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  I looked down at the small human and took a step back. My bear snuffed at me and demanded that I get closer to her. He was infatuated with her already.

  “I… I don’t have anywhere to go.” The words seemed to break some type of barrier that she’d erected upon seeing me. The tears began falling again and it didn’t seem like they were going to stop.

  My bear was so close to the surface that I was sure my eyes were turning golden. I blinked a few times and tried to remain in control. “Alright. How about you just get in my truck for now and we can decide where to take you after? It’s going to rain soon.”

  She looked up at the sky and then at me. “You aren’t some pervert, are you?”

  I couldn’t help the sly grin I gave her. “Of course, not, ma’am.”

  CHAPTER 4: Alex

  “I’m Alex, by the way.”

  She stood up and straightened her dress. Her hands shook slightly as she rubbed the fabric down across her thighs. “Elizabeth.”

  I walked beside her to my truck and had to fight to keep my hands to myself. She was too sexy for my own good. At probably a foot and a half shorter than me, she made up for her lack of height with the most delicious looking curves. Her waist dipped in but her hips and ass flared out, begging for me to bite at them. I wanted nothing more than to bury my face between her legs and find out if she tasted as good as she smelled.

  “Why don’t you have anywhere to go?”

  “Because my boyfriend is an asshole.”

  My bear raged and I had to cough to cover a growl. If the bear was pissed, the man was irate. I’d been entertaining visions of sinking into her soft curves all night long. The idea of another man getting to do that set my teeth on edge. “Yeah?”

  She shrugged and a lock of her long blonde hair fell over her shoulder. “I guess I can say ex now. I just caught him banging some red head over the side of his truck. So, that’s over.”

  I opened my truck door and stared down at her. “He cheated on you? What the fuck is wrong with him?”

  That got a grin out of her. “That’s not even the best part. I just moved here with him. From DC. I moved across the country to be with an idiot who cheated on me within days of arriving. I quit my job. I sold my car. I sold my favorite bed set!”

  Seeing her cheeks turn red and her muscles tense up in anger turned me on like nothing I’d ever felt before. I wanted more of it. “Sounds like a fucking asshole to me. What else?”

  She tilted her head and bit her lip. “What else?”

  I grinned. “I’ve had exes before. The lists of things they were pissed about were always longer than that. What else did he do?”

  “Oh. Um… He had me help him buy a new truck. It’s a stupid truck. It’s like a shiny new toy. He wouldn’t even let me take the plastic off the seats. And he didn’t apologize tonight! I caught him screwing someone else and he still didn’t apologize! What’s even worse is that he’s sure that I’m coming back to the room tonight. He’s in for a rude awakening. I’d rather be homeless than go back to him.”

  I watched as she looked up at my truck and tried to figure out to get into it. “Need some help?”

  CHAPTER 5:Elizabeth

  I looked at Alex and then back up at the truck. I knew the limitations of my short stature. I could climb into the truck, but there was no way I could do it without flashing him. “Um, yeah, actually.”

  He wrapped his hands around my waist and moved like he was going to pick me up but I made a squeaking noise and shook my head. I wasn’t big, but I had curves and they weren’t light. I didn’t want to be mortified if he couldn’t pick me up.

  “What’s wrong?”

  I stared up at him and felt my cheeks go red. “You can’t pick me up like that.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m not exactly a feather.”

  He laughed and picked me up. With ease, he sat me down in his truck seat and left his hands on my waist. “These muscles aren’t just for filling up my shirt, ma’am.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing with him, but there was something about him that made it hard to say no. The tornadoes in my stomach were back with a vengeance and every time he made eye contact with me, they seemed to get a little wilder.

  “Thank you.”

  His eyes were honey brown up close. They seemed to glow as he looked at me. “You’re welcome.”

  The silence between us grew. His hands were still on me and the air between us seemed to be alive. My skin was raised with goosebumps and even the light cotton covering my chest felt heavy suddenly.

  Thunder rolled in the distance and Alex’s fingers tightened on me. “It’s going to be a big storm.”

  I looked past him and watched the night sky light up with a lightning bolt. Anxiety played at the edge of my mind until I couldn’t ignore it anymore. I pulled away from Alex and crossed my arms under my chest. “This wasn’t how things were supposed to work out.”

  “Fasten your seatbelt.” It was all he said before closing the door and walking around the front of the truck to get it. He slammed his own door shut and then started the truck. “Ready?”

  I shrugged. “Where are we going?”

  “My trailer. This storm isn’t going to be nice and there’s no way I’m leaving you out here in it.”

  Heat blossomed south of my stomach and I shifted in my seat. “You don’t have to do that, Alex. I can’t go to your home.”

  “You can and you will. You can even take the bed. You’ve had a long night.”

  “You’re being so nice. Thank you. I mean it. I don’t know what I’d be doing right now if it weren’t for you.”

  He pulled out of the lot as the first fat rain drops started to fall. “I get to spend some time in the company of a beautiful woman. Things could be a whole lot worse.”

  “And you promise you’re not a sex-crazed pervert?”

  He laughed. “I’m not a sex-crazed pervert. Promise.”

  I tried to relax into the seat, but it was hard with him sitting so close. “Thank you for giving me a place to stay. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I just knew I wasn’t going back to that motel while he was there, waiting.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  I looked out at the storm that was just starting to pick up. “I don’t know.”

  CHAPTER 6: Elizabeth

  We were both quiet the rest of the way to his trailer. I was focused on how intense the storm was growing, while Alex hummed along to the country song on the radio. It was oddly comforting, considering my situation.

  When we arrived, he ran around to help me down from the truck. In the few seconds it took us to get from his truck to the front door, we were both soaked. He opened the door and pushed me inside right as a massive boom of thunder hit.

  I screamed and jumped, the sound shocking my already fried nerves. “Jeez! Does it always storm like that here?”

  He dropped his cowboy hat on the floor and then kicked off his boots. “We get some big ones. Let me grab you a towel.”

  While he disappeared down a hallway, I looked around. His trailer was clean, for the most part. The coffee table was littered with a pizza box or two and a few beer cans, but for a guy who seemed to live alone, it was clean.

  I stood on the small tile entryway and shivered. His air conditioning must’ve been on high and the water dripping from my soaked hair and body felt like it was going to freeze in place.

  “Do you want to take a hot shower and get out of that dress?”

  I snapped my head around to Alex and froze. He’d taken his shirt off and his pants were unbuttoned. The weight of the rain water was tugging them low, letting me see a lot more skin than I’d prepared for. His chest was something that I knew I’d never forget, his abs a dream.

  I grew warmer just looking at him, but a shower would give me a chance to get away from his abs for a few minutes. “Do you have anything I could change into?”

  He pointed down th
e hallway. “Last door is my bedroom. The closet is open and you can grab anything. The bathroom’s through there. Take your time.”

  I slipped out of my even more ruined shoes and hurried to his room. I closed the door behind me and locked it. I took a fast shower, using his soap and shampoo, and then dried off. His closet was a smorgasbord of T-shirts, flannels, worn jeans, and flannel bottoms.

  I knew the bottoms would never fit, so I didn’t even bother. I pulled on one of the flannel shirts and buttoned it. It fell almost to my knees and smelled like soap and something woodsy. Feeling warmer, I finger combed my hair and then headed out to the living room.

  Alex was in the kitchen, staring into the fridge. I must’ve made a sound because he turned to face me as soon as I stepped into the kitchen. His eyes traveled the length of my body and back up again. I pulled the shirt back onto my shoulder and forced a smile.

  “I hope this is okay. I was freezing.”

  His eyes seemed to get brighter as he nodded and licked his lips. “It suits you.”

  I looked down at my toes and wiggled them as I thought about what I should say. “I really appreciate you letting me stay here. No one else in this town has been nice to me at all. I wasn’t expecting it.”

  “Landing can be a pretty private place.”

  I gestured around us. “But you let me in your private space.”

  “The other option was to leave you crying in the dark by yourself. What kind of man would I be if I did that?”

  I looked up and was surprised to find that he’d mostly closed the gap between us. He was close enough that I could, and did, watch a drop of water roll down his chest. “Aren’t you cold?”

  He shook his head, causing more water to sprinkle me. “I run hot.”

  He could say that again. I sucked in a breath and tried to remember that I’d just broken up with Sam. I was supposed to be sad and distraught. I was… I was in lust with Alex and something about the man was calling to me.

  “Do you have a girlfriend?” I spit the words out while I still had the ability to speak. It seemed that being around him was burning up my fine motor skills.

  He grinned. “No. Why do you ask?”

  I gasped as the front of his jeans touched my thighs. I backed into his kitchen counter and realized that I was out of space to move away from him. Not that I wanted to. My body was just reeling. My hands shook as I grabbed the counter and my knees were trying to knock out a rhythm against each other. I’d never felt so much need or want for someone that my body vibrated with it.

  “Elizabeth?”

  I bit my lip and raised my eyebrows. “Huh?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  I stuttered as I answered. “Just wondering.”

  Alex leaned down until he was eye level with me and then lifted me onto the counter like I weighed nothing. “Something’s happening here.”

  I nodded because there was no use denying it. When he moved forward, I opened my legs wider so he could stand between them.

  “You can tell me to go fuck off and still stay here tonight. Just so you know.”

  Something about him giving me an out made me lose the little bit of doubt that was nagging at the back of my mind. I let my shirt fall off of my shoulder again and held his heated gaze. “I don’t want to tell you to fuck off. Just so you know.”

  CHAPTER 7: Alex

  The little spice in her words was all I needed to hear to convince me that she wanted me just as badly as I wanted her. I could smell the sweetness of her arousal and it was wreaking havoc on me, but I needed to be sure before I closed the gap between us.

  I took one more look at her, sitting there in my flannel. Her shoulder was bare where one side of the collar had slid off, and the bottom of the shirt had ridden up her thighs. I had plans to run my tongue over every inch of her smooth creamy skin.

  I ran my fingers through the hair at the back of her head and pulled her mouth to mine. The little moan she let out as I kissed her scorched every nerve ending I had. I flicked my tongue out and teased her lips before taking her mouth.

  Elizabeth didn’t just give over control. She pushed back, fighting for her own dominance in the kiss. She bit my lip and then sucked my tongue into her mouth. I pushed my dick against her core, unable to help myself. I needed to be inside her.

  I gripped her thighs and then ran my hands up to her waist. “So fucking soft.”

  Her hands fumbled at the button of my pants for a second before she gave up and palmed me through them. “So hard.”

  I grabbed her ass and pulled her off the counter. With her legs wrapped around my waist like a vice grip, I carried us to my bedroom. I buried my face against her neck and breathed in her scent. My bear was roaring his pleasure, but with my mouth against the smooth skin of her neck, he beckoned me to mark her. He wanted me to claim the female as our own, to keep her with us forever.

  Elizabeth ran her hands through my hair and tugged. “You stopped.”

  I’d been so lost in fighting the urge to mark her that I’d just frozen. I planted a kiss on her neck and forced myself to pull away from it. I kicked the bedroom door closed and tossed her on the bed. “I was thinking about how many ways I could take you before the sun comes up.”

  She raised up on her knees and slowly unbuttoned the top button of the flannel. I’d never loved that shirt more. Her eyes moved over my body, heated and heavy-lidded with desire. “Take off your pants.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “You’re the boss now?”

  The button gave way and her hands moved down to the next one. “Maybe. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

  I growled, unable to stop the response. I was seconds away from slamming my dick into her and she wanted to toy with me. She didn’t understand how little self-control I had at that moment.

  “Woman.”

  Her grin was slow and her eyes bore into mine.

  “Man.”

  I unfastened my jeans and pushed them lower on my hips.

  “You first.”

  She worked another button undone and then dropped her hands to the bed.

  “I want the pants, Alex.”

  I’d never been with a woman who pushed back against me. Something about her demanding her own bit of dominance rocked me. I wanted to fall to my knees in front of her and beg for a chance to touch her. My pride refused to allow that, though.

  Instead, I shoved my pants down and stood naked in front of her. I watched her eyes go wide and felt my muscles flex in response. Her arousal scented the air heavily and I tilted my head back to breathe it in.

  “Your turn, little one.”

  She went back to unbuttoning the shirt, painfully slow, with her eyes glued on me. When she got to the last button, she undid it and then held the shirt closed with her hands.

  “Ask nicely.”

  Without thinking, I jumped on the bed and tackled her into the pillows behind her. I grabbed her wrists and held them above her head.

  “You’re a tease.”

  Her eyes flashed and her chest rose and fell faster. I could hear her heart racing.

  “That implies that I’m not going to put out.”

  I bent down and nipped at the skin on her collar bone.

  “And you are?”

  She arched her hips and my dick settled against the bare lips of her cunt. Her wetness coated me as she rocked her hips back and forth.

  “Yes. I’m yours for the night, cowboy.”

  And there it was. The night. My bear huffed and urged me to claim her. She couldn’t leave us. It wasn’t just one night. It couldn’t be. I ignored him and took my time looking at her body, spread out under me.

  Her skin was naturally sun-kissed and filled me with images of swimming in the stream behind my house, naked. She’d look good at any and all of my favorite spots, naked.

  I cupped her breasts, unable to resist for any longer. They filled my hands perfectly. Her nipples were small and pink, and so hard against my palms. I dipped my head and
took one into my mouth. Her taste exploded on my tongue, honey and sweetness.

  “Alex!” Elizabeth’s voice was higher as she locked her hands in my hair and pulled my mouth closer to her flesh.

  I flicked my tongue over her and then moved to the other one, teasing it just the same. When I ignored them to move down her stomach, she whined. Her skin was soft under the stubble on my chin and as I rubbed it across her stomach, she shivered.

  Her fingers tightened almost painfully in my hair as my mouth burned a trail to that sweet spot between her thighs. I licked a line up the junction of her legs and lips, wanting to drive her insane before actually delving into her. I sucked at a spot on her thigh and left a mark, satisfying the bear a little bit.

  She lifted her hips, giving herself to me. “Please, Alex.”

  Hearing her beg pushed me over the edge. I ran my tongue up her slit and then parted them to find her clit. She tasted sweet and it sent me back for more over and over again. I teased her with long strokes until her nails dug into my scalp. Then, I slipped a finger into her as my tongue settled over her clit.

  Elizabeth rode my face like a champ. Her hips twisted and rolled, putting my mouth wherever she wanted it. When I slipped a second finger into her, she damn near busted my nose with an especially excited thrust of her hips.

  The bit of fight for control spurred me to give her more. I fucked her with my mouth until she was screaming out my name and coming on my fingers. Her thighs shook under me and as I glanced up at her, I saw how flushed her entire chest and face got as she came. It was damn sexy.

  She used her grip on my hair to tug me up and then kissed me like she couldn’t get enough of me. I kept my fingers in her, though, readying her for me. I scissored my fingers and then pushed in a third. I swallowed her moan and thought of anything I could to avoid shooting off early.