His to Seduce (6 page)

But that wasn’t what worried her.

No. The part that worried her was that whatever was going on with Luke and what he was feeling for her, Chloe just might be feeling it too. And that couldn’t happen. That would ruin everything.

Chloe walked hand in hand with Luke and tried to ignore how natural it felt. Everything her cousins and sisters had ever told her about men and mates slammed into her consciousness.

It feels so good. Like you were always meant to be together. The sun is brighter, the day a little warmer…it feels like home.

Ugh.

She couldn’t clear her head.

It was Luke’s touch. His hand in hers
did
feel good, dammit. It wasn’t supposed to. It was just supposed to be sex. And why couldn’t it be? Why couldn’t she just have a wild, one-night—okay, maybe more than one night—fling with a man and not have it be anything more?

Because you’re a bear.

This time, her own little voice piped up.

Chloe yanked her hand out of Luke’s and quickly stepped forward on the path so she walked in front of him. She had to focus and push every single one of the sickening thoughts out of her head. Including her own.

Especially her own.

To his credit, Luke didn’t say a thing or question her. She thought she heard him chuckle a little, but she kept walking. She wouldn’t let him get in her head. She couldn’t.

“So, what is this area over here?” She purposely directed their attention to a thicket of trees next to a stream. There really was nothing of interest about the trees, but Chloe was interested in any distraction at all. Anything to get her focus off the incredibly sexy man whose presence behind her had her body on high alert.

“I’m glad you asked.”

She stopped and turned in surprise, almost running into his hard chest. A fate that wouldn’t have been so bad at all.

No.
She must stop thinking like that.

Chloe cleared her throat. “Why?”

Luke grabbed her hand and charged off the trail, dragging her along with him toward the stream. “Because this is one of my favorite fishing holes.”

Chloe looked up and down at the tiny, shallow stream. “It hardly looks like a fishing
hole
. There’s no way fish can live in here. It’s too shallow.”

“No way.” Luke laughed and without letting go of her hand, stepped nimbly along the rocks that bordered the stream, taking her up with him. “Please don’t tell me you’ve never been fly fishing before.”

“Okay. I won’t tell you.”

His face twisted into an expression that resembled something between humor and disappointment. “I don’t mean this to sound, well, abrupt…but…you’re a bear. How have you never been fishing before?”

“I’m a girl.”

“I noticed.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her and Chloe had to bite back a laugh. “What difference does that make?”

Chloe stared down into the crystal-clear waters that gently flowed past her feet and shrugged. “It’s just the way things were done in my clan. The men provided and the women…we mated.” It was kind of a sore spot with Chloe, but Luke didn’t need to know that. There had been a lot of chauvinistic tendencies in the Karrington clan, which was one of the reasons she’d left. Besides, she was over it. Mostly.

“That’s stupid.” Luke stated it so matter-of-factly that Chloe looked up. He watched her with a strange gaze. “We grew up as the grandchildren of a very dominating alpha of the clan. And when I say very dominating, well…I mean just that. But even then, we used to take my little sister fishing all the time. We taught her to do everything we did. And frankly, a lot of the time she did it better than us. But don’t tell Kira.” His eyes lit up when he spoke of his sister.

“I haven’t met her.” Chloe suddenly wanted very much to meet Kira. “Does she help out at the Den, too?”

The shadow that fell over Luke’s fast was instant. He shook his head and looked away. “No. We don’t see Kira anymore.” It was clear from his tone that the subject was a hard one. Chloe paused for a moment, watching Luke for a sign that it might be okay. When the set line of his mouth didn’t change, Chloe changed the subject.

“What kind of fish do you catch here?”

It took Luke a moment to shake off the earlier conversation, but it seemed that talking about fish was the way to do it. “Trout. Bull trout mainly. But sometimes you can get a rainbow or two once in a while. And of course it depends on the fly I use. Fly fishing is more of an art than a sport. It’s incredible, really.”

It didn’t take long for Luke’s face to lose the shadows of a past that clearly haunted him and once again light up as he spoke about fishing. Although Chloe had never had much of an interest in fishing beyond wanting to show up her male relatives, she couldn’t help getting pulled into the world that Luke created while he spoke of flies, fish, and casting.

L
uke had never
before found anyone who listened to him about fishing the way Chloe was doing. Maybe his brothers, but even then their interest was limited to finding out what they could to beat him at his own game. Luke had always been the best fisherman in the family. It was a role he was proud of because it was about so much more than just simply catching fish. It was about timing and strategy and patience. Qualities and traits that his brothers didn’t necessarily have. More than that, he’d never before had the opportunity to talk about his passion so openly to someone who seemed to care so deeply.

And Chloe cared.

Even if she didn’t understand all of what he said, she was definitely listening. And that meant the world to him. This woman, she was so much more than a gorgeous, curvy bear. She was smart, sexy, more sensual than even she knew, and his perfect match in every way.

His mate.

He hated even thinking the word, but there was no other word to describe it. He’d been fighting it. From the moment he’d met her, he’d been fighting it. But there was no way he could deny it. Luke could tell himself whatever he wanted to about why it was no good to get mixed up with a mate and why he should probably be running for the hills. But no matter what he told himself, the reality was he couldn’t bring himself to send her away or shut her off. It was the total opposite. The more time he spent with her, the more he wanted to wrap her in his arms, hold her, kiss her, and tell her how much he needed her in his life.

And that scared the hell out of him.

He risked a quick glance in Chloe’s direction as he talked to her about casting into a pool where he knew for a fact there would be bull trout hiding. Her black hair shone in the sunlight, begging to be let out of the tight braid she had it tied back in. Luke wanted to let it free, have it cascade over her shoulders so he could twine his fingers through the strands and pull her face down to his so he could kiss her until she begged him for more. Because she would. Of that he had no doubt. He spotted a private area under a pine that looked soft enough for a makeshift bed, where he could take her and have her every which way they desired. And that was saying something.

Luke forced himself to focus and keep it clean. She was working and she’d made it very clear that her work was important to her; he wouldn’t take that away from her or compromise it in any way.

With some effort, he concentrated on the pool they were watching. “The bull trout like to hide at the bottom,” he said. “If you look really closely, you might even see one hiding along the edges of the rock. They watch and wait.”

Her eyes were focused on the water. “What are they waiting for?”

He shrugged. “The right fly to come along. Sometimes they can be tricky buggers. But if I want one bad enough, I’ll get him.”

Chloe looked up at him with a smirk. “Confident, aren’t you?” She popped her hip out and he was positive she didn’t have the slightest idea of how sexy it made her at that moment.

“Absolutely.” Luke licked his bottom lip and took a step around the pool toward her. “Baby, when I want something, I always get it.”

He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close.
Work be damned
. He could no longer resist her.

“You think so, do you?” She teased him with her question, but it was a challenge Luke wasn’t going to back down from.

He closed the slight distance between them so her mouth was only inches from his. “I don’t
think
anything,” he said, slowly. “When it comes to fishing, I always make my catch.” He crushed her lips to his and slid one hand down her back to her ass, where he held her firmly against him. He wasn’t going to let her go. There was no way. It only took seconds for any resistance she was holding onto to melt away. Her kiss in return was hard and fueled by the passion he knew she felt for him. This woman was absolutely everything.

He hated on so many levels to admit it. But the taste of her, the feel of her—damn, the
scent
of her—made his entire body come alive. And now that he had her, he couldn’t let her go. He wouldn’t.

After a moment, Chloe eased off the kiss. He could feel the staccato rise and fall of her chest against his. There was absolutely no doubt what kind of effect he had on her: the same one she had on him. She pulled back, just enough so he could look into her eyes. The emotion churning in those blue depths reminded him of the way the stream frothed over the stones into his favorite fishing hole. There was a lot more going on beneath the surface than Chloe let on.

She licked her lips. Luke swallowed hard. She opened her mouth to say something, and instinctively, Luke knew he wasn’t going to want to hear it. She was fighting their connection so hard. She might as well be physically pushing him away. But she wasn’t. His grip on her tightened.
Not yet.

“Before you say anything,” he cut her off before a word came out of her mouth. “I want to tell you something.”

Chloe closed her mouth, and looked at him with an
okay I’ll humor you for a moment
look on her face. Her body tensed in his arms as if she was ready to run, but he wasn’t about to let her go. Not yet.

Maybe not ever.

“I know you don’t want this,” he started. “Or maybe I should say that you
think
you don’t want this.” Chloe opened her mouth again, but Luke silenced her with a gentle finger to her lips. “But you do. I can feel how much you want this.”

Chloe laughed then, but it wasn’t a cute sound, or a happy noise. It was forced, tense, scared almost, as if she’d just discovered she’d left the house without pants.

“I know you do, Chloe,” he continued, ignoring the noise. “I can feel it. I can
sense
it. Because it’s not just you. It’s me, too.” She squeezed her eyes and looked away, but Luke was not about to be deterred. “And don’t think for a second that falling for you was something I wanted either.”

That got her attention. She whipped her head around. “
Falling
for me? You barely know me. You know—”

“Everything I need to.” He stared into her eyes hard, forcing her to meet his gaze. “I know that you were made for me. When I’m with you, my bear is finally satiated, calm. When I’m inside you, well…we fit. And you know it.” She blinked hard but didn’t look away. “I know you feel it too, Chloe. I’ve tried to fight it. Hell, do you really think I want to mess up my life with a mate? I’ve been doing just fine without any—”

“A mate?” Her eyebrows arched into dangerous peaks. “Who said anything about a
mate?
”

“Don’t fight it.”

She squirmed in his grasp. “I think I’ll do just that, thank you very much.”

“You can’t.” Despite the fact that his mate was fighting him on every level, Luke had never felt calmer. He wasn’t worried. It might take a little convincing, but as soon as she let down her walls a little, he had no doubt she’d see what Luke already knew.
They were fated.

“Look, Chloe.” He tightened his grip on her, but used his thumbs to stroke soft circles on her upper arms. “It’s not what I had planned for myself either. I get it. But just like with Axel and Harper, it’s—”

“It’s bullshit.”

Chloe twisted hard to the left and escaped his hands, scooting herself out of reach. He could easily close the gap and hold her again, but he’d give her space. If she needed a bit of time to come to the same conclusion he had, that’s what she needed. He wasn’t worried.

“You’re fairly sure of yourself.” Chloe adjusted her shirt but she wouldn’t meet his eye, which only affirmed exactly why he should be so sure of himself. “I told you, I’m not interested in anything. I shouldn’t even have done what...well, we shouldn’t have.”

“Oh yes we should have.” Luke jumped over the rocks that separated them, and twined his arm around her waist, pointing into the stream below them as he did. “Just like those fish—once you cast with just the right fly, they have no choice but to take the bait.”

Chloe made an adorable sound halfway between a chuckle and a snort but she covered her mouth so quickly, Luke was robbed of the chance to see her beautiful lips in a smile. “Did you just compare me to a
trout
?”

“I did.”

“And you think you’re going to be able to reel me in, do you?”

He took another step closer and closed the gap. “I think I have just the bait you need.”

There was no way he could stand so close to her, breathing in the fresh, rich scent of her and not pull her into his arms, so that’s just what he did. “You know we could save a whole lot more time if you didn’t keep running away from me.” Luke didn’t wait for a reply before he took that sexy mouth into a kiss, leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind what exactly they could be doing with all that saved time.

He was happy to take her right there next to his favorite fishing hole, under the pines in a bed of needles. In fact, he couldn’t think of a better place to finally make her his mate, not that she was ready to agree to that. Yet. When Chloe stiffened in his arms once more, it took all Luke’s self-control not to roar out in frustration. When she pulled away from his kiss, he had to swallow hard to keep his bear in check. He opened his eyes to see her staring over his shoulder at something behind him. Judging by the storm swirling in her blue depths, he wasn’t going to like what he saw when he turned around.