Page 11 of Just Right
I can’t stop my reaction. I flinch.
A look of concern flashes over his boyishly handsome face. He hurries toward me. “Goldie? You alright?”
I hold up a hand, stopping him. “Yeah. Sorry. It’s just… I got chased by a few of them yesterday when I was in the woods. Actually,” I add, remembering it more vividly than I want to considering the sting stopped bothering me overnight, “if they hadn’t followed after me, I don’t know if I would have stumbled upon this cabin at all.”
“Hang on. Are you saying that the bees led you to us?” Finn’s worried expression brightens. “I’ll have to thank the hive next time I’m harvesting honey.”
Oh.Honey. That’s what he meant before when he mentioned that’s all he could scent. I got the vibe that that was his heavy-handed way to hit on me, but if grizzly shifters are anything like Pooh bear, he probably loves the stuff. At least, enough that he keeps bees and harvests honey for his porridge.
That reminds me… “Thank you for breakfast. It was very tasty.”
He beams. “I made it.”
I figured.
Finn hovers next to me, unsure what to say next. He scratches the back of his neck, running his fingers through his hair, resting on his heels… but every twitch, every motion brings him even closer until I could reach out and touch him.
So, feeling a little mischievous myself, I do.
He drops to one knee, earnestly looking up at my seated position from his on the floor. “Rowan wants you to be comfortable. That’s what he told Colt and me. To make you feel like a guest.”
Really? That’s… kind of surprising, actually. Does the jail guard have a heart? Here’s hoping.
“What would you like to do? I could show you around. Give you a little tour. Or, if you’d like, you can stay in my chair. I’ll borrow Rowan’s.” He looks over at the solid stool. “He won’t mind.”
I knew that this one had to be Finn’s. Just like I figured that the cozy couch probably belonged to Colt, and the hard chair had to be where Rowan sits. It kind of reminds me of, like, a torturous throne where he can sit there, watching his brothers and the fire, but never letting himself relax.
Poor guy. I’m sure I could show him a thing or two about relaxing?—
No. No, Goldie. No thinking about flirting with the grumpy grizzly who told you to stay like it was a jail sentence. Focus on the sweet bear who is willing to spend time with you and who will be a lot easier to sway to your side if necessary.
Hmm.
I gesture at him to stand up. Once he does, I climb up from the chair, casually laying my hand on Finn’s bicep. I can feel thedefining curve of his muscle even through his flannel shirt, and the way his cheeks heat up again… yeah. He’s freaking adorable.
I bat my lashes up at him. “I’d love that tour.”
We startour tour in the living room. He points out where each of the brothers sit, while also reinforcing my fantasy that, sometimes, they sprawl out in their bear form in front of the hearth when the fireplace is lit.
In the kitchen, he shows me the icebox that serves as their refrigerator, plus the cabinet where I can find a glass so that I don’t have to drink from my cupped palms. There’s a pantry that, I shit you not, is full of countless glass jars of honey, plus plenty of cans of the oats they soak to make porridge. He does make a point to say that, while they have a fondness for the filling meal, they eat fish from the nearby river, meat from prey animals they hunt in the woods, and plants they forage apart from other goods they barter for or, and I quote, that the ‘forest provides’.
Like I already realized, those are the only two rooms on the first floor. Just like how my screaming bladder led me to discover a small water closet—because I’m not sure what I peed into, but it was toilet-like enough without being a true toilet—upstairs next to Finn’s room. Still, I let him bring me upstairs so that he can show it to me, as well as pointing at his room, then Colt’s, and finally Rowan’s.
My favorite part was when he blushed and tripped over his words as he offered to let me sleep in his bed again tonight. He could either join me so I wouldn’t be alone or sleep near the fire, but if I enjoyed the comfort of his room, he wanted to be the one to provide it whenever I needed it.
I smile coyly at Finn before telling him that we’ll see. And maybe I’m teasing a monster that I barely know, but I can’t resist. It’s that eagerness about him. He’s like a second shadow, right there every time I turn, and if I catch him sniffing my hair when he doesn’t think I can see him doing it, I tell myself that it’s better than sleeping out in the woods.
Our tour doesn’t last that long, and I’m just thinking that he’s looking for an excuse to hover longer when he actually opens the door to Rowan’s room.
The same clean pine scent slams into me, but now that I know who it belongs to… damn, it’s even more enticing than it was before.
I breathe shallowly so that it’s not obvious, then turn to look at Finn. “Are you sure we should be in here? Your brother doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d be happy if we were in his space when he wasn’t around.”
To be honest, I get the idea that he’d be pissed if he was around, too.
Finn shakes his head. “You’re our… well, you know. You’re on our territory now and that makes it yours, too. There isn’t anywhere you can’t go, including Rowan’s room.”
I’m their unplanned guest. Got it. “Still, I think it would be better?—”
