Bearly Saved My Heart: Quake Lake Bears (Madison Range Shifters Book 1)

by Margery Ellen

  “I’m sorry, I’ll help you with the dishes.” He told her.

  “No. I can do the dishes. Time I started working off my advance.” She picked up the plates and headed for the kitchen. “Good night, Rob.”

  Robert stopped. “Good night, Jack.”

  “Touché.” Jackie laughed. “Jack, I think I like that.”

  Jackie started the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. She went to her room and put away her new clothes. She missed not having some of her own things. Things that belonged to her mother and things her aunt had given her. Maybe someday she could go and get them. Charles could go with her.

  That’s odd, she thought to herself. She spent all day with Robert, but Charles was the first one she thought of. She finished putting her things away and undressed. She slipped into the t-shirt that Charles had loaned her. She could have bought something to sleep in, but she wanted to sleep in his shirt. She sniffed the shirt, it had been recently laundered, but it still had his scent on it. He smelled good. Jackie shook her head, what was she thinking?

  She turned down the bed covers and top sheet. The bedding smelled so fresh. She wasn’t quite ready to go to bed. She slipped on her new sandals and went to the kitchen to get something to drink. She heard a creak on the porch. “Hello? Is someone there?”

  “Sorry, Jackie. I didn’t mean to startle you.” Charles walked into the kitchen through the back door. He was wearing a pair of sweat pants and nothing else, no shirt, no shoes. She couldn’t pull her eyes away from his magnificent chest.

  “I thought you were sleeping. Robert said you wouldn’t get up until tomorrow.” She finally looked away and could feel the heat rising up her neck to her face.

  “I am usually sleeping, but tonight I woke up and needed some fresh air, so I took a walk down by the lake. Have you gotten settled in okay?” he asked as he reached around her to open the refrigerator and grab a bottle of water.

  “Yes, I have. I went grocery shopping with Robert this afternoon and picked up a few things to wear. He said it was okay.” She held her breath as he reached around her and brushed against her. “I’m sorry, I’m in your way.” She tried to move, but she just got more tangled up with him.

  He started to laugh. “If I had known you wanted to dance, I would have put on some music.” She stopped in her tracks and looked at him. They both started laughing.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t seem to get out of my own way, let alone yours. I think I’d better say good night.” With that, she grabbed herself a bottle of water and headed for her room.

  “I must say, that t-shirt looks much better on you than it does on me. Good night, Jackie.” He watched her walk down the hall. He admired her long legs and the sway of her ass. He instantly realized his dick was getting hard. That hadn’t happened to him in a very long time, in fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been aroused by a woman. He instantly turned around and went back outside. He needed to go for another walk and maybe a dip in the cold lake, that would fix him right up. He wanted to shift, but he couldn’t take the chance of her seeing him change.

  Jackie went back to her room. She heard the kitchen door close and looked out her window. She could see Charles walking down to the lake. She wished she had known he was going to take another walk. She would have loved to have gone with him. She finally turned out her light and climbed into bed.

  *****

  Charles kept walking along the lake shore. When he knew he was far enough from the house, he shifted and roared. “Now I feel better,” he thought to himself. Being cooped up in the truck for two days and having an attractive woman in the house had his brain a bit cloudy. His bear took over and headed for the mountains.

  Jackie heard a bear roar and jumped out of bed. She looked out the window, but couldn’t see anything, she couldn’t see Charles either. Everything was quiet again. As she listened, the crickets, frogs and night sounds returned. She got back in bed and tried to sleep. She tossed and turned. After about an hour, she heard the kitchen door open and close. She got out of bed and quietly opened her door and looked down the hall.

  Charles was just about to go up the stairs when he heard her door open. “Is everything alright, Jackie?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. I heard an animal earlier and knew you had gone back outside. I was worried about you.”

  Charles walked down the hall to her door. “You don’t have to worry about me. I know most of the animals around here and we have a great deal of respect for each other.” He reached up and brushed her hair out of her eyes. He ran his thumb down her jaw line. “Thank you for caring.” It was happening again. He wanted her. He wanted to kiss her and crush her against his chest.

  She let out a sigh and leaned into his hand then froze when she realized what she was doing. “Oh. I’m sorry, please forgive me, I must be very tired.”

  “There is nothing to forgive.” He slid his hand to the back of her neck and leaned forward. He gently kissed her mouth and then moved back to look at her. She had her eyes closed. He gently placed a kiss on her forehead. “Good night Jackie, sleep well.” He said softly.

  When she opened her eyes, he was gone. She heard his bedroom door close at the top of the stairs. “My god. What just happened?” She whispered. Her inner self was telling her to go to him. He could be the man in her dreams. She stood there for a long time before she finally closed her door and went back to bed. She fell asleep and dreamed of hot sexy bears and steamy hot kisses.

  Charles went into his room and closed the door. He leaned against the cool wood and let out a long breath. What did he just do? Why did he walk away and leave her standing there? He wanted her more than anything else in the world. He wanted her naked body next to his. He wanted to impale her with his cock and fill her with his seed.

  “Ah, fuck.” He said to himself as he looked down, he was hard again and standing at attention. Now he would have to handle himself or he’d be unable to sleep. He went to the bathroom and got in the shower. He turned the water on full blast. With his cock in hand, he thought about Jackie, the kiss. He thought about what it would be like to have his cock inside her, pounding her, making her scream his name as she came apart beneath him. Before he knew what happened, he had shot his cum against the shower wall and gone to his knees. He stayed there until the water ran cold. He shut off the water, got up and staggered to his bed, his knees stiff. He fell into bed; he didn’t even bother to dry himself off. He was asleep by the time he hit the bed.

  Chapter 6

  Jackie was slowly waking up. She stretched and suddenly sat up in a panic. She looked around and remembered the events of the last two days. She wasn’t a prisoner anymore. She was safe. Two amazing men had rescued her and brought her to their beautiful home.

  One of them had kissed her. “No, I must have been dreaming, but it seemed so real.” She said aloud. She closed her eyes and tried to remember exactly what happened. She let out an exasperated moan. “I can’t remember. I wish, no I hope it was real.” She stared at the ceiling. “Well, I can’t stay in bed all day. I need to get a clock; I don’t even know what time it is.”

  She got up and went to the bathroom. She had put her shampoo and rinse in the shower. There were plenty of towels. She brushed her teeth and washed her face. She decided to see if there was any coffee before she took a shower. Still dressed in Charlie’s t-shirt, she went to the kitchen. There was a note taped to the coffee maker.

  Jackie, the coffee is fresh, make yourself at home. We should be home around seven. Looking forward to seeing you. We’ll fix dinner when we get home. Charles xox.

  She smiled at the note, maybe it was real and she didn’t dream about the kiss. She looked for the cups and then looked through all the cupboards to familiarize herself with where everything was kept. She fixed her coffee, Robert had let her buy her favorite flavored creamer, and looked at the note again.

  “Why wait for them to get home to fix dinner.” She thought. She went to the commercial fridge in the pantry and pulled ou
t three huge chickens. She fixed a marinade to season them in, bagged them and put them back in the refrigerator. She peeled potatoes and set them to soak.

  She fixed another cup of coffee and some toast and went to sit on the front porch. It was beautiful. She could definitely get used to living here. She watched as a doe and her fawn went down to the water for a drink. She made slow movements so she wouldn’t frighten them away. Finally, they wandered back into the woods.

  Enough sitting around, she had work to do. She headed for the shower. It felt so good to be able to shower again. She put on clean clothes, dried her hair and went to work.

  First, she checked out the whole house. It was clean, maybe a bit of dust because they had been gone for two weeks, but other than that, it was spotless. She looked in all the rooms, but didn’t go in any of them until she came to Charles’ room. She opened the door and wandered into his room. She ran her hands over the furniture. It was beautiful. She wouldn’t be surprised if he made it himself. She looked in his walk-in closet. She could smell his scent everywhere. She sat in a chair that was by the window. She could imagine him sitting there reading a book or just enjoying the view. She looked at the clock on his dresser.

  “Oh my god, its two o’clock already, I’d better get moving if I’m going to have everything ready by the time they get home.” She made sure nothing was out of place when she left his room and ran to the kitchen.

  She pulled the chickens out of the refrigerator and finished preparing them for the oven. If she planned everything just right, dinner would be ready by seven. They had bought fresh apples yesterday and she decided to fix an apple pie. She set to work and had everything done. The kitchen was clean, the table set and dinner was almost ready.

  She fixed herself an iced coffee with the left-over coffee from the morning and sat on the porch. At ten minutes to seven she saw the hummer coming around the lake. Right on time. She ran inside just in time to take the pie out of the oven so it could cool. Everything else was in a warming oven. She pulled the serving dishes out of the oven and set everything on the table. Then she went back out to sit on the porch.

  They were just pulling up to the house. Charles and Robert got out of the Hummer and headed for the house.

  “Jackie, how are you? Did you have a good day; I hope you weren’t to bored here all by yourself.” He sniffed the air and looked at Robert, then back to Jackie. “What is that delicious aroma I smell?”

  “It’s your dinner. If you two want to go and wash up, it’s ready.” She got up and walked into the house.

  Charles looked at Robert with a big smile. “Looks like we won’t have to fix dinner after all?” They both went in and cleaned up. The house smelled like roast chicken and apple pie.

  Charles came into the kitchen. “Wow, it smells great in here.”

  “Go ahead and help yourself. You have roast chicken, mashed potatoes and string beans. For desert, fresh apple pie. Do you have any vanilla ice cream? I couldn’t find any.” She poured them all a tall glass of iced tea. “Where is Rob? Is he coming?”

  “Rob?” Charles looked at her.

  Just then Robert walked in with a gallon of ice cream. “Yup, here you go Jack. It was hidden so Charlie wouldn’t eat it all.”

  “Jack?” He looked at his brother and back at Jackie.

  Jackie started to laugh. “While you were sleeping yesterday, we sort of came up with shorter names.

  “Well, I hope you don’t mind if I continue to call you Jackie, I’m kind of partial to it.” He gave her a wink.

  “Oh, did I miss something.” Robert asked as he sat down and started to help himself to dinner.

  “Nope. It didn’t concern you. Jackie and I sort of bumped into each other last night in the kitchen and then again later in the hall.” Charles took a big bit of chicken. “Umm, this is good. I might have to up your salary and hire you as the cook.”

  “Don’t you dare. The arrangement we have is just fine and I consider cooking as part of the housekeeping. I don’t want to get paid for something I love and plan to do anyway.” She tried to give him a stern look, but it wasn’t working and she broke out into laughter. “I’m glad you like it. I haven’t cooked in a long time.”

  “You didn’t have to cook for your uncle?”

  “After my aunt passed, he spent all the money on liquor. He never bought any groceries. I did odd jobs to earn money to buy food. If I had any money left over, he would try to take that too. I had some money saved and I had to hide it from him. I’m sure he’s found it by now.”

  “Maybe not.” Robert said. “He might have thought you used it to leave. Even you said he probably wouldn’t remember selling you.”

  Jackie got up from the table and took her plate.

  “Jackie, where are you going? You haven’t eaten.” Robert asked.

  “I’m afraid I’m not hungry anymore.” She turned toward the counter.

  Charlie jumped up and reached for her and turned her around. Her eyes were filled with tears. “Come here.” He pulled her into his arms as she started to sob. “Sssh. It’s alright. I’ll bet you haven’t cried since your aunt passed away. You’ve been holding everything in all this time.” She nodded her head. “Come on, let’s take a walk.” He looked over at Robert.

  “I’ll keep everything warm, you go ahead.” Robert watched them step outside.

  “I’m sorry, Charles. I didn’t mean to ruin dinner.” She sniffled.

  “You didn’t ruin dinner. It’s great, and we’ll finish dinner after we take a walk. Come on. He put his arm around and pulled her close. Let’s go down by the lake.” He stood by the water’s edge with his arms around her and he held her close. She put her head on his chest and the tears continued to flow.

  “That’s it, let it out. You’ve been holding everything in for way too long.” There was a bench by the edge of the lake. He picked her up in his arms and set her across his lap as he sat down. He wrapped his arms around her and she cried even more. After a while, she started to calm down.

  “I’m afraid I’ve made your shirt all wet.” She sniffled and hic-upped. “I’m sorry. I’m not usually a cry baby. I guess everything just came rushing back. Memories of my mom and my aunt. We use to have so much fun. Then, today, fixing dinner and baking a pie, all the memories made me so sad. When my uncle sold me, I couldn’t even go back to get my things. Things that belonged to my mom and my aunt. All my memories.”

  “There is nothing wrong with crying when you’ve been hurt. I’d say you’ve had more than your share of hurt and you’ve had no one to turn to.” He continued to hold her. He put his finger under her chin and lifted her face up to gaze into her teary eyes. He kissed her. Slowly at first, then with a bit more feeling. He pulled away and rested his forehead against hers.

  “Maybe after some time has gone by and things have settled down, we could go and get your things. Would you like to do that?”

  She leaned back so she could look into his face. She hic-upped. “You would do that for me?”

  “Yes, I would do that for you.” He pulled her against him again and held her. He hadn’t realized until just then, while she was talking, that he had found his mate. He would do anything for her, especially if it made her happy.

  “Do you think you could eat something now?”

  She rested her head against his chest again. “I’m not very hungry, maybe later. I made you an apple pie. We should go back so you can finish your dinner and have desert.”

  “Will you eat something? Please. I’d feel better and so will you if you eat.”

  “I’ll try.” She let out a sigh. “Thank you Charles for everything. I’m sorry I’m such a pain in the ass. You’ve done so much for me in just a few days.”

  “You’re a pain in the ass I don’t mind having.” He kissed her again. “Come on, let’s go back to the house and finish dinner.” They got up and walked back to the house.

  Chapter 7

  Robert was still sitting at the table. “Is there any
food left?” Charles asked as they walked in.

  “Of course there is. You guys sit down and I’ll get it.” Sure enough, Robert had kept everything warm. Charles ate and finally convinced Jackie to eat some chicken. After dinner, they all had apple pie and ice cream.

  “Jackie, that was really good. My compliments to the chef,” Charles said as he and Robert finished off the pie.

  Jackie smiled. “Next time I’ll make two pies. That way you can each have one of your own. I can’t believe how much food you two can put away.” Jackie started to gather up the dishes.

  “I’ll do that, you made a fabulous dinner. The least Charles and I can do is wash the dishes. Right Charles?”

  “That’s right. Your turn to relax while we clean up. You cleaned up most of it before we got home anyway, so there isn’t much.”

  “But that’s part of my job, isn’t it?” She asked.

  “I never said we wouldn’t help. You made dinner, Robert and I will do the dishes.”

  “So, Jackie. You never told us where you’re from.” Robert asked.

  “We lived outside of Bend, Oregon, in a little no-name town in the mountains. Population is about two hundred, there may have been more. It was a truck stop just outside of Bend where my uncle got rid of me. You’ll have to excuse me.” Jackie started to cry again and ran to her room.

  “Ah, shit. Charlie, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get her upset again. I’ll finish up here, why don’t you go, take care of her.”

  “Thanks, Rob. I think she’s my mate.”

  “I know, I figured that out yesterday.” Charles gave him a surprised look. “Go on. She needs you. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Charles stopped outside Jackie’s door. He could hear her crying. “Jackie, can I come in?” He knocked softly on the door. “Jackie?”

  Her door slowly opened and she looked up at him. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want you to see me crying again.”

  “That’s alright, come here.” He pulled her close and she put her arms around him. He moved them both into her room and closed the door and leaned against it. “This probably isn’t the right time to say this, but I have to. Jackie, I want you to know that I’m very attracted to you. I want you to stay here with me.” Then he whispered, “I’m falling in love with you.”