Shit. Controlled by his bear's instincts, Dimitri had completely forgotten about the condoms he'd tucked into his jeans pockets this morning…just in case.
"Glad that one of us is a responsible adult," he replied wryly. "I'm not normally like this. It's just…you. You're special, Damaris. And now you're mine."
It felt good to say that while they were still so intimately joined. And even better to feel her relax against him and lean her head back against his chest.
"Just so you know," she said, "I wasn't dating anyone else. The birth control—it's just that some of the guys I work with can be pretty, uh, pushy. I didn't want to take any chances, in case something happened."
Damaris was afraid that someone would rape her at her job?
The growl bubbled out of Dimitri's chest before he could stop it.
"Did anyone ever try anything?" he demanded, and he felt his fingertips tingle as if his grizzly claws were about to emerge to rip someone's face off.
"Not—not really," Damaris said, and he could tell that she was lying.
It was a struggle not to demand the truth from her, so that he would know which scumbags he needed to punish.
"In any case, I took care of it," she assured him. "It's not a problem anymore."
That at least wasn't a lie.
"And it won't ever happen again," he promised her, caressing her sweetly rounded belly and cupping her breasts. "You're under my protection now."
He made love to her again after that, spooned together on the forest floor, his body wrapped protectively around hers as she panted and shook with pleasure in his arms.
* * *
Afterwards, when Damaris was sore but thoroughly satisfied, they shared the generous picnic lunch that Dimitri had packed in the cooler.
Then they hiked back to the trailhead parking lot, walking hand-in-hand.
As Dimitri drove them back to the ranch, Damaris sat next to him in the pickup's cab, trying to sort through the day's tumultuous events.
She knew she should be second-guessing her decision to become engaged to someone she'd only known for a few days and who could turn into a bear at the drop of a hat.
But after her initial shock at the revelation that shapeshifters were real, it didn't seem nearly as pressing as her other concerns.
Namely, that whenever she tried to imagine what her new life would be like here in Bearpaw Ridge, the only thing that came to mind was how Tony was going to react when he found out that not only was she abandoning her special assignment but she had gotten engaged to her target.
And that brought up another worry.
For her to have any chance at a happily-ever-after with Dimitri Medved, she could never, ever tell him the real reason why she had come to Bearpaw Ridge.
Damaris stared out the window, trying to figure out how she could quit her job without setting off Tony's explosive temper.
When he did lose his shit, it was like a landmine with shrapnel flying in every direction, and it left behind a trail of casualties, some of whom had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Maybe I could just tell him about getting the job at Grizzly Creek Games and not mention Dimitri at all.
Yeah, like Tony's not going to ask any questions?
What do I do? How do I manage the situation to get what I need?
"Hey," Dimitri, apparently worried by her prolonged descent into deep thought, squeezed the hand he was holding as he drove. "You okay? I know this is all pretty sudden. Are you completely freaked out right now?"
Damaris shook her head. "No, I'm okay. I was just thinking about all the stuff I have to do. Moving…closing down my consulting business…all that stuff."
"Are you worried about going back to New York?"
Startled by his insight, she couldn't help giving him an honest answer. "Yeah. My clients…they aren’t the type of people who just let their associates walk away. You know what I mean?"
And that was as much as she could safely say about her situation. She hated lying to Dimitri, even if it was by omission, but how could she possibly tell him the truth about what she'd become under Tony's thumb?
Besides, that part of her life was over now. Once she dealt with the fallout, she'd put the past behind her and make the most of her new start here in Bearpaw Ridge.
"You don't have to go back to New York if you don't want to," Dimitri said, as if he could somehow read her mind.
"What do you mean? I have to give notice. I have pack up all my—"
He chuckled. "What if I told you I could hire a company to pack up your apartment and move your belongings here?"
"I'd say that sounds great, but it would cost an arm and a leg that I don't have," she said frankly.
She had savings, of course, but that money was earmarked for emergencies and for Sophie's college fund.
"Consider it an engagement gift," he said. "I can afford it, and this sounds like something that would make your life easier. Or do you want to go back? Do you have anything that absolutely requires your face-to-face presence?"
"God, no," Damaris said fervently.
"Then don't go back."
Damn, Dimitri makes it sound so easy. So straightforward.
He added, "As for contacting your clients and telling them that you won't be available for consulting going forward—well, isn't that what email and Skype are for?"
"But—you can't really be serious about paying for all that? My furniture—" she stammered.
It couldn't really be this easy, could it? Just stay here in safe Bearpaw Ridge, avoid direct confrontation with Tony, and let Dimitri take care of all the logistics?
"Damaris." She looked at his male-model profile and saw his wry smile. "I told you that bear shifters take care of their own. So let me take care of this for you. It would make me feel like I was doing my job as your ma—I mean, fiancé."
"Uh…okay." Damaris felt stunned at the idea that she might not actually have to deal with the logistics of moving cross-country.
All her life, she'd had to manage just about everything on her own. Since Sophie's birth, she'd been a business owner, a mom, and the chief cat herder at a bunch of bars and strip clubs. She'd taken care of everyone and everything in her orbit.
Now someone was trying to take care of her.
It felt sweet and strange…and really good.
She squeezed his hand back. "Thank you. I'm not used to being spoiled like this."
"I can tell." He grinned. "And I'll see what I can do about changing that. What are your plans for tomorrow? Do you want to go shopping for a ring?"
Damaris studied her unexpected fiancé, asking herself if she was going to regret committing herself someone she'd only known for four days.
Did I just do something dumb because I wanted him so badly?
Regret and anxiety both refused to come. Her gut and her heart both agreed—Dimitri just felt right. She could trust him.
But she just couldn't shake the feeling that leaving her old life wasn't going to be as easy as Dimitri thought.
What if Tony rats me out to the cops, and I end up serving a life sentence somewhere? Dimitri will dump me in a hot minute. And more importantly, what will happen to Sophie if I end up in prison?
Chapter 15 – Breaking the News
Damaris is mine!
My mate. My fiancée. Mine.
As he walked into his house after dropping a sunburned, happy Sophie and a radiant, pleasingly disheveled Damaris off at their motel for the last time, Dimitri felt as if he were wrapped in a shining cloud of golden happiness.
Tonight, Dimitri was going online to buy Damaris the new car he'd promised her. He'd gotten the go-ahead from Ash when he called on the drive back to the ranch, and he was going to arrange for the car to be delivered as soon as possible.
And tomorrow morning, Damaris and her daughter would be checking out of the hotel and moving in with him.
After that, he and Damaris would be sleeping in the same bed every night and wak
ing up together every morning.
It all seemed to be too good to be true. She'd even taken the unexpected revelation of his bear shifter nature in stride…once she’d put away her gun, that is.
As he looked around his home, imagining the changes that Damaris—and Sophie, too—might want to make to it, a question niggled at him.
Where did a human resources consultant learn to use a gun with that kind of confidence? And what kind of work environment would put Damaris at risk of being raped?
Based on what Ash had told him about her clients' Mafia connections, he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like the answer.
At least she's here now, where I can keep her safe.
Over breakfast tomorrow, he intended to ask Sophie what she'd like her bedroom to look like. He wondered if his new daughter was the type to want a princess decoration scheme. She seemed more the type to want a large bookcase and maybe a telescope.
Whatever makes her the happiest, I'll do it.
His phone rang, interrupting his thoughts. He glanced over at the Caller ID screen and felt his heart sink. Mama.
Elle Swanson seemed perfectly at ease with her Ordinary daughters-in-law. Then again, Elle was like no other bear shifter that Dimitri had ever met. She had even welcomed two sabertooth shifters into her family, something that Mama had ranted about as a betrayal of the Swanson bloodline.
Better get this over with now.
Dimitri tapped Answer. "Hi Mama, what's up?"
"I have found the perfect mate for you," she announced, her excitement strengthening her Russian accent. "She is member of Osopardo clan, and she—"
"Stop right there," Dimitri ordered.
He'd told his mother over and over again that he didn't want her trying to play matchmaker. But Anastasia Medved had a talent for ignoring anything that conflicted with her plans.
"Mitya, moj mal’chik, you need a mate—" Mama began.
"And I've got one now." Dimitri couldn't help smiling a little at the shocked silence that followed his announcement.
It wasn't very often that the head of the Medved bear shifter clan found herself at a loss for words, and he was going to savor this brief moment of victory before the shit hit the fan.
"I was just about to call you to tell you the good news," he lied.
It was very difficult for shifters to get away with falsehoods in a face-to-face conversation, but telephones were another matter, since they masked the speaker's heart rate and scent.
"You found a mate? Truly?" His father came on the line. "Congratulations, my son! We must meet her!"
"She's not one of those Swanson girls you've been dating?" Mama asked in a tone of deep suspicion.
It was no secret that Mama despised Elle Swanson and resented being tied to the Swanson clan through Nika and Ash's mating.
"No, not a Swanson." Okay, here goes. "Her name is Damaris, she's from New York, and she's an Ordinary." He took a deep breath. "And she's wonderful. I feel so incredibly lucky."
Dimitri braced himself for the explosion. His mother didn't disappoint.
"Ordinary? You've bound yourself to an Ordinary? Are you insane? Do you hate us so much?" Mama shouted into the phone.
She had switched to Russian, which meant that she was genuinely upset and not just being manipulative.
"My bear chose Damaris, and he chose well. I've never been so happy."
"I won't stand for this!"
"Too bad, Mama. She's my mate, and I couldn’t change that even if I wanted to—and I don't want to," he added, just to be perfectly clear. "You'll just have to accept it if you want to have a relationship with your grandchildren. Speaking of which, Damaris has the sweetest daughter. Her name is Sophie, and she's eight years old. If it's too much to ask you to treat her as your granddaughter, at least be kind to her."
"But of course," rumbled Papa before Mama could reply. "You know how much I love children, even Ordinary children."
Mama wasn't done. "Ah, Mitya, my son! How can you be such a disappointment to us?" she wailed in Russian. "At least your sister married a bear shifter, even if we thought he was defective at first! That I should live to see our pure Medved bloodline contaminated by Ordinary blood! It's too much!"
Dimitri heard his mother give a melodramatic sob, and he sighed.
Loudly.
So that she'd get the hint that her usual tactics of emotional blackmail were once again failing with him.
"I'm willing to invite you and Papa to the wedding, but only if you swear to me that you'll both be on your best behavior," Dimitri said sternly. "I won't have you insulting my bride, and I won't be shy about asking you to leave if you forget your manners."
"Mitya! How dare you speak to your mother like that?" his father growled.
Once, that tone would have made Dimitri shake in his Italian loafers. Now, though… "I'm just giving you both fair warning. Damaris is my mate now, and I'll protect her from everything and everyone, including you."
* * *
One week later
"Fuhgeddaboutit!" Damaris's phone exclaimed, sending a spear of panic through her.
The coffee mug she was holding slipped from her suddenly nerveless fingers and shattered. Hot coffee mixed with ceramic shards splattered over the white quartz countertop of Dimitri's kitchen island.
Her day of reckoning had finally arrived. That audio clip from The Honeymooners signaled an incoming text message from Tony Rizzo.
She remembered the secret glee with which she'd downloaded that ringtone.
It didn't seem so funny now.
Damaris stood frozen in the middle of the kitchen, the blood pounding through her veins. All she could think was, Thank God I'm alone right now.
Sophie was somewhere on the ranch, spending the day doing things with Matt, Ellie, Mitya, and other Swanson kids.
Damaris hadn't yet broken the news to her daughter that their stay here was going to be a lot longer than just a vacation, but she had planned to do it tomorrow, when their original vacation plans had been due to end.
But she didn't think Sophie would object to staying in Bearpaw Ridge. Her daughter had quickly become best friends with Matt, and she seemed to be enjoying the company of the younger Swanson kids, too.
To her relief, Dimitri had gotten a text of his own from Ash and had left the house a few minutes ago to go talk to him. That meant no awkward questions about her reaction to receiving Tony's text.
Trying to put off the inevitable just a little longer, Damaris slowly cleaned up the mess she'd made, dumping the remains of the mug into the trash.
Then, her stomach knotted with dread, she went over to the coffee table and picked up her phone to read the text.
Hey, D. How's it going? You coming back anytime soon?
It was short and relatively cordial and didn't reveal any hint of what Tony's real agenda might be. He was too wary of law enforcement to commit anything questionable to writing, whether text messages or old-fashioned notes on paper.
Had he heard anything about Damaris's engagement or her plans to stay in Bearpaw Ridge?
If so, Damaris knew that she was in for a rough ride. He'd made it perfectly clear on numerous occasions that she belonged to him, and he wouldn't tolerate any other man moving in on "his" property. Even if she'd never gone out on a date with him.
Well, even if he does know about Dimitri, it's not like he was going to be okay with my quitting in any case, she told herself.
She toyed with the idea of replying by text but thought better of it. Her news was better delivered with an actual phone call, no matter how much she was dreading it. She needed to be able to explain…and apologize, if she thought that was going to help at all.
But there was no way in Hell that she was going to have this conversation anywhere near the ranch, not surrounded by bear shifters with super-hearing and a fiancé who might be returning any minute. She needed to get away to somewhere with a reliable cell signal.
Somewhere like downtown Bearpaw Ridge.<
br />
The sun coming through the skylight of the great room struck fiery sparks from her brand-new diamond engagement ring as she shoved her phone in her purse.
Was this the beginning of the end of her beautiful idyll here?
She had spent her first week on her new job splitting her time between Ash's house, located a hundred yards away, and Dimitri's home office.
True to his word, he had set up a second desk for her with a large monitor, laptop docking station, keyboard, mouse, and ergonomic chair in the large office that was connected to the house's great room by a pair of French doors.
So far, she was loving everything about her new life.
She loved falling asleep in Dimitri's arms every night, limp and glowing from sex that just got better and better every time. She loved waking up to a cup of coffee brought to her in bed by her thoughtful fiancé. And she loved spending the day working side-by-side with him at Grizzly Creek Games.
Ash and Steffi were wonderful, and she had liked all of the Grizzly Creek Games employees that she'd spoken with. They all seemed to be highly intelligent, highly motivated, and above all, nice.
It was a huge change from working with the strip clubs. She had liked many of the dancers, waitresses, and bartenders, but the management types tended to make her skin crawl. Even the ones who weren't mobsters or mobster wannabes.
"Hey Damaris!" she heard Dimitri's faint shout from outside. "Come out here for a minute. We have something to show you!"
"It's a surprise," Steffi sang out. "Hurry up!"
Puzzled and curious, Damaris emerged from the house—it was so beautiful and so big in comparison to her cramped Brooklyn apartment that she couldn't believe that she actually lived here now—to find Ash, Steffi, and Dimitri standing around a gleaming brand-new red Subaru Crosstrek.
It was topped with a huge white bow.
"Oh my God." Damaris stopped, unable to believe that Dimitri had been serious about buying her a new car—and that Ash had gone along with it.
"Do you like it?" Ash asked her. "If not, I'm sure the dealership would be willing to swap it out for something else."
"No—" Damaris's voice broke on a sob. Her eyes stung and her vision blurred. "No, it's perfect. It's beautiful. Thank you!"
Blaze (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 8) Page 14
