Bearing It All (Alpha Werebear Shifter Paranormal Romance) (26 page)

“Holy shit, there’s an Applebee’s? In Jamesburg?” he laughed, and then grunted.

“Things have changed,” I said. “But mostly they’ve stayed the same. Town-wise, I mean. Same small town politics and stuff no matter how many chain restaurants open up. Before you know it, we’ll have a Red Lobster for ‘fancy nights’ on the town.”

His hand closed around mine where it was sitting on top of my gear shifter. “Thank you, Violet,” he said.

Ash’s eyes were just about burning holes through me. I had to keep my eyes on the road to make sure I didn’t get lost in them. “For what?” I asked.

“For everything. For taking me in, for believing in me.” He lifted my hand to his lips and warmed the back with a slow, lingering kiss. “For... being you.”

I didn’t bother looking in the rearview. I knew I was blushing. I
always
blush when I get compliments, and I’m not sure I ever got one quite like that before. I shrugged. “It’s... it isn’t hard for me to do all that stuff. Like I said, I knew you were the one for me the first time I saw you, as stupid and clichéd as it sounds.”

“It isn’t stupid,” he said in a low voice. “And it isn’t a cliché to fall in love with someone.”

I let out a little laugh. “Girl has a broken heart, girl swears off men. Girl can’t stand to not be with someone, so girl has a string of bad dates. Girl sees new boy in the middle of a cage fighting ring and falls head-over-stupid-heels in love with him. That’s gotta be
some
kind of cliché, huh?”

“I can’t wait,” Ash said. “Pull over, find a motel, something. I can’t... I’m feeling really bad things to be feeling with these busted ribs and a couple of crudely treated gunshot wounds.”

His hand went up my arm and down my side. “Not here, you big jackass!” I squealed. “You heard Erik, we have to take you to the hospital. You have
gunshots
!”

“Yeah,” he said, slumping back into his chair. “I guess throwing you across the backseat probably isn’t a good idea when I could bleed out from it. Can I have a raincheck?”

I puffed a laugh out my nose. “Sure thing, raincheck.”

A few more moments passed in pleasant, safe silence, before Ash said anything else.

“That’s a weird house,” he said. “Kinda... short, isn’t it? The doorknob is like a foot off the ground. I hope I’m not being insensitive by pointing that out.”

“Not at all,” I said, shaking my head. “That’s the Bevan house.”

“Bevan?” he asked. “That’s a Welsh name. I didn’t know we had any Welsh folks here.”

“Corgis,” I said. “Seriously.”

*

I
threw my stuff down on the couch, sat down for a second, and then got right back up. Something was missing. Something big and hairy and soft and warm. Ever since he moved in, Ash was a fixture in the corner of my living room, where he set up a little den.

I’d come home from work and make him some food, which almost always involved a lot more meat than I ever ate on my own, but that was pretty nice. Then Ash would always fake like his ribs hurt worse than they did, and I’d kiss them one at a time until he started groaning a little too much and they really
did
start hurting.

Then he faked that his lips hurt, and she’d kiss those. But one thing really
was
out of the question – at least until the doctors said he was ready for action again, so to speak.

Me and Ash slept curled up in his little den. As he snored, Ash always at least half-shifted, so with his big, furry arms around me and my tail curled around part of him, we’d nuzzle up and just be together. Just be happy and us and not worry about anything else.

This was the first time I came home and he was gone.

“Ash?” I asked my empty apartment. “Where did—”

My phone rang, and suddenly I remembered. He’d been patched up for two weeks, dutifully waiting for the doctors from Jamesburg General to let him get to work. He had his appointment this morning and then was planning to go to the courthouse to sign his papers as soon as he was finished.

“How is it?” I asked, talking into the phone before I looked at the number. That was a habit that probably wasn’t ever going to break.

“Class?” Henry said. “Good... I guess... oh right, you thought I was a bear, didn’t you?”

“Guilty as charged,” I said, smirking. “It’s good to hear from you too, but Ash was supposed to get off right about now so I figured it was him.”

“Uh-huh,” she said, flatly. “I think you always figure it’s him. Anyway, Just a quick thing from me. I have a date with, uh, a guy, and—”

“Who is it?” I asked, excitedly.

“Eu...” Henry coughed out loud. “Eus,” she managed before she coughed again.

“Weird time to catch whooping cough,” I said with a laugh. “Come on, Henry, who is it?”

I heard her take a long, slow, deep breath. “Eustace,” she finally said. “Don’t make fun of me.”

“
Me
make fun of you? No way! Although, Eustace isn’t actually his name,” I said.

“Yeah, yeah, but it’s the only one I can remember,” she said. “Anyway, he’s—”

“A super nice guy, Henry! I’m happy for you. Just make sure you get the waiter to leave the water pitcher at the table.”

She snorted a laugh. “Actually that’s what I was going to say. We’ve got a date tonight, and he wondered if you wanted to double. You and Ash, me and him. He also said something about mini-golf, but...”

“Oh God,” I groaned. “Mini-golf? I’m terrible! Although seeing Ash grapple with one of those tiny, rubberized, orange putters would be... you know what? That sounds awesome. See you at eight?”

“Eight’s good,” she said. “Viola?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad you found a guy.”

I gulped. “Uh, well yeah me too. But...?”

She laughed. “It’s nothing. You just deserve someone who treats you right, someone who loves you for you. And the way Captain Beefcake gets his eyes all stupid and his breathing gets all fluttery when you two are together? It’s cute as all hell. You were made for each other. See ya!”

“Yeah,” I said to the empty phone line. “It sure does seem like we were meant to be.”

Before I could put it down though, it started buzzing again, and of course I answered without bothering to look. This time at least I had the good sense not to start blabbering right away.

The second I heard him softly breathing, I fell apart.

“Where are you?” I asked. “How was it? Did you get everything taken care of? When are you gonna be back? I miss you!”

“It was good,” he said. His voice was soft leather, tinged with rough edges. “But being away from you isn’t something I want to do too often.”

Knock me over with a feather. I tried to answer that, but just kinda gawked for a second. Ash was many things, but smooth-talking was never one of his strong suits.

“I’m gonna tear you apart when I get home,” he said after another second’s pause.

“You’ll have to do it before I get the chance to rip
you
up,” I replied. “Assuming you got the okay from the doctors?”

His answer was a soft, rumbling laugh that got me all excited – for the sound he made as much as the response. “You look stunning,” he finally said.

I started giggling uncontrollably. “Thank you,” I said, “but how do you—”

“Look out the window.”

There, standing in the parking lot in dress blues with shiny black loafers, his hat under his arm, and a bouquet of flowers, was Ash.

If he were a force of gravity, staring at him with his bulging arms, that uniform, and the smile on his face, I’d believe he was a panty black hole. The wet heat from in my core struck almost instantly, and left my knees shaking just looking at him.

“Ash?” I asked, stunned. “I can’t...”

“Then don’t,” he answered. He tossed his shaggy hair and then ran his hand over it, smoothing it out of his face. “No words. Violet Larue,” he said. “My turn to talk.”

I opened my window all the way and dropped my phone with a soft
thump
on the carpet.

“You’re the most important person in the world to me.” With every breath, his chest flexed, and with every move he made his arms and neck tightened and relaxed. “I spent most of my life angry, full of rage, pointed at one person or another. But until you, no one has ever calmed me. No one has taken all the things I feel and made me realize... that I’m okay. That I’m good.”

“Oh, Ash,” I said. “You
are
good – you’re better than good, you’re—”

“My turn, remember?” He quirked one of his half-grins. “You can say whatever you want in about an hour and a half. That’s when I’ll be done with you.”

If I was all hot and bothered before, that got me blushing. “Okay,” I said, grinning.

“This is crazy,” Ash said. “And it might be stupid, but you know what? I’ve spent enough of my life worrying and panicking over things that never were to know that I regret chances I was too scared to make a thousand times more than I regret my mistakes.”

My heart was pounding in my chest. This sounded an awful lot like he was about to propose to me and that
was
crazy. It was absolutely nuts. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, but at the same time, when it’s right, there’s no reason to pretend it isn’t. My stomach did a flip, my hands were trembling, and... I’d never been happier in my entire life.

“Violet,” he said, in that voice – that gorgeous voice. “Will you... be my mate? My one and only? Will you be mine, and let me be yours? I don’t want anyone else, and I don’t think I ever have. You and only you. And me for you.

The tears running down my face made it really, really hard to say yes, but somehow, I managed.

For once, I really hated living in an apartment. I’m not much for cutting grass or fixing my own fusebox when it blows. But having to worry about my landlady living beneath me? Real bad when your mate is a giant bear with an appetite to match his looks.

Ash’s huge foot hit the bottom step up to my second story studio with a huge
thump
. I just
knew
that my landlady, who lived right underneath me, was going to throw a tantrum. The town alpha himself could pass an ordinance outlawing loud sex between the hours of three and five in the morning and I’d just take the ticket.

“I am
never
like this,” I said, taking a deep breath. “I mean I—”

I let out a loud “ooh!” as Ash slid his hands under my shirt as he lifted me off the ground and pressed me against the wall. His rough, callused palms rasped just right against my skin, making every inch of me prickle. “Are you sure you’re healthy enough for all this? I mean with those taped up ribs...”

“The doctors said it wouldn’t kill me,” he said, with a sly grin. “Something about you just makes me crazy. Something about that bright red hair of yours, or maybe it’s those big almond shaped eyes, or maybe it’s those gorgeous curves... I don’t know, but I’ve got it for you
bad
.”

In between hungry kisses, I wrapped my legs as far around his waist as I could, but it was like I was trying to straddle a horse. He was so big around that my knees barely went to the sides of his torso, much less all the way around.

I thumped against the textured wall in my living room and let out a pleasured yelp. I grabbed his hair, filling my fists with it and pulling on him, wanting nothing more than to feel him against me without a shred of dark blue police-issue rayon to keep our skin apart.

“Take off that shirt, officer,” I said with a gasp. “You made me crazy. This is your fault.”

He laughed as he grinded himself against my softest place. Ash’s thickness swelled and it was all I could do to keep from just throwing every shred of decency to the wind and falling on him.

“My fault huh?” he asked, kissing my chin, then my neck and drawing a breath from my lips. “None of this has anything to do with that perfect body of yours, huh?”

Perfect? Did he really just say that? I’ve been called a curvaceous pixie before but... perfect?

“Hey, I wasn’t the one who strolled up with a bouquet of flowers and made me the happiest fox on the planet.”

I stiffened up, holding his head an inch away from my neck. His seductively hot breath slid along my neck.

“What is it?” he asked. “Is something wrong?”

I felt him stir inside those straining uniform slacks. I tried to remember the last time I was this excited about anybody, about anything, but drew a total blank.

“I... no,” I said, shaking my head. “Nothing’s wrong, you just surprised me, is all. I’m just trying to keep up with my own brain.”

Ash shrugged. The muscles on either side of his head pulled his shirt up almost to his ears.
God all mighty,
I thought.
What did I do to deserve this?

“I only say things I mean,” he said. “Never in the world has anyone made me feel like you. Why would I wait? Why would I keep pretending like I didn’t know you were the only one for me? Doesn’t make much sense, does it?”

“No,” I breathed. Ash pressed me up against the wall, throbbing in just the right places. He was so hot against me that I was almost ready to squeal or purr or bark or growl.

From the other end of the living room came a rhythmic
thump-thump-thump
.

Ash froze in place, which was just fine with me because he was pressed just exactly where I wanted him. Every time he breathed, he moved against me, pushing right in the center of my panties where I had long-since been embarrassingly warm.

“Shh!” he said, when I groaned at his pulsing. “What was that?”

It came again.
Thump-thump-thump
.

“What the hell is that noise?” he asked.

“Quiet up there!” Shouted Miss Whipplebottom. It sounded like she was yelling through a megaphone, which wasn’t really out of the question.

“How have you not noticed her? Every time you walk somewhere, she gets to banging on the ceiling. This might be the first time we were actually doing what she thought we were.”

I started giggling like crazy, and before long, Ash caught my condition. We were both biting our lips, trying our best not to enrage the landlady. Both of us were shaking, which meant that the gentle pulses of him against me were getting harder and harder to deal with.