Beary Sexy: A BBW Werebear Boxed Set

by Bolryder, Terry

  “You’ve been ignoring it from the start,” Riley and Ryder said together, looking at each other in triumph.

  Ryan waved a hand. “Fine, fine. I’ve been ignoring it from the start. And that’s making it damn hard to convince her now that I really do like her. That it has nothing to do with my accident, and I’m sorry for leaving. But after I made love to her—”

  Junior let out a little burp as Riley tapped his back a little harder, and Riley turned to Ryan in shock. “What? You what?”

  Ryan scratched his head and looked away. “Um, we sort of…well it was supposed to be a one-time thing, but then—”

  “But once you’ve been with your mate, you know damn well it can’t be a one time thing,” Ryder said, sitting again with a calmer Jace in his arms.

  “Right,” Ryan said. “Now it’s gotta be a forever thing. But she doesn’t trust me. She thinks I’m brain damaged.”

  Riley barked out a laugh. “Well, doesn’t anyone who doesn’t know you’re a bear think that? I mean your brain literally was damaged by your fall. And it shouldn’t be healed now. Even for a shifter, it shouldn’t be healed. Say, do you think you have an alpha power?”

  “Maybe.” Ryan shrugged. “But anyway, what do I do now?”

  “Send her some flowers,” Riley said. “Get on that now.” Ryan raised an eyebrow, and Riley pulled out his phone and tossed it to him. “Now.”

  “But, we just—”

  “Right, and you’ve got a hell of a lot of romancing to catch up on, so I’d start this instant. Just smother her with love. It’s the only way you’re going to overcome all those memories of rejection in her mind.”

  “I agree,” Ryder said. “You have to be every bit as aggressive about pursuing her as you were about avoiding her. Or it won’t work.”

  “What if I do all of that and she just thinks I’m a stalker?”

  Ryder and Riley looked at each other and then back at him. “It’s not stalking when the woman likes you back. That’s called dating.”

  “But what if she won’t go on a date with me?”

  “Send more flowers,” Riley said. “And pray.”

  Ryan let out a sigh. “Right. I’ll need it.”

  “Well, can you think of something else she might like?” Ryder asked. “Maybe instead of showering her with flowers, you could mix it up by giving her a thoughtful gift. One that says you’re in full possession of your faculties, but you are also crazy about her and know her better than she thinks you do.”

  Something else she might like? He thought about it as Ryder and Riley continued to stare at him. “Actually, I just thought of something.” He stood and placed kisses on the heads of each of his nephews and then went for the door. “I’ve gotta go get something ready.”

  “In the meantime,” Riley said. “Send flowers.”

  “Will do,” Ryan said, waving at them before he closed the door. As he headed out into the snow, toward the path that led to the main lodge, he thought out his plan. It’d be perfect.

  * * *

  Kylie was putting on her sleeve so she could put on the socket for her prosthesis when a knock sounded on the door. Riley had gone above even what she’d been promised and had set her up in her own little private cabin. It was the perfect size and she was enjoying every bit of what was now a vacation. She guessed Ryder and Riley were just really grateful that she seemed to have pulled Ryan out of his funk.

  She stood and pushed her sleeved residual limb into the socket and listened for the rush of air as the vacuum sealed. Then she pushed once more to get the last of the air out. The vacuum would keep her foot locked to the bottom of her leg by the socket. She pulled on a sock to cover the gap and stood to go to the door just as another knock sounded against it.

  Whoever was there was pretty impatient, and she had a good idea of just who it was. Of course, he wouldn’t even give her a day to get settled in before showing up. It was just yesterday morning that they’d made love. And then he’d sent flowers later that morning, and now he was probably right outside her door. She peeked through the window next to the door and saw him standing there, looking handsome in his snow coat and a tight pair of designer jeans. He was holding a huge package in his hands and seemed to be glowing from the toes up.

  So just why was he in such a good mood this morning?

  He whistled to himself as he waited, and she finally let out a groan and swung open the door, sort of fearful to find out what was in that gigantic package. As soon as the door was open, he pushed his way in, giving her a jovial smile and dragging the package with him.

  She had no choice but to move out of the way, so she did, allowing him a wide berth as he walked into the house. “What is that thing?” she asked.

  He gave her a mischievous smile and wiggled his eyebrows. He set it on the floor in front of the bed and gestured for her to come sit down. “Now you can sit and unwrap it and see for yourself.”

  “I don’t need to sit,” she said, folding her arms and coming over to rest on the bed just the same.

  “Yes you will,” he said. “You’ll need your strength to use my present.”

  Her eyebrows went up. He couldn’t have. He’d already used his connections in the snowboarding world to help her order a prosthesis and boots that would allow her to snowboard. If this was what she thought it was, it would be too much.

  Still, she unwrapped the paper and pulled it down to reveal a huge cardboard box. She gave him a questioning glance but he just looked innocently away. She had to admit it was cute how excited he got about giving gifts. This new, smothering-her-with-affection Ryan was definitely preferable to the old, intent-on-rejecting-her Ryan.

  She tore open the cardboard flaps at the top and lifted the box to slide whatever was in there onto the ground. A long, black nylon bag rolled out. At the sight of black fabric, she couldn’t help thinking about the scarves he’d used to tie her, and her cheeks flamed in response. She got on the ground to unzip the bag, and gasped when she saw what was inside.

  “You got me a snowboard?” she asked, pulling it out onto the rug. It had gorgeous bindings accented with gleaming silver, with large, high quality foam straps that would hold her boots in securely. She had her own boots but she’d been renting the board and bindings each time they went. It was getting old, but she knew nothing about picking out a board.

  It meant a lot that Ryan had done this for her. After all, it felt a little like she was being accepted into his world as a permanent fixture. His snowboarding world at least.

  But could she accept such a big, generous gift? She ran her hands over the smooth surface of the board. It was white, with vibrant graphics of flowers and splashes of water, and had kind of a surfer motif to it. She studied the sides and admired the layers of plastic and wood that made up the board. It wasn’t that long, about as long as her rentals, and curved up at the ends like all boards did. But it felt different. Special. Hers.

  She picked it up and hugged it to her, even if it was a little awkward that it was kind of sharp on the edges and the bindings were flapping everywhere since they were open.

  “Want to go use it?” he asked quietly. She could tell he was pleased she liked it, but was trying to stay calm about it. His hair was done today, tousled perfectly into blond tufts. His tan face looked more relaxed than she’d seen it in a while. Maybe even since she’d seen him. For whatever reason, he’d really enjoyed getting her the snowboard.

  He knelt on the floor with her. He was much taller than she was even when kneeling, and she felt tiny in his presence. But his strength, his height, his magnetic presence, was reassuring somehow. She always felt safer when he was around.

  “I got one that’s perfect for a beginner, but will still give you a smooth, stable ride when you’re ready for steeper terrain.” He stood and reached out a hand to help her to her feet, and stood the snowboard in front of her. “Perfect height. Since you’re new, I went with one right about chin height. Mine is closer to my nose height, but the longer an
d stiffer the board, the harder to control.”

  He turned the board away from her and flexed it against the ground gently. “It’s not too stiff, but it’s not so bendy that you’ll rattle on flat areas or at high speeds.” He gave her a grin. “And of course, I went with the prettier graphics, and a killer brand.” He held it out to her. “What do you think?”

  Tears threatened at the corners of her eyes and she smiled and looked away until she composed herself. He studied her curiously, as if worried he’d offended her. She waved a hand. “I don’t know anything about what you just said. But this is so thoughtful. One of the most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever been given.”

  “More thoughtful than anything Taylor has given you?” he blurted out. Then his eyes widened, as if he hated himself for saying it, and he clapped a hand over his mouth and turned away. “I’m sorry, it’s none of my business. I don’t know why I’m so damn jealous.”

  She couldn’t be angry with him when he was already angry with himself, so she simply set the board down on the ground and came over to hug him from behind. He inhaled in surprise and turned to face her.

  “So you like it?”

  “Like it?” she said. “I love it. I can’t wait to use it. But…”

  “But what?” he asked, looking her over.

  “I don’t know. I don’t want things to be awkward between us. I don’t really know what’s going on.”

  “Well, that’s perfect, because I don’t either. So why don’t we just go up and have some fun on the slopes and not make it more complicated than it has to be?”

  “As friends?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “Sure. As friends.” He put out an arm for her and swiped her snowboard off the ground. “Shall we go?”

  She laughed. “Sure. Just let me get my boots.” She ran and did so, excited to just get up on the snow with him and enjoy a day of not thinking about what had happened yesterday morning.

  She could do that, right? After all, how much trouble could they get into while simply snowboarding?

  Chapter 9

  It was a beautiful day, and Kylie was more than ready to conquer the slopes for real this time. Even a small fall when she’d gotten off the lift (despite Ryan’s attempts to help her) couldn’t get her down.

  The view from the top of the mid-mountain lift was spectacular. Low clouds obscured the mountains rising around them, but the sun gleamed in sparkling swaths over the freshly groomed snow that had fallen during the night. Green tops of trees poked out from drifts of snow at the sides of runs, and down the mountain, she could see skiers and snowboarders making their way down the hill in lazy S-turns.

  She sighed in satisfaction as she did up her new bindings. They fit perfectly over her boots. She didn’t know if her board would really feel any different, or if it was just the fact that it was hers, that Ryan Hart, world famous snowboarder, had picked it out for her.

  She should have him sign it before he went back. The thought made her depressed so she did up the last buckle on her bindings angrily and exhaled slowly to put it out of her mind. She waited for Ryan to come over. When he did, he was holding a map.

  “Sorry, I’m still learning my way around the bunny slopes. But I think if we go over there, we’ll find some fresh pow and still not have too difficult of a hill.”

  “Fresh pow?”

  “Powder,” he said with a grin. His cheeks were already slightly wind blown to a shade of pink that matched his lips. His eyes were a bright, almost too-brilliant blue with his goggles on his helmet as he looked at the map. He looked so hot in his snowboarding clothes. Nothing else came close.

  His ski coat was navy, his pants black. Both fit him in a way that emphasized both his height and his muscles, making him look even bigger, if that was possible. Luckily, he was too busy comparing the map to the mountain to pay any attention to the fact that she was ogling him.

  Or maybe he wasn’t, because he looked up at her and winked slyly, before turning back to the map. She blushed and went back to playing with the snow in front of her board. She should make a snowball. Throw it at him when he was making a turn. Show him what it felt like to fall and feel like an idiot. Wait, what was she talking bout? He’d surely had tons of falls. Just recently, he’d had a horrifyingly public one with the whole world watching.

  Her breath caught, remembering when she’d first seen the replay. Horrible. Right after, she’d wished she hadn’t watched it. But she’d wanted to understand what happened to him. Had hoped that whatever it was wasn’t as bad as what she was picturing in her mind.

  It was.

  She could hardly believe he was really here, looking totally fine as he tilted his head to consider the map. She scooted over to him on her butt and reached up. “Here, let me look at it.”

  He shrugged and did as she said. She looked at the map and quickly deduced which way was which.

  “It’s straight over there.”

  “Great,” he said. “Let’s go.”

  “No way I can cut that hard,” she said. “I’m not that good on my heel side yet.”

  “True,” he said.

  “Rude.”

  He reached out for her hands, and she stood, wobbling on her heels on her board, and he clasped her arms with his hands. She clasped his forearms right back, and they were locked. “Remember how I did this when I was helping you figure out how to switch direction?”

  “Right,” she said. “I just lean back on my heels to stay on my edge, and look where I’m going. But I’ve never gone at that hard of an angle.”

  “It’s okay,” he said. “I’m going to take you there, and with us locked like this, as long as you relax and stay on your heels, I can face you and stay on my toe edge with my back to the hill and take you with me.”

  “How will you see where you’re going?” She eyed the trees to the side of the hill where they were heading warily. “Do we have to go through the trees?”

  He gripped her arms tight in his reassuring hands. He was so strong, so capable. If anyone could help her do this, he could. “I can look without moving my body. It’s something you learn later on. So, do you trust me?”

  She raised an eyebrow. “I remember the last time you asked me that.”

  He grinned. “And were you glad you trusted me?”

  She nodded vigorously, glad she was wearing a scarf that would at least somewhat cover her blush.

  His grin deepened. “Good. So trust me again.”

  She frowned once more at the trees as he started to point their boards slightly down the hill, and her edge wobbled and scraped as she tried to keep her balance. His arms kept her steady when she thought she would fall. “Do we have to go to the pow, as you called it?”

  He nodded. “Every new snowboarder needs to experience pow. Fresh, untouched powder. Riding on it feels like flying.”

  That sounded wonderful. She hadn’t felt like that in a long time. “Okay then. Take me to the pow.” She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them, just as he started them in that direction again. She tried to relax and stayed focused on keeping her heels back. With her prosthesis, she could pull back on her heels by leaning her weight back, and the foot was stiff enough to pull the boot with it. She grinned as they started to move a little faster, as he gave her an encouraging smile that said she was doing great.

  They went faster than she’d ever gone on her own, but it was exhilarating. The cool winter air on the skin that was exposed between her goggles and her scarf was refreshing, even as it started to bite.

  She looked up at him, so calm, so handsome, as he guided them around the trees and to a little ridge that overlooked a slope below. Then he stopped, held her hands as he rested her back on her butt, and then slid to the side of her and jumped his board so that he was facing the same way as her, and sat down.

  She laughed as he sunk into the snow. He gave her a mock glare, and then grinned and looked out at the valley below. It was even more beautiful there, the snow in natural piles over the
hill, coating the branches of trees that had been protected from the wind.

  There was no one around. Just the trees standing watch with their armfuls of snow, and the sun as it moved behind fluffy, light-gray clouds. Bearstone Park lodge was visible far away in the distance, at the bottom of multiple hills.

  Ryan leaned back on his hands with a deep sigh. “Ah, this is heaven, right? I can’t think of anything better than this.”

  She had to agree. Why hadn’t she come up here sooner? Why hadn’t she looked into prosthesis options for snowboarding? It was just one of those things she’d assumed wouldn’t work, and anyways, she had thought it was probably more fun to watch than do. But Ryan had ruined the coward in her and gotten her up here, and now she couldn’t help but agree with him that it felt like home.

  But was that because the mountain was so beautiful, or because he was here with her? If she just forgot him going to Australia, him crashing, and the rest, it felt like some kind of dream. As if the first time she’d approached him, he’d openly felt what she had, that they should be together.

  Now he supposedly did, but it made no sense. So she decided to do what they’d already agreed to and go back to thinking of them as just friends. At least for today. At least while trying to enjoy the pow.

  “It looks so soft,” she said. “Like falling into it would be like bouncing on a cloud.”

  He laughed, a deep, rich sound that hit her right in her heart. She wanted to hear him laugh again, as many times as possible, over the course of their lives. She was starting to not care about any drama between them. As long as he looked that happy, she felt she could be happy too.

  Be careful, her heart warned. That way be monsters. And her heart was right. You couldn’t just count on someone to love you and want you to be happy just because you wanted the same for him or her. She stood and scooted toward the powdery slope.

  “Any tips?” she asked him.

  “Same stuff,” he said. “But yes, falling isn’t a problem. Turns will be a little—”