Bear West: BBW Bear Shifter Mail Order Bride Romance Read Online Free Page B

life.”
    “I’d like to watch that,” Diego said with a shy smile. Carla swallowed, realizing that she’d been stuffing her face and talking with her mouth full – not at all the sort of first date manners she should have shown. It didn’t look like Diego minded though; he was leaning in toward her, his own dinner forgotten in front of him. He reached out and brushed away a drop of jam from the corner of her mouth. Carla blushed, but then he licked his thumb clean, and the heat in her face was for an entirely different reason.
    They made small talk while they ate the rest of the food, but Carla had a hard time keeping her mind on the conversation. It didn’t matter anyway; the real conversation was the one going on without words, the one between their bodies, as their eyes locked and they slowly moved closer and closer together. All of Carla’s nervousness was entirely forgotten.
    She’d been so uncertain of if she was doing the right thing, leaving the city she knew for a man she’d never met, agreeing to marry him based on a few emails – but now that she was here, she couldn’t imagine ever leaving again. She felt more comfortable with him than with people she’d known for years.
    She couldn’t help thinking about the bedroom that was just a few feet away, and if he would want to sleep with her tonight. He might want to wait until they’d spent more time together, but she felt like she might burst into flames if Diego didn’t touch her soon.
    Finally the meal was done and Diego stood to take the plates to the sink. When he turned back to face her, the air between them felt charged with tension and desire, too much energy in too small of a space. Carla’s mouth felt dry, and she licked her lips. Instantly Diego’s gaze dropped, focused like a laser on her mouth.
    “Oh,” Carla said, unable to hold herself back any longer. “Well, I guess we should talk about how we want to move forward....”
    Diego stepped forward and she stood, lifted her hands and set them on his arms. She could feel the hardness of his biceps even through his shirt, the muscles solid as a rock. She ached to know what he looked like without his clothes on. They were standing far too close for a normal conversation, but she couldn’t bear to step back.
    “If you don’t want to do anything tonight, I understand. I’m willing to wait for as long as you want. But I think that you should know how I feel. Carla, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. It’s been a struggle to keep my hands off of you. I want to touch you, to kiss you, to make love to you.... I want you.”
    He lowered his head to hers so slowly that each inch was an exquisite, agonizing torture. Finally their lips met, but it was only a brief, closed-mouth kiss, just a brush of his lips over hers. He drew back to speak again. “Tell me what you want.”
    Her heart was beating so fast that she felt dizzy. This close to him, she could smell Diego; he smelled of cedar and juniper, leather and some musky scent she couldn’t name. It was wild and masculine and went straight to her core. Her hold on his arms tightened, and she moved closer to him, so that her breasts brushed against his chest.
    “I want you too,” she heard herself say. She laughed, her desire making her feel slightly light-headed and off-balance. “That’s what I came here for, isn’t it? We should find out if we’re compatible in the bedroom.”
    “I have no doubt of that,” Diego said, and then yanked her to him and claimed her mouth in a kiss. This kiss was much deeper than their first one; it was a searing, blazing kiss that overwhelmed all her other senses. His arms slipped around her waist, and he actually picked her up as though she weighed nothing, then pressed her into the wall behind her without breaking their kiss.
    Carla gasped into his open mouth with surprise and pleasure, and clung to him. She was more turned on than she had ever been. She felt like she might actually