Eric's Edge (17 page)

“Yeah, I do.” Maria laughed and stepped into Dana’s embrace. “I’m tired of being a mess.”

Dana rocked her a few times and sighed. “We’re all messes. Every single one of us. The guys do a damned good job of shielding us from other folks. You’ve been going at it alone for too long.”

“How am I supposed to fix that now? I can’t just make a U-turn and tell Eric,
hey, I changed my mind
.”

“Why not?”

“Because—”

Because why?

Maria leaned back and, furrowing her forehead, stuffed her hands into her skirt pockets.

“Say it,” Dana said softly.

Maria scoffed at the revelation. “I’d be ashamed. That’s basically what it comes down to. No one likes to invite that feeling.”

“Is he worth it?”

“Yes, of course he is.”

“Well, there you have it. What do you need, some backup?”

Maria chuckled and dragged her hand across her burning eyes. “Maybe. I think I know just the person who could do it. It think it’s about time I told Astrid what’s going on.”

___

Maria followed Astrid down the path—or rather was
dragged
down the path by her—toward the innkeeper’s cottage, listening to the hormonal Shrew scold both under her breath and aloud.

“I can’t believe you two.” Astrid stopped pulling and turned to throw her hands up at Maria. “You’ve kept that a secret for
years
, and nobody suspected anything!”

“Sorry.”

“Ugh! You’re supposed to be my best friend.”

“I am.”

“And yet you couldn’t tell me you and my brother were hooking up on the sly.”

“Put yourself in my shoes.”

“What shoes? You’re wearing shoes?”

“Sort of.” Flip-flops counted.

Astrid got her moving again. “You two deserve each other. You can go be secretive together.”

“I figured you’d be upset.”

“I’m not upset that you were hooking up. I’m upset that you kept it a secret. I would have been supportive. You
know
that.”

Deep down, Maria did. But she hadn’t known what she wanted—hadn’t wanted the strings of a relationship, and had thought that Eric probably couldn’t handle what she was dishing out.

She’d made an assumption, and it’d been an unfair one. It’d been unfair for both of them.

Astrid turned the doorknob of the small cottage and shouted into the house. “Eric, you in here?”

“Can I not nap for ten minutes?” he responded. “That’s all I want. Ten fucking minutes.”

Astrid pushed Maria over the threshold. “He’s napping. Go nap.” Then Astrid closed the door.

Maria watched through the window as the muttering Shrew dragged a lawn chair in front of it and plopped down.

Apparently, she wasn’t going to let either of them out that door without her say-so, and unfortunately, the only other exit was built onto the little porch over the creek. Maria would have to hop, skip, and jump across stones to get to solid ground.

“Damn it.”

“Astrid?” Eric called out.

Maria took a deep breath and made her way to the hall. She walked through it slowly, dragging her fingertips along the wall and then paused in front of the master bedroom door.

It was cracked open a few inches—just enough for her to see the jut of Eric’s feet under the covers. She pushed it in a little more, and then the rest of the way after she found her courage.

He watched her with his eyes narrowed in curiosity as she stepped out of her flip-flops and walked around to the other side of the bed.

“Astrid said I should nap,” she explained.

“Did she, now?”

“Mm-hmm.” Maria crawled beneath the covers and pulled them up to her chin. She stared at the ceiling, aware of his heated proximity but not ready to touch him yet—not knowing what to say.

Eric rolled onto his side and stared at her. “So, Astrid knows, huh?”

“Mm-hmm. And Dana.”

“And did they come and force you to make amends? You know, I’m not going to tell you guys to stop congregating here if you and I aren’t getting along.”

“
God
, it’s not about that. Astrid’s sitting outside making sure neither of us leaves until we reconcile or something. She’s doing it not because she’s so concerned about the Shrew-Falk Lodge relationship disintegrating, but because I’m a coward, and I wouldn’t have come back here if she hadn’t half-dragged me.”

“That begs the question, what did you come back here for?”

“Don’t make this hard for me, Eric, even if I deserve it. I know I deserve it.”

“Tell me what you want, and I’ll try to give it to you.”

She sighed and rolled onto her side, too. “That’s what you’ve been trying to do all along, isn’t it?”

“It’s the only thing I know how to do.”

“But that wasn’t enough for you. You wanted more than that, and for some reason, you wanted it with
me
.”

“Not
some
reason. I adore you. I always have. You’re quirky and interesting. A bit wild. Your passion for the things you care about is unfettered and mighty, and you know how to get things done, in spite of your weaknesses.” He picked up an end of one of her locks of hair and twirled it around his index finger. “Actually, I think you often figure out ways to leverage your weaknesses to make them weapons. Worked against me, at least.”

She groaned. “You could have just moved on. You didn’t need to keep telling me yes.”

He scoffed. “My inner bear finds that laughable, but I think even before I got turned, I wouldn’t have liked the idea of sending you away any better. Maybe I’m selfish, but I don’t want anyone else to have you.”

“The feeling’s mutual.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you have to flirt with every person who crosses your path?”

“It’s good for business.”

She sat up and gave him a hard poke to the shoulder. “You know what else is good for your business? You being alive.”

“Is that a threat, Shrew?”

She crossed her arms over her chest and flopped back down against her pillow. “There’s no good way for me to answer that question.”

He chuckled and slung an arm across her waist. He pulled her closer, a few jerky inches at a time, and rolled her so her backside was nestled against his crotch.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” she said when he twined his fingers with hers.

“Thanks for telling me.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Just let me show you.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“It is if you want it to be. If you have any compassion at all for me, please let me rest for a few minutes. My head might explode if I don’t get some REM sleep soon.”

“Sorry. I’ll just go.” She tried to set up but he yanked her back against him, clearing his throat.

“Be still,” he said.

He’d said to let him show her what to do, so she was going to try. At least for the moment.

And letting him didn’t feel so bad. Actually, it felt good.

Damned
good.

“Mmm.”

The hot wet grip of a skillful mouth tugged at Eric’s cock, and he opened his eyes to the mid-afternoon light to find a dark fall of curls tickling his belly.

He pushed Maria’s hair back from her face, and she rolled her gaze up to him without stopping her ministrations.

“Is this a wakeup call?”

“Mm-hmm,” she hummed around his shaft.

He ground his palms against his eyes and then grabbed his phone off the nightstand. It was nearly four. The other guests had likely shown up and would need dinner soon, but Astrid had probably checked them in and got them settled. He could spare a few minutes to “wake up.”

He pulled Maria off him, chuckled at her emphatic swearing, and laid her on the pillow beside him.

“If you’re going to start something, don’t go at it halfway.” He pulled his shirt over his head and wriggled out of his sweatpants.

Her gaze latched on the cock—made wet by her mouth— pressed against his belly.

He chuckled. “Hungry? You gotta eat more meat, honey.”

She rolled her eyes, but she ignored her mild protest as he pulled down her skirt. Pausing to kiss the wet fabric of her panties at the juncture of her thighs and down her legs, he took great pleasure in her curious expression of
what’s he going to do?

He was going to drive her nuts, one touch at a time, just the way she deserved.

He tossed her skirt onto the floor and sat her up to peel off her shirt. Straddling her, he mounded her full breasts and kneaded them, dragged his thumbs across the distended nipples.

Bending to pull one into his mouth, he gently grazed it between his teeth.

She put her head back and let out a long, shuddering exhalation.

“You’re always so sensitive there, and you never let me touch,” he said.

“I’m trying.”

“Let me make you feel good. Pay attention to what I’m doing for a change and not just the end goal.”

“I will.”

Her toes curled against the sides of his calves as he drew the other nipple into his mouth and flicked his tongue over it.

“Jeez,” she whispered.

“Like that?”

She nodded and thrust her chest toward him.

He pulled more of her breast into his mouth while gently tugging her other nipple. He’d waited so long to just play and explore her body, and he didn’t have very long to do it. He needed hours to do what he wanted with her, and he had a few minutes at most, so he moved on.

Kissing between her cleavage and down her soft belly, he let his hands rove down the insides of her thighs, where he pressed her legs farther apart. Holding them in place, he kissed her clit before pulling it into his mouth.

Her fingers locked into his hair as he swirled the tip of his tongue around the bud and gently flicked at it.

No hard presses, no punishing thrusts, just a teasing taste of her cream and a loving appreciation of her body.

He licked her slit slowly, her toes digging into his legs, the press of her hands urging him on because she probably wanted to come.

But, so did he, and she was going to make him come.

He kissed the inside of each of her thighs—wet from her own arousal—and hovered over her, his cock pressed to her entrance.

No condom, no barrier, no impersonal impediments. She needed to be claimed. She’d been his for so many years, but unclaimed, and the part of him that was bear wasn’t going to let that stand any longer.

“What happens, happens,” he said. “But, I’m going to fuck you like this. Tell me no.”

She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled her down, sinking the end of his cock into the entrance of her pussy. “Yes.”

“You’re mine.” He sank home, hissing as her sheath clenched his cock so tightly. “I’m going to make sure you never forget.”

Maybe it was corny, but he didn’t care. All that mattered at that moment was how warm she felt, how welcoming she was of him into her body.

Her hands smoothed up his arms and shoulders to his cheeks, and she guided him down for a kiss, imploring his tongue with her own.

Beginning a slow, easy rhythm with his thrusts, he moved in and out of her, loving her gently as his tongue claimed her harder, and even with his lips, he wanted softness, and he slowed there, too.

His bear wanted more—more speed, more intensity—but the man part of him was behind the figurative steering wheel, and he wanted to make sure Maria knew what she meant to him.

She wrapped her legs around his torso and just held on, throwing her head back and closing her eyes as he stoked her so slowly.

“You’re killing me,” she whispered, even as she shuddered beneath him and clenched him tightly.

“Just returning the favor.” He reached between their bodies and pressed his thumb to her clit, making her buck, and still, he kept up that excruciating pace.

He loved feeling her—loved
finally
having the chance to pay attention to her body and not just wreck it. There’d always be time for fast, itch-scratching sex, but making love was important, too.

Kissing down neck, she raked her nails up his back again and again, alternately whimpering and moaning as his balls ground against her sex. She was taking every inch of him and he knew she could take more—could take it harder so he slammed the very end of her with every thrust—but this was better for him.

He grabbed a fistful of her hair and nudged it away from her ear. “This is how I want to wake up every morning. Inside you, and you letting me have my way.”

“You can have your way.” She rocked her hips up and let out a surprised-sounding gasp, and he figured he must have hit something she liked.

So he thrust again and again, trying to hit that some spot and she came apart beneath him, shuddering and barely able to draw breath. Clawing at his back.

“You’re really gonna let me have my way?” He increased his pace moderately, now stroking for the purpose of completion—to finally give his tortured cock its long-wanted respite inside her, his mate.

“You can have your way,” she repeated, her body still slightly convulsing and her teeth chattering. “You can have what you want. Just don’t…”

“Don’t what, honey?”

One more forceful thrust had his dick convulsing and his seed spilled, and his inner bear roared his approval.
Maybe he’ll be quiet for a while now
, and even as the thought it, the bear thought of his consciousness returned,
Fat chance
.

He wanted to take Maria again and again, because she was his, and she was compatible. She’d give him cubs, he hoped, and it was the season where he wanted to try to put one in her.

“Don’t break me,” she said softly.

He brought his mouth down to hers once more and kissed her lips, then her cheeks, then up to the eyes that were wet and spilling their tears.

“Not gonna break you, honey. I’ve been trying to fix you all this time. Why would I go and break you now?”

“Promise me.”

“I shouldn’t have to. You’re the empath. You can
feel
that I mean what I say.”

“But I want to hear it from you. Tell me.” Her voice was desperate, and if she needed those words so badly, he was going to give them to her. He’d give her whatever she needed for as long as she let him.

He’d tell her whatever she wanted, and he’d mean it.

“I promise, Maria.” He kissed her temples, and then rolled onto his back, taking her with him to lay her on his chest. “I promise I’m going to do everything in my power to keep you happy and satisfied. I want you smiling and glowing, and not just because the sex is so good, but because you’re at peace with yourself.”

“Eric, I—”

“No, if I’m going to make promises, you are, too. I’m gonna stick around, Maria. I know things about you, and I haven’t gone running. Haven’t you figured that out? I’m not going anywhere. I know what you are,
who
you are, and I love you anyway.”

“You
do
love me.” Her voice took on a bit of a rise at the end as if she somehow couldn’t understand how that would be the case.

“I do.”

She patted his chest idly for a minute, maybe, and let out a resigned sigh. “I love you, too. That’s why I try so hard to push you away.”

“That’s not the way it’s supposed to work. You’re doing it wrong, honey.”

“I just don’t want history to repeat.”

“It’s not going to repeat. You’re with the right guy. You have what I want, so why would I try to change you…aside from making you wear shoes and eat a decent meal every now and then?”

She snorted, and the forceful expulsion of air tickled his chest. “Buyer beware, Falk.”

He chafed her back and got them upright. “I know what I’m getting.”

“And you’re sure you want it?”

He herded her toward the bathroom, pinching her ass appreciatively as she walked. “Yep.”

“Make sure of it.”

“Get in the shower, woman. I haven’t wavered once in years. Why would I change my mind now?”