Page 6 of Snowed in with the Bear Shifter
“Huh.”
There was a quiet click in the other room. Pushing off the couch, he went back into the kitchen. “My great-grandfather built this place, did you know that?”
“By himself? That’s really impressive.” She pulled out a deck of cards.
He came back to the living room with two steaming mugs, setting them down on stone coasters and taking a seat on the couch. “I used to spend summers up here with my grandparents. Granddad learned carpentry from his father, and in turn, taught me. I helped him fix up the second story into livable space.”
“Needed that extra space for your harem, did you?” She probably shouldn’t poke the bear, but she just couldn’t help herself.
He snorted. “Why do you think I have a harem?”
“I mean, look at you,” she said with a flail of her hands as she flopped down next to him. “If anyone could pull multiple girlfriends at the same time, it’s definitely you.”
The corner of his lips quirked up. “Why would you think that?”
She rolled her eyes. “Roar, you’d have to be a complete half-wit not to know that you are devastatingly handsome.” She saw the blush under all that heavy scruff of his.
He ducked his head and nudged the mug closer. “I made you a hot chocolate. I shouldn’t offer, since you have a head injury, but do you want some Irish cream in it?”
“Oh yes, please. I think I deserve it after today,” she said, warming her fingers against the hot mug. “And my head is fine. I did a healing spell, so no concussion to worry about.” She flashed him a smile when he brought the dark amber bottle from the kitchen and added a finger of the sweet liquor to her drink.
“You sure?” he asked. “Because you passed out, and I had to carry you back here.”
“Naked?” She didn’t know why that was surprising. She knew enough about shifters to know how all that worked. But the idea of him being naked while holding her made her feel all weird and squirmy.
An eyebrow winged up as he sat down next to her. “Of course. I’d just shifted.”
Biting her bottom lip as images of an unclothed Roarke flashed through her brain, she nodded.
“What?”
“Nothing.” A snort of laughter escaped her. “I’m picturing you walking through the woods buck naked, an unconscious woman in your arms. What must the neighbors think?”
He huffed. “I had to get you home.”
“Thank you.” She reached over and patted his chest. “And cheers to you for being my bear in shining armor.” She tapped her mug against his before taking a long sip, the heat and the alcohol easing the last of her aches.
His honey-gold eyes watched her every move.
“Now, what do you say to a little game of War?” She pulled the cards out of the box and shuffled them. A rather wicked idea occurred to her. She gave him a playful look. “Or maybe a few rounds of the adult version of Strip Jack Naked might be more up your alley.”
6
ROARKE
Roarke coughed as his drink went down the wrong pipe.Adult version? Does she mean what I think she does?
She giggled at his reaction. “Come on. Just one game of strip Strip Jack Naked. It’ll be fun.”
So I did guess right,he thought, his face flaming as his brain served up a technicolor picture of Eloise naked. His cock stiffened.Dammit. Stop. Now is not the time.
Clearing his throat, he said, “You know, the last time I heard you say that, it was the summer before you left for college. You said to Briar, ‘It’ll be fun,’ before the two of you snuck out and drove over to Charlotte for a concert that I remember both our moms expressly forbidding you from attending. Then the phone rang in the middle of the night because you got a flat tire somewhere out in the boonies. I thought your mom’s head was going to explode when she found out.”
Her laughter filled the room, wrapping around him like a warm hug. “That was a freakin’ fantastic concert. Well worth Mom sticking me with kitchen-cleaning duties the rest of the summer.”
“Such an instigator,” he said with a playful tsk. “Always dragging Briar into some sort of mischief or other. Ivy sometimes too, as I recall.”
“Hey, now,” she protested. “Both your sisters gleefully dove headfirst into all my ‘mischievous’ plans with very little persuasion on my part.”
