by Sable Sylvan
“No, it’s...it’s fine,” said Eleanor, telling herself it would be fine as if it would make the two cat shifters disappear.
“You look like you just saw a ghost,” said Aspen, looking over Eleanor’s shoulder discreetly as they turned to see if he could figure out which attendee had upset her.
“Kind of,” admitted Ella. “Two girls who don’t like me much are here.”
“And let me guess, they’re jealous, because you’re the most beautiful woman in the room, which you always are, which is why they don’t like you, because you steal the scene without even trying,” said Aspen wickedly with a small smile and a raise of his eyebrows. “Don’t worry: I only want to be with you tonight, Ella.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be finding a mate tonight?” asked Ella.
“Maybe...maybe I’ve already found her,” said Aspen.
Ella turned bright pink. “You shouldn’t joke about that, Aspen. A girl might get ideas.”
“Ideas about what, Ella?” asked Aspen, twirling Eleanor and catching her by the waist, but before he could kiss her, someone tapped on his shoulder and he stood.
“Can I help you?” he asked the woman behind him. Tall, thin, blonde, she looked like every other cat shifter in Seattle: they all looked the same to him.
“Eleanor?” said Laura while Janet gawked behind her. “What are you doing with Aspen Asher?”
“A billionaire like him wants nothing to do with a serving girl like you,” sneered Janet. “You’re just a fat human: nobody wants those. We should’ve guessed it was you when Amy and Natalie told us that some chubster had stolen Aspen from them.”
“I’ll have to ask you to leave this party if you continue to harass my guest,” warned Aspen, but it sounded like a threat. “Do you know these people, Ella?”
“Unfortunately,” said Ella, resisting the urge to say anything worse.
“We just want a dance,” said Laura, putting her hands on her practically nonexistent hips. “After all, this is a ball.”
“And what kind of a host would you be if you didn’t show us just a bit of attention?” asked Janet, putting on a saccharine smile.
“If it’s a bear shifter you’re after, we have them in spades at this party,” said Aspen. “But I have a feeling you’re after my fortune, and so I’m going to need to politely ask you to fuck off.”
Aspen turned back to the woman in his arms and whispered into her ear as they started to dance, “Do you trust me?”
“Of course,” whispered Eleanor.
“Do you know who I am?” asked Laura angrily. “I’m your fated mate, Aspen. I know what your mate mark is: I’m the girl you’re meant to be with, not this...fatty!”
“You’re a twig. Sorry, maybe one of the wolf shifters will want to play fetch with you, but bears like the sweet stuff,” said Aspen, looking Laura dead in the eyes as he twirled her stepsister and pulled Ella close, so their faces were close to touching...and then, he bridged the gap. Aspen pressed his lips to Ella’s and kissed her, no tongue, just a gentle kiss that was still filled with passion. Ella almost tripped but they kept kissing as they danced while the stepsisters gawked at Eleanor, the stepsister they’d always underestimated.
Aspen had to resist pressing further into curvy Ella, although the bear inside was roaring and telling him to pounce and rip her dress off right then and there and take her. The last time he’d let the bear tell him what to do around Ella, she’d run...and he wasn’t about to let that happen again.
“Come on, Laura, let’s go,” said Janet, pulling Laura away. “She’s not worth it and he’s not worth it, he’s just a big ole’ dumb bear...and I have a plan.”
“Holy shizz, that was badass!” said Eleanor as she pulled away from the kiss and kept dancing with Aspen. “I didn’t know you were going to kiss me, but you should’ve seen their faces.”
“Trust me, Ella, I saw. When you’re with me, I won’t let anyone talk to you like that,” promised Aspen. “I have half a mind to kick them out.”
“Don’t,” said Eleanor. “They’re cat shifters: I think it comes with the territory.”
“Well, this is my territory, and you’re my...guest, but if you insist,” said Aspen. “You’re a kinder woman than any other I’ve ever met. You showed those girls mercy. Who were they, anyway?”
“My stepsisters,” said Eleanor. “They’re actually here to meet you.”
“Well, I’m taken for the evening,” said Aspen, swirling Eleanor around, her dress opening up like a parachute while she twirled, her shoes twinkling in the bright lights of the ballroom, lit by the large crystal chandelier that was above them in the center of the ballroom. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they spent the evening alone given their attitudes.”
“You’re taken?” asked Eleanor, her heart sinking for a mere second. “You came here with a date?”
“Not exactly, but I think I found the perfect girl,” said Aspen. He pulled Eleanor close and gave her another kiss, lifting her up from the floor with a single arm. Eleanor was much shorter than Aspen, who was tall, even for a bear shifter, and as burly as bear shifters came, with bulging muscles that only fit in his custom tailored suits, as off the rack suits were meant for slimmer, shorter men. Aspen lifted Eleanor as easily as he’d lift a bag of groceries, to him a small task, but Eleanor had never been lifted up by a man before, at least as an adult, so she wrapped her arms around Aspen’s shoulders and held onto him firmly as her glass slippers left the floor and glittered in the light.
Before he could go further, he music switched, becoming up-tempo and changing from the waltz into a salsa. The change in music was a reminder that he had to at least play host at the party, that he was at a party and not his cabin, and that although he had a gorgeous woman on his arm, he still had to mix and mingle with the shifters who had come from all over the world for the grand Asher Ball.
“Would you do me the great honor of joining me for some refreshments?” asked Aspen, giving Eleanor his hand. “I do have to make some appearances at this ball.”
“That sounds lovely,” said Eleanor as Aspen led her towards the buffet. New food was out and ready for the party guests: a replacement dessert vendor seemed to have been found, and small purple cream puffs covered in powdered sugar and dotted with candied flowers caught Eleanor’s eye. Eleanor plated one for herself but when she turned, her heart sank as she saw Aspen talking to tall, hot blondes, who were giggling while they talked to him. Shifter women were all so attractive: Eleanor didn’t get why Aspen wasn’t meeting them at the party. The creampuff tasted bittersweet.
Aspen shook the women’s hands and turned back to Eleanor. “Sorry about that: old friends,” he explained. “From my private school days.”
“You can go hang out with them if you want,” said Eleanor. “I don’t want to be a bother.”
“Ella...how could you ever be a bother?” asked Aspen, confused. “I want to spend my night with you. It’s just...there’s certain things I have to do, as an Asher. Making appearances is one of those things.”
“And the others?” asked Eleanor.
“Showing my special guests a good time, for one,” said Aspen. “I see my mother chose her favorite bakery as the replacement catering company: did you try the creampuffs?”
“I had one,” said Eleanor.
“Then you need to have another,” said Aspen, making a plate of four creampuffs. “Half the purple creampuffs are violet flavored, the other half have lavender. I’m curious as to which you prefer.”
“Okay,” said Eleanor, taking one of the creampuffs off the dish. “Which one is this?”
“Looks like violet,” said Aspen, popping one into his mouth. Eleanor followed suit. The inside of the creampuff was flavored whipped cream while the crystallized flower, a petal coated in sugar, tasted like a piece of candy. Eleanor let the flower melt in her mouth before she chewed the choux pastry and swallowed. “What do you think?”
“It’s good...but I don’t think it needs to be
violet flavored,” admitted Eleanor. “It tastes like what I imagine a bottle of perfume would taste like.” Eleanor popped the lavender creampuff into her mouth and Aspen did the same. The candied lavender was cottony soft, but the taste of the creampuff was again very floral and sweet.
“Do you like the lavender better?” asked Aspen.
“Not really,” said Eleanor. “It tastes soapy, and it reminds me of fabric softener.”
“Me too,” said Aspen. “I don’t like these froofy pastries, but I thought you would.”
Eleanor put her hands on her hips. “What, just because I’m from the city, suddenly I’m a ditz?” she asked. “I’ll have you know that I’ll take grilled salmon and some honey ale over any of this stuff.”
“No way,” said Aspen. “Eleanor...that’s exactly what I love, too.”
“You, an Asher, eating regular salmon and drinking honey ale?” asked Eleanor. “I’ll believe it when I see it. I bet you love gold flake encrusted caviar and champagne.”
“I’ll admit, I like a good bottle of champagne, and caviar has its place, but salmon and honey ale, nothing beats that,” said Aspen. “I’m not just a billionaire, I’m a bear, and I have needs.”
There it was: the b-word, the word Aspen abhorred using in reference of himself, and it hit Eleanor like a ton of another b-word, bricks. “Wait, wait, wait...back up,” said Eleanor, still reeling from the revelation. “Did you just say...billionaire?”
“Are you telling me you had no idea I was a billionaire?” asked Aspen.
“I don’t know much about the Asher family at all. This is my first time at the manor or at this ball, and I was just thrust into it by your mother. I don’t exactly read the Forbes Thirty Under Thirty before I head out for an evening on the town,” said Eleanor. “I don’t go out on the town much at all, in fact. I’m usually too tired from work.”
“You might be the only girl I’ve met in the last decade that hasn’t known my net worth before talking to me,” said Aspen. “I’m always so worried that the women who show me attention are gold diggers, and I’ve been right almost every time.”
“I don’t care how much money you make, Aspen,” said Eleanor. “You told off my stepsisters: that moment made my year.”
“That was the best moment you had all year?” asked Aspen. “Eleanor, a beautiful woman like you should be treated like a princess every day of the year.”
“Well, I’m not,” said Eleanor. “But I don’t want to think about that tonight...”
“Say no more,” said Aspen. “But if you want, we can go to the kitchens and I can whip you up some real food.”
“Real food? In a house like this?” asked Eleanor. “Take me to it, immediately.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” said Aspen with a grin, and he took Eleanor by the hand as the two escaped the ball room, Aspen greeting various people as he made his way out towards the main hall, and then, he led Eleanor down the halls he’d grown up in, to a small kitchen.
“Your kitchen’s pretty small,” said Eleanor.
“This is a personal kitchen, not the one we use for entertaining, where the caterers are,” explained Aspen as he opened the fridge. “I keep my own personal stock of food up here every time I come up from work.”
“You don’t live in Seattle, right?” asked Eleanor.
“That’s right,” said Aspen. “And when I come up here, I get dragged to dinner party after dinner party with my mother, and I can’t survive on cups of tea and cucumber sandwiches. I always bring up some fresh salmon.”
“Where do you get fresh salmon?” asked Eleanor.
“This time, I fished it on my way up,” explained Aspen as he pulled the salmon out of the fridge. He’d prepared the salmon when he’d come up the week before and the filets were ready for cooking. “The bear shifters in the Pacific Northwest are big into salmon conservation, and the populations are booming. I have a fishing license, don’t you worry.”
“I’ve never gone fishing,” said Eleanor. “I think I’d get tangled up in the fishing line.”
“I think I would too,” said Aspen with a laugh. He filled a pan with a bit of water and put in two filets, prepping another pan with oil, and turned on the stove. “That’s why I fish in my shift.”
“You mean...you fished all this as a bear?” asked Eleanor, sitting down in one of the barstool chairs by the kitchen island.
“Hey, it means I don’t need to carry around a fishing pole,” said Aspen, pretending to claw at the salmon on the counter. “I’ve never used one. If I’m hankering for fish, I’ll catch a fish with my own bare hands.”
“Don’t you mean, your own bear hands?” joked Eleanor. “Do you want help cooking, by the way?”
“What kind of host would I be if I put you to work, Ella?” Aspen pulled a bag of mixed vegetables out of the fridge and put the bag in the hot oil while he put the salmon in the simmering water. “Trust me, Ella, you’re going to love this, I guarantee you’ve never had better salmon.”
“And if I have?” asked Ella.
“Then I’ll just have to take you out somewhere real nice to make it up to you,” said Aspen, getting two plates out.
“Yeah, right,” said Eleanor, rolling her eyes.
Aspen put the plates down and looked Eleanor in the eyes. “What do you mean, ‘yeah, right’?”
“I’m not stupid, Aspen: I know that a guy like you can have whoever you want, and I’m just a human, you’re a shifter, and there’s expectations,” said Eleanor. “Your mother wants you to find your fated mate and all. Let’s not pretend that you’ll want to see me after tonight.”
“Ella...you know, you could be my fated mate,” said Aspen. “Lots of shifters have humans for mates: it’s not that uncommon. If I didn’t want to spend time with you, I wouldn’t be spending time with you. I’m serious about that date, by the way.” Aspen’s nose twitched and he turned to the salmon quickly, turned over each filet, and stirred the veggies.
“Sorry about that,” said Aspen.
“I have to admit, I’m surprised Aspen Asher, billionaire playboy, cooks for himself,” said Eleanor. “Where did you learn to cook?”
“I cook for myself most nights,” said Aspen. “I like cooking: it’s soothing, and shifters are excellent cooks, enhanced sense of smell and all. I can tell the exact moment a steak’s ready, tell when a cake’s baked, all that good stuff.”
“That must be handy,” said Eleanor. “But you could eat out at fancy steakhouses every night of the week if you wanted.”
“And get bugged by the paparazzi? No thank you,” said Aspen. “I live out on Asher family’s tree farms for the privacy: there’s no cameras out there, and I can live how I want to live. The work’s good work, humbling, and the guys I work with are great. Nobody’s allowed on the tree farms other than Asher family employees.”
“That must be rough,” said Eleanor. “I wouldn’t know about any of that, though. I feel like I’m practically invisible.”
“You, invisible?” asked Aspen. “No way. I bet you have guys crawling all over you, begging for your attention.”
“Never,” asked Eleanor. “I tried online dating, but the guys I met were jerks, and it just seemed like a massive waste of time.”
“I tried it too, but nobody believed I was actually Aspen Asher, what was it you called me...billionaire playboy?” said Aspen. “You know, I’m not a playboy, Eleanor. That’s just the image the paparazzi made up to sell papers.”
“You don’t really let off a playboy vibe,” admitted Eleanor as Aspen plated the salmon and veggies.
He brought her plate over and then, went to the fridge and pulled out a black bottle with a pink label. “Should we?” he asked, waggling the bottle.
“What is it?” asked Eleanor.
“Champagne, of course,” said Aspen.
“Isn’t that a bit fancy for this?” asked Eleanor.
“Well, I didn’t get a chance to pick up honey ale, so it’s this or tap water,” asked
Aspen. “Tepid, warm tap water, yum...said no one ever.”
Eleanor giggled. “Fine, one glass.”
“That’s the spirit,” said Aspen, unwrapping the pink foil and taking off the wire cap before popping the cork, foam spraying over the island and barely missing Eleanor and her dress. He poured two large cups of champagne using two scotch glasses he found in the cabinets, and then dimmed the lights.
“So what are we toasting?” asked Eleanor.
Aspen held up a cup. “To new friends.”
“To new friends,” agreed Eleanor, and she clinked her glass against Aspen’s before sipping at the champagne. The rose champagne was sweeter than the normally dry white champagne, and it had a deep berry flavor. The bubbles cleansed her palate.
“Dig in,” said Aspen, and Eleanor pressed her fork to the salmon, which came apart in pink flakes rimmed with white fat. She chewed: it tasted sweet and the flesh practically melted on her tongue.
“Aspen, this is amazing,” said Eleanor. The vegetables were good too: they filled her right up. The ingredients of the meal were simple but high quality and fresh which made all the difference.
“I’m glad you like it,” said Aspen. “I like a woman who can eat.”
“Trust me, I can eat,” said Eleanor. “And cook. Ever had moose steak? I used to make a mean moose steak.”
“Used to?” asked Aspen.
“My dad and I would make moose steaks once a year, after his hunting trip with his friends,” explained Eleanor. “But I haven’t made them since he passed...it didn’t seem right.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” said Aspen, reaching over and taking Eleanor’s hand in his. “I know what it’s like to lose a father.”
“I didn’t know your father had passed,” admitted Eleanor. “I’m so sorry, Aspen...of course, that explains a lot, about why you run the Asher companies.”
“I’d give up all my companies to have my dad back,” said Aspen. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think of him.”
“Same,” said Eleanor. “I miss my dad too.”
“I think that’s why my mom is so involved in my life,” said Aspen. “I’m the last male in the Asher line.”