The BEARly Reluctant Grizzly (Bear Clan 4)

She laughed. “You’re Asher or you’re a strange man in my house?”

Fuck, her voice had every part of me coming alive, little shock waves of electricity moving through me.

My bear wanted out. I wanted to take her, claim here right here in this cabin. Fuck everything else, fuck being polite and a gentleman, going slow and making her see that she was made for me. My bear wanted out so he could mark her, to see if she was as sweet and delicious as I knew she’d be.

I heard a low growl fill the air and realized it was me, my bear pushing for supremacy. He was trying to show dominance, but I kept my control. I couldn’t be more animal than man right now.

I cleared my throat and lifted my hand to rub the back of my neck. “I’m Asher.” Shit, was that my voice?

I found myself walking down the stairs and toward her, this tightness in

my body so pronounced I felt my muscles relax and contract. It took every ounce of self-control not to shift right here, not to show her my bear, let her know what she was getting into.

But she was human, fragile and vulnerable, maybe unaware of the way it worked with mates.

Show her how it will be with us, as our mate.

Those words played over and over again in my head.

She was made for me, born for me. I wanted to admit that I’d never been with anyone, never touched, kissed ... felt a woman, because I didn’t want to, but also because it was physically impossible.

No other woman made me feel desire. Any pleasure I had found all these years had come from my own hand as I pictured my nameless, faceless mate.

But then as the years passed and I grew more isolated, hardened, I’d come to the resolve I would forever be alone.

And then fate had stepped in and given me my mate. She was only a few feet from me, looking up at me with big blue eyes I could get lost in. All I wanted to do was hold her, kiss her, touch every part of her until she was writhing and begging me for more.

But right now, I was conflicted and confused, fighting internally with my bear. I found myself taking a step back, knowing how I wanted this to go, but instead having all these unusual, powerful feelings moving through me.

“I’ll be in touch later this week with all the specifications.” My voice was hard, deep, my bear right there at the surface.

I could see her eyebrows lower, could sense that she was aware something was off right now. But instead of saying anything, I handed her my business card with shaky fingers and turned and left my mate standing there, confused and alone.

And, as I walked away from her, it felt so wrong. The need to go back to her had me stopping several times, had me questioning every single thing in my life.

And through it all, one thing kept playing through my mind ... Go back to her now.

4

Ainsley

I collapsed on my bed, my arms outstretched along the mattress, my focus on the cedar wood ceiling. It had been a full day of unpacking the food and kitchen stuff—well, as much as I could, seeing as renovations needed to be done so there was no point in really getting settled. But I needed some items out, needed to make this place feel a little bit like home while I stayed here, while it was being worked on around me.

All of my belongings were still in boxes scattered throughout the cabin, but I’d managed to get the bed together—well, at least the mattress. Hauling a full-size mattress up the stairs had been a feat in itself, but it was worth it, because making a pallet on the floor or sleeping on the couch was not an option I was really wanting to take. Especially not after the long drive I’d had.

But if I were being honest, I’d been keeping myself busy all day trying to get Asher out of my mind. I didn’t know why he consumed me so much. I’d just met him, didn’t know anything about him aside from the rumors I’d heard while living in town years ago, and what little research I’d done on his company.

Yet I couldn’t get him out of my mind.

All I kept picturing was our interaction, that first meeting where he seemed almost as confused with how weird things had gone and felt as I had been.

Even now, I could smell his scent lingering in the air, this starkly masculine aroma that had hints of the forest weaved in. I felt like those scents were ingrained in me, like I would never be able to not smell them.

I sat up and moved over so that I could grab his business card off the nightstand. I held it in my hand, the paper smooth, thick. I envisioned it between his fingers, his thumb and forefinger moving over the paper. I started to have obscene thoughts, ones that had to do with his hands, me, and both of us naked.

God, I was losing my mind.

I set the card down and lay back, my eyes closed, sexual images slamming through my mind over and over again. But I needed to get myself together, because it was clear these feelings were one-sided. He’d acted like being close to me was akin to being on fire, especially as he hauled ass out of the cabin.