Page 13 of Bearing His Mark

“This is warmer than I expected,” he said as he waded in, fully expecting cold water and a massive shrinkage that would get his hormones and excitement under control.

“No such luck,”he said to his bear, who only grunted in return.

“It feels amazing.” Gina swam over to him. “Kind of like your kisses.”

“If you liked my kiss so much, why did you stop?” he asked teasingly.

“Would I be too bold if I said that I wanted an excuse to get naked?” Gina laughed.

“Not at all. I like bold. I like a woman who sees something she wants and goes for it.” He was so tired of the overly shy women who seemed to be attracted to him. Gina was a breath of fresh air with her no-fucks-given attitude when it came to what was socially acceptable.

“Good. Because one thing I hate is denying who I am and what I want because someone else may not have the balls to do what they actually desire, and they find the need to shame me because of it.”

“Hypocrites. You hate hypocrites,” he said, knowing what she meant.

“Exactly. They are the absolute worst.” He agreed. “So, tell me. What is it that you want? What is it you desire?” he asked.

Gina busted out laughing. “Sorry, sorry. It’s just the show that I’ve been watching lately on Netflix, the main character, who is the Devil, always asks people what their desire is. It left me wondering if I was living out some sort of sexy paranormal romance fantasy.”

She had no idea how close she was to the truth with that statement. He wouldn’t tell her about him just yet. It was far too soon, even if she showed a potential interest in paranormal romance. It gave Nick hope that she would accept him as her mate when the time came to clue her in on the truth.

“That’s funny, but seriously. What is it that you want to do right now?” he asked, pulling her into his arms. He bit back a moan when he felt the skin-on-skin contact he had been craving.

“I want more of those awesome kisses of yours.”

He loved that answer.

“I think I can do that,” he said before closing his lips over hers.

She tasted of strawberries and cream, and it drove him wild. His cock was painfully hard, and he desperately wanted to be inside her, but he held back; kissing her was better than scaring her away and getting nothing at all.

“Mmm,” she moaned into his mouth, her fingers winding around his shaft.

It was his turn to moan. He hadn’t anticipated her boldness, but damn if he didn’t love every second of it.

She pumped him up and down in her tiny hand, and it felt fucking amazing. He palmed her breasts. One by one, squeezing and massaging each. He tweaked her nipples, pinching them lightly between his fingers.

Fuck!

He wanted her. More than he wanted his next damn breath. His bear pressed against him to get the job done and claim their mate as their own, but he pushed back, refusing his beast’s demands. He would do this his way. For all he cared, his beast could take a flying leap off the edge of a cliff.

“Rude!”his bear said in his mind.

Nick chose to ignore him once again, deepening the kiss. His tongue searched out hers and caressed it. His hand slid down her stomach and slipped below the water, settling between her thighs. Quickly finding the small bundle of nerves, he circled it with his thumb until her body was shaking.

“Nick!” she cried out, and it was music to his ears.

ChapterTen

At first, Gina wasn’t sure how far she actually wanted to take it until she reached down and felt how hard Nick was for her … as in rock-fucking-hard. It had been far too long since she’d had a good dicking. While she wasn’t normally one to get naked on the first date, she was absolutely reconsidering her stance on her long-held tradition.

“Mmm. You are so fucking hard,” she groaned into his mouth.

“You say that like it’s a problem,” he said, nipping at her lips.

“Oh, it's definitely not a problem. It's just surprising.” It had been forever since she’d been with a man. Sleeping around had never been her thing, but there was something about Nick that had her wanting to throw caution to the wind. Gina couldn't explain it. Nor did she want to try.

She was tired of being cautious, tired of being the overthinker. Tired of being the good girl. For once, she wanted to be the outgoing person she had always dreamed of being. It wasn't a lie when she’d said she hated people who were too afraid to go for what they'd always wanted.