Warlock and the Bear Read online

  So he carried on kissing her neck gently, his hand sliding slowly over her hip and down her thigh as he did. God, she was so soft, her skin like silk. He could get lost in just kissing and touching her. Her breathing sped up as she started to wake, arching her back and shoving her ass toward him with a small sound of pleasure. He took that as permission to carry on, sliding his hand around her thigh and up toward the sweet delta between her thighs. At his nudging, she parted her thighs, bringing her knee up a little to give him better access.

  His fingers brushed the briefest of strip of hair before he stroked her pussy lips, a growl in the back of his throat at the soft, smooth skin. He’d never felt anything more erotic in his life. Parting them with a gentle touch, his growl deepened at the hot slickness he found there. She was already wet for him, but he’d make sure she was wetter before he eased into her. Without arrogance, he knew he was built on the big side, and she was so tiny… he didn’t want to hurt her.

  He easily found her clit, stroking and teasing it gently. Each stroke of his finger was followed by a circle around it before he dipped down to tease the entrance to her body. Stroke. Circle. Tease. Until she moaned and panted, her hips rocking against his hand.

  Oh, she was delicious. He nipped her neck again, savoring the catch in her breath, and slid a finger deep into the welcoming embrace of her body. Her silken walls clenched around him, and he groaned, imagining them wrapped around his cock. He wasn’t fully awake, and he must have had too much to drink, because he couldn’t recall what she’d felt like last night. Or how they’d met…

  It didn’t matter at the moment, he decided, as drunk on the soft sounds she was making and the feel of her body as he must have been on whatever he’d drunk last night.

  She whimpered when he added a second finger to the first, stroking her from within as he brought his thumb into play against her clit. Her hand closed around his wrist, but not to push him away. Instead, she held his hand where it was, rocking against him.

  He groaned as she rode his fingers, fucking herself on his digits and turned her head, seeking his kiss. A kiss he happily gave her, eyes still half closed. He didn’t want to open them at the moment. If he didn’t, he could imagine the mass of dark hair he’d gotten a glimpse of belonged to Lilly. He could pretend this woman, whoever she was, was Lilly.

  At the thought, his cock jerked, aching savagely. God, yeah… what he’d give to have Lilly Braun in his arms like this. Whimpering and panting as he finger-fucked her and stroked her toward climax. Knowing that as soon as he did, as soon as she came, he’d lift her leg just that little bit more and slide his cock balls deep inside her tight little body. He closed his eyes and deepened the kiss, swallowing her little moans of pleasure as she got closer to the edge. Odd, because she even tasted like Lilly had when he’d kissed her the… other… day…

  His eyes snapped open as the fog of sleep cleared from his desire-addled brain. The reason she felt like Lilly was because it was Lilly. It was Lilly grinding against his hand, on the verge of coming, the pair of them wrapped in the sheets of the sofa-bed in her living room.

  Fuck. Me.

  He should stop, now. He couldn’t remember why she was in bed with him, but she was obviously still half asleep. He tried to pull away, but she growled, her hand around his wrist like iron, and she kissed him again. His control broke, his hand driving into her hair to support her head as he plundered her lips.

  He carried on stroking her, feeling the unmistakable signs of her impending climax. He swallowed her gasp and felt her shatter apart. Her hips bucked, and she clenched hard around his fingers. The hot, wet rush of her climax made his cock ache savagely, but he didn’t move, didn’t push her forward and claim her as every male instinct he had urged him to.

  Instead, he carried on stroking her, stretching out her pleasure as long as he could. Kissing her through it and savoring every moment. Because as soon as she realized who he was, he sure as shit wasn’t getting a second chance at touching her like this.

  She shivered, riding out the aftershocks, and he felt the moment she woke fully. Her eyes snapped open and she looked at him from mere inches away.

  “Holy crap,” she whispered. Which was a fair comment since they were wrapped around each other, naked, and he still had his fingers buried deep inside her pussy.

  Gently, he pulled free of her, ignoring the pang of disappointment. She let go of his wrist like his skin had burned her.

  “Doesn’t have to be weird unless we make it weird,” he suggested softly. “Just a nice dream. Or frien—”

  “If you say friends with benefits,” she growled, pushing at his shoulders to get free. “They’ll never find your damn body!”

  “Not saying a word. Honest!” he flopped onto his back, hands up in surrender, as she slid from the bed. “Anyone ever told you that you’re cute when you’re mad?”

  She growled again and flipped him the bird as she stomped from the room. Morgan made sure to get a good look at her beautiful and very naked ass as she went, and then dropped his head back to the pillows and groaned.

  He’d had a taste of Lilly’s passion at long last… and he wanted more. Much more. Like every cell in his body kind of obsession wanted more.

  The trouble was, she’d probably become a nun before he could tempt her into his bed again.

  Chapter 4

  She’d let Morgan Jones, big, bad warlock, touch her… make her come. Lilly groaned and leaned her head against the steering wheel of her little SUV.

  Her cheeks burned. He’d had his hands on her, his fingers in her pussy as he’d stroked her until she’d come all over his hand. She’d let him make her come and it had been the best, hardest, most fucking awesome orgasm she’d ever had.

  And it had been from arrogant, pain-in-the-ass Morgan Jones. Which was no surprise. She’d known from the moment she met him that he’d be dynamite in bed. He gave off that sexy aura that said he knew what he was doing between the sheets.

  She closed her eyes. She’d been right about that. She’d realized that as she’d come apart in his arms. But he was an asshole who wanted to be ‘friends with benefits’ so there was no way it would work between them.

  Ever.

  Couldn’t she just use him for sex?

  Snapping her eyes open, she growled at herself. That was so a no go. She ignored her bear’s complaints that the warlock was the hottest thing on two legs they’d ever met. It didn’t care Morgan wasn’t a bear… which was odd, since before it had been adamant that the only acceptable male was a bear male.

  “Shit!” She slammed her hands against the steering wheel. She couldn’t use Morgan for sex, and they still had to live together until Bennett got over his matestrike.

  So there was only one option left. She pretended it had been a dream, like Morgan suggested. And next time she heard him having a damn nightmare, she left him the fuck alone to deal with it.

  He had nightmares… About his mother leaving him.

  Just like that, her heart melted and she wanted to wrap her arms around him all over again. But perhaps dressed in more than a towel this time.

  Her cell chirped for an incoming message and she looked up. Reaching for it on the passenger seat, she couldn’t help the smile as she saw the name on the screen. Morgan J.

  “Talk of the devil,” she murmured as she swiped the screen to read the message.

  All clear on the Kellan property. No bears or abracadabra. Anything your end?

  She shook her head. Looked like it was business as usual. Well, if he could carry on like nothing had happened, then so could she. Thumb typing rapidly, she replied.

  All clear on the Elwes place. No bears, rogue or otherwise.

  Since the murder of a young girl and the kidnapping of a couple of bear-children, the entire clan had been on high alert. All the enforcers were out checking over the outlying properties on the edge of town for rogue activity.

  Her cell chirped again.

  Lunch?

  Defi
nitely business as normal then.

  Yeah. As long as you’re buying.

  After hitting send, she watched the screen like a hawk, waiting for the little dots to tell her he was typing. They started, and her heart leapt a little. Then they kept going… and going… and going.

  “What are you doing, writing a damn book?”

  Yep. Cafe on Main. 10 mins.

  “All that typing for that?”

  Grumbling to herself and wondering what the hell he’d been typing, she put the vehicle in drive and headed back toward town. To a lunch date with a hot warlock. She blinked. Oh. My. God. She did not just think that. One little (actually one rather large) orgasm, did not a relationship make.

  But… he was kind of hot. More than kind of hot. Very hot. And, he’d made her come. He hadn’t just stuck his dick right in her at the first hint she was interested, even though she was half asleep.

  A small smile curved her lips. He gave off the aura of being this big, badass kind of guy and… her smile faded—he had nightmares.

  “Okay. We can do this,” she announced to the empty car as she drove toward town. “Totally do this.”

  It took less than ten minutes to get to town, and by the time she parked, she was about to hyperventilate.

  “I can do this. I can do this,” she muttered, putting the SUV into park. Then Morgan’s truck pulled up next to hers and she lost her nerve.

  “Oh shit, I can’t do this.”

  Morgan had no idea how Lilly was going to react to him. Not after she’d left the house like a bat…no, a bear out of hell this morning. He’d intended to catch her in the kitchen before they left for the day, to talk about what had happened. And he’d pushed the boat out, even making pancakes and coffee. But she’d swept downstairs and out the damn front door instead.

  Before he’d gotten halfway to the door, her little pink SUV had fishtailed out of the drive and sped off down the road. The only contact he’d had with her since had been on the enforcer’s group chat, where they got their orders for the day.

  He’d finally cracked and messaged her privately with his report. A message, not a call. Something told him she wouldn’t pick up and talk to him, but he hadn’t been able to resist trying his luck and offering lunch.

  Her replies had been short and sweet, but she had replied. And turned up. His breath punched out of his lungs in sheer relief as he parked up next to her car and got out.

  Her wary look as he rounded the hood hit him in the gut, but he covered it with a smile.

  “Hey.”

  He kept his voice as light as he could. A difficult feat when all he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and learn the shape of her lips all over again. She was like a drug to him, even more so now he’d had her in his arms as she came apart. Even more so now that he knew what her kisses tasted like when she came. And definitely even more so now that he’d heard the beautiful little sounds she made when she did.

  But he didn’t allow any of that to show on his face as he walked toward her. She looked wary, and he’d bet the entire contents of his father’s treasure coffers that she didn’t want anyone to know that. Him especially.

  So he kept it all business.

  “So, I checked out all the properties on the list you gave me,” he said, sweeping an arm out to indicate she should precede him into the diner. “And they’re all clean. No bear or magical activity whatsoever.”

  “Yeah, same for me. Well, the bear activity anyway. I wouldn’t know about magical stuff,” she said, sliding into one of the booths next to the window. It was obvious she was relieved that they were back on a ‘normal’ footing. “It makes me sneeze but that’s it. I can’t tell if anything’s been used recently, like you can.”

  Morgan hid his smile as he slid into the seat opposite. He could do more than tell if a spell had been used recently. He could tell what, when, and, given the right circumstances, track the caster to their current location. His level of power was off the charts, a lot more than an ordinary oathbreaker, but revealing just how powerful he was would raise too many questions. And his father had spies everywhere looking for him. There was no way he was going to get caught that easily. Not after all these years.

  He caught the eye of Trinity, the waitress behind the counter. “Two of the special and coffee please, Trin,” he called out, knowing without asking exactly what Lilly would order. One of the benefits of living in a small town… everyone knew everything about everyone. And, well, he might have noted every single thing about Lilly Braun from the moment he’d met her.

  But a lunch order was easy. She always ordered the same thing he did. The pie. Apple pie and whipped cream. Each and every time.

  “I don’t think they had a spellslinger with them to be honest,” he said, refocusing on Lilly.

  “No?” She asked, picking at her little fingernail the way she always did when she was nervous. He didn’t think she was aware of the tell, and he wasn’t about to clue her in. It was tiny, and no one else would notice it. But he did.

  “Nope.” He shook his head. “There weren’t any echoes… like residual traces at the Black place or at the Watson’s place when they grabbed the girls. If a ‘slinger had been there, I’d have known about it.”

  “You’d have known about it, huh?” She chuckled, reaching for a mug of coffee as Trin put them down on the table. “Full of yourself, aren’t you? Anyone would think you were some big muckety-muck magic lord like whatshisface…” She motioned to the newspaper in front of them.

  Morgan froze as she pulled it toward her and he caught sight of the story on the front.

  Lord Maximillian seen with hot mystery blonde!

  It was accompanied by a picture of the Lord, heir-apparent to the Passenfal coven, one of the oldest and most powerful covens in the country. Max was also his younger brother.

  Lilly snapped the paper open, pursing her lips as she held the picture up next to him.

  “Yeah… he kinda looks like you. You sure you’re not a magic lord in disguise?” She gave him a mock-stare.

  Shit. He knew she was joking, but even so, his heart sped up.

  The idea that the missing Lord Arran would be camping out in a backwater town like Beauty as a tatted up ex-soldier was preposterous. Which was exactly why he’d done it.

  With a nonchalance he didn’t feel, he shoved her hand and the paper away.

  “Yeah, right. I’m as much a Lord as Trin is the next Queen of England,” he scoffed, smiling up at Trin as she slid two filled plates onto the table.

  Predictably, the food got Lilly’s attention, and she dropped the paper.

  “Pie twins.” She offered him a smile as she dug in.

  Popping a forkful in her mouth, she closed her eyes and moaned. The little sound of pleasure and the look on her face made him bite back a groan, lust roaring through his body. He wanted that again. Wanted to hear that noise when she was beneath him… when he claimed her for his own.

  “Not eating?” She asked, waving her fork at his untouched plate.

  Quickly he picked up his fork and took a bite, but he didn’t eat as quickly as normal, watching her covertly instead. He didn’t try to talk while they ate. He’d been around bears long enough to know that food trumped everything else, and he wouldn’t get anything out of her until she’d finished. Dean Sterling, his army buddy, was exactly the same.

  He didn’t have much of an appetite though, more interested in watching her as she demolished the pie and then eyed up the slice he was pushing about his plate.

  “You want it?” He pushed it toward her.

  Her gaze flicked up to his and she shook her head, a flush over her cheeks. “I shouldn’t…”

  He snorted. “Why the hell not? Life’s too short. Have the pie.”

  He pushed it closer, taking her empty plate. “If you give me some crap about getting fat or whatever, I’ll put you over my knee. Because you’re gorgeous just the way you are.”

  “Oooh… I’m scared.” She pulled the pie clos
er and dug in.

  He hid his smile, concentrating on his coffee. He’d never understand why women couldn’t just be happy the way they were, rather than half starve themselves. Didn’t they know men loved them anyway? They were small and curvy and god, he had to stop thinking about Lilly’s curves or he wasn’t going to be able to walk out of here without giving himself away.

  He hadn’t mentioned the incident that morning. Like… at all.

  Confusion and relief had rolled through Lilly in equal amounts as she’d devoured two helpings of pie, the conversation between them flowing easily until it was time to head out.

  “Heads up,” Morgan rumbled as he held the door open for her. “We got company.”

  Bennett was across the road. Watching them. His eyes were dark with his bear, and hers rose to the surface, the growl already forming in the back of her throat. Couldn’t the guy take no for an answer?

  But he couldn’t. She knew that. It wasn’t a case of free will when matestrike hit, and although she knew she could take him if it came to down and dirty fight, she would have to hurt him. Like, really hurt him, and probably kill him. And she didn’t want to do that.

  Morgan leaned down, his lips almost brushing against her ear, and his arm around her waist, as he murmured. “I know you probably don’t want me touching you, but we gotta sell this, beautiful.”

  “Oh… I don’t know about that,” she said in a breathy voice, giggling and turning in his embrace to loop her arms around his neck. “I think there are some things a girl could get used to.”

  She was playing a part, she told herself. Just a part. It was all to make Bennett believe she and Morgan really were an item. So why did it feel so good to press herself up against his big, muscled body, and practically purr against his lips?

  “Playing with fire, beautiful,” he warned her, teasing her by withholding the kiss she wanted. Play wanted. Pretend-for-Bennett wanted.