Bear Next Door (Midlife Shifters Book 1)

by J. L. Wilder

  “But you could,” she pressed. “We could. We could get to know each other again. We don’t have to be strangers.”

  He sighed. “Evelyn, I don’t want you to feel like you owe me anything after last night,” he said.

  “All right, fine,” she said. “I don’t owe you an explanation. But I want us to be friends again, now that I’m back in town, and for that to happen, I need to tell you why I left the way I did. Otherwise, it’s always going to be awkward between us, the way it is now.”

  Brady sighed. The awkwardness was irritating. He had to admit that it would be nice to get over it, to get to a place where they could be friends again.

  Just then, the kitchen door swung open, and his mother came into the room.

  “Here you two are!” she said. “We were beginning to wonder about you. Come back and have coffee and dessert with us, Evelyn. I want to hear all about your plans now that you’re back home.” She came to Evelyn’s side and wrapped an arm around her. “We’ve all missed you around here so much, you know,” she said. “We’re very glad you’re back after all those years away.”

  “Evelyn and I are just catching up, Ma,” Brady said.

  His mother nodded. “Of course the two of you have a lot to talk about as well,” she agreed. “Why don’t you leave the dishes, Brady? This doesn’t need to be cleaned up right now, for goodness’ sake. Come back into the dining room and spend time with your family and our guests. I know you want to hear all about what Evelyn’s doing now as well.”

  Brady locked eyes with Evelyn. He could see from her pained expression that she was thinking the same thing he was—there was no way that the two of them would be able to talk about the things they needed to talk about in front of their parents.

  “Brady,” Evelyn said. “Maybe you could...” She hesitated, and Brady could see that she was fishing for an excuse to help her evade his mother.

  “Help you get a drink?” he supplied. “Like you asked. Of course.” He turned to his mother. “And then we’ll be right back out.”

  His mother looked dismayed. “You know we don’t keep liquor in the house, Brady.”

  Of course he knew that. His parents had gotten rid of their liquor the day Brady had come home from rehab, a fact that both touched and embarrassed him.

  “She just wanted a soda, Ma,” he said. “I was going to show her the choices.”

  “Oh,” his mother said. “Well—we have coffee.”

  “I appreciate that, Mrs. O’Neal.” Evelyn smiled winningly, clearly having recovered her composure. “But coffee this late at night is bad for my nerves. I’m sure you understand.”

  “Of course, dear,” Brady’s mother said. “You’re more than welcome to anything we have.” She turned to Brady. “Get her a soft drink,” she ordered as if Brady hadn’t just announced his intention to do exactly that.

  “You got it, Ma,” Brady said. “We’ll be back out in a moment.”

  They waited until his mother had left the kitchen. Then Brady let out a sigh of relief and leaned back against the counter.

  “You see what I mean?” Evelyn said. “This is weird. We have to get away and talk to each other one on one so that we can at least be normal again.”

  Brady didn’t know if normalcy was going to be possible with this woman, given their history, but he had to admit that she had a point. “All right,” he said. “But we can’t talk here.”

  “Can we go somewhere after dinner is over?” Evelyn asked. “I’m staying with my parents. Otherwise, I’d invite you to my place.”

  Brady nodded. “Yeah, that wouldn’t help,” he said. “We can go to my place after this if you want. Just to talk.”

  Even as he said it, though, he couldn’t help wondering if talk might lead to something more. When they were away from his parents’ house, would he be able to resist her appeal?

  He opened the fridge and showed her the selection of sodas. She chose one, and they went back out to the dining room, Brady’s mind moving a mile a minute.

  Chapter Eleven

  EVELYN

  Evelyn almost walked right past Brady’s house, expecting that they would turn into the alpha house. After all, that was where he had been living when she’d left.

  But of course, he wouldn’t live there now. He never became the alpha. She wanted to ask him about it—about the things that had gone wrong for him—but this conversation was going to be complicated enough without dragging up unpleasant things from his past.

  He led her into his kitchen, which was small and cozy. “You want anything?” he asked.

  “I could actually go for another soda,” she said. She would have liked a beer, really, but she knew better than to ask for such a thing here.

  He pulled out the same kind she’d had at his parents’ house and set it on the table. Then he pulled out an energy drink for himself and sat down opposite her.

  Neither of them spoke.

  Evelyn knew it was her job to get this conversation going—she was the one who had requested that they have it, after all—but now that she was here, it was difficult. She didn’t know what to say to him.

  “I’m sorry,” she began at last.

  He raised his eyebrows. “Sorry for what?”

  “For sneaking out while you were sleeping,” she said. “It was rude of me to do that.”

  “You were certainly within your rights,” he said. “There’s no law that says you have to stay the full night after you sleep with somebody.”

  “Yeah,” she said. “But I was only thinking about myself. What I wanted. I wasn’t thinking about how it would be for you to wake up and find me gone.”

  “It really wasn’t that big a deal.”

  “It must have been jarring, though,” she said. “I think, if I had been in your shoes, I would have wanted to know why. I would have wanted to know if my read on the situation had been wrong, if the other person hadn’t enjoyed it as much as I had.”

  He avoided her gaze. “All right,” he admitted. “I did wonder that.”

  “It’s not the case,” she said. “I had a great time last night. Really. I was so anxious, flying back to Chicago. You know how it was when I left. You know how angry people were.”

  He nodded. “No one was very happy with you,” he acknowledged. “And your parents were broken up about it.”

  “I was worried they wouldn’t want to see me again,” she said. “That they’d be so angry they’d just turn me out on the street.”

  “What would you have done if they had?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I didn’t have a plan. That’s part of what made the whole thing so scary. I didn’t have a lot of money. One night in the hotel was all I could afford.”

  “I didn’t know that,” he said. “That you were hard up for cash, I mean.”

  “It’s a long story,” she said. “But the short version is that Marty was controlling my wages. I had to sneak around behind his back just to save up enough money to leave him.”

  Brady’s eyebrows lifted. “Marty is the wolf?”

  “Yeah,” she said.

  “Damn,” he said. “I never thought he’d be any good, but that’s really cruel.”

  “He was extremely controlling,” she said. “I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t have friends. I couldn’t try to phone my parents. He knew everything I did, and if I did something he didn’t like, he’d find a way to make me pay for it.”

  “He sounds dangerous,” Brady said.

  “I don’t know,” Evelyn said. “It’s hard to think of him that way because he never actually did anything to hurt me physically. But what I had with him, in that marriage...it was no kind of life.”

  Brady nodded. “I’m glad you decided to come home,” he said.

  “When I saw you at the bar,” she said, “when you asked me up to your room—it was overwhelming. Being with you was overwhelming. I hadn’t been with a man who cared about my pleasure...ever, I guess. And then you...”

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nbsp; She couldn’t look at him. She couldn’t continue talking about what had transpired between them.

  But Brady rose slowly to his feet, came around the table, and sat down beside her. He cupped her cheek in his hand and lifted her face slowly until she was looking him in the eye again.

  “So it was good for you?” he asked, very solemnly.

  “It was wonderful,” she assured him. “I was so worried you would believe I’d left because it wasn’t. Nothing could be further from the truth, Brady. I left because I didn’t know how to process it. Because it was so good that I couldn’t accept it. Nobody has been good to me in a long time.”

  He rose and pulled her to her feet. He was hard, she realized, and she inhaled sharply as she felt him throb against her hip.

  “Brady,” she breathed. “You said just talk.”

  But she wasn’t pulling back from him. She was leaning into him. She wanted this every bit as badly as he seemed to, she realized. It had taken feeling him pressed up against her for her to understand the depth of her longing for him, but in the end, this had been on her mind all night.

  His cheek was warm against hers now, his breath hot on her ear. “I’ve been wanting you since I saw you sitting in my parents’ house,” he said. “I don’t know how I got through that dinner. Sitting across that table from you. Pretending you weren’t driving me absolutely wild, that I didn’t want to pick you up and throw you on the table and ravish you right then and there.”

  “You didn’t even want to talk to me,” she breathed. “You were angry at me—”

  “I was never angry,” he murmured. “Confused. Conflicted. But you drove me wild all the same. You’re driving me wild now.”

  His thigh was between hers. His hands were on her hips. She was grinding on him, she realized, with no clear idea of when that had started. But God, it felt so good.

  His hands gripped the fabric at the sides of her dress, bunching it, pulling it up so that her skirt began to lift. “I know I said just talk,” he said. “We can stop. If you want to stop—”

  “I don’t want to stop.” She wrapped both her hands around the back of his head and pulled him close so that she could kiss him.

  Then her feet were leaving the floor. She gripped his waist with her thighs, but it wasn’t necessary—he was strong enough to hold her up with no assistance from her at all.

  She thought he would carry her to the bed, as he had when they were at the hotel, but he didn’t. Instead, he lowered her onto her back on the kitchen table.

  “This is what I wanted to do to you,” he said. “This is what I was thinking about during dinner.”

  Then he tightened his fists around the fabric of her dress and ripped.

  She gasped. The fabric tore like paper in his hands, leaving her in just her bra and panties. Heat flooded through her body at the thought of being wanted so badly, at the knowledge that she had driven him to do such a thing.

  He pulled her bra down to her waist, exposing her breasts, and stood back for a moment to admire her. Evelyn couldn’t help wondering what she looked like right now. She was sure her face was flushed, and she could feel how rapidly she was breathing.

  With Marty, she had always tried to make herself attractive during sex. She had sucked in her stomach, pushed out her breasts and her ass, posed in ways that she thought might please him.

  Right now, she couldn’t imagine doing any of that. Right now, she felt that nothing could be more appealing than to be exactly who and how she was. It was clear how turned on Brady was. The air between them seemed tangibly thick with desire.

  He removed her panties slowly, as if he was drawing out some exquisite pleasure, and tossed them to the floor. He took in the site of her west dripping pussy. It was so beautiful to him.

  She was hyperconscious now of the fact that she was completely naked and he was still fully clothed. There was something delicious about that, something she would never have anticipated. He could do whatever he wanted right now, she knew. And she knew with equal surety that whatever he did would be wonderful.

  He trailed his fingers up her body slowly, as if he was mapping her, as if he wanted to learn every inch of her. Evelyn breathed raggedly as he explored her plump breasts, squeezing them firmly with his bare, rough hands. He stroke her neck, the insides of her elbows, the place where her thighs met. She wanted to beg him for more, but words had escaped her. Her mind was full to overflowing with the sensation of his touch.

  She heard the sound of a zipper. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard in her life.

  Then she felt his cock against her, pressing into her slowly, his hands on her knees. He teased her for a while, letting the head of his penis just slightly bob in and out of her wet folds.

  “Tell me how bad you want this cock,” he commanded.

  “I need you inside of me, please,” she gasped.

  “Please, what?” he growled at her.

  “Please alpha, I want you to fuck me.”

  She was worried about what she said to him, but it only made his smile widen. She loved the look of his face. He was so masculine with his defined cheekbones and rugged features, and his scar seemed to make him even sexier.

  “That’s right. I’m your alpha, and you’re going to give me what I want.”

  He guided her legs around his waist, and she clutched tightly at him and pulled him deep into her, relieved and exhilarated to finally have his cock fully inside of her.

  It was even better than the first time. Because this time, she knew it was Brady. This time, there were years of shared memories between them, even though there were still twenty years to make up for.

  And those shared memories, that history, was the promise of a future. Evelyn knew that she couldn’t extricate her life from his. This wasn’t the same as a one-night stand at a hotel bar. This was her oldest friend.

  He fucked her firmly, rhythmically, kissing her face everywhere as he did so, as if he was concerned that he might miss a spot.

  Evelyn wrapped her legs more tightly around him, giving herself the leverage to lift her hips into him. “Oh, God,” she moaned as the new angle allowed him to penetrate her more deeply. “Don’t stop, Brady, fuck.”

  He groaned and began to fuck her harder.

  “It’s never been this good,” she babbled desperately, rocking her hips up to meet his thrusts. “I never knew it could be this good. Fuck. Fuck, Brady, please, I—”

  Her orgasm crashed over her, suddenly and unexpectedly, and she let out a cry as her body spasmed. This was another thing she had never experienced with Marty. He had never bothered to see to it that she got to come. Orgasms had been something she enjoyed privately, secretly, away from her husband.

  God, it was so much better when it came from someone else!

  She returned to herself, feeling limp and sated and perfect. Brady was still fucking her, still taking his pleasure, and she reached up and wrapped her arms around him and pulled his body down to hers. She recovered her breath slowly as he continued to fuck her, grateful for what he had given her, grateful that she could continue to please him.

  He shuddered, thrust into her twice more, and went boneless on top of her. “Evelyn,” he whispered.

  She kissed his cheek and the shell of his ear. “That was so good,” she breathed. “That was the best I’ve ever had.”

  He pulled back, but he didn’t let go of her. He brought her with him as he stood upright. He staggered slightly, exhausted and spent, but he quickly got his balance and carried her out of the kitchen.

  He deposited her on a bed. “I’m sorry about your dress,” he said. “I’ll give you something to wear home, if you want.”

  “Do you want me to go home?” she asked.

  He hesitated. “I’d like you to stay,” he said. “But only if you want to.”

  She reached up, took his hand, and pulled him down onto the bed with her.

  “I want to,” she said and kissed him.

  Chapter Twelve
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  BRADY

  It was still dark outside when Brady awoke, but he didn’t need to see to be aware of Evelyn’s presence. She’d fallen asleep in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder. Her breathing was deep and even.

  She stayed.

  He shouldn’t have been surprised. She had expressed regret for having left when they were at the hotel. Still, though, it was nice to see her. It was nice to know that she had really meant what she’d said.

  He eased his way out from under her slowly and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. When he returned, it was to find her sitting up in bed and blinking at him.

  “Shit,” he said. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “It’s all right,” she said. “It’s good.”

  “Is it?”

  “It’s a chance for us to talk,” she said.

  “Talk about what?” He couldn’t help feeling a stab of nervousness. “Everything’s all right, isn’t it?”

  “Oh, of course,” she said. “Not that kind of talk. I just meant, you know, catch up. It feels strange that we’ve already had sex twice since I’ve been home, but we’ve barely had a conversation. Do you know what I mean?”

  He sat down beside her and offered her the glass of water. She shook her head, so he took a long drink before setting it down.

  “We used to have really good talks back in the day, didn’t we?” he asked her. “That’s one of the things I remember best.”

  She nodded. “It was a hallmark of our friendship,” she said. “I think it’s why we were close. The guys were always showing off and posturing, and the girls were usually trying to impress them. Trying to impress you, in particular.”

  He remembered that. It seemed like a long time ago that young women had been throwing themselves at him.

  “You were one of the only people I could really talk to,” Evelyn said. “Do you remember the night we stayed up stargazing?”

  “It was the night Mars was supposed to be really easily visible from Earth, right?” Brady asked.