Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
“Oh fates.” I can barely hold back now. “You tell me, baby. It’s usually at the nape, but I can bite your thigh or somewhere that won’t show. Fuck, Miranda, I can’t hold back.”
“Bite me!” She arches up, throwing those big, wondrous tits in my face.
My jaws snap and I’ve claimed her before I even have time to pull back. My teeth are deep into the meat of her shoulder, right in the middle of her pretty tattoo.
She screams, but I swear to fates, she also orgasms.
I come, too. Hard.
I’ve already come a half dozen times in the past twelve hours, but there seems to be no end to the essence that flows out of me now. I fill her, forcing my jaws to release and licking away the blood as I still pump into her.
She wraps her arms around me, crying a little. Laughing a little.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, babe. Tell me you’re okay.”
“I’m okay. It hurts, but it’s not that deep. I’ll be okay.”
“I’ll let you mark me any way you want,” I swear, wanting to offer something back.
She gives a watery laugh. “Yeah? Would you tattoo my name on your pec?”
“Whatever you want,” I promise.
“I’m just kidding,” she says softly. “All I want is you.”
“You got me, baby. I’m here.”
I keep licking her wound because the serum in my mouth should help it heal faster. I hope to fate it heals soon because I’m going to feel like shit every day it hurts her.
“Caleb?” Her voice is soft and tentative.
“Yeah, babe?”
“I will always honor the memory of your wife and child by your side. I don’t want you to ever feel like it’s not okay to talk about her or celebrate what you had.”
My eyes burn and I drop my head into the crook of her neck. This woman is too much. Too good. She doesn’t make me choose between past and present. “Miranda,” I choke. “You are my salvation—you know that? You brought me back to life.”
“You gave me me,” she answers.
“What does that mean?”
“I mean, you helped me feel okay about who I am. About my body. My brains. I don’t have to prove anything to you. You celebrate me just as I am.”
“That’s because you’re already perfect,” I tell her.
Her lips find my neck and she plants soft kisses there. “I love you, Caleb.”
“I love you, too, babe.”
Epilogue
Miranda
“Bear! Get back here!” I race up the mountain trail, rounding a boulder just in time to see the fringe of my dog’s tail disappear between two trees.
He took off, barking. I hightail it after him, shivering at a little flashback of my kidnapping earlier this year. The woods are safe now
A shadow falls across me. “What did I tell you about hiking alone in these woods?”
I jerk around, leaping out of my skin until my eyes hit Caleb, stepping out from behind a tree.
“Ohmygod, Caleb, you scared the crap out of me.”
With a happy growl, he moves in, picking me straight up and kissing the hell out of me. My legs wrap tight around his hips, my breasts swelling to brush against his chest. His hard, bare chest. Mmmm…
We’re all tangled up with lips and tongue, Bear circling around us barking.
“Careful, pretty lady,” he growls. “Not safe out here on your own.”
“Why? Is there a big bad bear who might eat me?”
“Damn straight.” He squeezes my ass, then gives it a healthy slap.
“The mating call of the mountain were-bear,” I murmur.
“You know it.” I just moved up here permanently, and we’re still in our honeymoon phase. Caleb got WiFi and I got a research grant that will allow me to live and work up here on the mountain.
Turns out leaving my colleagues and stepping out of the rat race of UNM was the best decision I ever made. I’ve never been so happy in my life.
“Something came for you.” Caleb pulls a letter out of his back pocket.
I catch the name of the science publication I submitted to and snatch it out of his hand, ripping it open in record time.
I unfold it, skimming as fast as I can. “Yes!”
Caleb raises his brows in question.
“It’s a yes! They took my paper for publication and invited me to present at the annual conference! This is huge!”
“Congratulations!” Caleb picks me up and swings me around. “You did it. I knew you would. You are amazing!”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” I kiss his ear and temple, everywhere my lips reach.
He laughs. “What are you thanking me for?”
“Believing in me. Making me happy. This life.”
He squeezes me tighter, so tight my breath leaves my chest. “Fuck, I love you, babe.”
“I love you so much, Caleb.”
He eases me down, twining his fingers in mine and tugging me back to the cabin.
“Where are we going?” I laugh, even though I already know the answer.