Page 11 of Just Right (The Beasts of Blackmoor #3)
Between the water doing what it was supposed to, cooling me down, and his hands squeezing me just enough to temper the raging need inside of me, I don’t feel anywhere as sick as I did moments ago.
Is that what makes me so reckless?
Probably.
Meeting his eyes, hoping he can see the truth in my invitation, I tell him: “It would be better if you joined me.”
Rowan’s big body stills. “Don’t tempt me, Goldie.”
“Why not?” I ask boldly.
“Because I’m not sweet like Finn. And I’m not as brash and bold as Colt. I say what I mean and mean what I say. And believe me… if I get in the tub with you…” To my disappointment, he lets go of my tits, pulling his hands out of the water.
Then, to my surprise, he cups my jaw in his massive paw instead. His thumb brushes my lower lip as a renewed wave of fever has me so hot, I’m shocked that the cold water isn’t starting to boil around me.
I wait for him to finish his… promise? Threat? Whatever it is, I hold my breath and close my eyes as I lean into his caress.
His hand shakes. Is that a shudder? It felt like the big man shuddered…
One last gentle stroke before he abruptly pulls away completely.
His expression is flat, though his eyes are blazing with unhidden desire as he tells me, “If I get in that tub with you, you won’t leave it without my bite on your pretty, pretty skin.”
Finn might have always changed the subject when I asked him about his mate, but I’ve been curious enough about the topic that there are some things he shared with me.
Like how most—if not all—shifters wait for their fated mate as long as it takes.
When they do find them, they want the entire world—legendary or not because, surprise, shifters exist outside of Blackmoor which is enough mindfuck in and of itself—to know.
How do they do that? With a bite.
Really, it’s more the scar that counts. A visible teeth mark left behind when a shifter sinks their fangs into their mate during sex, any other shifter that sees the mark on their mate’s skin will know that they’re taken by another of their kind.
And Rowan wants to bite me ?
I’ll admit, that revelation has me staying quiet during the rest of my impromptu bath. Flirting with Rowan developed a sharp edge, only I was the one at risk of being cut.
Plus, you know, rejection hurts. And whether or not that was what he meant to do, he rejected my blatant come-on so thoroughly, I’m still smarting from it even after he ducks into the house, returning with a flannel shirt to wrap me up in rather than a towel.
“Is this yours?” I’d asked as he dressed me, like I was a little girl unable to do it herself.
Rubbing my back briskly, then reaching around me so that he could do up a couple of buttons in case I, God forbid, flash him after he just had a front-row seat to staring at my tits during my bath. Once I’m covered, he shakes his head. “No. I took this from Finn’s room.”
Finn .
Once Rowan made his excuses, guiding me back toward the cabin before disappearing into the tree, it all became so clear to me.
Why Rowan is holding himself back, and why he was so insistent that he break up that moment between Colt and I.
If he hadn’t interfered, odds are I’d be sleeping in Colt’s supersoft bed tonight instead of stealing Finn’s.
It’s almost like he wants me to go to Finn, and when I let myself inside and find a very familiar bear sprawled out in front of the fireplace, I can’t deny that this seems like the perfect opportunity to test that theory.
If it amazes me that I can tell Colt and Finn apart so soon, it’s even more astonishing how I can look at a grizzly bear and know which of the Brown brothers it could be.
Well, no. I still haven’t seen Rowan’s bear, but between the twins, I can even pick differences out between their even more near-identical bears.
That’s Finn lying on the floor, flames reflecting in his dark eyes as I approach him.
Crouching down, I rub my fingers along his furry flank. “Hey. Can you shift to your skin? I’d like to talk to you.”
I don’t know all of the etiquette when it comes to shifters. Whether it’s rude to ask him to shift or not, but this is Finn. All I have to do is say the word and he’s willing to give me whatever I need.
Whatever I need …
Did I remember that shifters come back in their skin and nothing else?
I could act like I didn’t, but that would be a lie.
My first experience with one of the bears was when Finn found me in his bed, shifted to his skin, and gave me an eyeful of his cock.
I’ve seen fleeting glimpses of his gloriously naked body a few times since he doesn’t seem to have a problem with nudity, or showing off his form when he goes from bear to man.
And if I’m only just now beginning to think that was another way he tried to entice me into choosing him…
Pulling his bear-shaped body onto all fours, he pauses, then shifts . Next thing I know, he’s standing on his feet, completely nude, looking down at me with a concerned expression.
That’s not all I notice about him, either. His hungry gaze takes me in, his body coiled tight, his cock already full erect as though some part of him—and not a tiny part based on his size—was expecting me to go to him in my state.
Almost as if he could sense the fever on me the same way his brothers could…
I don’t even give him the chance to say a word before I’m blurting out, “Am I your mate?”