Her Bear To Keep (Second Chance Shifters 5)

by Meredith Clarke

  “It’s beautiful,” Jordan said, as she took the glass of red wine Ty offered.

  “Yeah, I think they succeeded in making your vision come to life.”

  Her heart broke a little more as she looked around her dream kitchen.

  What was she doing there?

  Did she like causing herself pain?

  Jordan pushed the pain back and tried to place a small smile on her face.

  “What are we having?”

  “Roast chicken and vegetables, twice baked potatoes, salad, and broccoli cheese soup,” Ty replied with a grin, then turned to the refrigerator and added, “Oh, and spinach dip to start.”

  Jordan chuckled at the impressive and somewhat intimidating menu. Tyson had always loved to cook, and he’d especially loved to cook for her. Something about feeding her and keeping her healthy and happy. It was one of the things she missed most about him.

  Although, she had found it easier to fit into her jeans since she’d stopped eating his cooking.

  “Sounds amazing,” she said, taking a piece of pita bread and a dollop of dip before looking up at him through her eyelashes and asking the question that had been plaguing her since last night. “Why did you still ask me to dinner?”

  “What do you mean?” he asked, his lips turning down. “We had a deal.”

  “Yeah, I know… I just thought, since the date went well, that you’d forget about the deal.”

  Tyson leaned his hip against the counter and looked at her with serious eyes.

  “What makes you think the date went well?”

  “Uh…” Jordan blushed as she realized she’d given herself away. She’d never been one to lie, and she’d certainly never been able to lie to Ty… Even when she’d tried to convince them both that she didn’t love him anymore and hated to be around him, he’d seen the truth. She wasn’t happy about the fact that they weren’t together, but she did think it was for the best.

  Tyson chuckled and let her off the hook.

  “Mika told me you were there.”

  “Oh,” she replied, embarrassed. After mentally vowing to punch Mika next time she saw him, Jordan said, “Yeah, I, uh, just wanted to see how things were going between you two… You know, since I set it up. It, um, looked like everything went great.”

  “It did,” he admitted, causing her stomach to drop to her knees. Then he crossed to her and brought his finger up to gently caress her cheek.

  Jordan looked up at him, dying a little because of how beautiful he was.

  “It was good to catch up with an old friend,” he explained. “And that’s all you saw, Jordan, two old friends… That’s all Trinity and I will ever be to each other.”

  Even as her heart leapt, she tried to argue, “But…”

  Ty sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, clearly frustrated.

  “You know, Mia told me that when you two talked about her and Drake, and she said something about moving back to New York and Drake moving on, that you were the one who argued that because she was Drake’s mate that he’d never be able to move on and be happy with anyone else… Is that true?”

  Jordan thought back to that day and nodded numbly. She had said that.

  “So, if you know that, if you know that when a bear shifter, or any shifter for that matter, finds their mate, that they’ll never be able to find happiness with anyone else, why can’t you believe it when it comes to us?”

  “Because it’s different,” Jordan cried. “We were young and in love, and thought we had our futures ahead of us, but everything changed… You need to mate with someone who can fill your home with children. I know that, and so do you.”

  Ty almost started to yell, then bit it back and took a deep breath before saying calmly, “It doesn’t work that way. Children or no children, you are my mate. Period. There will never be anyone else. Look around you, Jordan. I haven’t changed one thing in our home, inside or out, because I’m waiting for you to come home. No other woman will ever live here. No woman will ever take your place. There’s been no other woman since you walked out… because you are my mate.”

  He shouted that last little bit, obviously as tired of having this conversation as she was. They were probably the two most stubborn people on the planet, and it killed her that he was hurting, but she was stuck on one thing he’d said.

  “There’s been no other woman? At all? For four years?” she asked softly, unable to believe what she was hearing.

  Tyson was all man… well, not all man, but he was a very virile being. When they were together, their sex life had been vigorous and very, very plentiful. She couldn’t imagine him being celibate for all that time.

  No wonder he’d attacked her in that closet.

  Ty closed his eyes and shook his head.

  “No, Jordan, there’s been no one else since the day I walked into the Luncheonette after my first shift and knew you were my mate. I don’t want anyone else… You’re it for me. Forever.”

  “But,” she began, the impossibility of their situation hitting her like a ton of bricks, making her nearly buckle from the weight. “If we can’t be together, and you won’t find anyone else…”

  Ty opened his eyes, and the pain filling them literally rocked her back on her heels.

  “I’ll be alone for the rest of my days, if you’re not by my side,” he replied, and she finally got it. Everything he’d been saying to her over the years. Things she’d even said to Mia, and understood about the shifters in her life, Jordan just hadn’t wanted to believe would be true for Ty… Because the thought of that beautiful, protective, insanely kind, bear of a man, roaming around for the rest of his life alone, was too painful to contemplate.

  That wasn’t the way things were supposed to be.

  “But what about children?” she asked on a sob.

  “If children aren’t in the cards for us, then I’m okay with that,” Tyson said, bringing both hands up to cup her face as he looked deep into her eyes. “What I’m not okay with is living the rest of my life without you.”

  Jordan’s head was a mess. Her heart was in turmoil. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do.

  But when Tyson’s lips brushed against hers, she brought her hands up to grasp him, and she kissed him back with everything she had.

  If she was going to go through with this move, and possibly ruin both of their lives doing what she thought was the best thing for both of them, then Jordan wanted to give them both one last night together. Something they could hold on to forever.

  Tyson

  Ty tasted her tears.

  He held her gently in his arms and kissed her cheeks, eager to remove the evidence of her pain.

  It felt like he’d finally gotten through to her. That Jordan finally understood what she meant to him, what they meant to each other. His bear roared within him with the need to finish the claiming.

  His arms went under her and lifted her easily off the ground, then maneuvered around the counter and moved down the hallway to their bedroom.

  Ty couldn’t wait to have her in their bed once again, and as he laid her reverently on the bright blue comforter that she’d picked out, he moved his eyes over the length of her and committed this moment to memory.

  The moment that Jordan was back where she belonged.

  Tyson took his time. Peeling her clothes slowly off her body, he brought his lips to each expanse of exposed flesh, licking, sucking, and kissing every part of Jordan in worship. She writhed beneath him, her breaths deepening to sweet little pants, her fingernails digging into him when he touched a sensitive spot.

  “Oh, Ty…”

  Her head was on the pillow, her eyes closed and back arched. She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

  Gentleness turned to passion. Reverence turned to burning need.

  Unable to control the beast within him any longer, Tyson threw Jordan’s legs over his shoulders and dove in to begin his feast.

  Jordan’s soft pants turned to throaty groans and her fingers ca
ressed his head before her hand cupped him and pressed him deeper into her hot, wet pussy.

  “Fuck, yes, Ty, right there… don’t stop.”

  The scent of his mate surrounded him, her cries just fueling him further as he licked and sucked. His mouth focused on her clit while his fingers entered her and began to massage her g-spot.

  Moans filled the air along with the evidence of her desire, and Tyson knew he needed to make her come fast. His need to fuck her until neither of them could move was strong, but he wanted to feel her fall apart against his lips first.

  Her hips tilted, and he pressed his hand on top of her pelvis and pushed down as he flicked his flattened tongue rapidly over her clit, his finger pumping in and out of her pussy.

  Jordan came with a cry, her hand dropping to the mattress beside them as he licked up until she moved to buck him off.

  Changing his mind, Ty decided he wanted to feel her riding him, rather than the other way around, so he scooted over her and kissed her thoroughly, before reversing their positions.

  Still a little hazy from her orgasm, Jordan looked down at him with sated eyes as he maneuvered her until she was above his cock. Before he could thrust inside of her, she blinked and shook her head.

  “Not yet,” Jordan said with a small smile, then dropped to all fours and moved down the bed.

  Ty watched as she took his cock in her hands, her eyes on him, her expression sexy as fuck… As if he were a delicacy that she couldn’t wait to enjoy.

  When she sucked the head into her mouth, her tongue licking the underside, Ty felt his eyes roll back in his head.

  God, that felt great.

  Not wanting to miss anything, he opened his eyes and watched her head bobbing up and down, even as he felt the wet heat of her mouth surrounding him. It was the most erotic sight he’d ever seen, and Ty clenched his teeth.

  It had been four years since he’d had a blow job, but still, he didn’t want to come already.

  He fisted a hand in her luscious locks and pulled gently, urging her back up. As much as he loved her lips wrapped around his cock, Ty was ready to be inside her.

  Taking the hint, Jordan crawled up until she straddled him, looking like a goddess as she held his cock and slowly lowered herself onto him. Once she was seated, she ran her hands seductively up her thighs, over her stomach, then stopped to squeeze her breasts as she began to move.

  It was all too much. The look of her, feel of her, smell of her. Tyson sat up and scooted them both back until he was against the headboard. He grabbed her wrists and placed her hands on top of the railing behind his head, then put his hands in their places. Ty teased her nipples until they were hardened and beckoning to him, then filled his mouth with her breasts.

  “Fuck, yeah,” Jordan said as he bit her nipples. Then she rose up until she was teasing the head of his cock, before slamming back down and rocking her hips against him. She kept repeating that move. Tease, slam, rock, until they were both starting to sweat, and he was groaning with the need to come.

  Ty brought his mouth to her neck and sucked, before nuzzling her neck and cheek against his.

  “Harder,” he groaned in her ear. “Faster.”

  That was all the encouragement Jordan needed. She held tight onto the headboard and began riding him in a frenzy, their moans intermingling as they both fought to find their release.

  Tyson felt the building tension and knew he was about to come. Needing to feel the connection and finally complete his claim, he growled, “Bite me.”

  He watched the indecision on her face and knew she was aware what biting him would mean. Ty’s heart shattered even as his orgasm overtook him, when she bit her lip and rode out her own release, rather than completing that final piece of their mating ritual.

  After they were cleaned up, they went down to eat the meal he’d prepared. Ty was ravenous after what they’d shared, and it warmed his heart to feed her, but they didn’t talk about his request, or her denial of it.

  Instead, they talked about trivial things. Work. Mia and Drake. Trinity being back. And once the dishes were clean and the leftovers put away, they went upstairs and made love. They fell asleep wrapped up in each other’s arms, just like they always had when they’d been together.

  But, when Ty woke in the morning, Jordan was gone.

  Jordan

  Was she overreacting?

  Was she making the wrong decision?

  Was she out of her mind?

  Those were the questions playing over and over again in Jordan’s mind as she packed up her apartment.

  She’d fled Tyson’s house the other morning and had been ignoring his attempts to get a hold of her since.

  Jordan understood everything he’d said, and the thought of him not finding someone else and being alone forever broke her heart. It truly did… but the thought of them getting together and him growing to resent her, and the fact that she couldn’t give him the family he desired, was what had her leaving him sexy and sweet, asleep in his bed, and rushing home to begin preparations to move away from Spring Creek.

  She had to believe that if she was no longer a part of the equation, Tyson would find someone else, regardless of what he’d said. It was instinctual for him, wasn’t it? The need to procreate? Jordan was sure his baser instincts would take over and he’d eventually settle down.

  She had to believe that was true…

  Dixie had been devastated when Jordan told her that she was moving and would no longer be managing the Luncheonette.

  “What if I retire now and allow you to buy me out of the Luncheonette now, rather than in five years like I’d planned?” Dixie had asked.

  “Oh, Dixie,” Jordan had said, touched and grief-stricken at the thought of leaving behind everything she’d worked so hard for, as well as leaving the woman who’d been like a mother to her since she was in high school. “It’s not about my job. I love it here, you know that… But if I don’t leave, Tyson will never be able to move on.”

  “He’s not going to whether you’re in his face or five states away,” Dixie had argued. “You running away isn’t going to change that.”

  Her heart had squeezed at her friend’s censure, but Jordan understood that Dixie just wanted what was best for her, and she believed that included Tyson.

  “I’ll keep in touch, I promise.”

  Now there she was, surrounded by boxes in the apartment she’d never really adjusted to, getting ready to pack up and move down to Texas, where she’d already been able to land a restaurant management job.

  Jordan had been surprised at how quickly she’d landed the job, but decided it was fate stepping in to tell her that she was making the right choice.

  She was taping up a box of kitchen supplies when three succinct knocks on her door had her head swinging.

  She wasn’t expecting anyone…

  Jordan had barely opened the door when her friend, Mia, pushed it the rest of the way and bounded inside, throwing her arms around Jordan and hugging her tightly.

  “I missed you so much,” Mia gushed. “I didn’t even get to talk to you at the reception, so I came right over as soon as we got home. Sorry, I didn’t call, but I have so much to tell you and I didn’t think you’d mind.”

  Jordan blinked at Mia’s rapid fire sentences, but before she could reply, Mia kept talking.

  “The honeymoon was a-mazing! The cabin was beautiful. Canada was beautiful. And, Drake and I made love everywhere.” Mia giggled, not the slightest bit shy. A plus-sized model in her former life, Mia was tall, curvy, and gorgeous, with long, dark hair and beautiful features. “And I never even got to tell you… I’m pregnant!” Jordan’s eyes traveled down to where Mia was cradling the already noticeable baby bump.

  How was that possible?

  Jordan’s gaze locked on that bump as her friend continued. “Did you know that bear shifters have multiple babies, not just one? There could be three or four in there. I have a doctor’s appointment this week, so hopefully we’ll get to see
what’s going on in there,” Mia said with a laugh. “And, look how big I am already! Apparently the gestation time isn’t as long, so I’ll be a mother in less than six months. Can you believe it? I’m nowhere near ready. I’m going to need you to talk me down every time I start to panic, because it kind of freaks Drake out.”

  Mia must have noticed that Jordan hadn’t said anything since she’d walked in, because after taking an exaggerated deep breath, Mia said, “Sorry, I know I’m talking a lot. I’m just excited, nervous, and happy to see you. I feel like I have so much to tell you, and I just want to get it all out.”

  Jordan’s eyes filled with tears.

  She was happy for her friends, she was…

  But that didn’t mean she wasn’t dying a little bit inside when faced with the exact reason why she needed to leave.

  “Jordan, are you okay?” Mia asked, her voice filling with concern.

  Mia turned, finally taking in her surroundings.

  She swung back to Jordan and asked, “What’s all this? Are you moving?”

  “Uh,” Jordan brought her eyes to Mia’s and crumbled.

  Mia’s arms immediately came around her and held her tightly.

  “Shhh,” Mia cooed as she patted Jordan’s back, which caused Jordan to laugh through her tears.

  “You sound like a mom already,” she managed, before a fresh round of tears started.

  Mia let her get it all out before pulling her to the sofa and saying, “Now tell me, what’s going on?”

  Jordan told her everything.

  About her and Ty’s past. About the cancer and hysterectomy, which led to her leaving him, and about everything that had been happening between them since Mia came to town. She finished with their last few encounters together and the details of her move.

  “How long were we gone?” Mia asked, trying to bring some levity to the situation. Then she picked up Jordan’s hand and held it in her own. “I’m so sorry, Jordan. I had no idea how much I was stirring shit up when I came back and threw you guys together at that dinner. If I’d known about your past, I swear I would have been more sensitive.”