Johnny slowed again. Holly opened her mouth to protest. She wasn’t finished yet. She wanted more of him. She wanted all of him. He sat on the couch as one would normally sit and held out a hand to her.
“Come here,” he purred.
Holly scrambled onto her knees and allowed him to position her. She had one leg on each side of him. Once again, the tip of his cock teased her soaked entrance.
“Set the pace,” he instructed gently. “You’re in control now.” He placed his hands on her hips and helped lower her onto his cock. He showed her how to move to please both herself and him. Once she grew more confident in her rhythm, he dipped his head and directed his attention to her breasts.
Holly let out a sharp gasp as stars exploded behind her eyes. She wove her hands through Johnny’s hair, holding him against her as she rocked up and down on his cock. Her toes curled. Her legs began to tremble. She couldn’t hold herself up as she plunged to new depths of pleasure. Now, it was Johnny’s turn to hold her as she came undone again and again in his arms. He followed close behind her, groaning and pressing his mouth against her neck.
Holly wasn’t sure how much time had passed when her body finally settled back into itself. Johnny didn’t let her go. She relaxed against him, resting her head on his shoulder, and kissing whatever her lips could find.
“Wow.” She sighed.
Johnny lifted her gently and rearranged her into a more comfortable position in his lap.
“We should fight more often,” he joked, pressing a kiss into her forehead.
“If that’s how we’re going to make up, then I’m all for it.” She laughed.
Her flushed body began to cool off. She shivered. Johnny quickly helped her dress and pulled his jeans back on before bringing her back into his arms.
“Don’t you get cold?” she asked, noting his still bare chest.
“Not really.” He shrugged. “I could go out in this rain for hours and not feel shivery.”
“That must be nice.” She nodded.
“It is, but I don’t think I’d do great in the tropics,” he replied.
“You were trying to go down South for a while, though,” she pointed out. “What stopped you from going all the way?”
“I usually ran out of money,” he admitted. “And I felt bad about leaving Pearl alone. Keller and Garret hadn’t moved in yet when I started my long trips away.”
Holly’s chest tightened when he mentioned their names. Guilt followed soon after. It wasn’t right for her to be like this with Johnny after sharing such an intimate moment with Garret. And what about Keller? Her curiosity for him hadn’t ebbed one bit. That couldn’t be right.
“Are you all right?” Johnny asked.
“Yes,” she said too quickly. “I was just thinking of Pearl. It’s so nice she had people to look out for her, but it’s not fair that my family shirked that responsibility.”
“That’s not quite true,” Johnny said. “Pearl understood that your family needed to move away so that you’d be able to come back. It was a safer option for you, too. If you came into your maiden-ness, if you will, as a child, you would’ve been far more vulnerable to attack.”
“Does the rest of my family know about this?” It hadn’t occurred to Holly to ask before.
Johnny shook his head.
“No. None of them showed any signs of being shifters. Pearl decided to keep our history from your parents.”
“Did you know them?”
“Not really. A kid like me didn’t have any reason to talk to your dad. I don’t know much about him,” he said. “He was a pretty uptight guy if I remember correctly. I always had the feeling that Pearl kept the family history a secret because he’d never believe it. If he managed to get a court to declare her insane, he would’ve been able to put her in a home.”
Holly opened her mouth to protest, but she stopped. That was exactly the sort of thing her father would do. He wasn’t a malicious man, but he had a very black and white way of looking at things. He liked to take emotions out of the equations. Holly never thought that was a good way to make decisions.
“I don’t think my mom ever came here aside from the one time we visited,” Holly said. Her mother grew up in Northern California. She wasn’t as uptight as Holly’s father, but she probably would’ve thought Pearl was crazy if she had started talking about bears and prophecies.
“What about your family?” Holly asked. It only just now occurred to her that she’d never asked about Johnny’s parents. She felt damn inconsiderate.
“Oh.” His face fell.
Holly furrowed her brow. “If it’s something you’d rather not talk about, that’s totally fine.”
“It’s not that,” he said. “It’s just not a very happy story. About fifteen years ago, a war almost broke out among the bear clans. The clan from Golden Oak wanted some of the Silver Spruce territory. No one fully understood why they wanted it, but they were vicious in their takeover. My parents were both shifters. They fought against the Golden Oak Clan, but they didn’t survive.”
“Oh, my God.” Holly gasped. “That’s horrible. I’m so sorry.”
“The Golden Oak Clan was beaten back.” Johnny shrugged. “They took even heavier losses than we did. Just about everyone lost someone in that time.”
“I can’t imagine...”
“Don’t dwell on it.” Johnny ran his fingers along her arm. “It was a long time ago.”
“Is that when Pearl took you in?”
“I only moved in five years ago,” Johnny said. “But, yes. She started paying attention to me after I lost my parents. She had a special place
