Page 14 of Saved By the Grizzly Bear

“Susan. She was my nanny growing up, but she was more like a grandmother to me. She taught me how to cook. We used to love to bake together,” I say, smiling fondly.

“She sounds great.”

“She is. She’s been declining in the last few years. She was diagnosed with dementia right after I left for college, and whenever I went home to visit her, she wouldn’t…” I trail off and he reaches out, squeezing my hand.

“I’m sure that it still meant a lot to her.”

I nod, swallowing back some tears.

“I hope so. It hurt to see her like that, and I felt so guilty having to leave her all alone. I was her only family, you know? She never married or had kids. It was just me.”

I flip the bacon in the pan and clear my throat.

“I don’t think she has that long left,” I say softly.

“I’m sorry.”

“It kind of feels like I already lost her,” I blurt, and then I cover my mouth. “God, do I sound like a terrible person?”

“No, Morgan. No. Dementia is a horrible disease. It has to be so hard to watch someone go through that.”

He wraps me up in his strong arms, and I let him hold me like that until I’ve gotten my emotions under control.

“I’m burning the bacon,” I say when I pull back and he smiles kindly down at me.

“I love burnt bacon.”

I laugh, drying my eyes as I turn off the burner and hurry to remove the bacon before it really can burn.

“How many eggs and how do you want them?” I ask him.

“Four, please, and sunny side up.”

My eyebrows raise but I don’t say anything as I crack the eggs into the pan. Alec changes the subject and starts to tell me some funny stories from his time in the Marines. It helps to lighten the mood and as we sit down to eat, I realize that I like being around Alec.

Now I think that I might have a problem.

I think I’m falling for my fake fiancé.

SIX

Alec

We should have made plans with her, my bear snarls at me for the millionth time since we dropped Morgan back off at the Ski Resort.

He’s been so anxious since last night and I can’t blame him. I’m nervous about our mate being alone with her parents and that Randolph prick too. I had let him out to run last night, hoping to burn off some energy, but it hadn’t really worked. We ended up running over to the resort and watching it for a while before we ran back home.

We should call her, my bear says, prowling back and forth inside of me.

We’re on duty, I remind him.

“Alec? You with us, man?” Niko asks, and I blink.

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“You want the resort again today?” He asks, and I nod.

“Yeah, that would be great.”

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