Free Bearlebrity: (BWWM) Paranormal BBW Bear Shifter Romance Standalone by Terry Bolryder Page A

okay?”
    She grinned. “I wasn’t going to anyway.”
    He let out a long sigh of relief. “Good.”
    She stood gingerly, with his help. “Well, if I’m going to stay with you for a while, I guess we better go get some of my stuff. Are you sure you don’t mind driving back and forth to the bar everyday?”
    He nodded, putting an arm around her waist that held up most of her weight. “I’d be coming anyway,” he said, and a part of her warmed. “At least until your ankle is healed.” The warmth turned a bit cold.
    That’s right: obligation was making him do this. She should tell him her ankle really wasn’t so bad, but he seemed to want the excuse to be next to her. And honestly, she wanted it too, for as long as it lasted.
    But she was starting to think it wasn’t going to be easy to keep this a casual thing. She couldn’t help remembering his intenseness during sex, his possessive anger toward his brother, and his jealousy that seemed to leak out without him even realizing it.
    No, there was more to this than either of them wanted to admit. Luckily, he seemed to have as much invested into staying in denial as she did. So she let him take her outside, feeling warm and happy against his arm. They were just going up to stay together in a mountain lodge. What could go wrong?

8
    T he drive was uneventful . Riley wished he knew what Leslie was thinking, but she seemed disinclined to share, and had been resting her head against the window and looking out at the snowy scenery flying by for the past few minutes.
    “You feeling okay?” he asked, wondering what had happened to change her mood. Was it something he’d said or done?
    “Just finally feeling the tiredness, I guess,” she said, sitting up a little as if she realized she should probably be talking with him.
    “Sorry if I’ve been quiet. It seems like this week has just changed everything, and it’s moving so quickly.”
    “I know what you mean,” he said. “When we came here I had no idea how I was going to entertain myself in a little mountain town, but the bar makes it a lot more fun. And, to be honest…” He snuck a sideways glance at her. “You make it a lot more fun.”
    “Thanks,” she said, patting his shoulder in a friendly way. He frowned. Friend wasn’t what he had in mind. Both his bear and him agreed on that.
    “I think you’ll like my suite,” he said. “I’ve been staying in the penthouse, but I thought you might like something more private and away from the rest of the lodge, so I rented a cabin.”
    “Like Ryder and Janna were in?” she asked.
    “Sort of,” he said. “Ryder likes things to be homey. This one is nicer. The nicest we have. I kind of got the feeling that you enjoy the finer things in life.”
    She winced slightly at that. “What gave it away, the shoes?”
    He laughed. “Maybe. But those red soles hella turn me on.”
    “Hella?” She laughed. “So Cali.”
    “Yup,” he said. “Mountain boy at heart, Cali boy on loan.”
    “Really?” she asked, folding her arms. “So you consider your allegiance more to here than Hollywood?”
    He gulped. Whoops. Did he? That had just sort of slipped out. Damn, she made it hard to think. Just being in the car with her, knowing she was so close he could touch her, kiss her, but yet couldn’t because he was driving, drove him crazy.
    “I don’t know,” he said. “I hadn’t thought about it. You shouldn’t take much of what I say too seriously. I tend to just blurt stuff out.”
    “I tend to think it’s usually the truth that we blurt out,” she said, smiling slightly. “I think it’s the lies that we have to pause and think about.”
    “Good point,” he said, as a knot formed in his stomach. She was too perceptive. And worse, he liked it. Really liked it. He could sort of imagine them as old people, bantering over their TV dinners. He banished the thought as quickly as he could, grateful they had just pulled up to the lodge. “Okay, smarty pants,