“What—?” she raised her head and saw him rolling on a condom. “Oh,” she said and opened her legs wider.
He entered her in one thrust, and she locked her ankles around his waist and scraped her nails down his back. He pounded into her relentlessly until she let go and came around his throbbing cock. Seconds later he slammed into her one final time and groaned out an expletive.
She closed her eyes and relished in the feel of his body pushing hers into the mattress. She’d always been short, but somehow he also made her feel small, feminine and fragile. He didn’t move, keeping them joined, and she opened her eyes to find him staring down at her.
“You are the best alarm clock I’ve ever owned,” he said. “Thank you.”
She stiffened at the words, but relaxed when she realized he didn’t mean them literally.
“You’re welcome,” she said.
He lowered his body and captured her lips in a sensual kiss. It wasn’t the kiss of a man looking for sex, or a man marking his property. It was the kiss of a man in love, or at least how she’d always imagined one would feel like.
Stop it! He doesn’t love you; he’s just a good kisser!
He pulled away and severed their connection.
“I’m going to take care of this and jump in the shower. Want to join me?”
Yes!
“No, you go ahead. I’m going to enjoy your bed for a few more minutes.”
“You can stay as long as you like, baby doll.”
She watched him walk into the bathroom and close the door, then she closed her eyes fell back asleep.
An hour later, she woke to the smell of bacon wafting through the room. She got up, and stared at her clothes on the floor. She didn’t want to put them back on, so she looked in the bathroom for a bathrobe, and when she didn’t find one, she grabbed the sheet off the bed and wrapped it around herself.
She entered the room tentatively, in case he wasn’t alone, and found him at the stove with a spatula in his hand. He wore a pair of new-looking jeans and a polo shirt, and both pieces of clothing looked as if they were tailored just for him. The muscles in his back and ass flexed as he worked, and she wanted to drop the sheet and offer herself up as lunch.
Her stomach took that moment to betray her.
He turned to face her, then walked over and planted a quick kiss on her lips.
“Good morning, baby doll. Or should I say, good afternoon.”
“Hi,” she said shyly. “Do you have coffee?”
“Fresh brewed,” he said, handing her a cup. “I would have waited, but I’m starving and I figured you’d be hungry, too.”
“I am, thank you.”
He loaded up two plates and placed them on the table, then grabbed his cup of coffee and encouraged her to do the same. They sat down and ate together, mostly in silence at first. The dead air was comfortable, and she liked that he didn’t need to fill every quiet moment with mindless chatter. She’d spent a lot of time alone in the woods and she enjoyed her quiet time, probably more than she should.
“What time is it?” she asked when she finished her meal.
“Almost one.”
“I need to go back to my hotel and get ready for tonight.”
“Okay, I’ll drive you over when were done. What time do you want me to pick you up?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“For the barbeque? It only makes sense that we go together.”
“Dave—”
“I know, I know,
just friends
,” he made quotation marks with his hands. “Friends can go to a party together, though, you said so yourself.”
She did say that. She’d also said they could hang out and do whatever they wanted including dinner, movies, and date like activities. She inwardly groaned. He’d been right, it did sound like they were dating, but she knew she couldn’t stop it now. He’d agreed to her rules, and she’d continue to follow them, even if they now seemed absurd.
“How about five forty-five?”
“Great.”
They finished their food, cleaned up and he drove her back to the hotel.
She’d see him again in less than four hours, and it seemed like four hours too long. In an effort to forget about him, she rented an action film, and painted her toe nails again.
Unfortunately, the hero, and every other man in the movie, looked more like her mate than she cared to admit.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Gage seethed. “I trusted you.”
Earlier in the evening, Dave picked up Emma and drove them to Gage’s house for the barbeque. When he knocked on her hotel room door, she’d greeted him with a quick kiss and then dragged him down the hallway, her excitement evident.
She wore another new pair of jeans, and a stretchy, silver tank with sequins around the neck. She’d removed the red from her toenails and repainted them Emerald green. The shade was becoming his new favorite color.
When they walked into Gage’s home together, Kate, Gage and Seth immediately got the wrong idea and congratulated them. As Emma was introduced to the rest of the clan, Seth’s wife Darcy, the Garrison twins and their mate Sam, and Aaron and Sara, each couple offered their celebratory words.
The scene was awkward, but Dave didn’t feel the need to correct his friends because he already thought of Emma as his. He still had to convince her of the fact, but he looked forward to the challenge. As far as he was concerned, their
friends with benefits
relationship had an expiration date.
Emma, however, didn’t feel the same.
“Excuse me, everyone,” she said after they had all been introduced. “It’s nice to meet you all, and I appreciate your approval of my relationship with Dave, but we’re not a couple.”
“I’m sorry,” Kate said. “I saw the two of you holding hands, and I assumed you were together.”
Emma had been holding his hand since he helped her out of his car, but upon hearing Kate’s words she dropped it as if she had been burned. He hid the sting of her rejection by seeking out a beer from the cooler.
“We did arrive together, and we’ll leave together, too, but we’re
friends with benefits
, not boyfriend and girlfriend,” Emma explained.
He stilled when everyone stared at him as if he were the one to blame.
“Oh?” Gage asked, his anger apparent.
“Yes,” she answered for him. “We’re attracted to one another, but we don’t want anything serious, so we’re just going to have some fun.”
Even though Emma spoke, no one turned their glare away from him. Their scrutiny hurt, especially since he considered them friends. He thought they felt the same, but now he wasn’t so sure. Their lack of trust felt like a betrayal and words escaped him. The dead silence seemed to stretch for hours, when in reality it had been a little over a minute.
“Well, I for one think we all need a little fun in our lives,” Kate said, squeezing Gage’s hand. “I’m starving. Let’s get those burgers on the grill.”
The women all filed into the living room and Gage grabbed the meat and led the men outside. He put his beer on the counter in case things got ugly, and followed them. When the burgers were on the grill, Gage turned and interrogated him.
“She’s our cousin for god sakes,” Seth chimed in.
“Yeah, and I’m your friend,” Dave seethed back. “You say you trust me, but it sure doesn’t seem like it. All of you automatically blamed me as if you don’t know me at all.”
Bears or not, he would never back down from any of them.
“It wasn’t your idea?” Gage asked.
“No, it wasn’t,” he said.
“Then why didn’t you say something inside?”
“I shouldn’t have had to. You know how much I like her, and how much I want to find someone to spend the rest of my life with. You should have known, without question, that her stupid plan wasn’t my idea.”
Gage apologized first, and the rest followed.
“If it’s any consolation, I’m in trouble,” Gage admitted. “Katie is going to lay into me later for picking on you.”
“Good,” Dave laughed. “You deserve it.”
“So, what exactly is this plan?” Seth asked.
He explained her desire keep their relationship in the friend category, but with added perks.
“And you went along with it?” Gage questioned.
“I had no choice. She shot me down when I suggested we date instead. It was either this, or nothing. I’m not a fool, so I chose this.”
“We’ll, we know she’s been hurt before,” Gage said. “I guess this is her way of coping. So you think you’ll eventually change her mind?”
“I hope so. The rules—”
“There’s rules?” Seth asked.
“Yes,” he sighed. “There’s rules. We can do anything except call each other boyfriend and girlfriend. When it’s over, it’s over. We each go our separate ways with no hard feelings, and no attachments. I hope to convince her that it should never be over.”
“Oh god,” said Gage, “you’ll have to tread lightly.”
“Yeah, good luck with that,” Seth added. “She might be little, but Short Stack is more stubborn than any other bear I’ve ever met.”
“Great,” he said, his sarcasm palpable. “I had a feeling you were going to say that.”
***
Emma studied Dave from behind her menu. He wore a pale blue dress shirt, a darker blue matching tie, and black dress pants. The firm lines of his face, combined with his sculpted muscles, made him look like a god carved from granite, and he fit right in with the European inspired décor of the hotel restaurant.
It had been two weeks since the barbeque at Gage’s, and though she hadn’t meant to put him on the spot, he’d handled the situation with the clan graciously. She squirmed in her seat when she remembered how he’d spanked her ass later that night though. She had a feeling the swats had been more for punishment than for fun, but she didn’t care. She enjoyed the sting of his hand, and she deserved to be reprimanded, even if he chose to do it silently.
While the men interrogated Dave out by the grill, the women stayed inside and swooned.
Dave was a good friend to their mates, and he’d helped save most of the women from danger. They desperately wanted to him to find true love. Her jealousy soared upon hearing them praise him so thoroughly, and as the only bear in the room, she desperately wanted to shift and tear them apart. The irrational feelings scared her into silence, and she let them carry on for nearly thirty minutes.
When they’d finally left the party, Dave drove them back to his place and she attacked him the second he’d closed the door. He’d pleasured her with the same intensity, and they’d fallen asleep exhausted.
He didn’t say a word about her behavior, and she’d spent the following day in fear that he’d end their arrangement. Instead, he’d acted as if nothing had happened and made it a point to see her at least once a day.
They ate breakfast together nearly every morning, and if he couldn’t meet her for lunch or dinner, then he saw her after. Their nights usually ended in multiple orgasms, but not always. They’d fallen asleep in front of the TV on more than one occasion, although those nights typically involved one of them waking the other with their tongue or lips.
She’d felt her canines extend several times during sex, and she’d even gone so far as to scrape them along the juncture where his neck and shoulder collide, but she hadn’t marked him. She couldn’t. It didn’t matter how much he settled her, or how much peace he brought into her soul, she couldn’t mate with him.
Men always cheated. They always left, and she’d lose half of herself when he went away.
She had to end it.
“Please excuse me,” she said, and escaped to the restroom. She needed a few moments away from him to think about how to end things.
On the other side of the room, she saw Lynette, the hotel owner’s daughter, watching Dave with interest. The woman stood at the hostess’ podium and pretended to write, but Emma easily saw through her facade. She took a detour and approached the woman.
“He’s gorgeous isn’t he?” Emma asked.
“What? Oh, I…,” Lynette said.
“Don’t worry about it. I know he’s dreamy. You should ask him out,” she said.
“I thought he was your boyfriend.”
“No, we’re just friends. He’s available and looking for the right woman. You never know, it could be you.”
“Are you sure? I’ve given several hints, but he doesn’t seem interested.”
“You’ll never know unless you try. Sometimes men need a little push,” she winked. “I’m going to the restroom, so he’ll be free for a few minutes. Go on over and ask him out.”
“Right now? Are you sure?”
“Positive. Good luck.”
She disappeared into the restroom and fought the tears that threatened. She shouldn’t be crying, she should be rejoicing. Lynette was tall, beautiful and thin. The woman was a perfect match for Dave and he’d be a fool to turn down her offer.
She looked at herself in the mirror and bared her teeth.
Don’t you dare shed one single tear—it’s time to let him go!
She checked her watch, took a deep breath and plastered a smile on her face.
Lynette was absent from the hostess stand, and Dave still sat at their table, alone. She didn’t see the woman anywhere, so she figured she’d disappeared into the back to celebrate.
When she sat down, Dave scowled.
“Did you send that poor girl over here to ask me out?” he demanded.
“Yes, did she go through with it?” Emma smiled.
“Yes. She did. How could you do something so mean?”
“What are you talking about? She’s tall, thin and beautiful. Most men would love to go out with her.”
“I’m not most men, as I’ve said before, and I’m going out with you,” he accused.
“For now, but we both know it’s not going to last.”
“Who says?” he bit out the words, clearly angry at the direction of their conversation.
“I do, and you agreed, remember? We’re
friends with benefits
and nothing more. Did you forget our agreement?”
“No, I stupidly thought you would change your mind.”
“I told you I wouldn’t,” she said. “I think you should go back and accept her offer.”
“That’s what you want?” he asked.
“Yes, that’s what I want,” she lied.
“Fine.”
He stood, dropped his napkin into the chair and walked across the dining room with purpose. Lynette tried to step away from him, but he grabbed her hand and held it in his.
The two became blurry as Emma watched them, and she quickly dried her eyes with the corner of her napkin, and blinked away the tears that desperately wanted to escape.
As predicted, he’d left her for another woman. It didn’t matter that she’d pushed him to leave sooner than later, his actions proved she’d been right all along.
Men always left.
Minutes seemed like hours, but he eventually returned to the table. He had a big smile plastered on his face, and her heart broke in two.
“Thanks for sending me over there. We’re going out tomorrow night,” he said.
“Tomorrow?” she asked.
“Yes. Neither one of us wanted to wait a whole week until next Saturday, so we decided to live dangerously and make our first date a Sunday night.”
“I thought we were going to the movies tomorrow,” she said. She hadn’t meant for the words to slip out, but they had and she couldn’t take them back.
“Yeah, I’m going to have to cancel. Sorry,” he said, picking up his menu. “Do you know what you’re eating?”
“Yeah,” she said, clearing her throat. “I’m ready.”
“Good, let’s order. I want to call it an early night so I can get ready for tomorrow.”
His words cut like a knife, but the message was clear. Now that he’d found someone else to lavish with attention, she didn’t matter anymore.
The rest of the evening consisted of agonizing small talk about the weather for the following night, and date ideas for him and his new woman. When he wasn’t blabbering about his future date, the once comfortable silences were awkward and painful to sit through.
He reacted exactly how she’d expected, and on the outside she sat still, with a small smile on her face, until the tedious evening ended. On the inside, her bear roared in pain as he discussed his plans.
At the end of the evening, they parted ways in the lobby of the hotel with a simple goodbye.
“Well, I guess this is goodbye. Good night, Emma,” he said.
“Good night, Dave.”
She watched him walk out of the building without turning back, and then took the stairs up to her room to avoid waiting for the elevator and possibly breaking down in front of strangers.
She walked into her darkened room, kicked off her shoes and collapsed on the bed. Tears streamed down her face, and her gasps for air filled the room and echoed around the dark space until she used a pillow to silence her cries. She’d known she would ache when he left, but the force of his betrayal felt as if it would smother her.
She was drowning in pain with only one way to escape.
She threw the pillow across the room, and ran down the hallway in her bare feet. She still wore her black evening dress, and her face was streaked with tears, but in that moment it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except getting away.
She flew down the stairwell until she reached the first floor and raced out the exit located in the back of the building. The forest beckoned and she ran deep into the National Park until the trees and the night surrounded her. She shifted and allowed her bear to roar several times to release the pain.