River Bear (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance) (Blue Bear Rescue) by Terra Wolf, Holly Eastman Read Free Book Online Page A

because she refused to cry, she grabbed his face in her hands and pulled his lips down to hers. Jake’s head dipped low, and he kissed her softly just like he’d done earlier. After everything that had happened tonight, the tenderness healed her, sealing up the wounds she’d opened and shown.
    She clung to him as he planted soft kisses at the corners of her mouth. “You’re breaking your rule,” he teased, his mouth curving into a smile.
    He was right. Technically speaking, Xavier was her client. He was writing the check. Which made Jake fair game. The fact that Jake was Xavier’s right-hand man was a gray area, but hadn’t she just finished telling him she operated in the gray areas of life as a rule? Besides, her rule was formed because clients usually ended up being deadbeats with too much drama. Jake was neither of those.
    “Mmm. I’m a rebel at heart,” she said, and his chest rumbled with laughter. She sank against the mattress, loving the sound of his laugh. And then sobered when she remembered the reaction he’d given when she’d first told him about her rule. “You were angry with me about it before. For stopping this,” she added.
    He drew back and smoothed her hair, studying her. She could feel his erection pressing against her, but he wasn’t rushing it. She’d expected hard and fast once she’d given the green light, but he was taking everything so infuriatingly slow. Jake River was a puzzle. Complicated. Layered. And right now, watching her like she was the solution. It made her feel beautiful. And important for the first time in a long time.
    “I wasn’t angry with you,” he said slowly. “Just… I don’t want to hurt you.”
    “You won’t hurt me,” she insisted. How did she explain that he’d already done more to heal her than anyone had since her dad died?
    “You don’t know the future. Anything could happen,” he said, and something in his voice made her wonder if he knew something she didn’t. But that was impossible. No one knew the future, not even polar bear shifters with built-in lie detectors.
    She tightened her arms around his neck and brushed his words off. “The future’s not certain for anyone. We don’t get to choose what happens next. Only what happens right now.” He didn’t answer, and she knew she’d stumbled on whatever it was he’d been keeping from her. She hoped he was ready to open up and tell her, but he didn’t elaborate. That was okay. He’d tell her when he was ready. “What do you choose tonight, Jake?” she asked softly.
    Jake’s lids lowered until he stared down at her with hooded eyes. With slow, lazy movements, he coaxed her up and drew her shirt over her head, his fingertips trailing over her bare skin as he peeled it off. Then her shorts, and last, her panties, drawing them down her legs and tossing them onto the floor.
    When her body was bared to him, he raked his eyes down the length of her. She felt the weight of his perusal like a touch. Never had someone’s stare felt this erotic before. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured.
    He rolled on top of her, his elbows propping him up so that his skin only brushed lightly over hers. Even with the barely-there contact, her nipples hardened into tight beads. Her thighs instantly ached for him, and she inhaled deeply against the need pulling below her stomach.
    “I chose you the minute I saw you,” he said, lowering himself inch by delicious inch over her until their bodies were aligned. His gaze didn’t waver from hers, and she shuddered at the intensity. The way he looked at her, like she was his whole world, overwhelmed her. “I want you tonight. Let me have all of you, just for tonight,” he whispered. “No rules.”
    Delilah held tight and nodded. “Have me, Jake. Right now. Tonight,” she whispered, already arching for him. Pulsing for him.
    A low growl sounded deep in his chest, a rumble that vibrated against her just as Jake dipped low to take her mouth with his. She