Page 34 of Befriending the Bear (Forestville Silver Foxes #6)

FRASER

T he world stopped for a breath.

Calloway’s eyes were wide and steady, full of fear and certainty all at once. Like the words had surprised even him by tumbling out, but he had no intention of taking them back.

“I love you.”

He’d said it softly. No grand declaration, no sweeping music. Just a truth spoken aloud in a kitchen that smelled faintly of bergamot and frost, while snow fell quietly outside.

A truth I hadn’t dared hope for this soon, even though I’d been feeling it for weeks, even though I’d been carrying it around like a secret talisman in my chest. I’d been waiting for the right moment, the right time, knowing Calloway had to set the pace…and now that time had come.

I reached up to cradle his face in both hands, brushing the pad of my thumb across his cheekbone, the faintest stubble catching against my skin. “I love you too.”

His breath left him in a soft, almost disbelieving rush. And then he smiled—slow, blooming, like sunlight filtering through trees after a long stretch of shade. “You do?”

“Sweetheart, I’ve been falling since the moment you talked to me in that cracked voice in the parking lot, shaking like a leaf but still inviting me to book club.

” I smiled. “I think I fell a little more every time you let me in, every time you knocked down a wall just enough for me to see who was behind it.”

He let out a soft noise, half-laugh, half-sob, and pulled me into him again. I went willingly, resting my forehead against his.

“I kept t-telling myself not to say it. That it was too s-soon. That I was still g-grieving, s-still healing.”

“You are. And I’m still figuring out who I am without the fire season. But how we feel, that’s real. We don’t have to explain it on anyone else’s timeline.”

“I n-never thought I’d f-find love again.”

“I felt the same way. I thought I’d lost my chance.”

He looked up at me with those beautiful brown eyes, filled with nothing but honesty. “You haven’t l-lost anything. You’ve f-found something. Me. Us.”

His words were quiet but sure, each one landing like a heartbeat.

I cupped the back of his neck, threading my fingers into his hair.

“I know. And I won’t take it for granted, Calloway.

I know what it costs to open up like this, to risk it.

But I swear to you, I’m not going anywhere. Not unless you ask me to.”

His lips quirked in a ghost of a smile. “You s-s-say that now. Wait till I start r-refusing to share my reading chair.”

I grinned. “It’s not refusal if I fit on your lap.”

That startled a laugh out of him, and god, it was worth everything just to hear it. He was so goddamn beautiful when he laughed like that, and so I had to kiss him. The kiss started soft and sweet, a gentle press of lips as we smiled against each other.

His lips were soft but demanding, parting easily under mine as I licked into his mouth. The kiss deepened, our tongues sliding together in a slow, sensual dance that made my blood sing. I licked into his mouth, sucked on his tongue, feasted on his mouth.

His hands fisted in my shirt, and my hands slid down his back, pulling him closer until we were pressed together from chest to hip. He made a small, needy sound in the back of his throat, and I swallowed it greedily, wanting to draw more of those noises from him. Wanting to make him come undone.

We kissed until we were both breathless, until the heat between us was a palpable thing.

I nipped at Calloway’s bottom lip, and he gasped, hips jerking against mine.

I could feel him hardening through his jeans, and it sent a thrill through me, knowing I could affect him like this, that he wanted me as much as I wanted him.

He gasped into the kiss, and I used the moment to trail my lips down the column of his throat, finding the sensitive spot just below his ear that made him shudder against me.

We stumbled backward until his back hit the kitchen counter.

I broke the kiss long enough to start working on the buttons of his shirt, revealing inches of smooth, golden skin.

He watched me through half-lidded eyes, lips kiss-swollen and chest heaving.

“Fraser,” he breathed, and the raw need in his voice sent heat lancing through me. I yanked his shirt down his arms, desperate to feel his skin against mine. He helped me drop it on the floor and then his hands were tugging at my clothes too, fumbling with my buttons in his haste.

I stripped off my shirt, and then we were chest to chest, skin to skin, and it was electric.

His hands roamed over my back, my shoulders, fingers digging in as I kissed a path down his neck, across his collarbone.

I wanted to map every inch of him with my hands, my mouth.

Calloway let out a shaky moan as I found a sensitive spot just above his heart and lingered there, sucking a mark into his skin.

“F-fraser…” I leaned back, meeting his eyes. “W-will you m-make love to m-me?”

My breath caught at his request, desire flaring hot and bright in my veins. “Yes,” I said hoarsely. “God, yes. If you’re sure.”

“I w-want you. All of you.”

Those words hit me like a freight train, stealing my breath. I cupped his face, kissing him tenderly. “I’ll take care of you, sweetheart. I promise.”

I kissed him again, deep and claiming, pouring everything I felt into it. He melted into the kiss, yielding control to me so sweetly it made my heart ache.

When I let go and held out my hand to him, he took it without hesitation.

We slowly made our way to the bedroom, kissing every so many steps, as if we couldn’t bear to be parted for that long.

I knew I couldn’t. I needed to taste him again and again, drink him in, fill my mouth with him until nothing else existed.

In the hallway, I pressed him against the wall as our mouths met again.

My hands found his slacks, and I worked them open without missing a beat.

He stepped out of them, his fingers fumbling with the buttons on my jeans.

No easy feat to open them, since my cock was straining the denim, putting a lot of pressure on the fly, but he finally managed.

I kicked them down myself, almost tripping when my knee unexpectedly gave out. If Calloway hadn’t steadied me, I would’ve fallen, but he caught me just in time. I leaned on him as we stumbled into the bedroom, where I dropped backward onto the bed, giving my knee the much-needed rest.

Calloway crumpled his nose, pointing at my socks. “Those n-need to come off. N-n-not sexy.”

I snickered as I obliged, taking off my thick wool socks. “Can’t help but notice you’re still wearing yours.”

He put his foot on the bed beside me. “M-my socks are p-p-pretty. They have p-poetry.”

Ah, he was right. Lines of poetry adorned the striped socks. “Not to be cheesy, but the only poetry I’m interested in right now is the one your body can make with mine.”

He snorted out a laugh. “Very ch-cheesy.”

I grinned up at him. “You love it.”

“I l-love you,” he corrected, eyes twinkling as he took them off anyway. After a brief hesitation, he stripped down his underwear as well.

I wanted to do the same, but when I put weight on my ankles to push my hips up, my knee protested.

“L-let me,” Calloway said, then helped me drag my boxer briefs down my legs.

Then he was straddling my lap, the weight and heat of him against me driving all thoughts of poetry from my mind.

I gripped his hips, pulling him flush against me as our mouths crashed together once more.

We kissed hungrily, hands roaming, exploring, mapping out the planes and angles of each other’s bodies.

“Tell me what you want,” I whispered against his lips. “How do you want me?”

I was almost certain he wanted me to top, but I wasn’t assuming anything. Our first time engaging in anal had to be perfect, for him as much as for me.

He shivered, pressing his forehead to mine. “I want you inside me. Want to feel you stretching me open, filling me up.”

The words sent a jolt of pure need through me, and I had to take a steadying breath. “I’d love that, sweetheart.”

I slowly rolled us over so we were side by side. As much as I wanted to be on top of him right now, pressing him into the mattress, I doubted my knee could take my weight, and I wasn’t taking any chances. “Do you have condoms?”

He bit his lip. “D-do we need them?”

My heart skipped a beat. I’d never gone bare, but suddenly it was all I could think about. “I haven’t had sex in…” God, I wasn’t even sure. “…over two years, and I’ve tested negative since.”

“I haven’t…s-since Marcus.”

“So you’d be good with going bare?”

A flash of doubt filled his eyes. “W-we’re excl-lusive, right?”

I kissed him softly. “I don’t want anyone else but you… This is the forever kind of love, sweetheart.”

The smile that bloomed on his face took my breath away. “Then yes, I w-want to go b-b-bare.”

I smiled back, joy and desire mingling in my chest. “Lube?”

He reached over to the nightstand, rummaging in the drawer before pressing a small bottle into my hand.

I uncapped it and slicked my fingers, taking a moment to look at him spread out before me.

His skin glowed in the low light, his dark hair a tousled mess against the pillow.

His chest rose and fell rapidly, his cock hard and leaking against his stomach.

He was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

“You take my breath away,” I murmured, trailing my clean hand down his chest.

He shivered under my touch. “S-so do you.”

I kissed him again as he lifted his leg and put his foot on my thigh to give me access. I reached between his legs, circling his entrance with a slick finger. “Tell me if anything doesn’t feel good, okay? We’ll go as slow as you need.”

He nodded, bottom lip caught between his teeth. “I t-trust you.”