Authors: Ashley Hunter
“I wish it was. My father knew the burden and when my mother died in a car accident when I was twelve, he was utterly lost. He carried on the business and prepared me for dealing with the curse, and I’m grateful for that, but he’s joy of life was gone. Because she was his life mate, he never married again and I’m convinced that his need to be with her again took him to an early death. I’m afraid I will go the same way.”
Amanda shuddered, reading the loss and burden in him. She understood now that this was the real Joshua. Behind the cold, arrogant exterior was a torment man of principle and honour. At that moment, she loved him more than anything else in life.
She reached out and stroked his cheek. He closed his eyes and smiled with pleasure. “How did you know where I was earlier? When Toby attacked me?”
“Your scent intoxicates my senses,” he replied, opening his eyes. They were shimmering pools of sadness and yearning. “I couldn’t keep too far from you, even though I knew you didn’t want to see me. When Toby joined you, I was going to leave. I thought maybe he could make you happy.”
“I’m glad you didn’t. But, I still don’t understand why you would have anything to do with someone like Natasha. Did you think she was your mate?”
“A part of me wanted to believe that, and I almost revealed my secret to her. But something was missing. There is a predatory coldness in her. She would have wanted to use my power for her own ends.
I would have become as monstrous as Jack if we stayed together. Then I met you, and you felt different. I knew I’d found my mate, but I was so unsure after Natasha. I needed to know if you were the one for me, and coming here was the only way to find out.”
“So this game of pretending to be in love was to test me?”
“I’m so sorry,” Joshua said in a broken voice. “I played games with your life. I’m no better than Natasha, but I needed you to know the truth. If you want to leave, I’ll understand. I don’t deserve your love.”
She leaned forward and kissed him softly on the lips. “It doesn’t matter now. You convinced me. I’m not going anywhere.”
He gazed at her, hope suddenly kindling in his eyes. She nuzzled his cheek. “I’m willing to take a chance,” she whispered. “We both deserve a shot at happiness.”
She pulled away from him and sank to her knees. Above her, his breathing became ragged as she started undoing his shorts. They slid round his ankles a moment later, and she pulled free his throbbing meat.
“Oh, Amanda,” he crooned as she tasted him.
Fiery heat exploded between her legs as she swallowed him whole. She wanted to possess him and please him. Instinctively, she felt like his mate and their connection was unbreakable. He sighed with pleasure and raked her long hair with his strong fingers.
She caressed the firm swell of his buttocks in return, and sucked harder, returning the favour from last night. He let out wonderful little gasps and a contented growl, sending waves of pleasure through Amanda.
After a while in this position, he took her shoulders and urged her to stand up. As she did so, he crushed his mouth to hers locking them together in a long, intense kiss. She held him tight, revelling in his power.
When they finally surfaced from the embrace, she took a step back and peeled off her flimsy summer dress to stand naked before him. The moonlight lapped over her skin and he gazed at her in reverence like she was some eternal goddess of the forest.
“I love you,” he whispered in a voice of pure desire.
They embraced again, kissing madly, eager for intimacy. Joshua pushed her down into the lush grass and spread her legs. Amanda let out a throaty moan as his tongue slipped between her wet folds, finding the sweet spot of release. She writhed helpless on the ground, and clawed at his stubble of hair as he licked and kissed her, gauging the right pressure to tip her over the edge.
“Oh yes! Yes! Yes!” she moaned louder and louder, reaching the mounting crescendo of release. She bucked like a creature possessed as he tipped her over the edge, and her sweet, sticky juices gushed into his mouth. He brought his head up and kissed her, sharing her taste between them. She shuddered with joy and his skilful hands explored her glowing body, worshipping every inch of her creamy skin.
“I want you in me,” she growled.
He didn’t need asking twice. He shifted round, his manhood glistening and sticky. This time though, he manoeuvred her on top, and she clutched at his firm pectorals as he thrust into her.
She rode him hard, revelling in the sexual power coursing through her. He clutched at her hips, pushing her down harder and harder onto him, his moans almost as loud as hers. His face was a study in raging lust in the moonlight, and his firm body arched as he desperately tried to satisfy her.
“Amanda! Amanda!” Her name sounded so wonderful coming from his deep, desire-wracked voice and she fondled and caressed her breasts in feral delight as he emptied his seed inside her.
It was done. They lay spent and happy on the bank of the lake, and Joshua cradled her in his powerful arms. As she rested her head against his chest, he purred softly and she closed her eyes. She was where she was meant to be, she understood that now, and nothing would ever pull them apart.
***
PREVIEW OF ‘THE BEAR’S DESIRED MATE’ BY ASHLEY HUNTER
1. Something New
The phone was ringing when Amanda entered her apartment. That didn't bode well with her current mood. Today had been a hard day and everyone had found something to nit-pick at in her work. All she wanted to do now was have time to wind down before she went out again.
Dropping her keys on the hall table and her briefcase on the little chair beside the door, she went to the phone and glanced at the incoming number. It wasn't marked as a known number but she knew it by heart.
Her ex-boyfriend was calling again.
"You have to be kidding me!"
Amanda lifted the receiver and put it back again, hanging up on him. A moment later it started ringing again. She groaned and turned away.
"You can wait. I'm having a shower."
She had an hour before she had to go back out again and she wasn't going to waste it having an argument with her least favourite person. Slipping off her jacket, she draped it over the side of the couch before going to the bedroom, unbuttoning her blouse. She stripped quickly and then moved into the bathroom, turning the shower on.
She could still hear her phone trilling in the lounge but through the doors it was somewhat muted. So Amanda concentrated on her hot shower, shampooing her hair twice before shaving her legs and underarms. With what she was planning to do she didn't want anything embarrassing like hairy legs and armpits. It wasn't attractive.
It was nearly twenty minutes later when she got out the shower. The phone was still going. Amanda purposefully ignored it as she went through her ritual of drying her long black hair and plaiting it into a single braid so it fell down her back.
Then she got dressed in a fitting white t-shirt and black yoga pants, shoving little white socks on her feet. The clothes were brand new and Amanda had to admit they looked good on her as she stood in front of the mirror, seeing how they followed the line of her overly large curves nicely. She wasn't considered svelte, but she could do a good imitation.
With her brand new running shoes she would look like she actually knew what she was doing.
The phone was still ringing as loud as ever as she came out the bedroom and moved through to the kitchen. She retrieved a yoghurt and an apple from the fridge, which she munched on while she pottered about the house, checking her emails on her computer and setting her Sky box to record her favourite show. All the while she tried to ignore the phone but it just kept going. It would ring incessantly until it went to voicemail and then it would immediately start up again.
After she had put away her rubbish Amanda decided that was enough. She stormed across the room and snatched up the receiver, not bothering to check the number.
"Look, Tommy, I told you last night and I'm telling you now. Stop calling me!"
“Did I interrupt something?”
Amanda’s mind clicked with the sultry alto tones.
“Mary Ellen!” Relief flooding through her, she sagged onto the couch. “Sorry about that. I should’ve checked the number before I yelled your ear off.”
Mary Ellen chuckled.
“I’d like to say I’ve got another one but you just yelled that one off as well.” She sobered up. “Is Tommy causing issues again?”
Amanda flopped her head back on the cushions, closing her eyes with a frustrated sigh.
“You could say that. He called me last night but he didn’t get very far before I told him to leave me along and hung up on him. In the last twenty-four hours I’ve had about twenty missed calls from him. And that’s just on my cell.”
Mary Ellen whistled.
“Wow. What does he want?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care. He wasted two years of my life. He’s not wasting any more of my time.”
“Good for you, honey.” Mary Ellen sighed. Amanda could see her best friend in her warm, cosy little kitchen in her cottage, sitting on the floor with her back against the Aga as she did on a cold day. “You should have let me take his head off.”
Amanda grinned. Mary Ellen’s DNA ensured that she was stronger than the average man, never mind the average woman. She could easily decapitate someone and not even break a sweat.
“Nice thought but no. I’m not very good at lying if the body was found.”
“Who said you’d need to lie?” Mary Ellen teased. She yawned. As a nurse currently on night shifts she usually woke shortly before Amanda got home from work. “What are you up to tonight? Anything exciting?”
“I’m off to the gym.” Amanda had to laugh at the stunned silence that followed. “Come on, Mary Ellen, it’s not exactly headline news.”
“No, but it’s close enough. What brought that on?”
“Remember that flyer that was pinned up in the library advertising personal gym sessions?”
“I remember. We joked about signing up.”
“Well, I actually signed up. I’m going to give it a go so my introductory session is tonight.”
“Really?” Mary Ellen sounded more surprised than Amanda expected. “I thought you were happy with your body.”
“I am. I just want some breath left after climbing the stairs now the elevator is out of action.” Amanda glanced down at her body, grimacing as she saw the rolls of fat sticking out between the yoga pants and the t-shirt. “But, seriously, I wouldn’t mind firming up a few parts of my body.”
“This is not a subconscious thing to lose weight because of Tommy, is it?”
Amanda rolled her eyes.
“Of course not. I’m not letting him dictate my life. But I’d like to do some exercise that isn’t me embarrassing myself in a group aerobics class.”
The last and only time she had attended one of those the looks she had received had almost had her running from the room. She was comfortable with what she had but the expressions from everyone else nearly made her second-guess her opinion of her body. She hadn’t been back since.
"Good for you, honey." Mary Ellen yawned again. "I'd better go. My wolf is itching for a quick run before work. Let me know how it goes."
"Will do."
"And let me know if the personal trainer is hot. I might book a few sessions if he is."
Amanda laughed. Mary Ellen loved her men and made her way through them like a woman went through shoes. She left a lot of men panting after her and Mary Ellen knew that.
"I'll bear that in mind. Have fun with your wolf."
"Plan to.
Ciao, Bella
."
#
Whatever nerves Amanda had about the private session came to the forefront of her mind as she pulled into the parking lot. She slotted her car into a space and switched the engine off, noting that her hands were shaking. Then she just sat there.
Being a bigger woman than she should be, she had learned to be comfortable with what she had. She loved her curves and had accepted them a long time ago but sometimes she wondered what it would be like to be a slimmer.person. She could wear a bikini on the beach and go swimming. She could wear sexy little dresses that showed off her assets.
She could even bag a man who wasn't a total bastard. The men who were interested in her always seemed to want something from her or try to change her. The verbal beatings she had got from Tommy had been the final straw.
This wasn't to change the way her ex-boyfriends wanted her to change, she told herself. This was to make her fitter and give her some sense of self-worth. But every time she told herself that a little thing at the back of her mind started nagging that she was telling herself a lie.
She closed her eyes and growled at herself.
"Stop it." She muttered. "You're twenty-five years old. You're a grown up. Act like one."
With that in mind she climbed out the car, snatching up her gym bag from the passenger seat. Just as she was locking up the car two women walked by, obviously on the way to their cars from the gym. They were slim and toned, wearing barely anything bar a sports bra and yoga pants with running shoes. Neither of them seemed to be affected by the cold.
They looked good and from the way they walked they knew it. As they passed by one of them caught Amanda's eye. She cast a look over Amanda's curvy figure and her expression took on a look of distaste. She said something to her friend, who also looked over and giggled unkindly.
Amanda leant against her car and closed her eyes, willing the tears to stay back. She couldn't understand why. Before if she had come across those women and that had happened she would have laughed it off and made a rude gesture at them. But now she just wanted to run away and cry.
Tommy's betrayal and his subsequent behaviour had really done a number on her, more so than she realized.
A sob escaped from her lips and she clapped a hand over her mouth, trying in a failed attempt to make it go back. This was ridiculous. She was a grown woman who was comfortable with her body. All it took was one man to come along and ruin her enough so she didn't have the self-esteem she once had.
"You okay?"
Jumping, Amanda's eyes snapped open and she leapt away from her car with a squeal. She collided with a very solid body. Arms went around her to steady her. She looked up and met dark eyes the colour of rich chocolate that twinkled down at her.
For a moment, she couldn't speak. Those eyes...they sucked her in. Warmth wrapped around her body and heated her from the inside. That heat went straight between her legs and tingled. Amanda whimpered and stepped back, the strong arms falling away.
"Yes." She squeaked. She coughed and tried again. "I'm okay. Everything's fine."
The eyes that had captivated her changed. The twinkle dimmed somewhat and took on an expression that said the owner of the gorgeous eyes didn't believe her.
"Right. And you normally end up crying for no reason."
"I wasn't crying!" Amanda snapped. She swallowed back her annoyance and tipped her chin defiantly. "I'm just exhausted. It's been a long day."
The eyes looked her over, taking a gentle perusal of her body. The minute their eyes broke contact, Amanda took the chance to see who the owner of these delicious eyes was.
He was tall, well over six feet. Lean but full of corded muscle which seemed to fill out without overdoing it. He seemed to be sculpted in all the right places, from his broad shoulders down to his long legs. And the white t-shirt and tracksuit pants he wore certainly didn't hide anything.
She looked back up at his face. He was clean-shaven with slightly rugged features. His lips were thin but looked soft and his nose was a little disjointed as if it had been broken. His jet-black hair had a hint of curl and fluttered in the slight breeze.
To put it mildly, he was gorgeous. The sort of man Amanda would love to have as hers. But this type of man would never be seen with her. And after Tommy's desecration of their relationship and her, she didn't trust herself not to fall into the same situation again.
If only her body would get the message. Her breasts were beginning to feel heavy and she had to shift to stop the persistent ache between her legs. Her body wanted him but she didn't want it to.
He finished his perusal of her body and looked back up at her. His look wasn't one of disgust. It was of interest. Pure male interest. And that had Amanda's pulse rocketing.
"You sure you're okay?"
Amanda realized that he had spoken and it took a moment for her brain to function enough to form an answer.
"I'm sure."
"Anything I can do to help?"
Amanda heard one thing and her body heard another. It screamed that it had a number of things he could do to help. Amanda mentally shut this down and concentrated on thinking about boring things. Her body's insistence that it needed help died down. But not much.
"You could always take my place in my fitness class." She joked.
His mouth twitched.
"I think the instructor might notice that you've changed gender."
Amanda giggled.
"I guess he would."
"Is that what's got you so worked up?"
Amanda didn't know what she was doing anymore. Somehow she had ended up talking to the most delicious-looking man she had met in a long time and he didn't seem bothered. He didn't seem to mind that she had stopped him from his business. She decided to be blunt.
"I thought it was a good idea at the time, having a personal trainer instead of a group class. But now I'm actually here I'm not sure if I have all my brain cells together."
"You seem well put together to me." Amanda caught the innuendo behind the sentence and silently told her brain to behave. He grinned. "Don't worry too much about it, Amanda. I'll go easy on you and I'm not that scary."
"How did...?" Then Amanda realized what he had said. Her heart dropped. "You're my personal trainer?"
He held out a hand.
"Grayson Allen, ma'am, at your service."
Amanda took his hand and shook it. His palm was nice and warm and his fingers were long and soft, gently brushing over her hand. Her skin still tingled after he withdrew. Amanda put her hands to her face as she felt the blush starting.
"Oh, God, how did you know?"
"I'm the only personal trainer at this gym with a class in the next few minutes. And with you saying you signed up for it that left one logical conclusion."
Amanda wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole. It was just her luck that the best-looking man she had met in a long time and seemed to actually be interested in her was her personal trainer.
"I can't believe I embarrassed myself like that."
Grayson chuckled. It was a warm, deep laugh. And it went straight through Amanda's body. She wasn't sure she could take any more.
"Don't worry about it. I'm not."
She felt hands on hers gently tugging them down so she was looking up at him. He looked at her with an expression that soothed her immediately. He wasn't judging her. He gave her a gentle smile.
"There's nothing to be scared of. I'm not going to make you work hard in your first session. It's just an introductory to see where you are and what we can work on. If there's anything you're uncomfortable with you just tell me. Okay?"
Amanda couldn't see anything wrong with that. Everything he said had put her at ease. It hadn't eased the tingling in her body at the touching of his hands or the sound of his voice but she felt a little better. He seemed to have a way of calming people.
She gave him a small smile and nodded.
"Okay."
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