Page 23 of Protected By The Polar Bear

“I love you, Tessa. I’m yours,” he says, and I smile as I cuddle closer to him.

“I know. I love you, too. I’m yours.”

He relaxes next to me, and I smile as I close my eyes and listen to the steady beat of Ash’s heart until I fall asleep.

ELEVEN

Ash

“You’re supposed to be taking it easy!” Tessa admonishes me as I grab the grocery bags out of the trunk.

She had insisted that I stay home and relax while she ran to the store. I didn’t want to, but I could tell that she was worried about me, so I relented. Now she’s back, and I’m refusing to just lie in bed and take it easy.

“It’s fine. I’m a shifter, so I’m already healed,” I assure her.

She frowns and I do a few biceps curls with the grocery bags.

“See? Good as new.”

“It still seems crazy to me that you can be healed so quickly,” she says as she grabs the last few bags and closes the trunk.

I follow her into the house and down the hall to the kitchen.

“Are you hungry?” She asks as she starts to unpack everything.

“Not right now.”

I help her put everything away, and she sighs as she adds the bags to the recycling bin.

“Are you sure that you don’t want to get some more rest?” She asks, and I smile.

“I’ll tell you what. I’ll go back to bed if you come with me.”

She smiles up at me and I wiggle my eyebrows at her.

“We can’t have sex!” She tells me, and I frown.

“Why not?”

“Your shoulder! You just got out of the hospital.”

“I’m fine,” I tell her, and she eyes me skeptically.

So, I decide to prove it to her.

I bend down and scoop her up in my arms.

“Ash!” She shouts and I grin as I take off up the stairs and into our room.

“We’ll rest,” I stress, winking at her. “And then we’ll go get your things from your apartment.”

“It’s almost four o’clock, and you want to start the moving process now?” She asks with a giggle.

“I want you moved in here. I want to see your things next to mine.”

She melts at those words, and my polar bear grins inside of me.

She wants that too, he says, and I nod.

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