RANCHER BEAR’S BABY(80)

She panted against my chest, the reaction immediate for her, as well. Her fingers dug into my chest and her lips parted when I lifted her until she was on her tip toes and I was nudging her core. “John…”

I leaned down and sucked her lower lip into my mouth. “Bunny, this happened and it’s certainly nothing that we can pretend didn’t. Even when you’re screaming at me, all I can think about is touching you. I assure you, the mate bond isn’t some excuse to fuck freely until you happen to stumble upon the right one. It’s real and it’s special. It’s going to turn us both into animals for each other. More animal than I already am.

“It’s already happened. I thought you’d broken into my home and instead of calling the police, I couldn’t get past the idea of being inside of you. It was all-consuming. I forgot everything else. I’m pretty sure my mother could’ve been standing there with me and I would’ve still let that go down the way it did.”

“I can’t.”

My heart ached and my bear threatened to shift. “You can. You feel it, too. You must.”

She pulled out of my arms and spotted her bag across the room. “It doesn’t matter what I feel. I can’t be with you. You have to be with Mandy. I need this job.”

I started to actually get angry. “No fucking way am I going to pretend to still want to be with Mandy. I couldn’t. I don’t even want to so much as look at another woman right now, Bunny. I want you. Only you.”

I had to step to the right as a book came sailing at my head. I turned an exasperated look on her. “You’re serious? Are you sure your ex’s cheating was the only problem with your marriage? You’ve got a real anger issue.”

She threw her hands up and huffed at me. “I’m going to find myself a room and I’m going to get my things set up for when Mandy gets here.”

“Mandy isn’t going to be getting here.” I shook my head at her stubbornness. “I’m going to call Mandy as soon as you’re upstairs. There’s no point in her coming.”

“Don’t you dare! I told you, I need this job!”

“Fine. I’ll pay you.”

“For what? Sex?”

I might’ve missed the mark with my joke, because it didn’t go over well. “Sure. How much do you want?”

She threw another one of my books at me and then looked down at the title of one still in her hand. “James Smith? You read James Smith?”

I didn’t just read James Smith. I wrote James Smith. “Yeah, why?”

She tucked the book under her arm and headed towards the stairs. “If you call her and tell her not to come, I will never forgive you. Mate or not.”

“What the fuck do you want me to do? Should I romance her and fuck her right here? Right next to you?!”

Bunny flipped me off. “I don’t care what you want to do but I need this. Don’t mess this up for me. I’m serious. I’ll never forgive you.”





CHAPTER 7: Bunny




Shit, shit, shit! What the hell was I doing? I should’ve been back on the road to Star’s place. What I definitely didn’t need to be doing was putting my bag down on one of the guest bedrooms in John’s house. I was an idiot.

My blood pressure was through the roof and I was pretty sure I was going to have a heart attack. I should’ve just grabbed my stuff and ran. My car was waiting at the end of the driveway. I could’ve been on Star’s couch in a few hours.

This job wasn’t the only decent paying job. It was the easiest to get, sure, but there were others. Probably. Besides, I didn’t even like Mandy. Why would I want to stick around and work for her after everything?

The only honest reason I could come up with as to why I’d decided to stay, was one that made me want to bang my head against a wall. John. I, apparently, didn’t know as much as I thought I did about the mate bond. The sex had been amazing and I couldn’t stop my body from responding to his touch, but there was also something deeper happening. The idea of driving back to Star’s and never seeing John again made me want to throw up.

None of it made any sense. He was a cheater. A bear shifter. And, kind of a jerk. He kept pushing my buttons until I’d resorted to throwing things at him. I hadn’t done that since I was a child. It took John less than ten minutes to get me into full blown temper tantrum mode.

I threw myself onto the bed and groaned. “What the hell are you doing, Bunny?”

My blood was still boiling at the last words John spoke to me. The idea of him sleeping with Mandy in the same house as me made me irate. As if I needed another reason to not enjoy the woman. Although, after sleeping with her boyfriend, I wasn’t sure that I had any right to think poorly of her anymore. I’d officially crossed a line, accidentally or not. In choosing to stay, despite what happened with John, I was crossing even more lines.