Page 24 of Bear's Heart

Not true.She’d left him, and then he’d left Nashville.And her.But it had been her decision to break it off.Her decision to want something else, someone else, someone not… broken.

Just like it’d been her decision to terminate the pregnancy two years ago when Bear had been in the hospital, in a coma after his accident.

Savannah turned off the shower, opened the shower door, and reached for a towel.

Noah was there, putting one into her hand.“Thanks, babe,” she said, mopping her face and her arms and legs before wrapping it around her.

As she left the shower, a naked Noah stepped in, taking her place.Her gaze swept him, assessing.

He saw and lifted an eyebrow.

She made a face at him as she went to the sink and mirror, pulling the elastic band out of her hair and letting the long, artfully highlighted strands fall past her shoulders, down her back.

She loved her hair, spent a fortune on it, and never regretted it.She’d always had long, golden hair.It was her trademark.

Like half of Nashville.But whatever.

Applying moisturizer, Savannah saw Noah in the mirror’s reflection, too.He wasn’t as tall as Bear, but he had a great body—big broad back, thickly muscled, tapering to narrow hips and his small firm ass.He wasn’t hung like Bear, but at least he wasn’t a pencil dick like the guy before him.Ugh.Jared or Jeremy or whatever his name was.He’d been a huge mistake.

Noah wasn’t a mistake.But was he forever?

Bear was going to be forever, until he got hurt.Why did he have to get hurt?

She’d gotten the abortion when he was in his coma.The doctors weren’t thinking he’d survive, and if he did, he’d never be the same.She couldn’t handle such devastating news; couldn’t cope with everything they were saying.It was better to end the pregnancy now, early, and she convinced herself that ending the pregnancy was the best thing for both of them.But later, when Bear was rehabbing, and the doctors told him it was unlikely that he’d ever be able to father a child, she felt guilty.Sick.

What had she done to him?

The months following the accident were hard.All those surgeries and therapy sessions—physical and occupational—the appointments filled the day.She stopped working so she could take care of him and play chauffeur, driving him from one appointment to another.She hated it.Hated how the accident changed Bear, too.

As time passed, he retreated from the world, retreating from her, disappearing inside himself and until they only had silence.Anger.Bear said he just needed time, but Savannah, having already spent six months on the roller coaster aftermath, wanted off the ride.She wanted out.She wanted normal.She wanted the Bear before he was hurt, not this new Bear that couldn’t even reach the bathroom sometimes without losing control.

Leaving him at the end of nine months seemed efficient and practical.It was the clearest way to an end—literally.

She couldn’t have a new beginning without the end, so she left, but she left still conflicted, still more than a little in love with him.One day, she’d get him out of her system.He was just a man after all.To help move forward, she’d find a new man.What was the expression,the fastest way to get over a man is to get under a new one?

She wanted sex, real sex, again.Wanted to get laid.Not cuddling, or romantic love making.But an old fashioned, hard, hot session on all fours.Or up against a wall.Or bent over the tailgate of a truck.

She wanted sex like she and Bear used to have.

So, she’d spend six months dating and being pursued—Noah being the most determined—and she’d played him and the others until Noah told her to make a choice.If she couldn’t commit to him, he was done.He loved her but didn’t enjoy being strung along.She liked this forceful Noah.He reminded her of the old Bear.So, she dropped the others and moved in with Noah, but she still hadn’t gotten Bear out of her system.

Maybe she never would.

Chapter Six

Josie was atthe design firm, pricing out windows for Neil when her phone rang.It was Rye, and he rarely called during the workday, so she took the call, hoping it wasn’t about Jasper.He’d been doing well lately—so well that he’d expressed interest in taking classes at Gallatin College and working toward an economics degree.

“Hi,” she said to Rye.“Everything okay at home?”

“Everything’s fine.I normally wouldn’t bother you at work, but I saw a house this morning that I thought might be good for Bear, but you know about accessibility better than me—”

“That’s not true.”

“Well, you know how to make a handicap accessible home look good, and this one doesn’t.”

“Ah.”

“The house is in Marietta, one street off Bramble.To put it bluntly, the house is a little depressing, but the last person to live there was in a wheelchair and there is a ramp, a big kitchen, and a bathroom that would work for him.Doors are wide enough, light switches were lowered, doors feature handles not knobs.”

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