Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“Can I freshen up?” I ask, stroking my crazy curls and imagining how messy I must look.
“Sure.”
I head into the bathroom as Robert practically bounds downstairs. In the mirror, I seem to look different. There’s a gleam to my skin that wasn’t there yesterday, and my hair is perfectly bouncy. Even my eyes seem brighter. Is this what good sex does? Good sex and sleeping pressed up against a bear-man’s chest. Where do I sign up for it daily?
I clean my teeth and splash my face with water. I don’t want to put my overalls back on, but venturing down the grand staircase in just this sleep shirt doesn’t seem decent. I find Robert’s robe hanging on the back of the door and slide my arms into its warmth. It’s huge, drowning me in soft fabric which smells of him. I roll up the sleeves, so my hands are visible and sinch in the waist with the tie. I can’t resist sniffing it again, with last night’s conversation still fresh in my mind. Scent sure is a powerful thing and Robert’s flips switches that are as confusing as they are arousing. His scent sends heat through my body, but it also makes me feel safe. It settles my disquiet and slows my heartrate which should be totally out of control but beats calmly.
I take a few deep breaths, considering what I’m going to walk into downstairs: breakfast with three men who are also bears, two of which are virtual strangers, but believe that I’m their fated mate. I chuckle nervously. That sounds strange even in my head.
How am I accepting this as reality? How am I not freaking out? Crazy as it all is, I somehow feel a sense of ease, one that's unexplainable to me.
I saw it with my own eyes. It was real. But Robert, for all the crazy confessions, feels like a long-lost friend. I shake my head, confusion making me dizzy, then steel myself for what’s coming next.
I drift down the stairs, gazing at the oil paintings I passed yesterday, noticing the family resemblances as I go. There are paintings of bears, too, which yesterday I thought were just pictures of the natural world, but today I’m wondering if they’re family members.
This is too crazy for me to comprehend, but I know what I saw, and it’s amazing.
A man who can turn into a bear at will is a marvel—a terrifying and beautiful marvel.
Conversation travels from the kitchen, but I don’t linger to overhear. What if they have enhanced hearing and can sense me?
The conversation stops dead when I enter.
Robert is at the stove, stirring a big pot. Evan and Hunter sit at the large wooden table, drinking coffee. Roasted, bitter beans, cream, and cinnamon scent the air.
“Morning.” My voice sounds squeakier than I’d choose, but I’m in such unfamiliar territory that my nerves are vibrating.
“Morning.” Evan grins broadly and winks.
“Morning.” Hunter speaks in a lower, growly tone than his brothers, and his eyes seem to burn with something fiercer, too. Is it because he’s the eldest of the triplets that he finds it harder to be normal around me? It was only when he saw me that the golden-eyed thing happened. I hadn’t had the same effect on Robert and Evan before that.
“Breakfast is almost ready,” Robert says. “Take a seat. Evan will get you some coffee.”
“Cream and one sugar, please” I say as Evan stands to pour me some from the pot on the counter.
“Aren’t you sweet enough?”
Robert winks at me, suggesting I am. He seems lighter today, a weight lifted from his shoulders. Is it his brothers’ presence? Or maybe it’s coming clean about who and what they are? Maybe it’s the sex or the cuddling that has given him the gleam in his eyes and the smile that’s playing on his lips. I like his happiness.
I shrug.
“Robert?” Evan points the mug at his brother. “You’d know.”
“You shouldn’t kiss and tell,” I say.
“He shouldn’t have kissed in the first place,” Hunter grumbles. He moodily thumps his empty coffee cup on the table.
“A lot of it was my fault,” I say. “Too much temptation.”
Hunter shakes his head. “Robert is man enough to know better.”
“If he did, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now, would I?”
“And we’re happy you are,” Evan says lightly. “Really happy.”
“Hunter doesn’t seem happy,” I say, shrugging. “In fact, I’d go as far as to say that Hunter seems pretty angry and miserable about everything.”
“Hunter’s ecstatic.” Evan squeezes his brother’s tight shoulder as he passes me the large yellow mug. The squeeze is hard and seems more cautionary than affectionate.
“Hunter would be even more ecstatic if he wasn’t being forced to have breakfast like we’re metrosexual hipsters. Pop will turn in his grave.”
“You don’t eat breakfast?” I ask, confused.
“We eat breakfast every day,” Robert says, giving Hunter a warning look.