Page 15 of Bear for the Holidays

“Look as much as you want. Touch as much as you want.”

Her grin turned impish, and she pushed him against the door with the flat of her hand.

“As much as I want?”

“Christ, yes.”

“All right then, handsome. Hands to yourself, okay?”

Nik drew a sharp breath, nodded. On one hand, he couldn’t quite believe that this was happening in the mudroom, in the middle of a snowstorm. On the other hand, he didn’t care if it happened on Mars so long as Deanna kept looking at him like that.

With startlingly delicate movements, Deanna spread his coat open and then went after the buttons on his flannel, pushing up his T-shirt. she ruffled her fingers through the dark hair on his chest, grazing his sensitive nipples.

“You were worried I was scared of you this morning,” she said. “I’m not. I know your parents, I like to think I know what kind of kid they would have raised, but it’s more than just that, isn’t it? I saw you, and I knew right then that you could never hurt me. Not you. And that means, maybe, that I get to be a bit of a brat.”

Nik gasped as her touch suddenly grew sharper. She raked her nails down his sides, not painful but maddening, and his first instinct was to put his arms around her and drag her as close as he could. Then he looked down into her dancing eyes, and he knew that she knew it, was waiting for it, and he gritted his teeth. He straightened up, pressing hands to the door behind him, and she grinned wider.

“Are you going to let me do what I want, big guy?”

He nodded and held his breath as she leaned in, pushing his T-shirt up with one hand, nuzzling his chest with a softly speculative sound. It took everything he had not to put his hands on her then, but she sounded so happy, so curious, and he would be damned if he was the one who stopped her fun. It came to him even as he leaned down to press his face into her hair that there was something at once new and familiar about her like this. It was exciting, beyond exciting to have his fated mate here in front of him, for her to be touching him. At the same time, the grizzly in him was completely unsurprised. Her being with him was so right it was already familiar.

“You’re like coming home,” he found himself saying, and she looked up at him, her hands trailing maddeningly up and down his bare sides under his shirt.

“Yeah,” Deanna said unsteadily. “For me, too. Is this what it’s supposed to feel like?”

“It’s what it’s supposed to feel like for us.”

She leaned into his body again, her arms coming around his waist in a tight hug. It wasn’t the playful touch from before. There was something suddenly intense about the way she clung to him, as if she might be swept away without something to steady her.

“Can I hold you?’ he whispered. “Please, can I hold you?”

She made a soft sound of agreement, nodding against his chest, and Christ, but it was everything to be allowed to put his arms around her, to feel her heart beating against his.

“It’s all right,” Nik muttered. “Nothing’s going to happen that you don’t want, all right? Nothing at all, and you can take all the time you need.”

To his surprise, she grabbed his shirt, yanking almost angrily.

“I don’t want to take time! I know what I want to do, and it has beenless than two hours!”

Nik couldn’t help a brief laugh at her frustration, and she punched him lightly on the arm.

“You have a nice laugh, mister, but now is not the time to push it.”

“I’m not laughing at you, or at least, I’m not laughing at you more than I’m laughing at myself. Mostly though, I’m relieved because I’m not alone in this. Deanna, how do you think I feel?”

She pulled back to look at him. He was almost painfully aware of her hands on his body, how she was pressed against his growing arousal, how little he would have to do to lean down and kiss her mouth to bruising.

“Actually, I don’t know?”

“You don’t?”

“No. You’ve been really sweet, very kind and considerate, and throughout it all, Nik, I have no idea how you feel about any of this.”

He stared, and inside his head, his grizzly made a grumbling noise of assent.

“Oh, I can see we’re going to go over and over this one,” Deanna said, cracking a smile. “Come on, big guy. Why don’t you tell me all about how you feel?”

His hands on her waist flexed unconsciously, and for a terrible moment, he was utterly tongue-tied. No words would come, and then he pressed his face against hers, breathing in her scent, feeling her warmth against him, and something came undone.

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