BRITTIN
When my brother and his problems had me coming back to Stales, my hometown, I was scared not just for my twin’s health, but also because I knew I’d run into Law, my bear-shifting ex and the sheriff of Stales.
Our breakup hadn’t been grisly, but after nearly two years, the thought of seeing him again had everything tightening in me because … I still loved him.
But that was the past, and I knew I had to move on, right?
LAW
Brittin was the only woman I would ever love. She was it for me, even if she broke it off because of my domineering ways. I screwed up when I lost her, and I spent the next two years regretting it. But she’d wanted space, and when she left for the city, I let her.
But now she’s back, and it’s my chance to show her I can give her everything she wants. It’s my chance to show her I can be the man she deserves.
I just hope I haven’t let too much time pass, because not having Brittin in my life is a fate worse than death.
Warning: This short story features a growly bear shifter, and a stubborn heroine. Bear With Me was previously published under the title “Yes, Sir” and was included in the Cuffed and Claimed anthology. It has since been revised and re-edited, but the story itself is the same.
Law
My bear wanted out, wanted to claim our mate right now. But I told myself I needed to go slow. After all the shit we’d been through over the years, and the fact I’d let her walk away from my own arrogant, demanding attitude, I had to make things right. I had to show her that I knew I’d fucked up.
I had to show her even a bear could make love, could admit he was wrong.
But I liked the rough kind of sex, the kind that had my female submitting to me. And Brittin had been such a perfect submissive. I wasn’t into the whole BDSM scene, but the occasional spank, the random restraining … yeah, that got me off.
But only with Brittin.
I only wanted to do that with her. Only her.
“Tell me you want this,” I growled against the side of her throat. I just stood there with her pressed against the wall, my body pinning her, making her submit to me. “Tell me, Brittin.” I ground my cock against her belly, wanting her to tell me, wanting her to feel how hard I was for her.
“God, Law.”
“Tell me you’re mine, baby.”
“You just think things can be patched up?” She breathed the words out.
She was mine. Only mine.
I wouldn’t let her go.
“No, I don’t think things can just be erased, but I want to show you what we used to have. I want to show you how good it was.”
She closed her eyes and moaned. “I know how good it was, Law.”
I said again, loving hearing her say that.
“I want this,” she breathed out.
I ground my dick into her harder. “Say my name, baby. I want you to tell me how much you want this. I want you to tell me that it was a mistake we stayed apart.” It was my fault just as much as it was hers; I’d stayed away. “Things can be different now, Brittin. I can be a better male to you.” I pulled back and looked at her. She looked drugged right now.
Good.
“This might be a mistake…”
My heart fucking stopped.
“But I want this, Law. I want you.”
I growled out low, my bear pushing for supremacy.
“I want you to make me yours again. Lord help me, but I want things to be different than before.”
Fuck. Yes.
I stared into her eyes. “You’re mine, and I’ll never let you go. Not again. That was the worst damn mistake I’ve ever made.”
She licked her lips. “This is insane,” she whispered. “But fuck me, Law. Fuck me like you’ve been aching for me this entire time.”
“I have, baby.” I leaned forward and ran my tongue up the length of her neck. “Tell me this doesn’t feel good.” I gently bit the spot where I used to all those years ago.
“It would be a lie if I said that,” she whispered, and I groaned in approval.
I rested the tip of my nose right on the side of her neck and inhaled. Yeah, she smelled the same.
So. Fucking. Good.
“It’s only ever been you, baby.” She gasped after my words. “I haven’t been with another female since you. And I don’t want anyone else.” I leaned back and looked into her eyes.
“I haven’t been with anyone else, Law,” she whispered, her eyes wide.
“Are you surprised, Brittin? Did you really think anyone else would compare to you?”
She licked her lips, and I watched the act. “I didn’t want to think about that.”
I lifted my gaze to look into her eyes. “Once we start, I won’t stop. I can’t. Too much time has passed, and I don’t want to waste another second.”
She parted her lips and sucked in a breath.
I leaned in so close our lips were almost touching. “Tell me you want this, and that you want more than my cock filling you.”
She didn’t answer for long seconds, and I wanted to tear through my skin to get the answer.
“Fuck me.” She pulled me close and slanted her lips on mine. “Let’s just take this one step at a time,” she whispered against my lips.
And just hearing her say that, even if she wasn’t telling me she wanted me and all I had to offer, I couldn’t deny her.
She was mine, and I wouldn’t let her get away again.
Jenika Snow is a USA Today Bestselling Author that lives in the northwest with her husband and their two daughters. Before she started writing full-time she worked as a nurse.
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