Page 37 of Bearly Yours
“And the cubs with me?”
He shrugged. “I figured, whoever you ended up with as your mate, at least you and your children could be close.” Then he grinned a very feral grin. “Now, of course, I’m going to have a dragon commissioned, and have him placed behind the bears, with his wings outstretched, protecting them.”
“Oh, Roarke.” I hid my face in his chest, my emotions kind of overcoming me for a moment, and then I laughed. “You looked feral when you said that.”
He kissed the top of my head. “It gives me an insane amount of satisfaction. And also, I don’t have to eat your mate. So that’s a plus.”
I laughed, and then realized the end credits were rolling on the movie. “So much for the movie.”
“I watched part of it. I’ll try again later, maybe when I’m less distracted.”
“Whenyou’reless distracted? I thought I was the only one that was distracted?”
“Are you kidding? Your thoughts are like candy to this dragon. I love the way your brain works, and I love your sense of humor, even directed at yourself, because while you’re feisty with yourself, you’re never self-degrading, and I appreciate that. You don’t know how rare it is to be able to laugh at yourself, but not hate yourself.”
I groaned and hid my head in his chest again. This whole reading my thoughts thing was going to take some adjustment.
He kissed the top of my head again, and tried to reassure me. “I promise I’ll try not to pry into your thoughts. Sometimes they’re just super loud, mostly when you’re feeling strongly about something.”
Great. Just great. Trying not to have big emotions was akin to asking me to stop breathing. Successful for really short durations, but not pragmatic for any longer length of time.
I was doomed.
Roarke laughed, and squeezed me in a hug. Ironically, it was strong enough to be a bear hug, but gentle enough to be a Roarke hug. I breathed in a steadying breath. Okay. I was okay. This stuff was not life-ending. It was just danged inconvenient.
“Okay, big guy. How about you show me your other hoards. I’m dying of curiosity.”
He helped me up from his body-sucking sofa and gave me a tour of his house. I oohed and aahed over his kitchen and dining room. The kitchen had every doodad and kitchen device known to mankind in it. I expressed appropriate appreciation for his huge fridge and amazing oven.
I loved his choice of colors. My favorite colors were blue and green, and it looked like he’d decorated his house with those colors in mind. Which made me think maybe they were his favorite colors as well? How did I not know my best friend’s favorite colors? I felt like this was an epic best friend fail. I mean, it wasn’t the meaning of life or the universe or anything, but it was a basic piece of knowledge that I lacked, and I felt like it was somehow mocking me now.
He laughed. “I like blue and green, Emrie, just the same as you. I also love silver, opal, and copper, so you’ll see accents of that everywhere as well.”
My body sighed. I hadn’t realized it was seizing up in protest on me until he answered my internal freak-out.
Words, Emrie. Use your words.
I had to remind myself of this often. My body would just do its stress or anxiety thing, and before I even knew it, I was having a panic attack. I knew if I could just figure out a way to talkthings out before it got to that point, I could avoid—or at least cut down—my panic attacks.
“We’ll work on it,” Roarke assured me. “In a way, it’s good then that I can hear your thoughts sometimes. It might help you talk things through, and it might help to reduce your panic attacks.”
I sighed in relief. An upside. He’d found an upside.
I stepped into his bedroom. The walls were a pretty blue-grey color. His bed sat on a a massive rug that looked very soft, but the rest of the floor was hardwood. A sliding door led out to a balcony that wrapped around to the front of the house, and on his balcony sat a jacuzzi tub.
“That must be nice to have during the winter,” I said.
He shrugged. “It’s a saltwater jacuzzi. It helps my skin and scales to feel healthy. You bears have one. I’ve seen it as I’ve gone to the main lodge. You have a pool as well.” He looked inquiringly at me. “Do you use the pool often?”
“All the time.”
He nodded, looking thoughtful. We made our way to the back of the house, and another room. He opened it, and I gaped as I stared around me. The whole room was filled with canvases of different sizes, and most of them were filled with the most beautiful paintings I’d ever seen.
“Oh my gosh, Roarke! How could you not tell me you were an amazing artist?” I moved to a pile of canvases that were snugged in with each other and fanned through them, amazed at the landscapes, cottages, seascapes, and beautiful paintings of famous places I was seeing.
“Holy honey I want them all!” I said, probably with a gleaming look of avarice in my eyes. “Roarke, why do you not sell these? You could make mint!”
He shrugged. “I don’t need the money. I occasionally give them out for Christmas, birthday, or wedding gifts. In fact, I’m making one right now for Draven and Mia.”
