Bear Next Door (Midlife Shifters Book 1)

by J. L. Wilder

  She nodded. “Someone had read about it online. Edgar, maybe. It was all anyone could talk about for the few days leading up to it, and I got really excited about the prospect of seeing Mars. But when the day came, it turned out that everyone either didn’t care after all or had only feigned interest as an excuse to sneak out of their houses and hook up.”

  “I remember,” Brady said. It hadn’t been a surprise to him. The boys had bragged openly about the fact that they planned to use the allure of the Mars sighting to make time with the girls of the den.

  “But you were really interested in it,” Evelyn said. “Just like I was. You and I stayed out for hours talking about astronomy that night.”

  Brady hesitated. “Okay,” he said. “I have a confession I have to make.”

  She looked at him. “What is it?”

  “I wasn’t interested in astronomy,” he said. “I didn’t care about Mars anywhere near as much as I made out that I did.”

  “But you spent so long looking through that telescope with me!” she protested.

  “I thought you knew I had a crush on you back then,” he said.

  “You did?”

  “I thought everyone knew it,” he said, laughing. “Maybe that’s just hindsight talking. I feel like it was really obvious when I look back on it.”

  “I had no idea,” she told him.

  “I did love hanging out with you,” he said. “That wasn’t just because I thought you were hot or anything. I did think you were hot, but I also thought you were really cool and interesting.”

  She blushed. “I never knew you felt that way,” she said. “I never thought anybody saw me that way.”

  He hesitated. He wasn’t sure he wanted the answer to the question that had just come into his mind.

  But it had to be asked. “If you’d known,” he said, “would you still have gone off with the wolf?”

  She was quiet.

  He immediately regretted having asked. “Never mind,” he said. “You don’t have to answer that. It doesn’t really matter now.”

  “I don’t know what I would have done,” she told him. “Marty made me feel special, you know? And that mattered. Maybe if I had realized that there were people here who looked at me that way, I wouldn’t have fallen for his charms as easily as I did. But to tell you the truth...I liked that he was a wolf. I can’t deny that. I liked that he was different from anyone I’d ever known, and that he was kind of dangerous. So I don’t know what I would have done.”

  Brady nodded. That was fair enough. “It was a long time ago,” he said. “I guess I just wish I had told you the truth back then. Even if it wouldn’t have changed anything, it would have been good to say it out loud.”

  She bit her lip. “What about now?” she asked.

  “Now?”

  “Do you have feelings for me now?”

  “Yes,” he said truthfully. “I don’t know what they are yet. But I’m glad you came back into my life. It’s the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time.”

  He leaned back on the pillows and shifted her so that she was sitting in between his legs, leaning back against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and cradled her loosely.

  “My mother told me about you having to give up the alpha spot,” she said quietly after a moment.

  “I figured she would have.” Brady didn’t like to think about Evelyn knowing about that—he was ashamed of what had happened—but there was no hope of keeping it a secret. The whole den knew.

  “I was sorry to hear about it,” she said. “You’d be a better alpha than Steve.”

  He craned his neck to look at her. “You seem pretty confident, considering you haven’t seen or spoken to Steve in twenty years.”

  “I am,” she said. “He was an absolute tool when we were growing up. How much could he really have changed?”

  “He hasn’t changed,” Brady said.

  “I can’t believe they put him in charge. It’s crazy.”

  Brady nodded. “He wouldn’t have been my choice either,” he said. “I get why they took it away from me, though. I was a mess.”

  “You were drinking?”

  He would have expected to feel embarrassed. Instead, he found, he liked that she was so forthright about it. It made it easier to talk about. “Yeah,” he said. “But I’m sober now.”

  “I know,” she said. “I can tell. Marty was a big drinker. I could always smell it on him. And the way he acted, too—the way he treated me like I was just a thing in his house, not really a person—”

  “You deserved better,” Brady said quietly, stroking her arm. “You deserved someone who appreciated you. Who made you feel cared for.”

  He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about what she’d told him last night, about how she had never had sex with someone who was concerned about her pleasure until she’d been with him. That was heartbreaking.

  He wanted to make up for lost time.

  He hooked his ankle around hers and pulled her legs apart. She allowed it, sliding down slightly in his arms so that the hand that had been on her stomach was cupping her breast. He responded by stroking her nipple slowly, leisurely, determined to take his time.

  She breathed in deeply, shuddering slightly.

  “Do you like that?” he whispered in her ear.

  She nodded, eyes closed.

  “Should I keep going?”

  “Yes,” she murmured. “Please.”

  He grazed the inside of her thigh with his right hand, keeping his left at work on her breast. Using his ankle to separate her legs farther, he gently worked two fingers inside her and stroked her with his thumb.

  She moaned softly, lifting her hips to meet his hand, grinding against his palm now.

  He pressed his cheek against hers and then moved down to kiss her neck. “I want to make you come,” he said quietly. “I want to feel you come for me.”

  “Brady—”

  “Shh. Let me do this for you.”

  She arched in his arms, pressing her breast into his hand. He squeezed, then pinched her nipple gently before moving his hand to her other breast. Her hips were working furiously now, rocking and circling. He felt her tense and knew she was close.

  He pulled his hands back.

  She let out a cry of dismay, her eyes flying open.

  But he was already moving, turning her body on the bed, lining himself up and pushing into her, lowering his mouth to her breast to finish what his hands had started.

  As soon as he was inside her, he felt her convulsing around him. Her legs trembled; her head thrashed from side to side. She screamed his name.

  God, she’s amazing!

  He wrapped his arms around her as she rode out her orgasm and fucked her slowly, deeply, determined to give her every inch of himself and experience everything she had to give back to him. She had gone long enough without a partner who wanted sex to be amazing for her. She shouldn’t ever have to live like that again.

  As long as she lets me, I’ll give her everything I have, he thought, determination settling into him.

  He fucked her harder, moving to kiss her now, needing the taste and the scent of her. Her hands gripped his shoulders, and she returned his kiss with equal fervor, wrapping her legs around his waist to draw him in deeper.

  A moment later, he came, shuddering as he did so, and then collapsed on top of her, careful not to put the full weight of his body on hers. Even in the moment of his pleasure, he wanted to be mindful of what would make her most comfortable.

  She lay there, arms and legs still tangled around him, breathing quietly in the dark.

  “I really didn’t come home looking for a relationship,” she said quietly.

  He nodded. “This doesn’t have to be anything you don’t want it to be.”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know what I want.”

  “That’s okay too. I know you just got out of a marriage.”

  “But I like being with you,” she said. “It
feels good.”

  “That’s what I want,” he assured her. “That’s all I want right now. Something that feels good for both of us. Good emotionally, good physically—that’s all I need this to be.”

  “Maybe this is just what I need,” she murmured. “An old friend.”

  “I can definitely be that.” He didn’t know whether she meant that he was something she needed long term or just for a night, but it didn’t matter. He was filled with a powerful urge to take care of her, to protect her from any future harm, and see to it that she was safe and happy from now on.

  He rolled onto his back, bringing her with him so that she was once again lying with her head on his chest. He closed his eyes and lost himself in the gentle rhythm of her breathing.

  It had been so long since he had thought of Evelyn. So long since he had remembered the way he’d felt about her in his youth.

  Now she was back in town, and in his arms. In his bed.

  Did he still have the feelings he’d had before?

  He didn’t know. So much had happened in both their lives, and he was reluctant to jump to any decisions.

  But the one thing he knew for certain was that he cared for her deeply, whether as a friend or something more. He didn’t know where this was going, but as long as it was going, he was happy to be a part of it.

  Chapter Thirteen

  EVELYN

  “Sorry again about the dress,” Brady said, looking regretful.

  Evelyn shook her head. She couldn’t bring herself to mind what he had done. “I wasn’t that attached to it anyway,” she said. “To tell you the truth, I just bought it yesterday because it was cheap and I wanted something clean to wear home.”

  “I’ll replace it,” he said. “I’ll get you something nicer. Something you really like.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” Evelyn said.

  “No, let me,” he insisted. “I wrecked this one. I should replace it.”

  “That’s really classy of you,” she said. It was the kind of thing that Marty would never have done. If anything, he would have blamed Evelyn for the dress’s destruction somehow.

  Brady went to his closet. “I’ll find something you can wear home,” he said.

  “Your clothes are going to be ridiculously big on me,” she said, laughing.

  “I know,” he said. “But you’ve got to wear something.”

  “I wonder what people will think, seeing me walking home in the morning in clothes that obviously aren’t mine.”

  He hesitated, looking concerned. “Are you worried about that?” he asked. “I could run out to the store and buy you something right now.”

  “No, no,” she assured him. “I really do need to get home. My parents will be wondering what happened to me. I mean, I told them I was coming over here, but I’m sure they expected I would be back sometime last night.”

  He nodded. After rummaging in a drawer for a minute, he came up with a t-shirt, a pair of jean shorts, and a belt. “Maybe we could make something work with these,” he suggested.

  Evelyn got out of bed. She pulled the t-shirt over her head. Bunching the extra fabric in her hands, she knotted it at the waist.

  “That looks hot on you,” Brady said. “You should keep it.”

  She grinned. “Let me try the shorts.”

  They were so baggy that they threatened to slip right off her hips. Brady handed her the belt, and she pulled it to the tightest notch and secured it. She hooked her thumbs in the waistband.

  “They’ll stay up,” she said, shaking them up and down on her hips.

  He nodded. “Okay,” he said. “I guess that’s it, then.”

  Evelyn hesitated. “Will we see each other again soon?”

  “Definitely,” Brady said. “You know where to find me. Come over anytime.”

  “I’ll take you up on that,” Evelyn promised.

  The walk back to her parents’ house was peaceful. She allowed her mind to drift, allowed herself to relive the hours she had spent in Brady’s arms last night. It pained her to think of all the time she had wasted with Marty, all the time she had spent trying to force herself to believe that what the two of them had was love. She could see now that there had never been anything loving about it. She and Brady had only been back in each other’s lives for a couple of days, and he had already shown her more care and tenderness than she had received from Marty in the entire course of their marriage.

  She was so lost in her thoughts that the journey to her parents’ house passed very quickly. Before she knew it, she was climbing the steps to their brownstone, easing the door open so as not to wake them. It was still so early in the morning—

  “Evelyn.”

  She froze on the threshold. That was her father’s voice, coming from the kitchen. She had forgotten the way that voice had the power to strike fear into her when she knew her father was angry.

  “Can you come in here, please?” he asked.

  Evelyn steeled herself and went into the kitchen.

  Her mother and father were sitting at the table, looking as if they’d been up all night. They were both in their bathrobes. An ashtray full of cigarette butts sat on the table between them.

  “What’s going on?” Evelyn asked cautiously. “Is everything okay?”

  “Why don’t you tell us?” her father said.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t call last night,” Evelyn said. “I should have let you guys know that I was planning to crash over at Brady’s—”

  “Sit down, Evelyn,” her father interrupted.

  There was nothing like a parent’s anger to make you feel like you were seventeen years old again. Evelyn took a seat at the table, feeling cowed.

  “This isn’t going to work,” her father said. “Not if you’re going to be living under our roof.”

  “I don’t understand,” Evelyn said honestly. “What isn’t going to work?”

  “You came back here because you were ready to admit that you’d been wrong to run off with that wolf against my orders,” her father said. “You were ready to admit that you should have done what I told you to do all those years ago. And your mother and I allowed you to come back and stay here while you find your feet because we wanted you to have a second chance. But we’re certainly not going to allow you to make the same mistakes all over again.”

  “What mistakes?” Evelyn asked.

  “You were with Brady O’Neal last night.” He said it as if it was an accusation.

  “Yes,” Evelyn said. “I told you I was going over there.”

  “You didn’t tell us that you were planning on staying with him.”

  “Well, I didn’t know that I was,” she said. “But our conversation ran late, and he told me I could sleep there if I didn’t want to walk home in the dark.”

  Her father shook her head. “Don’t treat me like a fool,” he said. “I know something went on between the two of you.”

  Evelyn sighed. “Dad, I’m forty-two years old,” she reminded him. “What I do with men is my business.”

  “No,” he said. “Not as long as you’re living under my roof, it isn’t. You humiliated me and you broke your mother’s heart when you ran away with that wolf. You became the scandal of the den. And you threw away twenty years of your own life. If there’s one thing you’ve proven to everybody, it’s that you don’t have the common sense to make good decisions when it comes to your affairs with men.”

  She turned to her mother, incredulous. “Mom?”

  Her mother looked away.

  Evelyn couldn’t believe it. “You’re not going to say anything?”

  “Maybe your father has a point,” her mother said quietly. “You know how happy I am to have you back home, Evelyn. You know that. But you have made some bad decisions in the past. Your father just doesn’t want to see you get hurt again.”

  “I want her to learn some respect for herself,” her father said. “I don’t want her to go running right into another man’s arms. Especially not Brady O’Nea
l.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Evelyn demanded, her anger flaring. “Especially not Brady? Why not?”

  “He’s caused almost as much scandal in this den as you have,” her father said. “Throwing his life away to booze and bad decisions. Giving up the alpha role.”

  “He didn’t give it up,” Evelyn said. “It was taken from him.”

  “And rightfully so,” her father said. “He was in no shape to lead the den.”

  “But he’s sober now,” Evelyn protested. “Are you seriously suggesting that he shouldn’t ever be allowed to get close to anybody because of his mistakes?”

  “You’re not just anybody,” her father said. “You’re my daughter. I’m not going to have you coming back here after two decades away and immediately stirring up more scandal by throwing yourself into another relationship, particularly with someone else who is already viewed as a source of scandal.”

  “You can’t stop me,” she pointed out, shaking with anger. “This is ridiculous, Dad. You can’t tell me what to do with my life.”

  “If you want to live in my house, you’ll have to live according to my rules,” her father said.

  Her mother looked up at that. “Maybe we’re being a little hasty here,” she murmured.

  But Evelyn’s father ignored her. “I want to see you learn some respect for yourself,” he said. “We love you, Evelyn, but that’s a condition of us supporting you financially.”

  “I have plenty of respect for myself,” Evelyn said. To her surprise, she found that it was the truth. “What about the fact that I walked out on Marty after all these years? You don’t think that took self-respect? If I was really as weak-willed as you’re saying, I would still be there, letting him push me around. I would never have come back at all.”

  “I don’t know about that,” her father said. “All I know is that I won’t have you living here, letting us support you financially, while you make the same mistakes all over again.”

  “Don’t worry,” Evelyn said bitterly. “That was never the long-term plan anyway, Dad. I hoped you’d let me crash long enough to get a job and start supporting myself. But I never intended to move back home permanently. I didn’t come back because I needed you to take care of me.”