What if he couldn’t be happy without making someone else miserable?
“You okay?” Ryland called back, waiting up ahead for him. Despite their conversation, Ryland had always been the most sensitive of them. Always willing to give another chance, to forgive a word said in anger.
“I’m fine,” Riker said. “Let’s go in and see Ana.”
She was waiting at the kitchen table, her hair washed and pulled into a low, tight ponytail with just a few red curls escaping at the sides. She was clean-faced and looked extremely comfortable and huggable in a soft gray sweater and loose sweats. She held her phone in her hands, probably reading a book.
They’d talked about what she liked, self-help and romance, and he’d even tried to read a bit of one out loud one night but had to stop when she laughed at how he pronounced things.
So he wasn’t some romantic hero. So what?
He wanted to be a romantic hero for her.
“Hello,” she said, looking up with a false brightness in her eyes that said she was trying to make this less awkward for them both.
“Hey,” he said, sitting down at the table as Ryland went into the kitchen to start prep.
“I already put a lasagna in,” she said. “It’s just staying warm right now. Where’s Rock?”
Riker stared at her, stunned. “You what?”
“I made dinner,” she said. “Well, it was frozen, so I just had to stick it in and watch the timer.” She looked at her phone. “You two are late.”
“Sorry about that,” Ryland said. “Fights went over. They always do.” He stretched, cracking his neck side to side. “I can’t wait for this week to just be over.”
Neither could Riker, even if it meant his heart cracked in half. With the most painful things in life, the anticipation was usually worse than the actual event.
As Ryland set plates for the lasagna and brought it over to serve, Riker studied Ana with uneasy suspicion. After all, he’d hurt her feelings, closed off from her in a vulnerable moment, and she’d gone and made dinner for him?
He’d expected a tantrum, yelling. She would have been entitled to it. Instead, she was acting like nothing happened. Except for the vague look in her eyes and the way she avoided his gaze most of the time, he’d never know something had happened between them.
Sitting across from her, watching her eat and smile at Ryland, made his whole body remember what it had been like to pleasure her just hours before.
No, to be one with her just hours before in a way that made him feel bonded to her forever.
She gave him a strained half smile as she asked if she could take his plate, and he shook his head and took hers along with his. The least he could do was the dishes. It would give him something to think about other than her amazing breasts and how they’d felt in his hands.
And how her eyes seemed scared to look at him.
He was just soaping up the last dish when the phone rang. The landline. That was odd.
He looked over at Ryland, who went to pick it up, Ana staring curiously. She’d probably never seen this phone ring before. None of the contestants had it, just the townspeople when they needed his help.
Which probably meant…
Ryland sighed and covered the receiver. “It’s Ros. She says Rock is drunk and she wants us to get him.” He put the phone back up to his ear and listened. “Falling-down drunk, apparently, and proposing marriage.”
“What?” Riker asked, wiping his hands on the towel and walking over to the phone himself. By the time he picked it up, there was only a dial tone.
Ryland shrugged. “What do you want to do?”
“We’ll have to go get him,” Riker said. “And I’ll probably need you for it.”
“What about her?” Ryland asked, eyeing Ana. “We can’t leave her alone here, unprotected. Not at night.”
That was a good point. As much as Ros’s bar was the last place he wanted to take his mate—no, Ana—they were safer if they all went along.
And besides, the thought of anyone touching her made his bear angry enough that he was sure he could easily protect her even while wrangling his drunk, erstwhile brother.
“I can come,” Ana said. “I’ll stay close. It’ll be fine. Lots of the shifters are nice, actually.”
Ryland let out a snort.
“What’s so funny?”
“You don’t get it,” Ryland said, walking over to help her with her jacket. Riker held himself back from jerking it away and helping her himself.
“Get what?” she asked, shrugging into her coat and giving Ryland a grateful smile that made Riker want to punch a wall.
See? She was bringing out the animal inside him. And she deserved better than that, no matter what his bear thought.
“Okay,” he said, pulling out the can of bear spray she’d handed over her second day here. “But stay close to me or Ryland, and I’d feel better if you had this on you. Just in case.”
She nodded and followed them to the door as he turned and locked it behind them.
“So where are we going?” she asked.
“A bar.”
9
The Seasons Bar and Grill was the smallest, most rustic little dive Ana had ever seen.
She had a sense of foreboding as they walked up the creaky wooden steps and Riker pushed the door open.
He was wearing a worn leather jacket that pushed at his muscles, an old tee, and jeans that were ripped at the knees. It looked fashionable but was completely on accident, compared to Rock, whose whole style was painstakingly disheveled. Artificially casual. Put together but in a messy way.
Not now, though.
In her concern for her new friend, her eyes immediately scanned for him, passing by all the other shifters seated around the bar to find him slumped on a stool in the corner, glaring blearily with red eyes at the woman at the bar.
A woman. It almost felt weird to see one after days with only big, burly men around.
The woman flashed her a smile as she dried a glass. She finished, set it down, and came over to them, tucking her towel in her back pocket. She wore jeans, brown cowboy boots, and a loose flannel shirt that didn’t hide her substantial rack. She wasn’t that tall, but she made up for it with an impressive bearing. There was a strength to her. Her jaw was squared, and her sandy-blond hair was pulled back, revealing a clean, friendly face. But where she could have looked blocky, her face was softened by large, expressive blue eyes and soft, pouting lips.
Her displeasure was plain as she walked over to meet Riker, talking to him while he stood in front of Ana, blocking her from the room. Apparently trying to keep emotional space between them didn’t dampen his protectiveness at all.
“Hey,” the new woman said, leaning in conspiratorially to Riker. “I’m sorry to call you out here. I know you have lots to do this time of year, but—”
“Ros! Marry me!” Rock slurred, waving a sloshing, half-empty glass of beer at her while the shifters around him laughed. Rock’s handsome face was slightly flushed and pale at the same time, and despite the lazy, drunken expression on his face, there was something more intense there as well.
“Do something about him,” Ros said, rolling her eyes. “He’s been coming in every night since the Brawl started. I mean, usually I appreciate him watching out that the others don’t get out of hand, but—”
“But he’s the worst right now,” Riker said in a growl, mussing his dark-blond hair until it stood up in little tufts. “I’ll take care of it.”
At that, Rock perked up, pushing his hair back and narrowing his eyes as if trying to focus on his brother. Ana gasped as she caught sight of a scar she’d never seen, long and rippled, going from his temple down to the corner of his jaw.
She guessed it made sense, as he was a stuntman, but what had caused it?
“Oh, look, big brother,” Rock slurred. “Here to save the day.” He waved a hand. “Okay, come save me.”
Riker’s expression hardened, his whole body tightening. She
saw his hands make fists and then relax, over and over, as his brother spoke.
“Always the big hero, right, Riker?” He touched his scar. “Okay, maybe not that time.”
“Rock, let’s get home, okay?” Riker asked, using his calm but deadly voice as he made his way over to his brother and put an arm around him, lifting him.
“Sure. Home. But this isn’t my home, fucker,” Rock said, struggling against Riker to stay in his seat. “If I never had to come back here again, I’d be fine. Except for you, Ros.” He winked at her. “I’d come back to marry you.”
She shook her head slowly, biting her lip, a mixture of anger and disappointment and disgust in her eyes as she watched.
Ana felt sorry for her. Rock was really out of it. But was the other woman disappointed because he was acting drunk or because the offers he was making weren’t genuine?
“What about you?” Rock said, managing to plant himself back on his stool so he could turn to Ana with a drunken smile. “You want to marry me?” He thumped his fist on the table. “It’s time to settle down. Come on. You can domesticate me.”
Before Riker could get ahold of him again, Rock grabbed Ana by the collar and jerked her in against his lips. It wasn’t altogether unpleasant; his kiss was deceptively gentle, teasing.
It lasted only a split second. By the time she’d raised her hand to shove him back, she was plucked back and Ryder’s fist was flying into his brother’s face.
The two of them rolled over the table and crashed onto the ground, wood splintering and furniture flying as they fought for dominance, Rock putting up a pretty good fight for being so drunk.
He had Riker underneath him and was punching him in the face when a giant pitcher of ice water was dumped on them.
Ana’s heart pounded as she ran to Riker, who shoved Rock out from under him and stood, looking furious. He walked past her and stormed out of the bar.
She got the distinct feeling he’d just wanted to get Rock off of her but then had held back, not wanting to hurt his drunk brother.
She heard Ryland in the bar, talking to Ros and maybe Rock, and the sound rose. She decided everyone could work it out and she would go tend to Riker.
Riker was pacing near the road, kicking the gravel and pulling at his own hair.
She stopped about ten feet away and stared at him. He was cursing, talking to himself, and then taking deep breaths and holding them in before letting them go.
It occurred to her there was so much more to this man than she could ever know in just a few days.
He wasn’t just holding things back to be stubborn. Everything came together. The awkwardness of the brothers together. The way Rock and Ryland had left and Riker stayed only out of obligation.
Something had happened to them growing up here. Something that made Rock want to drink and Ryland reserved and Riker so pent up he looked like he could explode.
“Don’t come any closer,” he said, glaring at her. “I’m not right right now.”
She stepped forward. “Talk to me about it.”
“I don’t need to talk, not after all these years.”
“You could have beat Rock if you wanted to,” she said.
His gray eyes flashed. “Is that what you think this is about? The last thing I want is to punch my brother. Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she said.
“But I don’t do well with being hit either,” he said. “I just need a minute to cool off.”
She watched him pace a moment more, his silhouette so lonely in the moonlight. She couldn’t stand just leaving him like that.
She ran forward, and before he could stop her, she threw her arms around his waist and held on tightly. He jolted and then rested his arms around her. He was still tense, his heart still rapidly beating, but he slowly calmed.
“Dammit, you give me no choice,” he said. “Why are you the only one that calms me? Why do you make me want to come out? Why do you make it impossible to hide?” He cupped her face in his hands, and she was breathless at the pain in his eyes.
Then his lips covered hers, his warm breath mingling with hers in the night air, and she kissed him back, winding her hands up to play in his hair. He bit her lower lip and then swept his tongue through her mouth thoroughly. He kissed her top lip, then her bottom, almost as if he were trying to erase his brother’s touch.
When he pulled back, dropping his hands to her arms, his gaze was concerned. “Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you. I swear, once he’s sober…”
“It’s fine,” she said, resting her head against his chest as her heart pounded so hard she felt she could faint.
Whatever he felt she did to him, however overwhelming he found this thing happening between them, it wasn’t worse than it was for her.
He changed her whole world every time he came near her.
“I loved what we did today,” she said. “But I didn’t want it to mess things up for us. Are you mad at me?”
“No,” he said gruffly. “Why would you think that?”
“Well, afterward, you didn’t want to talk and you stormed off, and then when you came back, it was so awkward—”
“And you think that’s because I didn’t like it or something?”
“Or didn’t like me,” she said.
He swore under his breath. “That’s not it at all, darlin’.” She grinned at the drawl in his voice. “I like you too much. When I’m with you like that, I can’t deny it.” He ran a hand through his hair and his hard jaw flexed. “But it doesn’t change the complications between us.”
He brushed a work-roughened finger along her jaw, and she loved the soft scrape against her skin. She grinned up at him. It was all absurd. He was a bear shifter, and she’d just been dumped by a boyfriend. Yet she couldn’t imagine not having him in her life.
“Riker!” a voice called out, and they turned to see Rock stumbling out of the bar, Ryland’s arm around him, propping him up. “I’m sorry, bro. Come on. Let’s kiss and make up.” He put his arms up and walked out of Ryland’s hold, caught his foot on a tree root, and fell flat on his face.
She caught Riker’s arm as he turned to go to his brother, worried he would still be upset, but Riker just shook his head.
He walked to his brother and muttered under his breath but helped Rock stand and reluctantly laughed as he planted a sloppy kiss on Riker’s cheek and kept apologizing loudly. Riker took advantage of the moment to manhandle Rock into the truck.
As Riker was trying to shove Rock in, Ana turned to Ryland. “Is Rock… always that affectionate?”
“Only when drunk,” Ryland said, rubbing the back of his head. Having brothers like this, Ana could kind of see why he’d gotten some premature streaks of gray despite his youthful face. “But he’s going to feel bad in the morning. I’m sorry he did that to you.”
She shrugged. “Just a kiss. A fairly sweet one. Harmless.”
“I doubt Riker thinks so,” Ryland said with a shake of his head. “Anyway, let’s get you home.”
“Is Rock going to be okay?” she asked, grabbing Ryland by the sleeve.
“Yeah,” Ryland said. “When he gets drunk like this, it’s always a major wake-up call. He’ll have a huge hangover, ask us what happened, and be horrified enough not to drink for a while.”
“Okay, you sit up front with me, Ana,” Riker said. “I don’t trust my brother with you.”
“That’s right,” Rock said. “You ‘trust’ my brother much more than anyone, don’t you?”
“What is he talking about?” Ana asked.
“Rock,” Riker warned.
“We shifters can tell this stuff,” Rock said, pouting and lying back in a weird angle on the seat, bothering Ryland. It was a sizable cab, but not for two male bear shifters. “You two did the nasty.”
“Shut it,” Riker said.
“I can take you,” Rock said.
“I went easy on you because you’re drunk,” Riker snapped. “Now shut up or I’ll dump you out and you can walk ho
me.”
“Nah,” Rock said. “Not Riker. Riker wouldn’t do that. Riker never leaves his responsibility.” He waved a finger. “Nope-nope.”
“And you leave it too often,” Riker spat. “With alcohol.”
“Only when I’m home,” Rock said. “I just shouldn’t come here anymore.”
“Fine,” Riker said. “Who needs you?”
There was silence in the car. “I’m sorry, Riker,” Rock said in a low voice. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”
“Whatever,” Riker said, continuing to drive.
Ana felt the awkward tension permeating the car and had no idea what to do.
There was a lot going on between the brothers. A lot left unspoken in the time between their annual meet-up for the brawl. And she worried if they didn’t talk soon, they were all going to be in big trouble.
When they got home, Ryland wrestled Rock into bed, which left Riker and Ana alone in the living room, looking at each other nervously.
“We didn’t really finish talking,” Ana said.
“Will we ever?” Riker asked, rubbing his neck. “Let’s face it, Ana. Of course it feels good to be together. But you aren’t staying here, and I’m not leaving. And the more we do this, the more it’s just going to hurt us.”
“It hurts more that if you care about me, you won’t give me what we both want because you’re afraid of being hurt.”
“Of course I’m afraid of being hurt,” he said. He almost said more but then snapped his mouth shut. At even the thought of telling her about his childhood, deep shame rose in him, and he wanted to be as far from her as possible.
“So I guess you don’t want to spend the night together,” she said, looking disappointed.
“I think it’s a bad idea,” he said. “No matter how much I would want to.”
“But what about Rock?” she asked, a slight glitter in her green eyes. “I mean, what if he comes looking for me?”
Fuck. She had a point. “Okay,” he said. “You can come sleep in my room, but no funny business.”
She grabbed her pajamas and followed him to his room, her soft footsteps making his heart race as they walked down the hall.
Sheltered by the Bear (Trapped in Bear Canyon Book 1) Page 8
