Page 13 of Bear for the Holidays

He plated up the eggs and the bacon, taking the bagels from where they had been toasting in the stove. He set the plates down on the table, absently pleased that he had brought in a full load of groceries just the day before. The idea of hunting for Deanna, of feeding her venison or salmon he had gotten himself, was extremely appealing, but it was probably a little early for that.

For a short while, there was nothing but the clinking of cutlery and the sound of a good breakfast being enjoyed. Nik took the quiet to check in with his grizzly, which was incredibly pleased and sleepy.

Go ahead and rub it in,he thought, only half-humorously.All you care about is that she’s our true mate. I’m the one who has to figure out what that means.

She is our true mate. No meaning necessary.

Still it was hard to be upset with things after a good meal, as demonstrated when Deanna sighed with pleasure.

“This is very, very good bacon. And since I have finished the bacon, I think that means we should talk.”

“Most likely.”

“You start.”

He raised an eyebrow at her, and she grinned, giving him a poke in the shoulder.

“I know some of this stuff, but you must know more than me, right? Tell me what being true mates means beyond me wanting to tackle you.”

She clapped her hand over her mouth on the last word, and he laughed in delight.

“Well, it’s partially that,” he said, feeling a bit better about everything. “But after that, I think it’s whatever we want it to be.”

“A once or twice a month hookup?”

Nik stared at her, willing his brain to keep working. He had once come around a bend in the Pacific Northwest and come face to face with a mountain lion. There wasn’t much his grizzly couldn’t handle, but there was a frozen moment ofand what do we do now?The idea of only seeing his mate for a once a month hookup felt sort of like that.

“Is that what you want?” he asked finally.

She studied him gravely, and he wasn’t sure if anyone had ever looked at him like that, as if they were trying to understand him in every way they could.

“No,” she said finally, and he breathed a soft sigh of relief.

“But you have to understand,” she continued, “I got up this morning, and the only thing I wanted was to get to work on time and maybe to see if I could get Mr. Shevchenko to make me one of those butter and ham sandwiches that he does up sometimes.”

“And now things have changed?”

“I still want the sandwich, but yeah.”

She looked down, and somehow, Nik already knew that she wasn’t often unsure like this. Deanna was someone who sailed into the world with the assurance that she could handle whatever it threw at her, and right now, she was unexpectedly uncertain.

“Can I take your hand?” he asked, and bemused, she gave it to him.

He could feel it when their fingers touched, skin to skin, that electric shock that coursed through them both. It was a quick bolt of sensation, and then it died down but never completely went away. Instead, it settled down to a low heat that waited patiently for now, but Nik had the idea that it would not wait forever.

“Nice, right?” he asked, and she nodded, still wary.

“This is whatever we want it to be, whatever we decide together,” he said. “I’m not here to tell you what to do or what your life needs to be, all right?”

“All right.”

“What this is–what we can choose to make it–is an opportunity, one where we could both be very happy. Where I could make you happy.”

“And what would I be doing?”

“Whatever you want. That’s what I want.”

The words were out of his mouth before he could think twice, and maybe in front of another woman it would have been a mistake, but this was his true mate, and she only smiled at him wryly.

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