Rancher Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Romance (Bear Haven Book 2) Read online

  Jesse shrugged him off, only slightly annoyed, but a harsh hiss from Bonnie’s direction made him jump in his seat.

  “Get your hands off him,” she snarled at Seth, who immediately removed his hands and sat back.

  Maybe his little wildcat was a little more mated than she thought.

  Hm…

  “I don’t know,” Jesse said, palming the wheel as they took a hard turn. “I’m not taken, so I guess I don’t see any reason Seth can't do what he wants with me.”

  He saw Seth’s eyes widen hopefully in the rearview mirror and stifled a chuckle.

  Bonnie snapped her gaze to him and folded her arms. “Don’t even think about it.”

  Seth slumped back in disappointment, and Jesse sat up a little taller at the thought that his little cat was possessive.

  Then he felt Seth’s hand wandering along the back of his neck, and his skin started to crawl. Not because Seth was a dude, but because pretty much anyone but Bonnie touching him that way made him profoundly uncomfortable.

  “Stop it,” he said.

  But Seth continued to touch and reached another hand around to feel his arm. A muscle ticked at the side of his eye. This was sort of a new situation. Bonnie was glaring at them with folded arms, but then she tsked and turned to the window.

  Jesse batted Seth’s wandering fingers off until they arrived at the ranch, and then he angrily got out of the driver’s seat and, ignoring Seth, walked over to open Bonnie’s door to let her out.

  But when he opened the passenger door, she wasn’t there.

  He did a double take and then looked in the backseat to see she’d crawled back there and had Seth by the collar, shaking him.

  “You don’t want him,” Seth said. “Just let me take him for a spin.”

  “Like hell I don’t want him!” she snapped, snarling as she opened the cab door and sent them both tumbling out onto the ground.

  Jesse’s mouth fell open as he lunged forward, trying to catch the back of her shirt. Instead, the two cats rolled onto the ground outside the truck, where they proceeded to kick up a huge cloud of dirt as they argued.

  Jesse put a hand to his head, knowing better than to get involved in a catfight. Of all the things he’d expected to happen while winning Bonnie, her getting in a fight with her ex-fiancé over him was the last.

  He moved forward to try and separate them, but the next moment, with a popping sound and a huge cloud of dust, she and Seth were gone.

  In their place were two smooth, large lynxes. Much bigger than regular lynxes because they were shifters. But otherwise, they looked the same. Spotted, strong, with graceful faces and long ears with black tufts at the ends that looked slightly comical.

  But there was nothing comical about the way they were circling each other. Like two cats in heat fighting over a male.

  It was a situation no bear ever expected to be in, and Jesse found himself scratching his head. But a voice inside him told him to just step back. To see what Bonnie could do. To stop being controlling for once and trust someone else to take care of things.

  Despite hating it, he sat on a nearby tree stump to watch the fight.

  But if the bastard dared hurt Bonnie, all bets were off.

  * * *

  Bonnie didn’t really know what had happened. One moment she’d been sulking, trying to figure out what to do with Jesse when they got home, and the next, someone had dared to touch her mate and the cat in her had screeched bloody murder.

  Then it had just been a matter of minutes until they got home and she could tear Seth’s throat out for touching what wasn’t his.

  Somehow, despite the years of repression and lying and control, nothing had made her hate him as much as putting his hands on Jesse.

  Definitely something to think about in the scheme of this whole mating thing.

  “Stay away from my mate,” she hissed as they circled carefully. She wasn’t afraid of Seth. Female cats were often just as strong or stronger than the males.

  Seth shook his head, smirking, as he licked his paw in cat form. “Cats don’t mate like bears do. We’re more evolved. That’s why we get matched up for good genetic breeding.”

  “Maybe cats don’t know how they’d prefer to mate because someone is always making decisions for them,” she retorted.

  “Maybe. But either way, this is different,” Seth said, eyeing Jesse, who looked profoundly uncomfortable. Seth sniffed the air. “Have you scented it already? It took me a minute, but it’s definitely there…”

  “What?” Bonnie asked, scenting the air as well.

  “He’s got cat blood in him,” Seth said, grinning. “Cougar, I’d say.”

  Bonnie frowned. There was a family of cougars that lived on a neighboring ranch. Was it possible something had happened there, earlier in the family tree? Did it have something to do with how the families always seemed to be at odds?

  “He was able to scent you were a shifter, right?” Seth challenged. “He couldn’t do that if he didn’t have cat blood.”

  “I assure you, I’m full bear,” Jesse said. “I shift to a bear.”

  “Doesn’t mean you don’t have some cat,” Seth said.

  Bonnie sighed. “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is you get on a plane tomorrow and go back to the world you belong in.”

  Seth spat angrily, pacing and kicking up dust. “I don’t belong anywhere anymore. I’ll be a disgrace if I go back without you. I’ll never be accepted.” He jerked his head at Jesse. “If you don’t want him, I might as well have him.” He made as if to jump again, and Bonnie got between him and Jesse in a minute, swiping him hard across the face and knocking him down.

  “Touch him and you’re dead,” she spat. “I’m sorry you’re having a hard time, Seth. I really am. But I was brave enough to leave what I knew and search for something better. Now you have to do the same.”

  He stared at her from the ground, still looking drunk and a little wounded.

  She padded over to him and looked down. “It’s time for you to find a way to be happy. Because I’ve found mine.”

  Seth sighed with a somber expression and got to his feet, swaying slightly. “I’m sorry. Somehow, I always manage to screw things up.” He looked between her and Jesse. “But you two should work this out. You’re lucky. You want each other. You have it easy. Now stop acting like babies and work out your shit. Because there are people who want what you have and can’t have it.”

  Then with a swish of his tail, he disappeared into the brush, his quick footsteps carrying him deep into the forest.

  Jesse stood, looking after him. “Should we go find him?”

  “No,” she said, standing. “He’s a purebred cat. He has great direction and scenting abilities. He can’t get lost. He’s a powerful animal. I’ll give him that.”

  Jesse nodded. She wondered if he felt as ashamed as she did, thinking about how immature they’d both been. At least, unlike Seth, they had things mostly worked out. He now had a whole different world to contend with.

  She’d already found what she wanted, and she’d just been throwing a temper tantrum because it hadn’t all gone according to plan.

  “I’m sorry,” they both said, staring at each other at once.

  Then Jesse threw his head back, laughing, and Bonnie walked toward him in cat form. She wasn’t at all surprised when he picked her up in cat form. She was large but still small compared to other cat shifters, and with his huge bear strength, he carried her easily.

  “Don’t shift,” he muttered against her. “I don’t want anyone to see you.”

  She flushed. He meant he didn’t want anyone to see her naked. Well, that was fine with her.

  She was quiet as they walked back to his cabin. It was a silent, starry night, and things felt peaceful for the first time since they’d met up again.

  The past few days had been a whirlwind; that was for sure. Between the hot kiss in the barn, the rescue in the horse pasture, and the hottest and only sex of her life.
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  Somehow things had just flown between them, and she didn’t know if it was the mountain magic or just that she’d been waiting her whole life for something like this.

  When they got back to the cabin, there was an awkward, hesitant moment between them as Jesse set her down. He opened the cabin door for her and let her enter in cat form. She walked to the master bedroom and shifted, not wanting to face him naked. She quickly rummaged through her things, putting on some clothes, and then walked back out to him.

  He was sitting on the couch, hands over his face, looking unbelievably tired. There was also a small box in his hand, resting on his lap. He looked up when he saw her, and despite his mussed blond hair and the redness in his eyes from all the stress, he still looked utterly beautiful.

  She sat shyly in a chair across from him. It was the middle of the night, and she had no idea where to start in talking to him.

  “Here,” he said, handing over the box. “This is why I was gone so long. Jewelry isn’t exactly that easy to find out here.”

  She popped open the velvet lid to see a sparkling cluster of diamonds with a little sapphire in the center.

  “I don’t know why, it just reminded me of you. Something so different and special and beautiful.” He shrugged. “But I guess it was stupid to make gestures all day without telling you what was wrong.”

  “A little underhanded, yes,” she said, folding her arms and tilting her head to look at him as she shut the ring box and set it aside. “But that’s not what bothered me.”

  His blue eyes widened. “What bothered you, then?”

  “You had no right to act that way about me and Seth. We weren’t mated, as far as I knew, and I was doing what I thought would actually give us a chance to move on and be serious. But we made no exclusive promises the night we had sex.”

  “You mean last night,” he said.

  She bit her lip. Already, that felt like a lifetime away. “Yes.”

  “But you were kissing him,” he said as his large body seemed to curl in on itself. “And you were smiling.”

  “I was smiling because he was fighting me! I was finally in charge with him,” she snapped. “And that didn’t give you the right to go charging around like an ape.”

  “A bear,” he corrected but stopped at her snarl. He put up his hands. “I know, I know. I’m not acting like myself. But something in me goes crazy when you’re with another male. I didn’t mean to claim you. I mean, I would have at some point, but I wanted it to be your choice. I really did.”

  Her lips pressed into a firm line as she tossed her red hair over her shoulder. “But then I sat on you.”

  “Well, yes,” he said awkwardly, relaxing back on the couch and displaying his long, taut body. Damn, she wanted to touch it. Despite everything, she’d never wanted anyone as much as she wanted this man.

  If this was being fated mates, then so be it.

  “So what happens from here on out?” she asked, fingering the box lightly as it sat on the end table next to her chair.

  His eyes flicked from her to the box and back again. “I don’t know. Whatever you want. You’re my mate. That’s it for me. But if you don’t want to stay, I won’t hold you to it. I don’t want you to be unhappy. That’s the last thing I want in the entire world.”

  “I don’t know what I want,” she said, fidgeting with her hands before meeting his piercing gaze. “Except for right now. Right now, I know that I want you.”

  Fire lit in his eyes, and a sizzling warmth inside her answered his call.

  The tension in the room rose another couple degrees as they stared at each other, two animals wanting desperately to come together, but not knowing how to do it.

  Jesse stood, walking toward her. Her whole body tingled at his approach. No matter what, she wanted it.

  He made the cat inside her howl into the night.

  And after seeing Seth near him, she needed to know he was hers. Perhaps that’s how he felt as well, because his hands as he caught her by the shoulders were possessive and his mouth crashing over hers was demanding. And when he threw her over his shoulder to carry her to the bedroom, she didn’t protest one bit.

  Tomorrow could wait. What mattered right now was tonight.

  Chapter 10

  Jesse knew after this, he’d have to let her go. Have to let her make her own decision as to whether she would stay.

  But for now, he would enjoy her body. Make her arch against him and scream his name. Make her admit she was his. Out loud. And then he’d let her go and see if she came back to him. Because that’s what you did when you loved someone.

  You couldn’t trap someone into loving you, and he’d never wanted to. Really, the only person he’d trapped was himself and his bear, for getting them in too deep with a woman who wasn’t there with him.

  But none of that mattered for now. All that mattered was the shocked, aroused look in her green eyes as he tossed her on the soft bed, making her bounce once before he lunged over her, pinning her beneath him.

  Her aroused scent, like flowers and musk, as his hands deftly stripped her, leaving her naked and mewling beneath him. Her gorgeous, pale, curvy limbs splayed beneath him on the bed, and those plump, pink lips waiting to be kissed.

  She made him impatient. She was the first thing in his life that he wanted more than calm and quiet. The first thing that really mattered. And he was going to show her, now.

  He spread her legs at the knees and growled as he knelt between them, lapping at her wet heat. That’s right. She was already ready for him. Like she had been the first time he’d taken her.

  He lazily swirled, taking his time as her breaths turned to harsh pants and her nails extended and twisted into his bed sheets. He didn’t care if she tore them. His little wildcat could make trails down his back if she wanted as long as she felt all the pleasure in the world and screamed his name into the wind.

  “Jesse.” She gasped as he played around her clit, avoiding the motions he knew would make her immediately go. He wanted to make it slow, to make it clear who was in control, and make sure the orgasm that would come ripping through her was one of the strongest in her life.

  So he let it build, licking and stroking and watching her face tighten as she got right to the edge and then withdrawing with a smile to place soft kisses on her hips and the velvety insides of her thighs.

  “Bastard,” she gasped out, her body heaving with the effort of holding back.

  He went back to suckling, kissing her like his life depended on it, fast and hard against her clit, and then pulling back, taking it slow, watching her moan, watching the inevitable slowly approach.

  “Jesse McAllister, if you don’t let me go right this second, I’m going to shove your engagement ring down your throat,” she said.

  “Say you’re mine,” he said, flicking her with his tongue to tease her. Her body was drawn so tight, like a harp string just waiting to be played. But he’d wait. He wanted to hear her first.

  “Dammit,” she said, trying to sit up. “I’ll just do it myself.”

  But he pushed her back down and licked her again. “But it wouldn’t feel the same.”

  She arched, her eyes rolling back. “Damn straight it wouldn’t.” Her fingers twisted in the sheets. “But it’s torture…”

  “All right, kitten,” he said. “But I’ll still make you beg.”

  Her eyes flew open in offense, but the next moment, he hit her spot just right with his tongue and she went over the edge, crying out with each wave of release, her whole body convulsing powerfully beneath him.

  “Jesse!” She bucked and kicked, but he came over her, straddling her, keeping her down and watching the passion ride through her with ultimate satisfaction. “Damn you, Jesse!”

  He grinned. It felt good, and that made him happier than anything else. The pleased, exhausted little grin she gave him when she came down from her high made his bear roar inside him. He was ready to take her, and she was ready as well.

  He felt
along her heat with one finger, dipping into the smooth wetness and loving the feel of her. His woman. His mate.

  No matter how long it took her to come to terms with it, he’d wait for her. She was worth it. The pain of his bear feeling rejected. The anger of knowing she could still go with other men. It was all worth it for his wildcat.

  When she arched against him, bucking against his hand, her eyes begging him for exactly what he wanted, he stood at the side of the bed and stripped out of his clothes. The look she gave him as she watched was feral, hungry.

  He knew exactly how she felt.

  How had he gotten so lucky to have a mate like this? One with this much passion, who brought out the long-hidden passion in him?

  After this it would be hard to let her go, but he’d do what he had to. He’d do the right thing. He wouldn’t be like everyone else who had forced her.

  When he was naked, she grinned and angled her hips at him, showing him the most beautiful sight in the world. His mate, bare and wanting him, her red hair splayed out over the pillow, her pale beauty glowing in the low light of the night.

  It was the same image he’d had the first time he’d met her, when she’d been in the hospital and he’d gone to pick up Ruby’s friends for Shane.

  She’d had a romance novel in her lap and was quietly reading, and when it hit him she was his mate, when he’d envisioned them making love, it hadn’t seemed possible this prim, polite, reserved woman could be such a wildcat in bed.

  He knew better now, however.

  He knelt over her, and she scooted down toward him, her soft little body insistent in its quest to have him inside.

  “When I take you this time, I want you to know what it means,” he said, coming close to her entrance as she mewled in response. “This isn’t just sex. For me, unprotected, this is a joining. This is saying it’s only me for you and you for me. That I’ll try to give you young and protect you with my life. That’s what this means. And you don’t have to reciprocate it, but you have to know it’s how I feel.”

  She nodded eagerly, green eyes flashing with heat as her entrance moved against him.