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

we’re here.” He stopped the car in front of the main building.
    “What?” she asked. “I thought we were staying in a separate lodge.”
    “We are, but we have to walk there.”
    “But—”
    He cut her off. “Calm down, princess. I’ll carry you.” He winked at her. “I kinda like it, anyway.”
    “Carrying me? Why?”
    He grinned, thinking of it. “I guess maybe because I get to feel your big beautiful—”
    “Okay okay,” she said, laughing and shaking her head. He liked the way her curls bounced when she did that. “I get the picture. I kinda like it, too.”
    “Great,” he said. “I’m going to leave the car keys in while I go get our stuff inside and get the fire going.”
    “Real fire or electric?”
    “Electric. But honey, I’m sure we’ll heat the house up just fine.”
    “Hmph, you better buy me dinner first,” she said.
    He laughed. “Lucky for you, I like feeding women almost as much as I like pleasing them.”
    “Cheeseball,” she said.
    “Guilty as charged. I’ll be right back. Lock the door after me.”
    She raised an eyebrow at him, and he wondered if he’d just crossed a line. He thought about leaving it, but protectiveness welled up in him and he couldn’t resist it.
    “Please? I want to know you’re safe.”
    “You’ll be gone, like, five minutes,” she said stubbornly. “Why does it matter?”
    He looked down at the locks and frowned. “It just does.” He didn’t know how to explain that he couldn’t just leave her there, vulnerable, with a running car, if he didn’t know that she was safe. It was like his body was rooted in place beside her unless he knew she was protected.
    She sighed. “I was going to lock it anyway. I was just wondering why you looked so paranoid. Has something happened up here?”
    His scalp prickled and he ran a hand through his hair. Well, Janna had been attacked up here. But she and Ryder now lived up at the lodge without any problems. The one bear who had been a problem had disappeared. “No,” he said. “Not recently.”
    “Oh…” She trailed off, looking worried.
    “I’d never let anything happen to you, Les,” he said, looking deep into those dark, sparkly eyes, and seeing something he couldn’t fathom. Something he wasn’t ready to accept. “Not while I’m watching out for you and your leg is hurt.”
    She blinked, and the spell was broken. Like a cord had been cut between them. Why did he have to keep mentioning her leg, as if that was all this was, when both of them knew it was more? It was like whenever he felt shaky, that’s what he defaulted back to. It meant that she needed him, gave him an excuse to stay.
    He sighed. “Okay, just lock the door. I’ll be back.”
    He got out, loaded himself up with their things, listened for the click of the locks, and strode out into the snowy hill in the direction of the cabin.
----
    A few minutes later , he found himself making the same trip but with Leslie in his arms.
    “Are you sure I’m not too heavy?” she asked, wriggling playfully in his arms. Damn, she was sassy sometimes. “Seems like it’s a little hard for you to carry me.”
    He grinned. “It’s hard, all right.” He let that one sink in, and she let out a little gasp when she heard it, and then threw back her head in a laugh. Her curls bounced around her face as she sat up again in his arms. He shifted his weight to carry her and tried not to think about the bulge in his jeans.
    “So, you still think I’m a tease?” he asked.
    “Sometimes,” she said, folding her arms. “But I guess you made good on at least what you promised to.”
    “Good,” he said.
    “And then some,” she muttered.
    “What was that?” he asked, feeling his groin respond again. “What?”
    “Oh, nothing,” she said lightly. But even her light voice was sultry, held just the slightest bit of heat and suggestiveness.
    Damn, he’d help her shower all right. He’d get her dirty and then make her clean…and then do it