by Ally Summers
Her words were dangerous, sharp, and edged with painful daggers. He clenched his fist next to his side.
“And the last two years? What do you know about me?” he asked.
She swallowed. “Nothing. You know I stayed away from all of you. It hurt too much to see anyone in the clan.”
Liam suddenly forgot his own hurt and wanted to shield her from all the pain she had been through. Of course it would be hard to face what he was asking her. She wasn’t a she-bear. And hell, he had no idea how much Noah had told her about she-alpha duties.
He shook his head. “I’m not the same person you knew then.”
Sophia laughed. “I don’t believe that. You gave up women?”
Why was she making this so damn hard?
He took her hands, ignoring the way she shook when he held them. “Yes.”
“W-why would you do that?” She searched his eyes for an answer. “You could have any woman in the next five counties if you wanted.”
“I don’t want any of those woman.”
“Why not?” she scoffed.
“Because of you, Soph.”
She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
This was finally his chance to tell her. To explain the feelings buried under his skin. The way he had hidden his own pain for years. The way he had to listen to his best friend talk about her with a smile on his face. How his heart had cried out for her when she pledged her life to another bear.
“It’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Forget those other women. Forget the me you think you know. I want you. I want you as my mate.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“I’ve known, Soph. You were meant to be mine.”
“When did you know?” Her eyes glistened in the firelight.
This was the part he didn’t want her to know, but there was no point in hiding the truth. It was their truth now.
“When Noah died. The day of his accident. It was the same day I became alpha.”
She blinked back tears and he instinctively traced one teardrop with the pad of his thumb. He felt his bear stir within. Her skin was soft, and he could smell how sweet she was. Like warm vanilla and cinnamon.
“Did you ever wonder why I was with a new woman every night?”
She shook her head. “No. It wasn’t my place to say anything.”
He didn’t want to move his hand. He kept brushing the side of her cheek, lightly stroking the trail from the tear.
“I couldn’t have you, Soph.”
“What?” She pulled her shoulders back, breaking their contact. “What are you saying?”
“You know exactly what I’m saying.” His chest tightened.
The first time he laid eyes on Sophia Withers, he had fallen in love with her. But so had his best friend. Noah was the alpha, and Liam had his reasons for not challenging him.
So, he tried to forget her. Tried to forget that his best friend was going to spend his life with the woman Liam loved. None of the women he fucked made the memory easier. He would wake up the next morning with someone new in his bed—half the time he didn’t know her name. The only thing he knew was that she wasn’t Sophia.
Sophia was with Noah. It had ripped at his heart. Done things to his soul he didn’t know were possible. He didn’t want another mate if he couldn’t have her. So he fucked his way through the night, trying to forget the sound of her laugh, and how she looked at his best friend. But the fun and the women didn’t feed his soul. He starved without her.
And then the day came when Noah died.
“This can’t be happening.” She reached for the wine glass and chugged the rest. “You’re not serious.”
“Dead serious. I’ve been in love with you, Soph, since the day I met you.”
“You can’t say that.”
“It’s the truth,” he pressed.
“B-but you never said anything. You never asked me out.”
The first time he saw her, he was walking out of the Shamrock bar. She was on her way out of the movie theater across the street. Noah was supposed to meet him for a drink, but he was late. Liam walked out of the bar for some air when he saw the reason Noah hadn’t joined him. Sophia.
“It’s too soon,” she whispered.
“Too soon to be happy again? Too soon to stop being lonely? Too soon to be kissed?”
He didn’t give her a chance to answer. His mouth descended on hers, dragging her lips under his. Years of want unleashed themselves as he kissed her with hungry desire. He tasted the sweetness of her tongue, and nipped at her lush lips, eliciting a moan from her throat. His hands twisted in her hair, pressing his mouth harder on hers. He lashed against her tongue, drinking her in. Their breaths turned to rapid pants as he drew her under his body. He had wanted her for so long. For so many years, he had dreamed about holding Sophia in his arms—caressing her skin, licking her, kissing her until she begged him for breath.
He groaned, feeling his bear waking up to her. Wanting her, needing to possess his mate.
“Too much. Too much.” She shoved against his chest and created space between them.
Her breasts bobbed up and down with heavy breaths.
She stood from the couch. He waited for her to say something, but she ran out of the living room and slammed the door behind her. He listened as she started her car and peeled out of the driveway.
He wanted to follow her, but he knew he had finally gotten to her. And for now, that was enough. He smiled and leaned back on the couch.
9
Sophia
The tears streamed down her face. She almost ran a red light as she drove into Bear Lake. He had tricked her. She knew it the instant she realized he was the one who had placed the cake order. Using her business as a ploy to get her out to his house was a low trick, even for Liam.
Sophia gripped the steering wheel. Liam Grayson was notorious for using women. Why would she think she was any different?
She tried to ignore how heavy her lips still felt as she pulled into her parking spot behind the bakery. They tingled with a raw fever. Her fingertips trailed over her bottom lip. Why did he have to be an amazing kisser? It would be easier if he were sloppy. But he wasn’t. He knew exactly how to use every perfect inch of his firm lips. She huffed. It had to be from all the practice he had.
She stormed into the shop and up the back staircase. On top of everything, he had admitted he had been pining over her the entire time she was with Noah. It almost felt like blame—blaming her for his non-stop womanizing. None of it made sense.
She threw her purse on the foyer table. The memories were there, but she had never seen it until now. Whenever she would arrive, Liam would always leave. He said he had a hot date. He had tried to find a way out of the blood oath ceremony. He said the elders could be the witnesses. She always thought he was avoiding her, and she was right—but not for the reason she thought.
She sank on to the couch.
Had she known this whole time? Had she seen how Liam looked at her? Did she realize he had feelings? And then the panic gripped her. Did Noah know?
If he did, he kept it as hidden as Liam had.
She pulled a blanket off the back of the couch and tucked her legs behind her. The shaking started in her shoulders and rattled her bones. It was everything she didn’t want to have happen. She could ignore it. She could fight it. She could run away to California. It wouldn’t do a damn thing to undo what that kiss had done to her.
With his hands tangled in her hair and his warm breath on her lips, she had felt alive. There was no sadness or emptiness. His skin was hot and his eyes full of life and lust. That kiss had stirred something in her she had wanted to forget, but as she started to drift off to sleep, she struggled to remember why she didn’t want to feel that bliss soar through her lips.
She fell asleep sometime after midnight. For the first time in two years, she dreamed about another man.
The alarm chirp sounded far away. Sophia stretched out, realizing s
he was on the couch and not her warm bed. She fished through her purse to silence the alarm. She tried to remember what was on today’s baking list as she got ready for the day.
She jogged down the stairs and flipped the kitchen lights on. Coffee was a must. She worked on making a pot while the ovens warmed up.
Her order book was next to the phone. There was an office in the back of the kitchen, but she rarely used it. The Sweet Tooth was a one-woman show. Most of the time she was stirring, taking orders, and answering the phone at the same time. She had shoved a small desk next to one of the refrigerators and used it to store customer information.
Saturdays were always busy. Parents liked to bring their children in for donuts, and it was definitely her busiest birthday cake day.
She rolled her eyes, thinking about Liam’s stunt last night. She had made an emergency birthday cake for a fake husband and a fake wife.
As soon as she heard the tap on the back door, she knew exactly who it was without having to answer.
She pulled on the handle, letting a gust of cold wind whip through the kitchen. Liam stepped in with a grin on his face.
She had seen that smile a hundred times before. It was the kind that melted the panties off most women—except hers. Never hers.
“Good morning.” He waggled his eyebrows at her.
“What are you doing here so early?”
“Thought I’d grab a cup of coffee.” He leaned against the counter.
“Saturdays are insane in here. I don’t have time for your clan-mating speeches today. Okay?”
She expected him to argue, but when she turned back around, he was tying an apron around his waist. She almost started laughing.
“What are you doing?”
“Helping out. What can I do?”
She shook her head. “Oh, no, no. This is my kitchen.”
“Then I’ll go out there.” He brushed past her and started setting up the shop for the day. Within minutes, all of the chairs were on the floor.
Sophia twisted her lip under her teeth. It was hard to argue with the help, but she knew what he was doing. He was stealing minutes with her. Getting under her skin. Making himself useful. Showing her how damn sexy he was in an apron.
She fidgeted with the oven dials, trying to remember what temperature she used for the croissants. She made them five days a week. How could she suddenly forget the temperature?
“What else can I do?” His voice was low and deep as he strolled into the kitchen.
It wasn’t that Liam had done anything to change his appearance in the past two years. He had always had a sharp jawline and eyes so dark they could be mistaken for a night sky. He ran his hands through his brown hair and Sophia caught herself staring. He was one damn good-looking man. No, he hadn’t changed—she was just now noticing all the features that made him so irresistible.
She pointed to the white cardboard boxes near the window. “You could start folding those. Make at least twenty.”
Liam worked quietly, folding the corners together and assembling the pastry boxes.
“Here you go.” He walked past her with a stack. “I’ll put them up front.”
“Thanks.” She watched him through the window as he arranged the boxes near the counter.
In another hour, the bakery would open, and her regular Saturday morning customers would start filing in for cups of coffee and their favorite pastries.
She filled the paper cups with muffin batter and slid them into the second oven.
“How many things do you bake every day?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I change it up sometimes. Today we have blueberry muffins, croissants, donuts, banana bread, and of course every cupcake you could think of.”
“I think I’ll take one of each.”
“What? You’re not really going to eat all that, are you?” But she stopped. She had forgotten how much bears could eat. “Hold on. I’ll put something together for you.”
She started gathering an assortment of pastries and muffins. She handed the bag to Liam. Her fingers coasted over his and she felt the same rush she did last night when his thumb brushed over her cheek.
He smiled. “Thank you.”
“It doesn’t mean anything,” she warned.
He placed the bag on the counter and stepped closer. She felt the sudden flutter in her belly. God, was he going to kiss her again?
His eyes lit with mischief. The bad kind. The very dirty kind. The kind that made her want his hands on her.
He leaned toward her ear. She could feel his breath along her neck. “I’ll be back to pick you up at five.”
Every part of her body tingled from the nearness of him. “I-I didn’t say I was available,” she stammered. There had to be a way to gain control of her senses.
He barely moved an inch. His chest could almost touch her breasts.
“I’ll be here at five,” he stated again.
Before she could run through her usual protests, he skirted out of the back of the kitchen.
“Shit,” she whispered. She knew it. What was worse—he did too. He was getting to her.
10
Liam
There wasn’t much time. He didn’t want to put any more pressure on Sophia than she was already feeling, but there were only a month until the eclipse. What were the chances that the official mourning period would end so close to the first eclipse? He thought he would have more time than this to convince her to let him take her as his mate.
Deep down, he wanted her to make the decision on her own, not because clan law guilted her into it.
If she knew about the timetable, she’d only dig her heels in more. There was no way she would listen to anything he had to say. He knew that now.
The only way this would work was if Sophia came to him because she wanted to.
The future of the clan depended on it.
Tonight would be another opportunity to show her how he felt. To remind her how much she needed someone in her life. She had been alone too long.
At five o’clock, Liam pulled up behind the bakery. The kitchen lights were still on. He walked through the private entrance into an empty kitchen.
“Soph?” he called out for her.
He strolled to the café, but the cabinets were empty and no one was in the shop. The sign on the front door had been flipped over to read “closed.”
He was about to call her when he heard a loud banging sound overhead. He ran for the staircase in the kitchen and barged through the apartment door.
The clatter had come from her apartment. He called for her again, opening doors and looking for her.
He pushed open the bathroom door and stopped in his tracks.
“What are you doing?” Sophia stood dripping wet, scrambling to cover herself with her hands.
His bear growled with deep want. She was fucking gorgeous. Her body glistened with water as the droplets slid along her curves.
“Liam!” she screamed.
He pretended to cover his eyes. “Sorry, sorry. I heard a crash and ran up here.” He turned to face the door. His cock had jerked to life as he memorized every inch of her soft flesh. “Are you ok?”
“It was just the shower curtain. It does that all the time. You can leave.”
He didn’t want to leave. He wanted to turn around and press her soft and ripe body against the wall. He wanted to inhale her scent and mark her with his. But that wasn’t what she wanted.
“Right. I’ll just be out there.” He forced himself to exit the bathroom, finding the need for her almost unbearable.
A damn shower curtain. That’s all it was. He had heard something, and the fear of God had run through his body, thinking Sophia was hurt. He shook his head. If only she knew how much he had changed. He wasn’t the man she thought he was. He was capable of settling down. He could love her. Hell, he already did.
Twenty minutes later, she emerged from the bathroom dressed in a sweater and jeans. Her hair dry and her eyes bright.
“You look beautiful.” He stood to greet her.
“I was covered in flour. I had to take a shower. And I had blue icing in my hair. This wasn’t for you,” she explained. “This is not a date.”
He put his hands up. “No. Not a date. Just friends hanging out.”
“Hmph.” She crossed her arms, but he thought he saw a glimmer in her eyes. The same one he saw last night before he kissed her.
“How about I fix that shower rod for you?” he asked.
She looked puzzled. “Really?”
He walked past her. “Yeah. Let me look at it. I don’t want it falling on you again.” The bathroom smelled like her shampoo and lotion. It was as intoxicating as she was.
He lifted the rod from the wall and inspected the ends. It was a standard tension rod, but he could see it was extended too far. It was never going to hold.
“I think we need to take a ride to Tripp’s.”
Sophia stood behind him in the doorway. “Why? You can’t fix it?”
Liam shook his head. “The springs are stripped, and it’s not going to hold. Let’s get a new shower rod for you.” He placed the old one on its end against the wall.
“I have a feeling this isn’t what you planned on for our ‘hanging out.’”
Liam chuckled. “I only want to spend time with you, Soph.” He held the apartment door for her. “And if that means shopping at the hardware store, then I’m a happy man.”
“Bear,” she corrected him.
He sighed. “I’m a man too.”
“But that’s not why you’re here. It’s the bear that brought you. Not the man.” She eyed him.
He pulled his keys from his pocket. He didn’t want to start a fight with her about the semantics of their relationship. And he didn’t want to debate how much the man had to do with his feelings for her. The wall she had built against the clan was tall and wide.
“Come on, let’s get your shower rod.” He pulled her hand into his palm and led her down the stairs through the kitchen.
