Page 12 of Sweet Heart for the Bear

Finally,finally, he looks up at me.

“I’ll have a meat lover’s, please. Sixteen-inch pie.”

Classic. A man after my own heart.

“That’s a great pizza,” I say, my smile stretching across my face before I can stop it. “We make our own sausage and meatballs fresh daily. But can I tell you a secret?”

“What’s that?” he asks.

His gaze flickers, just for a second, to my mouth—like he noticed how wide my smile got. And then he nods.

“It’s even better drizzled with hot honey. Would you like to try it?” I ask, and I’m waiting for him to either comment on how gross that sounds or how good.

The seconds tick. Then finally, he replies, and his voice sounds impossibly deep when he does, sending shivers running through me.

“Sounds good,” Horace grumbles. “Can you make it well-done?”

“S-sure thing,” I say, scribbling it down. “I’ll be back in a few.”

I turn and head toward the kitchen, my feet mercifully cooperating and not betraying me by tripping overabsolutely nothing, as they are prone to do.

Another victory.

I do not look back and am about to congratulate myself when I feel something stirring in my belly.

Butterflies? Or fighter jets?

…Okay, maybe just one glance.

Just one.

Chapter5

Horace

I’m starting to think eating is going to be a challenge.

Not because I’m not hungry—I’m starving,again—but because my appetite is currently competing with a whole mess of feelings I should not be having over a woman I just met.

This curvy little goddess who moves around her pizzeria like she owns the world, flashing smiles that could bring a man to his knees.

I should know better.

But then she goes and offers to drizzlehot honeyover my well-done meat lover’s pie like she’s reading straight from my damn soul.

Put a fork in me.I am done.

Has any other woman ever understood me so well?

My Bear—the other part of me, the part that’s always just beneath the surface, watching, waiting—is already stirring.

Scratching at my insides like the restless animal he is. Like he’s seen what he wants and doesn’t give a damn about logic or consequences.

But I should know better.

Because relationships? They don’t work out for me.

And this one? It could have disastrous consequences.

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