Page 5 of Bear Boss's Mate
She passed her assistant’s desk and caught Darla glancing at her before averting her eyes. Marcy was in no state to discuss what was wrong.
Without watching where she was going, Marcy kept her head down and rushed into her office. She winced when her body hit something solid. “Oh.” She looked up at Austin, who was standing in front of her desk. His back had been facing the door, and he hadn’t seen her enter.
He turned to look at her, frowning.
“I didn’t see you,” stammered Marcy, taking a step back. “Sorry.” Her cheeks burned.
“Everything okay?” He tilted his head as he studied her.
She was a hot mess right now and didn’t want him to know. Marcy held her breath and moved around Austin to get behind her desk. Her arm grazed his as she squeezed past him, sending pleasurable sparks along it.
“Yes. Fine. Why do you ask?” She forced a smile.
The flowers were now lying on her desk.
“You look upset.”
“No. I’m okay. I just got some bad news,” Marcy lied, looking down at her desk.
“Sorry to hear that. I came to see how you were getting on here,” he offered.
“I’m getting along fine. Thank you for asking.”Please leave before I cry like an idiot in front of you.She pursed her lips.
His brow furrowed. A long, awkward silence filled the space between them. Marcy’s mood worsened. She wondered why he was in her office. Was he thinking of firing her?
That would just make my day. NOT.She bit her lip, shuffling papers on her desk.
Austin shoved his hands into his pockets. “Okay. If you need anything let me or Bern know.” He turned and left the office.
Marcy leaned over, grabbing the flowers and throwing them in the garbage can next to her desk. “Oh yeah. Things are just great,” she mumbled to herself, walking to her office door and closing it.
She’d been doing so well, keeping herself together. Now, this.
I should have expected it.She scowled, holding back tears.
CHAPTER TWO
THE FOREST WAS JUSTwaking up as Austin shifted into his bear form and ran through the trees, inhaling the fresh air into his lungs. He slowed near a small stream, looking up at the first rays of morning light that were poking through the trees.
After pausing for a few minutes, he stretched his bear’s body onto his back legs and let out a roar before heading back to his home on the edge of the forest.
Today was Monday, and as CEO and co-owner of Bear Bones Construction, he was expected to head the weekly meeting.
His bear side didn’t care about meetings or work. All it wanted was to find their mate, and it was tired of his failure to do that. For the last two years, business had picked up a lot. So Austin and Bern had kept up by hiring staff and contractors as needed, while taking on more building projects.
Now that circumstances were looking even better for the business side of things, Austin was feeling a lack of fulfillment in other areas of his life. Over the past year, he’d been feeling more like he would never meet his fated mate.
Not that he couldn’t have any woman he wanted. Attracting women wasn’t an issue for him. Finding therightwoman was the problem. He’d had his fair share of sexual encounters overthe years, but he’d never had a true connection with any of the women. His inner bear wasn’t happy, and nor was he.
He was frustrated.
The lack of female companionship was causing him to be more irritable than he would like. He wasn’t getting any younger, and now his priorities were changing. He was tired of going home to an empty house night after night and was ready to settle down and start a family.
After showering and getting dressed, he headed to the office.
About ten minutes before the meeting was supposed to start, he went to sit in the meeting room to wait for others to join him. Some of them were already seated, chatting over morning coffee.
“Good Morning,” Sheila from marketing murmured as she eyed him with the same wanton look she always gave him. He shook his head and mumbled a greeting to all the staff seated so far. It was tiresome to him how some women refused to take no for an answer.
