Claiming Goldilocks Read online

  There was only a fraction of space separating our bodies and he looked like he wanted to throw me down on the avocados and play find the clit. It was rapidly becoming my favorite game.

  “What did you have in mind?” His voice was gruff. I could feel the tension radiating off his hard body.

  I loved the way that his cheekbones looked to be cut from stone. His large muscular frame didn’t hold an ounce of fat. I wanted to see that eight-pack again.

  “I seem to remember a promise you made me.”

  For a second, he looked confused, and I worried that I had made a mistake. But I plowed on recklessly, “That I would be cumming on your cock.”

  I didn’t add the part about his face, although I wanted to.

  His eyes flared dangerously, and he bit out, “Grab your purse.”

  I barely had it in my hand when Mr. Front Desk was barreling the both of us through the store and into the back. He wrenched the door to the outside open and we stumbled through it. There was a small alcove that was protected from sight and he led us straight there.

  Before I could say anything else his mouth was on mine, demanding things that felt completely new. How could this have been possible? He didn’t kiss anything like he had the other day, punishing and dominant.

  His kiss today was overwhelming, so achingly passionate that I couldn’t help but give him back everything that he was giving me. My hands clutched his chest, but he was everywhere. It was like he couldn’t decide where he wanted to be.

  He cupped and kneaded my ass, and I was thankful it wasn’t sore anymore from that spanking. And then he trailed his fingers up to my breasts and he touched them tenderly. It was strangely different and wholly intoxicating.

  How could this man be so different today and still manage to have me ready to rip his clothes off? His fingers deftly unbuckled my overalls and slipped underneath my crop top.

  I moaned into his kiss as he pushed a leg between mine. The slight pressure added to the brushing of his massive cock on my thigh had me crying out.

  “Shhh, Sweets,” he laughed softly, “I will give you what you need, but unless you want an audience you need to be quiet.”

  I felt a rush of shame and embarrassment overcome me, and he must have sensed when I tensed because he stopped kissing my neck and tipped my chin up so that I could meet his dark eyes.

  “You are fucking sexy. I love the sounds that you make. I would like nothing better than to hear you scream out my name. But I don’t want the dip shits that work here to even get a glimpse of my girl.”

  My girl.

  My girl.

  He had called me his girl. I raised up and kissed him, nipping at his lip until he let me in and then I poured every ounce of emotion swirling inside of me into that kiss.

  His hands dug into my hair, and he sucked my tongue into his mouth right after I did the same to him. I wanted this impossibly beautiful man.

  As strange as it sounds, I loved today’s lovemaking every bit as much as I had the other day at the spa and it couldn’t have been more different. He kissed me all over my face, and my neck.

  As he rocked my soaking core against his hard leg, I felt the fabric of my panties rubbing against my clit. I couldn’t believe that I was close to cumming and we were both still fully dressed.

  The straps of my overalls were undone, but they hadn’t fallen past my hips.

  He gripped my hips and kissed me again, this time helping me to increase my tempo as I dry humped the man’s thigh until my body couldn’t take it another minute and I shattered in his arms. I accidentally bit his bottom lip again, this time drawing blood.

  His eyes flashed and for the briefest moment, I thought he might bite me back.

  “I have to know your name,” he demanded.

  CHAPTER 6 – Braxton (Bear #2)

  My fist slammed into my bear brother’s face with a resounding crack.

  “What the fuck, Brax?”

  Bryson, Benton, and I had been together for about as long as I could remember. While not my brothers biologically they were my brothers by choice. And that is why I felt fully vindicated beating the shit out of Bryson for not telling Ben and me about Goldilocks.

  I swung again, but this time Bry knew I was coming and he moved away with superhuman speed.

  “Trying to keep her all for yourself, Dip-shit?” I was beyond pissed. And by the look of comprehension in his eyes, I knew he had figured out just why I was so mad.

  “Brax,” he raised his hands, “Dude, I don’t want to fight you. You don’t understand.”

  Fuck that. I wanted to see him bleed. I took another swing and it connected with his jaw. This time when Bry looked at me I could see his bear had not only awakened but was mad as hell. Perfect, I was itching for a fight.

  We proceeded to beat the living shit out of each other until we were both lying on the ground bleeding.

  “You stupid mother fucker,” I muttered through loose teeth.

  Bry didn’t bother to look at me.

  “How did you find out?” he rasped.

  “It was around the time she bitch slapped me for asking her name after I fingered her at the Pig and Poke,” I spat. “How do you think that made her feel? Just what in the shit did you do together anyway?”

  Bry proceeded to tell me about the day she had come into the spa. I was jealous as hell, it sounded fucking amazing. But also, I was more than a little intrigued by how uninhibited that Goldie had been with the both of us. Bry and I didn’t have the same bedroom style, but it would appear that Goldie liked them both.

  “Fuck, Brax, now she is never going to see me again,” Bry sat up, placing his head in his hands.

  I sighed, “Do you blame her? She thinks that you are a fucking douche that forgot about her just days after your mud adventure. I can’t erase the look of hurt in her eyes from my mind.”

  “I really like this girl,” Bry turned to me and I couldn’t help but smile as I looked at the damage my fists had done to his face.

  “You look like shit on a stick, brother,” I laughed.

  Bry looked at me wryly, “You don’t look so hot yourself, Dick Weed.”

  The door to our spacious home slammed open. “Honey, I’m home... Oh, shit, what happened here?”

  Our youngest bear brother Benton stood in surprise as he took in the broken furniture and our busted-up asses. A small smile went playing across his lips.

  “Did Brax steal your porn mags again, Bry?”

  Bry flipped him off and hauled himself to his feet.

  I stuck my hand out for a boost up and he promptly told me to fuck-off.

  Ben raised a brow and grabbed my hand, hauling me to my feet.

  “What’s going on?”

  Bry turned around angrily. “Brax tried to fuck my girl, that’s what’s going on.”

  Ben turned to me and I shrugged. “I didn’t know that Bry even knew the girl, let alone that he was into her. And besides, my bear wants to claim her every bit as much as Bry’s, so I’m not giving up on this.”

  Ben rubbed his neck wearily. “We swore that we would never let a girl come between us. Come on guys, we are a family.”

  I shrugged, not willing to back down. I had felt a real connection with Goldilocks, to hell with Bry.

  Bryson seemed to feel the same way because he said, “She’s mine, end of story.”

  “That’s not how it went,” I growled, feeling the urge to punch him again.

  I proceeded to tell Ben what had happened with Goldie and me at the Pig and Poke today. Bry jumped in and told Ben everything that had happened at the spa a few days earlier.

  Ben grimaced, “It seems that she doesn’t want anything to do with either of you.”

  Bry and I exchanged a glance; shit, the stupid mother fucker was right.

  “What are we going to do about it?”

  Bry looked at me in surprise, “We? There is no we.”

  Ben held his hand up to stop him as he advanced toward me.

 
“You want to come at me, Bro?”

  Bry growled and it sounded more bear than a human.

  Ben shoved both of our chests away from each other.

  “Listen, Dip-shits, the only way that this can possibly work is if we share the girl.”

  “Fuck no!” Bry and I called out simultaneously.

  Ben was adamant, “We are not breaking up our family for a woman. We promised that if we ever felt this way we would all share her. So, make your choice, Ass-hats, but it’s all or nothing.”

  I punched my hand straight into the wall, not feeling the pain.

  Bry didn’t look any better as he grabbed at his hair.

  “Look, she won’t even talk to you two,” Ben said calmly. “Let me go to that woodworking shop of theirs and see if we even have a chance at winning this girl.”

  “Maybe you won’t want her,” Bry challenged.

  Ben lifted his lip in a sneer. “I will fucking do anything to keep our brotherhood together. If you two are that tied up in this girl I will deal with it.”

  I felt a moment of shame. Ben had always been the voice of reason. It pained me that he was willing to claim someone he didn’t even want just to keep us together. Was I really willing to break up our family because I couldn’t share Goldie? Shit, I barely knew the girl, but deep down I knew that even having a chance at her was better than nothing.

  “Okay,” I said gruffly, not missing Bry’s swift glance of incredulity. “Listen, Shit-face, Ben is right. A chance at a future with Goldie and staying together is better than nothing.”

  He looked like he wanted to bash my face in. There were a few tense moments before he nodded, “Fine.”

  “Go get a shower,” Ben said dismissively. “And then clean this mess up. I will go into town and see if I can fix this with the girl. But just know that I won’t tolerate any more of this shit.”

  His alpha tone had me and Bry’s heads bending in shame.

  “Understood?” he demanded once more and we both nodded, our eyes averted.

  Ben, while the youngest, was the largest and fiercest bear that I had ever seen. A true alpha, he demanded respect and loyalty.

  The only thing I could do was pray that Ben could somehow find a way to smooth things over with Goldie. I hadn’t lived this long only to let my mate slip between my fingers.

  Bry threw something at my head.

  “What the fuck, man?” If he wanted round two I was more than ready.

  Bry smirked at me. “Do you think Goldie is going to hand Ben his ass?”

  I felt a reluctant smile spread across my face.

  “I don’t know what he is expecting, but I have a feeling that Ben is going to be knocked sideways by her. He acts like he’s immune to all feelings, but shit, he’s never met her.”

  Bry’s busted up face looked comical as he laughed, and I couldn’t help but join in.

  “Come on, let’s get cleaned up.” We headed toward the stairs, brothers once again.

  Our shifter bodies had already begun to heal our wounds. By tomorrow you wouldn’t be able to see the idiocy of our fighting. With our animal natures, sometimes a good fight was just what we needed to let off steam.

  CHAPTER 7 – Goldilocks

  “Stupid ass mother fucker!”

  My toe was screaming out in pain after I inadvertently smashed it into the chair. The funny part—funny meaning ironic—was that never once in all the years I have been a carpenter have I ever gone to work without my steel-toed boots. Safety is something that we take seriously at Southey Furniture.

  And yet here I sit amidst the dust and shavings holding my foot and cursing whatever gods might be listening.

  Irrational? Most definitely.

  I couldn’t get what had happened at the Pig and Poke out of my mind. Heat flooded my cheeks and suddenly my toe wasn’t the only thing hurting. I was beyond humiliated at my behavior. How could I not have known that Bryson and Braxton were two different men?

  It’s that old adage, where you see your mechanic at the opera and you can’t place his face, because he isn’t in the environment you expect him to be. He’s out of context. Or the first time you see your elementary teacher around town, and it dawns on you that she doesn’t live in a little back room at the school anxiously awaiting the students’ return in the morning.

  Surely that was what I was thinking, wasn’t it? My brain was sending me all kinds of signals that this man was different, but my lady bits weren’t interested in listening to anything my brain had to say. And I had to go and throw myself at him...

  “Goldie?” Gran called out from the front of the shop.

  I hadn’t been easy to deal with; wallowing in my self-pity, I was snapping at everyone. It wasn’t until I saw the hurt look in my Grandmother’s eyes that I had to mentally give myself a bitch slap to snap out of it.

  “Yeah, Gran?” I hobbled to my feet and lifted my safety goggles off my eyes.

  I smiled when I heard her approach, but that quickly faded when I saw who was walking toward me.

  “How many of you are there?” I blurted out.

  A wrinkle between his brows marred an otherwise perfectly chiseled face.

  “I beg your pardon?” A deep rumble escaped his lips.

  “Look, you’ve had your fun. Tell Bryson and Braxton that I never want to see them again. And you can include yourself in that as well.”

  A light sparked in his eyes. “Fiery little thing, aren’t you?”

  What was it about these bears? Why did they have to be so blasted attractive? It didn’t make a lick of sense to me. All I wanted to do was throw myself at him and beg the guy to give me another one of those earth shattering orgasms.

  Shit, what did that make me? The town bicycle, that’s what it made me. Heat and shame threatened to engulf me, and I snapped out in anger.

  “Who put you up to this? Stuart? Don’t you think you guys have done enough to me? I already feel like a whore. Was that the goal? What else could he possibly want to take from me?” My voice cracked but I shoved my emotion down my throat.

  I was done crying over Stuart. And I sure as hell was done crying over my stupidity.

  “Ms. Southey, I don’t think you understand the purpose of my visit.” The rumbly voice threatened to drag me under, but I held firm.

  “Goldilocks,” I spat out. “You make me sound like an old spinster. Nobody calls me Ms. Southey.”

  He inclined his head, a dark lock of hair falling over his intense eyes. He brushed it back in a powerful stroke, the muscles in his forearms rippling with the movement. For a second, I was mesmerized by the sheer magnitude of him.

  “Benton, but you can call me Ben.”

  He stuck out his hand and I eyed it much like one would a snake.

  As if reading my mind his lips twisted up into a grin. “It won’t bite.”

  I glared at him. “But I do.”

  I saw heat flare in his eyes. It was strange that the three bear brothers looked so much alike and yet I could see the subtle differences in the shape of his jaw, the cleft in his chin.

  “Where are your brothers?” I had to remind myself that they thought they could play a grand joke on me.

  “Bear brothers,” he corrected gently.

  “What’s the difference?” I scoffed—not really caring about what explanation that he had for me.

  “We are brothers because we choose to be, not because of DNA.” His eyes locked on mine, “Let me explain what happened, Fire-Fly.”

  My head jerked up at the term of endearment. “I don’t need, nor want, your explanations.”

  He stepped in closer and I caught a hint of cloves and mint. My sharply inhaled breath gave Benton all the signal he needed that he was affecting me.

  “Bryson and Braxton did not intend to hurt you.” Benton grasped my shoulders and I felt electricity run up and down my arms from his touch.

  “It doesn’t matter.” I tried to look anywhere but at him.

  How was it possible that I was feeling
so attracted to yet another of these men?

  “Fire-Fly, look at me,” he commanded in a low voice.

  Unwillingly I brought my gaze to his.

  “What are you thinking right now?”

  Benton surprised me with this question. I had expected him to continue apologizing but instead found my mouth opening and my self-doubt and flagellation spilling out from my lips.

  “What kind of a woman allows two different men to touch her intimately within a matter of days? What must they think of me? Hell, I feel so dirty.”

  He shook me slightly. “You are not dirty. You are a beautiful, sensuous woman that has no reason to beat herself up.”

  I shook my head. “You don’t understand. I’m not like normal women.”

  I broke off because I wasn’t even sure what I was trying to say anymore. All I knew was that I needed to get away from there. I broke out of his arms, knowing full well that he had let me go. If this man had wanted to hold onto me there was no force inside of my body that could have broken free.

  Like his bear brothers, Benton was lined with thick corded muscle from head to toe. With thick dark hair and olive skinned, they all looked like lifeguards or supermodels.

  What on earth would they want with me? I never wore make-up or dresses. My nails looked like shit from my woodworking. Even my hands weren’t soft like most ladies’ were. I felt the fight dissolve out of me. These guys hadn’t meant to fool me. And it was wrong to take out my hurt feelings and anxiety on them.

  “I accept your apology.” I took a deep breath. “I wish you and your bear brothers no ill will. It was a mistake, a terribly embarrassing mistake on my part but a mistake none the less.”

  His gorgeous cleft jaw dropped. “I beg your pardon?”

  I flushed. “That’s why you are here, right? To ask forgiveness and clear the air, well, consider it done. I really need to get back to work.”

  I turned my back on him and leaned over to grab my tool belt that had slipped from the counter. I heard a growl and then felt him press against the back of my legs, his length bumping my ass.

  “You have no idea what I want, Fire-Fly.” He gripped my hips and I bit back a moan.