Boarlander Bash Bear 2(22)

Bash cut the engine and told her, “Wait there, so I can be a gentleman.” He strode around the front of the truck and opened her door, and lands! Her heart was too big for her chest with how thoughtful he was being.

“So, since you don’t have a baby in you, I don’t have to be as gentle, right?”

“Uh, I guess?”

“Good, get on my back koala-style so your shoes don’t get muddy, and I’ll give you a tour of Bash Mansion.”

Well, thank goodness she’d changed out of her dress and into cutoff shorts when he’d taken her by the duplex to pack an overnight bag. “This pretty one is yours?” she asked, scrambling onto his back.

“Sure is.” Bash held the back of her knee at his hip with one hand and shut the door with the other. He grabbed her pink duffle bag out of the bed of his truck and strode toward the front of his trailer. “This place is a shithole, but Harrison finally made the call to clean this place up so it will attract mates. I ordered a bunch of supplies from down in Saratoga, but they haven’t been delivered yet. I wanted to make sure my place was pretty for you, though. Look,” he said, nodding with his chin toward the bright pink knock-out roses beside the porch. “Emerson roses.”

“You named them for me?”

“Of course. They ain’t as pretty, but close.”

She held on around his shoulders tighter, buried her face between his shoulder blades, and smiled against his T-shirt. “Wait,” she said, realizing something. “Is that where you got the flowers you gave me?”

“My stepdad gives my mom flowers every Monday. She stays with him because he makes her happy. I’m gonna give you flowers, but on Fridays, because that’s when I thought you were gonna get a baby put in you.” He climbed the porch stairs with her and settled her on her feet at the top, then pointed to the pair of rocking chairs. “Some of the women in the Ashe Crew make home decorations and sell them at the flea market and online. They’re real good, real high quality at their work, so I bought these yesterday.”

On closer inspection, the rocking chairs were painted an antique gray color and had tough, white canvas fabric on the seats and backs with little cartoon owls and bears. They were both beautiful pieces, and Bash had put a hardy outdoor rug down in a matching gray color.

“I don’t know shit about decorating, but Riley came over from Asheland Mobile Park and helped me. She’s good at decorating stuff. She said this porch would make a mate happy.”

There were flower pots hanging from hooks on the rails of the porch, and as Emerson ran her fingertips across the arm of one of the gorgeous rocking chairs, she smiled up at Bash. “I like it very much.”

Bash’s lips ticked up, then fell. “I know I don’t have a lot to offer a lady like you. I know this place looks like a dump,” he murmured, jerking his head toward the rest of the park. “But we’re right in the beginning of big changes. Harrison is gonna be the alpha I always knew he could be. If you give me time, I’ll make this a good place for you. And for cubs. Swing sets, stroller paths, a playroom, sandboxes, the works. I have big plans. It’ll just take some time. If I would’ve met you a few months from now, this place wouldn’t be so embarrassing.”

“You shouldn’t be embarrassed,” Emerson said, gripping his hands and allowing him to see the honesty in her eyes.

“But your house is fancy and clean.”

“Yeah, but Bash”—she turned and gestured to the pine tree mountains that surrounded them—“my duplex has nothing on this view.”

He canted his head and brushed a knuckle down her cheek, soft as a butterfly kiss. “I like the way you say things. You don’t lie. You don’t say things you don’t mean. I can tell.” His finger trailed fire down her neck, and then he traced her collarbone exposed under the thin straps of her purple tank top.

She blew a shaky breath and closed her eyes. His touch felt so overwhelmingly good. Bash pressed his lips against her neck, and she bowed against him. “I won’t bite you,” he whispered, a moment before he grazed his teeth gently across her sensitive skin.

Oh how her body was reacting to his kiss. Knees knocking, heart pounding, hands tingling, every nerve in her body firing, and her panties were already soaking wet from the drive from Saratoga when he’d rested his hand on her thigh, rubbing slow circles against her skin.

“Oh, Bash,” she whispered as he sucked on her neck and guided her backward, his hand on her waist.

A soft rumble emanated from him, but she wasn’t scared. His inner animal sounded content, not angry. “I like when you say my name like that, all quiet and needy,” he murmured against her neck as he pushed the unpainted door of his trailer open.