Page 18 of Snowed In With the Grizzly

“He’s in debt. A lot of debt, to one particular creditor. He was going to go bankrupt, but instead, the creditor accepted me in lieu of the money.”

He goes still, then he shakes his head, like my words are too ugly and awkward to fit inside them. I don’t blame him. “Accepted you?” he repeats.

“As a… a partner,” I say lamely. For his sake, I’m trying to make it sound less awful than it is.

His face fills with disgust, and I flinch.

“I’m s-sorry. I know this is probably a gross thing to hear—”

My words are drowned out by a roar. A sound that doesn’t belong to a human. An earth-shattering bellow. Jaxton’s face is changing. His jaw and cheekbones are broadening, somehow. His body is swelling. I goggle at him as his clothes split open.

Underneath is dark-brown fur.

What the—?

Then he turns a one-eighty andruns.

I blink fast, unable to believe what I’m seeing.

The hot, sexy human has disappeared, and in his place, is a huge grizzly bear?

Is this really what’s happened? But that’s impossible…

Shifter.

The word shudders through me.

This is shifter country. The fabled half-man, half-beasts who roam around, hidden from human eyes.

Grandma Jo used to tell me stories about them. About their packs and clans. Their family loyalties. How they mate for life, have a ton of cubs. There was always a wistfulness in her voice when she spoke about them. She said they were real. Not a myth, as most people thought.

And now I find out that Jaxton is one of them?!

The thought is too much for my head to contain. I sink down onto my knees in the snow.

Well, it figures. His huge size. That intense glow to his eyes. The way he was chopping wood half-naked yesterday, even though it was freezing cold.

I shiver.I kissed a shifter.

Heat floods to my core.

And I liked it.

I liked it a lot.

I wanted more. I wanted him to mate me.

I wanted him to take my virginity with his big, shifter cock.

But now I’ve told him about what my father has done and he couldn’t get away from me fast enough.

He even left his clothes behind in the process.

I trudge through the snow, to where his shirt is lying. The buttons have burst off of it, and the sleeves are all torn. His T-shirt is ripped down the center. His jeans are all ripped around the waist. And… that’s it. There’s no underwear to be seen. He goes commando?

Fuck, that’s sexy. My mind drifts back to that moment earlier this morning, when he lifted up his towel and showed me… My clit gives a little jump.

Well, that’s not going to happen again.

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