The harder he fucked her, the more she came until he climaxed again, filling her up with his come. The lay tangled in each other, breathing heavily, his arms around her chest.
Chapter 12
“We need to go soon,” he said, after some long moments had passed.
“The smell of that coffee is calling me.”
They climbed from the bed and put their clothes back on. Brock had already packed both of the backpacks and had prepared a small breakfast and a pot of coffee for them before they took to the road.
“I think the best way to get down the mountain is if you ride on my back while I’m in bear form.”
“Ride your back while you’re in bear form?”
“It’s going to take two days to get down the mountain otherwise. Considering we were just held up at gunpoint and robbed, I don’t think we’ve got that kind of time. We need to stop James Salvo. He can’t be allowed to take your possessions and your land.”
“It’s just a little weird to think about riding you as a bear. Don’t you think it’s strange?”
“As a matter of fact, I’ve never had anyone except my brothers and my cousins ride my back when we were young and horse playing around the backyard.”
“It seems like a very intimate thing to do,” Ginger said, biting her lip.
Brock understood her misgivings. But he was determined to apprehend the man who had shot him. More importantly, he wanted to put a stop to the evil man’s plan to take what rightfully belonged to his mate.
No one deserve to be robbed the way James Salvo was determined to rob Ginger. The fact that he was doing it to a girl as sweet and innocent and kind as Ginger made Brock’s blood boil.
“If you don’t mind, I don’t mind,” Ginger said, putting her hands on her hips with a determined expression in her eyes.
They finished packing up the rest of their things and left her father’s house as clean as they’d found it. Out in the front yard, Brock peeled off his clothes and stuffed them into one of the backpacks. He stood in the autumn chill, completely naked.
The expression on Ginger’s face was priceless when she looked him up and down. It had to make him chuckle, but he didn’t have time to think about it right now. They needed to get down the mountain as fast as possible and find justice for himself and for the woman he hoped to make his bride.
Brock shifted abruptly, bouncing to a stand on his four wide feet. Ginger gasped and put her hands to her mouth in shock. He turned to her and faced her, his breath puffing in the cold air. She reached out a gloved hand and ran it up his soft muzzle. He closed his eyes and groaned at her touch on his animal form.
He nodded his head up and down once and then knelt down. Ginger would have to carry the backpacks on her front and back during the trek while she clung to his fur to keep from slipping.
She used his back leg to boost herself up on to his back with the heavy load of the backpacks on her. She scrambled up and found her seating.
“Okay,” she said. “Let’s go.”
Brock roared into the air and trotted down through the yard of the cabin and onto the trail. Feeling Ginger holding onto his back on top of him, he slowly increased his speed. His bear’s mind felt the thrill of his mate clinging to his body as his muscles worked between her thighs. The peace and comfort he felt from having her near filled his bear with euphoria.
Determined to find justice for them both, Brock charged faster down the hill. Even in bear form, at top speed, the trek would be long and arduous. After several miles down the hill at a dead run, he felt Ginger slipping from his back. One of the backpacks went tumbling down the hill.
He came to a quick stop, dislodging her even more. Ginger slid from his back, falling several feet to the rocky ground. She screamed and continued her slide down a muddy passage. Brock jumped forward, shifting in midair to his human form, where he caught her before she slid further into a ravine.
“Are you all right?” Brock said, panting. He checked her body for signs of injury.
Ginger shivered from cold mud covering her entire body. He held her tight, as she cried softly.
“I’m okay,” she said. “Cold.”
“We’ll leave the backpacks here. We need to get you down the hill before you get hypothermia.”
Brock shifted again, barely enough room on the muddy trail to accommodate his massive form. Ginger stepped forward and cried out the moment she put pressure on her ankle. Brock pressed his belly to the ground to make his back lower for her to climb on. The mud coated his fur.
She whimpered as she grabbed his fur and climbed on his back. Slowly he rose and waited.
“I’m okay,” she said again.
I’ve got you, Brock thought.
He dug his claws into the mud and slowly pawed his way down and onto less slick ground. Ginger held tight to him, her cheek pressed against his neck, her thighs tight over his back.
Brock increased his speed once he made it to the meadow where they had camped the first night. Ginger seemed fine on his back, so he charged forward.
The rest of the trail was less arduous. He made good time, and by the time the sun had tilted toward late afternoon, he had made it to the bottom of the hill where the truck was parked.
He knelt down and Ginger slid from his back with a relieved whimper. He shifted and helped her into the car, having a spare set of keys in a hidden compartment under the bumper.
He turned on the car and pulled on a pair of pants he had in the backseat for just such occasions, and wrapped Ginger in a blanket.
He’d have to get her home, clean, and warm as soon as possible. He backed out of the parking stop and onto the main highway toward his house.
Ginger shivered in the seat beside him. He sped toward his house, passing cars and buses along the way as the sun sank in the bay.
He pulled onto his family’s road and bumped over the gravel until they made it to his cabin. As soon as he got there, he pulled Ginger out of the car and carried her to the house.
It was already warm inside. He brought her to the bathroom and started to help her out of her muddy clothes while he ran a warm bath.
She looked up at him and ran her hand over his naked muddy chest. “Aren’t you cold?” she asked.
“Shifters don’t get cold as quickly as humans.”
The big bathtub filled up and she dipped her toe into it. With a sigh, she sank into the water, favoring her ankle less than she had before.
She dipped her head under water and came out with a sigh. “I already feel so much better,” she said, washing her face. “Want to get in? There’s room.”
He smiled and slipped out of his pants. He climbed in across from her in the circular tub. He handed her a bottle of shampoo and washed his own hair.
“This is a nice tub,” she said, rubbing the shampoo in her hair. She rinsed it out and reached for the conditioner.
“I installed it with my cousin last spring. Bears like baths.”
“Your whole house is nice, from what I saw of it,” she said.
“My cousin’s family has a construction business. We all build our own houses.”
“You built this place?”
“With some help from the Montgomery clan.”
“That’s awesome. It’s cool that you have so many people in your life who are all so close. I don’t really have anyone like that.”
“You have me,” he said, drawing closer. He put his arm around her and brought her closer to him. She sighed softly as he kissed her wet lips.
“How do you feel?” he asked, running his hand up her inner thigh.
“Good,” she whispered.
His hand moved further along the inside of her thigh, coming to brush over her mound. She tingled in the water, encouraging him to continue with her tongue darting quickly into his mouth.
He pressed his fingers into her crevice, rubbing her swollen bud. His fingertip ducked into her channel, and she reached over to grasp his cock.
He ran his hand up an
d down her arm, her stroking palm exciting his desire and filling him with lust. He growled and pulled her closer, drawing her up on his lap.
She continued to stroke him while he pressed the pad of his thumb into her clit. He sucked her nipples, and her body began to twitch under his touch.
She moaned as he lifted her up to press against his cock. Brock growled and looked into her eyes. When she’d been hurt, it had killed him. All he’d thought about all the way down the mountain was her safety.
Now that she was back here at his home with him, already feeling well enough to come to him like this, he felt pride and desire swell hard in his chest.
He wanted her in every possible way. He gripped her hips and pulled her down on him. Her slick folds took him in, and her eyes blazed with excitement.
She bit her lips and gripped his shoulders. He leaned forward and took her nipple into his mouth, moving her up and down on his cock. Ginger let out soft panting moans, taking every thrust and pump from Brock as if he was filling her with bliss.
“Brock,” she moaned. “Oh, God.”
A light seemed to shine around her. She was gorgeously beautiful to him. Her wet red hair hung down her back and her freckled pale skin was washed clean and glistening in the bathroom light.
He cupped her cheek in his hand as she leaned her head back. He dipped his thumb into her mouth and she sucked it, grinding forward on his lap.
Her beautiful full breasts swayed in front of him, luscious and abundant. He ran a hand over her peaked nipple, and she moaned and sucked his thumb harder.
He moved her over his lap, drawing out his climax with each thrust of her hips. He hugged her to him, moving her on him, taking her body for his own.
She cried out, her body squeezing around his cock. He let himself lose it inside her, pumping himself hard into her soft body. He held her tight for several long moments, the contractions of his orgasm holding him in their grip.
Slowly, he let her go and slid from inside her, holding her close to him in the bathtub.
She leaned her head against his shoulder, running her fingertip over his chest.
“Let’s go get some rest, sweetheart,” he said, kissing her head.
Chapter 13
They went to rest in Brock’s big modern bed. Ginger found that not everything in his log home was rustic and old fashioned. Much of it was updated and modern. For a mountain man, Brock had a lot of computers and gadgets. He also ran a business online to book his wilderness treks.
When she got up in the morning, Brock had already sent someone to retrieve their backpacks from the trail, laundered her clothing, and had it ready for her to wear. She went downstairs to his big kitchen and sat at the window seat in the breakfast nook that looked out on a few water birds floating in a small pond.
Brock handed her a cup of coffee and a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon, and sat with his own beside her.
“Thank you,” she said, her stomach grumbling.
“How are you this morning?” he asked, inspecting her face.
“I’m good,” she said, smiling. “You’re place is beautiful. I love it here.”
“This will be your home. If you choose to stay here.”
“I hadn’t thought about it. Really. Very much.”
“Do you want to stay with me?”
Ginger’s heart tumbled. She was still in a kind of daze. It was so hard to believe that any of this was happening in the first place. Everything up on the mountain had been so surreal. Now that they were back, she was just so happy to be warm and safe that she didn’t know what was happening.
Her heart buzzed for Brock. He’d been a hero up on the mountain, and she knew she could depend on him in any situation. She also knew he would do whatever it took to bring down James Salvo and help her find justice for herself and her father.
He’d not only stolen from them, he’d shot Brock and left them for dead. The events of past few days, with her own grief over her father’s death and the struggles she’d been through, all made her mind very muddled.
Maybe she was going along with Brock because she was confused. When she checked her feelings, she didn’t think that was the case. She had every indication inside her heart that her feelings for Brock were genuine and not the byproduct of trauma.
Still, she knew that she was going through a lot, and the decision to live with someone wasn’t something to be taken lightly. Who knew what would happen in a few days once they’d gone to the police about Mr. Salvo?
She hadn’t answered Brock’s question.
The silence between them stretched on until Brock stood from the table and went to the coffee pot, filling both of their cups again and sitting back down.
“I called my cousin on the police force. He’s a state trooper and is organizing an arrest.” It seemed as if Brock was trying to change the subject. Ginger went along with it gratefully.
“When is it going to happen?” she asked him. She didn’t realize the confrontation would already be taking place.
“In just a few moments. The troopers are going to his office downtown.”
“Is he even there?”
“They don’t know yet.”
“Can we go?”
Brock looked her over. “Why would you want to do that?”
“I want to know why he did it,” Ginger said.
“I guess there would be no harm in going down there.”
They piled into the truck and drove downtown, where Brock pointed out his cousin, Shaw, and several other state troopers standing on the street by their SUVs and patrol cars.
Chapter 14
Brock jumped out of the car and went to talk to his cousin, Shaw Montgomery. Unlike Brock and his brothers, who had green eyes and dark hair, his cousins, Shaw and Zane, had blond hair and blue eyes. They all had the muscled build of the Montgomery clan.
Shaw wore a dark blue trooper’s uniform and stared down Brock with his sharp blue eyes. “We’re about to approach the suspect. You and the other witness will have to stay out of the area.”
“She wants to know why he did it,” Brock said.
“I’m sure it will come out in questioning or at the hearing.”
“We’ll watch from the street,” Brock said.
“That’s fine. Just stand out of harm’s way and don’t approach him. We’ll have to take formal statements from both of you, so stick around.”
Brock backed off, leaving his cousin to do his work. Shaw had always been like that--organized, direct, take charge. Brock could be that way, but he preferred to be to be out on his own in the wilderness. Now that he was clan leader, he had to be responsible for everyone’s safety and security, including Shaw’s. That meant Shaw had to look out for him too.
He got back in the car with Ginger and took her hand in his. He knew how hard this was for her. Later they would have to go to the police station to make sure they were able to find justice. Ginger was already shaken up. The loss of her father, the desperation she’d felt trying to find a way to survive. Now this.
How could he expect her to accept him as her mate on top of that? Ginger was a human. Jumping into a relationship with another person was foreign and strange for humans, even if it was the way of things with shifters.
He knew from the bottom of his heart that she would fulfill every need he had. Once he had come to terms with the fact that she’d arrived at this particular moment in time, he was ready to commit to her. That didn’t mean that she was ready to commit to him.
“Shaw said it would be fine if we watched from the other side of the street.”
“I’m kind of scared,” she said, looking up at him with trusting eyes.
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Yes,” she said, nodding her head.
He nodded in return and turned the key in the ignition. Brock drove out into the street and around the corner, parking in a lot. They got out onto the tourist street with cute little buildings painted in bright colors. Even in the foggy weathe
r with overcast skies, visitors filled the streets, wearing rain jackets and fleece.
Brock and Ginger stood hand in hand, the docks right behind them beyond the parking lots. The troopers pulled up across the street and parked quickly outside the tax office. They filed in the front door. Brock waited. Five minutes later the troopers came out of the building again with the tax secretary and the other partners. James wasn’t there.
Brock put his hands on his hips. His cousin shook his head and glanced across the street at Brock. Looking around and squinting into the foggy streets, Brock thought about what their next move should be if James wasn’t at the office.
He looked up at the ramp leading onto a cruise ship out on the docks. It was just across a street and two parking lots. James Salvo, the man who’d shot him, scurried up the ramp with his bags in his hands.
Brock growled and turned all the way around. “Stay here,” he said to Ginger, grasping her shoulder affectionately before he bolted forward. Bursting into a dead run, his shifter strength propelling him forward, Brock made it across the parking lot before he burst into his bear form. He charged, in a feral haze, across the second lot and up the ramp of the cruise ship.
People screamed, but Brock burst forward and grabbed James Salvo by the scruff of the suit jacket. He pulled him back across the deck. James screamed and beat at him with his bags. When Brock pulled him back to the ramp, the troopers came in and surrounded them both.
They took James into custody. Ginger came up behind him, holding a blanket. He roared as he shifted back. Ginger handed him the blanket, and he wrapped it around his waist.
As they brought James by, Ginger took a deep breath. “Why did you do it?” she shouted at him.
The troopers tried to take him but he struggled against them and stared at Ginger. “I knew there was gold on that land. I was going to sell the claim and take it all. Your dad’s been useless for years. He didn’t deserve it and neither did you.” James turned his sneer on Brock. “You were supposed to bleed out on that mountain, damn shifter.”