To Love a Bear

by Emilia Hartley

  “I can take care of myself.”

  Boomer hesitated in the doorway as she cleaned the bite mark on her shoulder. He looked as if he wanted to do something before she glared at him and he left. Once he was gone, she let out the breath she’d been holding and deflated.

  He confused her. She could be happy with him if only he would open up to her. She had a feeling she would forgive him for anything up to murder. All he had to do was let her in and she would stay.

  Chapter Seven

  The small bite hadn’t been enough to change her, but it had changed their relationship. Emmy’s hand reached for the small bite mark on her shoulder every time he entered the room. She refused to meet his eyes, as if she could feel what it meant. Guilt was a knife in his heart every time he looked at her.

  He didn’t know how to tell her that it’d been necessary. If she wanted to stay here with him, around the other bears, he had to bite her. The mark, until it healed, told the others that he was courting her. No one else would be able to touch her so long as the mark marred her skin.

  It was a selfish move. It should have been something they talked about. She should have agreed to it, and yet Boomer had forced it upon her. He hated seeing her like this. He wanted to see her filled with the joy he’d seen when he brought her to the cavern. He wanted to see her smile like she had when she remembered that she was a nurse.

  “The guys are planning a party this weekend,” Boomer announced. “They’re cooking ribs and Orion might set up the tarp slide. I thought… I thought you might want to go. If you still can’t stand me, I’ll stay home. I just want you to be happy.”

  Emmy dragged a chair toward him and sank into it. After a moment, she let out a sigh. He could tell she wanted to touch his hands, to hold him, but she put her hands on her knees instead. “I’m not mad about the bite,” she confessed. “No. I am mad, but not because I think you lost control and bit me. In fact, I can tell it means something. I’m mad that you won’t tell me what it means.”

  Boomer made a pained sound. The truth sat in his chest, constricting his heart. Against his better judgement, he pulled her chair closer until she was between his knees. Emmy shrank, not out of fear though. That small fact warmed him and gave him hope.

  “You’re right. I have a secret. The thing is, the secret is so big that it doesn’t just belong to me. I keep it to protect not only others, but you. Can you accept that I’m doing this for you?”

  Emmy rolled her eyes. She climbed atop the seat of her chair and jumped over his legs to free herself from his touch. He watched her pace the small kitchen and throw her hands in the air.

  “I don’t need you to protect me!”

  Her refusal did nothing to sway him. He would protect her to the day he died. There was no other way for him to live anymore. His bear had claimed her as his mate, would do anything to help her. It would only trap her. He wished he could make her understand.

  “We should take you back to the city.” Boomer would take her back and he would spend the night hunting for her ex-husband. It would take some convincing, but he was sure he could get the man to leave her alone. He probably valued his life above hers. All Boomer had to do was remind him exactly how fragile it was.

  “Fuck that,” she snapped. Her cussing drew his attention. “I’m going to that party. I’m going to hang out with your friends and see if any of them would rather tell me what the hell is going on around here.”

  “I would hardly call them my friends.”

  The look in Emmy’s eyes was filled with sympathy. They said she knew more than he did, for once. “Whatever. You’re not getting out of taking me to that party.”

  “No one is going to tell you what you want to know,” he called after her.

  He wanted to believe none of the other bears would risk her life like that. They weren’t the brightest bunch, but they weren’t mean. Boomer hesitated in the doorway, gripping the wood beneath his hand until it groaned and cracked under the pressure.

  He wanted to chase after Emmy and show her everything that raged inside him. Confusion and greed and lust and love. None of which he could admit to her if he wanted to keep her safe. Instead, Boomer forced himself out the door and down the steps. He would speak with Orion, the loose cannon, and ask him to keep his mouth shut for a day.

  Boomer had betrayed her, and he wasn’t sure how to fix it. Perhaps a day of fun would help her learn to trust him again. He would show her that he could be gentle and patient and none of the things she must have thought of him now.

  That would only work if the others kept their hands off her. His beast would lose its mind if any of them thought of touching her. She belonged to him, even if it was only for the short time that she stayed with them.

  After this, she would go back to civilization. He would thrust her back into the life she’d forgotten, into the life that was surely waiting for her, and he would hunt down that slimy worm of a man she’d once married.

  But first, they would attempt to have another day of happiness. At least, he hoped that was how it would play out.

  Chapter Eight

  There was a swimsuit in her backpack. It told her that she’d hadn’t come to the mountain just to end her life. She’d come here with the hopes of escaping something or finding something. Maybe even both.

  She tied the bikini halter behind her neck and tugged a shirt over it while Boomer waited outside by his truck. Every time she looked at him, she could feel his body pressed against her back. She could feel his hand on her throat and the gentle way he held her. Her body betrayed her every time she looked at him.

  Even in the cab of the truck, she wanted to reach for his hand and hold it. Especially when the tires pushed rocks over the edge of the road and she watched them tumble down the cliffside.

  “You should know something about the guys,” Boomer began.

  “Like the secret you’re hiding from me?”

  He cut her a narrow-eyed look. Okay, so what he had to say clearly wasn’t going to be any kind of mind blowing revelation.

  “I’m being serious.”

  “So, am I.” Emmy held her ground and crossed her arms over her chest. “Just get on with it and tell me what you were going to say instead.”

  Boomer huffed, blowing air through his nose. “None of us have ever really gotten along. Once in a while we meet each other and treat it like a team building exercise. Most of the time, these events end in fights.”

  “Like the one that broke your nose?”

  “This was a bad idea.” Boomer slammed on the brakes.

  Emmy squealed and gripped her seat belt. After the gut reaction fled, she threw a glare at him. “Don’t you dare turn this truck around. I’m going to party and have a good time, damn it.”

  His jaw clenched. She watched the muscle tick but didn’t find anger in his eyes. Instead, it was fear. He was worried for her. Even if he didn’t think his friends would play nice, she trusted him to protect her. More than that, she wanted him to protect her. It was a silly urge, but she couldn’t ignore it.

  It made her want to run to the edge of a cliff again. This time, she knew Boomer would be waiting to catch her. She didn’t know if she ever trusted a man more than she trusted him. It was as if he was meant to be in her life, tied to her in the weave of the world.

  Was it fate that brought her to this mountain? That led him to find her and carry her home? Emmy didn’t know if she believed in such things, but when she looked at him it felt easy to think she could.

  Boomer put the truck back into gear. Around a few more twisting turns, the truck coasted into a small valley. Trees hung over head. The edges of their canopies were turning orange, autumn creeping in and signaling the end of summer. The air was still warm and the lake at the bottom of the valley glittered with the sapphire of the sky above and the emerald of the overhanging canopies.

  Smoke rose into the air, curling up and away from a small grill. It filled the air with the familiar scent of charcoal and meat. The d
ark-skinned lumberjack that had grabbed her backpack manned it, a silly apron tied over his shirt and shorts.

  Emmy leapt out of the truck, cast one glance over her shoulder at Boomer, grinned, and raced ahead. He grumbled something, but she could hear the smile in it.

  The man whose nose Boomer had broken stood atop a cliff. The edge of the cliff hung over the water, perfect for jumping if you had the nerve. This guy was setting up something, though. Orange tarp covered the hillside, water running down it and back into the lake. She noticed a strange contraption floating in the lake. It looked like a shop vacuum. A tube disappeared around the other side of the cliff.

  “Orion is pretty nifty. He thought you wouldn’t want to jump off the cliff, so he broke out the tarp slide.” Boomer jerked his chin toward the contraption in the water. “He modified a vacuum to pump water over the tarp, making it slippery enough to shoot you down the hill.”

  Her jaw dropped. “That’s amazing!”

  Orion, she noted the man’s name. As much as she wanted to race up the hill and slide down the makeshift water slide, she pushed her hair behind her ear and took in the other men. She wanted to know their names. It felt important, as if she would be there a lot longer than the few days she and Boomer had agreed on.

  Boomer stood back while she asked the grill cook what he was making. His apron said DON’T Kiss the Cook. He introduced himself as Dominic and lifted the grill lid for her to see the glazed ribs inside. Emmy was about to ask if the apron was necessary when Orion and Boomer flanked him.

  They pressed their lips to either side of Dominic’s face. The man’s brows fell into a flat, annoyed line. Emmy had to fight back her laugher. Boomer threw his head back and laughed, it turned into a howl. As if waiting for Boomer’s signal, the real party began. A man atop the cliff hooted and leapt into the air. His body fell alarmingly fast. When he hit the water, the resulting splash arched almost all the way up to the cliff.

  “I will never not hate all of you,” Dominic grumbled even though a smile touched the corners of his mouth. It was a lie, and everyone knew it.

  Boomer dropped another kiss on Dominic’s cheek, just to push him a little further, and Emmy found herself jealous. The realization hit her in the gut so hard she had to turn away. Where had this possessiveness come from? Boomer didn’t belong to her. If anything, they were roommates. At worst, strangers.

  Those lips didn’t belong to her. There was another man out there, waiting for her to return home safe. Even if they weren’t together anymore, he was probably worried about her. Yet, all Emmy wanted to do was stay here, in the mountains with these wild men. It was childish. It was selfish.

  “Hey pretty lady. We haven’t met.” The bronze-skinned man stepped out of the water, flicking his head so that his short, bronze curls sent an arc spraying through the air. He held out his hand and grinned, a dimple forming in his cheek. His eyes were the color of moss and earth, flecked with flakes of gold. “I’m Morgan.”

  She felt a male presence press against her back. She didn’t even have to turn to see who was there. Everything about him was familiar and comforting.

  Morgan’s eyes dropped to the bandage on her neck before flicking back to Boomer. For a second, he seemed like he might argue, then the urge was gone, and the smile was back in its place.

  “I can’t introduce myself to your possible mate?” Morgan cocked his head with false innocence.

  Mate. They’d used that word before. Emmy tucked it away for later. She wasn’t going to make a scene and demand the truth just then. There was a party that would unfold, three coolers worth of beer waiting to loosen their tongues.

  “She’s pretty, but are you sure she isn’t a bit small for a man of your size?”

  Emmy had a feeling Morgan was talking about more than just Boomer’s height. Her cheeks heated, and she ducked her head. “It’s hot all of a sudden. Anyone else feel that heat wave? I’m going to go swimming.”

  Leaving the two men to posture at one another, she darted up the hill. Orion was busy digging through the coolers, Dominic standing alert at his grill. Boomer and Morgan stared each other down, Boomer’s gaze flicking to keep an eye on Emmy. The blonde sitting in a folding lawn chair must have been Reid. He lounged back with a straw hat over his face, as if he were asleep.

  Emmy peeled off her shirt and set it aside for later. She could feel eyes on her skin but didn’t look back. There was only one person she hoped watched her. The sun beat down on her pale skin as she shimmied out of her shorts. The denim brushed her skin, making her remember the way Boomer had touched her in the first aid trailer.

  How had she fallen so hard for a man named Boomer? It was ludicrous. He should have been a beer guzzling red-neck, but she’d found an adventure loving teddy-bear. She grinned to herself. Theodore. Teddy-Bear. She would never not call him that now.

  When she looked back, grinning with her private joke, her smile fell. Boomer wasn’t at the base of the hill. She looked everywhere, from shore to his truck, but came up short. Disappointment sank to her toes until she felt a breath on her ear. A jolt of surprise ran straight to her core.

  “Are you going to slide or jump?” Boomer whispered in her ear.

  She warmed again. It grew unbearably hot between Boomer and the sun overhead. She needed to find cool release…or some other kind of release. The thought made her glance back at him. A single brown curl fell over his forehead He’d lost his shirt, revealing black tribal tattoos that stretched over his shoulder and down his ribs.

  Emmy found herself lost in the black ink. She wanted to trace her fingers over them, to follow the labyrinthine patters towards something. Towards sex, she realized. She didn’t know if she’d ever wanted anything so bad in her life.

  Boomer stepped up to the cliff’s edge and threw his hands into the air. He hooted with joy, but before he could jump, Emmy raced past him. She hadn’t meant to enter the water this way, but his challenge fueled her.

  “Too slow, Teddy-Bear.”

  The air whooshed past her ears. Her stomach flipped inside her. Boomer cawed with laughter before jumping in after her. The water broke and splashed around her. It rushed in, filling the space. For a moment, Emmy didn’t know which way was up. Dark blue surrounded her in every direction. She drifted, seaweed tickling her bare skin, until a pair of strong hands wound around her waist and drew her toward the surface.

  Boomer held her close. His laughter filled the space between them and travelled to the space between her legs. Almost instinctively, she wrapped her legs around him. His massive hands steadied her at her lower back.

  “What did you call me?” Boomer leaned in, serious even though she could see the smirk on his lips. “Do I have to teach you a lesson?”

  She shuddered in his arms. “Yes,” she breathed. “Please.”

  His growl moved between them, slithering through her body until she wanted to throw her head back. “Woman. Don’t do this here. Not in front of the guys.”

  She wanted to sink into him, to float away on him. Boomer’s fingertips grazed her lower back. There and then gone. She wanted more and more and more. Her own hands drifted over his shoulder and wound around the back of his neck.

  “Why not? If you didn’t want them flirting with me, then kissing me in front of them would be a lot easier than biting me.”

  The flirtatiousness fled. His face fell flat. She felt his hands curl into fists behind her. “I didn’t mean…I’m sorry, I—”

  Emmy cut him off with a kiss. It was all she wanted in that moment. No apologies, no false explanations. She guessed why he’d put a mark on her. It made sense after Morgan saw the bandage and backed off.

  Boomer didn’t respond at first. His lips were soft, but unmoving. Emmy thought she’d read all the signals wrong. Maybe he never wanted to touch her in first place. Then, he opened to her. His grip on her waist tightened. He pulled her into him as the kiss deepened. He devoured her like a man starving. She responded the same, tightening her legs around him and
digging her nails into his shoulder.

  The water glittered all around them. She didn’t want the moment to end. Here, in the water, in the valley of the mountains, nothing else mattered. Emmy could be whoever she wanted to be.

  She could be free and wild.

  Brazen, Emmy reached and ran a finger along his growing desire. It stood tall and hard, reaching for her as if she were the sun. The thought lodged in her chest and left a feeling she couldn’t quite figure out. Not in the moment. Not while her fingers still lingered on his manhood. Boomer’s breath hitched, hesitating as he watched her from hooded eyes.

  For a second, her fingers tightened on him. Desire pinched her stomach tight. Heat flared between them when their eyes met. Her breath caught in her throat.

  A howl filled the air moments before water splashed around them. Orion surfaced just as Morgan hit the water. Boomer held onto her while the waves from their impact pushed them around.

  The world suddenly opened and reminded her they weren’t alone. Heat flared across her face. How many of the other men had been watching them? Her core pulsed, but she kicked at the water and let the hunger bleed out through her motions, much the way Boomer once claimed to do. She couldn’t hump him in the middle of a party.

  Then, she let go and pushed away.

  The water swallowed her and doused the flames licking her face. Emmy knew Boomer was a good man. He was sweet and patient with her. The bite on her neck had meant something to him and the others. It was a warning, a claim. She wanted to claim Boomer in return. He brought fire to her lungs and made her core throb with an overwhelming need she was not used to.

  Yet, as long as the murky wall remained in her mind, she knew she couldn’t commit to him the way her body begged her to. There was too much left in question. Emmy didn’t want to hurt anyone else. What if she loved the man in the photos? A small voice whispered that she didn’t love him, that he was the force that’d driven her into the seclusion of these mountains. Emmy didn’t know if she should listen to it.