Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“I’m not asleep,” she whispers, making me jump.
I lift the corner of the comforter and sit on the bed, sipping from my water glass. My whole body is thrumming with awareness. She’s next to me, in my bed. Soft and warm and just right.
I’ve never felt like this before. Every woman I’ve shared this bed with has felt like a square peg in a round hole. No one has lasted more than a night because I knew there was no point in investing time when the woman designed just for me, and my brothers was somewhere. Why waste time and effort with someone who would only ever be an interlude?
“Are you comfortable?” I ask.
“Yes.”
I swing my legs onto the mattress and rest against the dark wood headboard, cupping my palms behind my head. Goldie stares up at me with wide blue eyes, the color of the bluebells that nestle on the forest floor in spring.
“Is there anything you need?”
“No.”
Her hand emerges from her cocoon and rests over my abs, still at first but then exploratory.
“You’re so—” She pauses as her trailing fingers send shivers tingling across my skin and blood rushing to my dick.
“What?”
“Ripped.”
I snort. Ripped is for gym fanatics. I’m a man with a body built from labor, outdoor exercise, and good genes.
“You like it?” I snatch her wrist in my big hand, holding her still.
“Of course.” The quiver in her voice turns my semi into a full-blown erection. Her eyes widen when she notices it tenting my black shorts.
I press a soft kiss to her knuckles and release her, sliding lower on the bed. With my head on the pillow, we stare at each other. This is unfamiliar territory for me. Beds are for sleeping and fucking, but as turned on as I am, I don’t want to do either right now.
“How’s your friend?” I ask. “The one with the mushroom allergy.”
“She’s good,” she says, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “How did you know?”
“She smelled of sour mushroom soup like her body was rejecting it. My bear sense of smell is always present.”
“Really?” She jerks back.
“Yeah, why?” I laugh.
“Does that mean you can smell me all the time?”
“Yep.”
She shakes her head, wrinkling her nose. “Like, smell all of me.”
“Yep. All of you. Through your clothes,” I laugh.
She shuffles backward until she’s almost falling off the mattress. “What about now?”
“I’d smell you from halfway down the stairs,” I say. “Delicious.”
She swats me but can’t quite reach, resorting to moving closer. “I feel at a disadvantage.”
“You want to smell me down the hallway, too?”
“You smell good, so yeah.”
“You like how I smell?”
She nods, smiling a secret smile. “It’s woodsy and fresh, but there’s something underneath that. Something that I seem to recognize.”
“Really?” I reach out to touch her hair, marveling at the crazy spiral curls that encircle her sweet face. “I wondered if it would be like that for our mate… if she’d sense us the way we sense her.”
“I didn’t sense you,” she says. “I mean, I was attracted to you when I first came here, but I was nervous as hell because of the remote location and your largeness.”
“My largeness?”
“Yeah, and imposingness. And quietness.”
“Being quiet is intimidating?”
“Sure.” She shrugs. “People’s chatter is reassuring, especially in unfamiliar situations.”
“And I don’t suppose my room of doom helped much, either?”
Her cheeks tug upwards with her smile. “Actually, it did. I got a little lost in the excitement of it. It was like we were kindred spirits, and I felt sad for us both being so damned repressed.”
“Not anymore.” I reach for her body, pulling her close. My shirt has ridden higher on her body, allowing my hand to cup her ass. It’s so warm and plump that my mouth actually waters. Is it the bear in me or the man? Sometimes, I’m not sure.
Our lips connect in a sweet, exploratory kiss like we’re finally saying hello. For all the physical contact we had earlier, this is the first time I’ve felt her wanting to be close to me for more than a thrill. I draw back before the raging animal inside me overwhelms my restraint. Goldie’s bleary eyed and her lips are swollen and wet. Perfection.
“Robert,” she whispers. “I’m scared.”
Her confession cuts me, sharp and deep. My mate shouldn’t feel fear, not when she has me to protect her. “I know, princess, but you don’t have to be. We’d die before we let anything happen to you.”
Her hand on my arm tightens, her nails biting just enough to feel arousing. “What?”
“I’m serious.”
Blowing out a surprised breath, she rolls onto her back to face the ceiling.
“Tell me something about you,” she whispers. “I don’t want to think about what’s happening outside of this room. Tell me something no one else knows.”
It’s hard to find an answer to her question because my brothers have been around for just about every experience in my life. Well, everything except…