Page 75 of Grin and Bear It

I pulled back then, staring down at him.

“You guys act like you’re just happy for me to use and abuse you all the time.” My cheeks heated as I thought about the way I’d used Cole before. “Doesn’t that seem kind of masochistic?”

He reached up and stroked his thumb along my chin.

“I don’t enjoy getting hurt.” I tensed slightly, ready to return to my seat, but he held me right where I was. “And I don’t want you to hurt me. But I can’t live my life being scared that it might happen. In some ways life’s simpler for us than human men. I know what I want.” That thumb brushed against my bottom lip and it parted for him. “I know just what I need, and I think I know what you need too.”

Yeah, right now, I agreed with that. I felt small, fragile and yet completely protected and I liked it. My tongue flicked out, sliding along his thumb and that’s when his eyes turned to molten honey.

“I’m just waiting for you to catch up.”

He leaned in then, so slowly it felt like I caught every second of the moments between him moving and his lips brushing against mine. Just a sweet little brush of a kiss, there and gone again, my nails digging into his t-shirt, wanting more, but the bastard just chuckled. He turned very deliberately back to the TV screen and then nodded.

“So what’re we watching?”

Fuck… Didn’t he know I watched sappy romances or steamy dramas to get a fix of what I wasn’t getting in real life? I didn’t want to watch some girl panting over her super-hot ex, not when I had… I stilled and then reached for the remote, turning on something that looked action packed, explodey and most importantly, lacking in sexual tension.

“You sure this is what you want to watch?” he asked me when he saw the action movie I’d chosen, not sounding disappointed at all.

“Sure,” I replied, settling back down. My head rested in the hollow of his neck and I nestled in closer, wriggling until our bodies fitted together like a key in a lock. His hand moved to keep me there and then the movie started.

It was just Netflix and chill again, but it felt really different. There wasn’t any expectation that I put out at any specific time. There weren’t any expectations at all, which was weird and liberating, all at the same time. While the interactions between me and Cole were completely different to the ones between me and Tyson, they had one thing in common. Things happened on my timeline and that was the most liberating thing of all.

Chapter38

Nash

I stood in the car park at the boys’ school, with Lin beside me, a massive bouquet of flowers in my hand and somehow this was worse than when I had to front up to find out what shit the twins had been up to.

“Are you sure she likes flowers?” I asked him, looking down at the arrangement with a critical eye. “What if she’s allergic or something? Maybe we should’ve gone with the chocolate bouquet.”

“She might be allergic to chocolate,” Lin pointed out with a grin.

“Fuck! You’re right. Maybe I should text the boys and see if they know.”

“While they’re in class?” Lin’s eyebrow jerked up.

“Yeah, alright… So these are OK?” I held out the flowers.

“They cost a hundred bucks and the lady in the shop seemed to think they were a popular combination. Ellie liked the flowers I brought her, if that’s anything to go by.”

“You already bought her flowers?” I cursed. “Fuck! Why didn’t you tell me? She’ll be sick of—”

“Nash.”

He was looking at me with that same damn look they all did now, like I was made of glass or something.

“What?” I snapped. “What? What is that fucking look—?”

“Just take a breath, mate,” he told me and I found myself doing it, even though my frown got deeper. “We’ll go in and leave the flowers at reception. Ellie will see the note about dinner tonight when she has time. If she’s keen, she’ll ring.”

“And if she’s not?”

I didn’t want to dwell on it, but every damn night it rolled around and around in my head: the fucking possibility of it. Because we’d all seen it happen. Not often, granted, but still. Despite the fact that everyone in the bear shifter community got excited when a sleuth identified their mate, because it was supposed to be this amazing time, sometimes… sometimes she found out the truth and she said no.

Not Ellie, I told myself furiously.Not Ellie.

“And anyway, if Cole managed to get her into bed the other day, there’s plenty of hope for us,” Lin said, jabbing an elbow into my ribs. “You know he’s the biggest prick among us.”

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