Page 88 of Heir

“Me too,” he grumbled, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me into his warm, honey-scented embrace. He pressed a kiss to the top of my head.

I glanced up at him, foreign feelings swirling inside of me. Warmth filled my chest and cheeks.

“You’re seriously the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met,” he said softly. “And I’m two hundred and thirty-six years old. I’ve met a lot of women.” His smirk was playful and boyish again.

“What were you doing when the lightning hit you?” I asked, getting so wonderfully lost in his soulful eyes. Even though he was in human form right now, I could see the bear in him. His eyes didn’t change when he shifted, and I liked that.

I wasn’t expecting him to go pink in the cheeks from my question, so that just piqued my interest like crazy. He cleared his throat and broke eye contact.

Oh, now I had to know.

“What were you doing, Zandren?” I asked mostly serious, but also playful.

“I um . . .” His lips twisted. He still couldn’t look at me.

My eyes widened as the lightbulb flicked on. I grinned even though a tight cord of jealousy wrapped around my heart and squeezed. “You were in bed with someone?”

All I got was some sheepish side-eye.

“It’s okay, you know? You can tell me. We weren’t mates at the time. I never assumed any of you were virgins, and I sure as hell hope you’re not expecting me to be.” I stared at him until he faced me properly again. “What happened exactly? I’m curious to know how it affected you.”

I didn’t think his cheeks could get any pinker, but they did. “I went soft,” he grumbled. “I’ll never be able to get hard for another woman now.” There didn’t seem to be any regret or frustration with that. All I could sense from him was embarrassment. And as much as that cord of jealousy cinched tightly around my heart, I knew he had no reason to be embarrassed and no way on earth would I ever get upset.

“You were inside her?” I squeaked.

He groaned. “I . . . yeah. Then her cat—fuck, I hate cats—freaked out from the lightning, jumped on my back and I accidentally bucked forward so hard that her head went through the drywall and into the next room.” He dropped his head in shame. “It was not my proudest moment.”

I burst out laughing and pressed my hand to his hard, well-defined chest. “Oh, Pooh Bear.”

More side-eye. “You’re not mad?”

“Mad? God, no. We were not fated at the time, but to maintain this vein of honesty, I’ll admit to feeling jealous hearing that you were with another woman, even though I have no right to feel that way.”

Pride surged through him and he puffed up his chest and grinned down at me. “Jealous? Really?”

Now it was my turn for the side-eye. “That wasn’t meant to be an ego stroke.”

“Too bad. I’m taking it as one.”

I rolled my eyes. “Was she okay after you threw her into the wall?”

“I didn’t throw her. And to be fair, from a carpenter’s standpoint, the walls were as thin as freaking paper and weak. I helped free her, made sure she was of sound mind, then I left.”

“You left her without taking her to the hospital?”

“I caught your scent and had to go.”

“Zandren.”

He was looking sheepish again and glanced up at me from a bowed head with adorable puppy dog eyes. “I just had to get to you.”

I exhaled. How could I fault him that badly?

I couldn’t.

“Ready,” Mr. Fiddleman announced from behind the counter.

I tossed Zandren some more side-eye, but this time it was cheeky and he smiled back as we wandered toward the counter.

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