The Bear Treatment

  Evernight Publishing ®

  www.evernightpublishing.com

  Copyright© 2014 Doris O’Connor

  ISBN: 978-1-77233-025-0

  Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

  Editor: Karyn White

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  To all my lovely readers who wanted another Bear Shifter.

  THE BEAR TREATMENT

  The Projects, 4

  Doris O’Connor

  Copyright © 2014

  Chapter One

  "Come on, stop stalling. Let's do this."

  Louisa threw an apologetic glance to the muscle bound hunk standing guard at the entrance to The Spa with a Difference, and allowed herself to be dragged into the plush looking foyer. She managed to close her mouth just in time as the heavily made up brunette behind the big oval shaped marble desk in the entrance hall smiled up at them.

  "Can I help you ladies?" the woman asked, and Louisa wanted the ground to swallow her up.

  This place was way out of her league, even if she didn't sign up for any of their special treatments.

  Before she could make her excuses and hightail it out of there, Cassie elbowed her in the ribs and slid their day passes across the smooth counter top.

  "Yes, you can. I believe these entitle us to whatever treatment we want, and Louisa here will definitely try out your wax treatments. Luke Masterton is my cousin, and he said to mention that when we come up."

  Hell no, Luke? If Cassie's shifter cousin was involved that could only mean one thing, and whilst the mere thought made Louisa's pussy clench, there was no way she was ready to make fantasy into reality. Not here, not now, anyway.

  "Cassie, really, what if I don't want any special treatments." Louisa mumbled the words through gritted teeth, but her impossible friend just giggled.

  "Oh, trust me, chicken, you will want them all once you've got a taste of them. And the guy who does the wax is just to die for."

  Cassie wriggled her eyebrows in exaggerated fashion, and Louisa rolled her eyes.

  "You say that about everyone, as long as they have their own teeth and—"

  "And know what to do with their cock," Cassie interjected, and Louisa almost choked. She knew her face must be crimson by now, and she daren't look up to see how the woman at reception reacted to this.

  To the receptionist's credit, she didn't seem fazed at all when she spoke and passed them both a clipboard each.

  "Those passes are indeed in order. If you take a seat in the waiting area and fill in the required paperwork, I'll have some refreshments brought to you. Mr. Masterton asked to be informed when you redeemed these passes, so he could give this matter his personal attention."

  "Oh, how sweet of him," Cassie replied and then pulled Louisa along to the comfortable leather seating arrangement in the far corner of the lobby.

  Something about the tone of her voice sent a shiver of apprehension down Louisa's spine, and once seated she fixed her friend with her best fess up what the hell have you done now stare.

  The arrival of coffee interrupted them for a minute, but Louisa could be just as stubborn as the next person.

  "What have you done, Cassie? Why are we really here?"

  Cassie batted her baby blues at Louisa and shrugged her shoulders.

  "You wanted to do something outrageous, and lord knows you needed cheering up after that goof bag dumped you, so this is it. When I told Luke it was for you, he coughed those passes up faster than you can say spanking."

  She laughed at her own joke, and Louisa picked up the forms with an impending sense of doom.

  Sure enough, there was the required medical form and consent form, and her ears burnt hot at the myriad of personal questions.

  "I know what you're thinking, chicken, but Luke runs a tight ship here, and everything is perfectly safe. Trust me. You'll enjoy it."

  ****

  An hour later, Louisa felt anything but safe. Her heart was trying to go into cardiac arrest, and she found it difficult to draw air into her lungs. Dressed in nothing but a soft toweling robe, she followed the young woman leading her away from the showers and to the treatment room.

  Was she really going to do this? Fortunately, there had been no sign of Luke Masterton himself, despite the receptionist's statement. Seeing the object of all her secret fantasies would have pushed Louisa over the edge. He was so way out of her league it wasn't even real. Not only because he was very much a Dom, but also because Louisa didn't have the first clue how to be what he looked for in a woman. After all, he would no doubt want to settle with another shifter like himself.

  Somehow she didn't think a smart mouthed, overweight, thirty-something, fresh out of yet another failed relationship, screw-up like her, would be his idea of the perfect submissive.

  Still, this place would give her a taste of wax play, without any commitment on her part, and that was the only reason why Louisa was going through with Cassie's crazy scheme. It had nothing at all to do with the man who not only owned the hotel chain that housed this spa, but also the well-known fetish club that Cassie waitressed in. Oh no, not at all.

  Soft lighting greeted her when her guide ushered her through a door. The heavily padded massage table in the center of the room gave Louisa renewed palpitations. This was really happening.

  "If you could remove your robe, please, and lie face down on the table, your treatment will commence shortly." The woman smiled at her and gestured to the table. "I know we have been through this, but you have showered, and removed all trace of make-up, perfume, and body lotions?"

  Louisa swallowed nervously and nodded, and then dropped the robe and clambered onto the table before she lost her nerve.

  "Very well. Sir will be with you shortly. Just relax now."

  A heavy towel was draped over her ass, and Louisa took a deep breath to calm her nerves. A blindfold was next, as Louisa had requested. She just knew she would be less embarrassed if she couldn't see the person who would have to put up with all her wobbly bits on display.

  As per the rules she was to call the person in charge of her session “Sir”, and she had been given a set of safe words just like in the books she'd read.

  Red, yellow, and green.

  Red would stop everything immediately, yellow, if she needed a breather, and green to signal she was okay.

  It really was the oddest spa experience ever. Cassie had assured her that there was a range of other treatments available, the vast majority of them perfectly vanilla, but for the chosen few who wanted to experience a taste of the lifestyle, these sessions made the perfect introductions.

  And that was exactly what Louisa wanted, wasn't it? An introduction—to see if she really found all of this to be as much a turn on as she thought it would be—without the ridicule her last boyfriend had subjected her to, when she'd suggested they add some kink to the bedroom.

  Louisa snorted in disgust at the memories and the most unladylike sound must have masked the opening of the door, because a very male, amused chuckle, sent tingles of awareness over her naked skin.

  "I would love to know what you find so amusing right now, pet."

  Louisa shook her head and balled her hands into fists. No, no, no, dammit, no! Why was he here? If jumping off this table wouldn't mean the man who now put a large hand behin
d her neck and gently pushed her back down, would get an embarrassing, full frontal view of her over generous curves, Louisa would already have been halfway down the corridor by now.

  "Lu-uke, is that you?"

  She struggled to raise her torso up, but the pressure on her back increased.

  "Sir to you, while we're in this scene, pet." There was no mistaking the edge of command behind those few words, and Louisa didn't dare move. Luke's voice had dropped an octave to what she'd always called in her head his “Dom voice”. Not that she had ever been at the receiving end of it, until now.

  The thought that she was sent a rush of moisture along her pussy lips, and she prayed with all her might that the towel wouldn't slip. She would never be able to look him in the eyes again, if he noticed. Oh, who was she kidding? She wouldn't anyway, not if he was actually going through with this scene.

  "Much better." He murmured the words, and the pressure on her back turned into a soothing caress, as his calloused fingertips traced the curve of her spine. "Such a beautiful back. You should show it off more, but you're far too tense. This should be an enjoyable experience for you. Relax and trust me to take care of you, Lou."

  The childhood endearment he used to call her all the time when they were little, should have grated, but instead it had the opposite effect on her. Delivered in that deep, sensual murmur, it was almost like a physical caress, as his voice dripped into her consciousness like molten chocolate.

  He added his other hand and stroked up and down her back in slow, ever widening circles, which nudged her awareness of him up another notch. She jumped when his fingertips briefly caressed the underside of her breasts, as he stroked along her sides, and Luke murmured an apology.

  He didn't move his fingers, however, and her breasts grew heavy and tingly, as she waited for his next move.

  "Breathe, Lou. I won't do anything you don't want me to."

  Louisa drew a much needed breath into her lungs and then blinked in the light, as Luke pulled the blindfold off her face. How had he moved so quickly? Sitting on his haunches in front of her, he cupped her chin and smiled at her.

  "I will put this back on if you want me to, but I needed to see you, Lou. Why are you here? Tell me the truth now."

  The tender concern she read in his amber eyes held her spellbound, and his smile deepened as heat crept into her cheeks, and she couldn't get the words past the lump of apprehension in her throat.

  "I-I … well, I…"

  She licked her dry lips, and Luke's gaze dropped down to that action. His fingers on her chin tightened imperceptibly, and he took a deep breath, as though to calm himself. As quickly as he'd moved before, he straightened, and Louisa's world tilted a little when she saw the ridge of his cock straining against the button fly of his jeans. He turned slightly to adjust himself and ran a hand through his chestnut hair. He needed a trim, and that action made all his hair stand up in a devilishly sexy way, which made him look as though he'd just tumbled out of bed.

  Louisa just about managed to bite back her moan of feminine appreciation, but hells bells, was he turned on by her or just this situation? Surely for an experienced man like him this wouldn't be a big deal, unless…

  "You always thought too much, Lou, even when we were little." Luke turned fully and this time didn't even try to hide his erection. Belatedly she remembered to wrench her gaze up to his face, and the heat in his eyes sent delicious shivers of anticipation across her body.

  "This," he gestured to his groin with a self-depreciating smirk. "This doesn't mean I'm going to jump you, no matter how much seeing you like this turns me on. Today is about you, not me, or my needs."

  A gasp escaped her, and Luke shook his head.

  "Like I said, you think too much, and never see what's right under your nose."

  Something in the tone of his voice made her heart skip a beat, and she had to ask him to clarify that.

  "What do you mean by that?"

  "I mean, that I thought all my Christmases had come at once when Cassie mentioned that you'd finally broken up with that asshole, and she was dragging you here for some R&R, so to speak. Christ, babe, you have no idea, do you? And then when Bridget rang up to say you'd booked the wax treatments, wild horses wouldn't have kept me away. No other man, trusted member of my staff or not, was going to see your beautiful body covered in wax, and make you fly. No fucking way."

  He stopped speaking and glared at the floor, arms crossed against his chest. He looked utterly furious and so incredibly sexy that it took all of Louisa's willpower to not jump him there and then.

  The silence stretched between them, heavy and oppressive, and Luke cursed again.

  "Fuck it, Lou, have I just ballsed everything up even more? I swore to myself I wouldn't risk our friendship, that you'd never be interested in the lifestyle. After all you were horrified when Cassie started waitressing at the club, but then you do this, and … damn it, woman, say something, anything, even if it's to tell me that I lost my fucking mind and you're simply here for a Brazilian wax."

  Louisa burst out laughing at that. She couldn't help it. A Brazilian indeed.

  "Been there, done that, going again in a month's time, so, no, I'm not here for that," she said, and the strangled sound Luke made in the back of his throat did wonders for her fragile confidence.

  "Have mercy, Lou, you're killing me here." His wink tempered that statement somewhat, and he stepped closer until he could perch his butt on the edge of the table. A shiver went through her when he walked his fingers slowly down her spine until he reached the edge of the towel covering her ass. She held her breath, half expecting him to lift the towel and to check if what she said was true, but he grasped her ass through the towel indeed, and squeezed her butt cheeks.

  "Have I ever told you what a fantastic ass you've got, or how many hours sleep I've lost fantasizing about it, even as a horny teen?"

  "Why did you never—"

  "Make a move?" Luke interrupted her, and she heard the smile in his voice. "Back then, because Cassie would have had my guts for garters, and besides you don't hit on your cousin's best friend. Especially not when you used to pull her pigtails, and, then you come back from boarding school and she's suddenly sprouted curves to die for."

  Louisa turned slightly to be able to see his expression, and he looked as though he was lost in thought. He grinned at her when he noticed and shrugged his shoulders.

  "Besides, you only gave me the death stare, so I thought you hated me."

  Louisa rolled her eyes, earning herself a quick swat to her ass that made her moan, and Luke's eyes glittered in triumph.

  "Like that, I see, pet?" The quick jump into his Dom persona confused her for a second, but then he spanked her ass a few more times, and she simply closed her eyes and absorbed the hot sensations covering her butt cheeks. A much harder swat really stung and she yelped.

  "I asked you a question. Give me a color now."

  "Green, Luke. I mean, Sir."

  "Good girl. So, now that we have cleared up a few misunderstandings, mainly that I'm a dumb male who should have made a move on you years ago, shall we proceed with the wax?"

  Her heartbeat picked up, and she suddenly found it hard to breathe, let alone form words, so she simply nodded. He must have seen her reaction, because he kissed her shoulder and lifted her hair out of the way.

  "As much as I love your long hair this is in the way. They should have told you to tie it up out of the way." He whispered the words into her ear. Louisa groaned when he licked along the shell of her ear, and then bit down slightly on the soft flesh and seemed to sniff her. It was a curious action to make and a reminder of who he really was that sent her heart into overdrive. Not that it made any difference right now. With a humongous struggle Louisa forced her mind to the here and now and his question. What had he asked?

  "They did, I just forgot." She grimaced at the breathy quality of her voice and tried again. "There is a hair bobble in the robe."

  In the blink of
an eye, Luke moved to grab it, and then he was back and fastened her hair into a side ponytail for her.

  "You've done this before," she said, and Luke laughed.

  "Once or twice, pet. Wax play happens to be one of my favorites, and as I rather like women with long hair, I may have got some practice in making sure their locks are safe."

  An unreasonable stab of jealousy poked Louisa in the belly, and she tensed. He noticed of course, and grasping her ponytail yanked her head up and around until she had to look at him.

  "Still thinking too much, pet. Time to get you out of your thoughts. I'm going to put that blindfold on you now, because it will help with that. From now on, I just want you to feel. If it gets too much use your safewords."

  She swallowed hard and whispered her assent, and then the world went black.

  Nervousness was now replaced with anticipation. Blood rushed in her ears as she listened to his movements around the room. The sound of a flick of a lighter caused her to take a deep breath, and then there was the slight air movement before something touched her shoulder.

  "Relax, that's just my hand. Breathe through the initial pain, and let the sensation follow, pet."

  The first few drops of the wax stung, and Louisa flinched and tried to move away, but his hand between her shoulder blades stopped her.

  Gradually the sting faded, to be replaced by heated awareness, and Louisa relaxed into the feel of the wax. It seemed to burn hotter, as Luke drew patterns across her skin, up and down her back, until he moved he towel and let the wax drip down her inner thighs. Instinctively, she opened her legs wider, and he murmured his encouragement. His fingers grazed her wet slit, and Louisa moaned long and hard as some of the wax dripped over her sensitive folds.

  "You're so beautiful, pet, and so responsive. Here, see how wet you are for me."

  Through the haze of desire and the myriad of sensations assaulting her, his deep voice registered, and she opened her mouth at the insistent touch of his thumb.