Page 10 of Snowed in with the Bear Shifter
At the top of the stairs, she paused, her mouth dropping open at the sight of her dream library. Painted a blue so dark it was almost black, it boasted wide oak flooring that glowed with warmth, the late morning light spilling in through two large windows and bathing the room in light. Floor-to-ceiling shelves lined the walls, filled mostly with books but some knickknacks as well. A desk with a comfortable-looking ergonomic chair rested on a pale blue Turkish rug. Opposite sat a dark brown leather couch with a navy blue-and-cream striped blanket draped across the back.
The room was cozy and welcoming and made her want to pluck a book off the shelf and spend the day curled up on that couch.
Dammit,she thought.Why did it have to be so perfect?
She stalked across the room, the rug soft beneath her bare feet, and opened the door to Roarke’s bedroom.
Made with military precision, the green and taupe bedspread tucked in tight, pillows fluffed, a bear-sized bed sat opposite a large window, a row of happy-looking plants lining the sill. Placed neatly at the end of the bed lay a fuzzy blanket in a hunter green that matched the rich wall color.
A tall dresser with a collection of photos — mostly family, though there were a few taken in far-off lands of a Roarke dressed in fatigues looking even scruffier than he did now — sat between two closed doors. Was she finally going to uncover Roarke’s deep, dark secrets?
Doubtful. If he had anything to hide, he’d be smart enough to put it behind lock and key and not somewhere a Nosy Parker likeherself could easily access it. But was that going to stop her from looking? Absolutely not.
The first door led to a bathroom so clean it practically glowed. Drawing the line at snooping in his medicine cabinet, she shut the door and opened the other to find a closet. The piles of flannel and jeans were no surprise, but there were several nice-looking suits she wouldn’t mind seeing him in. He looked delectable enough in casual clothes. She could only imagine how devastatingly handsome he’d look in that charcoal suit hanging up in his closet.
Nibbling her bottom lip, she tried to come up with a viable excuse to get him dressed up today, but nothing came to mind.A truly disappointing effort, brain,she thought to herself.We’ll have to do better if we want the eye candy.She decided to blame it on the fact that she hadn’t had her coffee yet this morning. Maybe a cup of go-go juice would help kick-start things.
Also disappointing was the lack of secrets jumping out to land in her lap. She was really hoping to find some good dirt for future teasing.
But she did find a soft green flannel that smelled like Roarke to wrap herself up in. As she slipped the shirt on and rolled up the too-long arms, she walked back into the library-slash-office and stood behind the desk, looking out at the snow covering everything outside in a thick, fluffy layer.
Gorgeous but currently a pain in her ass. She needed to get back to town, to her mom.
When she’d called home last night, her mom had been relieved to hear Eloise was safe and reassured her that they were fine despite having no power. But she knew what their relatives were like. Her mother stuck in that house with all of them? It could be utterly disastrous.
Unfortunately, since severe winter storms were relatively rare, Carolinians weren’t the best prepared when they arrived. There wasn’t enough equipment or infrastructure to quickly manage the amount of snow and ice that had fallen yesterday, not to mention the downed trees and power outages. The best and smartest option was to wait for the weather to warm up. If she tried to get home today, she’d only wind up in a ditch somewhere, this time without a handsome shifter to rescue her.
Besides, it wasn’t like Eloise was just down the street. She was stuck on the top of a mountain. Mom was just going to have to deal until she could make it home safely.
Her worries about home were interrupted by the strangest sight. Her brows drew together, and she squinted, trying to come to terms with what she was seeing. A giant black bear. A Roarke-sized bear, in fact. One hauling a large tree across the pristine snow of the cabin’s front yard.
What the hell is he doing?
9
ELOISE
“That bear sure is taking his sweet-ass time,” she grumbled to herself as she pulled a heated cup of coffee from the microwave and doctored it up with some brown sugar oat milk creamer.
Thank the goddess Roarke had been considerate enough to leave her a full carafe before disappearing into the woods this morning because she most certainly would have broken that overly technical fancy machine of his if she’d tried to operate it. What was wrong with a simple, straightforward coffee maker?
The front door shut, the noise accompanied by a few growls and some odd scuffling noises.
Finally, she thought. “And just where do you think you’ve been, mister?” she called, stepping past the island so she could see him.
Wearing nothing but a pair of distressed jeans, he’d stopped in the small foyer next to the stairs trying to prop a large tree in the corner. His head snapped around, and he shot her a crooked grin. “You sound like my mother.”
“And you look like a snow daddy,” she said, raking a clawed hand through the air and giving him a rawr.
He looked good. Damned good. Yeah, she absolutely would call him daddy, if he was into that.
Those jeans of his rode low on his waist, cupping his ass, the two dimples at the base of his spine visible above the band. Muscles rippled across his broad back as he wrestled with the tree.
Casually sipping her coffee, she strolled closer to admire the view blessing her morning.
He rubbed his hands against his jeans and turned towards her, gifting her with the sight of perhaps the most spectacular chest and set of abs she’d ever seen in her life. It was as if the angels had come down from the clouds and sung a chorus as they bathed him in their warm celestial light, highlighting the hard muscles and curling dark hair that trailed down his chest, disappearing beneath the waistband of his jeans.
Dazed by the glory of him, she took too big a drink of her coffee. It went down the wrong pipe, so instead of the perfect opportunity to make an appropriately impertinent comment and garner one of his adorable blushes, she had to raise her hands above her head to stop choking.
