Page 45 of Protecting Mr. Fine

Bear snorted. “Baby.”

He said the word as a tease. Obviously. He was sayingZane, you’re acting like an infant.I understood that. But hearing the word on his lips had me imagining all kinds of other ways he could say it, and that made me suck in a gasp at the same moment the horseradish hit my tongue.

I stared at him as I began to choke. The dip clung to my throat like an abusive esophageal koala.

Way to get things back on track, I warned myself.

“Shit,” Bear said. “Here. Take a sip of your beer. Good. Now, breathe… there you go.”

Once I regained my equanimity several sips later—though I could still feel the dip leaving fiery traces down the inside of my chest—Bear sat back, folded his arms in front of him, and stroked his lower lip with his thumb.

“Wow. That was unexpectedly dramatic. Now I’m a little hesitant to ask my next question.”

“I’m fine,” I assured him in a croak.

His lips twitched up in a smile. “Of course you are. Okay, then, Mr. Fine, tell me why, aside from adding onto your gran’s house, you haven’t showered your family in lavish gifts. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think you should,” he added quickly. “Not at all. But knowing how generous you are and how hard it is for you to say no to them, it’s surprising that your aunt still drives an old minivan and your cousin doesn’t simply ask you for money outright rather than asking you to invest in his businesses.”

I watched Bear steadily for a moment. The answer to this question was actually related to the last, though Bear couldn’t possibly know that. I wasn’t sure what the penalty was for dodging two questions in a row, though, and I wasn’t sure my digestive system could handle it. More than that, I found I wanted to tell Bear. I wanted him to understand.

“When I first… got money,” I said carefully, “I planned to share it with my family, exactly like you said. But someone else I knew—another Yalie—had a… a sort of similar experience to me. He came into a lot of money all at once, also. And he bought his brother a sports car.” I remembered Dev’s pride in being able to take care of his little brother that way. “Unfortunately, my friend’s brother was a reckless, irresponsible idiot. Not unlike my cousin JK.”

Bear winced. “Didn’t go well?”

“Went tragically,” I corrected. “He crashed the car and died instantly.”

“Fuck,” Bear said softly.

I nodded. “My friend’s parents blamed him and his money for his brother’s death. So I decided instead of giving away cash and fancycars, I wanted to give my family opportunities to make something of their own. I wanted to truly help them rather than throw cash at them.”

Bear shook his head. “Smart. I like that, Z.”

I sucked in a breath and girded my loins, trying not to enjoy the way that nickname sounded coming from him. Unlike the earlierbaby, I knew this one was meant exactly the way I heard it, and that warmed me all the way through even more than the horseradish had. It was the first time Z had ever sounded like a shortened version of my own name instead of a reference to someone completely separate, my rock star alter ego.

I took another gulp of the beer and set the empty bottle down. “Your turn again.”

“Hang on.” Bear moved to the fridge to get me another drink.

I noticed he’d decided to join me by bringing one back to the table for himself, too. I didn’t make a comment about it, but secretly, I was happy to see him take advantage of the extra security outside to relax a little.

“Okay,” he said as he resumed his seat. “Go.”

I bit my lip, thinking. As I considered, Bear studied the bowls of dip, clearly trying to determine heat level by sight like I’d done earlier. It seemed like on his next turn he was planning to take a chance on a dip neither of us had tried before that looked to be made out of chopped-up mangoes, slivers of almonds, and mayonnaise. I nearly laughed out loud. I hoped for his sake none of those things had been combined with horseradish.

Sometimes in quiet moments like this, when Bear wasn’t doing anything particularly amazing—not growling at someone to back off, or comforting me in the middle of the night, or even kissing me senseless up against a tree, but just being his own, sweet, intelligent self—the overwhelminglikeI felt for him swamped me.

How freaking great was he, just as a person? How freaking lucky was I, that I got to have him in my life?

I wasn’t sure if some part of what I was feeling showed on myface, but I decided it didn’t matter. I cared about him and appreciated him, and I hoped that showed.

Which was why when he looked at me expectantly, I found myself asking something I hadn’t intended to ask. Something that was more about me and the trust I felt for him than anything else.

“If you suddenly had a billion dollars, would you tell anyone?”

TWELVE

RYAN

Bears are famously solitary most of the time, sticking to their own paths in the wild, but when they find the right match, they’ll show their interest with a kind of single-minded devotion and charm that’s hard to ignore. When a bear finally decides he wants something, he’s impossible to resist.

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