Holly wrapped herself around him, her arms looped around his shoulders, her legs hooked around his hips, and she kept him close, tight, gasping against the crook of his neck. The table shuddered underneath them, glasses clinking and falling over as he pounded her again and again. His pace set her on fire from the inside out and she felt herself heating up, everything inside her growing tighter. She was swept away in his ferociousness and, when he growled and sank his teeth into her throat, she gasped and saw stars.
“Oh God, Jacob,” she begged. “Just like that…”
If Jacob was good at anything, it was finding those places inside her she hadn’t even known existed before him. The head of his cock hit the perfect spot inside of her, sending sparks of pleasure shivering through her body every time. She wasn’t going to last much longer like this and it was all she could do to hold on to him as though for dear life, riding out the thrill that thrummed through her veins.
She was throbbing, dripping around Jacob’s iron-hard cock, and, before she knew it, Holly had reached her peak. She cried out as her orgasm unexpectedly came crashing down around her and her nails dug sharply into Jacob’s skin. She felt his own orgasm as he growled against her and thrust into her roughly, his hot cum pouring inside of her. Holly mewled and nuzzled against his throat as he shuddered, both coming down from the intense, rough high.
“That’s one way to start off the day.” He grinned against her ear.
“You’re telling me,” she said breathlessly. She held on to him a moment longer and tucked her head against his shoulder.
Her gaze fell and landed on her watch. “Oh, crap—” Holly grabbed Jacob’s face, pressed a hard, quick kiss to his mouth, and then unwound herself from him completely. “I have to go. What’re you doing today?”
“I’ve just got a couple jobs lined up.” He twisted her hair in his fingers. “I’m all yours after.”
“Alright.” Holly couldn’t stop smiling. “Dinner?”
“You’ve got it.” He pressed another strong, firm kiss to her mouth. She could lose herself in those soft lips, in the scratch of hair on his chin.
But even now, in the blissful afterglow, she felt a sense of coldness around him. It was as though no matter how close he got, he was still so far away. A morning fuck on the kitchen table, as good as it was, wasn’t going to solve their problems.
Chapter 31
Holly decided it was time to do this her way. After class, she went into the school library and instantly began ransacking the nature section. Books about bears, books about the wildlife in Etna, books about ursus arctos interacting with humans. They had a huge catalogue of books, magazines, and articles about the local wildlife, and Holly took as many books as she could fit in her arms and carried them to a nearby table. There, she pored over the material, flipping through page after page.
Most of it read like National Geographic. She read about how bears slept through much of the winter and mated through much of the summer. They were approaching mating season, which would explain his inability to keep his hands off of her. She read about how they sometimes claimed their mates with love bites. Holly’s hand slipped absently to the side of her throat and her thumb rubbed over the bruise there. They ate salmon and berries. Climbed trees. Generally kept to themselves, alone. You can say that again, she thought to herself. Getting Jacob outside of himself was like pulling teeth.
It was time to dig deeper. Holly poked around the local archives. The college was equipped with microfiche readers that looked like old-fashioned desktop computers with a small slot at the bottom for the microfiche cards. Once she set it up, she could scroll through archives from local newspapers dating back to the early 1900s.
The library, which had been bustling with students cramming for tests earlier, was now still and quiet. Holly twisted the large knob on the side of the microfiche reader to focus the screen. She read stories dating back decades ago about bear attacks in Etna. How it was becoming a problem for the people in town. Efforts to Chase Out Bears Coming Up Short, proclaimed a headline in a 1975 issue of Eyes on Etna. The Westmore name came up in the same paper, but in a different article. Scott Westmore Reopens Red Moon Ranch, the headline read. There was a picture beside it of Scott and Mae Westmore standing under the hanging Red Moon Ranch sign, his arm around her back. Mae was younger, but still very much Mama Mae, a stout woman with a boy cut. Both were all smiles.
Holly stared at the image of Scott Westmore…Jacob’s father. God, he’s a spitting image, Holly thought. Strong shoulders, that cocky grin, handsome even in a smudged black-and-white photograph.