Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 112917 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112917 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
“You can come in,” I said.
Bear opened the door and strode in, yanking off his clothes and throwing them down. Within seconds, his big, beautiful body was pushing into the shower stall and cornering me up against the wall. His hand came up to tilt my head, so I was forced to meet his eyes.
His eyes flicked frantically between my eyes and mouth before he leaned in to kiss me firmly but quickly. “I need to know what you’re thinking.”
“I… I’m… I’m thinking you’re, like, even hotter naked than I imagined?”
Bear closed his eyes briefly as if in relief. “Thank you. But that’s not what I meant.”
“I’m just… processing, okay? That was really fucking amazing. I enjoyed it and want to do it again. The fact you don’t want a repeat is taking me a moment to get my head around—”
He pressed his thick cock against my hip. “Who said I didn’t want a repeat?”
His presence was affecting me, making me dizzy again with hot want. “You acted like…” I closed my eyes and swallowed after catching him glancing at my mouth. “Stop doing that. I can’t fucking think.”
“I want a repeat, Zane.”
Wait, what?
I blinked my eyes open and met his.
“I want you so fucking much,” he continued. “And it would kill me if you doubted that even for an instant. I never want you to feel bad because of me. Understand?”
Water from the spray made his eyelashes even darker and spiky, setting off the intensity of his irises, and I could only nod helplessly.
“But you’re my protectee. And that makes this complicated,” Bear said softly. He caressed my back with one large hand. “I’ll try to explain, if you’ll let me.”
Still not quite able to believe I was allowed to do it, I ran my hands around his waist to his back, reveling in the feel of his hard muscles under my fingers. “Why didn’t I know you liked men? You never said anything.”
“I promise, I’ll answer all your questions. But first…” He moved his hand to the side of my face, sliding his fingers into my hair despite the hair tie keeping it piled on top of my head. Then he leaned down to kiss me. It was soft and precious, gentle and sweet. For someone who resembled a grumpy bear half the time, Ryan Galloway was heart-achingly tender with me. Always had been.
I bit my lip to keep from asking even more questions. For the past twenty-four hours, I’d been brimming with them, but I’d concluded Bear’s sex life was none of my business. Things were different now—he was rubbing his business all over my business—but I still didn’t want to pressure him. He didn’t owe me details.
Bear reached for the soap and began to rub it all over me as if washing me was something normal and expected. For the record, it wasn’t. I wasn’t sure anyone had washed anything other than my face in thirty years.
He finished washing and rinsing himself off before reaching for the towels.
As we stepped out of the shower to dry off, my mind spun while I considered what I truly wanted to know. How invasive could my questions be? Would he be offended if I was too curious?
After drying off, I found a clean pair of pajama pants while Bear pulled his sweatpants back on. Then, he led me to the bed and nudged me onto it until we lay side by side, facing each other with the duvet draped over us.
The sky outside was pitch-black, and the house was quiet. Bear reached for the elastic band in my hair, offering me a sheepish raised eyebrow as if seeking permission.
I nodded and helped him pull it out. As soon as my hair was down, he began playing with it. And like he’d turned a key in a lock, all of my questions came bubbling out.
“So… is your sexuality a secret? Because of Ventdestine? Or your family?”
“Not my family. They’d probably be fine with it,” he said softly. “I figured I’d tell them when I had someone to introduce them to. I’ve never said anything one way or the other, so maybe they know. I don’t shy away from commenting that certain men are attractive.”
This was true. I remembered him agreeing once when Micki had mentioned how attractive Omar Rudberg was. “I’ve met him,” he’d said. “He’s as nice as he is good-looking.”
I hadn’t thought much of it at the time. The Young Royals actor was objectively pretty. You didn’t have to be into men to think so. But now, I rifled back through my memories as if searching for corroborating evidence.
There was that whole Daniel Craig thing back in Barlo, which took on a whole new meaning in light of recent evidence. And that made me remember my conversation with Landry the other night.