Page 27 of Bearnapped at the Altar

“Tegan,” he gritted out. “We can’t do this.”

Chapter

Twelve

Barrett

Tegan stopped the motion abruptly, and her eyes widened like I’d slapped her before she slowly took her hand away from my shaft.

“Did I do something wrong?” Her voice was shaking, and my bear growled from inside me.

Self-sabotage, he insisted.

He probably wasn’t wrong, but while she’d been turning my insides molten, I couldn’t think straight.

“No. Fuck no.” I growled and slid away from her. I sat up and looked for my pants. Clothes had been strewn all over the tiny cabin. “I don’t have any condoms.”

“Oh.” She blinked, and her body relaxed. “As incredibly frustrating as that is, for both of us.” Her gaze fell to my groin as I shoved my still half-hard cock back into my pants. “That’s awfully sweet of you. You’re a good man, Barrett Guardian. A lot of guys would’ve been like sorry, baby, you made me so crazy I couldn’t stop.”

“I don’t want to hear about you with other men,” I said before I could stop myself.

Her lips parted. “That’s sweet too. Even if it’s a little over the top.”

I grabbed her clothes and handed them to her. I could look at her luscious naked body for the rest of the night, but she was too much of a temptation. My bear snickered at me as I tried to figure out how to not make this worse.

“I don’t hook up with women on jobs just because I’m trapped in a cabin with them.” That didn’t sound right either.

She smoothed her sweatshirt and then looked up at me with a coy grin. All she had on was that and her panties. “So, this is a thing that happens often?”

“I just said it wasn’t.”

“Not the sex. I meant the bearnapping and the staying with your lady clients in small, remote cabins for undefined amounts of time, even after they said there’s no way they can possibly pay you for such extensive services.”

“Nope. It’s a first all around.” I went over to her and kissed her forehead. It was still dewy from our time together. “It feels wild and irresponsible to say that I have feelings about you. We only met?—”

“You abducted me,” she corrected. “Contractually, but this wasn’t exactly a speed date.”

I raised a brow. “Tell me when you’ve ever hit it off with a guy from speed dating like you have with me.”

“Let me think about it.” She landed dramatically on the bed, and it took everything I had not to follow her. She tapped her chin and looked at me. “Never.”

“What I’m saying is, I don’t know how this ends.” I put my knee on the bed. My body warmed from her gaze. My cock twitched in my pants, protesting, but there was no way I could risk putting it back in action tonight. “But I don’t think I want it to.”

“Has anyone ever told you how adorable you are?” She put her hand over mine once I settled. “Now that I’ve turned forty, I joke that I’m ‘grown men are adorable’ years old. I don’t mean it as an insult. It’s refreshing to meet someone so genuine. I can see you’re mentally beating yourself up because you probably feel like you’re saying all the wrong things, but let me assure you, you’re not. Thank you for that.”

I nodded. “It’s not just that. It’s…” I just told her I didn’t want this to end, which meant I had to tell her everything. “I never planned to be with another woman after Renee died. Not casually, not long term. And I know—she’d want me to be happy. I would want the same for her. But I never thought I would want another woman.”

“There’s no shame in loving someone so much you’re not ready to let them go,” she said softly. “I’d love to be a part of your life, when you’re ready, and I’d like to think that Renee would be a part of it too. It doesn’t have to be me or her, Barrett. In this case, it can be both. You can still cherish your memories and be excited about the future at the same time.”

“I can do that.” I closed my eyes and tipped my head back. For once, my bear wasn’t giving me a hard time. Instead, I saw Renee’s bear form, her gorgeous fur, those big brown eyes, like she was agreeing with every word Tegan had said. I opened my eyes so I could appreciate the gorgeous woman who was with me now. The one who was willing to hold my hand while I kept her safe. “Thank you.”

“I haven’t done anything yet, besides get you involved in my giant mess of a life.” Tegan moved back to the headboard. She curled her still bare, inked legs underneath her. “And if we stand a chance of anything, we need to fix this mess. What’s our plan?”

I stretched out on the mattress and put my hands behind my head. “Depends on what news Bellamy comes back with.”

Her mouth dropped. “I thought you said no one would be able to find us.”

“They won’t. But Moonlight Mates has made this everyone’s business. There’s no way you aren’t the talk of the town. Bellamy has unusual methods of gathering information?—”

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