Page 13 of Bear Naked Truth
“Not at all,” Nico whispered back, then disappeared into the back with a giggle.
Dorian eyed his cup suspiciously. “What’s in this?”
Autumn sniffed hers. “Guilt and maybe rosemary.”
They drank anyway.
It hit almost instantly—a warmth blooming low in his chest, not alcohol-warm, but familiar. Like the scent of her had taken root in his lungs and was now curling upward through his bloodstream. Her magic brushed his aura like a kiss—soft, careful, but undeniable.
He watched her fingers curl around her mug, saw the moment her shoulders dropped. Her mouth parted slightly in surprise.
“You feel it too,” he said quietly.
She nodded. “It’s… you.”
“No,” he said. “It’sus.”
Her eyes flicked to his, wide with something unspoken. “Don’t say that.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s a lie.”
He glanced down at the tea like she had forgotten already. “It’s not.”
She stared at him. And for the first time since he met her, she didn’t deflect. Didn’t joke or scoff.
“I’m not made for this,” she said. “I don’t do relationships. I do hauntings and salt lines and leaving before things get messy.”
“And I build things that last,” he said. “Doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate what’s temporary. But this? This doesn’t feel temporary.”
The magic pulsed between them—thicker now. Her scent wrapped around him like the woods after rain, and his bear rumbled in his chest, pushing forward with something feral and possessive.
Mine, it whispered.
Dorian gritted his teeth. This wasn’t the time.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” she said, voice barely a breath. “That’s why I push.”
“I don’t bruise easy.”
“Ido.” Her fingers tightened on the mug. “And when people see me, really see me, they leave. Or worse. They try to fix me.”
He reached across the table, his hand warm over hers.
“I’m not here to fix you, Autumn. I just want to sit in your shadows and know the shape of them.”
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Her hand then slowly turned beneath his, fingers threading through his deliberately.
“I hate how good that line was,” she whispered.
He grinned. “It just came to me.”
“Liar.”
“Still not possible.”
