Page 14 of His Determined Mate

The drive to his cabin outside the city limits was tense and silent. Hannah glared at him, but Rick kept his eyes on the treacherous road. The snow continued to fall, the world outside the Jeep's windows a swirling chaos of white.

Finally, they reached the cabin. Rick helped Hannah out, their argument momentarily paused by the necessity of braving the storm to reach the front door. Once inside, the warmth of the cabin enveloped them, a stark contrast to the freezing tempest outside.

Hannah crossed her arms, her expression still defiant. “You didn’t have to do that, you know.”

Rick sighed, running a hand through his snow-dampened hair. “Maybe not. But I wasn’t going to leave you out there alone. Not in this.”

She turned away, fighting the exhaustion that was threatening to claim her. “I can take care of myself, Rick.”

Rick reached out to take hold of her arm. When she jerked away, the more primitive aspects of his nature kicked in. Wrapping his hand around her wrist, he jerked her back to him, his mouth hovering over hers only long enough to say, “I can do it better,” before his lips claimed hers in a fiery kiss.

His mouth was on hers, urgent and claiming, tasting and savoring. There was only a moment’s hesitation before Hannah moaned and sagged into him. Her mouth tasted of cinnamon, sugar, coffee, and hot cocoa, with a far sweeter and seductive undertone. He trailed kisses down her neck as he removed her heavy parka to reveal her Hannah’s Hearth T-shirt. He nipped at the tender skin there before trailing lower, finding the peaks of her nipples through the thin fabric of her shirt.

“I don’t think we should do this,” she whispered.

“Don’t think, just feel,” he murmured, his hands slipping under her T-shirt to palm her breasts over her bra.

The lust he had been experiencing from the moment she had first entered the diner was about to explode. His human half had been able to keep his bear’s need to claim his mate in check, but it had been growing, too. The growing sexual tension between them combined with the threat from the storm and whoever was trying to take her from him were tipping control over to the bear’s inclinations.

She was so warm and vibrant, and he could sense the uptick in her arousal. Barely hanging on to the façade of civility, Rick grabbed the hem of Hannah’s T-shirt and pulled it up and over her head. He unhooked her bra, removing it and tossing it to the floor.

“Rick,” she moaned—half in protest, half in need.

“Tell me no now, Hannah, and I’ll stop.” He waited as the antique clock on the mantle ticked away the moments. “Now, Hannah, or I take what’s mine.”

She said nothing, but there was no fear in either her voice or the silence. Rick was sure that deep inside her was a bear just waiting to be claimed and released into the wild. When she remained mute, Rick began to tear at her clothes, baring her beautiful body with all of its dangerous curves.

Leaning his head down, he groaned as he swirled his tongue around the first nipple, teasing it with his lips and making Hannah buck beneath him, almost as if she was trying to get away. He slid a hand up to her throat, closing around it softly, until she stopped her squirming.

He waited as she arched into him, asking for more and surrendering to him. His fingers danced over the exposed skin of her belly, dipping lower, teasing the edge of her clit before cupping her mound and giving it a squeeze.

“Mine,” he growled, the beast within taking control.

“Rick,” she gasped, her hand coming down to push at his half-heartedly while her thighs clamped together. He looked up into her eyes, dark with her desire, and put his hand back around her delicate throat.

“Unless you say no right this minute, this is happening. Reject me now or surrender to me. You’ll be mine.” She said nothing but nodded. It was enough. “Good girl, now, unclamp those pretty thighs and let me fuck you like you want to be fucked.”

He waited for the coarse language to make her react negatively, but instead her lips parted as her legs slowly moved apart. Rick stepped closer, moving more firmly between her thighs, his cock throbbing behind the fly of his jeans and nudging her sex. He planned to make her come for him at least once before claiming his prize.

Rick’s lips clamped around her other nipple as he plunged two fingers into her tight sheath, groaning as he realized just how tight she really was. His thumb swiped her clit in the same rhythm he was using with his fingers.

Hannah’s back bowed, a beautiful arch of surrender as he explored her tight sheath, learning what drew moans from deep within her, what caused her hips to buck against his touch. He kissed his way from one nipple to the next, nipping gently at the sensitive bud, while his free hand worked her sex. His thumb circled her clit, his fingers buried inside her, he committed each gasp and shudder to memory.

“You’re mine, Hannah. Say it. Say you understand.”

He watched her chest heave, the flush of desire painting her cheeks a pale shade of pink. She was ripe with need, panting softly beneath him, and he knew she was close. But tonight wasn’t about sweet releases; it was about possession, about marking her as his in ways that words alone could not.

Finally, she nodded, her eyes locking onto his. Rick growled seductively. He’d be the only man that ever fucked that sweet pussy again for the rest of time. He’d make sure of that.

Spinning her toward the kitchen table, he placed her hands on it. “Hold on to it,” he ordered, and she obeyed, curling her fingers over the edge of the polished wood.

Rick positioned himself behind her, admiring the curve of her back, the way her ass was presenting itself to him, waiting for what he had promised. Her body trembled—not in fear or cold, despite the raging snowstorm outside, but in desire. There was no preamble, he realized. He’d changed his mind about bringing her to orgasm first. There would be time enough for that kind of thing later. Right now, all he wanted was to be deep inside her and feel her wet heat spasm all around him as she climaxed for the first time for him.

He realized that the bear within had taken control, spurred on by the wild weather outside. It was as if it had infused itself into him, and Rick realized that this first time wasn’t about tenderness—it was about dominance and surrender. Claiming and possessing, and he meant to do both. His bear wasn’t about to woo her, he meant to take her and make sure she never left him.

Slamming into her, Rick relished the way her fingers flexed around the edge of the table, the way she set her stance so that she could take all of him as he tore into her. He wanted her to feel every inch, to understand the depth of his longing and need, the beast inside him that she’d awoken.

Rick growled with a satisfaction that caused warmth to spread throughout his entire system. He had been the first since she’d left her husband. He meant to be her last.

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