Free 9781631054747HerstoBearHoffa by Tamara Hoffa Page A

don’t know. Maybe I should just stay
here and look from outside. I don’t want to break anything.”
    Bern
cocked a brow at her. “Are you kidding me? I am a ten foot grizzly bear, if I
haven’t broken it already, you certainly aren’t going
to break it.”
    Jenna
laughed. Bern knew how to break the tension. He was right, she was being silly.
She followed him into the house and tried her best to keep her exclamations of
awe to herself, but damn , this place
was something else.
    From
the stained glass windows in the foyer, to the kitchen that looked like
something out of Better Homes and Gardens magazine, Jenna was completely out of
her element. Her parents weren’t poor by any stretch of the imagination, they
were middle class, but this…this was, well she wasn’t quite sure what this was,
but it was definitely high class and then some.
    Bern
seemed to sense her nervousness and he led her into a cozy den. Ha ha, den for a bear, I think I’m getting slaphappy.
    “How
about a glass of wine? I’ve got a nice white zinfandel in the fridge.”
    “That
sounds good,” Jenna said.
    Bern
crossed to the bar on the side of the room and reached into the small
refrigerator, he pulled out a bottle of white zinfandel and using a corkscrew
from on top of the bar uncorked the wine. He poured two glasses and crossed to
Jenna with the glasses in hand.
    He sat
beside her on the small couch and placed the glass in her hand, then he clinked their glasses together. “To a life time of
nights together,” he said as he brought the glass to his lips.
    Jenna
hid her smile behind her glass as she took a sip. How did she get so lucky? She
was really waiting for the guy from Candid
Camera or Punked to pop out and
tell her this was all a big joke, because the too big, too fat, awkward girl
just didn’t get the hunky guy, who by the way just happened to be the freaking
alpha of a bear clan. In what universe did that happen? Maybe in the Twilight Zone, geeze, she really needed
to stop watching late night television.
    “I’m
gonna go scrounge us up some snacks,” Bern said, he flipped the stereo on as he
left the room and his customary country music flowed from the speakers hidden
somewhere in the room. Jenna snuggled down into the couch and let her mind
drift with the music as she sipped her wine. She was going to get to see Bern
shift tonight. She was a little nervous, but a lot excited.
    She’d
never seen a shifted bear up close. Enough was enough, as soon as he got back
she was going to ask him to shift, the anticipation was killing her. She was
never going to be able to relax until after he shifted.
    Bern
came back into the room carrying a tray of cheese and crackers. Her stomach
growled. Okay, maybe she would eat something before she asked him to shift, and
make sure he did too, she certainly didn’t want a hungry bear on her hands.
Jenna stifled a giggle and Bern gave her a curious look. Jenna chose to pretend
she didn’t notice and dove into the cheese and crackers he had placed on the
coffee table.
    She
crunched a few crackers and took a few sips of wine. Bern lounged at the
opposite end of the sofa doing the same, but watching her intently. Finally she
had enough. “What? Do I have cracker crumbs on my mouth or something?”
    “No,
but you are hiding something. What’s going on in that brain of yours, little
one?”
    “Is
this more of that mate bond thing? Because if it is, I don’t think I like it.”
    “No,
it’s not the mate bond. I’m just getting to know you, and I can see the little
hamster wheel turning in your head.”
    “Hey, I
resemble that remark!”
    Bern
moved so that his knee was touching hers on the sofa and kissed her temple.
“I’m sorry, little one. I was only teasing. You have a big, beautiful, brain.”
He punctuated each word with a kiss. “I only meant I can tell something is
bothering you. He cupped her face in his hands and stared down into her eyes,
“Tell me, what’s wrong?”
    Jenna
felt