Page 30 of Choose the Bears

“I…” Hope springs eternal, and it roared to the fore again in me. That tiny waver told us she was at least open to the idea of us looking after her. “I guess I can start unpacking some boxes.”

“And we can help you,” Lucas said.

“Not that box.”

Imogen leapt forward to grab a smaller one, hustling towards the bedroom with it.

“What’s in the box, Imogen?” I asked, flicking the suds off my fingers and following hot on her heels. “Imogen?”

“You said you wanted to help?” she said, grabbing the door handle. “Then do the dishes.”

The door was shut firmly in my face, but I just smiled. I’d clean every dish, wipe down every counter top, leave the old kitchen gleaming, and then… Then I’d see if I could get her to share what was in that box. With a sly grin, I turned back to the sink.

Chapter 16

Imogen

Here I was, feeling too raw, too needy, and holding a box that contained my sex toys, none of which I intended to happen today. Make some dinner for the nice man who was going to swap out my door, then try and create a home from the apartment I’d rented, that was my plan. Instead, I just stood there, heart racing as I clutched the box hard. These guys were perfect, guardian angels come to life, and that had me on edge, no matter what they had to say about it.

“Did you want the books out here or in your bedroom, Imogen?”

My stash of smut books? I shoved my box into the top cupboard of my new wardrobe, the stale smell of old wood making me wince, before I slammed the door shut and then emerged into the lounge room.

“I…”

Lucas had picked up the box, because of course he had, and there in all its lurid glory was one of my faves. A sassy looking girl wearing a whole lot of leather stood, all airbrushed andperfect, a massive black wolf at her feet, and he was studying it like it was the Mona Lisa.

“I’ll put them in the spare room,” I said, moving to take the box from him, but his hands dug in.

“You… like this kind of thing?”

“Paranormal romance?” All the hesitation went out of me at the sound of his voice. Mike and his mates teased me mercilessly for my taste in books, but it was a hill I was ready to die on. “Damn straight I do. A world where women find their fated mate, the one guy meant for her, and then he spends his life looking after her, him and his animal protecting her, making sure she has super orgasms?” I shrugged, finally wrestling the box free. “What’s not to like? Guys like porn movies, girls like porn books where the heroes are everything men aren’t.”

I stepped back.

“Sometimes a girl needs the promise of a happily ever after, and if that comes in the form of a werewolf or a werebear, I’m OK with that. There was a were-eagle once, though that was a little weird. The dragon ones were kinda hot.”

“Dragons?”

Asher asked that in a dark tone.

“A big fuck off beast that can flambé a girl’s enemies?” I was on a roll now, the words spewing out. “One with that weird dick attachment that stays locked inside the heroine until she has multiple orgasms? You have to admit, that’s kinda hot. What can I say?” I stood tall, surveying the lot of them, all three men staring now. “If I had to choose between a man or a bear, I’d choose the bear any day of the week. I’d either get mauled to death quickly or he’d shift in front of me into something a whole lot nicer than some bloke.”

I hoisted the box higher in my arms.

“Look, each box is labelled for the room its supposed to go in. If you just dump the boxes into the right rooms, I can sort out the contents from there.”

“We can help—” Lucas said finally.

“And then I’ll never know where you’ve put things. This is fine.” I went and put the box in the spare room and returned. “It’ll be a big help getting those heavy boxes put into place.” He wanted to argue, so I put my hands on my hips. “If you’re a good boy and do as you’re told, I’ll lend you one of my books. It’ll teach you how to be the perfect boyfriend when you find Miss Right.”

And she was out there, I had to remind myself as I returned back to the spare room, opening the box and slotting books into the wardrobe shelves. Some woman with a lot less baggage than me, literally. I pushed thoughts of the guys’ prospective partners to one side as I went to work.

One of theworst things about living with Mike was feeling like I had to hide my books. I’d found the covers torn off, crude caricatures drawn over the illustrations when I’d woken up after he’d had his buddies around for the night. Then came the comments. They all had a helluva lot to say for a group of men who didn’t do much other than binge drink and work.

I’d learned to sneak them into our place, hide them under the bed or in a cupboard, because god knew that Mike never looked inside one of them with any sort of care, but now… Now I lined my pretties up one by one inside the cupboard, remembering each storyline, but more than that, how each had made me feel. That drove the weird emptiness of the room out, the stale stink of old wood. Book after book was slotted into place, the box I’d stacked them in broken down flat only for me to walk back into a dance party.

The tinny soundsof a phone speaker played some track that was popular twenty years ago, and I had to laugh as I watched Kyle bump and grind his way through the dishes. He handed each one to a frankly bemused Lucas who wiped it and then put it away in my new kitchen cupboards. Kyle moved curiously well, his hips as mobile as a snake’s as he thrust against the sink, then went to work scrubbing the pots.

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