Octo BEAR fest (Renaissance Shifters #1)

Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26

G wen Booker in his arms was the only thing Bill ever wanted, except maybe Gwen Booker in his arms with the lights on. He mumbled that eventually, and at her laughing assent, reached down the couch to switch a lamp on. She winced a complaint, but with her eyes half-lidded against the light, slid her hands down his chest and murmured awe. "Big man. Big muscle. I like it. You."

He chuckled and gathered her closer, as if she could get much closer, burying his face in her shoulder for a moment, then sliding his hands around her body to cup her breasts. "Speaking of big. Don't mean to be rude, but where were you hiding this under those t-shirts?"

"More under the leather jackets," she said with a smile. "I thought you knew."

"I figured it out as soon as the bra came off." He dipped his head to kiss the tops of her breasts, encouraging her to arch back so he could use his mouth and fingers until she was gasping and squirming against him. "Still have a problem," he murmured. "I really want to see you in nothing but those boots and also really don't want to move you."

Her laughter was warm and trembling against his skin. She straightened up a bit, reached behind her, and unzipped the skirt. Unzipped it all the way, as it turned out: a couple seconds later she held up a band of leather that had once been a skirt, and dropped it beside them on the couch. Bill breathed a prayer, then slid his fingertips beneath the waistband of a very, very tiny pair of black lace panties. "How attached to these are you?"

"…I can get more?"

"I like that answer." He tested the elastic with his fingertips again, then brought his other hand around to her hip and with a quick jerk, popped the waistband. It snapped. Gwen shrieked, her whole body tensing up in surprise, which, given where she was sitting, turned Bill cross-eyed for a moment. When he found his voice, it was to say, "This is already working out better than I imagined," before snapping the other hip's elastic. Gwen startled again, and Bill shivered, sliding the tiny panties out of the way and then his hands over her hips. "Ah, God , yeah. Do you have any idea how gorgeous you are?"

"Maybe you just have a thing for women in tall boots riding your cock."

He twitched so hard he thought he might come again, and pulled her deeper onto himself as he lifted his hips as he said, "Jesus, Gwen," in a thick voice.

She leaned in, nuzzling his throat. "So the responsible son likes a little dirty talk, hm?"

"I like your dirty talk," he said, still hoarsely. She was paler-skinned than he was, blue undertones instead of his golden ones, and her black-dyed hair was an incredible contrast to that paleness. She had broader shoulders than he'd realized, which also helped disguise her bustiness, which he now sort of thought of as his own personal secret. He lifted his hands to her breasts again, tugging and brushing at her nipples and watching them flush pink as her breath went short. She had a small waist: he'd known that from her short-cropped shirts, and her hips were more slender than he would have expected. She had a little line of flowery tattoos from her bellybutton downward, matched by curved ones over her hip bones, like they were all helpfully leading to the little thatch of dark gold curls between her thighs. He'd known she dyed her hair. Seeing the proof that cuffs and collar didn't match made him harder than he'd thought possible. Most of her legs were swallowed by the long leather boots, but the contrast of pale flesh and black leather there was as enticing as her hair and skin were. "God, you're beautiful."

"Know what else I am? Flexible." Gwen caught his hand to give herself an anchor, then leaned backward until she was lying back across—almost between, because they were spread—his thighs. Bill grabbed her hip, making sure she didn't slide off him, and she almost purred, releasing his other hand to her other hip. "Good boy. Don't let me fall." Then her fingers slipped between her own thighs as he watched, and he found himself pounding into her, hands knotted on her hips as she worked herself, voice rising in pleasure. There was no way he could hold out when her orgasm slammed through her, and in its aftermath he dragged her back up into his arms, gasping and holding on. When she'd caught her breath again, it was to murmur, "Wait until you see the tattoos on the other side," and give a quiet, wicked laugh.

Bill thought he might have died and gone to heaven. His voice was actually shaking as he breathed, "Maybe you better not show me those tonight," and she laughed again, stealing a kiss.

"Gotta save something for next weekend. Or the morning, at least." She nuzzled in some more, warm and soft. "Maybe we should go to the actual bedroom?"

"I can't promise that won't lead to looking at the rest of your tattoos." Bill stood anyway, keeping her with him, and she clenched and shuddered again.

" God but I like that. You're so big. Nobody's ever just been able to lift me before."

"I live to serve."

Gwen purred. "Don't tempt me by saying things like that, big man."

"If you don't mind, I think I might spend the rest of my life trying to tempt you." Bill brought her to the bedroom, ghosting his hand over one of her boots as he sat on the edge of the bed with her. "I'm kind of guessing you don't want to sleep in these."

"Not unless you want to wake up to very smelly feet," she admitted reluctantly, then gave him a sweet, lazy grin. "Next time I'll find something more breathable."

"Make no changes on my account," he informed her firmly. They did, eventually, peel the boots off and sleep, although Bill got a glimpse of the tattoos on her back that made sleeping, and other things, hard. On the other hand, they both needed the rest, and he was awake before Gwen, so rose to make breakfast. Coffee and cinnamon rolls from a tube, since he didn't want to leave the house to get fresh ones from the bakery, but their scent called Gwen to wobble out of the bedroom sleepily, wearing one of his shirts and a sweet smile.

"I see you've learned everything you need to know about the care and feeding of a Gwen," she said as she sat down with the little breakfast.

Bill laughed. "I sincerely doubt that, but hopefully I'm off to a good start."

"I think so." She gave him a surprisingly shy smile, given the activities they'd been up to all night. "Does that mean you still want me to come out this weekend?"

"It really means I'd like you to never leave," he said, maybe too honestly, "but yes, please. I very much do."

She laughed and stretched a leg out to touch his shin with her toes under the table. "I can work remotely, but I'm not sure my boss would appreciate me just never showing up in the office again. Also, never is a long time. You might get tired of banging a rock star."

Bill coughed on his coffee. "Unlikely. Anybody who gets tired of banging a rock star probably needs their head examined. But…" He drew a deep, nervous breath. "I don't want to be completely overwhelming?—"

"Then you probably shouldn't have proven you did not, in fact, need a wall to put me up against while having stand-up sex," Gwen said with a grin that faded as he ducked his head, smiling uncertainly. "Ah, no, I see, I'm supposed to be serious now. Okay. It can't possibly be more overwhelming than 'I turn into a bear,' and I think I went with that one pretty well."

"You did." He looked up again with another smile. "It's related to that, though."

"Oh my God." Gwen's eyes widened hopefully. "Can you show me how to turn into a bear?"

Surprise shot through him and came out as a laugh. "No. Sorry, no. It's inherent."

"In-bear-ent?"

He stared at her flatly enough that Gwen threw her head back and laughed. "Oh, come on, that was pretty good."

"That was awful!"

"That's what pretty good is, in puns! Okay, okay, tell me the overwhelming thing."

"The other important thing about being a shifter is we know when we've met the person we're meant to be with," Bill blurted, afraid he'd lose his nerve if he thought about it even an instant longer. "We call it finding our mate, but it's really—it's just—it's?—"

Gwen's expression had gone surprised, then so, so soft. "Love at first sight?" she asked very quietly.

Bill nodded, still nervous. "A love we're absolutely certain about, but…yeah."

"And your, uh, your 'mates,' they feel it too?" At his second nod, Gwen bit her lip. "And that's us?"

"It is," Bill said in a very soft voice. "I know it's a lot and it doesn't mean we have to be together forever now, but I wanted you to know that I…I'll always be here for you, Gwen."

"That's such a relief," she said over his last words, then blushed. "I mean, that's great too, but I meant, I've been feeling so at home, so comfortable, and, yeah, so incredibly attracted to you. With you. Like everything's going to be okay now that I've met you. And I thought I was probably losing my mind, but it's…magic?"

Bill blinked. "I wouldn't have thought of it quite like that, but yeah, I guess it is."

"You turn into a bear," Gwen pointed out. "That's definitely in the 'magic' category. So is love at first sight." She sighed, then sighed again and sank her teeth into a cinnamon roll before looking dreamily at him. "I have no idea how we're going to work this out. You've got a pub to run and I'm apparently on the verge of oh !" She sat up straight, staring at him accusingly. "Is that why I'm finally okay with the idea of hitting the big time? Because I subconsciously know I'll be okay because I've got you on my side?"

"It might be," Bill said, surprised. "Is that okay?"

"It's amazing! It makes sense! I know I've been playing it safe, but—wow." Gwen's voice softened. "Wow. God, Bill. You're right. This is a lot. Not a bad kind of lot," she said quickly, "but a lot."

"It is." He reached across the table toward her, ignoring the fact that he had cinnamon roll stickiness on his fingers. Again. "Which is why I said we don't have to make all the decisions right now. I just really wanted you to know I'd be in your corner."

She curled her fingers into his. "If this album does well—we'll be touring anyway, but if it does well we might be touring a lot. For quite a while. That can be months apart, Bill. And I know we've only spent three days together, but months apart sounds like a lot, too."

"Well." He took a deep breath, then chuckled at himself. "I'm fortifying myself with a lot of deep breathing these days. You?"

"So much." Gwen flashed a smile. "I should become a yogi or something, that's how much. What were you going to say?"

"I talked to my parents about the pub last night. I'm going to hire my cousin Ashley to run the actual pub side of things, if I can convince her I mean it. The brewery needs less day to day supervision, but…if I need somebody to take over there, too, I'll find them, and step back into some other kind of position. Because yeah, months sounds like too long. And I've never traveled." He gave her a sudden nervous smile. "I mean, if you'd want me around."

"More than anything. Although Penny is going to lecture you about sex before game day."

Bill burst out laughing. "Isn't the problem with that the staying up too late thing? I promise to only have morning sex after you've awakened from your fabulous nights as a rock star? Or very, very late night sex after which you can sleep in until," he checked the time, "eleven thirty a.m?"

"I'll have you know I'm up unusually early after a night of rock'n'roll and sex, because somebody made cinnamon rolls and drew me from my bed long before my natural hour of awakening."

"So you're saying if I'm going to go on tour with you and want to do actual tourist things, I should get up early, go do the stuff, and come back around one in the afternoon to worship my rock and roll queen until it's time for her to go bathe in the adoration of her countless fans?"

Gwen pursed her lips. "I think you're going to be very good at this."

Bill grinned. "I'm going to try. In the meantime, since I got you up so early?—"

"I would love to go back to bed and get thoroughly railed again."

Heat flashed up Bill's face. "I was going to ask if you wanted to go over to the pub with me and try to talk Ashley into actually taking the job I offered her twice yesterday."

"Oh." Gwen settled herself into the kitchen chair quite primly, like an embarrassed cat. "That sounds okay, too."

"Shower first?"

All the embarrassed cat body language went away, replaced by something close to a purr from his fated mate. "Now that sounds like an excellent compromise."

A few minutes later, beneath the hot water, they concluded that it absolutely was.