Page 30 of The Bear's Chosen Mate
No.Wait…
He sounded even cockier than that.Something was up.“Why?Doyoufeel different?”
“Oh, no.No, no, no, no.Nothing yet.”Then of all things, he started to straighten the sheets around them.Fussing for no reason.
Oh.My.God.Kaylee pushed up to a sitting position and stared at him.“You do.You do feel something.”
“It’s okay if we don’t talk about it right now,” James began before she raced to cut him off.
“Please don’t,” Kaylee begged.“I can’t tell if you’re teasing, or if you’re trying to not disappoint me, but I can’t take it.”
A rumble escaped him that sounded as if he were ready to go into battle.James scooped her into his lap.He rubbed a hand over her back as she hid her face against his chest.His voice went lower, his arms a protective shield around her.“I’m not teasing, but I don’t want you to feel pressure.Mating takes both of us accepting our fate, and I don’t want you to feel as if you were forced into being with me.”
Great.So, she had a shot at forever with the one man who’d always had a piece of her heart, and yet now, when she had just begun to hope, something was so screwed up inside her that she was going to miss out on being with him.“I don’t feel forced.Iwantto be with you,” Kaylee insisted.“You’re my best friend.”
James nodded slowly.“Which is why we should give it a little more time.”
“But you feel something?”she whispered, frightened for him to straight-up answer.Frightened that he wouldn’t.
His lips pressed to her temple.“Yes.I feel something.Right here.”
He grabbed her hand and pressed it against his chest.Under her fingers his heart beat, strong and sure.
“I don’t know how to describe it other thanpotential.Like a seed that’s been planted but needs more sunlight to grow.Or a treasure chest that will open as soon as we turn the key, and everything I’ve ever needed will be inside.”
His words were poetic and beautiful and made something inside her long even harder.“Then I should have the key.”
Kaylee closed her eyes and tried everything she could barring rubbing her hands over her own body.She was sore in all sorts of lovely places, and she had no idea what she was looking for.
Not true.She knew exactly what she was looking for—a future with her best friend.No matter that she was probably going to muck things up for him at some point, she was selfish enough to want what she wanted.
She wanted him with all her heart.
Didn’t she?
James lifted her chin and stared into her eyes before opening his mouth.He was about to do something big and heroic, and she didn’t think she could handle it.
Distraction, now.“We need to count our silver linings.I mean, you lived up to your part of your bargain and didn’t try to avoid the fever.So your brothers and grandpa have to be satisfied, no matter what happens between us.”
She turned toward him and had to forcibly untangle their legs, because the thought of moving away seemed wrong—it wasn’t a magical, mystical connection, but a really deep longing lodged in her gut.
“Iwantyou to be my mate,” James said.
“I know.”
But the truth wastheyweren’t in control.Fate was.
Kaylee pushed aside her fears.Obviously, fate knew better than James did who would be good for him going forward, and if she wasn’t it, she would force herself to be happy for him.
“This isn’t over,” he growled, frustration in his eyes as his fingers clung to hers.“We aren’t done.”
“What if we’re not mates—”
James twirled them and had her pinned to the mattress in a matter of seconds.Both he and his bear stared down.“Answer truthfully.Do you want to be with me, Kaylee Banks?As more than a friend, as more than my lover.Do you want me forever?”he demanded.
“Yes.”The answer came instantly.It wasn’t something she had to think about.
His lips curled.“Then there isn’t anything we need to worry about.Maybe the mating instinct will kick in sometime during the next few days.Heck, maybe it’ll take a little longer for it to arrive.But it doesn’t matter, because Ichooseyou, got it?”
