Page 16 of Bear for the Holidays

“I want to make you scream,” he whispered against her ear. “I want to lift you up, turn around and push you against the wall, and I want to be so close to you, inside you, that we’ll both feel it for days. I want to kiss you and bite you, and I want to drive you out of your head with how good I can make you feel, and I want to tell you all about how good you feel to me as well, because Deanna, I can already tell that you will feelsogood to me.

“I want to hold you straight through a screaming climax, feel every muscle tense up, and then I want you to melt, and maybe after that, I want to do it again, and again–”

“And again,” Deanna agreed, and how he could feel her shaking against him. Her scent had changed too, grown darker and softer, and his grizzly growled possessively, becauseyes.

“As many times as you want, until we’re both so tired we can’t move. That’s how much I want you, to the point of exhaustion. You’re worth it, your pleasure is worth that to me, and you’ll have to tell me when you’re done because when I look at you, I can’t ever imagine being done.”

“Big talk, can you back it up?” she gasped, and he growled as her hand reached down between them, stroking him through his jeans.

“Only one way to find out,” he said, and he took her hips firmly in his hands, grinding against her. The moan she uttered was like cool water on a hot day, and then he couldn’t help himself, he lifted her up in his arms.

“Whoa!”

“Put you down?” he asked, but she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. He adored, fiercely and utterly, how strong she was, the firmness of her thigh under his hand, her softness pressed so perfectly against him.

“Never. Take me to bed.”

For the sake of his dignity and their safety, he didn’t actually break into a run. It was a small cabin, and the distance between the mudroom and the bedroom was nothing at all. Deanna laughed, a sound of pure delight, clinging to him even harder before letting go as he dropped her on the unmade bed.

Then for a moment, he simply looked at her, lolling in his blankets as if she was made to be there, and she propped herself up on one elbow to look at him.

“What?”

“All I want is you,” he said, stunned and happy, and she spread her arms for him, welcoming him–

The thin high sound that cut through the air sounded a bit like a single sharp nail on a chalkboard. Deanna winced, but Nik, with his acute hearing, actually shuddered.

“What the hell?” Deanna exclaimed, but with great reluctance, Nik was already stepping towards the dresser, the source of the horrific noise. It paused briefly only to start again, a high demanding whine. Sighing, Nik kneeled down to look into the open drawer lined with towels and rags.

“Your Highness, you’re ruining my life,” he said as Deanna came up behind him.

In her drawer, the white cat’s bulbous belly rippled again, and he reached in to scratch her behind the ears.

CHAPTER FIVE

∞∞∞

Things were going well, beyond well, and then, that sound.

The pregnant cat’s cries drilled through her head like an ice pick, and if it was that bad for her, she couldn’t imagine how much rougher it was for Nik, who looked a little haunted every time the cat went off.

“So what did Pearl say?” he asked when she came back into the bedroom.

“Somehow, this is normal. She says that it just sounds as if Your Highness is part Siamese, not actually in pain–”

“Oh, that’s good.”

“And that giving birth takes them anywhere from four hours to a full day.”

“Oh. Wow.”

She sat down next to him, taking his hand as if they’d been doing it for years. There were a lot of striking things about Nik Shevchenko, but the one she kept getting stuck on was how familiar he felt. It was as if they’d vaulted over the iffy, exhausting part of dating, the part where you wondered who you were really with, what they might be hiding, who they might be when they were irritated or upset, and gone right to something certain and warm.

And now I know what he’s like when he’s frustrated,an impish voice inside her head said.He gets very patient and does a lot of staring.

As a matter of fact, he was staring right now, looking down at the drawer with a faintly dire look.

“And she’s just going to keep making that noise, huh?” he said, already sounding resigned.

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