Page 44 of Bear In A Bookstore
She’d spilled her guts to Desi.
I’ll wait, Kora. However long it takes for you to not be afraid.
Had he really said that? Things like that only happens in romance novels. Huh. Maybe she should have been writing romance all this time. Perhaps then she’d have better grasp on how to handle this situation. He seemed to believe that they were fated to be together. That her stupid daydream about the scar on his back meant they were soulmate lovers. Maybe that’s how things worked in the bear shifter world, but humans not so much. At least, none that she knew. Then again, she didn’t know any women partnered with a shifter.
Except for Allie.
Was something like that even possible?
It would certainly explain how quickly she developed feelings for him. The attraction had been instant, but that wasn’t such a stretch. He was a beautiful man and most any woman would be attracted to him. It was the other emotions that had her confused. Feeling as if she’d known him for a long time. The sensation of being 100% comfortable in his presence despite barely knowing him. It was like they were two old friends who hadn’t seen each other in years but picked up right where they left off as if time had never separated them.
How did she explain that?
Whatever was driving her emotions, it was also fueling her fear. Since the intrusion in her home and being held hostage, she had a very difficult time maintaining her personal relationships. Her therapist had tried to explain how post traumatic stress and anxiety changed the brain and impacted every area of a person’s life. Kora had devoted hours to reading countless internet articles on the varied effects of trauma. She ordered books and read them until her eyes felt like they were going to bleed. Yet nothing seemed to make a difference.
Her therapist’s most basic explanation is that trauma responses didn’t always make sense. No two people respond to trauma in the same way, and nobody’s recovery time was ever equal. She tried to encourage Kora to understand that recovery was a journey. A damn journey. One that, apparently, medications, counseling, group therapy, and time didn’t do much to help.
She’d tried everything, yet things still hadn’t returned to normal. Maybe they never would. If that was the case, she needed to find a way to live with it. Honestly, she hadn’t been very interested in learning to live with it until she met Desi.
She’d had a dream about him last night. He was in the military. Dressed in his uniform, he got into a vehicle and drove to the desert. There were other people in the vehicle, too, but she couldn’t make out their faces. Suddenly, the others were gone, and Desi was alone, his face etched in confusion. Raising a gun, he swept the barren landscape as if searching for his comrades. And then he dissolved, and the vehicle was empty in the middle of the sand. Her heart had raced, her mind’s eye anticipating him to be killed or injured at any moment. But, poof, he was gone. She’d woken with a chest full of aching sadness.
Her phone chimed with another incoming text. Flipping the covers off her face she grabbed her phone from the end table. The messages from Desi.
How are you?
He texted her yesterday and told her he’d be out of town for the day. She’d responded with a simple,okay, feeling as if she should say more than that but not knowing what.
Getting a late start.
Lame, but it was the only thing she could think to say.
A late start was putting it mildly. Bouts of low energy were common after being emotionally stressed. The gala had certainly set things off. She’d learned to be mostly gentle with herself and take the extra time her mind and body needed, but it wasn’t easy.
Just then a picture came through on text. It was an image of the treasure hunting book, followed by a message.Feel like doing a little treasure hunting today? I think I cracked another clue.
She’d honestly put the treasure hunt in the back of her mind. It seemed like a good idea to help with research for her book. And then it felt a little silly. And after the gala yesterday, became irrelevant. Still, a smile worked on her lips. Desi had purchased his own copy and was trying to interpret the clues. Why did that give her such a warm, almost giddy feeling?
He was trying to connect with her. He’d had offered to do the hunt with her, even after he scoffed at the original idea.
She didn’t have any deliveries or construction work happening at the bookstore today, which made it easier for her to be lazy. And allowed for some free time to poke around at the clues.
Wait. You have a book?
Picked one up in Colorado Springs yesterday.
Getting up, she grabbed her copy of the book from her nightstand and flipped it open to a bookmarked page.
Which clue?
Page 32. Can I pick you up in an hour?
She flipped to the page and read the riddle. It was a tough one, and she didn’t know the area well enough to feel confident in deciphering the landmarks. Excitement about the renewed hunt overrode some of the awkwardness she felt over seeing him. She didn’t want things to be weird between them, but maybe it was too late for that.
Okay.
Wear hiking boots. See you soon.
He arrived just as she was slipping into the only pair of boots that she owned. Her heart lurched to see him approach, his face coming into view on the doorbell camera. She paused in a moment of anticipation as he knocked. It felt like forever since she’d seen him though it had only been a couple of days.
