Page 21 of Bear with Me
OLLIE
The more Ilearned about Blake, the more I adored him. Like the fixer-uppers I most enjoyed restoring to their former glory, he had a rustic charm.
In some places, his patina was a little tarnished, like when he yelled at our flight attendant, but he'd been perfectly charming with everyone else since we'd arrived at the lodge. Granted, I didn't see his original interaction with Branson, but the front desk clerk hadn't hung up on me the moment I called him about our shared cabin situation, and he met us both with the same open charm each time we passed the desk. That was enough to assume Blake hadn't flipped out on him, yet.
It was wrong of me to feel a teensy bit satisfied whenever Blake seemed jealous of the way Branson looked at me, but I couldn't help it. Blake didn't know it yet, but he was already exhibiting signs of being my mate. My bear was overjoyed.
My bear didn't understand when I left the cabin, and he really didn't understand why I ran to the bedroom to step into a pair of boxers before saying hello when we returned.
"Hey," I said from the hallway.
Blake sat on the loveseat with his back to me. From the way his head bent toward his paper, he was writing.
"Oh, hey." He pointed to the seat next to him, where his legs were propped up. "I got you a little something for Christmas."
"You … what?" I hadn't expected a gift from a guy I just met, even if we were fated mates.
"You got me notebooks, so I thought it was only fair."
I frowned. "I bought the notebooks because I ruined the one you brought with you."
He held it up, so I could see he was still using the "ruined" notebook.
I was going to take a shower, since I smelled like a bear in the woods, but I noticed the flash of pain in his gaze before I stepped into the bathroom. After depositing my toiletry bag and clean clothes on the sink counter, I returned to the main room.
The look of pure joy on Blake's face was worth it. I scooped up the little roll of paper towel tied with red ribbon at both ends. "What is it?"
"Open it!"
I tugged off the ribbons, and Blake squealed. "Carefully!"
I tapped one end of the paper and cupped my hand beneath the opening at the bottom. A crystal figurine dropped onto my palm.
It was a bear. Probably a polar bear, but it had a shoulder hump more like mine than a grizzly's. "Thank you!"
"Thank you for the notebooks." He grinned. "I really like them."
"You haven't used them yet." He still held the one he'd taped back together in his hand.
"I have." He opened the cover of the small gray spiral notebook to show me the list of "Things to do when I get back to Chicago." He'd already filled the first page. Then, he flipped open the purple notebook. The paper was still pristine white with thin blue lines, but the inside front cover had a stamped"Return to owner" box where Blake had jotted his name and address.
Beneath that, in the same neat handwriting, it said,"Christmas present from Ollie Beaman,"above the year.
"I was hoping you'd sign it, so I have proof this vacation really happened when we return home."
"Give it here." I set the figurine on the loveseat cushion and held out my left hand. He dropped the open notebook into it and tucked the pen into my right hand.
I signed it above my name. Beneath the date, I wrote, "Merry Christmas, Mate!" I included a little drawing of a bear, which wasn't much more than a smiley face with a long nose and some hair sticking up between two rounded ears. I was no artist, but I wanted Blake to remember me, too.
I tried to inhale through the sharp pain in my chest, but my breath caught in my throat. Blake was my mate, and I was already falling hard and fast for him. If he needed space, I would give it to him, but it already hurt to give him a few miles of space. What would happen when we returned to Chicago, and we had an entire city between us?
Trying my best to smile, I returned the notebook. I scooped up my figurine and cradled it to my chest. The ache subsided, if only a little. "Thanks for this."
"You're welcome." When he smiled, his eyes narrowed to slits, like an anime character's. I wanted to lean forward and kiss them both all the way closed, but I resisted. The shower was a much safer place for a horny bear to be while giving his human mate some space.
"Merry Christmas!"
I'd texted my mom first thing in the morning, before I succumbed to the delicious smells from the kitchen. Hours later, I stared at my phone screen, willing a text to pop up, but nothing happened.
