Hot Bear Summer, Part Two
***Please note: this is Part Two of the Hot Bear Summer Story. If you are looking for Part One, CLICK HERE!***
Julia took a deep breath to try to calm her nerves, but her heart still pounded wildly. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so anxious about something. Perhaps it had been the first time she’d interviewed for a fancy corporate job?
She had left the corporate world far behind, but she was slowly realizing that there would always be something to stress over.
Today, she was stressing over her donut shop’s grand opening.
She knew that, logically speaking, she shouldn’t be worrying so much. After a rough start where the donut shop she’d bought sight unseen had turned out to be unexpectedly dirty and in disrepair, Julia had rallied and worked hard to get everything ready for her grand opening in record time. Now, less than a week after arriving in Wood Canyon, she was ready to invite her first real customers into the store.
She should have been ecstatic, but she was mostly just nervous. Would the townspeople buy her donuts? Would they like her donuts? Would she be able to make it on her own, as a small business owner?
And, less importantly for her business, but very important for her own sanity…would Andy Marrow show up today?
Andy. She rolled the name around in her head, indulging in a rare few moments of actually allowing herself to think about him. She’ d done her best to put him out of her head over the last few days—no easy task since that kiss of his had been downright electric.
She knew she’d shocked him by running off as soon as he kissed her. Or, perhaps, more accurately, she should say by swimming off. Her cheeks heated with embarrassment as she remembered how she’d fallen into the river. He’d tried to save her, which had only flustered and embarrassed her further.
It had been the better part of a week since that incident, and Julia had expected that Andy would track her down and demand to talk about what happened. He hadn’t, though. She shouldn’t have been disappointed. In fact, she should have been happy, since she knew deep down that now was not the right time to start a relationship with anyone, let alone with a man as gruff and moody as Andy.
But no matter how much she tried to tell herself it was for the best, she couldn’t keep the small seed of resentment from growing within her. Why had he kissed her if he wasn’t going to track her down? Who cared if she’d all but told him not to follow her? If he felt as strongly for her as he claimed he did, he should have tracked her down regardless.
“No!” Julia admonished herself aloud to the empty shop. “Don’t go down that rabbit hole.”
She had to stop thinking of him. Whether he was right or wrong for not chasing her down again, she was better off without him in her life. She wasn’t ready for a relationship, and even if she had been, she didn’t know him well. He could be an awful person for all she knew.
In fact, her new friend Emily, the bookstore owner from across the street, had warned her that Andy was awful. Emily had said Andy was trouble, so Julia should be glad that he’d stayed away, even if her heart wasn’t quite getting the memo that she was better off this way.
As though thinking of Emily had summoned her, the woman herself appeared at the front door. Emily rapped on the glass, and, with a smile, Julia went to open the front door for her.
“You’re too early,” Julia teased. “No donuts until 6 a.m., and that’s still fifteen minutes away.”
Emily visibly shuddered. “I’m well aware that it’s currently an ungodly early hour of the morning. But I made an exception to my normal rule of not letting things interfere with my sleep so I could come check on you before you open and the rush hits.”
Julia sighed and looked out at the empty street beyond Emily. “So far it doesn’t seem that the crowds are exactly clamoring for donuts. I’m not sure I’ll get all that busy.”
“You will,” Emily said confidently. “No one in Wood Canyon will be able to resist trying the new place in town. Just give it a bit of time to build. And if you need help today, just holler. I’m happy to leave the bookstore in my part-timer’s hands and come over to assist.”
Julia felt her gratitude welling up within her. “Thank you. You really don’t have to do that.”
“I know I don’t have to, but I want to,” Emily said. “I’m so excited to have another woman business owner around. Seriously, if you need anything, let me know.”
Julia thanked Emily again, feeling that, despite the few minor bumps in the road over the last week, the decision to move to Wood Canyon had been the right one.
That feeling was confirmed over the next few hours, when business did indeed pick up, just as Emily had promised. Indeed, the stream of customers became so steady that Julia found herself too busy to spend any time obsessing over whether Andy would show up for her donut shop’s grand opening.
At 3 pm, her little café was finally empty, and she’d sold out of most of her donut inventory for the day. With a happy sigh, she gave herself a moment to lean against the counter and catch her breath.
Moments later, however, her breath literally caught in her throat when she saw a familiar, muscular man approaching her front door.
Andy.
He walked in, his larger-than-life presence seeming to immediately fill the room. He looked around, taking in the slightly messy dining room, then he walked up to the display case and looked over the meager offerings that were left.
“Huh,” he said.
Julia’s mind screamed at her that she should say something back, perhaps asking him if there was anything specific he was looking for, or making a suggestion of one of the few donut flavors she had left. But her heart pounded in her chest and the words caught in her throat. All she could think was that, no matter how hard she’d tried to prepare herself for the possibility of seeing Andy today, she couldn’t calm her raging emotions now that he was standing in the flesh in front of her.
He frowned slightly, continuing to peruse the donuts in the case. When he finally looked up and met her gaze, she felt sure he was going to comment on how obvious her desire for him was in her eyes.
But all he said was, “No strawberry donuts?”
Julia shook her head, then managed to speak a few words. “No, sorry. We sold out of those a few hours ago.”
He stared at her a few moments, his eyes locked on hers with so much heat she could have used it to heat her donut fryers. She wondered if he was going to throw another angry fit, this time about the fact that she didn’t have the right kind of donuts available.
But he didn’t throw a fit. Instead, he glanced toward her door and said, “Aren’t you technically closed now?”
Julia stared. Was he going to get onto her about her open sign being incorrect? Because she was not in the mood for his games. It had been a long day. A good day, but a long one. She didn’t want to cap it off by getting into an argument with Mr. Grumps. She wanted to cap it off by closing down her store and then heading home to enjoy a well-deserved glass of champagne.
“Yes, my store is closed,” she said coolly. “I close at 3 p.m. But I’m happy to sell you some donuts if you see something you’d like. I just don’t have any more strawberry left.”
“I see something I like,” he growled. “But it isn’t donuts.”
Julia felt her heart pounding. She opened her mouth to try to speak, but no words came out. She thought she knew what he was hinting at, but she could hardly believe it. Even though he’d kissed her, and obviously felt attracted to her, she thought deep down that her running off on him had likely made him think she wasn’t worth the trouble.
Apparently, she’d been wrong.
“I..uh…I…” she stammered.
“And when I see something I like,” he growled, ignoring the fact that she couldn’t put together a coherent sentence. “I generally make it mine.”
With that, he turned and stalked toward the front door. With swift, decisive movements, he turned the sign so that the “Closed” side faced outward toward the street, then he flipped the deadbolt to lock the door.
When he turned and started walking back toward her, Julia felt her insides turn molten. The heat in his eyes could not be mistaken for anything other than pure desire.
Not that his words had left any doubt, anyway.
“Andy,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “I can’t.”
He arched an eyebrow at her. “Can’t what? Kiss me again? Do you have a boyfriend I don’t know about or something? Because I can’t see what other problem there would be. I know you want me. I can smell the desire coming off of you.”
For a moment, Julia wondered what he meant by saying he could smell the desire. She’d heard of pheromones before, sure. But she didn’t think they could actually be smelled. Not by a human nose anyway. Maybe some animals could, but she’d certainly never smelled desire, whatever that meant.
“Well?” Andy prompted, bringing her back to the present moment. “Do you have a boyfriend or not?”
“No, but—”
“Good,” he interrupted, then leaned over the counter so his face was right in hers. “Then there’s no reason you shouldn’t kiss me.”
“I can’t,” she squeaked again, starting to really panic. The truth was, she wanted to kiss him so badly, but she knew she shouldn’t. And that terrified her.
Andy either didn’t notice that she was panicking, or he just didn’t care, because he kept leaning forward, moving his lips toward hers. Julia could feel the energy in the air between them, magnetic, drawing her toward him.
She had to get away from him, before that magnetic pull got too strong and she made some really big mistakes.
With an agonized grunt, she took a step back. Then, she turned and ran into the back room.
She felt ridiculous for running from him yet again, especially when they were in her shop. She could have just told him to leave her property, and he would have had to go. But she couldn’t think clearly in that moment. She had too many conflicting thoughts bombarding her mind for her to make any rational decision, and so, she ran.
She reached the back room, ran into her small office, and slammed the door behind her. Her breath came in ragged gasps, and she mentally willed Andy to just turn around and leave. She didn’t want to face him right then.
She didn’t want to face the way she felt about him, the way he made her heart race with desire.
His sharp knock came at her office door just moments later.
“Come on, Julia. Can we just talk?” His voice sounded strong and sexy, and a big part of Julia wanted to rip the door open and collapse into his offered kiss.
But a bigger part of her feared getting in over her head, and getting hurt, and so she shrank back into the corner and didn’t answer. Maybe if she kept ignoring him then he’d just give up and go away.
No such luck.
A moment later, the door to Julia’s office opened. She cursed herself for not locking the door, and tried to sink even further back into the corner, as though she could blend right into the wall.
Andy’s dark eyes locked on her, and he crooked his finger at her once, then twice.
“Come here,” he ordered.
Trembling, she did as he asked. She could have run again, but some part of her deep down wanted to know what he had to say. Besides, she was beginning to get the feeling that he would keep chasing her until he finally caught her, no matter how many times she ran.
“What do you want?” she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.
“I think you know what I want,” he said, taking her hand and leading her out of the office into the more spacious back room where a variety of flours, sugars, and other donut ingredients were stacked on a large steel shelving unit. He pushed her against the wall beside the shelving unit, then stepped so his body was mere inches from hers. He leaned down so his face was right in front of her face, his eyes searching hers.
“Can you honestly say you don’t want me to kiss you right now?” he asked in a low, husky voice.
Wordlessly, Julia shook her head. She could not honestly say that, because what she wanted more than anything in the world in that moment was for him to kiss her.
His voice dropped another octave, making him sound oh so deep. “May I kiss you right now? Without you running away again?”
She hesitated only a moment. She knew that if she let him kiss her again, she’d never be able to tear herself away. She was playing with fire, and she was going to get burned. Or, perhaps she should say, she was playing with an inferno and she was going to be consumed.
Either way, she decided it was a price worth paying.
“You may kiss me,” she said.
He immediately took her up on the offer. He pressed his lips against hers and Julia felt all her worries instantly melt away.
He felt so right. His body against hers felt like a puzzle piece she’d been missing suddenly clicking into place. She didn’t know him, and had no reason to think he wanted any kind of future with her. After all, he didn’t know her, either. But despite all the reasons it shouldn’t make sense, it somehow did.
He was meant for her, and she was meant for him. She knew it deep down, in the truest part of her heart, the part that couldn’t lie.
She leaned into his kiss, hungry for more of him. He grunted and responded in kind, pressing his body harder against hers until she could feel the strength of his chest muscles underneath his t-shirt, and the firmness of his erection underneath his pants.
He wanted her just as badly as she wanted him, which gave her the courage to believe that whatever happened between them wouldn’t leave her feeling totally alone and forlorn. In fact, maybe it would be the opposite. Maybe she’d feel like she had finally found a safe place to land.
She kissed him harder, testing the waters. He let out what sounded like a low growl, and reached to grab her cheeks with his hand, holding onto her face as though for dear life as he pushed his tongue past her lips and let it dance with her tongue. She moaned, feeling the heat in her core ratchet up, and the wetness between her legs increasing.
She wanted him. All of him. She wanted to do more than just kiss him. She wanted him inside of her, now. He must have wanted the same because he had reached down to start unbuttoning his jeans. Her mind screamed at her that they were moving too fast, and that if she thought she would regret kissing him, she would definitely regret having sex with him.
But she didn’t care about such logical conclusions in that moment.
All she cared about was the way the air between them crackled, and the way his tongue against hers felt perfect. Surely, her body responding in such a strong way meant that something about this was right.
And if it wasn’t right? She no longer cared.
Pure, hot desire had taken over her. She mentally thanked her lucky stars that Andy had had the foresight to lock the front door. No one who came by the store would have any idea that Julia was still here, let alone that she was in the back room about to have a grumpy but gorgeous man make mad love to her.
Andy had fully unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans by that point, never breaking his kiss with Julia while he did. He reached for the button on her black work trousers next, as if by instinct. His movements had a feral quality to them, like a pure animal hunger drove him as he slid Julia’s pants down, exposing her no-nonsense cotton underwear. She wished for a moment that she’d been wearing something sexier, but how would she have known the day would end like this.
“Need…you…” Andy gasped out as he pushed Julia’s underwear down, then turned her around so her bare backside faced him.
She thought about telling him she needed him, too, but decided that she’d rather show him. She took a decisive step backward, so that her bare skin pressed against the stiffness of his firm erection, which jutted out toward her.
He moaned, then growled, as though unable to contain his emotions and unsure of how to express them.
But then, he stilled, and leaned forward so that his lips were right by her ear, his chest pressed against her back, his erection still poking at her, seeking admittance.
“Are you sure this is okay?” he asked in a trembling whisper. “Goodness knows I want you more than anything, but I also don’t want to push you into something you’re not on board with. And you were just running away from my kiss a few minutes ago...”
“It’s more than okay,” Julia rasped out. “I want you. I just didn’t want to admit it to myself. Now stop your talking and get inside me.”
Andy’s eyes widened slightly, and Julia knew she’d surprised him with her straightforwardness. She’d surprised herself, even. She’d never been the type to demand sex from a man, but something about Andy made her unable to hold back.
He drew her in with that muscular body, those dark, expressive eyes, and, yes, also with that giant erection. Especially with that giant erection.
In the next moment, his wide-eyed surprise had disappeared. His intense gaze returned, and then, he slid that giant erection right into her.
She gasped, unable to believe how large he felt inside her, and how much he filled her. For a moment, they both stilled. He just held himself there inside of her, and she clung to him, trembling and wondering how she had gotten so lucky to have a man like him show up and make love to her like this.
Suddenly, she could not have cared one bit about any man she’d ever thought she’d loved before. She had seen her future, and her future was Andy.
He gazed into her eyes, and shook his head in wonder. “You’re so damn beautiful,” he whispered. “I could just stare at you all day.”
And then, he started moving inside of her. He slid back and forth, gently and slowly at first, but even those small movements set off fireworks inside of Julia. He was so big that it didn’t take much for him to rub against every single sensitive nerve within her, quickly causing the pressure and tingling pleasure to ratchet up.
When he started moving faster, she knew she was a goner. She closed her eyes and simply enjoyed the ride.
He slid his hands under her shirt as he started thrusting faster and faster, sliding beneath her bra and grabbing onto her breasts as though they anchored him while he took her. He moaned and ran his fingers across her hard nipples, which sent fresh waves of tingling pleasure radiating across her body.
She moaned as well, her heart pounding out a desperate rhythm in her chest. Her core felt so hot, with a heat more intense than she’d ever felt before. She didn’t know whether Andy wanted any kind of long term relationship with her or not, but she did know that he’d pretty much ruined her forever for any other man.
No one had ever made her feel this good. He was special. The last few minutes had taught her that.
“You’re so wet for me,” he groaned. “So wet and so hot. You feel incredible.”
Julia was indeed very wet and very hot. How could she not be completely turned on, with a rock hard dick like Andy’s sliding back and forth against her, all while he held her breasts.
She was in heaven.
Andy slid faster and faster, and Julia felt her whole body tensing, reaching the maximum amount of pressure it could take. And then, release.
“Andy!” she gasped out as her release took her, and wave after wave of tingling pleasure shot across her body. She felt like she had become electricity itself, with every part of her sparking.
“That’s it, baby. Moan for me. I want my name on your lips while I’m inside you.”
But Julia could not manage to say his name again. In fact, she couldn’t manage to say anything. All she could do was surrender to the most glorious feeling she’d ever experienced.
Her lack of words didn’t seem to dampen Andy’s enthusiasm. He thrust even faster and harder, panting, and occasionally calling out, “Yes. Oh god, yes.”
And then he stiffened and made one last hard thrust into her before letting go and joining Julia in her release. Both of them clung to each other, both a hot mess and both happy to just bask in the afterglow for several long minutes.
When finally Andy pulled out, Julia found herself suddenly shy. She quickly pulled up her pants and underwear and attempted to straighten her mussed up hair and shirt. She felt like she should say something, but she had no idea what. Thanks for the most amazing lay I’ve ever had? That seemed a bit dramatic, even if it was true.
Andy spoke first. “You’re incredible, you know that?”
Julia smiled, a bit embarrassed. “You’re the incredible one. I—”
But her words were cut short by a loud banging from the front door, followed by a shouting voice that the closed door seemed to only slightly muffle.
“Julia? Julia! Are you still in there? You must be, since all the lights out here are still on! Come let me in! I want to know how your first day was.”
Julia felt panicked. “It’s Emily! From the bookstore!”
Andy raised an eyebrow. “Is that a bad thing? Why do you look like your stress level suddenly went up by about a thousand percent?”
Julia balked. She couldn’t tell Andy that Emily had warned her to stay away from him. But she wasn’t ready to confess to Emily that she was doing something with Andy. Especially not when she herself wasn’t sure what that something was.
“I just…uh…it’s complicated. Look, I hate to cut this short, believe me. But I need to talk to Emily. Could we maybe, uh, talk tomorrow night or something?”
Andy’s face fell. “I need to talk to you now. It can’t really wait.”
Emily banged on the front door again. “Julia? Are you okay in there?”
Julia looked at Andy with a pleading expression. “I know I probably seem like a jerk, asking you to leave right away after what we just did. But I hadn’t planned on sleeping with anyone, let alone a man I just met. I need time to process how I feel about this, and Emily won’t give me time if she sees you here. She’s a great gal, but very insistent. She’ll demand answers until I give them to her.”
Andy sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “You don’t owe her answers for anything.”
“I know. But I don’t have the energy after today to try to deflect her, um, enthusiastic questioning. Please, just trust me on this. I promise I’ll talk with you tomorrow.”
Andy hesitated just a moment more, then bent down and kissed her on the nose. “Okay. I’ll trust you. And I hope you’ll extend me the same trust when I ask for it.”
And then, with amazing speed and agility for such a large man, he slipped nearly silently out the back door of the donut shop. Julia watched him go, trembling slightly and wondering what in the world she’d just gotten herself into. One thing she knew: whatever it was, she wasn’t getting out. She’d fallen hard and fast for Andy. She also had a feeling that Emily was wrong about him: he wasn’t someone she needed to stay away from. He had a gruff exterior, yes, but his eyes betrayed a depth and loyalty beneath the surface.
He was a good man, and Julia was going to get past that gruff exterior and find out who he really was, no matter what Emily said.
* * *
Andy jogged away from the donut shop, his inner bear roaring the whole time. He didn’t want to leave Julia. Every fiber of his being rebelled against the fact that he was heading away from her.
But she had asked him to trust her, and so that’s what he would do. Not only because it was the right thing to do, but because the next time he talked to her, he was going to be making a very big ask for her trust.
He was going to be telling her that he was a bear shifter, and that she was his lifemate.
Lifemates. He could hardly believe it. He should have known, since his inner bear had not stopped pining for her since the moment he’d met her. When he’d made love to her, and had felt the heat of the lifemate bond forming, everything had suddenly made perfect sense.
Now, he just had to hope it would make perfect sense when he explained it to her.
He continued jogging, already rehearsing what he would say to her. All he knew was that no matter how she reacted to the news, his path was already set: there would never be anyone other than her for him.
She was his lifemate, and he would love her the rest of his days.