Baby Protector Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Baby Paranormal Romance (Who's the Daddy? Book 4) by Harmony Raines Page A

him, and he could depend on her. It was important for him to know that.
    Standing on tiptoe, she touched her lips to his, the warmth spreading through her as he deepened the kiss. Joel placed his hand on the small of her back, setting off more tremors in her body. Her legs were weak, and he pulled her against him, supporting her weight, while his tongue searched for entry into her hot mouth.
    She let him in, in the same way she was willing to let him into the rest of her life. Joel was a man she could depend on, a man who would stand by her side and always be true, just like he said he would. Given their current predicament, that meant more to her than she could possibly imagine. He had never questioned her assertion that she had never paid anyone to kill Angela. Never asked how the guy knew about her floral sofa, or even if she had a floral sofa. She’d had her answer ready: you could see it through her front window, which looked straight into her sitting room. But she liked he had never asked.
    “Is this what mates do?” she asked, coming up for air.
    “They do a lot more than that,” he said, his voice ragged.
    “Want to show me?” she asked.
    “It might be more than you ever bargained on,” he said seriously.
    “So it’s more than sex?” she asked, stroking his chest.
    “Much more.” He took her hand and turned the palm towards him and kissed it, his tongue swirling around and around until the ache in her core was agony.
    “Joel.” She moved and kissed him again, her lips urgent, she wanted him, wanted to ground herself with him inside her, to know that everything would be OK, that they would get through this, together, despite being strangers.
    He groaned and lifted her, his body nestled between her thighs, and he rested her back against the nearest tree, a big old oak that had stood here for decades, had watched the seasons come and go and the troubles of men pass it by.
    Joel placed his hand against her mound, his fingers pinching her clit, through her jeans. She gasped, a small explosion going off in her head as tremors rocked her body. This was the release she craved, ever since she had met Joel, she had wanted to know what was underneath his shirt, what made him tick. It didn’t matter that they were still in the same clothes they had driven for hours in, because she wasn’t planning on keeping them on for too much longer.
    Ripping at his shirt, trying to undo the buttons rather than just tearing them off, she unveiled his chest, broad, smooth and ripe for kissing. Lowering her head, she ran her tongue over his skin, tasting him, circling his nipple, and hearing the hiss of breath through his lips.
    “Damn it, Chrissie, if you keep that up, I won’t be able to stop.”
    “Then don’t stop.” She grazed the hard bud with her teeth, wishing he would touch her breasts, although the hand teasing her clit was doing an amazing job of bringing her so close to her orgasm, it was agony not to be able to reach out and grab it and wallow in it.
    “This isn’t right,” he said, removing his hand and putting a finger under her chin and tilting her head up so she had to look into his eyes.
    “It is right, you want me.” She placed her hand on his cock, and squeezed with enough force to make him groan again. “I know you do.”
    “But there’s something I have to show you, something I have to tell you.” His voice was strained as he tried to keep himself together, but she didn’t want him to keep himself together: she wanted him to lose control.
    “Does what you have to tell me have anything to do with the case? With Sam?” she asked, feeling him harden until it must be incredibly painful, when he was confined in tight jeans. She decided to help him with that and unzipped the zipper. One hand slid inside, and she grasped his cock, stroking it, her hand pumping up and down until he leaned forward, his head resting against the tree. Now was the time to break his resolve: she didn’t care what he