“Do you normally break into people’s homes and have sex with them?”
Spinning around, I glared at him while tugging my panties up. The first thing I spotted was his dick, still hard and slick with our juices. Heat consumed my face and I turned away again. My body instantly reacted to the sight, but I had my wits about me now. “I didn’t break into your home.”
A low growl had me spinning back around to find him standing right behind me. He reached for me and growled again when I moved out of the way. “I can smell your reaction to me. It’s driving me fucking insane.”
Bear. I’d found another bear. “Don’t smell me! I have to go.”
“Why are you in my home?”
I snagged my shirt off the ground and jerked it over my head. “I didn’t mean to be in your home. When I got here, it was still dark. I’m starting a new job and I was told this was the right address.”
I had to walk past him to get my pants and shoes out of his closet. I thought about leaving them to save some pride, but I didn’t know how much pride I’d save if I had to walk down his driveway in just a T-shirt and panties. I moved around him and his naked body carefully, muttering to myself. “Of course, I find a damn bear. What the hell is wrong with me?”
“What’d you just say?”
I hopped into my jeans and slipped my shoes on. “Nothing. I said nothing. At all. I have to go.”
When I tried to walk around him again, he hooked his hand around my arm and pulled me into his chest. “How do you know what I am?”
I fought the attraction to him as best as I could, but it was insane. I’d never in my life felt anything like zapping, zinging pulse of electricity that shot through me in response to him. This man was sucking me in without even trying. Hell, I’d just rolled around in the sheets with him even though I thought he’d been an intruder.
“I’ve known plenty of bears. My ex-husband was one.”
He growled and wrapped his other arm around me. “Who is he?”
I shook my head. “Why do you care? I have to go, John. I have to find the right house.”
“I care because you’re my mate. You were married to someone else, another bear, and I want to know who it was. Is it someone from around here? What’s his name, Bunny?”
My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. “Mate? Did… did you say mate?”
“Yeah, mate. You’re mine.”
My ex had told me all about mates. Actually he’d thrown in my face over and over again, the fact that I wasn’t his. He’d repeatedly told me about how great the connection and sex would be if we were true mates. He’d used it as a weapon against me. To have John standing in front of me using that word, felt like a punch to the stomach.
“No. No, I’m not your mate. I have to go!” I ripped myself away from him and headed towards the stairs. “Do you know where Mandy Scott lives? I was supposed to be at her house this morning. I’m going to get fired.”
John grabbed me again, but this time the look on his face was pure shock. “You know Mandy?”
“I work for her.” He looked like he was going to be sick, so I moved away again. “Why? Do you know her?”
“Fuck.” He ran his hand over his face and then started getting dressed. “Yeah, I know her.”
I didn’t like the look on his face at all. My stomach filled with dread and my palms started getting clammy. “How?”
He tried to put his shirt on, but I’d ripped all of the buttons off. Instead, he just stood there, looking like he’d prefer to shift into a bear and run away than actually have this discussion.
When he didn’t answer, I had flashbacks of my ex being unwilling to talk when I confronted him about his cheating. John had the same shifty look on his face. I groaned and shook my head. “This is the right house, isn’t it? She’s your girlfriend, isn’t she?”
I hurried down the stairs and tried to remember where I put my bag. “It just figures! I needed this job, you cheating ass! God, I hate men who can’t keep their dick in their pants. What is it with you bears? You think you can just treat women like shit? Mandy seems like a real bitch, but even she deserves better than this.”
I kept yelling at him, figuring he was still on the stairs. “Goddamn you, John! You made me the other woman. Shit. I’ll just leave the damn bag. I can’t find it.”
I head for the door, but John was already there, his arms crossed over his massive chest. I motioned for him to move, but he just stared at me. “Come on, I need to go.”
“I need to figure this out, but I’m not letting you just leave. You’re my mate. That means something. You must feel it too?”