Page 36 of His Determined Bear

“So when do we get to meet the lucky man?” Gabe asked.

That was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it?

Since I couldn’t answer that question, I asked, “Would you like to try the brownies? Both of them?”

“Oh, shut up about the stupid brownies,” Hunter snapped.“What the hell is really going on with you?”

Chapter 14

Cooper

I stared at the last message from Graham and physically felt like I was going to be sick. The alpha was asking for a chance to apologize for whatever he’d done to upset me. How did I explain that it wasn’t his fault? This was on me.

I wanted to text him back, and definitely I wanted to see him. But I couldn’t take the chance that I would blurt out, “I think I’m pregnant!”

Fuck! I wrapped my arms around myself and tried to quell my pounding heart. I just couldn’t face him until I knew for sure. What then? A voice asked. What would you say then?

I wasn’t going to think about that yet. One step at a time was my mantra. I glanced down at my packed suitcase on the bed, and this was the first step I had to take. I needed to go home, even though it didn’t feel like home without mom. And now Graham. Again with that pesky voice.

“He was just a hookup. Nothing more,” I said to myself firmly. And maybe if I kept saying it, it would start to sound like it was true.

My mom knocked on the door and sighed when she saw one suitcase against the wall, and the other closed on top of the bed.

“Why do you have to leave?” she asked for what felt like the thousandth time.

“I already told you, mom. I promise I’ll be back in time for your wedding,” I said.

“But you said you shot some content, and your engagements are up? What’s the problem?” She asked. “You know the saying about all work and no play.”

Ha! If only she knew it was playing that was making me run.

“How will you meet a nice man and give me grandbabies if you never take time off?”

Her question had me frozen to the spot. I felt as if I had a boulder sitting on top of my chest. I couldn’t breathe. Because I had met a nice man and— I didn’t know if I was pregnant. I had to stop putting the cart before the horse. Or was it the horse before the cart?

I groaned, “Mom, it’s just an impromptu last-minute opening at a place I’ve been trying to review, okay. Besides everything is almost ready for the wedding. You don’t need me for the rest—”

She opened her mouth to speak, but I interrupted her, “And if you do, I am literally a video call away.”

She blew out a breath and sighed, “I don’t want you to go Coop.”

I didn’t want to go either, but of course, I couldn’t say that. “I was always going to leave. I’m a twenty-six-year-old man, and I’m not going to move in with my mom and her new husband.” I gestured around the room, “All this is your life now, not mine.”

“But it could be,” she insisted. “What about Graham? What happened to him? It looked like the two of you were hitting it off. But then…”

I shrugged, “We had fun.” The words tasted like drinking orange juice right after brushing your teeth. “But he has a life, and I have mine. Simple as that.”

“I thought I saw something there,” Mom said. “Guess I was wrong. But he’s no reason to leave. I’m sure there are other nice boys here you could meet.”

I’m sure there were, but none of them would be him. And staying here so close yet so far away was eating away at me. I didn’t know why my heart hurt like this after such a short time with him. I even missed the times we argued over petty things.

Aaron walked up and put his arm around her. He looked just as sad that I was leaving. There was at least one good thing I could take away from this adventure. I’d fulfilled my main reason for coming here. I knew mom wasn’t marrying some scam artist or serial killer that would steal all her money and make a dress out of her skin. He was a good man. And more than that, it was very obvious how much he loved my mom. There was no doubt about that whatsoever. It was almost like they now breathed in sync. It would be so depressing if I wasn’t so happy for her. She deserved to have someone love her like Aaron did. I couldn’t help wondering if I would ever find that. Maybe I already have.

And the best way to find that, of course, is to run away while things are just developing. Smart choice Cooper.

Maybe I should be strong enough to stay. Still, the memories of what she had told me about her own experience when she got pregnant unexpectedly and was left to handle it alone kept playing over and over in my mind. I didn’t want to be a single parent like she had, especially without Graham.

But Graham was nothing like my sperm donor. You don’t know that. You just met him. What do you really know about him?

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