“That’s why you came,” Eric said flatly.
He felt like a complete idiot suddenly. The night had gone so well. He’d started to believe that she’d really come back.
“Eric. That doesn’t mean-”
“That’s the only reason you came,” he said again, clenching his fists at his sides.
“Yes.” She ducked her head. “Okay, yes. I wouldn’t have come otherwise. I couldn’t. But I had to make sure you were okay. The nightmares were so real and even after so many years there’s no one, Eric… There’s no one in the world I care about as much as you.”
“Maybe you should go.”
His head was throbbing, his cheeks burning with shame.
He could have any woman he wanted. He’d been with super models and actresses and debutantes visiting the lodge for the winter or drifting through town. Michelle was practically throwing herself at him and she was both breathtaking and good on paper.
He could have any woman...except this one, it seemed.
“Eric,” Lydia whispered.
“I’m not in danger!” He threw up his hands, smirking. He had an urge to hurt her and maybe that wasn’t fair, but all he could feel was how much she’d hurt him. Again. “So you can go home. Or not. Stay here and ya know… enjoy the lodge. That’s fine too. Whatever.”
“I don’t want you to be mad,” Lydia said. “I know that’s not fair to say.”
“It’s fine.” Eric sniffed and Lydia hung her head as she slowly headed towards the door. “I shouldn’t have expected anything. You don’t owe me a goddamn thing. Really, stay here as long as you want.” He waited until she had the door open and couldn’t see his face because he couldn’t seem to hide his feelings worth a damn where Lydia was concerned. “We both know you’ll just bolt anyway.”
She left the suite without looking back.
“Bro!” Cody nodded at Eric as he slinked into the kitchen for breakfast the next morning.
It was a sometimes tradition to eat breakfast in the lodge’s kitchen behind the dining hall. Nothing fancy. Just him and his brothers sitting around the long kitchen island, scarfing down Cody’s omelets or French toast or Eggs Benedict as they complained about guests or told bad jokes or razzed each other.
The vibe was just a little different now, because Nathan’s mate, Alanna, joined them too. Eric found he really liked having her around. She softened things. As much as he loved his brothers to the death and knew them better than anyone else, just as they knew him, sometimes things could be irritating and edgy between the four of them. Male bears could get awfully surly. It was nice having someone’s mate around to shift the mood. And Alanna was sweet. Even if all Nathan ever wanted to talk about was the prospect of his coming cub, Eric could deal with that. It was a long time coming. He was looking forward to being an uncle.
“What’s up?” Cody said, setting a coffee down in front of Eric as he took a seat at the counter. “You look...um...perturbed.”
“Perturbed,” Eric said with a snort. “Yeah, I’m perturbed.”
“What happened? Some asshole couldn’t get their opera tickets?”
“If anyone needed opera tickets, I would be able to get them,” he said, narrowing his eyes.
“Oh.” Cody snapped his fingers and waved his dish towel at Eric before throwing it over his shoulder. “It’s Lydia. She’s back, huh? I guess that’s not going well after all?”
“Yeah, well, I guess some part of me was dumb enough to think she came because, ya know…”
“Because she wanted to be your love muffin,” Cody said, dry as a bone. He grinned at Eric, completely oblivious to Eric’s agitation. Which, in a way, was a relief. Cody had a mop of messy brown hair and a goatee growing in. As usual, he was wearing a white button-down under his apron and he looked weirdly dapper for a chef who always had his hands elbow deep in grease and sauce. “And she doesn’t want to be your love muffin, I take it?”
“I didn’t even realize how much I was hoping for that until, ya know…” Eric sighed. “She made it perfectly clear she wasn’t here for that. Like how many times can this girl break my heart, ya know?”
“So then, like, why is she here?” Cody said.
“She’s having nightmares about me,” Eric snorted, shaking his head in derision. “It was all complete bullshit.”
“What kinda nightmares?” Cody frowned and sat down across from Eric, setting down a plate of eggs and bacon for him and stealing a piece of bacon as he did so. “Like premonition stuff?”
“I don’t know, man. It’s bullshit. She’s dreamed of me being torn apart or something. The same dream a bunch of times. She thought I might be in danger. So she came all the way down here. Comped her a suite and a bunch of shit for her too. Not that… I mean that’s fine, she needs the break. I just…” He pinched the bridge of his nose. The whole thing was giving him a headache and it was taking a lot of strength to keep his bear in check.
His bear was pissed, not even so much at Lydia directly as the whole situation. He was mad at himself too.
It was confusing.
“Where did she come from?” Cody said.
“Washington. I guess that’s where she ran off too way back when.” He nibbled on his bacon and he could practically feel his brother’s disapproving eyes boring into him. “Dude. What?”
“Isn’t she like…” Cody licked his lips. “I ran into her before you met her for dinner. She’s been working some shitty telemarketing job. She was working there because it was all she could find, and you do realize she had to quit her job just to come down here?”
Eric grunted and rubbed his eyes. He had known that and forgotten. It made him feel like kind of a tool suddenly. “Yeah, I know.”
“She came all the way to Colorado from Washington just because she had scary dreams about you,” Cody said, grimacing as he got in Eric’s face. “Because she was worried about you. And it sounds to me like you’re pouting about it because she didn’t go hopping into bed with you. Is that about right?”
“It’s not just about sex,” Eric snapped.
But he couldn’t deny there was a kernel of truth in what his brother said.
“I know.” Cody shrugged. “She’s the one that got away. I get it.”
“It’s not just that. I never knew why she went away. I told her how I felt and she bolted. And she was my best friend. It wasn’t like I was giving her some ultimatum - be with me or our friendship is over. Why leave? I never got it. Whatever.”
“You should talk to her about it.” He smacked Eric’s shoulder. “Instead of whining to me.”
“My bear’s about to lose his mind,” Eric muttered. “It’s whine to you or maul the guests.”
“Okay, well...don’t do that,” Cody said. “Go to her and apologize for whatever it was you said. I’m sure it was stupid.”
“You’re an asshole,” Eric said lightly. “And thanks.”
7
Michelle
I need to go on a run.
There were few coherent thoughts in Michelle’s brain after she left Eric. She was so enraged, she could hardly think. Her mind was a riot. It took a lot of self-control not to simply use the powerful force of her magic to throw Eric right through a wall and tear up the very lodge she wanted to take over, if he wouldn’t just bend like a good boy so she could marry him already.
She fumed and paced. If she could have blown smoke through her nose, she would have. The thought made her huff. It also made her crave a cigarette, a habit she had given up a long time ago. At least that was something to do; a small task to complete as she attempted to process the white hot anger coursing through her.
That son of a bitch. Her head was throbbing. That goddamn son of a bitch!
Michelle all but ran to the shopping promenade full of shops and boutiques where guests could splurge on themselves. The Black Bear Lodge was a lot like a high end Las Vegas hotel and casino that way. All it lacked was a casino.
Michelle found a small touristey sho
p that also sold some drug store items and cigarettes behind the counter.
“Pack of...whatever,” she snapped. “Something strong. And a lighter.”
The clerk was looking at her funny, as if slightly terrified. Michelle took a deep breath and attempted to school her expression into something like indifference.
But it was difficult.
She had been turned down again. She was not used to it.
Michelle grabbed the cigarettes and the lighter and billed them to her room before stomping out of the store. Her stilettos pinched her toes. She wasn’t dressed to go outside into the cold. She was only wearing a cashmere cardigan to guard against it. She made her way down the promenade to a courtyard with a smoking area that looked out on the higher ski slopes. She leaned against a pillar, glowering as she lit her cigarette until that first delicious drag.
She hated that she had to go to James and tell him that she had failed again. Not that James would be disappointed or that she’d put it that way. James was a complete idiot who counted himself lucky to be with her and was fully content to ride her coattails. He probably thanked his lucky stars every day she decided not to kill him just for fun. But it was still humiliating.
Nobody ever said no to Michelle. She had been getting everything she demanded for the last twenty-eight years and she had planned on continuing that trend, thank you very much.
Michelle smoked and glared and muttered and watched all the jerks skiing, somehow feeling it was their fault that Eric had turned her down. They were guests of the Black Bear Lodge, after all, and he was their dedicated concierge. Maybe if his guests were a little less demanding, he would see reason.
Her phone buzzed and Michelle, hoping it was Eric changing his mind, whipped it out.
It was a text from James. Just a single question mark. He wanted to know how things were going.
Michelle’s head throbbed.
I will kill Eric either way, she thought. That was a lovely idea. It made her feel a little better as she smoked and watched all the rich dum-dums stumbling their way down the slopes.
If Eric continued to resist, she would kill him anyway. In fact, it might help her snag one of the other brothers if she could get away with it. Perhaps she could pin Eric’s murder on James and then seduce whichever brother was the most distraught about Eric’s death. Men were so weak when they were sad.
She didn’t answer James’ text. Instead, she finished her smoke. She needed to return to the suite and make plans for the next move. She wasn’t about to give up just because the asshole was saying no.
But first, she needed to go on a run.
James was on the couch, watching football and drinking from a mini-bottle of whiskey when she finally returned late that night. She’d gone on a run and stretched her legs and then shot some random magic out just for the release. She’d accidentally killed a few bobcats and felled more than one tree in the process.
“What happened?” He blinked at her as she walked in and took off her cardigan, tossing it over a chair. She was sweaty and she wanted a drink. She grabbed a bottle of vodka from their mini-bar and poured it into a glass.
“He’s not going for it,” Michelle said darkly.
“Huh.” James scratched his head, still staring blankly at the TV screen. He looked like a big dummy but Michelle knew better.
James knew something.
“What is it?” She sat down in the plush club chair next to the couch and took a swallow of her drink. “You have that look on your face.”
“Oh. Well.” He licked his lips and shrugged sheepishly. “Alright, well don’t fly off the handle-”
“Don’t tell me not to fly off the handle,” she growled under her breath and sat back, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Just…tell me what you know. Is it about Eric Strauss?”
“Yeah…” James cast her a wary glance. “Well, alright. So I saw him with a girl.”
“A girl?” Michelle had run around the woods in her bear form for hours just to work off her rage and now it all came flooding back. Her cheeks burned. “What girl?”
“She’s somebody I saw Eric with,” James said. “Pretty. Brunette. She’s a bear shifter. Looked a little, I dunno, put out. But I saw her go into a private dining room with Eric Strauss. Wasn’t too long after you were supposed to meet with him too. Sure looked like a date to me. She was all done up.”
“He’s got someone else,” Michelle bit out.
She thought about it for a moment. He had rejected her because he was already with someone else. That had to be it.
Abruptly, Michelle sat forward and threw her glass against the wall where it shattered.
“Aw geez. Michelle, now the maid is gonna clean that up. Could get back to Eric-”
“I don’t care!” She shrieked as she bolted to her feet. “I’ll kill him! But, first, I’ll kill her! I’ll kill her and make him watch! I’ll-”
“That’s probably not a good idea,” James grimaced, shrinking back a little into the couch. He always got a bit nervous when she was this angry.
Michelle summoned every ounce of her will power to calm down. Despite the no smoking rule in the suite, she lit herself another cigarette. She shut her eyes, still seeing red, and blew smoke through her nose. “I don’t suppose you got a picture?”
She caught her reflection in a decorative mirror on the wall and sighed.
Her blonde hair, even after the run in the woods, looked sexily tousled. She had flawless bone structure and soft lips and rosy cheeks. She had huge blue eyes that looked deceptively innocent when she batted them. She had great boobs.
How had he rejected her? And for a brunette, she thought bitterly.
“I did get a picture!” James had that tone in his voice like he was desperate to be thought of as helpful.
James also had that tone in his voice like he was particularly worried she was going to change her mind and murder him. A valid fear.
Sometimes when she was alone with James she had to leave the room and take a walk, she wanted to kill him so badly. But that would be stupid. Finding a new toady was harder than it looked.
James whipped out his phone and came up beside her as she sucked on her cigarette.
Michelle narrowed her eyes at the slightly blurry picture of the girl without a name.
She had long, wavy dark hair and she was thin in a smart black cocktail dress and strappy heels. She wasn’t prettier than Michelle, of that Michelle was certain. Really, the girl looked a bit sulky. Her face was a little pinched, her brown eyes a little too big.
“She’s an amateur,” Michelle said. “I can tell. Well, this development might change my plans a little.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to try a mind control spell?” James said, he bit his lip and smiled. He did try awfully hard. She had to give him that.
“If I have to,” she said, sighing. “But, first, we have to deal with this bitch. I’ll teach her to mess with my mark. I want you to keep an eye on her. Find out exactly what’s going on between them.”
“Ooh,” James wagged his eyebrows, “a cat fight.”
“You’re such a dumbass, James.”
8
Lydia
That didn’t go as planned, Lydia thought wryly.
The nice part about getting rejected from her (sort of) childhood sweetheart at the Black Bear Lake Lodge was that she had a luxurious suite to herself and endless access to the spa, comped meals, all the amenities. She hadn’t even begun to spend the gift card money.
She would’ve felt some pride about it all, except that she was all too aware of just how rich Eric Strauss was. It was a pittance to him.
Following her fight with Eric, she went back to her own suite in her stocking feet and carrying her shoes. She took off her bra, crawled into bed, and cried herself to sleep.
She was bothered by another nightmare about Eric. The same old thing yet again. He was in his bear form, getting torn apart right in front of her by some unseen monster. Blood gushed fro
m everywhere. It was viscerally real and terrifying, and at this point, the nightmare seemed to be taunting her.
Lydia slept in and when she finally did wake, she stripped, and took a long hot bath in her jacuzzi tub, accompanied by a mini-bar mimosa. The bubble jets and heat were relaxing. She couldn’t say she was happy but, at least, she was physically feeling good.
After her bath, she ordered crab Benedict for breakfast and ate to her heart’s content in her fluffy white bathrobe with the lodge logo of a black bear on the pocket. The food didn’t taste quite right. It was as if her tongue was numb. She ate dutifully and without joy.
When she heard the knock at the door, she thought it must be the maid.
It felt very odd to have a maid cleaning up for her as she’d worked as a motel maid in some much less impressive places than the Black Bear Lake Lodge, more than once.
“Should’ve put up the do not disturb,” she muttered to herself. Rookie mistake, she thought.
She was about to politely ask the maid to come back later, but when she opened the door, there was Eric.
“Oh,” Lydia swallowed.
“Hey.” Eric was in one of his concierge suits. It made her miss the younger version of Eric she had known, the one who wore jeans and sweatshirts. Even if he did look fantastic in a well fitted suit. One lock of his perfect sleek hair had fallen over his eye as if foretelling that something was amiss. Before Lydia could ask why he’d come, he said, “I owe you an apology.”
Eric (Strauss Bear Shifter Brothers 0f Colorado Book 2) Page 4