Bearlebrity: (BWWM) Paranormal BBW Bear Shifter Romance Standalone by Terry Bolryder Page B

words the minute he said them. The only thing worse than having to watch her with another man, would be having her shut him out, right here right now.
    “Fine,” she said.
    “Wait, no,” he said, reaching for her as she gingerly started getting off of the bed. He wrapped his arms around her. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for being so selfish. You’re so gorgeous, Leslie. You make a man want you all for himself.”
    She sighed. “Yeah, but not for keeps.”
    He swallowed at the hurt in her words, but didn’t know what to say. He wanted to tell her that a normal man would stay, but that he just had issues. Issues like turning into a bear that would terrify her. And he couldn’t tell her that. So he just stayed silent, holding her in his big arms and hoping it was enough.
    She sighed. “All right. You going to cool it on the sweet talk?”
    “No,” he said. “But I’ll cool it on the possessiveness. You’re right.”
    “Fine,” she said, letting him pull her back into bed. She sighed and lay under his arm. “But I’m only allowing you to be so difficult because you’re so fantastic in bed.”
    He laughed and squeezed her tight against him. “Good to know.”
    “Riley?”
    “Yes?”
    “I do have one request, though. I sort of want to try one of those movie kisses in the rain that you always do.”
    He lifted an eyebrow in the darkness. “Complete with ripped-open flannel shirt?”
    She leaned over and drew her finger down the center of his chest. “Yes.”
    “How’s your foot doing?” he asked.
    “Better, since it’s in the brace. I think I’ll be right as rain in a few days.”
    “Well, you still need to be careful, stay off it, and not re-injure it,” he replied, nipping at her lips lightly.
    “And you just want an excuse to stay around me.”
    “Maybe,” he agreed, loving the idea of pulling her against him and kissing her passionately as rain fell all around them. “Well, if I’m still here in the spring, I’ll make sure and give you a rain kiss.”
    As he said it, he winced. Silence fell between them, and the reality of the inevitable separation that would come seemed to sober the good mood, ruining the moment.
    “Riley?” she asked quietly.
    “Yes?”
    “Goodnight,” she said. She placed a kiss to his forehead and then rolled over and away from him, balling up in the covers before he could respond.
    “Goodnight, sweetheart,” he said. The second word, sweetheart , was so quiet from his lips that he wasn’t sure if she heard it. He wasn’t sure if he wanted her to.
    All he could do, as he lay there listening to the steady in-and-out of her breathing, was hope that there weren’t too many men on that damn tourist bus that was coming into town.

11
    R iley’s wish wasn’t meant to be granted, because there had been quite a few men on the tourist bus the next day. However, the rest of the week had gone by just fine. More fun days working together, more hot nights doing…other things together.
    And then things had gotten complicated.
    It’d happened right after he’d left Leslie to open the bar and gone to get them coffee and muffins from the shop across the street. It was so easy to slip into little habits like that with her. Riley thought it was probably the closest thing to a relationship he’d ever had.
    And then he’d walked into the bar, seen a tall, dark-haired man talking to Leslie, and nearly dropped the muffins.
    He strode forward and set the muffins on the counter, shoving them toward Leslie as she leaned over the counter, smiling at the other man. Her smiles should be only for him. His inner bear was growling.
    She sent him a sidelong glance and he remembered what she’d asked the other night.
    He’d promised not to be so possessive.
    No, he’d promised he’d try . That was different, right? He slid onto a stool beside the other man and cleared his throat.
    The other man, who was tall in his own right but no match for Riley, looked down at him with a baffled