Her Chef Bear Read online

  At the hotel, Scott held the front door for Frederica, waiting until she was safely inside to step in after her, close the umbrella, and lean out of the still open door to shake off the worst of the water.

  Inside, the hotel lobby had been split into three areas: the entrance way, the lounge area, and the check-in desks, which had been lined up along one side of the room. Across the lobby’s width stood the entrance to the hotel’s restaurant.

  “It’s closed,” said Frederica unhappily, when Scott rejoined her, and she gestured across the lobby to the restaurant’s closed doors. To drive the point home, someone had hung a ‘Closed’ sign across its door knobs.

  “Jiji’s Pizza it is then,” said Scott cheerfully. “Do you eat ham? Or goat’s cheese? Or brie? Or pepperoni, I guess?”

  “Of course! I like all of the things!”

  Scott grinned. He fished out his cell phone, allowing Frederica to lead him to a seat in the lounge area as he ordered a couple of pizzas.

  The lobby’s lounge area was filled with blocky furniture, all graced with thick, comfortable cushions and upholstered in bright fabrics with fun prints. None of it matched, but all of it was deliberately mismatched in the way where all the colors and patterns in a given set complimented each other. The small, oval tables around which the seating had been arranged were made out of polished wood that a small card placed in the center of each table said was actually reclaimed.

  “So why are you in town?” asked Scott, as they sank into their respective seats. They were very comfortable. “You never did say.”

  “I’m a lawyer. Technically, I’m here on business,” said Frederica, “but I came down a few days early to relax a bit before things really get going. What about you? You’re local, aren’t you? What do you do?”

  “I’m a chef,” said Scott proudly. “I have my own restaurant down by the beach.”

  “That’s great! What do you make?”

  “A lot of seafood,” he said with a laugh. “I love it, of course, and there’s a really great fish market around here where I can get the fish fresh.”

  “That sounds great!” said Frederica enthusiastically. “Hey, wait. You said your restaurant is down by the beach, right?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “Then maybe you’d know if it’s sea turtle season?” asked Frederica, leaning forward. “I’ve always wanted to see a sea turtle lay her eggs and then later watch an army of baby sea turtles struggle into the ocean. And as long as I’m here, and I’m off…”

  “You’ve got to sign up for a tour,” said Scott. “If you want, I’ve got a friend who’s a guide, and I could ask him if there are any available spots in any of his upcoming tours.”

  “Could you?” asked Frederica, delighted. “That would be amazing!”

  “No problem,” said Scott, showing off that dimple again with another smile. “Here, let’s swap numbers.”

  Frederica recited her cell phone number to Scott, who texted her in return, and she was using the text to add his number to her phone directory when the delivery guy showed up with their pizzas. The mere sight of him sent a stab of remorse through Frederica.

  A smarter, more seductive woman would have suggested that they had it delivered to her room. It had a table, chairs, and a bed. And if eating pizza in her hotel room somehow led to the opportunity to climb into his lap – or touch him all over – then she wouldn’t have been sad about it. Mostly, though, Frederica just wanted to be kissed. It had been such a long time since a guy had even tried it.

  In the present, Scott paid the man, and the pizzas ended up on the little table between them.

  At that point, conversation mostly fell by the wayside as they dug into their meal. Afterwards, when Frederica was feeling pleasantly full and satiated, she watched as Scott stood, tucked her umbrella under one arm, and balanced the two pizza boxes on the palm of one hand.

  “I thought I’d carry these for you,” offered Scott. “They’re very heavy.”

  Frederica laughed, but she didn’t disagree, and when he offered his empty hand to her, she gladly took it. She allowed Scott to pull her to her feet… and into his side. Happy, Frederica melted against him. Her arm found its way around his waist, and his around hers.

  “I’m in room 202,” said Frederica, as she led Scott to the nearest elevator.

  In the normal course of things, Frederica was, above all else, cautious. It was part of her job description, of course – clients didn’t pay her to be a contracting maverick or to gamble with the future of their endeavors – but it went beyond that.

  Frederica was the sort of person who kept an emergency preparedness kit in her closet even when it wasn’t hurricane season. Once a year, she went through her medicine cabinet, the first aid kit that she kept in the trunk of her car, and the emergency kit that she kept in her closet and replaced anything that was near its expiration date. She never let her gas tank dip below half full, always went to bed before ten p.m., and never forgot to eat her vegetables. Frederica didn’t go clubbing, rarely drank, and had never once smoked anything, legal or otherwise.

  For her, excitement lay in producing a well written contract or an insightful legal brief, not in chasing bad guys or braving far away wildernesses or going home with men that she hadn’t known at least five months. Frederica was boring, and she knew it, even if she sometimes resented it just a tiny little bit.

  Frederica simply didn’t do things like this.

  She couldn’t believe that she was letting this man, someone that she hadn’t even known five whole hours, much less five whole months, escort her up to her hotel room. And yet there she was: not only letting a virtually unknown stranger escort her up to her room, but also wondering if she could finagle a goodnight kiss out of him. Judging by the snug arm he had around her waist, it didn’t seem like it would be a hard sell.

  I just have to be brave and maybe a little bit wild, thought Frederica. Like Ellis.

  But she didn’t feel much like her sister Ellis.

  As they approached her room, Frederica’s stomach began to twist with nerves. How did other people do this all the time? How could they stand it?

  At her door, she swiped her key card through the reader and led Scott into her room, holding the door for him. Once they were inside the room, her umbrella was propped against the mini-fridge and the boxes of pizza stacked on top of it. And then all that was left was to stand there and stare at one another. Awkwardly.

  Scott cleared his throat.

  “I should go,” he said, but he sounded reluctant.

  At nearly the same time, Frederica said, maybe a touch more desperately than she would have liked, “Won’t you kiss me?”

  And then she felt foolish.

  But Scott smiled at her, slow and sweet and sexy, and her heart just had time for a double thump before he moved closer and leaned down.

  Resting a hand against Scott’s chest for balance, Frederica eagerly leaned up to meet him. She pressed her lips clumsily against his, and felt his lips curve up into the beginnings of a smile before he tilted his head to one side, changing the angle to one infinitely better for both of them. One of his large hands came to rest at the small of her back, his fingers spread wide, and the other rose to cup the back of her head.

  Between them, Frederica felt so tiny.

  Sighing with pleasure opened her mouth to his, something that Scott was quick to take advantage of in the best way possible.

  Frederica loved kissing!

  And she was quickly coming to love kissing Scott.

  By then, Frederica had her arms wound around Scott’s shoulders, her rounded nails lightly scratching at his scalp, and Scott had an arm around her waist, anchoring Frederica against himself. His other hand stroked up Frederica’s back and then down to her backside, giving it a brief squeeze, before it returned to her back.

  The muscles in his chest flexed as Scott lifted her up, up, up and off her feet, pulling Frederica up the length of himself until their faces were level.r />
  Scott’s strength – the feel of his strong hands on her, his ability to lift her, his sheer physicality – sent a jolt of pleased lust through Frederica. She gasped and then moaned, her arms tightening around Scott’s shoulders as she kissed him more fiercely.

  And then they were moving. Scott carried her to the bed, where he sat down with Frederica in his lap – just where she had wanted to be and doing the thing that she had most wanted to do with him.

  Happy, Frederica snuggled closer – as close as she could get, and still she wanted to be closer to him. Her bent knees bracketed his hips, and her belly was pressed against his. Her large breasts were crushed against his hard chest, and his hands were softly stroking along the tops of her thighs, his palms warm against her skin.

  It felt amazing.

  Breaking their kiss, Scott leaned down to skim his mouth up the side of her throat. His lips briefly kissed Frederica’s chin, her jaw, even her earlobe before they returned to her mouth, capturing her eager lips with his own. Scott’s tongue found its way into Frederica’s mouth again, and he kissed her in roughly the same rhythm as the roll of Frederica’s hips against his own.

  Lust twisted through her, a tight spiral through her core that made Frederica groan, breaking their kiss.

  Scott lay back then, watching through hooded eyes as his hands worked Frederica’s skirt up the length of her thighs. Liking it – and loving the way that he touched her – Frederica helpfully knelt up on her knees so that he could get the skirt up over the curve of her butt.

  Rubbing his thumb over the star on the front of her hip, he said, sounding amused, “Hearts and shooting stars on your panties?”

  “Hey, I think they’re cute,” retorted Frederica.

  “Baby, I’m gonna make you see stars before I’m done with you,” he said, tracing his fingers along the elastic edge of her panties. “And there aint gonna be nothing cute about it.”

  Under his stroking fingers, Frederic shivered and her hips canted forward to give him better access to other places – lower places.

  Bravely, she said, “I don’t know about that. You’re pretty cute yourself, mister,” and then caught her breath as Scott’s hand passed so close to her folds that she could feel the warmth radiating from his fingers against her most sensitive place. By absolutely no coincidence, it was also the place on her body that she most wanted him to touch.

  Chuckling, Scott followed the line of elastic further back until his hand was settled firmly between her thighs, the heel of his hand resting against the top of her slit.

  He lightly pressed his hand against her, and Frederica’s hips jolted forward. She caught her breath at the pleasure of it, but Scott chose that same moment to reach past the elastic of her leg hole to dip his fingers into her wet folds, and all of Frederica’s breath whooshed out of her. At the feel of his fingers gently stroking her there, Frederica moaned, nearly soundlessly. She didn’t have enough breath in her lungs for anything louder, and it felt so good.

  And it had been so long since she had last felt desired and sexy. But looking down into Scott’s face as he fingered her, there could be no doubt about it: he found her sexy as hell.

  Scott pressed two fingers into her channel and then a third, fingering her, stretching her, making Frederica gasp and whimper as she rocked forward onto his thrusting fingers.

  At the same time, Frederica was clawing at his belt and buttons, because as good as his fingers felt, she could think of something that would feel better still inside of her. That it was so hard that she could see its outline through his pants was a happy incentive to get his damn pants off – or at least down. At that point, Frederica wasn’t feeling super picky.

  His belt finally came undone, his fly parted, and Frederica reached into the front of his boxer to guide his erection out.

  At the feel of her hand closing around his hardest flesh, Scott moaned, his hips surging up against his hand.

  Smirking, Frederica stroked him once and then again before letting him go, allowing his erection to rest against his flat belly. Looking down at him, Frederica realized that not only was Scott very well endowed, his erection was also surprisingly pretty. It was thick and long enough that its flared head rested snugly against his belly button, precum forming a light sheen across his outie. And it was smooth, save for the thick vein that ran along the underside of his erection.

  Under her assessing gaze, Scott’s dick twitched.

  This is the best idea that I ever had, thought Frederica happily. She might literally cry if Scott took his pretty, erect penis and went home now. She definitely would have sulked.

  Fortunately, Scott showed no signs of wanting to take his dick and go home. Instead, he fished a condom out of his wallet and rolled it on, hiding all that smooth, flushed skin from her view. Frederica missed it – but not for long.

  Scott pulled the crotch of her underwear aside, stitches popping as he guided the tip of his dick to her entrance. Gratefully, Frederica sank down on it in, both of them groaning as his erection stretched her sheath around itself.

  For a breathless moment, Frederica held perfectly still, allowing her body to adjust to the sudden intrusion. Then she slowly rolled her hips, her nerve endings lighting up at the sensation that produced.

  “Sweet,” breathed Frederica, and Scott laughed breathlessly at her dated slang. To punish him – and to reward herself for being so cool – Frederica did it again.

  Frederica set up a long, rolling rhythm for herself, one that Scott’s hips rose to meet in short, sharp thrusts that knocked little gasps and moans out of her. At the same time, his hands seemed to be everywhere: squeezing her breasts, thumbing her clit, cupping the back of her neck and urging her down into a breathless kiss.

  In no time at all, Frederica had lost her lazy rhythm in favor of a shorter, sharper one. She bounced on Scott’s dick, her hands braced against his strong chest and her thighs burning as she chased the elusive edge of her orgasm.

  “I can’t –” she gasped. “I need –”

  Frederica groaned as Scott’s hands settled on her hips, lifting her up and pulling her back down, hard, onto his next powerful thrust.

  “Yes! Yes, that! I need that!”

  He fucked up into Frederica hard and fast and deep, driving her relentlessly towards orgasm.

  A hand left her hip, and Scott’s fingers briefly fluttered around the place where they were joined, softly stroking her sensitive clit, and Frederica’s back bowed as she came on a breathless cry that was more breath than cry. The edges of her vision whited out, and her entire body clenching around him., as rolling waves of orgasm crashed through her.

  Under her hands, Scott’s chest heaved and his breath hissed between his teeth, the sound as much a warning as the whistle of a tea kettle.

  In another heartbeat, Frederica found herself on her back, the mattress’ springs squealing at their sudden change in position. Scott was pistoning into her, his hips losing their rhythm as he came, broken half syllables falling out of his mouth and his cock swelling inside of her.

  When he was done, Scott collapsed against her, his head pressed against her heaving chest. He was hot, and they were both sweaty, but Frederica found that she didn’t mind. She liked the weight, the solidness of him, reminding her that she was still in this body even though she still felt like she was flying.

  And he was warm. That was good too.

  After a time, Scott pulled his softening member out of her, and Frederica whined tiredly at the loss. She had liked being joined with him. She had never felt closer to anyone than she had with Scott while he was inside of her.

  Huffing a laugh, Scott pressed a kiss to Frederica’s temple then clambered out of bed to disappear into the bathroom. When he reappeared, he toed off his shoes, kicked off his pants, and peeled off his socks.

  As Frederica watched, Scott reached behind his neck with one hand to pull his shirt off over his head in a single practiced movement. Frederica’s mouth went dry.

  �
��Urk,” said Frederica – it was honestly the most intelligent thing that she could think to say under the circumstances – and Scott laughed.

  “Flatterer,” he accused as he rejoined her on the bed.

  It was better than him thinking her an idiot.

  Settling next to her, Scott ran a hand through Frederica’s hair. It felt nice, so Frederica leaned into his gentle touch, humming with pleasure.

  “Shower?” Scott asked presently. “I saw a lot of clean towels in there.”

  “Really?” inquired Frederica, mostly idly, although if she got in the shower with Scott, he might let her wash his back. Frederica found that she very much wanted to wash his back.

  “Got any of those little soaps and conditioners?”

  “Fistfuls,” promised Scott.

  Well, that clenched it.

  Groaning, Frederica pushed herself into sitting upright. She clambered off the bed, ungainly in her rumpled suit now that the sex was over. Frederica wrenched her blouse over her head and reached behind herself to undo her bra, her fingers fumbling when Scott knelt at her feet, all big and beautiful and naked, to help slide her feet out of her shoes.

  “Are you going to shower like that?” asked Scott, smirking up at her, and Frederica suddenly realized how much undressing she hadn’t done. She had been too busy watching Scott. Again.

  Popping the clasp on her bra, Frederica shrugged out of it. She had to unroll her skirt from its place around her waist, but after that it was the work of a moment to unzip her skirt and let gravity do the rest.

  Frederica didn’t think to be self-conscious until she had already shimmied out of her underwear. Then, as naked as the day that she was born, it struck her that while Scott’s body was perfect and handsome and muscular, she wasn’t any of those things.

  She wasn’t flabby, but she was curvy with boobs that really did require a bra, and she wasn’t the least bit tanned. Frederica wasn’t fat, but she didn’t have a perfectly flat stomach either, not like Scott. No one’s mouth was going to go dry over her.