing her to take a moment to admire the visage. “What do you think?”

      Her eyes
drifted over the limestone and glass, lingering on the elegant touches of iron
at the windows and ledges, shaped into artistic patterns that had drawn his eye
as well when he’d first looked into the property. “It’s charming,” she finally
said. “I’d like to see more of it.”        

      Jericho
smiled. “And so you will.” He pressed the button on the clicker clipped to the sunshade,
and the garage door slowly rolled upward. As Jericho parked the car inside, her
eyes flicked to the beetle-green motorcycle parked to the right, lingering over
the sleek lines and curves.

      “I didn’t
know you rode.”

      “Didn’t
have a motorcycle to run around with in Paris,” he explained, and then tossed
her a roguish grin. “Maybe I’ll take you out while you’re here.”

      Becca
grinned back. “Why don’t I take you out?”

      Jericho’s
brows shot skyward. “You can ride?” he asked as they climbed out of the Audi.

      Becca
cocked her head as she studied the bike. “Doesn’t really seem any different
form the European models I’ve ridden, so yeah, I bet I could handle this baby
no problem.”

      Jericho
laughed. “All right Evel Knievel,” he said, taking her by the arm. “Let’s get
inside already.

      He gave
her a tour of the house, which was much bigger on the inside than it appeared
on the outside – she counted eleven rooms total, between the living room,
the den, the kitchen, the three bedrooms and bathrooms, and then the two rooms Jericho
spent the most time in – his office and the gym.

      Or so she
surmised by the fact that his scent was strongest in both these places.

      “You spend
a lot of time working, or working out,” she mused, running her hand along the
length of a punching bag suspended in one corner of the gym. Mirrored walls
rang the length of the room, which boasted a varied array of high-tech
equipment that would rival any professional gym.

      Jericho
shrugged a little. “I do a very non-physical job,” he told her. “So I have to
work a little extra in order to stay in shape. If I’m not the strongest of our clan,
then I don’t deserve the right to lead or defend it.”

      “Well you
certainly look strong enough to me,” Becca purred, running a hand down the
length of his arm. Her elegant fingers expertly found the swells and crevices
of his muscles even through the shirt he wore, and his pulse jumped as his mind
instantly conjured up ideas for other places on his body she could be running
her hands over.

      “Becca…” Jericho
murmured as she pushed him gently against one of the mirrored walls. A hot
shiver rippled through him as her fingers worked their way down the row of
buttons lining his shirt, popping them open one by one. He’d ached for her
since the moment she’d stepped off the plane, but he’d wanted their first time
in Chicago to be a bit more memorable than just taking her on the floor of his
gym. But when she reached up and lightly bit down on his shoulder, rational
thought fled from his mind with a groan.

      “Shush.”
Becca pressed the length of her body against his. “It’s been too long. I want
you right here. Right now.” She kissed him fiercely, and he was instantly lost to
the tempest of their passion, wrapped up in a whirlwind of desire that left him
hot and aching and feeling like they both had far too many clothes on. Before
he had time to think about it, he shrugged his shirt off and then used his
claws to slash a line down the back of Becca’s dress.

      “Hey!”
Becca jerked in his arms as he protested, and the dress slid down her body,
revealing her naked body beneath – which was just the way he liked it.

      “I’ll buy
you another one,” he growled, scooping her up in his arms so he could feel her
skin against his. Her nipples rasped against his chest, hard and puckered and
ready for his touch.

      He laid
her down on one of the weight benches, spreading her legs so that they dangled
off to the side, then stepped back a moment so he could drink her in. “You’re
so beautiful,” he rasped, his gaze lovingly tracing the dips and curves of her
body and coming to rest on her pussy, which was pink and already glistening for
him.

      Smiling,
she raised her arms up, reaching for him. “Come to me.”

      He did,
but not before divesting himself from the rest of his clothes. Kneeling by the
edge of the weight bench, he pulled her closer to him so that he could bury his
face between her legs and taste her. She cried out, jerking up into a sitting
position as his tongue lapped at her folds, teasing her clit with slow, lazy
strokes. Her fingers curling in his scalp felt like heaven, massaging him and
urging him forward, begging him to go faster, to press harder, to give her
more. And when he sucked on her clit, she exploded in his mouth, her juices
flowing free as she shuddered and moaned his name long and low in the back of
her throat.

      By the
time she was done, his cock was hard and aching and ready to burst as well. “Ride
me,” he grunted, lifting her by the waist and reversing their positions so that
he lay on the bench and she was straddling his legs. He knew he would crush her
if their positions were reversed, and besides, he loved the way her breasts
looked from this angle, so full and round and perfect as they swayed above him.

      He reached
up to cup both of her breasts in his hands as she lowered herself onto his
cock, and they both moaned in unison as he filled her to the brim. He gently
massaged her breasts as she rode him slowly, rubbing her nipples beneath his
thumbs in time to his thrusts, and reveled in the way she looked at him, her
eyes shining, her face flushed, her lips swollen from his kisses.

     
I love
you with every beat of my heart
, he wanted to say, but he didn’t want to
scare her off by putting even more pressure on her, so he simply gripped her
hips and held on tight as she increased the pace, enjoying the moment as she
pushed them closer and closer to the edge. And when she threw back her head,
curls rippling down her back as she cried out her pleasure, he joined her there
in that blissful place.