Page 49 of Bear with Me
"Psh. They're cowards if they're afraid of me." Nora met my gaze. "You're not. I like you."
She reminded me so much of my own mom with her no-nonsense attitude. I grinned at her, and a trickle of moisture escaped my eye.
"Come here. You haven't had a good mom hug in a long time, have you?" She held her arms out, and I fell into them with a sob.
"It's the hormones, I swear."
She rubbed circles on my back, and then Ollie's warmth soaked into me as he joined our hug. His dad piled on behind Nora, and I noticed he was shorter than Ollie by a few inches.
"No need to apologize," she said. "Nothing will replace your parents, but you'll always be family to us."
"Family she happens to like," Mr. Beaman, Oliver, added. I struggled to call him Oliver, even though Ollie was named after him.
Once I had a moment to wipe my eyes, Nora dragged me to the kitchen. "Show me how to bake these cookies of yours."
"Mom, it's too hot to bake cookies!" Ollie tried to protest.
"It's never too hot for cookies," we responded at the same time.
Nora laughed. "You're perfect for him." Under her breath, she said, "Dan's too much like Zander. I worry they'll bore each other to death at some point, but for now, it's working. And don't get me started on Michelle. A mountain lion with a bear? They're lucky their little girl isn't a chimera."
"Does that happen?"
She shook her head. "I shouldn't be talking about it with a human. Did you even know shifters existed before you met my son?"
"Hadn't even guessed the stories were true."
"Chimeras aren't real, but we hear stories sometimes, no different from the human stories about cryptids."
Those stories were a little more believable, now that I knew shifters existed.
"I want what's best for my boys." She sighed. "I also need to remember it's not my choice. They insist they're in love, and that's what counts."
Love. Fuck. Everything had happened so quickly between Ollie and me, I hadn't even stopped to think about my feelings for him. We were fated mates, and it seemed silly to resist fate.
Nora homed in on my doubt. Her gaze narrowed. "Do you love my son, Blake?"
"Yes." The word popped out of my mouth. I didn't need to journal about it. No pros and cons list needed. Ollie was smart, sweet, and so much fun to be around. The sex was amazing, but it was so much more than that. He was more than a friend, and more than a lover.
Life with him had been so easy, right from the start, even when everything else had sucked. Now, my life was starting to match our relationship, not always easy, but simple. We didn't have any huge complications or distractions. We could be quiettogether, or as loud as we wanted in the bedroom. We fit together exactly as fate had planned, and my life was better for it.
My vision blurred. "I love him so much."
She patted my hand. "Good. He loves you, too, in case he forgot to tell you. He's never been the best at expressing his emotions, but I can tell from the way he talks about you over the phone and seeing him with you today … never doubt for one moment that my son loves you, too."
"Mom!" Ollie burst through the door from the living room and crossed his massive arms over his chest. In his tight black t-shirt, the display had my mouth watering before we'd even sorted the cookie ingredients. "Are you ruining my big reveal?"
She snorted. "Don't wait so long to tell the man you love him, then!"
Before he turned and stomped back to the living room, Ollie's face reached a shade of red I'd never seen before. I grinned. Yep, he loved me.
That night,I was grateful Ollie's parents had agreed to stay in the cottage. I'd been horny all day, no thanks to Ollie's tight shirt and powerful arms on display as he and his dad assembled some metal shelves in the basement. Ollie wouldn't tell me what he planned to store down there, but it didn't matter.
He looked so sexy when he was working. When I finished my carpentry training, I would join Ollie at work sites. A few construction steps and specializations separated his framing and roofing from my cabinet building, but I planned to catch as many glimpses of sweaty, shirtless Ollie as I could throughout the day.
I had clean and naked Ollie in front of me right now, and I intended to make the most of it. After checking the bedroom windows to make sure they were closed and pulling the drapes, I wrapped my arms around Ollie's neck and lifted my legs up to cross my ankles behind his back.
"Hey." He brushed his lips against mine, sending a delightful shiver down my spine.
