STORY EXCERPT

Craig woke, feeling the morning sun’s heat on his face. A sigh of contentment slipped his lips. He didn’t want to wake. Craig couldn’t recall the last time he had such a pleasant uninterrupted sleep. Usually, he woke up early for his morning jog.

He needed to keep in constant shape and eat right for his job. Most of the time, he didn’t mind. However, there were some days when he wished he didn’t need to worry about missing a gym session or he could eat a decadent chocolate cake without worrying about his calories. He rubbed at his eyes, opening them to notice a muscle arm curled possessively over his chest and a thigh over his leg.

Craig twisted his head, bit his lip as he noticed the other occupant in the bed. When not snarling or arguing with him, Rick O’Riley looked like some kind of Greek god. Strands of dark hair fell across the werebear’s face. Craig tucked the hair over one ear. Rick didn’t stir at the movement, and he wondered how the werebear got there. He nearly let out a cry of surprise but managed to keep his mouth shut, not wanting to wake Rick.

Did he have such a restful sleep thanks to Rick being there?

He took his time, drinking in the sexy man. Like this, Rick didn’t look scary at all. Rick didn’t bother with a shirt, unveiling hard planes of muscle and ink. Craig was also aware Rick sported an early morning boner.

Craig experimentally rubbed himself against the werebear.

He swallowed when Rick opened his eyes, his green pupils flecked with gold. Then the werebear closed his eyes, hugged him close.

“Hey,” he protested. “You can’t just go back to sleep.”

The burly werebear grumbled in his sleep. Craig poked Rick in the cheek, making the werebear snarl at him. He stilled, waited to be hit or something, but Rick only glared at him.

“What?” Rick demanded, like it wasn’t odd waking up all tangled in each other.

“You’re in my bed,” he said.

Rick hadn’t released him, but Craig hadn’t told Rick to let him go, either. It had been ages since anyone held Craig like this. He was a workaholic, became worse when Danny left the city. He preferred taking up more shoots and other jobs instead of coming home to an empty apartment. Craig even debated getting a pet, a cat of some sort, but in the end decided against it. He made himself work so much that he didn’t even have time to take care of a pet.

“Wrong,” Rick said. “My bed, my room. I found you sleeping here last night.”

“Woah. You’re kind of touchy.”

“I came back at four,” Rick replied with an annoyed snarl. “I’m not sleeping in the guest bed. Have you felt these sheets?”

At four? Then Craig remembered Danny mentioning that Rick owned a bar. Craig wore a sheepish look. “Yeah, they’re amazing. Maybe that’s why I fell into them.”

“Finally, someone who appreciates good bed sheets,” Rick grumbled. The werebear squinted at him. “Why are you smiling? You find this funny?”

“Not at all. It’s just you’re so much nicer to me now.”

“Get out of the bed and leave me to my sleep.”

“There’s the grumpy bear I know,” he said. Rick curled to his side of the bed. The warmth disappeared, damn it. Shifters burned hotter than the average human, he read that somewhere. Must be convenient to have a shifter snuggle next to him during winter months.

Oh hell. What was Craig thinking? He stayed away from shifters for most of his life yet here he was, rolling in bed with one.

“You smell scared again,” Rick remarked.

He slipped out of the bed, just in case Craig would do something he’d regret. Rick turned his attention back to him, and in moments, Rick was on his feet, clutching Craig’s arm.

“Why?” Rick asked.

“Old fears. None of your business.”

The werebear didn’t like that answer. Rick glowered at him. “One of my kind hurt you before?”

His mind had already begun to drift back to the past he tried so hard to forget. He remembered sharp fangs, limbs on the floor. Fear clutched at his heart, but he felt firm fingers on his jaw. Rick tipped his chin, then to his shock, claimed his mouth.

The kiss was all heat and bite, reeling his mind back to reality. Oh God. So good. Craig practically melted against Rick. Tongues tangled and teeth clashed. More, he silently willed, but Rick pulled away, licked his lips as if he tasted something sweet. He blushed.

“You didn’t answer my question. Someone hurt you,” Rick said, phrasing it more like a statement than a question.

Rick actually sounded angry—not at him, Craig realized, but for him.

Embarrassed Rick saw him like that, his mind wandering, he ran his fingers through his hair. “Not a werebear, just another shifter. It was a long time ago, and I’m not prejudiced or anything like that. Some childhood scars stick, you know?”

“I know,” Rick said, looking distant.

Craig wondered if the werebear battled his own inner demons. He found himself growing more curious about the werebear. Craig couldn’t remember the last time he’d been attracted to anyone, either, least of all a shifter.

Rick furrowed his brows, frown on his lips. Thankfully, the werebear didn’t push him further about his past.

“I’m going back to bed,” Rick muttered, yanking the comforter and slipping back in. “Unless you want to join me, get the hell out of my room.”

ADULT EXCERPT

Rick took his mouth again, all roughness and bite. Craig began to reach out, to touch the yummy hard expense of Rick’s body, but the werebear caught his wrists and pinned them above his head. He didn’t mind Rick taking charge. Rick planted kisses down his neck, seemingly obsessed with the spot between his shoulder and neck.

The werebear let out a little growl, before moving lower, taking one of his nipples into his mouth and sucking on it. He groaned as Rick left his bite mark there, then worked his way back to Craig’s mouth. Rick kept both of his wrists in place with one hand and used the other to give his dick a few tugs and pulls. He moaned when Rick tore his lips away from his, panted as Rick stroked him a few times, then left him hanging by dragging his fingers lower.

He squirmed when Rick reached his puckered entrance, but the werebear only stroked the edges, teasing him. His dick had turned from half to full mast now.

“Please,” he whispered, all too aware Rick’s gaze remained locked on his. It was as if the werebear wanted to see every emotion on his face.

His past experiences with sex had been horrible. The men he’d dated did a few pumps inside him before coming without ceremony. It gave Craig the impression sex was always quick, fast, and dirty, certainly not this.

“Tell me what you want,” Rick said, breath warm against his ear.

He blushed.

“Don’t be ashamed of what you’re thinking about. Tell me,” Rick coaxed.

“You inside me,” Craig murmured. “Please.”

Rick grinned. “I like that word. Hold on a sec.”

Rick got off him and fumbled for the drawer next to the bed. Seeing the shifter grab the lube, it struck Craig this was finally happening.

“I don’t have condoms. We shifters don’t catch anything,” Rick told him.

“I’m clean. It’s not like I’ve been with anyone recently, either.” Craig blushed again. That made him sound a little pathetic.

Rick joined him in bed, eyebrows raised, as if he didn’t quite believe Craig. The werebear stroked his thigh back and forth, the contrast of his rough and callused fingers amazing against his skin. He moaned as Rick gave his dick a squeeze. “I have a hard time believing that,” Rick said.

“It’s true. I work so much, I barely have time for a personal life. Sure, I go to some parties, but that’s the inevitable part of the lifestyle. I never enjoyed myself. I told myself to be there to make connections.” Craig didn’t know where that came from and why, when it came to Rick, he could be honest. It felt refreshing, nice even to have a confidant. He cleared his throat and continued, “I’m sorry. I’m babbling, aren’t I?”

Rick shook his head, planting both of Craig’s legs over his shoulders. “I don’t mind, I like getting to know you better.” Rick’s reply surprised him.

“So, I’m not just cute human you want to bang?” Craig teased. Damn. He tended to joke when he got nervous.

“No, you’re so much more,” Rick answered, uncapping the lube.

Moments later, Craig felt slick fingers at his puckered entrance. Rick pushed one in, added in a second soon after. Craig moaned, squirmed, but Rick held him in place. Not that he wanted to go anywhere anytime soon. Rick stretched and widened him for access, leaving him a pleasing mess, and Rick hadn’t even fucked him yet.

“Please,” he uttered, because Rick seemed to like that word.

Rick smirked, put the lube aside, and finally replaced his fingers with his cock. The werebear gripped his waist and finally entered him. He widened his eyes, crying out as Rick breached his tiny hole. Oh, he knew Rick was big, but he never had anything so large in him.

“Breathe in and out for me,” Rick ordered. “That’s it. Good job.”

He willed his inner muscles to relax. It worked. Once Rick passed the thick ring of muscles, he slid all the way in, until he was balls deep inside Craig. He moaned, wrapping his arms around Rick’s neck.

Rick closed his mouth over his, thrusting heat down his throat. When the werebear pulled away, he panted, so ready for the ride. Rick moved, strokes steady and slow.

He raked his nails across Rick’s shoulders, loving the clash of their bodies, at making such an intimate connection. A snarl spilled out of Rick’s lips, but he didn’t feel an inch of fear, not when he felt so good. The initial burn had faded away, replaced by sheer pleasure.

The werebear pounded him faster, deeper, and Craig found himself meeting Rick for every push. He left nail marks on Rick’s broad shoulders, but the werebear didn’t seem to mind. By the end of this, Rick would have left bruises on his skin, and he liked that, loved knowing they marked each other up in the heat of passion.

Rick shifted the angle of his hips and brushed right against his sensitive prostate. He gasped as Rick kept focusing on the spot. Arching his back, he let out a little scream. The sound only seemed to rile Rick up. The werebear fucked him deep and deeper, seemingly capable of breaching his most intimate places. His balls tightened against his body and his muscles tensed.

“I’ll come soon,” Craig confessed.