Boarlander Bash Bear 2(5)

“Oh, you’re real smart then.” He nodded for a while, then turned the computer toward her. “This one,” he said pointing to the screen. “And him and him.” Insanely, he’d picked her top three favorites. Bash frowned down at his empty coffee mug and encircled it with his hands. “I should go.”

“But…” He couldn’t go. She was actually getting to talk to another living being, she was enjoying herself, and he was funny and easy to converse with. Mostly. “Our fries will come out soon, and I can’t eat them all by myself.”

“You’re right.” A hint of that heart-stopping smile was back on his lips. “I’ll help you. It would be rude not to.”

She giggled at the funny way he said things and took a sip of her coffee.

“For real, you don’t want a man?”

“That ship has sailed, I’m afraid.”

“You like girls?”

She laughed again and crinkled up her nose. “I like men, but they don’t seem to like me.”

“Horseshit. You’re a ten.”

Wow. That was a helluva line and one not used on her before. Truth be told, she could stand to lose twenty pounds, had wild hair, her face was on the round-like-the-moon side, and she was too short to be called a beauty by classical standards. Still, she liked the way Bash was looking at her, as though he believed what he said. He was the ten. She was a six and a half. It wasn’t low self-esteem that made her think so either. She was content being on the plain end of the spectrum, and she was realistic. Bash was a beautiful, muscled-up bear shifter with a smile that made her want to drop to her knees.

And now, she was staring like a simpleton. Fumbling for a response, she panicked and stammered out, “I m-messaged you once on bangaboarlander.com.” She gasped and slapped her hands over her mouth to stop any more stupid words falling from her lips.

Bash’s dark eyebrows lifted up, and he opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get anything out, Dana set a giant plate of cheese fries in front of them.

“I made them extra cheesy,” Dana said. Shooting Emerson a narrow-eyed glance, she leaned toward Bash and whispered, “Just for you.”

A vivid image flashed across Emerson’s mind of her pushing Dana’s face into the fries and screaming, “We are not pretend friends anymore!” Which was insane because she wasn’t a violent person in general. Instead, she choked her coffee mug and gave the clingy server an empty get-lost smile.

When Dana walked off, swishing her tail feathers, Bash reached for the fries, but stopped his hand midway.

“What’s wrong?” Emerson asked.

With a deep frown marring his perfect face, Bash leaned back in his chair and clamped his hands in his lap. “I don’t know. It don’t feel right eating anything. Not until you’re full. I’ll eat them all up, and you won’t have enough. Go on. You get your fill first and maybe my…”

“Your what?”

Bash lifted his gaze to her then back to the fries. “Maybe my animal will stop rippin’ me up.”

“Oh,” she said on a breath. She didn’t want that at all. Didn’t want him to hurt. She didn’t understand his instincts, but she wanted to help him, so she forked a mound of fries onto one of the plates Dana had brought and said, “This is more than I have room for. Now you can eat as much as you want.”

“Thank you,” he murmured, but he was pressing his hand on his chest now, right over his heart.

“Are you okay? Does your animal hurt you badly?”

“No,” he whispered with a slow smile. “Feel this.” He reached across the table and grabbed her hand, then pulled her too hard until her palm was pressed against his taut chest.

Oh, my damn, he had a rock-hard-body, and right about now this was like fondling a granite sculpture. But under that taut exterior, Bash’s heart was pounding really fast.

“What does that mean?” she asked.

Bash released her hand abruptly and went immediately to eating. “I think it means you should say fuck those boys on the computer and be my friend instead. I ain’t smart, but I’ll make sure nothin’ bad ever happens to you.”

What a beautiful promise. Emerson gave him a slow, stunned blink as she sank back into her chair. Years ago, she’d put off her plans for a family for a man who didn’t deserve her. For a man who had wasted her time, and she wouldn’t do that again. She would order a donor sample and go forward with the hopes that she would get pregnant this month. This was just fate teasing her again. She’d learned a hard lesson before, and she was smart enough not to make the same mistake twice.