Page 14 of Renaissance Bear

Alis whispered, "Chilling," and Jasmine, looking more or less satisfied, went back to her breakfast. At least she kept her gaze down, obviously making an effort to not draw Jon's attention.

Through her screen and the diner's windows, Alis saw Jon see Jasmine, though. He started to smile, but his eyebrows flickered downward into a frown, and he glanced around the diner, visibly confused before approaching Jasmine's table. She glanced up with a polite smile and gestured for him to join her, which made him smile again, though he looked remarkably uncertain as he sat down.

Alis groaned and put her face in her hands for a heartbeat, but looked up again immediately, unable tonotknow what was going on.

Jasmine was stuffing half a pancake into her mouth, that was what was going on. And then some bacon, and then slamming what remained of her orange juice before suddenlylooking around as if realizing she didn't have her purse or wallet. She started to stand, obviously explaining, and Jon offered a genuinely sweet smile, shook his head, and reached for his own wallet. Alis wailed, "Ohno!"

She was fairly certain Jasmine said the same thing. She certainly had the expression Alis could feel on her own face. Jazz shook her head hard, then bolted from the diner, causing half a dozen patrons and several staff members to look her way, the latter with deep scowls.

Jon stood, visibly apologetic, and waved toward the table as Jasmine threw the RV door open and rushed inside. "He wanted to pay!"

"I can see that!" Alis didn't have to pretend to be every bit as agitated as Jasmine looked. "What did you say to each other?"

"Just hello and I ate really fast and then he tried to pay and go go go!" Jasmine almost shoved Alis out the RV door.

It was barely thirty seconds between the RV and the diner, but Alis was red-faced and sweating as she tore inside. Jon Torben, in the middle of paying for her breakfast, turned back to the door in obvious bewilderment as she yelled, "No! I just forgot my wallet! I'll pay for it! Except I'm still hungry!" and threw herself into the booth Jasmine had vacated.

Chapter 7

Jon's bear said,Our matehappily as Alis came racing back into the diner, and Jon howled,I'm so confused! inside his own head, directed at the bear.

There is nothing to be confused about,the bear said.This is our mate.

But three minutes ago you said she wasn't!

Three minutes ago, she was not,the bear agreed.

But mates don't run hot and cold like that!Jon protested.Either she is or she isn't!

She is,his bear proclaimed, and Jon groaned.

He certainly hadn't expected to see Alis in the diner this morning. Even more, he hadn't expected for his bear to dismiss her, completely uninterested. It was like it hadn't even seen her, which was obviously impossible. So he'd said hi, and she'd been…weird. Perfect, of course. Obviously. Amazing. All of that. But also…weird.

It was like the spark had disappeared. Like she didn't want to be here talking to him. As was evidenced by the fact that she'd shoved most of a pancake and some bacon into her mouth so shecouldn'ttalk to him, and then followed it with an orange juicechaser before bolting from the diner with some kind of excuse he hadn't quite understood.

Judging from all the plates she'd left behind, though, she'd eaten a ton of food and had run out on the bill. Jon absolutely could not believe that his mate would do such a thing, but he also certainly wasn't going to let the diner eat the cost. He'd offered to pay, and while Connie, the waitress, rang up the bill…

…Alis had come running back in, waving her wallet and yelling about still being hungry. She'd met his eyes with a sort of frantic apology, and…

Zing.The spark was back. His bear sat up and took notice, now Jon, having put his wallet away, sat down across from her with a tentative smile. "Are you, aaaah, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said with huge emphasis, like she was willing him to believe it. "This has just been a very weird morning? I am so sorry," she said to Connie as the woman came over to the table uncertainly. "I did say I'd forgotten my wallet but I guess my mouth was full so it was hard to understand me. And I'm absolutely starving. Could I get a short stack of blueberry pancakes, two eggs over medium, sausage, wheat toast, another glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee?"

Connie whispered, "You just…ate…" before pulling together a professional smile. "Yes, of course. Can I get you anything, Jon?"

"Waffles and a cup of coffee, please. I don't think I can match Alis's appetite this morning."

Alis met his eyes for an instant and heat flashed through Jon, sizzling straight down his body to land in his groin. He hadn't meantthatkind of appetite, but all at once he was absolutely sure he could match it, after all. Alis smiled, slow and sweet, like she knew exactly what Jon was thinking. His bear, enthusiastically, said,You should mate!

NOT IN THE DINER!

If the bear's front legs could fold like arms, it would clearly have folded them and sat down in a sulk.Hmph.

Connie, who had fortunately missed all that byplay, said, "One waffles, one everything else, coming up," and left the table.

"So, hi," Jon said, still hot under the collar and slightly confused. "Are you sure everything's okay?"

"I am. Honestly. I just…didn't expect to see you this morning? It threw me off?" Alis sounded like she was testing the explanation, though Jon didn't see why: it made perfect sense.

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