Page 4 of Bear for the Holidays

She was only there for a moment, however, and then she streaked towards his bedroom.

“Hey!” he started, and his true mate uttered a yelp, putting the stew down by the door to go after the cat.

My true mate is fast,his grizzly noted proudly, and yes, that was nice, but it didn’t help him figure out what exactly was happening.

He followed her following the cat into his bedroom, and found her on her knees by his dresser. It was a rickety thing with a bottom drawer that didn’t close all the way, which usually didn’t matter because he only kept his underwear in there.

It was one of those things that wasn’t broken enough to need fixing, and apparently the cat – the very pregnant little gray cat–felt the same way. She turfed her way under a pair of boxers while kneading the rest into submission, and as they both watched, she circled a few times and nestled in with an exhausted little sigh.

“Um.”

“You have some very nice underwear,” his true mate said, looking down into the drawer.

“Thank you,” he said, coming to kneel by her side.

She was small compared to him, most people were, but she wasn’t petite. There was a lush roundness to her, her shoulders, her face, the way she curled up to stare down at the cat that was making itself at home in his admittedly nice underwear. This close, he could smell her better, taking in the scent of her eucalyptus body wash with the sweet and perfect smell of her skin underneath it, and on her clothes the smell of … very good coffee?

“Did you come from Delmonico’s in town?” he asked in confusion.

“Yeah, and you need to go see your parents,” she said suddenly, fixing him with a stern eye.

“I … do?”

“Yes. Mrs. Shevchenko made all this stew, and she said you wouldn’t come down off the mountain even though this was the first time you’ve been in town for ages. It really sounded like it broke her heart. She was in the front this morning making this godawful sound, and saying that–”

She paused, giving him a slightly confused look.

“You’re not saying anything. And you don’t have a shirt on. Wow. Youreallydon’t have a shirt on.”

He swallowed hard at the way her quick eyes darted down his chest, and he would have to be blind to miss the tip of her adorable pink tongue swiping her lower lip.

“Why don’t you have a shirt on?”

He could at least answer that without saying something untoward.

“I’m fresh out of the shower. I’ve been out counting herons all night. Didn’t want to smell like pond water.”

“I see. It’s a good look for you.”

“Not covered in pond water?”

“Um. Shirtless. Look, um, can you scoot back a little?”

Slightly horrified, Nik did. He was usually pretty good about remembering how big he was and how that could come across to other people, but in the tumult of learning this woman was his true mate, he must have forgotten.

“Christ, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you–”

To Nik’s surprise, she laughed, a bright sound that sent the most delicious shiver up his spine.

She is happy,his bear proclaimed.All is well.

“Oh–oh, you thought I was–oh, honey, no.”

“Really?” he asked, and she grinned.

“Look, I know you’re big, and I figure you’re a bear shifter–”

“Wait, how do you know?”

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