“What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice wary. She was standing a few feet in front of him, holding a messenger bag and wearing khaki pants and a white polo shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a bun, and she had a smudge of mascara under her right eye. She looked tired, like she had just come from a long day of work at the lab. Still, Brett had never seen anyone more beautiful. He jumped up and slid his phone into his pocket, then reached for the gift-wrapped package.
“I know you said you never wanted to see me again, but I couldn’t stay away until I at least had the chance to tell you how I truly feel about you.”
Aubrey eyed him suspiciously. She looked angry, but she didn’t tell him to leave, so Brett kept talking.
“I know that the way I reacted when I saw you at Pete’s bar was wrong. I had no right to be upset with you, even if you had been full-on making out with that guy. I wasn’t in any kind of romantic relationship with you. We didn’t have any kind of exclusivity agreement. I realized after that night, though, that I had been holding back from telling you how I really felt. I had only agreed to the friends with benefits arrangement in the first place because I thought I would lose you if I insisted on more. I figured something was better than nothing. But I shouldn’t have been so timid. I should have gotten in your face and laid everything on the line, and let you decide how you felt about it.”
Aubrey’s face softened slightly, although she still looked angry. “You did tell me how you felt. You said you wanted to date me, and I told you I didn’t want to commit to that because of our schedules.”
“But I acted like I was okay with that, and the honest truth is that I wasn’t. I wanted more. The honest truth was that I only agreed to the friends limitation because I was hoping that if we spent time together you would eventually realize that you wanted more, too. But I obviously screwed the whole thing up royally.”
“Yeah, you did,” Aubrey said. “So, why are you here? You’ve already apologized. What more is there to say? Just leave me alone and let me move on with my life.”
“I’m here because I can’t move on with my life as long as I know that I’ve left things unspoken between us,” Brett said. Then he reached out and handed her the gift-wrapped package. “Here, take it. This is for you.”
Aubrey sighed. “Brett, why are you doing this? I don’t want any gifts from you. I don’t want any more apologies. It’s fine. I’ve moved on. And I’m not going to cause any trouble to you or your friends by telling anyone that you’re shifters. Please, just leave me alone and let me get on with my life.”
“Please, just take it,” Brett said. “Just humor me for a few minutes, and then I’ll leave.”
Aubrey rolled her eyes and accepted the package. “Fine.”
“Now, open it,” Brett said.
Aubrey gave him a look that said her patience was wearing thin, but she started tearing at the paper. When she tore enough off that she could see what was under the gift wrap, she looked up in confusion.
“A hammock?” she asked. In her hands was a large hammock. It had been folded down into a neat square and was stored inside a protective plastic sheet.
“Yes, a hammock. Because a hammock is something you lie on when you have free time. It’s something that represents lazy hours spent with the ones you care about. I wanted you to know that, although neither one of us has much free time, whatever free time I have to spend is yours.”
Aubrey tilted her head sideways. “That’s a sweet gesture, Brett. But you can’t just give me a hammock and expect me to suddenly think everything is going to be okay. We both still have awful schedules. And you still treated me like crap.”
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my time on this earth, it’s that nothing worthwhile is easy. I’ve fought a lot of battles, and lost a lot of people I love. I’m not ready to give up fighting for you yet. I know I don’t have a lot of time to give, but whatever I do have is yours. Every second of it. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, and give me another chance, I will show you what I should have showed you from the beginning. I will show you that I love you. I know those are strong words, but I mean them. I’ve felt that way about you for a long time, Aubrey. I should have manned up and told you much sooner. But I’m telling you now. I’m telling you that my time and my heart is yours. And I’m hoping that you can find it in your heart to see past the rough start we had and believe me that all I want is to make you the happiest girl alive.”
Aubrey looked down at the hammock in her hands for a long time. Finally, she looked back up at Brett with wide eyes. “You love me?” she asked.
“Yes,” Brett said without hesitation. “I love you.”
Aubrey sighed, and walked up onto her porch. She saw the vase of red roses, and set the hammock down next to it. “You should have been honest about what you wanted from the beginning,” she said. “These gifts are a sweet gesture, but I don’t know how I can trust you. Please, just let it go. Just let us go. We obviously weren’t meant to be. I hate to see you in pain, but I can’t accept these gifts. I’m better off on my own, and this whole bizarre situation has reminded me of that.”
Aubrey pulled out her keys and started to unlock her front door.
“Aubrey, please, wait,” Brett said, starting to panic. He had convinced himself that if he came here and truly opened his heart to Aubrey, that she would be moved by his openness. But he was realizing now how stupid that had been. He’d had his chance to open his heart when they were still friends, and he’d missed it.
Aubrey shook her head, and stepped into her house. “I’m sorry, Brett. Please leave, and take these gifts with you,” she said.
Then she shut the door, leaving Brett alone on her porch with a vase of roses and a hammock. He left the gifts sitting there, covered in torn wrapping paper, and walked back to his car.
He hadn’t felt this empty inside since the day years ago that the last of his clan had died.
Chapter Thirteen
Aubrey left the gifts from Brett on the front porch for two weeks. She didn’t want to accept them, but she couldn’t bring herself to throw them away. She’d had some good times with Brett, and she felt like it was wrong to just put something he bought for her in the trash. So for two weeks the gifts sat there, a daily reminder of the friendship she’d lost. By the end of the second week, the roses had wilted horribly and the water in their vase had started to look and smell like swamp water. Aubrey had no choice but to clean up them up.
She poured the water from the vase out onto her front lawn, and then threw the flowers and vase into the trash together. She cleaned up the bits of wrapping paper still attached to the hammock, and gave the hammock one last, long look before throwing in the trash as well. She never even took it out of the protective plastic sleeve in which it had been packaged.
Aubrey felt strangely overcome with sadness as she threw away the gifts. The intensity of her feelings confused her. After all, despite Brett’s apologies and gifts, he had still kept the truth from her. He hadn’t told her that he was actually a bear shifter, and he hadn’t told her that he had deep feelings for her. Maybe if he had told her all of that from the beginning, then things would have been different. She needed to clear her mind, and she decided to do it the way she always did: by going for a swim.
Aubrey changed into the dry suit that she kept at her house. The late October temperatures in San Diego still hovered around seventy degrees, but Aubrey knew the water would be relatively cool, especially once the sun set. The dry suit was waterproof, and would keep her warmer and more comfortable than the wetsuit, which was not waterproof. And staying warm was important, because Aubrey was planning on swimming for a long time today. She had a lot of thinking to do.
Aubrey headed for one of her favorite beaches, and slipped into the water. Not many people had ventured out here on this late afternoon in the middle of the week. Aubrey was thankful for the lack of crowds. The less people around, the easier it was to focus on her own thoughts. As th
e ocean surrounded her body, Aubrey felt an instant sensation of peace filling her. This was where she felt at home. It’s where her deepest worries and fears melted away. She had come close to losing her love and trust of the ocean when she had almost drowned after the research boat sank. But she had realized that the boat incident had been a fluke accident. As long as you respected the water, it would respect you.
Aubrey swam lazily for a while, enjoying the feeling of lightness that being in the water gave her. She closed her eyes and let the salt water run over her face, washing away the worries and stresses of the last few weeks. She tried to let her thoughts about Brett float away with the waves that were passing over her, but she couldn’t stop his face from running across her mind. She decided to try a different tactic. She started pumping her arms and legs vigorously, swimming through the water as quickly as she could force her body to move. Her heart rate rose rapidly as she sliced through the water, and the adrenaline pumping through her veins encouraged her to swim even harder. Out here in the water, she could outrun the anger and sadness that had dominated her mind lately.
Aubrey had been swimming at full speed for several minutes when she suddenly felt something grabbing her. Her first thought was that a shark had mistaken her for food, and she fought the urge to panic. But in the next second, she realized that her attacker felt human and hadn’t bitten her. She got her bearings in the water and saw that a large, muscular man had stopped her mid-swim, and now had his arms wrapped around her in the water.
“Are you okay, miss?” he asked. His blonde hair and clear blue eyes made him objectively handsome, but Aubrey was too confused at the moment to notice his good looks.
“I’m fine,” Aubrey said. “What’s going on here?”
“I saw you thrashing around out here,” he said. “I thought you were in trouble and I came out to help you.”
Aubrey frowned, realizing that the man had mistaken her furious swimming for frantic flailing. She pushed him away from her. “I’m fine. I was just going for a swim. Are you some kind of lifeguard or something?”
“No. I was just out here swimming and saw you. It looked like you needed help.”
“Well, I don’t,” Aubrey said, her tone sharp and annoyed. She didn’t want to be too harsh on someone who was genuinely trying to help, but this man had interrupted her reverie. Besides, surprising someone in the water like he had could have caused a panic situation. She didn’t need saving.
The man apologized and swam away, looking sheepish. Aubrey watched his muscular arms cutting through the water, and was surprised to realize that she didn’t feel attracted to him despite his handsome appearance.
That’s when the truth hit her full-force. As she treaded water out in the open ocean, she realized that Brett had stolen her heart. As much as she tried to deny it, the feelings were constantly simmering just beneath the surface. She felt scared—scared that they wouldn’t make time for each other, scared that after the initial excitement of a new relationship he wouldn’t be committed anymore and she would be left with a broken heart once again, and scared of what it would be like to date a man who was part bear.
But all of those fears couldn’t hold back the passion she felt for him. She missed him. She had told herself not to fall in love with him when they had agreed to be just friends. But how could she keep from falling for him? Her attraction to him felt magnetic. She couldn’t break away from it, no matter how much she tried to deny it.
She thought she had been miserable the last few weeks because she was upset that Brett had lied to her about his true feelings and the fact that he was part bear. But she realized as she floated out in the ocean, under the slowly setting sun, that she had been miserable because she missed him. He made her heart beat faster. He made her laugh. And he had been the one to save her when she truly needed saving.
She still needed saving. She wasn’t literally drowning anymore, but she was drowning in her life of work. She was lonely, and she needed someone brave enough to deal with her crazy schedule and anxious heart. Brett was still trying to save her. She just had to let him.
Aubrey started swimming furiously again, this time back toward shore. She had to talk to him. She had to tell him that she wanted another chance with him. She should have been worried that he might have written her off by now, but she wasn’t. She knew in her heart that he was waiting for her.
Aubrey reached the sand and started running, sending little eruptions of sand flying up behind her with every footstep. She reached her car and fished her keys quickly out of the pocket in her dry suit where she stored them. She unlocked the vehicle and threw the door open, then grabbed her phone from the center console. Before she could even think about what to say, she dialed Brett’s number.
It rang several times before going to voicemail. Aubrey took a deep breath and just said the first thing that came to her mind. “Brett, it’s Aubrey. Come over.”
Then she hung up the call and started her car’s engine. She drove like a bat out of hell to get home, her heart pounding the whole way. She knew Brett might be on a work shift, and might not hear her message for several days. But she didn’t want to miss him if he happened to be free and stopped by at her house.
Aubrey ran into her house and threw open the lid of her trash can. She fished the hammock out of the can and pulled it out of the plastic wrapping surrounding it. She went to her backyard, which was filled with several cedar trees, and tied the hammock between two of them. She stood in the waning daylight for several moments, admiring the way the large hammock fit perfectly between the two trees. Then she went inside to check her cell phone and see whether Brett had called.
She had just picked her phone up off the counter when she heard a pounding knock on her door. She knew it had to be him. She ran to the door and flung it open without even bothering to look through the peephole.
Brett stood on her doorstep, his eyes blazing.
“Aubrey?” he asked, his voice heavy with emotion. He sounded cautious, but hopeful.
“Brett, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what was wrong with me. I was trying to push away thoughts of you but I couldn’t anymore. I was in the water and this other guy tried to save me even though I wasn’t drowning and I realized I didn’t need him to save me because I had you. I need you. I know I’m rambling and not making any sense right now but I don’t know how to explain it. I’m just sorry for pushing you away and I want another chance. I want another chance on us.” Aubrey stopped her lengthy blabbering to take a deep breath. She opened her mouth to continue talking, but before she could get any more words out, Brett’s lips were covering hers. He pulled her close to him and kissed her deeply, holding on to her like his life depended on it. When he pulled back for a moment, Aubrey started talking again.
“I’m so sorry. I know that—”
“Shhh,” Brett said, interrupting her. “No more apologies. I’m the one who messed up. I’m the one who should be sorry.”
Aubrey looked up into Brett’s eyes, which had taken on such a primal, intense look that it was difficult for her to hold his gaze.
“Can we start over?” Aubrey asked.
Brett smiled and pulled Aubrey close again. “Nothing would make me happier,” he whispered in her ear.
“I strung the hammock you gave me up in my backyard,” Aubrey whispered back. “Do you want to check it out with me?”
Brett pulled back to look at Aubrey’s face, and winked at her. “I’d love to. But I don’t know if we’ll both fit on there when we have all of our clothes on,” he said.
Aubrey gave him a devious smile. “Then we better get naked and make a little more room,” she said. She pulled her shirt off in one smooth move, exposing her satin red bra and curvy stomach. Brett grunted in appreciation, and removed his own shirt. His sculpted abs rose and fell with his rapid breathing as he let his gaze slide over Aubrey’s body.
“Good start,” Aubrey said. “Come on, I’ll show you the hammock.”
She took Brett
’s hand and led him through her living room and kitchen to the back door. She stepped into her backyard, where the rapidly darkening sky had made it difficult to see clearly. She pulled Brett between the two large cedars and let him take in the hammock that hung between them.
“Want to test it out?” she asked.
“You still have too many clothes on,” he said, his voice deep and husky.
Aubrey tilted her head sideways. “Do I, now?” she asked. Then she unbuttoned her jeans and slid them off over her bare feet, revealing a satin red thong that matched her bra. “I think you’re the one with too many clothes on.”
Brett smirked, and kicked off his shoes and socks. Then he unbuttoned his jeans as well, sliding them off and leaving him wearing nothing but a pair of tight, white briefs. “I don’t want to be left out,” he said, then reached to push off his underwear as well. “In fact, I’d rather be ahead of the game. I’m baring it all. Can you?”
Aubrey couldn’t keep her eyes from moving down to where Brett’s long, stiff dick jutted out from his body. His whole body stood proud, his broad chest rising and falling with the heavy breathing of anticipation as he looked at Aubrey, waiting for her to respond. “I wouldn’t want you to be the only one naked now, would I?” she said softly, and then reached behind her back to unclasp her bra, She slid the straps off her shoulders, revealing her large breasts and aroused nipples.
“Damn, woman,” Brett growled out, taking in her body with appreciation. Encouraged by his approval, Aubrey slid off her panties as well. They both stood facing each other next to the hammock, stark naked in Aubrey’s backyard. She was thankful for the thick trees in her yard, as well as the growing darkness. She didn’t want to give any of her nosy neighbors a show.
“It would probably make more sense to just have sex on the bed inside,” Aubrey said, eyeing the hammock, which swayed slightly in the breeze.
“Where would the fun or challenge be in that?” Brett asked, stepping toward the hammock. “Haven’t you always wanted to have sex on a hammock?”
An Alpha's Storm (Water Bear Shifters 1) Page 10
