Gifted To The Bear: A Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (The Gifted Series Book 1) (15 page)

CHAPTER 13

Without even bothering to close the meeting room door, Jim took a small step forward, studying my face, then took my face in his hands and brought his mouth to mine. Almost immediately, I made a soft moan, realizing that not only did I “care” about his lips, contrary to what I’d claimed, but I loved his lips. Soft yet firm, they felt heavenly pressed against mine, and this heavenly feeling was intensified by the fact that I was now breathing in Jim’s masculine, woodsy scent through my nostrils.

Wanting what was happening to last forever, or at least a very long time, I bit back a whimper when Jim pulled his mouth from mine after only a few seconds. “Why? Why you did do that?” Realizing that his brief kiss had jumbled my thoughts to the point that I’d messed up the order of my words, and seeing that his deep green eyes were twinkling with amusement apparently because of this, I added another word. “Jerk.”

“Careful, now, Miss Clark. Keep in mind that you’re speaking to the unofficial sheriff of Timberline and as unofficial sheriff, I keep a set of handcuffs in that storage cabinet against the wall, just in case I ever need to arrest someone. Hasn’t happened yet, but I do have an issue with being sassed by a member of the public. In fact, I could see myself even being moved to consider it a crime.”

I glanced over at the tall gray storage cabinet against the wall to my left. “And then what would you do?”

With his full, sensuous lips curving just slightly, Jim moved his hands from my face to the small of my back, pulling me a little closer. “Well, once I had my prisoner secured in cuffs, I might move on to rather unorthodox methods of punishment for the crime committed.”

With my rate of breathing accelerating and my heartbeat thudding in my ears, I worked to keep my voice steady and even. “Such as?”

“Such as stripping my prisoner naked to do a very thorough search. Then I might subject my prisoner to all manner of torture; not necessarily painful torture, but I think my prisoner might find the experience torturous nonetheless. I’m not the kind of sheriff who gives early release to prisoners, though. No, ma’am. For a prisoner arrested for the crime of sassing the sheriff, I’d be sure to thoroughly torture with my hands, and my mouth, before I ever even thought about granting release. And, honestly, well, I could see myself even making my prisoner beg for it.”

Glad Jim’s hands around my waist were partially holding me up, I exhaled a fluttery breath.

“But even when my prisoner first started to beg, I think I’d just go ahead and continue my torturing a little longer still. For one thing, I’d want to make sure that my prisoner had really learned her lesson, and for another thing, there’s something about the idea of having a beautiful, sassy prisoner cuffed and completely restrained, all mine to punish in whatever way I see fit, that really appeals to me. I could see myself dragging the torture out, really enjoying it.”

I exhaled another fluttery breath, becoming a bit lightheaded.

“So, Avery, you might want to think twice before calling me a jerk again. You may really want to think long and hard about whether you’re really ready to accept the consequences that will come along with that action.”

When he’d said the words
long
and
hard
, the quietest little involuntary whimper had escaped my lips. With him holding me to the front of his incredibly well-sculpted body, I could feel that a certain part of his anatomy was already becoming hard, and this certain part felt long and thick, too. I wanted it already, and badly, the thought of Jim moving it inside of me making my knees decidedly weak.

However, it didn’t seem that he was quite finished with my
pre
-torture just yet.

“Now, to answer your question about why I stopped kissing you... Well, since you claim to not care about my lips, to the point that you’ve never even seen or looked at them before, I just wanted to take a little break to ask how you feel about them now...now that you’ve had a chance to feel them.”

With my gaze drawn to his lips right then, I tried to shrug with all possible nonchalance. “They’re okay, I guess. But I really wasn’t able to make a complete judgment based off of just a few seconds. I think you’re probably going to have to kiss me again. That is, if you don’t
mind
kissing me again.”

The fact that his mouth was on mine again not a moment after I’d finished speaking told me that he didn’t mind at all.

He kissed me slowly and gently at first, seeming to savor the sweetness of my lips with appreciative little grunts and groans, pulling me even closer against his still-growing hardness. Savoring the sweetness of his own lips, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, and soon, he intensified the kiss, probing my lips apart and beginning to explore my mouth with his tongue. It wasn’t long before his quiet groans became more like growls, and I was becoming a bit louder as well. Becoming increasingly turned on and hungry for his body, I moaned, rewarded for this action by Jim moving his large, strong hands from the small of my back to my rear. I moaned again when he began kneading the rounded globes, clearly becoming just as turned on as I was.

But again, he broke the kiss sooner than I would have liked, then spoke in a low, extremely husky voice. “
Now
how do you feel about my lips? Any change in your opinion?”

I only enjoyed the feel of his lips so much I was nearly breathless.

But again, unable to resist teasing him a bit, I just lifted my shoulders in a feeble shrug. “Well, I guess I think your lips are fairly decent, but that kiss still wasn’t long enough.” With a little current of electricity rippling through my stomach, I paused. “Jerk.”

In one swift, firm, but not in any way painful movement, Jim spun me a half-turn and pinned my wrists behind my back. When I heard his low, husky voice near my ear, another little current of electricity rippled through my stomach.

“This is your last chance to avoid arrest, Miss Clark. Your last chance to think twice about your sassy mouth. You can either apologize sincerely for addressing me so disrespectfully, or you can say nothing and face arrest, a very thorough strip search, and extensive torture. You decide.”

With butterflies rioting in my stomach, I turned my head to look at him over my shoulder. “I’m very sorry for addressing you so disrespectfully...
jerk
.”

“All right. You’ve made your choice. Now march.” He began guiding me over to one of the wood-paneled walls. “As a prisoner, you’ll wait with your nose against the wall until I’m ready to finish with your arrest.”

I was loving his deep, extremely husky voice, and the genuinely commanding tone he was taking with me. I was loving the feel of my wrists restrained in one of his strong hands. Really, I was loving every single thing about what was happening. Even just walking, I could feel how incredibly slick I’d become, to the point that it felt like my underwear were already drenched. I’d also developed a very distinct ache low in my stomach, the kind of ache that I knew wasn’t going to go away until the sheriff arresting me saw fit to “release” me.

When we reached the wall, Jim guided me to stand with my face just inches from it. “Keep your nose to the wall, Miss Clark. And if you disobey this command, know that it will result in further punishment after your arrest.”

Slightly dizzy with desire, I realized that I might soon need the wall just to hold me up.

“Is that clear, Miss Clark?”

Nearly panting, I nodded with my gaze on the wall. “Yes, sir.”

Those two words had felt unexpectedly good to say. So good, in fact, that just the act of saying them had caused my nipples to contract, becoming even stiffer than they’d already been.

Seemingly satisfied with my level of verbal respect, Jim released my wrists, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him go over to the door, shut it, and lock it, something I couldn’t believe we hadn’t done earlier. With heat rushing to my face, I realized that anyone could have been out in the hallway the entire time, listening to us. Because of the fairly short hallway leading directly from the bar to the meeting room being in an L shape, up to a dozen people could have been right around the bend, still within earshot of every word Jim and I had spoken. The thought that it was possible that one or two Timberliners, or more, had heard Jim “arresting” me made my face nearly burst into flames. Although, at the same time, I realized that I found the idea of a few random bar patrons wandering back toward the meeting room for some reason, and overhearing Jim’s sternness with me, strangely erotic. In fact, even while my face still flamed, I imagined a few shifters with their ears pressed to the door right then, about to hear me get “tortured,” and I felt my underwear become a little wetter still.

Soon, I heard Jim open the storage closet, then some quiet sounds, like he was rummaging around. I wanted to see what he was getting beyond the handcuffs, if anything, so I took a peek over my shoulder, completely forgetting that Jim had instructed me to keep my nose to the wall. I’d peeked just in time to see him take a thick, plaid blanket from the storage closet and spread it over the long meeting table, but he’d seen me, too, our eyes connecting for just a split-second.

“That disobedience was noted, Miss Clark, and your torture will be increased accordingly.”

His words caused a surge of butterflies in my stomach. I was now growing desperate for my “torture,” every additional second I was having to wait feeling like torture in and of itself.

However, it wasn’t long at all before Jim returned to me and turned me to face him with his hands very firm yet gentle. Glassy-eyed and without a word, he immediately lifted my top above my head and tossed it to the side. Then, just as silently and methodically, he removed my black lacy bra and tossed it to the side as well. But that was when his silence ended.

With a low growl rumbling deep within his broad chest, he surveyed my bare breasts for a good several seconds before turning me back around and handcuffing me. “Kick your shoes off, and I’ll do the rest.”

I did as he’d asked, and right away, he began removing the rest of my clothes with his breathing becoming extremely fast and ragged. My own breathing was becoming a little fast and ragged as well.

Once I was completely naked, with Jim having removed my socks and all, he began his “search” of my body, hands roaming everywhere, making me moan. When he dropped to his knees in front of me and began a far more intimate search with his tongue, probing my feminine lips apart, I moaned louder still, throwing my head back when I felt the tip of his tongue connect with my most sensitive spot, which was now throbbing and tingling near-unbearably.

“Yes. Please, Jim.”

I made an instinctive move to tangle my fingers in his hair to pull his face and his tongue even closer to tingling feminine bud, but of course, I found that I couldn’t move my hands at all, being that they were cuffed behind my back.

And to my horror, Jim soon stood and began leading me over to the table. “I think you’re deserving of far more torture before your release.”

I thought I could stand it if that torture was going to include more of Jim’s tongue exploring the most intimate parts of my body.

After removing my handcuffs and then re-cuffing me with my hands in front, he lifted me onto the table and guided me down to lie on my back. Fortunately, the table was of such sturdy construction and great size that I knew it would hold both of us with no danger of breaking. I figured that might be just a bit awkward to explain at the next council meeting.

Once he’d situated me just how he wanted me, Jim climbed up on the long table and positioned himself right between my legs, just where I wanted him. With another low growl rumbling in his chest, he slowly parted my legs, desire very evident in his increasingly glassy eyes. Ordinarily, I might have felt self-conscious to be under such close scrutiny in a room with such bright lighting, but at present, I was so turned on I didn’t care in the least. In fact, just the thought that Jim was now examining every inch of me turned me on even more.

He hadn’t been kidding when he’d said he was going to “torture” me. Despite me trying to guide his head exactly where I wanted it using my front-cuffed hands, he resisted, spending at least ten agonizing minutes kissing, licking, and suckling nearly every inch of my body, paying particular attention to my breasts and inner thighs.

Eventually, I was whimpering, writhing on the table in frustration. “Jim, please. This is beyond cruel and unusual punishment. It’s so, so beyond.”

Obviously enjoying administering my “torture,” just as he’d said he would, he still didn’t stop, teasing my most sensitive spot lightly with a fingertip while planting another long, slow line of kisses across one of my thighs. Panting, I lifted my hips, trying desperately to grind my beyond-slick spot against his fingertip, but he just pulled his fingertip further away, continuing his kisses.

“You’re cruel, Jim. I just hope you realize that.”

Maybe it was something in the tone of my voice, or maybe it was because he was becoming anxious for things to progress himself, but whatever it was, it got him to finally return his tongue to where he’d had it earlier, when I’d been standing. Arching my back, I cried out, then again a few moments later, when he slid a few fingers inside of me as well, then began slowly sliding them in and out while he continued stroking my throbbing bud with his tongue.