Page 49 of Into The Light
"So fucking beautiful, Noelle. You take my breath away."
“That's okay," I whisper, touching my lips to his. "You can have mine."
He kisses me softly, slowly. "Should I change?"
I pull back and assess: nice jeans, his usual work boots, and a black T-shirt, all clean, if a little wrinkled from sleeping in them last night. “No, you're fine. You look great."
"Changed before going to the shelter—I get dirty at work."
"I imagine you do." I take his hand. "Well. Shall we? Target awaits.”
I make quick work of getting the stuff Dad requested: a package of strip steaks, pre-formed burger patties, a couple of bags of potato chips, and a case of Diet Coke. Bear paces beside me, his gait smooth and light despite his immensity.
I bring him to the toiletries aisle and pick out shampoo, conditioner, beard wash, beard oil, a hairbrush, hair ties, and a beard brush, and then we head for the checkout.
"One sec," he says, as I pull the cart to a halt behind a mom and her two little kids. "Wanna grab something."
"Okay," I say, curious.
A few minutes later, he comes back with a giant bouquet of flowers and a bottle of whiskey.
I give him a look. "You don't need to bring anything, you know."
He shrugs. "Yeah, figure I do." he holds up the bottle. "Wasn’t sure if your dad drinks. Figure a lotta church people don't."
I smile, nodding. “He does, on occasion. He'll appreciate that. But you really don't have to."
"It's your parents. Your family. It's important."
This whole thing has gone zero to a hundred in no time, hasn't it? He's meeting myfamily.
Suddenly, I’m nervous. Am I going too fast? Am I pushing things too quickly? Jumping in head first? Especially physically. I’m all in on the physical attraction aspect, and I definitely don’t see the value in progressing our physical relationship as slowly as Brennan and I did. But…should we just jump into bed together within days of meeting each other?
Doubts, questions, and concerns storm through my brain.
"Noelle?" Bear's voice is a rumble in my ear, and his hand presses gently into the small of my back. "Our turn."
"Oh.” I startle, realizing the cashier is looking at me with impatient expectation. "Sorry. Spaced out for a minute."
The cashier rings up the items as I put them on the belt. At the last second, Bear adds his flowers and bottle and hands the cashier a card, all before I can so much as get my wallet out of my purse.
"Bear!" I protest.
He gives me a look as he pockets the card again. "Got it. All good."
"Well at least let me pay you back for the food,” I say, following him now as he pushes the cart toward the exit.
"Nope."
"Bear, that was like a hundred dollars worth of food. You didn’t need to do that." I grab a bag, put it in the back of my car, and then turn to grab another one.
Before I can, however, his hand closes around my wrist, and he gently but inexorably guides me to the driver's side door, pulls it open, and guides me into the seat. I open my mouth to protest that it's just a couple of bags, but the look he gives me has me snapping my mouth shut.
"I got it, Noelle."
It feels important to him, for some reason, so I nod and relax into the seat. He shuts the door, and I start the engine and buckle up while he finishes loading. A big, hot, wet pink tongue flaps against my ear, eliciting a surprised shriek from me.
I twist in the seat to say hi to Panzer, only to get another lick right up the center of my face. "Hi, buddy," I say, scrubbing his ears in my hands. "Who's a big sweetheart?"
