Page 7 of Gold & Shadow

“Consider it payment for the stew, Little Thief,” he said, a grin appearing beneath the beard. It was a well-trimmed beard, and it made me think that perhaps beards were my new favorite form of male accessory. Beards and tattoos. “You’re ogling my chest, after all.”

I looked up, realizing I had indeed been tracing the tattoos across his chest with my eyes. “I am not.”

Orson laughed again, standing in all his blanketed glory now that things had clearly calmed down for him a bit. “A thiefanda liar,“ he quipped, giving me a heated stare. “Whatever shall I do with you?”

It turned out that the answer to this question was to hold my hair back as I vomited, the fever Orson had predicted hitting me as hard as the blizzard raging outside sometime in the night. My body was wracked with shivers as everything I had eaten in the last twenty-four hours left my system in a horrifying wave of nausea that prompted the bear to scoop me up and carry me to the bathroom before I ruined his rug.

After an hour of horror, Orson handed me a glass of water and a damp washcloth to clean my face.

“Tiny sips only,” he warned, pulling my golden hair back behind my shoulder. “Or it will all come back up.”

“I’m sorry,” I croaked, wiping the sweat and tears and sick from me with the washcloth before doing what he asked. “I honestly didn’t mean to cause you so much trouble.”

It was true, the golden bear paw hanging so close to me was a reminder that I had meant a totally different sort of trouble. Clearly, there was no way I could steal it in my current condition, and that nagging voice in my head told me it would be a shitty thing to do after Orson had taken care of me.

“It’s fine,” Orson grunted, the heat of his bare chest warming me in the chill of the bathroom. He had donned pants at some point in the evening, but his feet and chest were still bare. He must run warm because he was like a furnace next to me. “Can you stand?”

I pursed my lips and shook my head in embarrassment, feeling everything go rather dizzy at the suggestion. He sighed, scoopingme back up as he headed for the narrow log stairs that led to his loft.

“Where are we going?” I asked through chattering teeth. My nest on the sofa was in shambles, but salvageable and warm with the fire blazing nearby, although honestly not as warm as I was being held against Orson’s bare chest.

“I can’t keep you warm down there,” he grunted, cradling me like a child. I should be embarrassed, but there was something comforting about being cared for, for a change, rather than having to be the one to do the caring.

Orson settled me in his bed on my uninjured side, piling fur covers over me before settling in behind me and wrapping his arms around me. There were blankets between us, but I still blushed as he held me the way a lover might. I was still freezing, but his warmth was helping.

“You don’t have to—“

“You’re shivering like a leaf in a storm,” Orson grumbled, his face pressed against my neck as he inhaled, breathing me in. He must have removed his glasses for sleep because only warm skin brushed against me. “Neither of us will sleep if you don’t get warm. I promise not to ruin your virtue.”

“There’s not much to ruin,” I joked, finally feeling warmth seep into my bones as the bear-shifter held me.

His chest vibrated in a laugh as my tangled thoughts finally began to settle beneath his steady weight. “Even better,” he murmured, his nose brushing the sensitive skin behind my ear.

I could swear he smelled me again, but my limbs suddenly felt like lead, and I let sleep drag me away.

Chapter 5

Iwoke to glorious, toasty warmth and a hard male body pressed against my back.

Oh gods. Orson.

I tried to shimmy away from him, wincing as I jarred my ankle in the process. Orson grunted, pulling me flush against him with a firm arm.

Despite the blankets between us, I could feel another very firm thing also pressedagainst me.

Gods, take me now.

“Hey,” I hissed, trying to dislodge Orson’s grip on me. The shifter grunted again, nuzzling into my neck. “Gods above, you great beast, wake up.”

“I’m plenty awake,” he said, pressing his body against mine in a way that made warmth curl through me. “And I’ll be even more awake if you keep wriggling like that.”

I stilled, making him chuckle as he pressed harder against my backside.

This was a normal male reaction. It meant nothing. Males and men both often woke with certain…physical reactions.

Although this physical reaction was very, very hard and very large. I should be infuriated at his presumption. I hadn’t given permission for this. Instead, molten heat flooded me at the feeling and my imagination started to run a little wild.

“Your heart is beating very fast,” Orson rumbled, adjusting his hold on me. “Tell me to stop, Little Thief.”