Alpha Bear Detective: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (15 page)

The smile broke through full force. “Thank God,” she said. “Thank
God
.” And she threw her arms around him, and he got to kiss her again and again and again.

*              *              *

In the end, Maria had to spend another night in the police station.

Levi had called Internal Affairs and the state police about the situation so that they could get around his lieutenant’s involvement. Maria, it turned out, had been right about Lisle’s office—there was plenty of documentation in there to let them arrest everyone involved, including Moyer.

She, Levi, and Danny had to give their statements about a hundred times, though, and Maria had her wrist treated by paramedics. It was four in the morning before they were done.

Maria called Laura as soon as she had access to her cell phone again, and explained the situation.

“You
what
?” Laura exclaimed. There was some rustling as she sat up in bed. “Maria, I know you have a bit of a savior complex, but that’s really taking it too far. You
do
understand that you don’t have to do everything yourself?”

Maria looked over at Levi, who was talking to a man from IA. “I think I’m figuring it out.”

“You better be. I’m giving you a week off to teach you a lesson.”

“But—” There was so much to
do
now!

“But nothing. Lenny can deal with the PR and I’m sure I’ll be cancelling things left and right to handle all of it. You stay home. Understood?”

“Understood.” Maria subsided.

Eventually, finally, all of the interviews were done and they were able to leave. Maria realized with a start that she didn’t have to go back to the safehouse—she could go home.

“Can I drive you somewhere?” Levi asked, coming up next to her.

“Will you get out with me when we get there?” she asked, looking up at him.

He smiled. It really transformed his face. “Of course. I just didn’t want to make assumptions.”

“Assume,” she said. “Let’s go.”

He drove her home, and he walked up with her to her little apartment.

Once they were inside, she closed the door behind her and fell back against it with a little
whoof!
“I can’t believe it’s over. And I can’t believe it’s still the same weekend. It feels like it’s been years.”

He nodded. “What do you want? Shower, food, nap? I can run out and get you whatever you’d like.”

“Shower,” Maria said on a long sigh. “And food. I don’t care what it is as long as it’s a lot.”

“My kind of woman,” he said with a smile.

He kissed her at the door to the bathroom, as though he couldn’t let her go away for even a few minutes without telling her goodbye. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back.

She spent a long, long time in the shower. Washing the dried blood off, washing her hair—
again
, she realized; this was the third time in just over twenty-four hours that she’d taken a desperate wash-it-all-off-now shower, and her hair wouldn’t be thanking her for it.

She didn’t care. She was washing that compound off of every part of her body.

When she finally got out—she realized with a shock, looking at the clock on the microwave, that it had been forty-five minutes—everything in her apartment smelled
amazing.

“What
is
this?” she asked, following her nose into the kitchen.

“It’s perfect timing on your part.” Levi turned away from the stove to give her a quick kiss. “The steak is almost done.”

Maria looked around the kitchen at the busy stove and the dishes laid out on the counters. “I know I didn’t have steak in my refrigerator when I left on Friday morning.”

“Nope.” Levi sounded very pleased with himself. “But you
do
have that grocery store on the corner. I saw it when we came in, so I just ran down and picked up a few things.”

“And then cooked me a gourmet meal.” For lack of anything else to do, Maria started getting out plates and glasses.

Levi waved a hand. “Gourmet is overstating it. It’s just good hearty food. You need something like this after the last couple of days, I bet.”

“You bet right.” Maria laid two places. There was a bottle of wine breathing on the counter. She tried to remember the last time she’d had a man over for a dinner that included wine.

Then she tried to remember the last time she’d had a man over for a dinner that wasn’t eaten from cardboard containers with plastic chopsticks.

She came up empty both times, and decided that she had lucked out beyond her wildest dreams, somehow.

Levi finished up with the steak and put together two plates of steak, fresh greens, roasted mushrooms, and garlic bread.

“Garlic?” Maria asked, raising her eyebrows. She always got a little self-conscious about what she ate on a date, because who knew what your breath would smell like later. And Levi had that superhuman sense of smell…

But he just grinned as they sat down. “I always figure it’s fine if both of you eat it. So we’d better make a pact now: eat as much garlic bread as you want.”

“Agreed,” Maria said firmly, and picked up her fork.

Everything was absolutely delicious. “I haven’t had a home-cooked meal like this in a long time,” she said, cutting herself another mouthful of warm, richly-seasoned steak. “I always work such long hours that when I get home, I just want takeout or something frozen so that I can eat it fast and go to bed.”

“Does the senator work you that hard all the time?” Levi looked concerned.

She shook her head ruefully. “She’s always telling me to go home. I’m the one who keeps thinking of one more thing to do before I can leave.” She bit her lip. “I guess I never really had that much here to make me
want
to come home. This apartment is…” She waved a hand, indicating her spartan kitchen, Craigslist furniture, and bare walls. “I always focused on my job. And with no one to come home to…”

Levi said, “Sometimes I feel the same way. Bears are…” He hesitated. “We like to make a den. And I’ve done my best with my place, I like how it looks, but—it’s a bachelor’s place. I always wondered what it would be like with someone to share it with.”

“Maybe we’re moving too fast, but…” Maria met his eyes. “I’d like to share it with you.”

He smiled in that way that lit up his face. “I think we’re moving at just the right speed. I’d like that too.”

*              *              *

“Leave them,” Maria said.

Levi looked over his shoulder. “But if I just did a few—”

“In the morning.” She ran a hand down his chest, and he was immediately distracted from the dinner dishes.

"Maria," he murmured into her mouth as she kissed him. His arms came up around her, strong and secure, and he backed her up slowly as they kissed.

Maria steered them toward her bedroom. They had to separate for a second in order to get through the door, but Levi descended on her again the second there was room, backing her toward the bed and lifting her up onto it, his hands huge and sure on her ass. Maria shuddered and pulled him down after her for another kiss.

He kept his weight off her, whispering into her mouth, "Are you okay for this? I really don't want to hurt you. Your wrist—"

"It's fine," Maria interrupted. "I'm fine. Except I have this problem where if you don't take my clothes off soon, I might
die
."

He laughed softly. "We can't have that." And his hands were all over her, stripping off her T-shirt and workout pants, unhooking her bra and tugging down her panties, until she was suddenly and gloriously naked, spread out on her bed and looking up at her mate.

He was still fully-clothed in his work suit. Maria shivered in pleasure at the sight.

His eyes were devouring her body, getting caught here and there by one particular part or another. He reached out and cupped her hips, then bent to kiss her stomach. Maria squirmed—it felt good and tickled at the same time.

His tongue flicked out and he started kissing downward, with more purpose. Suddenly it didn't tickle anymore, and Maria moaned as he pressed a kiss just above her mound.

He slid his thumbs downward through her pubic hair to separate her lips, and knelt down at the foot of the bed. Maria could feel the air against her clit, and she waited...and waited...

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. "Come
on
. Please!"

"Since you asked nicely," he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. Then he leaned forward and his tongue touched her clit.

Maria had to stifle a shriek—pleasure sparked immediately at that first gentle touch, and when he sucked softly, she let out a high-pitched moan. He kept it up, holding her hips still while she tried to squirm—away? Toward him for more? She didn't know. It felt almost
too
good.

He brought her off in about thirty seconds. Just his mouth on her clit, ramping up the pleasure until it was too intense to bear, leaving her shaking through the fastest orgasm she'd ever had. "Oh my
God
," she gasped at the ceiling as she shuddered through the aftershocks.

"More?" he asked, his breath soft against her pussy.

She nodded frantically before realizing he might not be able to see her. But he'd already started again, this time licking down around her pussy, which he hadn't paid any attention to yet. Careful, targeted attention, right on the sensitive skin around her opening—a place most guys overlooked in favor of the main event.

Levi clearly knew what he was doing, though, or at least could somehow tell what Maria liked the most, because he had her pussy quivering and clenching in no time. “Inside,” Maria gasped.

Levi backed off for just a second, and slipped a finger inside her. But Maria was so open and wet that it just wasn’t enough. “More.”

“How much more?” he asked. The calm confidence was being replaced by a focused intensity—his voice sounded strained. Wanting.

“All of it.” She could hear the want in her own voice, too. “Let me see you naked. I want you all.”

“Anything you want,” he said softly, and stripped off his clothes.

Maria hadn’t gotten a chance to see Levi’s whole body yet—the last time they’d done this, he’d still been wearing his pants. Now she could see that even aside from the obvious arm and ab muscles, he was powerfully-built, with strong thighs and—as he turned to set his clothes on a chair—a truly fantastic ass.

She lay back and smiled at the ceiling. Lucked out beyond her
wildest
dreams.

When he turned around, his eyes were full of desire—he wasn't thinking about technique anymore, Maria thought. He just wanted her.

He came in with purpose, sliding his hands up to grip her thighs—gently, always gently, but firm enough that he could put her exactly where he wanted her. He spread her open and stepped forward to get on the bed between her legs—and then, as though he couldn't help himself, let her go and leaned down to kiss her hard.

Maria wrapped her arms around him and opened her mouth to his tongue. He was kissing her like he needed to breathe her in instead of air, like he couldn't stop even for a second. She held on and kissed him back.

The kiss got hotter and hotter, until he tore his mouth away and said, "I love you."

"I love you," Maria panted. "Levi. Do it now."

With one swift movement, he pushed inside her to the hilt. Maria arched with pleasure, feeling him press against all of the intimate spots inside her. He drew back and thrust, carefully watching her face. He was going to blow her mind again, she knew—that careful observation couldn't be beat.

But there wasn't another calculated thrust. No, instead his eyes closed for a second, and his hips jerked forward once, and then again, and he gasped, "Maria, you're so—I need you. I need you now."

"
Take
me then," Maria whispered. And he took her.

Faster, wilder, more intense than she'd ever experienced before, he made furious love to her there on the bed. His thrusts were fast and powerful, his hands pulling her hips to meet his, and pleasure exploded in her. He kissed her again and again, his stubble rasping against her cheeks, and met her eyes as she came, wringing him hard with each drenching spasm.

And that seemed to be the last possible straw—he shut his eyes, dropped his forehead to her shoulder, and thrust hard once—twice—three times, and groaned his orgasm into her skin.

Afterward, they lay together for a long time, breathing each other in.

"Did you say you'd move in with me, earlier?" he whispered to her.

"I think I did.” A helpless smile was tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"Good. I need this again. I may need it every night."

She laughed. "You can need it as much as you like. I won't complain for a second."

"Mmm. Good." He kissed her. "Because what I really need is you."