When she and Juliet entered the party in the dining room, she grabbed a drink and started to dance to the music.
“This party needs men!” Quinn shouted over the music, trying to quell her anxiety with her usual enthusiasm.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a burly, bearded man holding a silver keg on his shoulder. He passed through the open door and headed to the bar. Quinn stopped still as a statue, grabbed Juliet’s arm, and squeezed.
“That’s him,” Quinn whispered.
Quinn and Drew’s eyes locked before he set his keg down. He glanced back at her as he started to set it up.
“Aren’t you going to say hello?” Juliet asked.
Quinn felt rooted in place.
“He’s busy,” she whispered.
“Go talk to him,” Juliet said, pushing her toward the bear shifter across the room.
Quinn took several baby steps forward, stopped, took a deep breath, and strode toward him like the confident girl she knew herself to be. Quinn tossed her head and greeted him with a hand on her hip.
“Hi,” she said over Drew as he knelt beside the keg.
He looked up at her, his eyes full of unreadable emotion. Quinn was instantly struck with the most overpowering sensation. The man before her stood, rising to his full height. He towered over her curvy frame by almost a foot. He could have carried a keg on each of his broad shoulders. Quinn gulped, trying to keep her cool.
“Quinn,” he breathed.
She felt flushed and faint. Quinn put her hand to her heart to try to stop it from beating so fast. Blinking several times, she tried to push away the emotions filling her body and mind.
“Drew,” she whispered back, her voice unrecognizable.
He reached out to her and took her sweaty hand in his, looking at her with those intense brown eyes. She wanted to drown in them forever. He raised her hand to his lips, softly kissing the backs of her knuckles. His beard brushed her fingertips, electric sensations shot all through every nerve ending. Quinn shuddered.
“Want to get out of here?” Drew asked.
“Yes,” she breathed.
He held on to her hand and led her out of the dining room, past Juliet and her new boyfriend Levi. Drew didn’t stop or speak until they were outside in the cold mountain air. The night sky above was so full of stars, Quinn felt swept up in it. He led her to his SUV and opened the passenger side door for her to climb inside. She had no idea what was going on, and she didn’t care.
Quinn sat down, and Drew closed the door behind her. She smelled the distinct scent of hops as she buckled her seatbelt and waited for him to come around the other side of the car. When he got inside, Quinn had gathered her senses enough to speak again.
“You own Fate Mountain Brewery?” she asked. “I’ve heard good things.”
“Yes. Opened it two years ago with my shifter veterans benefits.”
“I’ve had your Fate Mountain Lager in Portland. Good stuff.”
“Want to see the brewery?”
“I’d love that,” she said, trying to keep her cool.
The sensations going through Quinn’s body were anything but cool. She was ablaze with all kinds of feelings she’d never had before. Intense, overwhelming, insane feelings that were definitely not first date emotions. She had to get a grip. If only she wanted to. In that moment, all Quinn really wanted was to hold on and enjoy the ride.
She’d always been a girl who liked new experiences. Being outgoing and the life of the party most of the time, Quinn had always taken life by the horns. It was kind of a life motto for her. With Drew giving her all these crazy feelings, it was definitely a ‘life by the horns’ kind of moment.
Drew pulled up in front of the brewery. It was busy this time of night. She could hear the music coming out the front door when she got out of the car. Drew met her on her side of the vehicle and took her hand in his, leading her to the front door. He pushed it open and held it for her as she walked inside.
Most men didn’t act so intimately or so affectionately with a woman they’d just met. Quinn was used to the standard human hook-up culture that so many of the people her age were locked into. She’d never really longed for a long term thing, like a lot of girls. But Drew was definitely changing her mind as his big, warm hand held hers.
They walked up to the bar, and the bartender asked Drew what he wanted.
“Bring us two sample trays,” Drew said.
A few moments later, the bartender sat two trays full of small chilled glasses of different beers in front of Drew and Quinn. Drew lifted the first light colored beer from the tray and brought it to his lips. He took a sip and then wiped the foam from his beard as he set the glass back on the tray.
“That one is Fate Mountain Lager,” he said.
Quinn took a sample of hers and felt the warm flood of intoxication start to tingle inside her after only a sip. This stuff was known for its high alcohol content, but she really didn’t care right now. It all tasted and smelled so good. She just wanted to dive in head first.
“So good,” she said, setting her glass back down.
They drank the rest of the samples, tasting each one in turn. When they’d finished the samples, Quinn was feeling more relaxed and smiled at Drew’s handsome face.
“What made you want to open a brewery?” she asked.
They hadn’t texted each other all that much about their lives since they’d been matched the day before. She wanted to know everything about him right now. She wanted to see, touch, taste, and feel everything about him too.
“I’ve always been interested in fermentation, especially with beer. The whole process fascinates me. Then, of course, there’s the end product,” he said, taking a sip from the pint of Fate Mountain Lager the bartender had set in front of him. Quinn took a sip of her own beer, feeling more lightheaded with each taste. “What is it that you do again?”
“I’m a PR executive in Portland. I work with a lot of local celebrities and corporations.”
“Do you like it?”
“I love it. I get to meet a lot of new people. Do new things. I enjoy the experience.”
“I can see why we were matched,” he said in a husky voice. “I like to experience things too. Maybe not in the same way.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, intrigued. Everything Drew said fascinated her right now.
“I’m sensitive to sensation, to feelings, beauty, art, experiences, joy…pleasure.”
“Oh…”
The word pleasure vibrated through her like the tone from a tuning fork. It was like their resonances were coming into coherence. Quinn gasped at the immensity of it, her nipples pricking.
“Want to dance?” Drew asked.
A slow song had come on the jukebox and a few other couples were dancing in an open area on the floor. She wanted to feel his arms around her more than anything else in the world at that moment.
“I’d love to,” she said.
He took her hand and led her out onto the dance floor. Instead of holding her hand and wrapping one arm around her back, he wrapped both arms around her and pulled her snuggly against his chest. Quinn sighed and wrapped both her arms around his neck, surrendering to his animal magnetism. She could feel the hard planes of his chest and the pounding of his heart under her cheek.
Drew held her close, his big hands cupping the small of her back, just barely touching the top of her behind. They swayed back and forth to the music, taking in each other’s scent and the sensation of the other’s touch. It felt so freaking good, Quinn was a puddle of gooey liquid on the inside. She could feel herself becoming more and more aroused with each passing second.
Her entire body was tight and electric, begging to be touched. Drew growled into her ear, wrapping his arms around her more tightly. She could hear him sniff her scent as he ducked his face into her neck. Her lips parted and she pressed her eyes closed. Quinn’s breasts were heavy and tight as she pressed them against Drew’s chest. She could feel him hard
en against her stomach, and the sensation made her wet with need.
Drew loosened his grip as the song ended, looking down into her eyes. They were dark and hooded with desire. The clear light in the depths of his irises told her he was as aroused as she was. They had to do something about it soon or she was going to lose her mind.
“Do you live around here?” she whispered into his ear.
“I have a house behind the brewery.”
“Let’s go.”
Drew growled and led her out the back of the brewery and across a parking lot to the next street over, where they walked up the stairs of a cute little house with a lush front yard. She giggled as he held her against his side and he pushed the key into the lock. Inside, it smelled of wood smoke and man, an extremely heady combination that made Quinn even more excited than before. They hadn’t even kissed yet and Quinn was ready to strip out of her clothes and climb him like a tree.
He set his keys down on the entrance table and led her by the hand into the living room. There was a fireplace along one wall. Drew knelt in front of it while Quinn sat down on one of the couches. The room was decorated with a variety of paintings and photographs showing everything from natural wonders to city skylines around the world. Drew had eclectic, interesting taste that immediately made Quinn feel right at home.
When he had a nice fire going, he went into the kitchen and came back a moment later with two dark bottles of beer. He handed one to Quinn and sat down beside her. They looked into each other’s eyes for a brief moment and Quinn felt herself flush. She was done with the seduction; she wanted to taste his lips. Drew swigged his beer, looking intently at Quinn as if he was trying to figure her out.
“These feelings are insane,” he said.
“You’re feeling it too?”
“Big time.”
Quinn took a long swig of beer. She was beginning to get really tipsy, but she knew that the effects of the beer weren’t behind the electric sensations coursing through her body. She set her bottle down on the coffee table and ran her hand over her form-fitting teal dress. The fabric showed off her generous curves and accentuated her chocolate skin. She tossed her natural ringlet curls as she cocked her head to the side.
“What do you think we should do about it?” she asked.
“Levi says we should take things slowly with humans.”
“Slowly? Why? All I want to do is chase this feeling down until I’ve got a hold of it with both hands.”
“I feel exactly the same way,” he said, setting his own beer on the coffee table.
“So we agree…” she said, but she was cut off by Drew’s lips crushing against hers.
He wrapped her up in his embrace and pulled her so close she could feel his body hard against her. Their tongues met in a hungry dance, twisting lustily as they moaned with pleasure. Quinn pressed her palm to Drew’s cheek, feeling his beard under her hand. She had to be closer to him. She had to feel every nuance of his body and his soul.
She twisted around on the couch and pulled her tight dress up around her thighs, climbing onto Drew’s lap. He growled and pulled her to him, pressing his stiff erection between her legs. She gasped, kissing him deeply, passionately. Drew pinched the zipper on the back of her dress and pulled it down. The sound filled the room and they stopped to look at each other as the zipper came to the small of her back.
He ran his hands under the fabric, claiming her mouth with a deep kiss. He gripped her behind and squeezed as he pushed his erection against her damp panties. Their tongues rubbed against each other, the friction driving her insane. The wet heat of it made her need so much more. She had to feel him deeper. She needed him inside her.
Drew gripped her dress and pulled it down over her shoulders. He looked intently at her round breasts, pushed up by her lacy pink bra. He growled and tilted his head, cupping her breast gently before he squeezed. Drew plunged his tongue inside her mouth and kneaded her breast hungrily.
Quinn was in a daze as he picked her up. Her legs wrapped around his waist, he carried her to the back of the house and through his bedroom door. He deposited her onto the bed and immediately pulled her dress down over her hips, throwing it across the room. Her heels fell off her feet as she crawled backward on the bed.
Still in her bra and panties, she blinked up at him as he unbuttoned his flannel shirt and pulled down his dark jeans. Quinn reached out to cup his cheek as he climbed over her in his boxer briefs. He kissed her neck and shoulders, unclasping her bra. With her full breasts free, Drew lapped his tongue over her pointed dark nipple, sending a jolt of pleasure through her core.
Quinn put her hands up behind her head, surrendering to the sensation of his touch. He kissed down her belly, slipping his fingers under the sides of her panties. With a swift motion, he pulled them down and off her feet.
He had her totally naked, wet and exposed, quivering to be filled. But he didn’t slip inside her. He ran his tongue along the pink slit between her legs, focusing on the tight bud of pleasure there.
Quinn groaned, feeling the flood of release so close to the surface. She tilted her head and arched her back, her legs shaking as Drew took her with his mouth.
He sucked her bud and she came, groaning with deep release. It was like the world exploded and suddenly everything made sense. All her life, that thing she’d felt was missing, all along, it had been Drew. And here he was now, climbing toward her.
She leaned up and kissed him hard, tasting the tang of her body on his mouth. She reached down to him and guided him to her slick core.
They looked into each other’s eyes. His dark irises were full of passionate fire. It was love in those intense eyes. She knew it because she felt it too. She loved him. Adored him. Never wanted to let him go.
In that moment, Quinn wanted everything that Drew was. She wanted to know him, be with him, be claimed by him forever.
He pushed against her, sliding inside, deep to the base, with one slick thrust. She quivered and moaned, so full with him. She worshiped him with every fiber of her being.
“Be my woman, Quinn,” he growled, pulling back to thrust again.
Her body clenched and throbbed with volcanic pleasure. She breathed in quivering pants as she clung to his hard, muscled body. He moved over her in waves, pumping inside her. With each thrust, she was pushed against her own limits. She’d never felt so much. She’d never even imagined feeling this much. It was like a mountain of sensation tipped against the horizon and crashed down over her. She couldn’t get close enough to him. She would always be left wanting more.
“Mark me,” she groaned as she came.
“Quinn…” he breathed into her ear, reluctance in his voice.
“Please, Drew. I need you. I need you so bad. I can’t stand it.”
“We should wait, baby,” he said, running his hand over her head.
She leaned up and bit his lip with a groan. She needed this. Why was he hesitating?
“Don’t you feel this? Don’t tell me you don’t want it too.”
“Of course I feel it,” he said, thrusting hard. Her mouth dropped open as he looked down into her face. “I want it more than anything.”
“Do it!” she moaned, pulling him close.
“Quinn…” he said.
He kissed her neck and opened his mouth around the pulse point. She panted as his canine teeth extended from his mouth and pressed against her sensitive flesh.
As they pushed into her skin, her mouth opened in a silent scream. Somewhere between pleasure and pain, the feeling of his bite pierced her entire being. She came as he bit deep into her neck. His seed shot hard and hot into the depths of her womb. Quinn and Drew throbbed against each other for long moments, his teeth still holding fast inside her flesh.
Slowly, he pulled away, licking her wound until the pain subsided. Drew rolled over on his back and pulled her against his chest. The two of them panted, sweaty and spent in each other’s arms.
Chapter 3
Drew reached out
across the bed, finding it empty. He opened one eye, expecting to find Quinn just out of reach. The night before had been the most profound experience of his life. He would never be the same.
He opened the other eye, not seeing her there. Sitting up, he tilted his head to look into the bathroom. He didn’t hear a sound. Where was she?
Drew swung his legs over the side of the bed and pressed his feet to the cold wood floor. He slowly stood, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Drew’s mind was still reeling from what he’d done with Quinn the night before. He’d marked her. They were mated. He’d been reluctant at the time, but he was overjoyed they’d done it now.
In the moments before they’d fallen asleep, he’d thought that his life was finally complete. He still had a smile on his face the next morning. Their mating bond was growing stronger with each moment, making his head fuzzy. He stepped out into the living room, expecting to find her there.
“Quinn?” he said, looking around.
She wasn’t in the living room. Drew went into the kitchen, scratching his ass before he started to make a pot of coffee. As the coffee brewed, he picked up his cellphone and sent Quinn a text. Maybe she’d gone back to the lodge to get ready for the wedding.
“Good morning, babe,” he texted her.
He poured his first cup of coffee as he waited for a response. His phone pinged and he picked it up. He’d expected to see a text from Quinn, but that’s not what he got.
“This number is no longer in service,” it read.
“What?” Drew muttered, confused.
He was starting to get worried. He dialed the lodge and asked Kelly, the human front desk receptionist, to ring Quinn’s room.
“I’m sorry, Drew, Quinn Jacobs checked out first thing this morning.”
“She’s…gone?”
“She came back here in quite a state at about five a.m. She looked like she’d been crying and asked to be checked out right away. She took the first shuttle back to Portland this morning.”