Page 14 of Hunny and the Bear

Get your head out of the gutter, you sex fiend, she chided silently, doing her best to ignore the delicious smell of cloves and musk that clung to her borrowed shirt. The material hung over her body like a loose dress, but it was warm and smelled just like Tank, which made her feel protected.

“So”—she shifted in her seat before looking up at him—“do you enjoy fishing?”

He smirked, seasoning the fish. “Depends on how you mean, Hunny.”

She shivered as he said her name, that deep gravelly voice making it sound like he’d whispered directly into her ear, like a lover might.

And then his words sank in. She cocked her head to the side in confusion. “Usually people use a fishing pole—” Her eyes widened and she let out a small laugh. “Don’t tell me you catch fish while you’re shifted.”

Tank shrugged, turning away from her to place the fish in a skillet on the stovetop. His sculpted back greeted her, and despite her resolve to stop eyeing him like a piece of meat, Hunny leaned forward to get a better look until she was practically on the countertop.

The stool squeaked, giving her away, and he looked over his shoulder, his chocolate-brown eyes heating as they locked onto her. Startled, she dropped back onto the stool immediately, her face flaming with embarrassment.

Oh, God.

He’d caught her looking at him like a perv!

He returned to his task. “My bear enjoys catching fish, and I clean it all thoroughly when I bring it back. I assume it’s much like when you feel the urge to nest.”

The image of his chest hair popped into her head, causing her cheeks to heat even further. Yeah, her urge to build a nest using his hair had been nearly overwhelming, so she understood what he meant. Luckily, she didn’t feel the need to do that now.

Well …

“I get it,” she replied. “No judgment here.”

Tank grunted in answer, moving to the fridge and grabbing some things before returning to the stove.

“Need to ask,” he began after a few minutes of comfortable silence had stretched between them. “You in bad with the Moon Rose pack?”

She stilled, her face draining of color at the simple question. She should have expected he’d ask something like that, but for whatever reason, she felt completely blindsided by his question. Probably because this entire day, she hadn’t thought about Jason at all, too entertained by Tank’s mannerisms, the way he completed his sexy lumberjack chores, and how he’d let her boss him around while they’d watched TV.

For a scary-looking male, he’d sat down and watched hours of her favorite reality TV show while she’d snuggled up against his leg, dozing on and off. Every time she’d woken up, she thought the channel would have changed, but nope. He’d catered to her then, just like he’d done every second she’d been here.

Moving her hand to her stomach, she rubbed her lower belly soothingly. “I just came to Montana about a month ago,” she responded vaguely. “That’s not really enough time to make enemies, is it?”

He turned toward her then, a set of tongs held tightly in his hand. “So the wolf hunting you down wasn’t an enemy?”

“I—” Hunny’s fingers twisted into her borrowed shirt. “It’s complicated, Tank.”

She winced when she said his nickname. Was it bad that she’d rather call him Henry? Physically, he might be Tank, but Henry suited his sweet demeanor perfectly.

“You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to,” he finally said, grimacing as his voice wavered. Her eyes shot to his neck, where he’d pointed at earlier in the day. She could just see scarring there, behind his beard, where he had obviously sustained some sort of permanent injury. Not only had he been helping her through everything, he’d ignored his own pain tocomfort her. “Just need to know if my clan should expect trouble.”

Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach. “I didn’t think about that.” She pushed herself from the stool, suddenly uneasy. What if Natasha came back here? Or Jason? She’d learned,painfully, that she’d never really known him, despite him being her mate. What if he found out she was here and caused problems for Tank and his family? She didn’t want that. Hadn’t she been enough of a burden already? “I-I should leave.”

She’d barely made it into the living room before Tank was on her, his fingers wrapping around her wrist. He tugged gently, spinning her around. She was so surprised by the action, she bumped into him, her body going flush against his for one, all-too-brief second.

“I don’t want you to go,” he murmured, his hold on her wrist firm and comforting, something she was so acutely aware of. “Do you want to leave?”

Did she?

Hunny couldn’t remember a time after her parents’ deaths that she’d ever felt truly at ease. Even during the few weeks she’d spent with Jason, her stupid true mate, it had never been quite right. A constant gnawing in her gut. She’d waited for the other shoe to drop, or for something terrible to happen. And it had, spectacularly.

So far, she hadn’t felt like that here, like the world was going to be swept out from under her. She’d slept the entire night without issue, eaten more than she had in a long time, and she just felt … she didn’t know what, honestly. Rested? At peace? Whatever this feeling was, she liked it, and she didn’t want to leave, at least not until she’d properly licked her wounds and came up with a plan to move on.

Right now, she had nothing anyway. No means to leave Montana, no idea of where to go, what to do. She was a pregnant lone shifter.

“No, I like it here,” she finally told him, staring at his lips.

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