“I’m sorry no man ever put your needs before his own, but I’m glad to be your first.”
She threaded her fingers through his unruly hair. It was long and soft, anchoring her in the moment. She, too, was glad that he’d been her first orgasm. There was something about it that felt special, that bonded them together. He’d made sure she’d felt not just one, but several before he’d even climaxed.
Boomer made her feel like she was a queen. It was a stark contrast to the life she’d known before, to the memories that bubbled to the surface when she thought about it. Here, in the mountains with Boomer, there was a chance that she could live an altogether different kind of life. It promised pleasure and happiness, should she stay.
The temptation was great. She wanted to curl into him and never leave.
“Would you…” He hesitated. “Would you stay with me? I can feel the truth in my soul, that you’re my mate. If you wanted to leave, I wouldn’t stop you.”
“Mate? What does that mean?” She said the word with reverence. It felt sacred, special.
Boomer was quiet as he seemed to collect his thoughts. Then, finally, he produced an answer the best he could. “It means the beast inside me sees you as it’s missing half. It means I’ll always love you, no matter what else happens in my life. You’ll always be first. No one else in this world will ever be able to fill the space in my life that you do.”
Her throat tightened, closing around anything she might have said. Her hands trembled, but she hid it as she hugged him tight. He didn’t know what that meant to her, how it filled her with hope and happiness. Never before had anyone told her anything like that, made her feel like she was more than a mindless servant.
Tears filled her eyes as she nodded. Yes, she would stay with him. Yes, she would live her life along side him. There was no other choice for her, either. Boomer was everything. She didn’t know how to tell him that yet. Her hysterics would have to work for the time being.
He, too, cried and hugged her. His lips grazed over the space where her skin healed from his bite. She wished he would take it a step further, that he would make her like him, but perhaps that would come in time. For now, she was content with what he was willing to give.
It was more than she thought she ever deserved.
Chapter Eleven
Emmy hummed as she flipped through the curtain styles displayed at the small department store in town. The selection wasn’t great by any means, but it was better than what Boomer already owned. She suspected the linens had come with the cabin, and that he hadn’t actually bought anything for the place.
Now that she’d decided to stay, she wanted to make it into a home. At least, for the time being. She knew that Boomer’s job would take them out of the mountains and somewhere new eventually. It wasn’t like he and the team would clear the whole mountain. Once the space for the hotel was made, they would move on.
Everything Emmy had put in her cart was something they could take with them. She’d found a fluffy bath mat and a shower curtain with rainbow pom-poms on the hem. Of course, Boomer had raised a brow at the curtain, but he’d shrugged and tossed it into the cart. If she was happy, it seemed he was, too.
He’d barely let her out of his sight all day. He trailed behind her like an excited puppy. Unlike a puppy, he looked for any excuse to touch her, often reaching lower than he should have in public. It made her smile and laugh as she batted away his touch. Once, when they were looking at the sample shower curtains, he’d pushed her behind them and kissed her silly.
When they stumbled out from behind the curtains, her head had been spinning, but there’d been a smile plastered across her face.
Life with Boomer was unlike anything she’d ever known.
Her ex-husband, Hayden, had been rough with her. Emmy thought that was how things worked. She’d seen her mother endure the same treatment from her father, from her step-father. When she met Hayden in her first year of college, she’d assumed that would be her fate, too.
Hayden had tried, in the beginning, to make her happy. He’d brought her lattes before her classes. He’d surprised her with small gifts. Then, when they moved in together, things changed. He’d grown possessive, wanting to know where she was every hour of the day to the point where he demanded a hand-written schedule from her every morning.
Escaping him had cost her everything. She’d hit a point where she knew her life would end early if she stayed. Unable to bear the idea of having her life taken from her, she’d slipped out with nothing to her name. While she hid from Hayden, she filed for a quick divorce.
Of course, Hayden hadn’t taken it seriously. He’d hunted her. No matter where she ran, no matter the names she assumed, it felt as though he was always hot on her heels.
“You’re cold,” Boomer said as he pulled her beneath his shoulder. He rubbed her arm with his other hand, trying to warm her as he looked down with concern.
“I’m okay,” she lied.
Of course, Boomer didn’t believe her. He saw through her front but couldn’t see the truth beneath. She turned away before he could look too closely.
“Oh, this looks beautiful!” She touched the edge of a dusty rose-colored blanket. It wasn’t Boomer’s style, but it was still beautiful enough to distract her from the thoughts that intruded on her nice day.
Boomer reached past her and dumped the blanket into the cart without question. “Now, tell me what’s wrong. If you dodge me again like that, I’ll just keep adding things to the cart.”
“Is that how I get what I want?” she joked, laughing nervously.
She couldn’t believe she’d fallen for a man that was part monster. There was a bear beneath his skin, one that was separate from the human she loved. It showed itself in moments of heightened emotion, swirling through his eyes like molten gold. She loved the creature, too. It was gentle with her. Patient, even.
All were things she never knew existed, let alone in a man that could turn into a bear at will. The thought was strange. Hayden should have been the good man. He was human, but that hadn’t stopped him from hurting her. Even though he’d only had human strength, she’d feared for her life.
“Don’t think about the devil,” Boomer grumbled. He grabbed a toothbrush holder from the shelf and set it in the cart, looking at it strangely before he continued. “Or else you might summon him.”
Emmy nodded and tried to clamp down on her thoughts. Hayden was still somewhere in town, searching for her. Boomer told her he’d been a part of the search party, though she could guess from Boomer’s opinion how Hayden had acted. Her ex-husband probably treated his efforts as if they were the sacrifice of his life. He would act like it was his ticket into heaven, even if it was an ungodly burden.
As if she were an ungodly burden.
Boomer set a gentle hand on the back of her neck. His warmth reminded her of where she was, who she’d become. The knock on the head had been a fresh start. With Boomer, she hadn’t been the woman Hayden made her into. She was bolder, louder, and all the other things she’d been afraid to be with her ex.
Emmy let out a contented sigh and looked back at her mate.
Mate.
That was what he’d called it. The bear inside him, the creature she saw that night, had laid a claim on her. She should have been frightened of the idea, but it made her feel closer to Boomer. It was like being married without all the superfluous decorations. Inside, she felt the same about him.
He belonged to her. When other women looked his way, she felt jealousy rise through her. It was a barbed emotion, leaving behind a stinging sensation all through her chest. Each time someone looked at him, she reached for his waist and pulled him into her. He laughed, reminding her that he only had eyes for her.
“Is this enough…stuff? I don’t know how stuff works.”
Emmy cackled. Boomer cocked his head and grinned awkwardly, clearly confused.
“I could tell you don’t know how stuff works from the moment you opened your door. Don�
��t worry. We’re almost done. I just need to grab a couple of bath towels.” She didn’t want to have to share the same bath towel with him every day. He needed a couple more.
Two aisles over, she fingered a set of decorative towels embroidered with llamas. While they were cute and would probably make Boomer laugh, she left them to grab three dusty pink bath towels. Just as she spun around to find her mate, she crashed into a body.
Emmy stumbled back, an apology prepared. It never made it past her lips. Hands clamped onto her arms and shook her. Through her blurry vision, she saw a hazy, yet familiar face.
Hayden.
Emmy wanted to scream. Boomer was only two aisles away, but her voice caught in her throat. Silence surrounded her. It made her weak. She couldn’t fight back, couldn’t scream, couldn’t even push him away.
“Where have you been hiding this whole time?” Hayden snapped.
Her lips trembled. Nothing would come out. Boomer. He was nearby. Couldn’t he hear what was going on? Couldn’t he smell Hayden?
While Hayden dragged her along, a million evil thoughts tumbled through her mind. Boomer never actually loved her. He wasn’t going to save her because he didn’t care. She’d only been a notch on his bedpost.
She couldn’t help herself. The further Hayden pulled her, the more desolate she became. Nothing mattered. It was always going to end this way. She would never escape Hayden. The brief flash in time that she’d spent with Boomer had been false. It’d had an expiration date she’d never seen coming.
Her chest tightened. She could barely breathe. Each breath was shallower than the last until her lung lit ablaze with uncontrollable heat. She was going to hyperventilate and hurt herself.
Then, she heard a guttural growl, and Hayden came to a halt.
“Where did you think you were going?” Boomer’s normally jovial voice had dropped into something much more threatening.
Emmy looked up to see his eyes flooded with gold. His lips were pulled back in a snarl. She sucked in a breath. Boomer was close to losing control. She could see it in the way he moved, body tense and filled with threat. He shook with the force of it, with the effort it took to keep it all pent up.
She threw herself between the two men. Hayden jerked her back, throwing her off balance. She fell to the floor with a thud. Hayden tried to hold onto her but had to let go to keep from falling with her. Her arm throbbed from his grip as he softly cussed at her.
Boomer was going to kill him.
In the middle of a department store.
Despite the pain in her hip, she shot to her feet and ran to her mate. All the traitorous thoughts from earlier fled in his presence. They’d been the voice of the woman Emmy had been, scared and lacking respect. Boomer leaned over Hayden, but she placed her hands on his chest and watched the swirl of gold start to retreat.
“I’m okay,” she whispered to him.
His gaze flicked to her, only for a second before moving back to Hayden.
“Let’s just go home. We can come back another day. We don’t need to shop right now.”
Just as she thought she’d calmed Boomer, Hayden blew up.
“Are you shacking up with this Neanderthal now?” He snorted. “Does he fuck his cows too? Who does he fuck first? You or the cow?”
Emmy was aghast. Boomer tensed beneath her hands again. She couldn’t let this devolve into a fight. Not only would he kill Hayden, but he would reveal his secret to the world. Emmy couldn’t let either happen.
“That’s it.” She yanked Boomer’s arm. “We’re leaving. There’s no reason we need to stand here and listen to this.”
His eyes were alight with rage when he turned, but they softened when they saw her. She wondered if there was a new bruise on her face. She wouldn’t have been surprised if it had flared into existence the moment Hayden appeared, like some kind of twisted muscle memory.
All Emmy wanted was freedom.
Her new relationship with Boomer would become difficult if he was arrested for Hayden’s murder. Even if it freed her from one monster, it took her away from the one she loved.
“Let’s go home.” She whispered the words for Boomer. His name was on the tip of her tongue, weaponized if she needed to further prod him.
After a long moment, Boomer nodded and turned away from Hayden. She let out the breath she’d been holding and let her shoulders relax. Behind them, Hayden seethed. She could hear the faint hiss of his whisper. When she looked back, he was speaking to a clerk.
Boomer tensed beside her. Could he hear what Hayden was telling the clerk?
“Don’t run. Your ex-husband is trying to convince the young man that I’m kidnapping you. If we run, it will make him look right.”
Emmy rolled her eyes. For a man that treated her like dirt, he was desperate to hold onto her. She was nothing more than a possession that had been stolen. First by the thought that she was worth more than the pain she lived in. Then, by Boomer, a rough and wild mountain man. Hayden was more insulted than he was afraid for Emmy.
She wished he would move on, but she knew that would only lead to him fixating on another woman and she wished that on no one. So, she let him scream and whine and holler behind her while her bear of a man escorted her out of the store.
Her only wish was that she had been brave enough to stand at the register long enough to buy that soft blanket. The cabin would go another day without the small touches she’d planned on adding. She could come back another day for the blanket, too.
Beside her, Boomer was tense. She put a hand on his arm and felt the rock-hard muscle bunched beneath his skin. She leaned into him, trying to tell him everything was alright. Her body protested. It ached from the recent fall.
It was the last time, she told herself.
Hayden would never treat her like that again.
Outside, as they approached Boomer’s truck, a uniformed cop approached them. His thumbs were hooked in his belt and he glanced between the store entrance and them.
“I got a call and figured I would stop by since I was in the neighborhood.”
Emmy knew what it was about, but she still feigned ignorance. Before Boomer could say anything, she asked the cop, “Is there a robbery in process?”
Her mate scowled. She would explain later.
The cop fumbled over his words, cocking his head. Her innocent voice confused him. He’d probably expected her to be nervous, to try to run into his arms. The truth was that she wasn’t being kidnapped. She wasn’t brainwashed or any of those other things.
He looked between her and Boomer, already sizing up her mate as a potential threat. She slid between them, a tiny human shield as she pressed her back against Boomer’s chest.
“I got a call that a young woman was being kidnapped.” Confusion still rippled through his voice. He was no longer convinced of what he’d been told.
Emmy raised her brows in false surprise and looked up at Boomer with her lips parted. “I don’t know what gave any of the clerks the idea that he was kidnapping me. I know my Teddy Bear can be imposing, but he’s just a gentle giant.”
Boomer grunted, half laugh and half argument. She tried to hide her smile. She wasn’t going to hear the end of it, calling him Teddy Bear in front of a cop. At least she hadn’t called him Theodore. The name would have instantly softened the cop’s image of him, but she wasn’t going to cross that boundary yet.
They just needed to get away from the cop before Hayden showed up. She didn’t want to make a scene. If Hayden came out and started throwing insults again, the cop might arrest him. That only opened the door to long days at the police station, answering questions about her past when what she really wanted to do was cuddle with Boomer.
“Is that all you needed?” she asked sweetly.
The cop shook his head, as if to free the misconceptions he’d arrived with. Finally, he nodded, and Emmy had to control her race to the truck door. She wanted out of that parking lot. When they got back to the cabin, she was pulling Boomer into the
bed and thanking him for not making a scene.
She was tired of scenes. Of long and drawn out ordeals over a life she only wanted to leave behind.
***
Boomer took the corners too fast. He knew what he was doing, but he couldn’t stop himself. He rammed his foot into the gas pedal, pretending it was Hayden’s face. He wanted to bury the man ten feet below the ground. Six feet wasn’t enough. He needed four more feet of earth just to cover the scent of the man’s oppressive cologne.
Emmy gripped the handle of her door, eyes wide on the road before them. Sight of her made him release his breath and lighten the pressure on the gas pedal. He was giving in to the rage of his beast and it wasn’t healthy for either of them.
Now that he’d seen what she’d lived through, he needed to temper his emotions. He refused to be unpredictable like her ex-husband. There would be no flying off the handle. He couldn’t yell at things. Especially not at her.
She didn’t seem angry at him. That was well enough considering how angry he was with himself. He never should have let her out of his presence. The rest of the day had gone well. He hadn’t thought about Hayden showing up. In his head, the man was still combing the mountains. Of course, he would have returned to town and let the crew search for her alone.
Boomer should have been there for her. His mate had been alone. She’d been frightened and alone and he could have prevented all of that.
Yet, he hadn’t.
He’d only shown up at the last moment. When he realized she was too quiet and he saw the fallen towels on the floor, he’d known something was up. Thankfully, he found them before Hayden could drag her out the door. What would have happened had they reached the door? Hayden would have gotten into his car with her and he never would have found her.
The beast howled with forlorn rage.
He needed to remind himself that she was safe. Emmy was sitting right beside him. She was in one piece. The only person scaring her now was Boomer himself. The truck slowed to a gentle coast around the next corner.
To Love a Bear Page 10