Chapter Eleven
The week had come and gone so quickly, it stole Kit’s breath away.
How had seven entire days passed in the blink of an eye?
It was probably thanks to how busy she’d stayed.
The days had been filled with surprising, happy moments.
Bridger travelled all the way to her hotel in the mornings, bringing her coffee at dawn before he had to travel back to his place and work.
If she had a later shift, she went with him and hung around his place while he traded stocks and bonds, and a plethora of other complicated financial advisor talk that she only partially understood.
For a man who looked like he rode shirtless on four wheelers all weekend with backwards hats, and stringer tank tops, he was clearly good at business and had a mind for it.
She would make them lunch, and they would eat it on his porch.
He would take her to her shift at work and then meet her afterward.
Twice this week, the Rogue Pack had come into The Mark just to hang out.
They were a hoot, and she genuinely enjoyed being around them.
She’d had two days off and she’d spent the entire time with Bridger at his house, and palling around town together, exploring stores, and grocery shopping for ingredients for a meal he’d wanted to prepare for her.
Wednesday, she took him out for a nice steak dinner, and they had closed the restaurant down chatting.
With each passing day, he was easier to talk to, and the more she learned about him, the more she craved knowing more.
Friday brought a home game for the local football team, and she went with Bridger and the Rogue Pack to watch Tabian help coach, and Bayen, his adopted son, manage the team and hype them up.
She felt like a part of something there.
She’d sat right in the middle of the Pack, dressed in the school colors, her hand resting on the inner elbow of Bridger’s arm as they cheered for each good play.
They’d had pizza as a Pack afterward, and the girls had invited her to hang out with them the next morning for brunch.
She had, of course, and couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed so much.
She’d met Gina and Matt the sixth day, and understood so easily why Bridger remained loyal to them. They were deep-down-to-their-core good people. They had been so kind to her.
By the seventh day, she knew she had tethered herself to this place. To Coeur d’Alene. To Bridger. To his people. To the freedom and safety she felt here.
Tomorrow she was scheduled to check out of the hotel. They had avoided this conversation all week, and oh, she had gotten lost in just pretending their time together would last for always.
He had met her after her shift and taken her to the food carts and then given her a ride back to the hotel, where her car was still parked.
Twice on the way back to it, he had drawn her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss on her knuckles. He didn’t go a day without possessing her body, and truthfully, he’d gotten her addicted to him. She stayed ready around him now, her body yearning for that connection with his.
She’d never felt like this before.
Not even close.
Kit didn’t want to leave. This felt like so much more than a break from reality, or a vacation. This felt like a real life she wanted. She’d always yearned for this—she just hadn’t been able to imagine what this was.
“You’ve been quiet today,” Bridger uttered softly as he parked beside her car in front of the hotel.
Kit inhaled and rolled her head to smile over at him. “It’s my last day in the hotel.”
“I know,” he rumbled. “What are you thinking?”
“That I don’t want to push you or ask for more. I like when you set the pace.”
“What do you mean?”
“If I tell you what I want, or ask to stay, I don’t want you thinking I’m trying to push you out of mourning.”
“Sensitive wolf,” he murmured, his smile so soft for her. “I’m okay. What do you want?”
“Well, I was thinking since you paid for the hotel, and you’ve been sneaky and paying for most of our groceries, I have saved up over a thousand dollars.” She shrugged. “I could buy a few more days here. I mean if you want me.”
“If I want you,” he repeated softly, drawing her knuckles to his lips again. “What has made you think I don’t want you?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I just don’t like the idea of pushing you too far too fast. I imagine this has to involve some complicated feelings.”
“Being with you?”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
“I think the guilt feels easier when I’m around you. I don’t stay underwater. You don’t allow it.”
She hid her smile. God, she loved the way he saw her.
“I get scared that if I push you too fast, you will compare me to your last mate. And how could I ever compete with that? I don’t want to.
I want her to have her place in your heart.
I just want you to make more room for me too. I think that will take time.”
“I think you’re a very smart and understanding and caring woman, and if you were anyone else, we wouldn’t be sitting here together right now.”
“I don’t want to go back to the McIver Pack,” she admitted in a whisper.
“Not ever. I have felt the way this place fills me up. How you make me feel. How the belonging feels.” She searched his whiskey brown eyes.
“I think because of the time I’ve spent here, I’m destined to be deeply unhappy in my old life. I’m not ready to go.”
Bridger’s lips curved up in a smile as he leaned over and kissed her. He gripped her hair on either side of her face and Kit got lost in the taste of him. He eased back and kept his eyes closed for a few seconds more. When he opened them, they were glowing gold.
“I had to take my time the first time around. Humans are different. With wolves, we just know.” He leaned in and pecked her on the lips. “Do you know?”
She gripped his wrists, wanting to keep his grasp hostage in her hair.
Her chest was full of her heartbeat, pounding so hard that the sound filled the cab of his truck.
“I do know. I knew before I met you, but getting to know the real you?” She shook her head.
She couldn’t find words big enough. “You are the clearest thing I’ve ever seen.
I’m easy though. I have never felt this before.
I want to keep it. It is scarier for you.
” She swallowed hard and nuzzled her cheek against his hand. “Do you know?”
The smile faded from his lips, and his eyes took on such seriousness. He nodded slightly. “I know.”
“Can I stay another day?”
Bridger brushed his thumb across her cheek, right under her eye. “You can stay as many days as you want.”
“Okay,” she murmured, still uncertain if she was pushing him too fast.
“Kit,” he rumbled. “You make me happy. It’s been a long damn time since I remembered what that was. I want you to stay.”
Truth.
Her heart pounded harder in her chest.
That’s what she had needed to hear from him.
“Then I’ll stay,” she whispered.