Her hair always fell into the most perfect, wild little curls, and he couldn’t resist pulling one straight and wrapping it lightly around his finger.
“Hey, stop that,” she said playfully. She rolled over to rest on his chest. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Sorry, I was caught up in how beautiful you are,” he said, running a hand lightly over her back. A part of him felt like if he just never stopped touching her, she’d never leave.
A knock sounded on the door and she lifted her head, curls bouncing slightly. “Who could that be?”
He grinned. “Room service. I ordered it before I came up and joined you, remember?”
“How did you know we’d be done?”
“I figured they could wait if we weren’t. But I knew we weren’t going all the way. I’ve always had a certain way I wanted it to happen. Call me a romantic, but there’s just a way I’ve always pictured it, if I did find a mate. Even though it wasn’t a huge priority before.” He moved off the bed to get the door, and when she was under the covers and out of view, he opened it and took the tray from the person delivering it. He tipped and then shut the door behind him, wheeling the tray inside.
“Wow,” she said. “Did you order enough?”
“I hope so,” he said. “I wouldn’t want my princess to go hungry.”
She put a hand over her stomach and made a face he found adorable. “I don’t think I’ve gone hungry since I’ve been here,” she said.
“Good,” he said, feeling his grin spread even wider over his face. “I got you a little of everything. I didn’t know what you felt like.”
“Great,” she said. “Oh, by the way, you were going to tell me what else you were, other than a scuba diver. You know, since you said I didn’t need to work if I didn’t want to.”
“Oh that,” he said, setting a napkin on her lap and pulling the lid off the top dish. “Yeah, I’m also an inventor. I came up with a new take on a rebreathing apparatus and licensed it. It’s been lucrative. So yes, mate, you can sit at home all day if you want to.”
She wrinkled her nose as he served her a full plate. “I don’t want to. I like working.”
“Well, you could teach scuba with me? Of course, it’ll require a lot of diving with me first.” He winked at her and she blushed.
“I can do that,” she said. “Considering how much I didn’t think I liked water, I really loved scuba.”
He nodded. “That’s common. It’s all about motivation. I mean, we had to teach you basic strokes and treading water, but floating isn’t that essential. It’s like, once you have stuff to see and do, and air to breathe under water, you’re more willing to try it. It’s much more rewarding than say, swimming.”
She nodded. “Especially with a teacher like you.”
His chest grew warm at the compliment and he dug into his meal to distract himself. “Anyway, you asked how I got into scuba. When we moved here, there was this cool old dive master who used to run the shop. Before I did, you know? And he kind of took me under his wing. I’m the youngest of my brothers, and I’m sure I just seemed kind of lost. Dad was busy running the place, and my older brother, Scott, was always following him around to learn the ropes.”
“He’s the one with the short hair, right?”
“He’s the businessman,” he replied.
She snorted. “That’s going to be an odd match,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing.”
“No, what?”
“Just that he’s paired off with Mara this week, and she’s one of those ethereal artist types.”
He raised an eyebrow and poked at his food. “That’’ll be interesting. Maybe she’ll be able to ruffle his feathers.”
“And you have another brother, right?”
“Ah yes, Sebastien. Yeah, he got taken under the wing of the cruise captain. You may have seen the ship when it came in earlier this week.”
“Yes, my friend Kim went out on it. She’s a handful.”
He laughed. “Really? I’d love to see that then.” He stirred the rice pilaf on his plate as she happily tucked into the fish and steak he’d served her.
“You okay?” she asked.
He looked out toward the window, where the wind was picking up and clouds were looming overhead. It looked like an evening storm would roll in. “Unfortunately, I don’t know if we’re going to be able to keep our earlier plans,” he said. “Looks like it’s going to rain.”
“Sex in the rain could be hot,” she said, obviously looking like she wanted to perk up his mood.
“Yeah,” he said, uncertainly. “I’m not sure about that.”
“What do you mean?”
He took a bite of his steak. “I’m not a fan of rainy days. I prefer sunlight.”
“I guess I could have guessed that about you. But are you really going to be able to put off our mating?”
He picked up her fork and fed her a piece of her steak, savoring her expression of pleasure as she took it from him. “I can barely wait, but I want it to be perfect for you. It can’t be, if I have to wipe raindrops out of your eyes.”
“We could at least go for a walk in the rain? I think nothing could be more romantic than a stroll along a Caribbean beach with the rain coming down on us.”
“You want to be cold?” he asked, holding out her fork for another taste.
“That’s not cold,” she said. “That’s refreshing. You want cold, you should try winter in New York.”
He shivered. “No thank you.”
“You’re a polar bear!” she teased.
He stuck his tongue out at her. “Who was raised in the Caymans. Geez, woman. Give me a break.”
“Only if you’ll walk in the rain with me.” She pursed her lips and chewed her steak and he knew he wasn’t going to be able to negotiate with her, so even though the protective side of him who didn’t want his mate to get wet and catch cold didn’t like the idea, he agreed.
“Fine, but only because we can’t keep our original plans. I’m glad I have you for another week after tomorrow though,” he said. “We can even take a mini honeymoon if you want.”
She stood and he cleared the plates into a pile and set the tray outside the door for pickup. “Um, wouldn’t we have to be married first?”
“Not in our world. Once we mate, we’ll essentially be married.”
“Oh,” she said. “Right. It’s all so new to me.”
“I know,” he said. “But you can trust me. I won’t lead you astray.”
“Good thing too,” she said. “I’d be in trouble if you did.”
They walked together out to the deck, and he listened to the muffled plops of raindrops on sand. The damp feel of the sand between his toes as they stepped out onto the beach unnerved him. He much preferred sunny days.
But his mate’s face was rapturous as she turned up her face to catch raindrops on her cheeks, lips and eyelashes. And he wanted to lick them all off. But he found himself caught by her beauty, and by the sheer luck of her being his, and him being instinctive enough to know from the moment he found her.
And her being willing to trust him enough to follow him into this new world. The alpha in him liked that.
He took her hand and they walked along the sand. She was quiet, pensive, stopping here and there to look out at the ocean, which was grayer, storm-tossed. The sand got cooler under their feet, and the sun was getting lower in the sky.
He shuddered, thinking of what would happen if she hadn’t agreed to be his mate. She would have left after two weeks, thinking it all a fling. He’d had no choice but to tell her things she may not have been ready to hear. How would he have known his mate wouldn’t have known she was a bear.
But fate worked in mysterious ways. And as he held her hand and looked out at the stormy ocean and the beautiful sunset in the distance, and felt cool rain over his shoulders, he thought maybe stormy days weren’t so bad.
If she was around.
And it’d be f
un to have a dive partner, if she did end up wanting to go into business with him. If not, he was sure Gus would have work for her at the shop or hotel with administrative work.
But he’d seen her sheer glee on her first dive, and had known right then that she could love diving as much as he did.
And the human in him had fallen in love with her right there. They walked a little further and she told him about her adoptive parents, who still lived in New York. He guessed he’d have to visit them soon, but it’d be hard to explain their whirlwind romance now that he knew they weren’t shifters.
If they were shifters, they would have explained it to her. Not left her ignorant and unsure of who she was.
But he liked that there was so much to her beyond the shifting. She was a fully formed woman. Had gone to college, and worked her way up in her office. Had a full life, and now could have more with him.
They were nearly back to the hotel suite when he heard a distant ringing. He felt her visibly tense, just from the feel of her hand against his.
“You don’t have to answer that anymore.”
“I know,” she said. “I don’t want to even look at it. But it could be my mom.”
“Let me pick it up and look at it then.”
“Okay,” she said, biting a nail as she let him walk ahead of her into the suite.
He frowned at her nervousness. He just wanted this to be over once and for all, and their new life together to start. He picked up the phone and looked at the name.
“It’s someone named Ignus.”
He could tell from her face that that was the wrong name.
8
He was so unbelievably handsome. Such a complete fantasy come to life, that just hearing Ignus’ name fall from his lips was unbearably painful.
Ignus, a name that had haunted her nights and weekends for as long as she cared to remember of her adult life. And she’d thought she was done with him.
Sky’s blonde hair was swept over his forehead and along his face. His full lips were pursed and his dimple was notably absent as he clutched the phone in his hand. “I’ll deal with him for you.”
“No,” she said, a little too sharply. “Just let it go to voicemail. He doesn’t get access to me anymore.”
Sky’s face tightened. “Let me tell him that then.”
She frowned. “I know you’re going to be my mate, but right now I’m still my own woman. I just quit my job for you, so can I handle my boss on my own?”
He sighed and handed her the phone. “Of course. But you should know that when we’re mated, I’ll be your alpha. That means I’ll handle this kind of thing.”
She ruffled at that. He might know everything about bears. He might be her hot scuba diver who was a walking wet dream of a man and knew what to do to make her scream in bed. But no man, no man ever again would claim complete control of her. “I don’t like the sound of that,” she said.
He came forward to place steady hands on her shoulders, and then used one hand to gently tilt her chin up so her eyes would meet his. His were turning from green to blue, like a kaleidoscope. It was mesmerizing, unlike anything she’d ever seen. “I think you’re misunderstanding. I’m not saying I would control you, or take care of your life when you don’t want me to. I’m saying that it will be my job to protect you from anything that threatens or bothers you. To put your life before my own. To give it for you if necessary. You will be my everything, and I will be your alpha. Is that more clear?”
She nodded, feeling tears sting her eyes again. She sat down on the bed and looked at the phone in her hands. It beeped with a voicemail. “I’ll have to listen to that, in case there’s something pertinent about my job, but I’m not going to do it now.”
“Good,” he said. “Because right now, I’d just like to snuggle.”
She raised an eyebrow in shock. Okay, now he had to be joking. Men didn’t want to just snuggle, did they? The ones she had met were either just interested in sex or food, or just weren’t interested at all. “You’re kidding,” she said.
He looked disgruntled and the adorable dimple twitched in his left cheek as he pushed his sun-streaked hair out of his face. “No. Of course I want to snuggle. We made love earlier. You’re my mate. I’ve been waiting forever to find you. Why wouldn’t I want to hold and touch you as much as I can?”
“Well,” she said, feeling her neck heat with a blush. “I guess I can’t complain about that.”
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go out on the hammock.”
She couldn’t believe her luck, but she wasn’t going to complain. She loved the idea of snuggling with him, but wondered how comfortable his muscular body would be. He got on first and helped her in against him, tucking her against his side and swinging the hammock lightly with his foot on the ground. His tanned legs were long and it was easy for him to keep them gently rocking.
She loved how big he felt next to her. Loved the scent of the rain on the ocean, the wet look of the sand, the call of the birds. She never wanted to leave this place, and now, if she didn’t want to, she wouldn’t have to. But she did want to learn more about her birth parents, and figure out how to explain all of this to her adopted parents. They meant everything to her. If they didn’t understand…
But she’d help them. And as long as she was happy, they’d be okay.
His hand curled around her waist and gave her a gentle squeeze that made her feel loved. “You okay? You’re quiet over there.”
“Just thinking about how quickly things have changed. Wondering if I’m crazy for running into this so quickly.”
“You’re not,” he said. “Sometimes things just happen that way.”
“But, I mean, I didn’t win this contest by chance. I don’t even remember entering. And didn’t you say your dad had something to do with it?”
He scratched his chin. “You know, I’ve been trying to figure that out. The giveaway is cagey, and then of course, there’s the fact that all three of you ladies are bears, presumably from the same family, based on your scents.”
She sat bolt upright, as much as was possible in the hammock, and he set a soothing hand on her shoulder but it did nothing to calm the storm raging inside her. “What?”
“You didn’t see the resemblance?” he asked. “Only distant cousins maybe. My guess is my dad knew your family or something and pulled some strings.”
“So, tricked us,” she said.
He cocked his head and she traced the line of his firm, masculine jaw with her eyes. “Do you regret it?”
“No,” she said. “Not exactly. It just threw me off guard. But I don’t know why he would trick me.”
Guilt flashed in Sky’s blue eyes, making Leah uneasy. “I don’t either.”
“Then why did you look guilty just now?”
“I just, I want to be honest with you. I don’t want you to feel tricked.”
She swallowed as a knot of fear formed in her stomach. She’d walked into this so easily, she didn’t know what she’d do if he gave her a reason to walk away. “Tell me then.”
“Well,” he said, putting an arm around her again and pulling her against him. His body felt stupidly good and warm and made it hard to think, so it was a good move. But still, her senses were on red alert. “My dad has always been a romantic. And an obsessive matchmaker. It’s part of why we’ve all been focused on other things instead. In rebellion.” He stroked her hair. “Though if I’d known this was the result, I think I’d have searched sooner.”
“But I mean, how would you have found me?”
“Like my dad did, looking through bear bloodlines, making a good guess at a match based on people we’ve known. You have to understand, the bear world is very small. It’s hard for us to reproduce, and it’s hard to find mates with strong blood. Some bears have even mated with humans.”
She wrinkled her nose. “You make that sound like a bad thing.”
“Well, it’s just that, the less pure the blood, the more unlikely the offspring can
shift.”
Her heart sank. “I don’t know if mine is pure enough.”
“You can shift, can’t you?”
“Oh, so I’m good then?” But then she had to wonder if that was the reason he wanted her.
“That’s not the only reason I want you, if that’s what you’re thinking,” he said. “You’re my mate. You’re made for me, and me for you.”
“How do you know?” she asked.
He looked out at the ocean and then pointed above it. “How do you know that’s the sky? You just know. And so do I know you’re my mate.”
That was oddly deep, but she found herself still a little caught off guard by the whole set-up. It seemed everyone knew more than she did.
She heard approaching footsteps and looked up to see the captain of the yacht striding toward them. He wore a navy boating blazer and white pants and his blond hair was tied in a neat queue that nonetheless had several strands of bright blond streaming free. He walked over to them, noted them together, and hesitated.
“What is it?” Sky asked, holding her tight and moving slightly in front of her. “What’s wrong?”
“I need to talk to you,” he said, folding his impressive arms. Leah bit her lip nervously. “Family business.”
Sky groaned. “Can it wait?”
The other man narrowed his icy blue gaze. He was tall and just as intimidating as Sky. More so even, because there was a hard set to his features that said he was a man who’d been through something and come out the other side a little sharper. But he was gorgeous, much like his brother.
She bit her lip. She should let him go to his brother, and maybe she could use some time alone too.
To process what Sky had said, or maybe to go ask his father what’d they done. Or even to find the other women an see what they said about being bears.
“Go ahead,” she said. “I could use a nap.”
“It’s nearly night time,” Sky said, checking his watch. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “I’ll just be inside watching TV or napping. You guys go ahead. Looks like he needs you.”
The tall man with the ponytail straightened, looking slightly offended by the implication, but he didn’t correct her. She turned to go back into the suite and Sky stopped her with a hand on her wrist. “Are you sure? I don’t want to leave you, mate.”
Bear-ever Yours: BBW Bear Shifter (BWWM) Romance Standalone Page 6