Page 17 of The Bear's Forever Mat
We need to shift, he told his bear.
A leisurely sort of shrug was followed instantly by another round of dirty images, this time accompanied by an internal evil laugh.
What is wrong with you?Cooper demanded.Help me. We need to shift. Now.
Oh, we definitely don’t. You see, you made me promise. “No shifting and breaking out of this room. I need to stay human, and so no matter how much I beg, promise we’ll stay human for the duration of this fever.” Sound familiar? You said it ad nauseam, so I can repeat it if necessary.
Cooper’s heart sank.Oh. Right. That.
Yeah. That.His bear did the equivalent of a cocky “I told you so” shrug before going more serious. Almost sad, in some strange way.I need to go dark. Have fun, and I’ll see you in a week.
Before he could protest, his other half was gone. Vanished to wherever the beast went when Cooper was in charge.
As awareness returned, he refocused his gaze to discover Amber held him, her palms pressed to his face. “Cooper? Are you talking to yourself?”
“Yeah,” he admitted. “Oh, Amber. What have you done?”
She looked thoughtful. “I came because you needed me.”
Hopefulness skyrocketed, but he held on to his control. “I’ve got the mating fever. You know what will happen if you stay?”
She nodded, but her eyes were wide. The pulse at the base of her throat throbbed, and a shiver rolled over her.
Dammit. She was scared. He was scaring her, and that wasn’t acceptable.
Before he could find the strength to comfort her and tell her everything would be okay—a.k.a., lie his ass off—Amber brushed her knuckles over his cheek and simultaneously knocked him senseless.
“If you don’t want me, just say that and I’ll leave right now. I don’t want to make you do anything you don’t want, Cooper.”
He gaped at her. “I don’t want…?”
She stilled.
Shit. Oh, hell no. Bad timing for him to be stuttering out half phrases.
Cooper rolled. Levitated, possibly. Because when they landed on the mattress again, she was under him, trapped in place by his vastly bigger torso. “Let me say that properly. I want you. I have for a long time.”
“Me too. Want you,” Amber confessed before continuing in a firm clear voice. “I want this. I want you, Cooper. Whatever we need to figure out, we’ll deal with at a better time.”
Then she tangled her hands behind his neck and tugged.
Screw the lists and charts and all the long-term plans in the world. Mating fever was on him, he had a willing partner, and for the first time in his life, he was going to enjoy the hell out of this week.
A fan-fucking-tastic place to begin was by kissing the woman he planned to enjoy from now to eternity.
Cooper leaned closer and let nature take control. In this case, that meant lips connecting as a searing heat flashed through his entire body. As if her mouth meeting his was the final circuit that allowed the full charge of desire to let loose and race at high speed through his system.
He all but inhaled her. Soft lips, tongues touching, a sigh of pleasure. Taste and sound blended together. They were only beginning, and it was already the best sexual experience of his life.
Amber pushed at his shirt, and he shrugged when prompted to ease the fabric off his shoulders. The entire time he kept kissing her because her mouth was temptation and ambrosia and seriously addictive.
When her hands hit his bare skin, another electric rush struck. Desire was a heavy weight in his gut, but her soft sound of approval as she scraped her nails over his skin was a heavenly chorus.
Cooper left her mouth for a moment, nibbling and sucking his way along her jaw to under her ear. “You taste like sunshine. Sunshine and hot, sweaty sex.”
A soft laugh escaped her. “Thank you? I think?”
“Oh, it’s a good thing. Trust me.” Cooper leaned on an elbow and went for her buttons, wrenching to a stop when the chain around his wrist clanked against the handcuff. “Dammit.”
