Paige's Bossy Bear (A BBW Paranormal Romance) (A Blackwood Brothers' Book) (5 page)

“Y
ou do realize that the incident with the jackal has put Quinn’s protective instincts into overdrive. This shouldn’t have happened until you got pregnant. I’m surprised he’s even allowing you stay in your house, even with him in it.”

“
Deb.” She looked at her best friend with a frown. Where was the independent woman she’d so come to admire? Two months earlier, Quinn and his twin brothers, Ryan and Ryland, had discovered a jackal shifter sabotaging the brothers’ construction site. Backed into a corner, the shifter had threatened Paige’s life. She knew the thought of the shifter harming her had enraged her bear. She wouldn’t have minded kicking the jackal’s ass either. Not only had he scared the crap out of her when he’d held her hostage, the threat against her life had ramped up Quinn’s protective instincts to an almost smothering level.

She
had to make him realize he couldn’t protect her twenty-four hours a day

“I’m just saying.”
She gave a secret little smile that made Paige wonder.

Deb was an independent woman who seemed t
o have no problem doing what her husband and mate asked of her. Well, most of the time she had no problem. Paige had heard about some of the fights they’d experienced over their five years of marriage. She’d also heard firsthand about some of the make-up sex.

“Well, I’m just saying he’s a jackass.”

Quinn
was nervous as hell. He patted his pants pocket for the umpteenth time to make sure the ring was still there. It was. He looked around his house, making sure everything was in place. When he’d told the family he was proposing to Paige tonight, they had all jumped in to make the night prefect. His mother had cooked a meal that could be warmed up whenever they were done, umm, celebrating. She’d also brought enough food to last them more than a few days.

Deb and the twins
had locked themselves in the master bedroom to prepare ‘the setting.’ Knowing Ryland, he’d probably find a pair of fuzzy handcuffs on the nightstand and a whip hanging from the light fixture. Ryker…he wasn’t too sure what Ryker’s contribution to the night would be. Maybe it’d be an assortment of sex toys and real leather cuffs. He had a feeling his brother rode the edge of darkness in his sexual preferences.

He prayed Deb kept them
in check. Although, the way his sister sometimes looked at her husband, maybe that wasn’t the greatest plan either. He was expecting candlelight and rose petals, not the latest BDSM playthings.

Deb
had not only managed to leave work early, but she’d also spoken with her bosses to free up some of Paige’s time for the next few days. He knew his mate was going to be mad as hell over that. Feeling the restlessness of his bear, he knew he’d had very little choice. His need to possess Paige was reaching dangerous levels.

“Alright son, everything’s set.”
His father walked out of the kitchen with his mother right behind him. He put an arm around his mate and pulled her close. Quinn wondered if he and Paige would be that way after years of marriage. He didn’t see his desire for her waning anytime soon. Or his love.

“Thanks, Dad. Mom.”
He walked over and placed a kiss on his mother’s cheek.

She patted his face.
“Just make me some grandbabies.”

Quinn rolled his eyes and willed away the red he
could feel trying to flood his cheeks. He planned on planting his seed inside Paige, but not to give his mother a grandchild. He glanced his father’s way and knew the other man had figured out what he was thinking. There was nothing more primal than releasing yourself inside your mate.

Oh man, he was thinking of
his parents. And sex, almost at the same time. That was a cock deflator if ever there was one.

“Come on, let’s leave the boy alone. Ryland! Ryker! Deb! Get down here.”
His father’s voice roared just as it had night after night when they were teenagers. Quinn heard three sets of footsteps pounding down the stairs seconds before his siblings appeared.

Deb
was smiling and Ryland was frowning. Ryker wore his same stoic expression. “It’s all set, little brother.”

“Yeah, make us proud.”
Ryland slapped him on his arm as he passed by.

“Good luck.”
Ryker’s voice was low and sincere. He gave Quinn’s shoulder a squeeze of reassurance.

Damn,
was it going to be that tough to convince his mate to marry him?

He walked his family to
the door and stood there as they exited. His parents were the last to leave. “Don’t look so worried. She loves you.”

“I know, Mom. I just want her to know how much I love her.”
Good God, he was getting sappy. His bear sighed in contentment until the man replayed the memories of the night before. Then the animal reared up on its hind legs and roared. It wanted its mate. And it wanted her now.

Paige had managed to get away from work on time for the first time in a long time. Her bosses had also reassigned some of the work and it had freed up her schedule. She didn’t know who to thank for the reprieve but she would be forever grateful. If things went well tonight, she hoped she could convince Quinn to take a couple of days off. They could lock themselves inside his house and lose themselves in each other. She needed it. He needed it.

She
trembled at the thought of having the bear all to herself for a couple of days. And the giant step she was about to take—to move in with a man. She’d never even contemplated such a thing before. She’d been on her own forever and adjusting to someone else, a bossy someone else, was difficult to say the least. Was that why she was hesitating?

A
picture of herself dressed in a white gown flashed through her mind. Sweet heavens. She wanted to marry him. She was hesitating about moving in with him because he hadn’t asked
that
question.
Will you marry me?
The feminist in her scorned the idea. She was an independent woman. So why did the other two words—
I do
—matter so much? Was it because he would make a vow to love and protect her in front of others? As if that gave the words more power, more credence? He’d already vowed to be with her always. He’d told her he loved her. Shown her he wanted her in a thousand different ways. He’d taken her, mated her. She knew bears mated for life. She knew nothing could ever come between them. A little piece of paper wasn’t going to change that fact.

Crap
. No wonder men got so frustrated with women. They said one thing and meant something else entirely. Her breath came faster and her whole body shook. For a moment she thought she was going to faint.

Quinn heard
the sound of an engine and then Paige’s car as it pulled into the driveway. He was in the kitchen, setting out a tray of food—grapes, cheese, crackers, chocolate covered strawberries. Every romantic food he could think of. Not only had his mother left dinner tonight, she’d stocked the fridge. No doubt she remembered how ravenous a bear could get when the mating heat consumed them. He shook his head. Again with the picture of his parents. But wasn’t that what he wanted? The love and commitment—and sexual heat—of a mated pair?

To
know Paige was his and his alone. Forever.

Somehow
he was going to make Paige see that marrying him was what he wanted, truly wanted. And once he had that ring on her finger they would be bound together in both worlds, shifter and human. Once again, he fingered the ring in the front pocket of his jeans. His mother and sisters had assured him it was perfect, and that no, she would not want to pick out her own ring. Even Molly had seen it via Skype and approved. Strangely, the twins hadn’t given him much grief over it.

He frowned when the engine continued to idle.
Plunging the wine into the bucket of ice to chill, he turned on his heel. Something was wrong. His bear could feel it. By the time he reached the driveway, she’d turned off the engine but was still sitting behind the wheel, looking straight ahead. Quinn breathed her in, realized he simply liked looking at her. He liked looking at the reddish brown of her hair and the freckles that trailed along her nose. He knew for a fact they were elsewhere on her body.

He hurried over to the car. “Paige?”

She started at the sharp rap on her window.
Shit
. He hadn’t meant to scare her. Reaching out, he opened the door and squatted between it and the frame of the car. She looked shell-shocked. “Baby? What’s wrong?”

She turn
ed toward him. Anguish filled her beautiful dark green eyes. “Come inside, Paige.”

Taking one
of her small, delicate hands in his, he helped her from the car. He had the awful feeling she’d been about ready to put her car in reverse and drive away. Like hell. He led her to the front door he’d left standing wide open. Before she could go inside he picked her up and carried her over the threshold, practicing for their wedding day. He kicked the door shut behind him. Neither one of them was leaving until she’d agreed to marry him.

He sat her down g
ently, facing away from the room. The evening sun was setting, plunging the living area into darkness. The flameless candles he’d placed around the room now cast a soft glow. He wanted it to be a surprise for her. After. “Paige, baby, there’s something I need to—”

Before he could say another word, she launched herself at him. “Oh, Quinn. I love you so much.”

Quinn caught her to him, turning his face into her hair, inhaling the gut-wrenching fragrance that always lingered there. Her warmth seeped inside and made his blood rush faster. This was his mate. Fate had been kind to him, giving her to him earlier rather than later in life. His lips found hers. She welcomed his kiss, opening for his touch. Quinn sank into the kiss, giving her the full taste of his hunger.

He eased back, letting her go except to frame her face in both of his hands. “You are my life, Paige Matt
hews. I guess that should scare me half to death. I know it does you. But it doesn’t. You are the very air that I breathe.”

With one fluid
movement, he was on one knee in front of her, holding out a golden ring with a huge solitaire diamond that twinkled in the fading light. “Marry me, baby.”

“Quinn!” Paige’s hands flew to her mouth. A familiar panic circled, then disappeared forever, the dark, somber look in his eyes telling her, without words, that he would always be there for her. Be whatever she needed him to be.

“Is that yes,
baby?” He smiled at her and she could tell by the tightness of his mouth that he wasn’t at all certain of what her answer would be. It humbled her.

“Silly bear. Of course, it’s a yes.”

“Hot damn!” he roared, coming up and crushing her to him. His fingers tangled in her hair, holding her still for his bruising kiss. It was fierce, filled with hungry, anger even.

She pulled away. “I
’m so sorry, Quinn. I should have moved in with you days ago. Weeks ago. I was scared. You scare me.”

“What
?” His bear recoiled from that thought.

“Having someone to love, loving someone. It was all I ever wanted. But I’ve been on my own so long, when you were finally here…”
she trailed off, biting her lip in remorse.

“S
weetheart.” His bear breathed a sigh of relief. She loved him.

He pressed a gentle kiss to her li
ps. For a shifter, it was instinctive to immerse yourself in your mate, for the two to become one. Better, stronger. He could understand her hesitation, her fear of losing herself to him. He
was
a damn bossy bear. His lips cruised her face, placing kisses wherever he could. His arms were tight and firm around her. He wanted to wrap her in the cocoon of intimacy that wove its way around them whenever they were together and keep her there forever.

“I vow I will always put your needs
and your wants before my own, Paige. I and my bear will protect, defend, and most of all love you.”

Paige’s eyes filled with tears. “I know, baby. I know.”

Gold flittered through Quinn’s eyes, his bear pushing toward the surface. Paige liked that look. She liked it a lot. She knew he’d proposed to her because he understood it was something she needed. A reassurance that meant absolutely nothing compared to a shifter’s instinct to be with their mate.

When his head lowered this time,
the kiss was dark with urgency. Their hands fumbled with their clothing, until Quinn pushed her away and ordered, “Stand still, woman before I cum in my pants.” She only giggled at his command, then gasped when his claws came out and sliced through her bra and panties before pulling them away. As soon as the pieces of fabric drifted to the floor, he tossed her over his shoulder.

“Quinn, what are you doing?” She gripped the waist of his jeans
, the only piece of clothing left between them.

“I’m tossing my mate over my shoulder so I
can fuck the hell out of her.” He slapped her ass as he took the stairs to their bedroom two at a time.

Paige struggled to hold back the tears
of happiness. “Well, it’s about damn time.” That earned her another slap on the ass that made her pussy even wetter.