by Sable Sylvan
“Here,” said Beast gruffly as he made his own plate, finishing off the small dish of caviar. “Now, it’s simple. Just eat the pancake. Like this.” Beast picked up the pancake with his fingers gingerly and popped it into his mouth.
“Alright,” said Rose, and she popped her own pancake into her mouth. The first flavor she tasted was the unexpected taste of the pancakes. They were more bready than sweet. Next, with her first chew, there was the cream, which melted into her mouth, and finally came the caviar. Fishy and salty, the caviar tasted like the ocean, which Rose had only visited once before in her life, but eating the pancake, it was like she was at the ocean again...and the flavor made her tear up.
“Are you okay?” asked Beast, getting up suddenly and pushing his chair back hard enough to scuff the hard wood floors. The bear inside him roared. Rose wasn’t supposed to cry, why would she cry? This was all for her, this was supposed to make her happy. “Rose, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” said Rose, looking up at Beast. “It’s...complicated.”
“You don’t have to finish it if you don’t want to,” said Beast, putting a hand on Rose’s shoulder, a hand Rose didn’t brush off.
“I do,” said Rose. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me,” said Beast. “I’ve seen a lot, Rose.” Beast took his seat again.
“This tastes like the ocean,” said Rose softly.
“And what does the ocean mean to you?” asked Beast.
“My mother...the last time I saw my mother, we were at the ocean,” said Rose, looking at the next morsel on her plate. “My mother got sick, and we didn’t have much, so...we all went to the ocean, for the first time in my life, the last time in my life. My mom, my sisters, my dad, and me...it was the last vacation I ever had with my mother, before she...”
“Before she passed,” said Beast softly. “Rose, I had no idea. I can send the caviar away.”
“I want it,” said Rose, popping the next morsel into her mouth. Beast watched as Rose chewed, the toast point so clean it was almost tasteless, merely a vector for the caviar. The toast didn’t muddle the taste of the caviar, nor did the butter, which in fact, amplified the taste, and it was as if Rose was swallowing the ocean. Another tear fell down her cheek as she smiled and looked at Beast.
“Have you ever been so sad that it’s...beautiful?” Rose asked Beast.
The memories of so many nights in the woods, on his own, ran through Beast’s head. “No,” said Beast, honestly. “My sadness turns...into something else.” He’d never met a woman more fascinating than Rose. The fact she didn’t even know he was a billionaire was something he hadn’t prepared for.
“Everything changed after my mom passed,” said Rose. “My dad worked longer hours. My sisters and I are close in age and we had to make the hard choice of who would go to college, and we ran the numbers. It made more sense for me to stay at home, take care of my sisters, while my dad worked up here. I try not to think about my mom too much. I miss her every day, Beast.”
“I miss mine too,” said Beast, looking out the large glass window. The glass window overlooking an enclosed greenhouse, which was shrouded in metal by night, allowed the pair to look out at the stars.
“You mean...” started Rose.
Beast looked back to Rose. “Both my parents passed on a good while ago.”
“I had no idea,” said Rose softly.
“Try the spoon,” said Beast. “I made it.”
“The caviar?” asked Rose.
“No, the spoon” said Beast. “It’s made of mother of pearl from oysters I harvested myself, and I crafted the spoons too. Mother of pearl is the best material to eat caviar off of.”
“Alright,” said Rose. “But only if you join me.”
“Of course,” said Beast with a soft smile.
Rose pressed the spoon to her lips and had pure caviar for the first time in her life. The caviar flowed into her mouth and the small eggs burst on her tongue, pressed in her teeth and against the roof of her mouth, filling her with a taste of the ocean so strong, it was as if Rose was drowning, in sorrow and in beauty. The tears burst forth uncontrollably and Beast pushed his chair back again, holding back his bear as he walked over to Rose and offer her hand. She got up from her chair, weeping, and he led her to the window.
“Look up there,” he ordered, pointing with his finger towards the stars. “You see those seven stars? They make three lines, and then a square.”
“The Big Dipper?” asked Rose.
“Yes, what you humans call the Big Dipper,” said Beast. “There’s more to it. If you look closely, you can see a bear.”
“A bear?” asked Rose. She noticed Beast was still holding her hand.
“You humans call her Ursa Major, it’s Latin for “Great Bear”, but Ursa is a female bear,” said Beast. “To the bear shifters, Ursa Major is called Star Mother, and no matter where a werebear is in the world, Star Mother will be looking down on the shifter, protecting them from harm.” Beast pressed his hand to the glass and closed his eyes for a few seconds before pulling away.
Beast turned to Rose. The bear growled inside his head and his heart. Ever since Rose had touched him, he’d been set aflame, from inside to out, and he’d wanted to press his lips against hers. He held back. This wasn’t the time to do it. He brushed a tear from her eye instead, silently, and then a tear from her other eye.
Beast couldn’t have braced himself for what Rose did next. She wrapped her arms around his strong shoulders and got up on tiptoes, pressing her lips against his. Beast didn’t respond at first, and let Rose kiss him, without responding back.
Beast couldn’t hold the bear back long. As Rose teased the entrance to his mouth with her tongue, the bear burst free. Beast pulled Rose close and lifted her up into her arms, sweeping her off her feet with his strong arms, holding her up so he could kiss her even more deeply.
Rose ran her fingers through Beast’s hair and pulled his face closer to hers, allowing him access to her mouth, pressing deeper and deeper against his face. Rose pulled Beast closer and felt his strong chest against the sides of her breasts. It had been entirely impulsive, and when Beast hadn’t responded to her kiss with an immediate ravishment, Rose had worried, but as Beast kissed her back with passion, she stopped worrying, for the first time in a long time.
Beast pulled away, stopping himself from escalating further, putting Rose down on her feet again, and pulling his suit jacket straight. He gave the window a quick glance, looking through the window to the sky again, where he swore he saw the constellations sparkle brighter and harder than ever before.
Beast looked back to Rose. “Maybe Star Mother watches over humans too,” he said softly as he walked back to the table. Rose followed and sat. The staff came in, clearing the caviar away, and bringing the main course. Through the shuffling of plates, Rose watched Beast, and tried to figure out how a man like him could consider himself a beast.
Chapter Five
One Week Later
The next week, Rose continued to spend her researching time the meanings of roses. She still was no closer to understanding the mystery of the roses than she had been before. She knew the Latin names of species of roses backwards and forwards, she knew the taxonomies inside and out, but she still had no idea why her host was so obsessed with the flowers.
Her phone buzzed. The outfit for the week was ready for the week’s dinner. This time, she was actually excited to be having dinner with her host. The taste of his kiss had lingered on her lips far after dessert. The way that he pressed hard against her face, holding her like she’d never been held, had been pure magic. Rose went up to the dressing room and saw the most beautiful of the dresses she’d seen in her time at the mansion. The dress was crimson and majestic, made of satin, with layers that resembled the many layers of a rose, each swath of fabric like a petal, and hung to around the knees, the hem just brushing the kneecaps of the Rose-sized mannequin. Along with the dress was a pair of black lace up boo
ts. Rose frowned, she’d thought that Beast liked her best in heels. Rose hadn’t taken off the silver rose necklace in the past week, and it was still around her neck, but there was no other jewelry laid out for her to wear.
Rose slipped out of the day clothes she was wearing, a comfy dress with plush lined slipper boots, and she got changed into the lingerie that had been set out for her. It was as black as the dress was red, the lace details imperceptible when the lingerie was touching itself, but against Rose’s soft skin, the lace eyelets were windows to her sensuality. She put on the boots next, and then, the dress, before noticing that a black cardigan had been laid out for her. She pulled the soft sweater on and made her way down to the dining room.
When she got to the formal dining room, the table wasn’t set. Beast, as tall, brooding, and handsome as ever, was looking out over the lake, but turned as he heard Rose walk into the room. “Hello,” he said, turning away from the window.
“Hey,” said Rose, looking over her host. Beast wasn’t in one of his suits like he had been the other three times. He was wearing a charcoal, grey, and black flannel shirt, with dark black jeans and a black leather belt. He was wearing gray sneakers and had no jacket or tie. The shirt showed off Beast’s bulging muscles, and he looked more natural in the flannel and jeans than he had in the suit. “Are we still having dinner tonight?”
“Yes...but not here,” said Beast, looking at the empty table and then back at Rose. “Tonight, I had something...special planned.”
“Something special?” asked Rose with a raised brow.
“Yes, something I think you’ll like,” said Beast. “Something...different.” Beast offered his hand. Rose looked at the palm of Beast’s hand, the finger pads and the palm of the hand dark, the mark of a bear shifter. Rose took Beast’s hand and he raised her hand up to his mouth, giving it a simple kiss while keeping his eyes locked on hers.
“Lead the way,” said Rose, and Beast took Rose out to the main hall and down the stairs, out to the gardens.
Rose had spent a few days in the gardens, reading in the sunlight, but she’d preferred the library because having a table to work on was more productive. Beast led Rose through the gardens, to a wall covered in ivy, and then he reached into the ivy, and undid a latch, opening up a secret door. The door opened in to a glen, filled with wildflowers.
“Is this where we’re eating?” Rose asked Beast.
“Not quite,” said Beast. He led Rose through the glen to the other side of the wall...where he opened another door. This door did not lead to yet another glen, but to a dark room. Beast turned on a switch, and when Rose saw what was in the room, she gasped.
The switch pulled back the metal housing that kept the greenhouse sheltered from prying eyes. As the metal shell receded along the sides of the greenhouse, the plates layered against one another, the full moon’s light streamed into the greenhouse, but as the moonlight hit the flowers in the green house, each of the roses in the greenhouse started to glow, not figuratively, but literally.
The entire greenhouse was filled with rose bushes. Some were solid colors, while others were patterned, with stripes or gradations. Yellow, pink, peach, white, and varying shades of red. The entire spectrum of roses was there, as well as roses in colors that Rose hadn’t read about in her books: blue, green, and purple, as well as colors so dark they were basically black.
The edges of each rose glowed in the light, right where the roses were kissed by the moonlight, and the light seemed to flow down each petal, illuminating each petal. Rose took Beast’s hand again and gripped it, tight.
“It’s...beautiful,” said Rose, looking up at Beast, who had been looking at Rose’s wondrous reaction to the roses.
“Not as beautiful as you,” said Beast. “But if they amuse you...this was all worth it. I’ve wanted to show this to you, but I hadn’t been ready, before tonight.”
“How come I never saw this before?” asked Rose.
“The rose garden is hidden from most people, even most of the staff, and the covering ensures that other companies don’t even know there’s a greenhouse here,” explained Beast. “I’m protective of my roses, Rose.”
“But why?” asked Rose.
“Roses...are important to me,” said Beast softly. “You’ll see why. Your father...somehow, he got in here, and he took a rose. Security caught him. I suspected that he was involved in corporate espionage.”
“He wasn’t,” said Rose. “I’d know if he was. I know why he took the rose.”
“Then why did he do it?” asked Beast, looking to Rose.
“I...I asked my father for something stupid,” said Rose, looking away from Beast and holding her hands behind her back, pulling away from his touch. “I told him to pick the most beautiful flower from the lumber mill. I expected a pressed dandelion, a wilted windflower, an arrowhead...but not something like this. The rose he had...it wasn’t glowing.”
“The roses stop glowing when they’re cut,” said Beast. “And they only glow when the moon touches them. Tonight’s a perfect night to look at the roses.” Beast led Rose through the garden, which was covered in artificial turf, to a spot in the center of the large green house. A round circle in the center was home to a flat, thick gingham blanket, and a picnic basket.
“A picnic dinner?” asked Rose.
“Is it not to your liking?” asked Beast, the beast in him roaring, telling him he was stupid for planning a picnic instead of another fancy dinner.
“No...it’s perfect,” said Rose. “It’s really great, Beast.” Rose sat down on the generously sized blanket and opened up the bask. I inside there were plastic containers filled with different standard picnic foods, but of course, Beast’s staff had given each of the dishes their own special twist. The potato salad was made with fresh eggs and a dash of chili powder to give it a deviled egg flavor, the coleslaw was made using dandelion greens, and the slices of watermelon were sprinkled with mint leaves, the slices themselves soaked in lime juice pair of big sandwiches were the main course, one for the bear and one for Rose, and there were chilled sparkling water bottles in the basket.
Rose slipped off her cardigan. The greenhouse was more hot and humid than the cool mountain air had been, and it was even hotter given that it was summer in Montana. She leaned back against the blanket and looked up at the stars while she ate out of her plastic container, the side separated by dividers, while Beast started on a sandwich.
“Do you come out here often?” Rose asked Beast.
“Almost every night,” said Beast. “I feel...better out here.”
“I would too,” said Rose. “I’ve been spending way too much time in the house. I’m starting to get stir crazy. I’d do anything for a big, greasy burger right now.”
“Me too, honestly,” said Beast, swallowing a bite of his sandwich.
“Then why don’t you just...go, sometime, and get yourself some good old fashioned American junk food?” asked Rose.
“Because things...things aren’t that simple, Rose,” said Beast with a sigh. “I can’t just go wherever I want.”
“Why not?” asked Rose.
“Because things are complicated,” said Beast, starting on his sides. He ate and looked up at the stars with Rose, a few minutes of near silence passing before he said anything. “Because...if I want a day off, or a night off, I have to move heaven and earth to get it.”
“You have time to have dinner with me,” said Rose.
“I don’t, unless I make the time,” said Beast.
“Why do you want to eat with me if it’s such a burden?” asked Rose.
“I never said it was a burden,” said Beast. “It’s a priority for me. I just had to move some stuff around. The world can wait for me, Rose, when I’m with you.”
“Can the world wait?” asked Rose. “Being here...I like it but it gets lonely.”
“Doesn’t Hannah hang out with you?” asked Beast.
“When she can, but she’s your employee, she’s busy, you should
know that,” said Rose with a frown. “I just...wish I could see my family again. Even for a night.”
“How about three?” asked Beast.
“What do you mean?” asked Rose, turning to look in his eyes.
“If you leave, do you promise to come back?” asked Beast. “Of your own free will?”
“I do,” said Rose.
“Then...I can make arrangements to have you brought to your family, for the next week,” said Beast. “I can have a driver take you home, and pick you up in time for our next dinner.”
“Beast...thank you, so much, you have no idea how much this means to me,” said Rose.
“Don’t I?” asked Beast. “I’d do anything to see my father again.”
“You mean...” started Rose softly as she chewed into her Italian sandwich.
“That’s right, Rose. I’m an orphan,” said Beast. “For part of my life, I was raised by my extended family. My father had two brothers, and each of those brothers has a single son, and no other children. I have a sister, though, and I stayed strong for her.”
“I had no idea,” said Rose. “I would have never said that, about you not getting what it’s like for me, if I had known.”
“I know,” said Beast. “Rose...you will come back, won’t you?”
“I will,” promised Rose. “Thank you so much. How can I ever repay you?”
The bear roared, telling Beast to tell Rose how he felt, how she would never have to repay him for anything, how she never had to, but the man pushed the bear aside. “I don’t know...can you pass me a bottle of the water?” asked Beast, lightening the mood.
“I don’t know, can I?” teased Rose. She hoped that putting on a confident air would make it so that Beast wouldn’t notice she was blushing. She could feel her cheeks warming, and she knew she must be bright pink. There wasn’t much light to see by, except the light of the moon, the stars, and the roses, but the way that Beast made her feel was warming her up by the second, and she was sure that soon, the sexual heat would burn her into a cinder.
Beast rolled his eyes. “Real mature, Rose. Please, Rose, may I have a bottle of water?” asked Beast sarcastically.