Ryan raised a blond eyebrow. “That true?”
Leslie bit her lip. “Yes. I mean, I know him.”
Ryan shook his head slightly and walked forward to take Kylie from the other man’s arms. He did it smoothly and assertively and the other man let go with a shrug. Then Ryan hugged his small burden tight to his chest. She snuggled in.
Leslie only wished the other woman was awake to see Ryan acting like this. Maybe they had more of a chance than she thought. Ryan was sure acting like a man protecting what was his. So why was he so cold to her when she was awake? He was a puzzle.
“I’ll drive her. If she got drunk here, she’s the lodge’s liability.”
“That’s really not…” Rex scratched his head and looked at Leslie. “Is that okay?”
Janna stepped forward alongside Ryan. “It’s fine, I’ll go with you. Leslie, didn’t you still have some stuff you needed to do?” Janna gave her a meaningful look, as if she needed to be reminded to go see Riley and get her stuff back.
And maybe get him back.
Ryan was waiting for her to answer. She shook her head. “She’s right, I have something to do. I’ll get a ride down later.”
“With him?” Ryan asked, narrowing his eyes at Rex. What was up with that? Why did everyone, at least everyone with the last name Hart, not seem to like or trust Rex?
“I don’t know.” She didn’t want to talk about needing to see Riley. She didn’t even know if she was ready to yet. Maybe she needed some liquid courage first.
“I’ll make sure she gets home,” Rex said, sliding an arm around her shoulders. She grated her teeth, a little tired of men determining what she did.
She shrugged his arm off, earning a surprised stare from both men. “I’ll make sure I get home safe,” she said. “Or I’ll get a room at the lodge.” She folded her arms and cocked one hip out. “But thanks, Ryan, I’m glad you’re taking Kylie home. She’d like that.” She gave him a knowing look and he looked away, not meeting her eyes.
“Does Riley know you’re up here?” he asked. “With him?”
“It’s not his business what I do,” she said.
Ryan looked surprised at that, raising one arched, blond eyebrow, but then he nodded. “All right. When I’m back, if you need a ride, you got one.”
She nodded and walked with them until the lodge valet pulled up Ryan’s Range Rover.
She waved them off, and when they were driving away, with Kylie safely buckled in beside Ryan, she let out a sigh of relief.
“Just us, then?” Rex asked. “Works for me.”
Leslie looked up at him. “I’m not sure I’m very good company right now.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing a little bit of wine couldn’t fix,” she said with a sigh.
“Well, I’m happy to help you take care of that. And definitely here to listen. I only get to see you like once a year, so I have to get all my Leslie at once.”
She smiled at that. “Okay. We can talk for a bit then.” A part of her wanted to procrastinate seeing Riley anyway.
When they were seated in a booth at the lodge restaurant, nursing glasses of wine, Rex gave her a questioning glance. “Is this about the guy that was in the bar today?”
She looked up in surprised. “How did you know?”
“You aren’t your normally sassy self, and I saw the way he looked at you, and me, today.”
“He was a little aggressive, wasn’t he?”
“He was just watching out for what was his.”
“I’m not his,” she said.
“Really?” he asked, a slight grin turning up the corners of his mouth. He really was a fairly handsome man. A pointed, prominent chin, high cheekbones, thin face. He was muscled and tan, though the tan was a pretty unconvincing tone. He was wearing a navy blazer over a tee shirt and jeans, almost something that looked like it belonged more at a club than at a small restaurant in a tourist town.
Then again, she’d gone out with the girls in a black wrap top and skinny jeans, so she wasn’t one to talk.
But there wasn’t the same chemistry between them that she had with Riley. She knew instinctively that he’d never be able to take her to the heights of ecstasy that Riley had.
She ran a finger along the tip of her wine glass. “Really.”
Rex leaned back in the booth with folded arms. “Hm. I wouldn’t have guessed that. You two are kind of a good pair, if you know what I mean…”
“What do you mean?” she asked, not following at all.
“You know, because you’re both…” he trailed off, waiting for her to catch on. He looked around, as if making sure no one else could hear. “You know…” She shook her head and his eyes went wide. “Wait, you don’t know?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He thumped his fist on the table a few times. “I wonder if he does know, then. If not, that’d be hilarious. I could tell his brother picked up on it immediately. Something must be wrong with your guy’s nose. And yours.”
“Our noses?” she asked.
He leaned forward on his hand, an easy smile on his face, his wavy brown hair overshadowing part of one eye. “Nah, I don’t think I’m going to tell you. Or him. It gives me the advantage. I just think the whole thing is hilarious. Makes it easier for me, though.”
“Easier for what?”
“To do this,” he said, leaning forward as if to kiss her.
She dodged, pulling to the side and putting up a hand to push him back. “Wait, Rex, I think you’ve got the wrong idea. I’m not really looking for anything like that right now.”
“I don’t think you understand,” he said. “I’ve been coming through town for years, always stopping to see you. You had to know I was planning to make a move at some point.”
“No,” she said. “I didn’t. Honestly, Rex, you aren’t really my type. Plus, I’m just getting out of something. It’s complicated.”
He stood and slid into her side of the booth, crowding her. He put a hand up to her hair and she batted it away. “Don’t fight me.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” she asked, batting his hand again. “I think you’ve had too much wine. There’s nothing between us, Rex. There won’t be, either, if you act like this.”
He sat back slightly, tilting his head. “Don’t you understand? I’m like you.”
She gaped at him. “What?”
“You know,” he said, risking another look around them to make sure no one was around. “A bear.”
* * *
Riley lay on his bed in the deluxe lodge he’d rented for him and Leslie, flipping through the channels on the TV, restless for girls’ night to be over so that he could look forward to Leslie coming to visit him to pick up her stuff.
He was already in full-on get-Leslie-back mode, and he’d do whatever it took, seduction, promises, to get a chance to make it up to her.
He’d come to a conclusion while he’d been there in the room alone, going over the week they’d had together. Going over everything from the moment he first saw her smile, bright and flirtatious, from the balcony when he’d first walked into the lodge.
It all had been so warm, so fun, the best time of his life, but more than that.
He wanted her, his bear wanted her, and he couldn’t picture a life without her.
He still knew he could never show her his bear, but he had thought of a way around it. A way he could commit to her and let her know he was never letting her go, and yet not have to worry about hurting her the way he had hurt his innocent mother.
He’d just never let her know he was a bear. He’d kept his bear hidden long enough that it shouldn’t be a problem.
His phone vibrated on the bed next to him, and his heart jumped at the thought that it might be her. He grabbed it and flipped it open.
“It’s Ryan,” the voice on the other side said.
Riley sighed and flopped back down on the bed. “Fine.”
“Wow, no need to sound so excited,” Ryan muttered. Riley looked at the time on the clock. Wasn’t it a little late for girl time? Maybe he should get off the phone with Ryan and go check up on her.
No, that was called stalking. He frowned.
“What’s up?” he asked his brother.
“Thought you should know, I ran into Janna and the girls tonight.”
“As in, all three of them?”
“Yup,” he said. “I just dropped Kylie off at her place with Janna.”
Riley’s blood went icy. “Where’s Leslie?”
“Last I saw her, she was going off with some bear. I thought you should probably go check on that.”
“A bear?” He sat bolt upright. “What do you mean?”
“Some skeevy dude with a fake tan. I’m guessing a grizzly, or something big, from his scent. Leslie didn’t seem to pick up on it.”
“Why would she? She’s a human, and I didn’t even pick up on it.”
There was silence on the line, and then a long sigh from Ryan. “So, do you even scent my bear scent? Or Ryder’s?”
“No,” Riley said. “No, I don’t.”
“Damn, bro. What happened to you?”
Riley sighed, wanting the conversation to be over so he could go see Leslie. “It doesn’t matter.”
“No, it does. Leslie can wait, I told Ryder to keep an eye on things, and he said they’re just at the restaurant bar together. But what the fuck happened to you as a kid? You stopped being your bear. You stopped acknowledging you were a bear.”
“I didn’t.”
“You did,” Ryan said accusingly. “After Mom died.”
Riley let out a long sigh as tears stung his eyes. The memory came back vividly. Scampering around the corner in cub form, expecting his mother to think he was cute, swipe him up, want to hold him. Instead, she’d screamed, backed against the door, run away, started the car.
And then the phone call. His dad screaming. His brothers crying. Him, alone in his room, wondering what about him was so monstrous.
Now he knew why their dad had never shown their mom what they were. Why their dad had made them swear not to change in front of her.
But Riley had never been great at following rules. So, as soon as he’d been old enough to shift, he’d wanted to show her. She was his mom, after all. He swiped away a tear, feeling stupid for crying now, after all these years, in his room alone.
“I don’t know what to say,” he said. “It was my fault.”
“That’s bullshit,” Ryan said. “What happened? You’re going to have to tell us what happened that night. We know something went down, we’re not stupid. You locked up after that, more than any of us. Totally traumatized.”
“I broke the rules,” Riley choked out. “I shifted, and…”
“You know that’s not why she crashed, right?” Ryan said, his voice firm but gentle.
“No, I know it’s why she did.”
“She was hit by a drunk driver, Riley. It wasn’t the way she was driving.”
“She wouldn’t have gone out if it weren’t for me.”
“Maybe she would have. She often went on drives when Dad was…gone.”
“I know,” he said. “I just know Leslie deserves better than a damn bear that killed his mother.”
“Look, that’s some serious trauma. But you’ll have worse trauma if you let a prime bear mate get away from you because you refuse to face and get through it.”
“Prime mate for a bear, you mean?”
Ryan hesitated. “Sure, that’s what I mean.” But he didn’t sound like he meant it. What did he know that Riley didn’t? “Plus, you know, bears are territorial. If you aren’t claiming her, I’m betting that Rex is planning to.”
“I don’t know, he’s been through town a few times, and they’ve never hooked up.”
“Probably just sowing wild oats before settling down. She’d make an awesome mate, Riley. Built like a—”
“You say it, and I’ll punch you.”
“Anyway, Mom’s death wasn’t your fault. And you saw Janna and Ryder. Are you just going to let your selective memory only remember the relationships that went bad? Not every woman would run, Riley. I have a feeling Janna wouldn’t.”
“Hm.”
“Well, while you’re thinking about it, you might want to head over to the bar. Ryder says they’re heading out.”
Shit. “Yeah. See you, bro. And thanks.”
“Sure, now get out there and get your mate,” Ryan said.
Riley hung up. It felt odd and achy to acknowledge her as such, but she was his mate. He couldn’t fight it anymore. She’d always been pushing him farther than anyone else. He needed to let her know that. Put himself out there.
He just wouldn’t show her his bear. He could give her anything but that.
He slid on his jacket and got ready to head out.
* * *
At Rex’s announcement that he was a bear, Leslie’s eyes flew wide open, and she clapped a hand over his mouth. “We can’t talk about that here.”
“Of course we can. As usual, humans are too dumb to see what’s right in front of their faces.”
“Go sit on your side of the booth and maybe we’ll talk. I can’t think when you’re close,” she said.
He did, reluctantly. He intertwined his fingers and leaned over the table. “I’ve been watching you, Leslie. Female bears are extremely rare, you know?”
Her heart beat rapidly in her chest. “So?”
“So, you should probably mate with a male bear, keep the bear race going.”
“I…” She shook her head, letting her curls bounce around her face. “No. Never a bear.”
“Why not?”
“My father was a bear. He left us.”
He nodded. “We do tend to be wanderers.” He leaned back in the booth again, appraising her. “But there are ways around that. I’d be willing to mate claim you for the chance of mating with a female bear.”
“Mate claiming?”
“You know, sealing it as just the two of us, forever. You don’t know what that is?”
She shook her head. “My mom isn’t big on talking about shifter stuff.”
“I’ve never met your mom,” he said. “Why is that?”
“I never take people to see my mom,” she said. She didn’t even visit that often. Once a week she took dinner over, and they watched TV together. She’d always be grateful to her mom for sending her to college, for doing the grueling job of waitressing when she was raising Leslie alone. But she’d never been emotionally open or supportive, more likely to rant about men and remind Leslie how bleak the world was and how much you couldn’t trust people.
She couldn’t blame her mom for feeling that way, but it wasn’t a happy thing to be around.
That’s why she was glad she ran a bar. She got all the human interaction she could want, and then she had her girlfriends for a little more personal interaction.
But it wasn’t until she met Riley that she realized how bleak things really were. The flings with tourists, the avoidance of relationships. She was becoming her mom, if she didn’t do something to stop it.
Even Riley, she’d pushed him away over seemingly nothing, just so she didn’t get hurt. She hadn’t asked him why he couldn’t commit, or if he was ready to. In fact, he’d looked like he was about to ask her something, and now maybe she’d never know what that was.
She stood up suddenly, placing her hands on the table. She wanted Riley. A home with him. Running the bar with him when he wasn’t on a movie shoot. Flying out to him in Los Angeles, if that’s what it took.
She knew it was fast, knew it made less sense and had been shorter than even some of the flings she’d had, but he’d come into her life for a reason, and she meant to take advantage of that fact. Plus, when he made love to her, it was like there was no one else in the world but them. That had to count for something, didn’t it?
“I’m sorry,” she said, slinging he
r purse over her shoulder. “But I have something I have to do.” No more stalling.
Rex nodded and stood, his face reluctant but resigned. “All right. I understand. You have to go to him?”
“I do.”
He shrugged and stood with her. “I understand. He seems like a catch. I’ll go with you.”
She eyed him warily. “That’s not really necessary.”
“Oh, I think it is.”
She walked ahead and out of the main lodge in the direction of the one she shared with Riley. It was cold, and she had only a light snow jacket on, but the boots she wore with her skinny jeans would keep her warm on the short walk over to the cabin. And she’d be warm once she got inside. So warm.
As they walked the narrow, packed-down path to the cabin, Rex kept veering slightly, edging her away from the path.
“What… What are you doing?” she asked, trying to get around him.
He subtly caged her off. She was a tall, curvaceous woman, but he had a few inches on her and a whole lot of muscle. She tried to see over him, to the cabin that wasn’t far away, but he blocked her off. His face was impassive but he wouldn’t move out of the way. She tried to get around him, like a basketball player trying to dribble past a guard, but he was too quick. He backed her around a tree, farther away from the cabin, and she darted to run around the other side, but when she got there, he was there.
In bear form.
Damn.
“You know, we Kodiak bears are always surprised by how socially inept the rest of you bears are. I mean, we get that resources are sparse, and you don’t get to interact with each other a lot, but even with shifters being rare, it’s really no excuse for how inept you guys are.”
“What?” she said, bristling. She thought about transforming into her bear, but it was much smaller than his.
“Go ahead and transform,” he said. “It’s easer that way.”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t want to mate you.”
He shrugged his large, brown, shaggy bear shoulders. “We can do it like in the wild, where I just follow you around and fight off any other male until you agree to mate me.” He took another step, forcing her up toward the snowy mountain. She didn’t see a way around him.
Bearlebrity: (BWWM) Paranormal BBW Bear Shifter Romance Standalone Page 11
