Page 60 of Coveted By the Bear

“It’s just that your home is kind of perfect, is all.”

He bowed gallantly. “You want the grand tour?”

I rested my hand on his outstretched palm and nodded. There was a sizable deck that constructed the porch, complete with two chairs and a small table to enjoy warm evenings. Inside, his furniture in the living area was simple, functional, but everything worked well together to invite a homey feel. The kitchen was large with modern appliances, and the two bedrooms in the back were spacious. One, he had made into an office, and the other was his room. I blushed when I saw his bed. The bedding was nice, dark, and haphazardly thrown in some semblance of order. It was definitely a bed I could find myself comfortable in.

“You hungry?” he asked, deliciously close to my ear.

“Starving, actually.”

“I’m not much of a cook, but surely we can put something together from a stocked pantry.”

And stocked, it was. Caleb had everything I could possibly imagine in the way of food. I pulled out shelf after rolling shelf of non-perishables and found the refrigerator full as well. “I thought a bachelor would just have frozen pizzas to eat,” I murmured in awe.

Caleb yanked the stainless steel freezer door open and stood back. “I have those too if you have a hankerin’.”

I laughed at the row of meat lover’s specials. “Tempting, but would you mind if I cooked instead?”

A tender expression crossed his face. “You want to cook in here?”

I looked around. “Never cooked in such a fancy kitchen outside of Opal’s before.”

Slowly, deliberately, he crossed to stand in front of me. His skin smelled masculine and alluring with a faint undertone of animal. He took a breath before he spoke in a tone so velvety soft, it sent a warm sensation to parts of me I hadn’t given much thought to before he came into my life.

“Say it. Tell me you need me as much as I need you.”

My eyes focused somewhere in the region of his collar bones. If I looked into the brilliant blue of his eyes, I would melt into a useless puddle on the wooden floorboards beneath my feet. “I can’t say it now. I need you for safety, and you will always wonder if I said it for the right reasons. It won’t count.”

“Look at me.” He waited until my reluctant gaze met his. “The fact that you just said that will make it count. Say it.”

It would be the biggest admission of my life, but he was worth taking the risk. “I need you. And not just for the material stuff. Fixing up my house and trying to get me a job… That stuff doesn’t matter. I’ve needed you from the moment I brought you up to my house. After I killed the grizzly? You had to live, and not just because it would be a weight on my conscience, but because you were the most beautiful thing I ever had in my life, and I couldn’t lose you. I knew you wouldn’t ever think about me again after you left, but you had to exist.”

The tenderness in Caleb’s eyes was overwhelming. He leaned forward, placing his hands on the counter behind me. He rested his forehead on mine for just a moment before he kissed me. His lips were as soft as the first time he kissed me on the balcony of the pie shop. I clenched the front of his shirt with my fists, and he stretched forward, parted my lips, demanding more. His hands found my hips, and with ease, he lifted me to sit on the counter. His obvious arousal made me feel powerful. How did I have such an effect on a creature so compelling? His arms snaked around my back and pulled me closer to his body, and I wrapped my legs around him in desperation to be even closer.

“Can I see?” I asked in a ragged breath.

Caleb stopped kissing me, and for a second I thought he would refuse. He eased back slightly and pulled at the top button of his shirt.

I moved my fingertips under his. “Let me.”

I pulled at each button in turn and revealed more and more of the still angry red scars. When he shrugged his opened shirt off his broad shoulders, I raked my eyes over every inch of his muscular chest. “You’re so—” Words failed me. None were grand enough.

He ran his hand through his hair as if uncomfortable. “Ruined?”

“No. Perfect. You’re perfect to me.”

His smile was slow, and he ran a light fingertip over the scars on my neck that peeked out from beneath my loose collar. “So are you.”

The moment was interrupted with the shrill trumpet of the telephone. Caleb reached across me, apparently not inclined to put any distance between us, and answered it.

There was a muffled murmur of a girl’s voice on the other end of the line.

“No, I think I got it,” Caleb said, brushing a strand of hair out of my face and tucking it behind my ear. “Hey, Mira says hi.”

Dead silence filled the other end. The voice picked up in an excited volume that I could almost understand. He chuckled and handed the phone to me.

Sadey didn’t bother with a greeting. “Are you back with Caleb? Tell me you’re back together!”

“Yes, we’re back together.”