Page 11 of Bearly Yours
All bears had a slightly musky smell that was pleasant to my nose, but each bear also had a fingerprint smell completely unique to them. And Matteo smelled like coffee and chocolate toffee, which was just a yum combination.
“Come in, Matteo,” I called out, shaking the ice in my huge water jug to make sure it had enough and wouldn’t go warm on me. I hated warm drinking water. I only drank it if I was desperate.
Matteo came in, his caramel brown skin looking slightly pale, and his warm hazel eyes upset. Matteo walked like a fae. In other words, like he’d taken comportment and grace lessons his entire life.
I’d met actual fae who were less graceful, and while bear shifters aren’t clumsy, we certainly aren’t as graceful as Mateo. I mean, most people don’t look at a bear shifter and wonder if they’re a dancer, but I kid you not, Mateo got asked that questionall the time.
“You should be in ballet, or at the very least a dancer. All of that grace is just gone to waste.” I shook my head. “It’s a shame, really.”
Matteo sat at my bar. “Emrie,” he began in a troubled tone, but I shook my head at him.
“Nope. You’re not going to apologize.”
He sat back, scrutinizing me. “Why not?”
“Because I’m an adult. If I was uncomfortable, it’s on me to say something. It’s not on you.”
Matteo sighed and closed his eyes. “Emrie,” he said, without opening his eyes.
“Yes?”
He opened his eyes. “I can apologize if I want to.” His lips twitched, and I laughed.
Message received.
My laugh subsided as he folded his hands together and rested them on the bar. “But seriously, what if the situation were reversed?”
“Reversed?”
He nodded, his face serious. “What if I were a male bear shifter, sexy as all get out, and rare. But I’m a huge introvert who doesn’t like putting myself out there, and I have these really annoying Clan sisters that keep handing my number out to anyone that breathes.
“I desperately want a family, and I know they’re just trying to help because I’m so shy, but they’re putting me in danger by giving my number out to greedy females that just want to get their paws on me.
“And it certainly doesn’t help that the females I go out with can also be incredibly cruel because I’m different and special. And with all of this, I have a hard time setting boundaries with my Clan sisters because they mean well, and I can’t tell my alpha because I’m such a private person and that would require I tell him things of a more personal nature, which I avoid unless absolutely necessary.”
I groaned. “Matteo, I don’t even know what to unpack first in that. But let’s start with—are you saying that in this scenario females can’t keep their paws off of you?” I mean, I got it. He was me in the scenario, but I didn’t really doubt females had a hard time keeping their paws of Mateo. Other than Alpha Riggs, he was one of my more devastatingly handsome Clan brothers.
Mateo waggled his eyebrows and I laughed, shaking my head. Then his expression grew serious. “Youarespecial, Emrie,” he said softly.
“Only because female bear shifters are rare.”
Matteo shook his head, but let it go. “So, what advice would you give me in my scenario?”
I sighed. “One, that you probably need therapy to help you work out why you have trouble setting boundaries with the people you love, and two, that not every person in the world is going to treat you with the care you would treat them, but that’s on them, not on you.”
“And three,” he said gently, “it’s completely okay to go to your Clan brothers and tell them they’re being obtuse idiots with sludge for brains.”
I shyly looked down at the blue and white flecked marble of my bar top. “I know you guys care.” They did. They showed it every day, and they were seriously thebestClan a bear could have.
Matteo got up and came around the bar to give me a hug. With my face full of his tee shirt, because he’s at least a head taller than me, he said, “Now that I know about this weakness you have, I’ll keep a keener eye on the guys.”
I laughed, but it was muffled by his tee shirt. “Weakness, hah! And if your eyes were any keener, you’d be the next Sherlock Holmes.”
He scoffed.
“It’s true!”
“I’m just observant, nowhere near solving murders with a glance yet.”
