Shifters on Fire: A BBW Shifter Romance Boxed Set (15 page)

“It takes preparation, or I could hurt you. I’m on the large side, as well.” He withdrew his finger and bent to kiss her pussy again. “Roll over.”

“You aren’t going to…you won’t?”

“I won’t ever do anything you don’t want me to do.”

Taking him at his word, she rolled onto her belly and he pushed a cushion under her belly. Her ass stuck up in the air, everything she hated about herself jutting into the room, but his deep moan made her pause.

And his caresses made her moan in return. He pressed kisses into her cheeks and up her back until he arrived at her neck where he nuzzled his face and sucked a bit of skin into his mouth. Releasing it, he breathed, “I seem to have too many clothes on. Excuse me a moment.”

His weight lifted off her and she began to sit up, but he pressed her back down.

“No, you’re perfect where you are. I’ll be right back.”

Warren stripped off his clothes, shirt, boots, jeans, unable to wait any longer to sink his cock into the heat of his woman and cement her as his. Not his. His.

It was sex. She was using him to get even with her cheating fiancé. After tonight, she’d be gone and he’d forget she’d even been here. Honestly forced him to admit he’d never forget, but she probably would.

Still, he was willing to be the instrument of her revenge if it meant he had even a few hours in her embrace. Her body offered the curves he rarely saw and craved. And her heartbreak over someone not worth it, her concern for her friends to the point she’d been willing to risk life and limb just to call for a cab to get them out of the cold, touched him.

The bear rumbled in agreement, and it was all he could do to keep the animal from emerging to greet the woman he insisted was their mate. His cock rose straight and proud, and he dug in his jeans pocket for a condom and tore the package open.

Before he could cover his dick, his woman shook her head. “Can I do what you did to me?”

Hell yeah.

Moving toward her head he stood still while she gripped the shaft and opened her mouth. She flicked a tentative lick on the head and closed her mouth over him. Licking and sucking, she worked her way up and down the top half of his cock. He cupped the back of her head in his palm and took over the rhythm, fucking her mouth gently at first then with more speed until his balls boiled, ready to spill over.

Jerking back, he grabbed the condom again and rolled it on. Warren knelt behind her and guided his cock to her opening. Slick with her juices, her pussy drew him into its tight heat, and he worked in a little at a time until, with a groan, he sank balls deep and she shrieked.

Withdrawing, he saw the truth. Crimson threads laced her cream, the virgin’s blood he’d never dreamed of finding.

As he opened his mouth to say something, she rocked back and his cock slipped inside again. Her sheath milked him, and his human and bear together roared in appreciation that nobody but them had ever touched his mate in this way before.

Nobody.

He fucked her with all he had, encouraged by her soft shrieks and cries, drawing him on until her channel tightened and she shuddered in release. As his hot seed flooded the condom, it tore, he felt it, and he mated truly with this woman who had waited all her life for him to make her his.

Supporting himself on his arms, he panted, wondering how to tell her she was his. He hoped she’d like the idea. Because his bear loved it. Already loved her. But how to keep her around long enough for her to understand?

Sitting up, he pushed to his feet and she reached for him. “Don’t go.”

“I’ll be right back, little girl.” He swiftly moved into the attached bathroom and disposed of the condom. Returning with a warm washcloth, he stroked her thighs apart and wiped away the evidence of her innocence. A pang of guilt suffused him at the thought he’d taken it without knowing. Without care for her newness to lovemaking. What if he’d hurt her when he tore her hymen? He had no false pride in his large cock. It went with the bear in him. He wanted to ask her why she’d waited all her life to make love then chosen him, but he knew the answer.

Heartbreak. Rebound. Revenge. Not the best basis for building a relationship.

If he could keep her overnight, maybe she’d agree to see him again?

“Would you like another drink?”

She laughed. “No, not really. You said one would knock me on my ass and I think our evening together has done that quite well. I probably should get going.”

Roar!

Shut up! I can’t think when you do that. Maybe we should let her go home, get her phone number like a human would—if she will give it to me—and ask her on a date. Ease her into who we are and what we are.

Roar!

Or not.
When his bear got that insistent, he’d have no peace.

“How about some coffee or a soda then? Maybe a burger from the kitchen? We do have a great grill. The crispiest fries in the Southwest, too.”

“Mmm, no, I don’t think so.” She started to sit up then subsided. “I have class tomorrow and the sooner I start to unarrange the wedding, the more of my parent’s deposit money I might be able to salvage. What the hell was I thinking? How did I not see he was such a sleaze to start with?”

He didn’t want to talk about Theo. He wanted, in all honestly, to rip the man limb from limb. Of course, if he’d been a better fiancé, Karma would still be his. So…rip him limb from limb and then thank him for being an asshole. Foxes were usually monogamous and mated for life. But there were exceptions to every rule. They guy’s bright-red hair indicated something besides a full desert fox. Who knew where his people came from? Maybe somewhere foxes didn’t set much store in family, mates, honesty.

Warren kissed her and she melted into him, again. He caressed her, stroking his hands over her curves, memorizing the soft skin of her breast and the roundness of her hips. He still couldn’t believe he’d been lucky enough to be her first, although the bear seems to find it logical. But he also intended to be her only. “Cake?”

She rolled onto her side and smiled at him. “What kind?”

“Either triple chocolate blackout cake or my favorite honey cake?”

“Can I have both?”

Warren kissed her again. “A woman after my own heart.” Cake wouldn’t keep her long, but maybe after their snack he could seduce her again, gently, if she wasn’t too sore, and use up more of the night trying to think how to make her see she never needed to leave.

He picked up the phone and buzzed the kitchen, but nobody answered. Then he tried the security desk. Then he looked up at the monitors and swore softly.

“What’s wrong?”

Grabbing the remote, he clicked the screens dark and stood. “Seems to be busy in the kitchen. I’ll go get that cake for us, and be back in a flash. Yanking on his jeans and boots, he headed for the door.

“You don’t need a shirt to go there. You know….” She gave him a lazy grin that hardened his cock despite his alarm and his bear’s rage. “No shoes, no service.”

Warren forced a chuckle and paused in the doorway. “I own the joint. Also, we’re a bit off county government radar, as you may have guessed. I will lock the door behind me. Don’t open this for anyone but me, okay?”

She nodded, that wrinkle back in her brow. “Sure, but why? Is something wrong?”

He added a smile, wording carefully because he couldn’t lie to his mate. “Lots of drinking in a bar. Someone could stumble in here.” And that someone would be lucky to be able to stumble out again when he finished with him. He’d be lucky not to be in pieces scattered over the desert floor.

“Do I smell smoke?”

“Probably something burning in the kitchen. No worries.” Okay that was more or less a lie.

Chapter Five

The door clicked closed behind Warren, and Karma stood up and shivered. The room really felt cold without the big man in it, but his shirt lay on the floor and she lifted it and contemplated it before tugging it over her head. She’d never even have been able to wriggle into one of Theo’s, but Warren’s shirt fell to her knees and hung loose on her.

And he called her little girl.

Usually, she felt like one of the biggest people in the room. Reasonably tall and more than reasonably curvy, she hadn’t felt like a little anything since she was ten. But in Warren’s arms…. She bounced with delight then winced at a little sting from between her legs. In his shirt, the nickname actually fit. He was a foot or more taller than her and solid muscle from his broad shoulders to his wide chest, his arms and legs like solid tree trunks. Every story she’d read of Vikings carrying off helpless village maidens returned to her mind and she spun in a circle. Lovemaking.

She’d had her first legal drink and been made love to by a man beyond her wildest dreams. And instead of hurrying her off, he’d encouraged her to hang around. Instead of asking her if she really needed to eat so much, like Theo would have, he’d gone to get her cake! Two pieces! She slipped into the bathroom and eyed herself in the mirror.

Her hair was every which way and she smoothed it with her hands as best she could. Dampening a fresh washcloth, Karma wiped the smeared mascara from under her eyes but couldn’t look away from their sparkle. “I’m a woman, a woman,” she told her reflection. “But I don’t mind him calling me little girl.”

She left the cloth on the side of the sink, skipped back to the couch, and curled into the corner, Tucking her knees under the shirt hem, she settled back to wait for Warren, daydreaming of his body covering hers again.

Karma was a little surprised that, once the anger faded under the caressing hands of the big man, she wasn’t too upset at ending her engagement. Used to taking scraps of affection from her ex and having her tentative attempts at seduction brushed aside until “after we are properly married,” she’d never realized what she was missing. And doubted that Theo could have delivered what the club owner had.

A brief image of her ex’s skinny hips and narrow flanks flashed in her mind. She’d never seen him naked before tonight but, having done so, didn’t really find his shape to her liking. Okay, the fact he’d been screwing the brains out of another woman might play a part in that. But other occasions, also hurtful, came to mind. He’d made it clear that he preferred thinner women, ogling them wherever they went. But when she insisted she was too fat, he only said, “You’re okay. You have a pretty face.”

And when she tentatively touched him, he set her hands aside, chiding her at rushing things. The bastard wanted to marry a virgin.

Shaking away thoughts of the past, she looked around for a distraction and saw the remote. Warren sure was taking a long time to come back with a couple of slices of cake. How busy could the kitchen be?

She picked up the device and clicked buttons. One by one the screens came on and showed different parts of the club. Nothing was marked, so she didn’t know which one would be the kitchen.

She found the one outside the front door and noted the line had disappeared. It must be getting late and those still outside realized they’d never get in. At least Sara and Cookie were home by now. They might be mad that she got “in” and they didn’t, but the story she had to tell them would make up for that.

If she shared it. Somehow, what happened between she and Warren felt private. He did have a great smile, and those eyes! She could drown in their golden depths. Not a thing wrong with his body. But it was the growl in his voice that really did it for her. Even now, she felt dampness between her thighs at the memory.

Clicking another button, she found the door she’d snuck in through. Where the fox had been last time she looked. Funny a wild animal would be so close to a big group of people like that with the whole desert available to him. Maybe there were some mice or rabbits, or whatever they ate, in the cave.

On the dance floor, the beautiful people moved to music she couldn’t hear. There might be a way to turn up the volume, but she didn’t care. She rather enjoyed the silence in the office. At the table where she’d found Theo, the she-whore held court. No fewer than three men sat with her. They were all at least partially clothed, but she remained naked and shameless. She curled in the lap of one man who nuzzled her neck while the other two caressed her and they all chatted as if they weren’t in the middle of a public display of…of…well it wasn’t lovemaking.

It was sex.

Which was just what she would have had with Theo, after saying I do.

She doubted he had it in him to be faithful if he could cheat on her right before the wedding. And what was his obsession with not having sex with her anyway? She’d dieted and tried to lose weight to be more attractive to him, but if a girl’s fiancé had no trouble keeping his hands off her, what hope did she have when the vows were spoken?

Karma was practical enough to know she’d escaped a bad, sad, mad marriage.

What if she hadn’t happened to find the Animals card in his pocket? How long before she realized she’d married a cheater who didn’t love her. Why did he even want to bother with her?

She’d ask when she saw him. Even if she didn’t want to hear the answer. Or see him. But unlike her faithless ex, she had morals and would end it in person, face-to-face. And try very hard not to throw it in his ugly mug that the untouched virgin was no more.

She’d given herself to a man who was everything he was not.

She shuddered and pointed the remote at the screens, ready to see what else went on, maybe track down Warren and their cake. The dancers’ heads bobbed to whatever tune the DJ in the booth in the corner played. She focused on him, on something odd about him. He was tall and thin and his head wove back and forth on a long neck. Longer than she expected to see on anyone, poor guy. She chuckled. It sure wasn’t because he was an alien. What the heck had she been thinking?

Aliens!

And she hadn’t even had a drink to blame it on when she’d come up with her bizarre theory. Scanning casually back over the dancers, she enjoyed watching them. She loved dancing and not everyone out there was thin. They were all shapes and sizes but they wore their bodies so well, they gave the impression of perfection. She envied their confidence and wondered if perhaps she might step out there herself. She’d hoped to step out on the floor, for once, if she could overcome her fears of being laughed at for her size.

All the teasing growing up had shattered her confidence to the point she’d been willing to take what Theo was willing to give her.

What an eye-opening night.

The dancers moved and revealed a couple in the middle of the floor who seemed to be dressed in…fur? Karma zoomed in. Were they wearing lion skins? The tawny pelts glistened in the flashing lights. As she watched, they dropped to their knees and loped off the floor.

She wiped at her eyes.

It had to be the Cliffside Blitz.

She grabbed Warren’s glass and tossed that one back, too.

If one caused hallucinations, maybe the second would make them go away. Or knock her out. She didn’t really care which.

Speaking of Warren. She clicked button after button before finding the kitchen and the source of the smoke. A cluster of people in chef’s whites and a handful of other guys, big guys who she vaguely thought might be security, wielded fire extinguishers all pointed at a doorway from which flames curled and smoke billowed.

Her alarm was muted by the pleasant haze of the drink, but she tugged off the T-shirt and numbly dressed in her own clothes, in case she had to evacuate. Warren directed them, arms waving, fingers pointing, and lips moving. Now she really did want volume. Peering at the remote, she found a small button marked with a V and pressed it.

The roar of noise had her pressing the button again and again until the sound lowered enough to stop the ringing in her ears. Whew.

It seemed her bear of a man had things well under control. His calm voice ordered people here and there, and in moments the blaze in the pantry—as she heard one chef call the burning area—was extinguished and the staff setting to with buckets and mops to clean up the mess. The patrons on the dance floor, including her hallucinatory lions, had never even been disturbed by the whole thing. Warren disappeared into the pantry and returned shaking his head. He went to a phone on the wall and made a call then spoke to a cook. After a few words from Warren, the petite woman pulled two big wedges of cake from a glass-front refrigeration unit and handed them to him. He disappeared from the screen view. Would he tell her what happened? Why not? He’d need some explanation for smelling like a campfire. Hopefully the pantry hadn’t sustained too much damage. What could have started a fire in that area? Did pantries even have a stove or maybe there had been a wiring problem?

They hadn’t needed the fire department. Warren had said they were off the county radar but even for an emergency? Still, they had handled it well. The insurance company could take it from there. Everyone had insurance.

It felt like she’d left her house days before to come out for a night of dancing and celebrating her upcoming wedding. She’d never have believed anyone who told her what might happen that night.

Maybe it did involve aliens.

And lions.

Alien lions? Mildly foggy from the drinks and general tiredness, she grinned.

A moment later, there came a tap on the door and she flew to answer it, ready to hear all about the excitement.

“Warren, I saw what happened. Are you all right?”

To her shock, Theo stumbled through the doorway, hair singed and clothes blackened with soot. He reeked of it, too.

“You bitch! I heard the bouncers talking but I couldn’t fathom that my sweet bride would be the one to have me thrown out. What happened, huh?”

He grabbed her arm and dragged her through the hallway and down the stairs. He continued along until he came to a small single door she hadn’t seen and pulled her through. She cried out, but no one came. They emerged into the hallway by the front door. Stopping, he looked her up and down with that sneer she’d grown to fear. Theo slammed her into the wall then slapped her face. “So, is it true? They said you were flirting with that bear who owns the joint? Her ears rang, but she refused to answer. Someone would come along. Was there a camera focused here? There had to be. Why else would Warren and the bouncer have rushed in to stop those women making out?

But, with so much of the staff tied up in the kitchen, was anyone looking at a screen? The kitchen. “Did you start the fire?”

He laughed. “What do you think? How else could I make sure nobody would be posted outside the office door. To hear those howling wolf security guys talk, their boss was claiming my woman for himself.”

Karma licked her lips, jittery and anxious. Her head spun. “W-what do are you going to do now?”

He smiled at her, revealing so many sharp teeth, she gasped. “I’m taking you out of here before that bear has his way with you. I didn’t keep you pure all this time to have someone else steal your virginity from me.”

He what? Breathe. Breathe. She gathered every bit of strength she had in her search for calm. Inhale. Hold. Exhale. “Why…why did you do that, keep me ummm pure?”

His bitter laugh made her skin crawl. “If I marry a tainted mate, my family will never accept me back.”

Mate? Tainted? The creepy factor amped up and she swallowed back bile in her throat. Inhale. Hold. Exhale. Keep him talking. Eventually someone would either notice on a monitor or come through on their own. But if he took her out of there, anything was possible. She pushed off the wall and faced him, beyond grateful she’d changed out of Warren’s shirt. If he thought she’d already lain with the other man, she had no idea what he’d do. Inhale. Hold. Exhale.

“Theo, calm down. I just came out for a night of dancing with my friends then it got a little noisy and I got scared. You know how I am.”

He eyed her but released her arm and she rubbed at the forming bruise. “You are a scaredy-cat, aren’t you?”

For once his mocking didn’t bother her. Instead, it made her surer than ever she’d escaped from a bad situation in the nick of time. Her lack of confidence led her to almost make a huge mistake. But she had to survive long enough to move forward. Now that she knew what a true man had to offer, she wanted to convince him to spend more time together.

“Yes, Theo,” she murmured, keeping her eyes on the floor in false submission. If he saw them, he’d also see her derision and anger. “I am. I ran to that office and I was waiting for a ride home.”

He grinned and winked at her. “Your ride has arrived. I think instead of waiting we should just head right out and find a justice of the peace to marry us tonight. We already have the license, why wait?”

She threw up in her throat a little, but forced her lips to move into a smile that probably resembled a grimace. “Oh, Theo, I couldn’t do that! What about our parents? Yours are flying in all the way from Paris and my mother would be heartbroken. And you know how Dad feels about you.”

He hugged her and dropped a kiss on her cheek. “My mom got in today. I’ll call her and we can pick her up on the way. We can still have the church one and the reception, but this one will be just us and Mom. She can satisfy herself you meet all her requirements for my bride before we go to the JP.”