Papa Bear for Darius Page 4

  “Yes…no.” He tilted his face to look up at me. “I was naughty.”

  “And how naughty were you? How many spanks?” I was enjoying this way too much.

  “Well, Papa, you told me one thousand, three hundred fourteen and three times.”

  I bit my lip hard to hold back the laughter. “Too many swats for forgetting to wear your underwear. If I spank you ten more times, will you try to remember next time?”

  “Yes, Papa.” He faced the floor again, and his cock digging into the side of my leg told me he was as into this as I was.

  “Okay, count them out loud.”

  “I can count to more,” he assured me.

  “Right, but you only have to count to ten today.” I lifted my hand and gave a swift smack across both buns.

  “One.”

  The second was on the opposite side from the first.

  “Two.”

  By the time we reached ten, and his bottom was almost all pink, a trickle down my leg could only be his pre-cum. The little devil. But when I lifted him onto my lap and cuddled him close, a real tear dripped down his cheek. My heart squeezed. “Okay, then, what are we going to remember?”

  He dashed away the tear and inhaled deeply before answering, “My underwear.”

  “Very good.”

  “Except I don’t have any underwear here.”

  “Hmm. Good point. We’ll figure something out. Now, stand up and let’s get you in the tub before it overflows and I get in trouble with our hosts.”

  “Yes, Papa.

  Given his reaction, I expected to find all of his underwear suddenly missing.

  Chapter Six

  Darius

  I’d had so many expectations for the night. I was going to dance, to mingle, to live on the edge, and do something I’d never been able to manage before. In my dreams for the evening, I even had my first proper kiss. The reality of tonight outdid my expectations by a million.

  First, I scented him. If I’d died right there on the spot, I’d have died a happy man. Then he kissed me. Not a little peck either. We had a full-on, take-your-breath-away, only-seen-in-the-movies kind of a kiss.

  And now, I was standing in his place, buck-ass naked, my ass deliciously sore, waiting to take a bath with him. When he thwarted my spontaneous attempt at tasting him, for a nanosecond, I feared he was rejecting me. I still wasn’t sure what caused him to decline my unspoken offer, but I wasn’t going to complain. Not after he made my wet dreams come true. There was just something about spanking that always did it for me when I watched porn or read a book. Reality surpassed it exponentially.

  The scent of the bath mingling with his enveloped me like a hug. A naked hug. A naked hug with a man—no, not a man, my mate. I went from zero kissing to getting ready to being naked in the span of an hour. I needed research or at least a quick search on Google to make sure I didn’t get any of this wrong.

  “You look nervous.” He sidled up to me and cupped my cheek. “If you want me to let you soak alone or if you want us to bid our goodbyes, any of it works for me. Fate sent you my way—no need to rush things.”

  “You would be okay?” I wasn’t sure I was, but to hear him say it was everything.

  “Papa bears want what’s best for their mates—even if their mates are bunnies.”

  I was never going to live my bunny costume down. I wasn’t sure why I picked it. At the time, it just felt right. And if I was the tiniest of bits honest with myself, I’d have admitted I loved the nickname Bunny. As mundane a word as it was, coming from his lips it felt so special, intimate. As intimate as being naked in front of the dressed man.

  “Do Papa Bears get in the tubs with their bunnies?” Because bunnies sure wanted them there. Even if said bunny was a bear.

  “They do.” Nothing more or less.

  “Do you get…naked first?” Real smooth.

  “Darius, you need to relax. Let me help you in.” He held out his hand for me, and I took it. Within a few steps, I was sinking chest deep into the warm aromatic water. The tub at our apartment was a glorified shower. This…this was a tub.

  Apartment—Basil. I was the worst friend ever.

  “I need to go.” I started to get up as my mate was pulling his shirt over his head. “I am the worst friend and roommate ever. Basil is out there all alone, and he didn’t want to come. Can I see you again?” Because if I wasn’t the picture-perfect example of a cock tease, I didn’t know what was. Not that I agreed with that being a thing, but still.

  “Whoa, you’re going to slip. Sit.” He wasn’t asking, and, while it was an order, it felt like more. I wasn’t going to try and unpack it—not when I was sitting in the tub—because I listened, of course I did, and not while I was naked, hard, and wet. That came out wrong, even in my own mind.

  “What are you doing?”

  He stood there topless, the button on his jeans popped open, the bulge in the front of them beckoning me to reach out and explore it. He removed his hand from his pocket, his phone coming out as well. “I’m calling the one person I think might have answers for you.”

  Answers? I didn’t have a question. I had a ditched friend, one who I had dragged to the party in the first place. The only questions I might have would pertain to if he would ever forgive me.

  “Oh, okay. Thanks.” He hung up.

  “That was Karma. She said Basil is having a blast and you are to not worry about him.” He hadn’t asked her anything or greeted her. Had I not sensed his honesty, I’d have called bullshit. “Now where were we?”

  “You were getting in the tub with me?” It came out like a question, a question ending with a squeak. “I mean, join me?”

  “You are a delight.” He unzipped his pants and let them drop to the floor.

  “And you are not wearing underwear,” I pointed out, trying to contain my giggle at the irony of it. “You just wanted a reason to spank me.”

  “And you just wanted to be spanked.” He wasn’t wrong. He climbed into the tub and sat across from me. “It was new, though, wasn’t it?” He grabbed a loofa out of a small basket of them on the ledge.

  “All of this is.” He was my mate. There was nothing to hide. My face didn’t get the message as my cheeks burned from the embarrassment of it all.

  “The tub, too?” He put some soap on the sponge and lathered it up. “Although I can’t imagine most people have an Olympic-sized tub in their bathroom.” He indicated with his finger for me to turn around, and I did, surprised but not upset when he guided me back until I was nestled between his legs. “But that isn’t what you meant, is it, Bunny?”

  “Nope. I meant all the things.”

  “Are you saying this is your first time with an alpha?” There was no judgement in his words. It was freeing to feel firsthand my answer didn’t matter other than knowing the information. He wouldn’t bolt if I told him I’d been with a bunch of alphas, and he wasn’t going to run when I told him I’d never been with any. Or so my theory went. It was time to omega-up and just say it.

  “My first time being with an alpha…in any way.”

  “Are you saying you’re untouched?” Was that excitement tinging his voice?

  “Today…on the dance floor—” I steeled my spine to say it. “That was my first kiss.”

  “A heck of a first kiss.” His breath tickled my ear, and I felt the loofah on my back for the first time. He wasn’t freaking out, which I knew he wouldn’t, except self-doubt is a bitch and she was running me hard throughout my confession. “Know this, little Bunny—we are mates. We have our entire lives to get to know each other on all levels. Just because we are shifters doesn’t mean we need to move faster than you want.”

  It sounded so logical to the human side of me. My bear was pushing me to mark our mate already.

  “I want a bath, and I want more…but maybe we don’t mark each other tonight

  “You are such a brave Bunny, telling Papa Bear what you want.” He kissed the top of my head. “I have a feeling you are a
lways going to keep me on my toes.”

  Chapter Seven

  Bruin

  Darius, or Bunny as he’d become to me, was a revelation. I’d entered the party tonight planning to have a few drinks, visit a while with some of the people I’d gotten to know during my time here, and maybe have a quickie because I was single. And why not? I’d be leaving the next day and was not looking for ties that bind or even a second date.

  The realization I was no longer single crashed over me like a tidal wave.

  I was mated. My mate had the choice to accept or not, and we were not going to do the actual claiming tonight, but there would never be another for me. In theory, it would be the case for both of us, but theories were just that. If he woke in the morning and told me thanks for the nice evening, have a good life, I would have to accept his decision.

  A frisson of anxiety churned in my gut at the thought he might reject me, but as I finished running the loofa over his skin, learning the planes and valleys of his lean form, and splashed handfuls of water to rinse his shoulders and neck, I pushed any nerves and negative thoughts aside. I could not guess what the future held or how I would manage it if he did accept me because it would not change my traveling career. Now would have to be enough for us both. Tonight.

  Halloween, when the veils were thinnest and the ancestors who lived within these walls were closest, watching over us. I muttered a quick plea for their assistance if not intercession moving forward.

  I rubbed shampoo through his hair and rinsed it with fresh water from the hose attached to the tap before dropping a kiss on his neck. “All right, then. If you will just scoot over to the other side, I’ll give myself a quick scrub and we can get out.”

  “I’ve never been so clean.” Darius moved away from me but not far. Our legs were still touching. “Squeaky clean.”

  “Then I’ve done my job as a Papa Bear.” Or at least part of it. Anxious to get closer to him again, I completed my own ablutions and rose then stepped out of the tub. With a towel tucked around my waist, and my cock tenting that as it probably would everything forever, I laid another towel over my arm and reached out a hand. “Get out carefully. All that bubble bath can make things slippery.”

  Darius laid his hand in mine, and I held tight while he climbed out. “Do you mind my staying over even if we don’t…uhhh. You know.”

  “Shh. It’s not all about you know, you know. If you’re not ready to take things further, I understand.” My dick didn’t, but sometimes it didn’t get to be in charge. And my bear was all about claiming, but didn’t want to scare him off. “Turn around so I can dry your back.”

  I was already addicted to his body, and I patted the droplets off, starting at his neck and shoulders and working my way down to his flexing bottom cheeks, legs, ankles, feet, then turned him around and did the same with his front. I did have a bad moment when my face was level with his bobbing cock that also seemed to think now was a great time to go to the next level, but with all my self-control, I continued on up until I’d squeezed the last of the water out of his hair.

  The thick walls were great sound barriers, and every breath or footfall within the suite was amplified. I’d taken to sleeping with music on because, otherwise, I could hear my heartbeat like something out of an Edgar Allen Poe tale of murder and retribution. With a more romantic atmosphere in mind, as we moved into the bedroom, I hit the switch and turned on the ambient music, something softly classical I’d programmed early in my stay.

  “That’s really pretty,” Darius said. “Kind of goes with the surroundings.”

  “I thought so, too.” I steered him toward the bed and pulled back the covers. “Do you want something to sleep in? I have sweats…” Please say no.

  “No, I’m…I’d like to sleep, umm…is it okay if I sleep naked?”

  Okay? It’s amazing. “Sure. I guess I will, too.” Like I didn’t every night. However, every other night didn’t present the challenges of being naked with my mate and not buried inside my mate would. Had he been sent her to teach me patience?

  Darius reached for the towel I’d wrapped around his waist and untucked the end, while I watched breathless. I’d have tried not to stare, but such heroics were beyond my abilities. Not fucking him until he was ready was enough of an alpha feat. This omega had not even kissed anyone until tonight, and I had a decade on him, at least. Patience would pay off in the long run.

  Hopefully.

  When he was lying down, the cock belying his hesitation sticking straight up, I pulled the covers over him and went around to the other side. My towel joined his on the floor before I slid in beside him and lay on my back, trying to be grateful for meeting my mate and asking the ancestors to help me not screw this up. I reached for the switch to turn off the lights that came on automatically when we entered.

  I ran over my schedule in my mind. I could stay another day, maybe two at the most if I wasn’t going to be late for my next job. With my type of work, I often had to change flights so I never booked anything but business class, and a level where my adjustments could be accommodated by the airlines.

  “Bruin?” His voice was quiet in the darkness and seemed very far away.

  “Yes?”

  “Do Papa Bears mind just cuddling? Even if we aren’t going to…you know?” Every time he called sex “you know” he reminded me of his inexperience, that I needed to go carefully and at his pace.

  “Papa bears love cuddling.” I opened my arms. “Come over here, you snuggle bunny, and let me wrap you up tight and keep you warm and safe all through the night.” It was a promise not to do anything he didn’t want to do, whether he understood or not. But when he moved into my embrace, I thought he got it. Of course I was turned on, as he was, but sometimes, it wasn’t about where we could stick body parts or even giving physical pleasure. My bear, usually the biggest horn dog around, gave a happy rumble as Darius’s head landed on my chest.

  I closed my eyes and savored his scent, his touch, his soft skin. Sleep wasn’t going to come easily, but maybe that didn’t matter either.

  I could lie here, listen to the music and his breaths evening out, and fantasize about the possibilities the future held for the two of us.

  One way or another, we’d make it work.

  Chapter Eight

  Darius

  I rolled over, morning light hitting me on the face long before I was ready to get out of bed. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be ready. Being ensconced in his warmth was everything.

  I hadn’t noticed the window in one wall the night before, since we had traveled so deep in the cliffs. It must look out onto another face. I’d peek when I stood up, see what vista it beheld.

  “Morning, Bunny.” Bruin kissed my forehead. It was the only kiss he’d given me since we went to bed, and that had me trusting him so very completely. I’d been nervous the night before. So nervous I was shaking. I didn’t want to mess things up between my mate and me due to my lack of experience, and the more I thought about it, the worse it got. I planned to research intimacy between alpha and omega when I finally went home. No, not home, the place with my stuff. Home was where my mate was.

  And he’d said he was just a guest here…where did he live?

  “Morning.” My alarm went off from my phone tucked into the hidden pocket in the bunny suit—which I’d left in the bathroom. Darn thing. “It’s Friday,” I grumbled, the reality of responsibility setting in.

  “I was calling today the first day of our forever, but Friday works, too.” He squeezed me a little tighter. I liked this sugary sweet side of him.

  “I have a class at eleven.” Because I was a dumbass and had agreed to cover for Professor Jaymes who thought he might be too tired after taking his five-year-old twins trick or treating. Pretty sure he could’ve handled it, but it was another case of me trying to fit in where I only half belonged. Saying yes was my way of playing for the team or whatever.

  “I really need to learn all the things there are to know about you.” He
nipped my neck, which made my already painfully hard cock not any better. “I didn’t know you were still in school.”

  “I sort of am, but I’m subbing today.” Which I was still pissed at past me for.

  “Look at me with a sexy professor as a mate. You don’t look old enough to be a professor. I so misunderstood your age.” He didn’t sound upset by it, mostly confused, and I probably had told him my age at some point. I’d fallen asleep as we talked about all kinds of things from how we ended up at the party to our favorite books. The last bits of the conversation describing myself as awake would’ve been an exaggeration.

  So then I told him all about how I fled my clan under the guise of education and how I adored my mother more than all the stars in the sky, but that even she couldn’t convince me to move back. I told him about how I never fit it—anywhere before we met—and how, all of a sudden, I felt like I was where I had always belonged. And by the time round two of my alarm went off, there was no getting around the fact I was going to be late if I didn’t get up and leave right then and there. As it was, I would cut it really close, thanks to the long drive ahead of me.

  “I wish you didn’t need to leave.” He handed me a pair of boxers far too big for me. I guess that was a thing for him.

  I smiled to myself.

  “I’d drive you,” he said, “but I need to wrap up things here and, while following you as you drive back is exactly what my bear is begging me to do, finding a new office facility and place to live feels more pressing.”

  “You are going to stay here—for me?” It had been implied often over the short time I’d known him, yet hearing it spoken out loud added an element of reality to it all. He chose me. His bear chose me. My putting on the brakes hadn’t done anything to deter him. He was mine. My alpha.

  “We are one now, Darius.” He took the boxers from me and bent down, holding them for me to step into and pulling them up my body, gently and not at all sensually tucking me inside of them. “I hope the sweatpants will fit better.” He chuckled as I had to grab the underwear the second he let go. He grabbed a pair of sweats off the bed and helped get them on me. “Glad these have strings.”