Bearllionaire(18)

“No, jackass. About her. Get to know her so when you make your move, she trusts that you really want her for her, you know?”

“You’re good at this,” Ryder murmured. “Too good. Is there a romance going on that I don’t know about?”

There was a pause on Riley’s end. “No, just had a few flings. I’m not ready to settle down.” Then Riley grumbled something under his breath that Ryder couldn’t make out.

“All right. Dinner and talking,” Ryder said.

“Right.”

“And then?”

“And then let her sleep alone, like a gentleman, and restart things in the morning. You have some time with her, right?”

“Right,” he said.

“So yeah, just slow things down again.”

“What if I start to, what if my bear…?”

Riley sighed. “Go for a run if you need to. I can keep an eye on your girl. You know now that you’re paying attention to her as a grizzly, any smaller bears in the area that couldn’t have sensed her before will realize she’s a viable mate.”

“I know,” he says. “But like hell I’m leaving you alone with her.”

“Good man,” Riley said. “I guess you’ll just have to learn to control yourself with her, then.”

“Fine,” Ryder said, voice sharper than he meant it to be. But the reminder that his interest as a grizzly would perk the interest of other shifters in his potential mate made him as grumpy as his type of bear was purported to be. “I’ll call you later. Don’t trash the penthouse.”

“I’ll try,” Riley said. “I’m trying to get our little bro to loosen up. I’ll let you know how that goes.”

Ryder sighed into his hand. “Don’t corrupt him, Riley.”

Riley just laughed. “We’ll see.”

Ryder exhaled in frustration as he hung up the call. He paced in front of the door and then heard something smash from inside the cabin. His heart stopped for a second, and then he charged in the front door, worried something had happened to Janna.

He shut the door and stopped dead when he saw her wrapped in a blanket, flushing deeply, standing in the doorway to the bedroom. Her eyes were angry.

Uh-oh.

“Why is your stuff in the closet here?” she asked, anger infusing her tone. “And just what were you planning to do with me?”





6





Ryder licked his lips and tried to think of a good response. The clock by the bedside was broken at her feet. She must have thrown it.

He knew how it looked. He’d brought her to a cabin and implied it was hers, when all of his stuff was set up in it.

And then he’d bedded her on a couch and been gone when she woke up.

She bit her lip nervously and looked at the clock she’d broken with adorable guilt in her eyes. He couldn’t help surveying her generous form and wanting to just take her to bed and make it better, but…

“Were you just thinking I’d be easy?” she asked, brown eyes blazing fire. “I guess I proved you right. You pretend like you want to work together, get me up to your ‘cabin,’ screw me senseless, and then just get up to take a phone call?”

He winced. How to explain? He was so good at high-pressure negotiation, yet now, with his gorgeous mate spitting all kinds of words that made sense but were totally wrong, he couldn’t seem to perform.

“You don’t understand,” he said, dodging a plate she threw his direction. She was small compared to him, but damn did she scare him. Still, he’d expect nothing less from his strong-minded potential mate. “I wasn’t planning that. I was just as taken aback as you were. It’s been a long time since I’ve… been with someone. Dated someone. You were… irresistible.”

Her expression softened, but her lips stayed pressed together. “You expect me to believe Ryder Hart just couldn’t control himself with me?”

“There’s more to it,” Ryder said nervously, scrubbing the back of his neck with one hand and wondering what to do about the bear thing. “I just… can’t explain it all yet. How about we have dinner?”

Her eyes flashed, but just then, her stomach made a betraying growling noise.

“I promise that won’t happen again,” he said. “Unless you want it. Even then, we’d have to talk first. Despite what it looks like, that’s not what I want from you, Janna. I know this sounds crazy, but I want you. Just as you are.”

“You barely know me,” she said darkly.

“Do you believe in love at first sight?” he tried weakly.

“No,” she said.

He sighed. If he didn’t have his bear, he wouldn’t either. But he knew his animal had wisdom about this that he didn’t. He would trust it and hope it would lead him to the right way to win her.