Page 57 of Sweet Heart for the Bear

She stops shoving at me, but her body is still tense, her muscles locking up like she’s bracing for impact.

Like she’s already preparing for something awful.

I hate that she feels that way.

“Okay,” she finally says, tilting her chin up, determination flickering in her warm brown eyes. “Just spill it then.”

I swallow hard. I owe her this. I owe her everything.

“Last night was the best night of my life,” I begin. “But you should know—I knew it would be.”

She tilts her head, brow furrowing slightly. “You knew that if we had sex, it would be mind-blowing?”

My lips twitch, and I chuckle. “Yes. But only because I knew you were made for me the second I met you.”

She blinks. “The day you ran away?”

I sigh, giving her a pointed look. “Are you gonna keep interrupting me?”

She bites her lower lip—hell, she has no idea what that does to me—and nods, eyes twinkling. “Probably.”

I shake my head, amused despite the weight of what I’m about to tell her.

She wraps her arms around my neck, leaning in close, and God, I don’t deserve this woman, but she’s mine anyway.

Mine. Mine. MINE.

“Well, interrupt if you want, but it’s the truth,” I say, brushing my fingers up and down her spine, grounding myself in her warmth. “I knew right from the start you were the only woman for me. Because you see, Carina, destiny, magic, soulmates—those things are all real.”

She leans back a little, giving me a skeptical look. “What are you, some kind of hippie?” she jokes, sitting up straighter on my lap.

But beneath her teasing, I feel her confusion.

The way her body tenses just slightly, as if she’s trying to make sense of what I’m saying but can’t quite fit it into the reality she knows.

I cup her face in my hands, stroking my thumbs over her cheeks. I need her to hear me.

Really hear me.

“No,” I say softly, steadying myself for the words that will change everything.

“I’m not a hippie, Sweetheart. I’m a Bear Shifter. And you are my fated mate.”

Chapter19

Carina

My heart is hammering inside my chest, so loud I can barely hear anything else.

The feel of Horace’s big, warm body beneath me is clouding my senses.

Or maybe it’s doing the opposite.

Maybe it’s grounding me.

But I don’t want that, either.

I don’t want him tofeellike safetywhen my entire world has just been flipped upside down.

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