To Love a Bear (2 page)

I found Andrew at the river, swiping angrily at the fish below him. I cleared my throat delicately, capturing his attention away from the massacre at his feet. Without warning, he charged full speed at me, stopping a hairsbreadth away and roaring loudly in my face. My heart pounded loudly in my chest but I held my ground, waiting for him to finish venting his anger.

When he realized he wasn’t going to scare me away with his bad temper, he lumbered back to the river and dug into the fish pulp laying on the rocks, seemingly content to ignore me. I figured that was my cue to speak.

“I’m a bitch in more ways than one and I’m sorry. I should have never spoken to you like that. Any of those times.”

He grunted and continued chewing.

“It’s my fault we go off on the wrong foot. I shouldn’t have acted like a spoiled brat and insulted your job as caretaker. This place is actually quite deceptively luxurious and you should be proud of the work that you do here.”

His chewing slowed but he still refused to look at me.

“My…
behavior
has nothing to do with you and it’s not fair that I took it out on you. Fact is, I’m a little confused why my father wants to move so far away from us to live as an animal in the middle of the forest for the rest of his days. I’m worried that one day he’ll just disappear and never come back.”

His head turned and he looked at me.

“So I’m sorry.” I held out the bundle of clothes in my arms. “I noticed that the doors aren’t wide enough to fit your animal form so I brought you some clothes.” I gave him a sheepish grin. “I’m sorry I went through your things again. I tried to touch as little as possible.”

He came over to me and sniffed at the proffered bundle. I took in the fact that his face in this form was as high as my shoulders and couldn’t help the tremble of my hands. He took the bundle in his mouth and disappeared into the trees, emerging minutes later in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. I looked down at his bare feet and smacked my forehead. “Shoes,” I mumbled. “Sorry.”

He shrugged and headed back to the lodge, making me run to catch up. I stopped in front of him with my hands on my hips. “Look, I know we’ll never be friends but as long as you can tolerate me, we’ll be alright. Truce?” I held out my hand for a handshake.

He stared silently at my hand for a few moments and just as I was about to lower my hand, he reached out and engulfed it with his much larger, much rougher one. He gave it one firm shake before stepping around me and entering the lodge.

Chapter 5

I waved at Andrew in passing as I parked my car in front of my dad’s cabin and got out. Over the past couple months, I had found myself visiting him more frequently than I expected. The overwhelming sense of peace that washed over you as you stood in the middle of untouched forested land was starting to root itself into my soul and just as my father had years ago, I was starting to fall in love with the place.

Or with the caretaker,
I thought as I looked over my shoulder at Andrew. Our progression from ignoring each other’s presence to exchanging more than a few words improved over the entire five months since my father moved here. We were now capable of having a civil conversation and, based on the stories my father told me, I knew Andrew was a hard-working man dedicated to the protection of these lands and the upkeep of the grounds. I just wished my attraction to him would abate a little so I didn’t feel like a lovestruck teenager mooning over my first crush.

Andrew silently approached the car and helped me with the groceries I had brought to fill the mini fridge. He grunted as he took in the amount of food I had brought with me. “You know we have a fully stocked kitchen in the lodge.”

“I know, these are just treats for my dad and food for me for the weekend.”

“You’re allowed to eat our food.”

“I know.”

Andrew snorted and snagged the last bag from my trunk and closed it. Placing the bag on the countertop, he gave me a wave goodbye and headed back out to whatever task he had been working on before.

I sighed. I had been trying for a month now to get him to spend more than five minutes with me alone, but either he wasn’t picking up the hints I was dropping or he was blatantly ignoring them.

I put away the groceries, setting aside the items for tonight’s dinner. I took the food over to the professional kitchen and started prepping my meal. As the smells of our dinner wafted through the lodge, I wasn’t surprised when Andrew wandered into the kitchen and started lifting lids on simmering pots and poking his nose into the oven.

“Are you making strawberry shortcake?” he asked with wide-eyed delight.

I nodded and turned away before he could see my smile. I knew there was one way to get him to stick around for more than a few minutes: feed him and he’d stay for hours. The only downside was, it was hard to generate some romance and conversation when your father was sitting at the same table eating dinner with you.

“Smells delicious, Lily,” my father said as he entered the kitchen and brushed my cheek. “Need any help?”

I shook my head and waved him away, telling him to get cleaned up, and turned to face Andrew. “Do you want to stay for dinner?” I asked innocently.

“Um… sure,” he replied hesitantly.

I turned my back to stir the sauce on the stove, knowing as soon as my back was turned, his hand would be digging into the bowl of cut strawberries. Adopting my most stern look, I spun around, emitting a low growl. He froze with his hand in the bowl and gave me his most boyishly charming smile. Internally, I melted like warm goo, but on the outside I simply raised an eyebrow and shoved a carton of strawberries at him.

“Now you’ll have to replace the strawberries you just ate.”

Andrew groaned loudly but complied, pulling out a cutting board and replenishing my stock of strawberries to go with the shortcake baking in the oven. I bit my lip to keep from laughing as I watched him pop a strawberry in his mouth for every strawberry that was put in the bowl.

I was so distracted watching him that I reached into the oven to remove the shortcake without putting on oven mitts, and ended up burning my fingers on the hot pan.

“
Fuck
!” I screamed, dropping the pan back onto the oven rack. Slamming the oven door I ran over to the sink to run cold water over my hands. Doing a little dance at the sink to distract me from the pain and muttering swears under my breath, I didn’t notice Andrew’s approach until he reached over me to turn off the tap.

“Let me see,” he said as he reached for my hands.

I pulled my hands away and turned the taps back on, sticking my fingertips back under the stream. “I’m fine. It was more of a shock than anything.” Bringing one hand up to my mouth, I started sucking on my fingertips, laving the affected area with the healing component found in shifter saliva that allowed us to heal faster than humans.

Moments later, I found the other hand captured as Andrew picked it up and put it in his mouth. I shivered at the feeling of his tongue rasping over my skin and struggled to regain possession of my hand from him, but he easily overpowered my struggles until I finally gave in.

“I can do that,” I said around the fingers in my mouth.

He released my fingers with a
pop
. “Just trying to help.”

“Umm… thanks?” I viciously attempted to stomp down the smell of my arousal but lost control when his tongue flicked over each fingertip individually.

Catching the smell of my musk, Andrew’s pupils grew large and he took a step closer, pressing me back into the countertop. Maintaining his grip on my wrist, he pulled my hand out of his mouth and held it off to the side, raised above me. He pulled the other hand out of my mouth and held it to his chest. Moving slowly, he bent down towards me, forcing me to lean back over the countertop, the tips of my hair getting caught in the stream of the still running water.

His warm, soft lips had barely made contact with mine when he suddenly jumped away from me, looking extremely guilty. The next moment my father entered the room, freshly showered and ready for dinner. I glanced over at Andrew but he was pointedly avoiding my eyes.

“I can’t stay for dinner,” he said just as we were about to sit down. “I need to finish some work tonight before the rain.”

“I didn’t think it was supposed to rain all this week,” my father said, confused.

“Better safe than sorry,” Andrew quipped and headed towards the door.

“I’ll make you a plate and leave it in the fridge.” I said, trying to hide my disappointment.

“Uh, no, that’s okay,” he replied, staring at the wall behind me.

“Well at least the shortcake,” I said stubbornly. “I know you were looking forward to it.”

Andrew clenched his jaw and nodded shortly before leaving the room.

“I swear that man works too hard,” my dad said, turning his attention from the door to the plate of food in front of him and taking a large bite. “Always running off to finish some project or another,” he added around a mouthful of food. I could swear there was a hint of laughter in his eyes.

I said nothing as I prepared a plate of food for Andrew and a plate of strawberry shortcake with extra berries. I wrapped them in plastic wrap and place both in the fridge before sitting down for dinner, forcing false cheer into the conversation with my dad.

Chapter 6

I snarled angrily as I watched Andrew make an abrupt turn on the trail in an effort to avoid me. It had been more than two weeks since I’d spoken to or seen him since the brief kiss and I was starting to develop a complex.
Was I really that bad at kissing? Could he tell just from one second of contact?

Marching back to the lodge I slammed my fist down on the door to his apartment. When he didn’t answer I yelled through the door, “I know you’re in there Andrew. I followed your scent.”

The door was thrown open. “What?” Andrew glowered down at me.

“What’s your problem?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’d like to but I can’t,” I shoved my way past him into the studio apartment and sat on his couch. I could see him debate making a run for it or closing the door and I muttered, “Chicken.” I watched him stiffen before he slammed the door and stormed into the living room to loom over me.

“What?” he repeated.

“Why are you avoiding me?”

“I’m not.”

I blew a raspberry at him and rolled my eyes.

“I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

My insecurities reared their ugly heads and I blurted, “You didn’t want to kiss me?”

Andrew hesitated before replying, “I’m not answering that.”

My ego perked up and I swiftly batted it down. “So you
did
want to kiss me?”

“I… why are we talking about kissing?” he snapped.

“Because it’s the reason you’re avoiding me like the plague,” I responded waspishly.

“No it’s not.”

“Bullshit!”

“I have to finish my repairs before winter.”

“It’s summer!”

“Winter comes up fast in Montana.”

“
Seriously
?”

“What the hell do you want from me?” he exclaimed as he threw his hands up into the air.

“Why did you kiss me?” I stood up and got in his face.

“I don’t need a reason.”

“
Yes
, you do.”