Page 13 of Bearing North
On the other hand, it made it much easier to speak in actual words when she wasn’t distracted by all that skin she wanted to lick.
She reminded herself that Orson was the asshole who’d come here to replace her, and then remembered he’d just been a literal bear.
“I was coming out to see if you wanted to trade off with the bed,” she squeaked.
(The big, comfortable bed that was big enough for both of them.)
“I could do the last half of the night in the truck,” Alex said before her baser nature could convince her to throw herself at him and rip his shirt off again. “That would be fair.”
Orson looked confused and dragged a hand through his hair. “You…saw?”
Saw him standing there all sexy and half-naked? Yeah, she saw that.
“You were a bear,” Alex said flatly.
“You don’t seem awfully surprised.”
Did he sound disappointed and a little pouty? It was pretty cute.
The truth was, Alex knew she was probably still shocked. It was unbelievable and she was tired and high-strung for a whole host of reasons—includingshirtlessOrson—and to be fair… “That is not the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. I won’t say I don’t have some burning questions, but Native lore has a lot of shapeshifting stories and honestly I might like youbetteras a bear.”
“Hey!” Orson’s outrage was as honest as the grin that split his face.
It was far more devastating than his attempts to be surly and distant. This was the real and enthusiastic Orson she’d caught glimpses of during their drive up, and she likedReal Orsonadangerousamount. “Do you want the bed or not?”
Orson glanced at the door to the cabin and then fixed her with a hot look of hunger.
Alex had guessed that he felt a certain animal attraction to her, even before she realized howliterallyanimal that might be. But he’d done a good job of frowning, grunting, and pretending her tight jeans did nothing for him. Now, he seemed to have decided he was done with the act altogether. “I’d like to share the bedwithyou,” he said boldly. Then he added a rakish, “Please?”
Zing.
Alex considered herself a logical and practical woman, capable of thinking with her brain and not her body. She could make tough choices and didn’t get weepy or wring her hands when things were hard. Autonomy was critical to her, and she would never let her libido lead her into trouble.
But Orson, with his golden-brown eyes, boyish bearded smile, and those shoulders that were still imprinted on her eyelids, was going to be her utter downfall.
11
ORSON
Alexandra looked like something had shorted out in her head at Orson’s offer, and he couldn’t help but feel a little good about that.
Sheknew.
She knew he was a bear, and knew he wanted her. She hadn’t drawn away fromReal Orsonwhen he accidentally forgot to be who he’d been trying to be. And she hadn’t given a single false giggle or coy look since he’d been a bear. Maybe he should have done that earlier!
“You’re my…boss,” she said like she was reminding herself.
“I own the company,” Orson clarified. “I haven’t established myposition.” He was thinking hard about different positions right now: missionary, doggy style, up against the wall of the cabin. The logs looked a little splintery—they might want to skip that.
“There’s a chain of command,” she said, rallying. “Did you evenreadthe employee handbook?”
“It was big and looked boring,” Orson said.
She laughed then, a real snort of surprise and amusement, not that insipid giggle. “That’s what she said.”
Orson gave a shout of laughter and went to scoop her up in his arms and spin her around because there was no woman in the world who could possibly be more made for him.
He had forgotten that she was a security officer who had done extensive personal safety training until he was suddenly lurching through the air in an arc as she used all of the momentum from his impulsive charge to flip him down on his back and kneel on his chest.
