Page 18 of Snowed in with the Bear Shifter
She licked her lips. “Damn, Roarke.”
Shifting to his side, he pulled a blanket over them and gathered her up against him, tucking her head under his chin. “You are the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.” He dropped a kiss on her crown.
“I know.”
“Humble, too.”
She snickered and rubbed her cheek against his bare chest. “I try.” Snuggling closer, she breathed in his unique scent and let out a quiet sigh of contentment. She wouldn’t mind staying here forever, shrouded from the outside world, and cradled in his arms. As sleep dragged her under, she wondered if she wasn’t the one being a dimwit when it came to Roarke.
14
ROARKE
She left the next morning.
For some reason, he thought she wouldn’t be so quick to leave after last night. But he was obviously mistaken.
His heart ached, and his soul felt like it was shattering into a million tiny shards.
She hadn’t agreed to be his mate. In fact, she hadn’t brought it up at all, despite the deeply intimate connection they’d had last night. Or maybe he was the only one who’d experienced that soul-deep connection.
Maybe she’d gotten what she wanted, had a good time, and decided to return to her regularly scheduled life now that the weather was no longer keeping her trapped in his cabin. Leaving him behind.
He stood in the archway, the last of Eloise’s mulled apple cider in hand, and stared at the tree. Their tree. He’d turned on its lights, the big, colorful bulbs doing little to alleviate the gray cast that had descended upon his world.
“Fuck,” he said, scrubbing a hand over his chest, trying to ease the piercing pain in his heart. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t work.
He needed to shift, to go for a walk in the woods, and to get lost in bear thoughts like finding a tasty rabbit snack or the perfect tree to scratch his ass on. Anything but stay here and dwell on the woman who could have been his mate.
The front door opened, and two boisterous cubs barreled into his cabin followed closely by his eldest sister, Briar.
“Uncle Ro!” An adorable curly-headed little girl darted over to him and smacked a hand against his thigh to get his attention. “Tree!”
He stooped and scooped Willow up in one arm. “That’s right, my smart girl. It’s a tree.”
“Pretty,” she said, patting a sticky toddler hand against his cheek.
“It is pretty, isn’t it, sweetie?” Briar said. She shot him a narrow-eyed look from across the room as she piled their outdoor gear on the bench and pulled off her boots. “Interesting that your uncle now has a fully decorated tree after being such a stubborn bear about ever putting anything holiday up in his house.”
He grunted a noncommittal response and set the squirming cub down. In a whirlwind of screeching giggles, she ran off to give the tree a closer inspection.
“Dillon, could you keep an eye on your sister for a sec while I talk to your uncle?” Briar said to the eight-year-old, who nodded and moved closer to his sister.
“What are you doing here? Did Mom send you?” Roarke asked. “I already told her I’d be down tomorrow for Christmas Eve.”
“No, she didn’t send me, though she would have if she thought you were trying to duck out of family fun time.” She strolled past Roarke, snatching the cup from his hand and claiming it for herself.
“Family fun,” he said with a snort. Their mother called any required gathering ‘family fun’, even when fun was the last thing on the to-do list.
“Eh, don’t be such a Grinch.” Briar rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I’m here because I heard that Eloise Fisk was here in this cabin with you during the Snowpocalypse.”
His brows snapped together. “Where did you hear that?”
She shrugged, eyeing him over the rim of her cup. “It’s a small town, little brother. Or did you think you could escape the gossip just because you tucked yourself away up here on the mountain?”
“I’d hoped.”
“Pfft. Like that was going to happen. The Stonyburn gossip train runs fast and never stops. Plus, you’re an eligible bear who, according to the ladies, is also pretty hot.” She gave a full-body shiver. “I don’t see it. For one, you’re massive. A giant tree trunk of a bear. Who wants that? And all that fur on your face and your chest? So gross.”
