Chapter 5 #3
The words were so gentle, so unexpected from this mountain of a man, that they only made her cry harder.
One hand cradled the back of her head while the other pressed against her spine, holding her against that solid wall of his chest. He smelled like pine and spearmint and that underlying scent that was just Bear, and she buried her face in his shirt and let the tears come.
“I’ve got you,” he repeated, his voice a low rumble that vibrated through his chest and into hers. “Let it out.”
She should push him away. She didn’t need his pity or anyone else’s. But her hands fisted in his shirt instead. His heartbeat was steady against her cheek, a counterpoint to her ragged breathing.
Dammit, this wasn’t supposed to happen. She wasn’t supposed to be falling apart in front of him, letting him see the raw, broken parts of her she kept hidden from everyone.
“I don’t need you to rescue me,” she mumbled against his chest.
He was quiet for a long moment, his hand still moving in slow circles on her back. “I know you don’t, Tinkerbell. But I’m still not letting go.”
“I’m not Tinkerbell.” She sniffled and finally pulled back, wiping her face with the heels of her hands. She must look like hell—eyes swollen, nose red, face blotchy—but Bear didn’t look away.
His dark eyes searched hers. “Better?”
She nodded, not trusting her voice. Her throat felt raw, scraped out from the inside.
Bear reached into the back seat and grabbed a bottle of water from her pack on the floor, cracking it open before handing it to her. “Drink.”
She obeyed, and the cool water soothed her throat. “Thanks.”
He nodded, gaze still fixed on her face. “You want to talk about it?”
“No.” She squirmed against him. “You can let go of me now.”
“I don’t think so.”
His arms stayed locked around her. Maybe it should’ve felt smothering or humiliating, but it didn’t.
It felt… safe.
She relaxed into him and stared out the windshield at the pines and the mountaintops looming over them.
“I really thought this time might be different. I get my hopes up every fucking time, even when I tell myself not to. Every single lead, every tip.” She laughed, the sound broken. “I should know better by now.”
Bear’s hand came up to cup her cheek, and his thumb brushed away a tear she hadn’t realized was still falling.
“Hey,” he said softly. “It’s okay to be disappointed.”
She turned her face into his palm. “I’m not disappointed,” she admitted softly. “I’m devastated. But I would’ve been just as devastated if it had been Alice. It was always going to be lose-lose.”
“Why do you think I came?” His thumb traced the line of her jaw to the corner of her mouth. The touch was electric, sending sparks racing across her skin.
She should pull away. Should thank him for the comfort and get back into the driver’s seat, start the Jeep, and drive them back to Solace.
But Bear had been showing up for her for months now. Maybe longer. Quietly. Steadily. Like gravity.
And suddenly she was so tired of pretending she didn’t want him.
Fuck it.
She closed the distance between them, fast and a little reckless, crashing her mouth to his.
It was a mistake. She knew it the moment her lips touched his and her whole body lit up like a firework. But she didn’t care.
She half-expected him to hesitate, to freeze, to do anything but kiss her back—but Bear’s response was instant and overwhelming.
His hand slid from her jaw to the back of her neck, pulling her in with just enough force to make her dizzy, and his mouth took hers like he’d been waiting for permission to devour her.
He tasted like coffee and spearmint and something she’d never be able to explain, and when his other arm cinched around her waist to reposition her over the growing ridge in his jeans, she gasped into his mouth.
Yep. He was big everywhere.
She rocked on him, and the growl that rumbled out of him instantly soaked her panties. His hands spanned her waist, his thumbs pressed under her ribs, fingers digging in when she rolled her hips again.
“Fuuuck,” he groaned.
She laughed. “That’s exactly what I want from you, Grizzly Bear.”
Bear’s eyes burned into hers, wild and hungry, and she didn’t have it in her to slow things down.
His mouth came down on hers with bruising heat, and she clung to his shoulders, fingers curled in the soft stretch of his Henley.
All the grief in her had melded into something closer to fury, a need to be consumed, to be pinned down and held.
He hauled her in, hard, one hand fisting her ponytail and the other still clamped tight on her hip. The hand in her hair angled her face so he could devour her deeper, his tongue rolling against hers. She ground against the thick bulge straining his fly, and got another low rumble out of his chest.
He wanted her as much as she wanted him, and fuck if that didn’t make her even wetter.
King took that opportunity to shove his head between them and slather the sides of their faces with his tongue.
“Ugh, King!” they groaned in unison.
“Sorry,” Bear added. “He doesn’t have any manners.”
She looked at the two dogs in the backseat. “This isn’t going to work.”
He opened his mouth to respond, but she silenced him with another kiss. When he tried to return the kiss, she pulled back and pressed a finger to his lips. “Hold that thought.”
She climbed back into the driver’s seat and started the Jeep. Maybe this was a terrible idea, but she had run out of good ideas a long time ago.
“Where are we going?” he asked, and she felt that low rumble of his voice deep in her belly.
“Summit Outfitters. I have a cot in the back room. It’s not much, but—”
“Better than this.”
“Yeah.” She shot him a sideways glance. “Don’t you dare change your mind.”
“I won’t,” he growled. “Drive, Tink.”