Free Bear Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire Book 2) by T. S. Joyce Page B

“But it feels good when you bite me.”
    “Not like this. Tell me, or I’ll stop here. Order me, Lena. Do it now.”
    “Don’t bite me, Jenner.”
    A soft rumble rattled his chest and vibrated against her back, but before she could ask about it, he was up with her folded in his arms, dragging his legs with powerful strides through the shallow waves toward the beach.
    She was shocked with this surreal moment. Water drops zigzagged down his scarred torso, and she traced one with her fingertip. They were both cast in blue hues thanks to the moonlight, and every time lightning struck, it illuminated the long silver marks on his body. He looked fierce, like a warrior. Lethal and beautiful. Hers. She kissed a pair of marks over his heart and smiled when she felt his heart pounding against her lips.
    Jenner jerked to a stop, and when she lifted her gaze to his, he looked lightning struck himself. “What was that for?” he asked so softly she almost didn’t hear his words over the wind.
    “I like the way you look.”
    He settled her on her feet and looked down at his chest, then back to her, his eyes tight with uncertainty. “How can you? I look…” Jenner ripped his gaze away from her, but not before she saw the disgust there.
    Slowly, she slid her arms around his neck. “You look perfect to me. Someday you’re going to tell me what happened to you, and I’ll like your scars even more.”
    He gripped her arms as if he was thinking about pulling her touch off him. “You won’t.”
    Lena stood up on tiptoes and kissed him softly, just a brush of her lips to tell him she was in this. “You don’t know me yet, but you will. You don’t trust me yet…” She cupped his cheeks and dragged his gaze to hers. “But you will . I’ve never seen a man more suited to me, Jenner Silver.” She smiled absently and kissed a long mark that ran the length of his collarbone. “Jenner Silver, bearer of silver scars. Who have you shared these with?”
    His Adam’s apple bobbed as he shook his head slow, drawing a satisfied smile from her lips.
    “Good.” She traced the latticework of the old marks. “This treasure map is only for me.”
    Jenner shivered under her touch and rolled his eyes closed for a second, and when he opened them again, they looked darker somehow.
    “I’ll be gentle with you,” he promised. His voice was gravelly, tapering into a low humming that barely registered. “You deserve gentle.”
    “Okay,” she murmured. Maybe it was hard for men to be gentle. Or perhaps it was just big, dominant brawlers like Jenner who had trouble taking it slow with a woman. She didn’t have enough experience to understand why his declaration sounded so much like an oath.
    Jenner cupped the back of her neck and lowered his lips against hers. The second their skin touched, a drum of thunder rolled in the distance, so loud it vibrated through her chest. Or perhaps the deep sound had rattled from Jenner. He angled his head and deepened their kiss, pushing his tongue gently past her lips.
    He eased her back, laid her down, but where she expected the shock of cold sand against her back, it was soft and warm instead. A blanket. He’d brought a blanket. He’d planned this and prepared for her comfort. Wild Jenner had compromised. He would bed her out in the wilderness where he was most at home, but he would make her comfortable.
    And suddenly, she was devastatingly relieved she’d saved her first time for this moment. She would never forget this. His soft lips, his searching hands, cupping her breasts, brushing her ribcage, running down the length of her bent leg as he settled in the cradle she created between her knees. Lightning lit up the sky behind him, casting him in this otherworldly glow as his eyes looked volcanic and dark, hungry for her whenever he eased from her lips to look at her. This wasn’t the passionate loss of self-control that they’d fallen into earlier. This was a conscious decision to let this be