Bear Naked by Jessica Sims Page A

grinned back at me and pointed at the window, indicating I should open it.
    Oh, of course. I unlatched it and tugged it open, and Leif slid inside, all lean arms and legs. I drank in the sight of him, noticing that he’d showered since I’d left him at the airport, and his hair was parted, his clothing new. His face was smooth shaven. It was like he was becoming an entirely different person before my eyes.
    I…wasn’t sure how I felt about that. The wild Leif had been all mine. Would this new, domesticated one still want me?
    As if he could somehow feel the worry building inside of me, Leif pulled me into his arms and began to kiss my face. “Ah, ‘Lina, I missed you.”
    I smiled at that, glad to hear I wasn’t the only one that had felt that way. “I missed you, too,” I told him, wrapping my arms around his waist and holding him close. “How’d you know where I was?”
    “I remembered your family’s home,” he told me. “Once I got here, it was easy for me to follow your scent.” Leif smiled down at me. “All I had to do was look for the most delicious, feminine smell I’d ever found and follow it here.”
    My hands ran over him, learning the changes. I touched his smooth-shaven jaw, his new clothes, everything. “Your parents…were they happy to see you?”
    “Initially,” he said. “Then I got the same ‘you’ve been exiled’ talk from them. As if we weren’t consenting adults.” He rolled his eyes. “The elders council is going to wait a week to decide my fate.”
    “A week?” I hated the thought of this torture dragging on for so long. “But…I don’t understand. They could all meet tonight and get this over with. Why won’t they?”
    “Well, that’s easy,” Leif said, brushing the backs of his fingers along my cheek. “They want to make us sweat, so we’ll remember what it’s like to disobey them and never do it again.”
    I frowned at that. It did sound like something my father would do. Jesus. The council of elders was like having five disapproving parents instead of just one. “I don’t like how they’re treating you. How they’re treating us .”
    “I don’t either, but as long as we’re in the bear clan, we must play by their rules.” At my unhappy look, he leaned in and brushed his mouth over mine. “It’s okay, ‘Lina. Really. I’ll just spend my time pretending to be repentant and work on brushing up on my carvings. I’d like to have some ready to sell soon, since we’ll have a baby coming. And at night, I’ll just come here.” His mouth curved into a smile.
    That warm smile took my breath away. “You’ve got it all figured out.”
    “Well, they think they can separate us as part of their punishment,” Leif said. “You know they want control. But I’m not about to leave your side.”
    “No?” The word came out more tremulously than I’d have liked. Stupid hormones.
    “Never,” Leif told me, and his mouth captured mine again. Then, it slid to my cheek and pressed a kiss there. “You’re my mate, remember?”
    And he lightly nipped at my neck, right over where he’d left the mark.
    I moaned, desire rushing through me in response to the playful caresses. It had been a week since we’d made love, and it had easily been the longest, most tension filled week in my life. I needed Leif, wanted him so badly that I ached. My hand slid down his stomach and went to caress his cock, pleased to see that it was already erect underneath his jeans. It seemed like we were on the same wavelength. “I’ve missed you.”
    “I’ve missed you, too,” he murmured, licking and nibbling at my neck. “And I can’t tell you how glad I am to see that you’ve got a queen-sized bed.”
    I giggled at that. “Wanna break it in?”
    “Absolutely.” He grabbed my hips and hefted me into the air.
    I clung to him, wrapping my arms and legs around him; it was good that Leif was so tall, considering I was six foot, myself. But were-bears weren’t built small, and