The Witness and the Bear: (Werebear Shifter Romance) (4 page)

No kiss she’d ever had could touch this one, and she sighed as her fingertips roamed the smooth skin of his chest and stomach. A low rumble sounded in his throat, making her drunk with lust. Wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, she
hooked a leg over and straddled him so she could feel his skin against hers. His hand, warm and strong, slid up her ribcage until he cupped the fullness of her breast. Groaning, she dipped her head backward as his lips made a warm trail down her throat. He rocked his hips once and she arched into him.

“Hannah,” he murmured.

“Riker,” she breathed.

“Hannah,” he said against her neck. “Woman, you told me no.” He eased back, hunger burning in his gaze. “I only meant to kiss you goodnight.”

“Oh. But what about your laws?” What a hooker she was. One moment ago she was all,
oh I can’t
, and now she was peer pressuring him? Fucking Riker and his sexy pecs, and now her ovaries had betrayed her.

“I can’t do anything to change them, and I have to do what’s required of me, but I told you already, I won’t force you. If you need more
time, I’ll wait. If you still don’t want me, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. I can stall for you. I’ll visit Merit tonight.”

“No!” Her eyes flew wide and she snapped her hand over her traitorous mouth. “I mean,” she said at a less psychotic volume, “please don’t go to her tonight. You have until the
summer solstice to pick, right?”

With a slow nod, a frown of confusion took his face.

“Sleep with me.”

“But you said—
”

“Just sleep, man. I’m not taking Merit’s sloppy seconds. I’m not sayi
ng this will happen, but I feel...” God, what did she feel? Attraction, yes. Lust, double yes. But something more burned at her heart. Possibility where her life had been dark and empty. And for the first time in a year, she felt safe. It only happened right here, in Riker’s arms. Did that make her daft? Hell yes, but she’d never claimed sanity. “It definitely won’t happen if you go to Merit’s bed first.”

“Sleep beside you,” he said, a statement, not a question.

“You say that like you’ve never heard of the concept. Sleeping beside each other is a form of intimacy too. And right now it’s all I can give you.”

When Hannah was younger, she’d liked to play dress-up. She and
Marian, her sister, had hoarded piles of clothes Mom had saved over the years. Looking back, her long silk teddy might not have been the most appropriate garment to add to the dress up bin, but she and Marian used to howl and fight over who got to wear it. Rubber bands held up the shoulder straps, and the black lace trim itched like a pile of rabid fire ants, but whoever wore that dress was princess for the day.

Hannah lifted the holey
XXL t-shirt in front of herself and cringed. It was the color of root beer and made her skin look jaundiced. She’d give her elbows to have Mom’s old teddy now. The past year had been hell on her wardrobe. More than two pair of shoes didn’t fit in a go-bag and daytime clothes were down to necessity only. And right now, this oversized shirt was as close to a nighty as she was getting. Holding it up to herself, she sighed and frowned at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. It hadn’t bothered her to wear it in front of Jimmy and Jeremy, but they were thirty years her senior and completely uninterested in her sex appeal. Riker was a different animal altogether. Some pathetic part of her wanted him to find her attractive.

With a
growl, she pulled the threadbare fabric over her head. So stretched was the neck from use, it barely touched her cheeks.

Her hormones were appalling in their shrieking need. In her defense though, she’d been holed up in safe houses with two old men and no eye candy in sight. The closest she’d gotten to a
hot, red-blooded man her age had been a good looking cashier at a grocery store she visited a few months back. She would’ve begged his number if it weren’t for the economy pack of tampons she was paying cash for.

She narrowed her eyes at her reflection. Pale skin, unruly honey colored hair,
clear green eyes. She’d been pretty before all of this. Worried about clothing and manicures and Brazilian waxes. Now she felt like a walking disaster.

A soft knock echoed across the door. “Hannah? You al
l right?” Riker asked from the other side.

Right. He probably needed to
get ready for bed and she was hogging the bathroom to feed her low self-esteem. Twisting the knob, she slid the door open and tried to smile. “I’m doing awesome.”

His eyes raked down the length of her sexy mu
umuu and a smile tugged at the corner of his lip.

“I swear if you laugh, I’m going to
choke you.”

Clad in boxers and nothing else, looking like the most delicious thing her pupils had ever focused on, he leaned against the door frame and smirked. “You threatening me?”

Biting back a smile at his playfulness, she wrapped her hands around air and strangled. With a little shake, she said, “That could be your neck, right here in my iron grip.”

“Mmm.” He didn’t sound as terrified as he ought.

When he squeezed her butt and sidled around her, she let out an ungracious, “Umf.” He was a handsy stranger, wasn’t he?

As he
pressed toothpaste onto his toothbrush, then turned to put some on the one she’d left sitting on the sink, she shuffled closer. He was nice for a cult leader. Perhaps that was the appeal to signing up for this lifestyle.

Hitting the cold tap, she rinsed her toothpaste once and started brushing. Riker smiled at her in the mirror and her heart slammed against her sternum with how alluring that simple
gesture could be. Even in the dim lighting, she could see her damning blush in the mirror, and she ducked her head to spit minty foam before he could see it.

The silence wasn’t uncomfortable as it had been taking up the same room with Jimmy sometimes. Riker was a noisy creature, rattling the toothbrush holder, sliding her bag out of the way as he passed, flopping onto his giant bed with a groan. His movements bolstered the quiet until she relaxed. Pulling the old picture Jer
emy had given her from her discarded jean shorts pocket, she lay on the bed beside him and focused on the ceiling fan, as he seemed to be doing.

“I have a blast from the past for you.” She handed over the picture.

His fingertips brushed hers as he took it, and she held her breath as he unfolded the old photograph. After a long moment, he dropped the picture to his stomach and lifted a troubled look back to the fan.

“What happened to you two?” she asked.

“He left when his people needed him. He was the leader here once.”

The grim set to his mouth said there was so much more to it than that, but he didn’t seem willing to explain anything
more to her.

“Jeremy was good to me
. Until today,” she amended in a hard tone. Today he’d been a mega dick dipped in wanker syrup. And when he finished finding the rat or whatever he was determined to do, he was going to have hell to pay from her.

“Is Jerem
y your man?” Riker asked in a frank, careful tone.

“I’m into older guys, but not that much older.
” She rubbed her hands down her chilled arms and he pulled a throw blanket from the corner and tossed it over her lap. As a gift for his kindness, she’d share something personal with him. “I wanted to be a dancer.”

Arching his neck, he turned, rested cool gray eyes on her.

“Problem was, I had no rhythm and couldn’t even do the routines for my kindergarten dance recital. I took classes for years but I’m pretty sure my parents were really embarrassed at the recitals because the older I got, the better my classmates became, but not me. I stayed the same.” She chuckled at the memory of Mom’s worried pucker every time she parted ways with her backstage before a dance. “Eventually I got tired of embarrassing myself, but I still hung on for a couple more years for the flowers.”

“Flowers?”

“My dad would always give me this ridiculous, oversized bouquet of flowers at the end of every show. I might have been the worst dancer on the stage, but I got the biggest flowers. Anyway, I told Jeremy about it once and the next week he came back to the safe house we were living in with a package of those paper feet you put on the ground when you’re learning a new dance. That man tried to teach me to waltz for weeks before I told him I didn’t want to do it anymore. He would’ve never given up until I said uncle.” She turned her head and sighed. “So no. He wasn’t my man. But he was a good man to me.”

She could hear him swallow as he turned his attention back to the lazy blades of the fan. Just as she
began to suspect she’d angered him with stories of a man he obviously felt betrayed by, his hand found hers. Warmth radiated from his palm, up her arm and settled in her chest. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes to better enjoy the safety she felt.

His voice cut through the quiet. “Jenny, my sister, used to love to dance when she was a girl too. She always made me be her dance partner because she didn’t have any friends.”

Well, the woman had shoved her into the ring and caused whatever hell she’d found herself in, so yeah, Jenny probably hadn’t had friends because she played too rough.

“My parents were very strict about the kids we played with
. It was safer if—. It was better when we moved here.”

“How old were you?”

“Fifteen. Jenny was twelve and our parents felt like they couldn’t handle us without help anymore.”

“Were you a bad boy, Riker?” she teased.

“You joke, but I wouldn’t ever want to be in my parents’ shoes.”

Rolling, she landed on her belly and propped up on her elbows, worried at a loose thread on the royal blue comforter. “Where are your parents now?”

“Utah, where I grew up. They missed it, and as soon as Jenny and I were grown, they moved back.”

“But you stayed here?”

“This place is home. I feel stable here.”

She could see that. Even after
only a few hours in his house, she’d realized he was a man completely at ease with his place amongst his people. She tried to imagine him in a city apartment, working a corporate job, and the vision utterly failed.

H
e rocked away and turned down the covers, removed his watch and set it on the night stand, and slid into bed. She hit the light switch and crawled in beside him, her personal stranger, whose warmth and presence somehow relaxed her in a way she hadn’t been able to manage in months. Riker was like a drug, calming her agitation and fear, drowning her heartache until all she felt was the addictive humming of his body so close to hers.

“Riker?”

“Hmm?” he mumbled sleepily, his back to her.

“I know everything is really messed up right now, but I’m still glad I met you.”

A low, purring sound came from his chest and filled the dark and he reached back and pulled her hand over his chest, held it there. “I can’t decide if I’m glad I met you yet.” His torso vibrated under her hand as he spoke. “You could ruin me.”

From the contented sound in his throat as he drifted off to sleep, his words didn’t seem like a slight to her and she snuggled closer until her cheek rested against his smooth, warm back.

If he was afraid of her ruining him, it meant he felt something for her.

****

The animal’s roar battled with the echoing bullets that zinged through her chest and Hannah shot up, gasping for breath. Pain ripped through her at the sudden movement and frantic, she searched the dark for clues to where she was. Ensnared in unfamiliar sheets, she brushed her hand against the empty warmth of the place beside her.

“Riker?” she asked the dark.

“I’m here,” he rumbled.

She squinted, her eyes adjusting to the moonlight that streamed in through the open window. The curtains lifted in the breeze and Riker crouched on a chair in the corner
like a sentinel.

“You talk in your sleep,” he said in a strange voice.

Hands trembling, she clenched them to still her obvious fear. “Bad dream.”

His eyes seemed to glow in the dark in that
eerie way Jeremy’s used to. The alluring color disappeared as he closed his eyes. Moments passed and he sighed.

She lifted the covers for him as he crawled back into bed, and without a word, he wrapped his body around hers, tucking her backside neatly against his hips.
His arm moved under her cheek as he stroked her wrist. “Is it something you need to talk about?”

His tone said her admissions would scare him or make him shut down, or perhaps both, so she shoo
k her head against his shoulder and saved them both the pain. His lips brushed the back of her hair in silent thanks, and his breath deepened again until she was sure he was asleep.

“I’m scared,” she admitted to the darkness.

Sometime later, as Hannah walked the edge of sleep, Riker rolled until he hovered over her. “I don’t want you to be scared. I won’t hurt you.”

Startled, her eyes flew open. “I thought you were asleep.”

Half of his face was in shadow, the other half lit in blue moonlight from the window. “Not asleep. Thinking.”

“Do
you need to talk about what you were thinking about?”

“I could make you feel safe
.”

She wouldn’t tell him he’d already achieved that more than anything else in the past twelve months, but the man didn’t have to know how far gone she was just yet.

A mischievous smile started in the corner of his lips as he lowered himself, covered her mouth with his. There was no urgency, but his erection pressed firmly against her belly through his boxers. Trailing his lips to her breasts, sucking gently on the tight nub of one and kneading the other, her legs opened without him even having to nudge them apart. The effect this man had on her was frightening.

This wasn’t like her college boyfriend who didn’t believe in foreplay. Riker was slow, methodical, focused on revering her body as he sucked, and licked, and nibbled his way to her hips.

Realization crashed into her about his intentions as his stubbled jaw rasped against the inside of her thigh. She wasn’t afraid he’d take advantage. She didn’t know how she knew, but she did. He wouldn’t do anything she didn’t beg for, and oh, that man was going to make her beg. A helpless noise sang from her throat as his teeth grazed the tender flesh of her inner thigh. The fabric of her panties tickled as he pulled them down her legs, then tossed them to the floor. Arching against him, his lips and tongue teased until her head spun. What was he waiting for? She was expert level zero at this stuff, so if he needed her to do something, he had to ask. Or maybe that was it.

“Please?” she whispered in a ragged breath.

He plunged his tongue into her, reward for her finally catching his sexy hints, and she yelled against the feeling of utter abandon. As he lapped her, she rocked against him, ran her fingers through his hair as the pressure built.

His hands clenched her hips, pulli
ng her toward him and a low hum vibrated against her sex.

“Riker!” she cried, just before she was shattered by the pulsing ecstasy he’d patiently worked for.

Sated and panting, she stilled, but he continued to taste her until the pulsing aftershocks halted as well. She twitched as he kissed her and drew up on the bed. Covering her body with his, he nibbled her neck and chuckled as she lay drained and spread out like a starfish on his bed. Why did she feel like she’d just run a marathon? She didn’t even do anything. Calories burned: seven at most.