Jessie, Cody, and the cubs had found the house on Everly street after a few rather chaotic weeks of living in Cody’s suite. But that had never been a long term solution and they had both known it and the cabin was too small and had no electricity and also wasn’t theirs.
Jessie suspected it had been strange for Cody to move out of the lodge and away from his brothers, even if the house was just a couple miles away. But it had all been exciting too. The house was a little bit of a fixer-upper but Cody had plenty of money for the renovations. It was three stories; an old sort of manor in the middle of Colorado. There were eight bedrooms and a spacious yard with grass and enough room for the swing set Cody wanted to buy for the kids.
It had been a couple of months, and Jessie still felt they were settling in. There was always something new she had to get for the house or some small thing that needed fixing but she found joy in it all. And she wasn’t sorry when Cody suggested she quit her job at the lodge. To stay home with the cubs, at least while Sophie and the twins were still so small, sounded like the greatest idea since sliced bread to her. Though her life turned out to be nearly as busy as it had been before between carting the older kids to school and activities and taking the younger ones to the park or taking all of them out to the woods with Cody for a nice run in the woods.
A car honked outside and Jessie heard Eric and Lydia laughing as they walked up the drive to the door. She had found friendship with Lydia and Alanna, who came over to hang out or came over with a babysitter to drag Jessie out of her big, loud, warm home to take her out for lunch or take her for cocktails and adult conversation because she could get caught up in the kids sometimes. They were sweet and not hard to get along with and when Jessie occasionally got down on herself for being “just a homemaker” though it was what she had discovered she loved best, they were quick to talk her out of that self-deprecation.
“You rescued those kids!” Lydia said once over margaritas. “You’re a damn hero! Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!”
She was grateful for them and valued their friendship.
“Hello, Uncle Eric!” Jason came skidding into the hall and slammed into Eric who chuckled and tousled his disastrous mop of air. Jessie inwardly noted that he needed a cut as she handed Alanna the half and half and almost dropped it when Jason abruptly ran across the hallway into the kitchen and slammed into her next. He had a habit of butting people with his head when he wanted to hug them and she giggled and wrapped her arms around him until his cheeks burned red and he skipped away again. She had discovered that the kids, especially the boys, were shy when they wanted affection but they wanted it often and she was happy to give it.
“How’s this brood?” Connor blew through the door. Jessie hadn’t even heard his car pull up.
It was fall and chilly out, but Cody had just bought a fancy barbecue for their yard and he was itchy to use it so they’d bought a couple outdoor heating lamps and a patio table, and decided to throw a family barbecue. It was their first real family event at the house and Jessie had thought she would be nervous but found she was only quietly content. The house didn’t need the extra nervous energy anyway as all the kids were bouncing around with excitement, except for Molly who just wanted to do math.
“The brood’s great!” Jessie called out from the kitchen. She went out to give Connor a hug and say hello to Eric, and wondered where Cody had disappeared to.
“Every time I come here,” Connor said, as he followed her out to the yard, “it looks a little different.”
“I can’t keep still,” Jessie said, shrugging. “I never thought I’d live in a house like this and now I can’t leave it alone. I was thinking of repainting the crown molding next and then I was thinking maybe some air plants hanging in the living room. They’re so pretty in front of a window.”
“So it feels like a home,” Connor said.
“Oh, of course it does!” Jessie beamed at him and behind her, she heard a happy sigh and the scrape of a chair and then Molly was slumping against her, and Jessie knew to pat her head gently because she needed it sometimes. She smiled shyly at Jessie before she ducked away again without a word.
It wasn’t always easy with the cubs. They weren’t used to other kids and sometimes Chris in particular acted out at school or started fights, but he was still nothing like the sleuth he had come from, and Jessie was confident that would improve. Sometimes the kids still had nightmares about their old days too and Jessie and Cody had to keep their bedroom unlocked so the cubs knew they could come in for comfort even if it was three in the morning. Sometimes that meant that intimacy was hard to come by but Jessie and Cody managed to find time together where they could.
“There he is!” Jessie jogged out to the backyard where Sophie was safe in a toddler swing well away from the barbecue that Cody appeared to be playing with, studying the nobs and fiddling with charcoal briquets, although Jessie knew he would bristle if she referred to it as playing. He was all too proud of his barbecue and was talking about a dedicated stone pizza oven next.
“Hey!” Cody said brightly. Jessie slipped her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. He was wearing a very cheesy apron with a roaring bear on it and Connor just wryly shook his head when he saw it. “Take a beer,” Cody said to his brother.
Connor found one in a cooler and loitered with them and Jessie kissed Sophie on the cheek and made faces before joining the guys’ conversation.
“You got it made,” Connor said. He ran a hand through his hair, looking around the yard with its slightly wild lawn and the kiddie pool full of plastic balls Cody had just bought and the patio tables decorated with tablecloths already bearing the dishes Cody had cooked up that morning. “Cool house, cute cubs... and your mate. It’s all so fast.”
“It was fast,” Cody said, chuckling, squeezing Jessie tight. “Feels right though. It doesn’t feel like this big, jolting sudden change. It feels like this is where I’m supposed to be, ya know.”
“Yeah,” Connor said softly. “That must be nice.”
“You okay, big bro?”
Connor shrugged but he managed a smile. He was lonely. Cody had told her as much. For the last year or so he had watched all his brothers find their mates one by one. True, they had all had to fight for their loves but according to Cody, Connor was much more of a romantic than he liked to admit and if anything, he wanted somebody more than any of the rest of them had before they’d found the mates the fates intended for them.
“You’re gonna find someone,” Jessie said knowingly. “Trust me.”
“Don’t patronize me,” Connor said, but he was smiling, and Cody cuffed him on the shoulder. “Yeah, I dunno. I wish I had what you had. Weird, huh?”
“Honestly?” Cody looked at Jessie and she saw that sappy look he always got in his eyes whenever he was feeling especially squishy about his new life. “I don’t blame you at all.”
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ERIC (EXCERPT)
Strauss Bear Shifter Brothers of Colorado (Book 2)
Brittany white
1
Eric
“It’s cold out there!” The guest, still shivering and laughing as he stood in front of Eric and dusted snow off his parka, was not a bear shifter. That was fine, but it was something Eric always inwardly noted with guests. The Black Bear Lake Lodge was so popular with bear shifters who came traveling from all over the world to ski and snowboard or just sip hot toddies before going on runs in the thick woods up the mountain, that human guests were just this side of unusual. As the lodge’s concierge, Eric had a slightly different way of interacting with them. There was an understanding with other bear s
hifters and a shorthand. Human guests were just a little pickier and harder to please.
In Eric’s experience, they were also giant dorks.
Eric smiled widely at the guest and said, “It sure is. I hope the powder was good?”
“Oh yeah! Great snowboarding! Ha ha!” The human’s family appeared - three daughters and a harried looking wife, and they whirled away from the front desk and into the newly renovated dining hall as it filled up for lunch. Lunch was Cody’s job.
There were four Strauss brothers and they all ran the Black Bear Lake Lodge together, having bought it out in equal shares after finding themselves to be young and energetic bear shifters with too much money on their hands. Connor was the oldest and the alpha of their little sleuth. He ran the place as administrator. Eric was the youngest and served as concierge, handling all the guests’ requests and demands, even some that seemed ridiculous. Cody was the chef and ran the kitchen with an iron fist, and Nathan was the handyman (though he usually ended up filling more roles than that).
Nathan had lately been a hard bear shifter to find around the lodge, having met his mate, Alanna, who was pregnant with his cub now. They were still in their honeymoon period and their happiness made everything around the lodge seem brighter.
The thick of winter was hitting the ski lodge and with it, the busiest season. Families were making their ski trips just before Christmas and the snow was hitting the mountain hard. The lodge was solidly booked and that was good news, considering that some recent shenanigans with a troublesome shifter named Rawley who had gone after Alanna had just shut the entire lodge down for a few weeks following a brawl that had demolished the dining hall. They had only just gotten it up and running again and business was finally clicking along like usual.
“Hey, is your friend showing up today?” Eric’s older brother, Connor, the alpha of their sleuth, asked as he walked up and leaned on the front desk, casually taking a peppermint from the bowl that Eric kept there. “Lydia, right?”
Eric raised an eyebrow at his brother. Connor knew exactly who Lydia was. It would have been strange if he hadn’t. She had been Eric’s best friend as a kid and right up through his adolescence until she abruptly ran away. He had been closer to her than to his own brothers as a teenager, if he was honest with himself. There was no way Connor wouldn’t know her name.
“Yeah,” Eric said, tapping his pen on the calendar. “Lydia. Haven’t seen her in… I don’t know. Five years? She stopped through when we were just opening up the lodge, but we didn’t really talk then. She seemed kind of weird when she texted me though. Hope she’s alright.”
“I was always kinda surprised you guys never ended up together.” Connor sucked on his peppermint and looked down on his younger brother. Connor had a couple inches on Eric and though Eric worked out regularly and was no slouch in the muscle department, his brother was the biggest and broadest of the four Strauss boys. Yet Eric wasn’t even a little bit intimidated by the alpha (or, that’s what he told himself) and he only narrowed his eyes as Connor tried to goad him.
“So was I,” Eric said, casually shrugging. “But you remember how Mom and Dad were about it. They didn’t like her sleuth, they thought she was trouble, and bla bla bla. She took that personally. It was hard enough just to be friends. On that note…” He checked his watch and grimaced. It was time for lunch and he had not been looking forward to it. “I have to go break up with a girl.”
“Ah,” Connor nodded, leaning against the desk. Erik was surprised as Connor was usually bustling about the lodge. He always seemed endlessly busy as the administrator in charge of everything down to the snow boot rentals and the ticket taking at the gondola, especially lately as he’d had to work doubly hard to get the lodge back on track with all the renovations.
Perhaps that was why Connor seemed a little more relaxed, Eric thought. Things were finally back to normal.
“Are you breaking up with her because Lydia’s coming-” Connor started.
“No,” Eric snapped, cutting Connor off. He heaved a sigh and resisted the urge to punch his brother in the arm since his brother would only punch back harder. “It’s just not right. Doesn’t feel right.” He shrugged. “She’s not the one and I don’t want to waste her time.”
“That’s very smart of you,” Connor said, grabbing another peppermint. “How many times did you guys bang before you decided that?”
“Ugh, shut up.” Eric couldn’t help himself and punched Connor in the shoulder, refusing to so much as wince when Connor punched him back twice as hard. “I’m going to lunch.” He motioned for Lee Ann, one of the associates who worked the front desk to take over for him and made his way to one of the private dining rooms off the dining hall where Michelle had agreed to eat with him.
Eric had been dating Michelle for only three weeks. But in that time they’d gone on several dates and spent a good deal of time together. Which was how Eric knew that it was never going to work. Michelle was wildly attractive with her glossy blonde hair and high cheekbones and pouty mouth. She was both a bear shifter and a witch, which had impressed Eric upon meeting her one night in the lodge’s lounge. But there was no spark for him. Things didn’t feel right and as much as Eric felt too soft to admit it, he wanted a mate. He wanted that true love feeling and Michelle wasn’t it. At worst, Michelle gave him an unsettled feeling he couldn’t explain. But it didn’t seem fair to use that as a reason to break up with a girl.
He jogged his leg under the table and ordered himself a good bourbon neat instead of lunch. He hated the idea of breaking things off with anyone. He’d done it a few times and he always felt like a huge asshole afterwards.
I wonder if Lydia will get here soon…
He felt even more like an asshole, already thinking about another girl while he waited to break up with Michelle. Yet he couldn’t think of the last time he’d been more excited to see anyone as he was to see Lydia. Besides which, it wasn’t as if he was breaking up with Michelle because of Lyda. Nothing romantic was ever going to happen with Lydia, that much had been made clear a long time ago. But she was his oldest friend.
“Eric?” Michelle’s voice rang like a bell. Eric looked up and sighed wistfully. If anyone looked like the perfect woman, it was her. She was wearing a faux fur snow hat that softened her pale skin and rosy cheeks and a cashmere sweater set that hugged her curves. She looked like any man’s fantasy of a sexy snow bunny and Eric cleared his throat.
“Hey, Michelle,” Eric said, standing for a moment. He unbuttoned his jacket and buttoned it right up again, not sure what to do with his hands. Michelle frowned, questioning, and leaned over to peck him on the lips.
It helped that the kiss made him feel nothing. There was nothing real here to salvage.
“You drinking your lunch?” Michelle said, nodding at his bourbon as she took a seat and removed her fur hat.
“I just needed something to take the edge off,” Eric said. He loosened his tie and saw that Michelle’s gaze followed his every movement. She squinted. She always seemed especially observant. He’d like that about her. But his stomach twisted. He had to get this over with before she figured it out first and got upset. “There’s something I need to talk to you about,” he said slowly.
Michelle’s eyes narrowed. There was a hard look to them. Sometimes he thought it was a little cold. Her light blue eyes seemed icy and flat. But he figured he’d only thought that because he’d decided he wasn’t in love with her.
“I hate this shit,” he muttered. “It’s awful. So I want to get it over with. I don’t think this is working out. I’m really sorry about it. I just don’t… I don’t feel…”
“You’re breaking up with me?” Michelle didn’t sound upset. In fact, her voice was oddly monotone as she narrowed her eyes. “Eric. That’s...disappointing.”
A shiver ran up Eric’s spine. There was something about the way she said it. It was just off somehow.
“I really thought we had something special here,” Michelle said.
“Haven’t we had fun-”
“Yeah!” Eric nodded. “Definitely. I wanted to give it some time, you know? And we did have fun but I just don’t think we… I don’t feel that thing.”
“What thing?” Michelle said sharply.
“Whatever it is you’re supposed to feel,” Eric said simply.
“I think you’re making a mistake,” Michelle said. She smiled at him and Eric cringed. That was probably a bad response to a smile. But it made him feel better about the break-up. “I think we should give this a little more time-”
“I’m really sorry if it’s upsetting,” Eric said slowly. She didn’t seem upset per se. Or if she was, he couldn’t see it. It felt more like a business transaction and that was somehow even creepier. “But I know it’s the right thing to do. I know how I feel. Or rather, how I don’t feel. I wouldn’t want to lead you on when I’m already sure.”
“I see,” Michelle said. She blinked at him and pursed her lips, regarding him coolly. “It’s alright. I’ll make you see reason. I can be very persuasive.” She tossed him a playful wink, but it only made his stomach twist. “You’ll thank me when I’m done.”
That didn’t sound good. Eric winced and scratched his head. “Michelle… Don’t try to salvage this. It’s really-”
“Don’t worry.” She stood up from her chair. There was not one hair out of place. She hadn’t even had a chance to eat lunch. He felt a little guilty about that. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m just going to give you some time to think and we’ll talk again.”
Damnit.
“Michelle…”
“Goodbye, Eric. For now.”
I am in such deep shit, Eric thought.
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“End of Preview”
Cody (Strauss Bear Shifter Brothers 0f Colorado Book 3) Page 13
