The Bear's Hired Mate: A Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance (7 page)

When Jane opened the door to Vincent, she thought he might faint. The man had definitely stopped breathing. He had to clear his throat before speaking.

“That dress will do,” Vincent said with a nod to the girl who had been helping her all night. She nodded and moved swiftly off to the register to apparently complete a transaction.

Jane’s eyes widened and she teetered forward on the sky high shoes to stop Vincent. “Oh my God Vincent, you can not buy this for me. Do you know how much this dress costs?! It has real gold on it.” Jane finished by drawing Vincent’s attention to the shimmering bodice of the dress, which only had the effect of making Vincent sure that he’d made the right choice.

“Of course I don’t know how much it costs, there are no tags. I’m sure she’d tell me if I wanted to know, but I don’t care. The thing fits you like it was made for you,” he said taking advantage of her updo to kiss her neck.

Jane hummed her approval and relented. “Well, you couldn’t very well break up soul mates.” Vincent stiffened in response to the comment and Jane wondered what she’d said, but in a flash it was gone and the warm caramel eyes scanned her own before dipping back to her cleavage. Jane laughed. “I don’t think your approval of this dress is based on my attitude alone.”

Vincent smiled like the cat who had got the cream. “I suppose you could say I’ve been less than altruistic. But come,” he said taking Jane’s hand, “I’m not fit to escort you at the moment. My tailor is a few doors down, I’m sure he’ll have something for me in the back.”

As Jane and Vincent walked out of the store, he paused to sign a bill that Jane did not manage to catch a glimpse of and then they headed down to a tailor with the least showy sign in the entire Vegas strip. Jane was a little concerned that they were headed for the wrong place. What store even carried suits to fit a seven-foot tall man? That had to be a special order.

Walking into the shop, Jane smelled the rich scents of good tobacco and leather. From the back came an understated man whose clothing was obviously cut from the finest cloth. His eyes brightened as he saw Vincent and he gave a booming welcome in an Italian accent. At Vincent’s request, he was ushered into the back and, as promised, exited in a sleek black suit. Only a handshake was exchanged, no bill was signed, but both men appeared to be happy with the deal.

From there, Vincent whisked Jane off to a dinner at the top of the Mirage Hotel. They had a private table in front of floor to ceiling windows with a view of all of Las Vegas. Jane didn’t know how Vincent had swung it, but he’d managed to get them the VIP treatment in less than three hours lead time. As she sipped the expensive cocktail and watched Vincent chat about his love of art and tattooing, Jane wondered how important this man was; to both his clan and the general public. She thought he was far more powerful than she’d given him credit for.

After dinner, Jane assumed they’d be headed home, it was almost eleven and Jane didn’t think Vincent was the type to take her into a club. But their taxi stopped at the New York, New York Casino and Vincent exited, offering his hand to help Jane out of the taxi. They walked to box seats at Zumanity. The people in the seats that had the general admissions tickets were looking up at them with cell phones and binoculars. She was pretty sure a woman with a song in the top ten of the pop charts was in the box next to them.

The show was a feast for the eyes. Jane had heard of the performance, it was Cirque de Soleil's adults-only show, sensual and sexual and everything that Jane didn’t need to put her over the edge. By intermission, Jane was crossing and uncrossing her legs in a vain attempt to satisfy or stop the need that was forming there. She could feel the warmth of Vincent in the seat next to her, his large thigh pressing into the short hem of her dress. Vincent sat coolly watching the show with rapt attention. At the end of the night, when Vincent ushered them back to his suite at Mezzanotte, Jane wondered if perhaps the show had had the opposite effect on him and she felt as though the night was going to end anticlimactically after all of the romantic build-up. Chapter 8

Jane and Vincent rode the main elevator in silence. Since Zumanity, Vincent had been mysteriously quiet. He didn’t seem angry exactly...it was more like he was shut off emotionally. Vincent had managed to get her out of the theater, into a taxi, and on an elevator without once having to physically touch her. It felt odd after so many hours of intimacy. Heck, they’d even made out during the taxi ride to Zumanity. What in the world had happened to Vincent during the show to shut him down?

As they walked toward their suites Jane started to get angry. It was Vincent who had planned the entire evening. If the show or her dress or his dinner didn’t meet his expectations, well then, it was no fault but his own. Jane felt herself getting riled up and at their doors she turned toward Vincent to tell him exactly what she thought of his mood at the moment and instead she found herself pressed up against Vincent’s door.

Jane’s breasts, already boosted to towering heights, were pushed to the very edges of decency as Vincent’s chest added pressure to the corset system. Briefly, Jane was worried about breathing until Vincent took her mouth with his. The kiss was urgent and possessive. He was animalistic, bringing one hand up to her jawline and increasing pressure till she opened her mouth for him. Then his tongue invaded. There was no other word. The warm heat of it swept her mouth, claiming the intimate territory for its own. Jane felt Vincent tease her mouth, demand that she give as good as she was getting. The sigh that left Jane’s mouth was one of pure feminine pleasure. All ideas of Vincent being cold or turned-off flew out of Jane’s head. She still wasn’t sure what was up with the attitude he’d been displaying for the last hour, but she was sure that she didn’t give a hoot. All she cared about was getting closer.

Vincent stepped forward with one leg and grunted as he kicked the door at Jane’s back. Jane thought that he would take the opportunity to pause and open the door, spilling them into the suite and its massive couch or bed. Heck, Jane would deal with carpet burn at this point. But Vincent didn’t make a move to open the lock. Instead, he drifted his kisses across her cheek and to the sensitive points on her neck. Vincent trailed long sucking kisses down the vein of her neck, paying special attention to its hollows. Jane felt the shivers of pleasure move down her body and amass in her very core, starting to turn her wet and needy. Vincent licked her collarbone and nipped at its end in her shoulder. Jane heaved her bosom up, hoping that Vincent would continue his descent, but instead, Vincent began working his way back up her neck, this time ending by taking her earlobe between his teeth and biting down softly before licking his way around the edge of her ear. Jane shivered again as he blew warm air on her wet skin.

There was a soft thud against the door again as Vincent’s knee moved in between Jane’s legs. The fine fabric of his suit pants rubbed with delicious texture against the sensitive skin of Jane’s inner thighs. Thanks to their height difference Vincent’s knee was at Jane’s inner thighs. She was about to press against the limb when it slowly rose upward, Vincent balanced on his tiptoe as the shelf of his knee came into contact with the apex of Jane’s thighs. With gentle pressure, Vincent shifted up until Jane had to place her entire weight on his leg to keep her balance. Jane gasped at the glorious pressure, the sensation fed the itch for more pleasure instead of sating it, and instinctively she moved against his thigh to feed the need.

Vincent grunted and swayed slightly, pulled off balance by Jane’s shifting weight. Gruffly, he whispered in her ear, “Take the shoes off,” and lowered his foot until it was resting solidly on the floor.

Pinned against the door, Jane had no choice but to submit all of her weight to Vincent’s leg and she curled her toes and kicked each golden shoe off her foot, praising the shopping gods that she’d gone with the kind you can slip on rather than the fancier version with the buckle. Shoes removed, Jane had to go up on tiptoe to keep her balance, but she could feel that Vincent was more secure with his leg down. Rolling her hips forward, she gave a gentle grind to test the stability of the position and was pleased to find that it was a solid and very pleasurable surface to move against.

Vincent must have found the move erotic as well, moving both hands up to Jane’s face he reverted to kissing her as if he was making love only through his mouth. Jane kept up a playful rhythm that was only incrementally increasing her need. But Vincent wanted her wild. He trailed one hand down the bodice of her dress, deftly lifting out her breasts and giving them a quick fondle as he moved south again. He moved his hand under Jane’s thigh and gripped his leg. Jane wondered what he was playing at until she thrust forward again and felt that his thumb was directly in line with her clit. Need escalated to a ten and she was helpless to slow her roll as his thumb continued to brush her in just the right way.

Vincent let out a little laugh as he felt Jane speed up, the wetness within her spreading to his pant leg. Jane panted as her body strode toward climax. Vincent’s head dipped down to Jane’s breasts in an act of contortion that was worthy of any Cirque de Soleil show. With his free hand braced against the door, Vincent licked slowly around her nipple. Around, and around, and around his warm wet tongue went until it reached the center and flicked over the sensitive nipple at its center. Jane lost all control of her grinding at that point and thrust as Vincent’s thumb began to move back and forth against her in time with the sucking on her nipple. With a shout, Jane clawed at Vincent’s back, grasping at the physicality of him as her body lost control in climax.

Vincent pulled back from Jane’s breast, watching hungrily with his smooth caramel eyes until she came back to earth. His thumb gently stroking the entire time, so the relaxation of her orgasm immediately turned into building need again. Jane’s eyes fluttered open as she felt the pleasure mounting fast again. With a nod, Vincent slowly removed his leg and Jane landed on the floor with unsteady feet. His hands moved to his belt buckle, but his eyes stayed on Jane’s swaying figure, ever ready to catch her at any moment. Unzipping his pants and letting them lay enticingly open, Vincent kneeled in front of Jane and ran his hands up her legs until his fingers hooked around the thin lace thong he’d bought for her earlier in the day. Slowly, Vincent pulled the underwear down her legs, allowing the rasp of the lace and the brush of his calloused hands to further tease her sensitive skin.

When he finally reached the floor again, he carefully helped Jane remove one foot from the underwear. The act complete, Vincent moved faster, his own need coming to the forefront. He reached for the hem of the beautiful gold dress and lifted, exposing her butt to the cool air of the hallway. Jane let out a little “Oh,” of surprise at the contrast in feeling before Vincent moved his hands to cover the newly bared skin. Vincent removed his hard length from his pants and lifted Jane to the right height, the head of him pressing warmly against Jane’s wet center. Slowly, he pushed in and out again. He was so large, it took time and Vincent was infinitely patient. He moved in and out, in and out, all the while kissing her neck and chest, grinding until he was fully sheathed by Jane.

They both let out groans of relief when his length was inside of her. She felt stretched in the most delicious way. Vincent took her mouth and kissed her deeply as he started moving again. It was restrained at first and Jane wondered if she was too heavy for him to hold comfortably. But when he was able to remove one hand from behind her and play with her clit while he thrust, all thoughts about anything but pleasure left her mind. The man knew what he was doing. She trusted him to break their fall if they went down. Faster and faster Vincent moved and Jane felt herself pushed toward another orgasm. As she felt her insides tighten around Vincent, she heard him groan and could feel his control snap. Deep, hard, smacking thrusts ensued and quickly tipped Jane over the edge into the abyss of passion once more. With a muted shout, Vincent joined her.

After a few moments, Jane wondered how she was going to get down from her position against the door. She’d thought about it hazily at first, but as the orgasm’s effects wore off, she started to wonder about how heavy she was. Vincent was still breathing heavily, his forehead against the door, nestling her head in his neck. It was a nice place to be, don’t get her wrong, but as big as Vincent was, werebear or not, he was going to get tired and drop her eventually.

Opening her eyes, she realized, perhaps for the first time during the entire act that they were in a hallway; a semi-public hallway. She felt her body instinctively try to collapse in upon itself, hiding as much of her exposed skin behind Vincent. Jane felt her cheeks get hot as she tried to scan for cameras, not that in a place like Mezzanotte they would be obviously exposed.

Jane heard Vincent’s laugh above her head. “There are cameras, if that’s what you’re wondering, but they go to an internal server for Valente and me. I’ll remove the disks after I get you in the suite.”