Chapter 6
BLAKE
This dream was too good to be true. I was warmer than I thought possible on a cold winter's night. Nuzzling my cheek against my warm body pillow, I snuggled closer.
I tried to throw my leg over it, but I was stuck. When I opened my eyes to see why, the memory of the night before came crashing back over me. I didn't bring my body pillow with me. I'd even forgotten my pajamas.
Instead, I had rolled up against Ollie's back and was trying to spoon him through the blankets wrapped around me. The thought startled me across the bed so fast I almost fell over the edge.
Ollie had offered me one side of the bed, not the whole thing. Here I was, taking advantage of his kindness by using him as a pillow.
"Breakfast," I whispered aloud. "I'm getting us breakfast. My treat. Please don't kill me when you wake up!"
I shook my head and walked into the kitchen.
Already, I'd offered the impossible. Breakfast was my favorite meal to cook, but we'd already scoured our cupboards and found them bare.
I must have expected Santa's elves or the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future to stock the shelves overnight.
Still, I rummaged, reaching to the back of each tall cupboard until I found a box of pancake mix. It was a vegan ready-mix, but the tiny box wouldn't feed us both. In the cupboard beneath the open counter, I discovered a large griddle.
Somewhat anxious, I tiptoed back to the bedroom. I heard rustling behind the closed door. A moment later, Ollie stepped out, looking sleep-rumpled and gorgeous. The man did not have any right to look that amazing first thing in the morning. If he wasn't careful, I would climb him like a tree.
Bad Blake. I needed to focus on my mental health, not my libido. First, we needed groceries.
"I found pancake batter in the cupboard," I said, "but nothing else. I'm on my way to the store for the rest. Do you like pancakes?"
"I love them!" His sweet grin almost made me forget what I'd asked.
"Good. Um … any allergies?"
"None."
"Anything you'd like me to get in town?"
His eyes widened. "Shit. Yes. You need a new notebook."
I'd expected him to forget all about it. It was my notebook, and yesterday's mishap had already slipped my mind.
"I'll go with you." Ollie scrubbed his stubbled cheeks with his nails. I couldn't look away. "Can you wait a few minutes?" He asked, oblivious to my ogling. "I don't feel alive until I shower in the morning."
Last night must have been an after-flight one-off situation for both of us, then. Maybe we were more compatible than I thought. My cock did not need the added incentive of thinking about him taking care of his morning wood in the shower, though.
"Aren't you going to shower?" His gaze lifted to my hair.
It was probably sticking out at all angles after I slept on it last night. "Good idea."
"You go first. I thought I saw a coffee maker."
"I found it, but no coffee." Mentally, I added it to my list. Outside of sugary sweet lattes, I didn't drink the stuff, but I would splurge for him.
"I'll walk to the lodge to see what they've got. Any preference?"
"Water's fine for me."
While Ollie checked the cupboards and confirmed there was no coffee, I gathered my favorite pair of jeans and a soft sweater from my suitcase, along with socks and underwear.
The elves, ghosts, or whoever was in charge of making this the best vacation ever had forgotten to bring me my misplaced pajamas, too.
"On second thought," I said, "let's go somewhere for breakfast, and then we can shop for groceries, pajamas, and a notebook."
Ollie looked up from the bare cupboard and grinned. "Sounds like a plan."
My face burned beneath his gaze. I fled to the bathroom with a wave and some garbled muttering about taking a shower. Not even I could understand me.
I heard a strange creak while I adjusted the water for the shower.
At first, I worried it was the pipes, but then I recognized the distinct sound of a door closing.
The cabin had a back porch outside the door in the small hallway between the bedroom and the kitchen.
Cool air nipped at my skin as I rushed toward the sound.
The upper half of the metal door was thick glass, which made it easy to view the beautiful snow-covered trees beyond the small yard.
That wasn't the view that caught my attention.
The tall and muscular hunk of naked man standing with his back to me drew my gaze and wouldn't let me go.
Before my mind could register that my new roommate was standing buck naked in the freezing cold outside our cabin, he …
changed. He grew taller and hairier. Giant paws reached for the sky in a stretch.
By the time he leaned forward and those paws hit the ground, shaking snow from a nearby tree, his entire body was covered in thick brown fur.
He had the cutest little tail. It shimmied from side to side as he ran into the woods.
Holy shit. My roommate was a huge brown bear.
I couldn't explain what had happened to my phone apps at the airport, but this place definitely had rideshare.
Ollie ordered a car for us, and I swore to make it up to him on our trip into Pinevale.
I owed him all the money left in my bank account.
The ride share was nice, but sleeping on a mattress instead of the floor or cramped loveseat: priceless.
"Is everything all right?" Ollie asked me for the fifth time since we took our seats in the cramped window booth.
When we first arrived at the quaint diner, complete with checkerboard tile, Chevy tri-five bench seats in every booth, and marble laminate tabletops, Ollie had approached the lunch counter.
He looked like he would take the last open stool, but then he saw the "Please wait to be seated" sign, grabbed my arm, and dragged me to it instead.
I hated casual touch, but the pleasant jolt that coursed through me every time Ollie accidentally brushed up against me was enough to keep me from throwing a tantrum. I'd done enough of that on the plane.
On our driver's recommendation, we ordered the waffles. Now that the server had taken the menu I'd been using for cover, Ollie's gaze bored into me. He wanted an answer to his question. I opened my mouth, thought better of angering the bear across from me, and closed it again.
"Twenty questions time," he said. "All you have to say is yes or no."
I nodded.
"Did something happen while you were in the shower?"
I swallowed hard. Instead of speaking, I nodded again.
"Did you hear something?"
I felt a little bolder. "Yes."
"Did you see something?"
I blinked. "Oh, yes." I couldn't unsee Ollie's magnificent ass.
He frowned. "In the cabin?"
"No. Er. I was, yes."
"You saw something outside the cabin." He grabbed two sugar packets from the porcelain dish beneath the windowsill and tapped them on the table. "Was it something scary?"
"I don't know."
He met my gaze for a moment before dropping his head and focusing on the sugar packets. "If you saw me outside, I'm not scary, I promise."
"You're a bear." I finally found the courage to say the words aloud. "A fucking bear!"
"I'm a bear shifter," he corrected, "and humans aren't supposed to know about us. If my mom knew you saw me shift, she'd never let me travel alone again."
My knee knocked against his beneath the table. "Can you … shift whenever you want to?" I was careful to use the same word he used for his transformation.
Ollie studied me with a blank expression. Finally, his head bobbed once. "Yes."
"That's awesome!"
He grinned, and it was like the sun came out on a cloudy day. "It is! We've always been told humans wouldn't accept us."
"I'm a little jealous, not gonna lie."
Ollie nodded. "I can understand that. Who wouldn't be jealous of a second voice in your head, constantly wanting you to eat, or hibernate, or—"
He cut off so abruptly, I thought our server had arrived with our food.
"Or?"
He shook his head. "My mom always says, 'Food, sleep, and sex. That's all a bear wants.'"
"She sounds … delightful?" Twice already during our conversation, Ollie had mentioned his mom, and neither was particularly flattering.
"She'd want to know what you intend to do with this information."
I didn't understand. "Like … make a social media post, or a video, or something?" I shook my head. "I'm not that guy. I don't even like social media."
Ollie's shoulders returned to their normal slope. Since he'd said the words "bear shifter," they'd climbed up around his ears. "Good to know. I'll try not to … you know—"
"You're a bear in the woods." It seemed obvious to me. "If you planned on spending your vacation exploring the wilderness, go for it! Don't let me stop you."
"Thank you."
He said it with such reverence. Did he really think he needed my permission to enjoy himself on his vacation? "We're trapped together in our cabin for the foreseeable future, but that doesn't make either of us responsible for the other."
"Okay." He said it like he didn't believe me.
"I mean it. This vacation is my time to get my act together.
Since my parents died, things have not been going well for me, and I'm looking for a break.
I wanted to do some soul searching over the next two weeks and figure out who I am.
My parents were a big part of my life. I don't know where I should go from here. "
Our server arrived with our plates, and I used the distraction to wipe away the tears gathered at the corners of my eyes.
I couldn't even talk about them without crying.
How was I supposed to heal from their loss in two weeks?
It would have been hard enough to do it alone.
Now that I had a roommate to entertain, it seemed almost impossible.
"Hey." Ollie's soft tone pulled my attention from the slab of butter half-smeared on my waffle. "I'll give you space. I came out here to avoid my family, and I'm doing that, regardless. I can spend some time in the woods with the other bears."
"Other bears?" Did that mean Ollie was looking for a relationship with another bear shifter? Not that I, with my grumpy streak, was a good catch, but I'd hoped to have a chance for a romantic interlude in our shared cabin.
"Yeah!" He forked a huge section of waffle into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed it down with a milk chaser before continuing.
"There's a local community. I've already met a grizzly and two black bears.
I think there might even be a polar bear, but this is their element — it was a little too hard to see. "
"Is that something you're looking for in a relationship? Another bear shifter?"
Ollie took a deep breath as he studied me. His eyes were a golden brown that reminded me of honey. Instead of answering, he took another bite of waffle, and then another.
"Okay, I get it. If you want to spend time in the woods, that's cool. I'll stick to my self-study, meditations, and journaling, and you do your thing. I promise I'll be a good roommate, and then we'll go our separate ways."
I expected Ollie to look relieved, but a dark cloud rolled over his expression. Instead of answering me, he drowned what was left of his waffle in syrup.