Free Bear-ly Human (Bear Claw Security Book 4) by Terry Bolryder Page B

shuddered, and her fragrance filled the air, delicious and sweet and floral. He wanted to bathe in it, be wrapped in it until the air was nothing but her. “There’s nothing like you, Hera,” he said. “No one in the world that is anything like you. That makes me feel the way you do.”
    “How so?” she gasped out as his hand played over her full breast, making her body quiver.
    “You’ve been slowly turning me inside out ever since you showed up at the office. Did you know I actually picked out the clothes myself? I wanted to impress you. Dammit, even as I’ve been trying to do the right thing and push you away, I can’t help it.” He nuzzled her neck. “I want to be close to you.”
    “Then be close to me,” she said. “Be close and never leave me.”
    Images of everything they’d shared flooded through him, leaving a bittersweet tinge. He didn’t know what to think anymore. He just knew right now, straddling him, looking down at him with those commanding blue eyes, her soft thighs encompassing him, she owned him completely.
    “What do you want from me?” he asked raggedly, pushing his hair back over his shoulder. “I don’t know what you want.”
    She ran a hand down his chest, feeling every ridge. “For now, I just want you. I just want to have what we had. I just want to feel you. We can work out the rest later.”
    “That’s what we thought the first time together, and we went down in flames,” he muttered.
    “Better flames than an ice storm,” she said, kissing him and pushing him back onto the bed at the same time. She undid the buttons of his shirt, baring his chest to her. He shrugged out of the shirt and felt the last of his resistance break into a thousand pieces.
    He’d been miserable without her. A part of him had been totally dead. It was waking up now.
    And maybe, just maybe, a part of him thought as he kissed the woman he loved, he could finally let someone accept who he was.
    If there was anyone it could happen with, it had to be her.
    But the thought was as far off as a star.
    He moved back fully onto the bed with her, let her straddle him as her silky negligee fell over one shoulder. He raised one hand and lifted it off of her, baring her gorgeous breasts. She arched back, and he felt the silk of her thighs and her panties as she came fully against him.
    This was madness, impulsive.
    It was also completely inevitable as far as he and Hera were concerned.
    He reached for her neck and pulled her down for another kiss, harder this time. Every time their lips pulled apart and then came back together, the passion grew, feelings surged. It was so much more powerful than he’d even imagined. It woke things in him that had been sleeping for years. It made him feel like a man again. Whole, complete. Loved.
    Was it really possible she could still love him, after everything that had happened?
    He stroked her cheek and studied her face as she arched back, enjoying the feel of being on top of him.
    This was his Hera, wild in the moonlight. She reached for the zipper of his pants and pulled it down. Then he helped her kick them off. She then got rid of his boxer briefs, leaving nothing between them.
    She looked down at him, owning him like the queen she was, and without much hesitation, she lifted herself as if to settle herself over him.
    As much as he wanted nothing more than to feel her against him, he put up a hand to stop her.
    He gasped and adjusted himself. “Wait,” he said. “Condom.”
    She blinked in surprise and then pulled one from her robe pocket. “Sorry, I almost forgot. When I’m with you, I just…” She handed it to him, eyes glowing with excitement.
    He ripped open the packet and slipped it on in one smooth motion and then slid inside her for the first time in what felt like forever. Yet when they came fully together, he had the swirling feeling it was only yesterday.
    It felt like home. Felt like he’d never wanted anything this much in his life. Felt the familiar