ROMANCE: Bear Naked Seduction (Billionaire Bear Trio Book 1)

by Audrey Storm

  “I won’t be able to just stand by when you’re hurting, Zoe. Have I ever?”

  “No, but now it’s different. We’re equals.”

  “Understood, but bear with me. I might push the boundaries and it’s only because I care. I want you to be happy, and I want to be the one to make that smile appear on your face every day.”

  I shook my head, wondering if I was crazy for jumping right in. By the way he looked at me, I didn’t think so. I was fairly certain that I could trust my heart in Evan’s hands. He’d always been my number one supporter.

  ****

  It was a week later before I’d heard from Wes again. He called, but I refused to answer the phone. The voicemail was long with more apologies and more begging me for a second chance. It would never happen. As far as I knew, he was still with Alicia, and I was happy with Evan. It had only been a week and he’d given me space when I needed it, but admittedly was a lot less than I thought. I liked having him around. We were always doing something. But I’d mourned for a week, and it was time to figure out what I wanted for my future.

  I sat at the breakfast bar and smiled. It was a routine. He cooked, and I cleaned. “What are your plans for the day?”

  He turned and smiled. “I figured I’d go home for a couple of days. Your dad should be back in a few hours, and I know you have things to do.”

  The fork paused halfway to my mouth. “Oh, how come I never know what he’s doing but you do?”

  He shrugged. “I call him.”

  He had a point. I never really called my dad. He didn’t like talking, at least not to me. “Oh okay. So you’re going home.”

  “Yeah, I don’t live here, and I only stayed originally because of those damned dogs.”

  “Okay.”

  “You can come with me if you want, darlin’.”

  I shrugged. “I’m going to go enroll in classes today. It’s time. I’ve been home over a week. I also need to find a job. I don’t want to live with my dad. Then I’m going apartment looking. I saved a lot because I never had to pay for anything. So I could probably afford a few months of bills if it takes me that long to find a job.”

  He leaned in and pecked my lips. “I would say you could come live with me, but I know you’ll tell me no, so I won’t.” There was a twinkle in his eye. He was offering.

  “No, thank you. No offense, but I’m definitely not ready to move in. I need to stand on my own two feet for a while. Do my own thing.”

  “I know, Zoe. I’m not pressuring you.”

  “Good.” Then we finished eating like normal. Sharing a plate, I’d eat a bit, then he’d swipe the plate while I clean up. I’d miss our routine, but it was too domestic. We’d played house for a week, but now it was time for reality. I’d still see him—every chance I got. We just wouldn’t be living together.

  Chapter 8

  Evan

  I watched the different expressions scroll over Zoe’s face when I told her I was going home. I wouldn’t lie and say I didn’t feel a certain satisfaction knowing she was disappointed that I was going home. It had been a rough week. I did my best to give her the space she needed, and I got that she didn’t want to use me to help her get over her ex, but I was a man nearing forty. I didn’t care if she wanted to use me, as long as she was mine. She didn’t understand that and to her it was wrong, so I sat back and left her on her own, for the most part.

  She didn’t really seem too devastated. I figured it was their last conversation that had really upset her. She’d told me bits and pieces, but there was something she was holding back. I didn’t want to push. I was glad that she had decided she was going to start her life over. If I had my way, she’d let me rent an apartment for her, and take care of her. I’d wanted to pamper her since she turned eighteen, but Wes was in the way, and now she’s got her growing need for independence.

  “You’ll come by tonight though, right?” I felt on the verge of acting like a desperate boy.

  “Yeah, I can do that. The less I see dad right now, the better. He’ll push.”

  “That’s fine, darlin’. You can stay with me until you find your own place if you want.” Hell, then I’d have a chance to show her how good it would be. She wouldn’t need to leave. A man could hope, right?

  “Nice try, but yeah I’ll be over tonight.”

  She kissed me and my heart raced. Each day things got better. Each day she was happier, and every day I felt more at ease with the new situation. I couldn’t believe she was mine. I wouldn’t bet on forever, but I could hope.

  “I love you, Evan.”

  Shock couldn’t describe what I was feeling. “Say that again, darlin’?”

  She giggled and kissed me again. “I said I love you.”

  I dragged her into my arms and kissed her, showing her how I felt. She knew already, but hearing those words slip from her beautiful lips was the best thing to ever happen to me. She wasn’t getting away from me now.

  THE END

  GO TO THE INDEX

  Friends to Lovers

  Friends to Lovers

  Chapter 1

  Natalia Black looked at her reflection in the mirror and shrugged. This had to be the fourth or fifth outfit that she had tried on that morning and she still felt like everything she wore was bad on her. She was now wearing a black floral skater dress that reached just above her knees. It showed off her perfectly flawless beautiful legs and the top was cut low just enough to show off her beautiful cleavage – her only two good assets, or so she thought. If she did settle on wearing this dress, she had her black satin peep toe heels in mind. As much as she always felt comfortable in her body, today was different. For the first time in six years, she was wishing she was smaller. The whole panic about her outfit was the simple fact that she was going to be seeing her college crush for the first time in years. And she hated the idea that she had to become something different. If only she had ended up pursuing a career in…anything else rather than what she was doing, she would have avoided her present crisis. Her company Allen and Roberts was holding a party to welcome the new partner Alexander Charleston. Unfortunately for her, the new partner was also her college crush. And the last time she had seen him was almost six years earlier at his party, the party that changed everything. Alexander had always been a geeky guy, cute but still a geek. He had been working hard on a mobile app for close to a year and when it was ready, Google had paid a fortune for it. And that was when everything changed. He became an instant millionaire and made serious investments changing him from the average Joe to one of the people to watch.

  Natalia could not help but smile when she thought of Alex. He was not just a well-toned beautiful man, he was also one of the wealthiest man she knew. Forbes had even featured him on one of their ‘Top 40 Under 40’ articles. As far as Natalia was concerned, Alex Charleston had money pouring from every orifice in his body. Apart from that, he was a tall man with all the right stuff: full head of shiny black hair, perfectly toned muscular body and glossy hazel eyes that seemed to pry the truth out of anyone who looked into them.

  Given a chance, Natalia would have chosen to skip the acquisition party. But being one of the junior partners, her boss Rick Allen could not have been clearer about attendance.

  “You have a way with people, Black. Attendance for you is not an option,” he had said. “It is mandatory.”

  “And here I thought that a career in finance would be less demanding,” she thought as she pulled off the dress she had on leaving her in her black underwear.

  “Make up your mind, Natalia,” she thought as she stared into her reflection. “Alex had always been nice to you and he liked you once,” she thought again but then she shrugged. Back then she was a perfect size eight and now she was almost double the body Alex remembered.

  She was still looking into her reflection when she heard her doorbell ring. She grabbed her phone and looked at the screen. A frown played on her face. It was already seven thirty. She was supposed to be headed out at that very m
inute. She threw on a bathrobe just as her doorbell rang again.

  “Hold your horses,” she said under her breath as she made her way to the front door. She almost gasped when she opened the door. There, standing outside her apartment was Elle Palmer, her ride to the party since her car was in the shop.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Elle said as she looked at Natalia. “You are still undressed?”

  Natalia looked at Elle and shrugged.

  “I have nothing to wear,” she said. Elle shook her head.

  “Are you still overthinking this whole Alex thing?” she asked as she made her way to Natalia’s bedroom.

  “Where are you going?” Natalia asked as she followed close behind.

  “I am going to get you something to wear,” Elle said. Natalia shrugged again and sat on the edge of the bed. Elle looked at the already enormous pile of clothes on the bed and then at her best friend. “How can you not have anything to wear with all these?” she asked.

  “These are normal everyday work clothes.”

  “Glamorous everyday work clothes,” Elle corrected her.

  “Still, this is a freaking party. I just can’t show up there in…” she picked up a handful of clothes and tossed them in the air. “This pile of crap.”

  “Relax,” Elle said. She pulled out a dress from the back of the closet and smiled. “This is what you need.”

  Natalia looked at her and smiled. She had been having a wardrobe crisis for almost two and a half hours and Elle had been there for less than five minutes and she had already sorted her out. She took the black and white slimming illusion dress from Elle and took off her bathrobe. She pulled the dress on and stood in front of the mirror. She loved the fact that the dress hid everything she wanted hidden and showed off everything she wanted seen. She didn’t even know why she had not thought of the dress in the first place. She had a smile on her face as she looked at her reflection.

  “Okay, makeup and shoes. We are out of here in fifteen minutes,” Elle said as she jingled her keys at Natalia.

  ****

  When they finally got to the party, Natalia was not very sure what she was supposed to do. Normally she would be bustling around, the life of the party but today was different. She had to be cool, calm and collected. She had to be the woman Alex remembered.

  “Here, you look like you need it more than I do,” Elle said as she handed Natalia a glass of champagne. “Besides, I am your designated driver, right? You have no reason not to drink,” she added as she walked away leaving Natalia alone, sipping on her drink.

  “Black,” Natalia heard her boss calling out as she took a long sip of her wine. She turned around and almost dropped the glass when she saw Rick walking towards her with Alex. “Alexander Charleston I would like you to meet one of our most promising junior partners, Natalia Black.”

  Natalia was dumbfounded as she looked at Alex. He was in a grey suit and a maroon tie. It was a simple look but he looked perfect.

  “Actually we have met before,” Alex said with a smile that showed off that perfectly dimpled cheek.

  “Oh?” Rick asked.

  “Yes. Natalia Black and I were in the same college.” Alex was looking at her as he spoke.

  “Well, what a small world,” Rick said with a smile.

  “It sure is,” Alex said. Natalia was still dumbfounded.

  “And to think that Black here never thought to tell me that she knew you when I mentioned you to her,” Rick said with a smile.

  “Yeah, Natalia has always been a very private person,” Alex said, still looking at her. “Did you say junior partner?” Rick nodded.

  “She is one of the best people I have ever worked with. I mean, she has zeal, innovation…she actually makes finance interesting,” Rick said. Natalia shrugged.

  “You have to love what you do, right?” she said, trying as hard as she could to avoid Alex’s line of sight.

  “Yeah, I guess you do,” Rick said.

  “Actually,” Alex started as he turned to look at Rick. “Do you mind if I talk to Natalia alone?” Rick nodded and walked away. Alex’s eyes ran down Natalia’s curvy body before he looked into her eyes. “You look beautiful.”

  “Thanks,” she said in a soft voice.

  “I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for the longest time,” he said.

  “Really?” Natalia asked. Her voice was so low that she was almost whispering but she didn’t even realize.

  “Really. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram…I have literally tried you on every social media platform,” he said. Natalia felt her cheeks flush.

  “I…um…I know,” she said in a soft voice.

  “And?” he asked. She gently tucked a curly strand of hair behind her ear. She took a long sip of her wine and sighed.

  “You were with that Russian…German…model,” she said.

  “She was Czech and she was a designer,” Alex corrected her.

  “Well, there you have it. You had someone in your life and I once told you that I am incapable of being just friends with you.” She took another long sip of her wine. “It was better to just keep my distance.”

  “Well, if you must know, Eliana and I haven’t been together in more than two years,” Alex said as he looked around. “Could we go somewhere a little quieter?” he asked. She nodded and began walking out of the crowded room. Her heart was beating hard in her chest as they made their way out to the cold night air. She led him to a grassy area on the hotel grounds and felt a shiver going through her. He sat down on a flower bed and began taking off his jacket as she sat down next to him.

  “Now Natalia,” he started as he draped his jacket over her shoulders. “Are you going to tell me why you have been avoiding me?” he asked.

  She shrugged and then turned to look at him.

  “Eliana,” she started. “Was one of the many reasons.”

  “You know that relationship was doomed from the start, right?” he asked as he took her glass from her. She shook her head.

  “What are you talking about?” she asked.

  “Eliana was…too much for me. I mean I had just made my first big break after selling my app and the high life was a little hard to understand….” His voice trailed off. “I was really trying to understand what was going on in my life at the time and maybe I shouldn’t have rushed into the whole Eliana thing.”

  Natalia looked at him and shook her head.

  “Then why did you do it?” she asked in a whisper.

  Alex forced out a sad smile as he looked at her.

  “Because the girl I wanted was with someone else,” he said.

  Even in the dark night, she could still see into his perfectly glossy eyes.

  “And who was the girl?” she asked. Alex smiled again, genuinely this time before he reached for her hand.

  “Do you really need to ask?” he asked.

  Natalia almost blurted out ‘Me?’ because she could not believe that her crush had at one time wanted her the way she wanted him.

  “But you seemed so into Josh King at the time…I couldn’t just…” he trailed off. He looked at her and shook his head. “I had everything I wanted at the time but I remember that day I held the party after selling my app to Google, you seemed so happy to be with Josh and I just didn’t think I could cost you your happiness.”

  Natalia had to pinch herself to make sure she was not imagining everything Alex was saying at that moment.

  “You were into me?” she asked as if she didn’t believe what she had just heard. Alex nodded.

  “I am still into you,” he said in a soft voice as he drew little circles on the back of her hand using his thumbs. “I think I always will.”

  “But I look different…I am bigger than I was back then,” she said in a soft voice. Alex shrugged.

  “So what?” he asked looking into her eyes. “You are still the most beautiful woman I have ever seen plus your curves are just perfect.” Natalia felt her cheeks flush again.

  “Alex…�
� she started before he took her other hand in his.

  “Don’t,” he said before she could get a chance to finish what she was saying. “I just want to live in this moment.”

  “What moment?” she asked in a soft voice.

  “The moment when I get to tell the girl I like that I have had feelings for her all along,” he said in a soft voice.

  “Why didn’t you ever say anything?” she asked.

  “I never thought I had to.” Alex was whispering now. He began moving closer to her, slowly bringing her head down to meet her lips in a glorious kiss but before he could get to her, she pulled back.

  “Alex,” she whispered. Alex closed his eyes and pulled away from her. “I don’t want to…it’s not that I don’t want to…” she shook her head.

  “Just shut up, Natalia. You are not making any sense,” she scolded herself as she stood up. She looked at him and fought back a tear that was threatening to roll down her cheeks. “Maybe I should just leave,” she said in a tired, confused voice.

  “Fine. I’ll take you home,” he said, standing up.

  “But I am here with Elle,” she said in a soft voice. “She is my ride.”

  “Elle Voss?” he asked and she nodded.

  “You know her?” she asked as she looked at him.

  “Not really, but we have brushed shoulders once or twice,” he said. He took a step towards her and she wanted to take one back. But she couldn’t. “Natalia, I leave for New York tomorrow and I won’t be back for another two weeks.” He was standing so close that she could smell his sexy musky scent. He took her hand again. “Let me take you home.”

  Chapter 2

  The drive to her apartment was quiet and awkward…at least for Natalia. She hated that she had pulled away from him when he leaned in to kiss her. She had dreamed of nothing more than to be in his arms and when she got the chance she had pulled away.