Page 4 of The Bear's Chosen Mate
This one?Instant and outrageous, and while he’d liked to have blamed it on her, he wasn’t usuallythathair-triggered.They’d been standing outside his workplace, for fuck’s sake, talking about innocent subjects, and he’d been so turned on that if she’d been within arm’s reach he would’ve been tempted to grab her and follow through on the lust-filled thoughts he’d been fighting for years.
The thoughts he’d reconsidered and refocused on in recent months.
Slow.Take it slow,he reminded himself.
You no like slow,his bear grumbled.You like Kaylee.
Shut up,he told his bear.
Nope, wandering through the bush was the only way to get rid of this kind of frustration.
When James found his feet had unwittingly taken him back to the parking lot of Borealis Gems, he sat down at the edge of the asphalt and glared angrily at the vehicle in front of him.
Stupid bear brain.There was absolutely no reason to be sitting here next to Kaylee’s dump of a truck.The one that made James angry because every time he side-eyed it, she insisted the vehicle could go another hundred kilometers or more.
Too stubborn to give it up, he assumed.The damn thing represented the first time she’d purchased something major without her parents’ approval as a sixteen-year-old.
He got it, he really did.Her parents weren’t the greatest, and everyone needed afuck-youmemento or two in their lives.But one of these days the POS was going to break down and he wouldn’t be there to haul her ass out of trouble.
He snarled at the vehicle, got himself up and headed home to his recently finished apartment complex that overlooked the massive lake Yellowknife was built along.
It took deliberate thought to keep his bear self from looping back, so it wasn’t until he was in his penthouse suite on the tenth floor, the door locked behind him, that he finally took a deep breath.
The tension at the back of his neck was huge and painful—thishadto be some kind of polar bear flu.
He paced to the answering machine, the red blinking light taunting him.He had a cell phone, but as a shifter, it wasn’t always on him, and people had to have a way to get a hold of him.He was stuck supplementing with old-school technology.
He clicked the playback button, rubbing a hand against his chest and over his arms in the hopes the ache would fade.
It was a message from his grandpa, time stamped from only a few minutes earlier.Must have come in while he was bear-ing it home.
“James, my boy.You’ve been busy the last couple of days.Good job.I just heard from our potential new investors.They were very impressed with your sales pitch.”Giles Borealis chuckled, somewhere between conspiracy and amusement.“I almost feel as if I should’ve warned them ahead of time how convincing you are.It’s good to know you’ve got what it takes to keep this company moving into the future.Well done.”
Of course, well done,James thought.Every time I go into a meeting, I pretend I’m you.No one stands a chance.
He was planning on gettingWhat Would Grandpa Dobracelets for himself and his brothers, and giving an extra one to the old man for a Christmas present.Grandpa would get a kick out it.
The message continued to play.
“Now, I don’t intend to tell you how to do your job, but I did want to remind you, as good as you are at wining and dining our new investors and clients, you need to have someone shiny next to you at the Canada Day Gala.This is important, James.We’ve got potential sales that need to be finalized during the party.But of course, you know all this already.Just indulge an old man as he meddles.Not many special things going on in my life anymore.Not as if I’ve got grandbabies to enjoy, and there’s a decided lack of female company at our family table.Your grandmother is feeling very overwhelmed.Do get on with finding a mate, my boy.”
“Can’t leave well enough alone,” James muttered at the machine as his gave a quick, but cordial farewell, and the message came to an end.
Get on with finding a mate.As if the old man sending that letter earlier in the year hadn’t changed everything.The ultimatum had been hanging over his and his brothers’ heads since March.
James headed straight for the shower in the hopes that some screaming hot water might wash away the bugs currently rampaging through his system.
His secondary goal was to cool down his temper because while he loved Grandpa Giles, the old man knew exactly which buttons to push.
It was true—Jamesdidneed a date for the gala event.He also knew exactly who he wanted beside him.
Again, partly Grandpa Giles’s fault.
When James had first read the blackmail letter, he’d panicked.It was only after a week or so of mentally bitching about the pact he’d made with Alex and Cooper that he’d realized it wasn’t the end of the world.
He’d been friends with Kaylee since second grade.He’d had rising sexual interest in her since they were teens, but their friendship had been too valuable to mess with becoming temporary boyfriend/girlfriend.
But if he had to spend his life with one woman?He’d pick her, every time.Smart, beautiful, willing to call him on his bullshit.She was everything he needed.Also, they were already good, good friends—which meant once they mated, they’d get to keep being friends forever.
