A Promise To Bear (Second Chance Shifters 4) (3 page)

“
B
edroom’s in the back
,” he growled, almost under his breath.

“I remember. Doesn’t look like you’ve redecorated much.”

Jasper’s cabin had a very woodsman feel to it. The quilt was flannel, and he only had one rug which was right in front of the sink. The place was simple, but it was cozy and warm; it reminded her of him. Simple yet safe. She was just taking out her pajamas when he arrived in the doorway, leaning against the frame, watching her.

“What happened to you?” He asked.

She spun around, holding a T-shirt up over her exposed breasts. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Sorry,” he said, just before turning around. She slipped on the T-shirt and got under the covers.

“I’m decent now. Now answer me, what does that mean?”

“You seem different. More independent than you were back then.”

“I had to be. Do you know what it’s like to bury your parents?”

He set his lips into a thin line and didn’t speak. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Sorry. No parents, I forgot.”

“I shouldn’t expect you to remember. Though honestly, when we release your grandmother’s ashes this coming weekend, that’ll be the closest thing I ever had to losing a parent. So maybe I’ll understand the feeling then.”

“It was just so sad then, you know?”

“All of it was. Your parents and Grace. No one saw any of it coming.”

“I miss them. All of them. It’s not fair.” Her voice cracked on the last word, and she knew that she was holding back her tears. But she didn’t want Jasper to see her cry.

He sat down on the bed next to her, putting his feet up on the top covers, and leaned back against the headboard. “No, it’s not. Everything about this isn’t fair.” She allowed herself to succumb to the tears that were now steadily streaming down her face, and she turned and sobbed into his T-shirt. He put an arm around her, and suddenly, she felt warm and content even while her sadness was overtaking her body. She just needed one good cry. She had one after her parents had passed, at their funeral. Just one good cry and then she’d be ready to go again. But as Jasper mumbled something into her hair, she found herself allowing her eyes to close, comforted by the safety of his arms. One night couldn’t hurt them. Maybe it could even repair the wounds they created that weekend so long ago.

He began to move away, but she clutched him. “Stay. Please.”

He sat back down and cradled her once more, placing a sweet kiss on her forehead.

She fell asleep listening to him mumble to her, not understanding the words.

“I promised her I’d keep you safe. I promised I’d love you.”

T
he next morning
, Twila woke up tangled in a twin bed that she didn’t recognize. Once she pulled the sheet set to her face and took a whiff, she realized she was still back in Jasper’s cabin, laying in his bed.

“Morning, wild woman.”

“Wild woman? What’s that supposed to mean?” she said groggily, as she lifted her body out of bed. He handed her a mug of coffee.

He laughed as he took a gulp out of his own mug. “You thrash around a lot in your sleep. It would explain why your hair looks like that when you wake up in the morning.”

Quickly, she looked around the room and found a mirror on the opposite wall. Okay, so he had a point. Her hair was a little… atrocious. But he didn’t have to say anything about it. “I’ve heard before that I move a lot my sleep.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Who else has told you?”

If she was being honest, pretty much every guy she’d ever slept with. But she didn’t want to tell Jasper that. “Oh just some friends, you know.”

He rolled his eyes at her. “Sure, friends. Because adults still have sleepover parties.”

“No, but sometimes adults can sleep together without anything happening. Like last night, with you and me.” She was relieved to see that they were both going to ignore the elephant in the room: the fact that the only reason that Jasper had stayed in bed with her last night was because she had practically begged him to do so in between her tears. She hardly remembered it, but it was enough of an image that it made an impact. He stayed because of her, because she asked him to. And for that she was truly grateful.

“Good coffee, by the way. I’m not sure I’m going to have to do any of the hospitality stuff around here if you keep this up. Dinner in the evening, coffee in the morning. Is there breakfast?”

He laughed at her. “Yes, in the kitchen in the lodge. We are a bed and breakfast, so we kind of have to include the food in the morning.”

She chewed on her lower lip. “I didn’t know that. I don’t think I got breakfast yesterday!”

He shook his head at her and rolled his eyes again. “That’s because you and the real estate agent and Lauren went to look at apartments at the ass crack of dawn. And our cook doesn’t start making breakfast until 7 AM. She makes her own schedule.”

“So you’re not the cook?”

He shook his head. “Nah, you saw me on a good day. Pasta. That’s about the extent of what I can do. Your grandmother was the cook, and this other chef was her second in command.”

“How did she have time to run a business when she was cooking all the time? I mean, there’s only like fifteen staff here.”

He shrugged, his mountainous shoulders moving his thick upper body. “Maybe that’s why her books are such a mess? Maybe she really wasn’t watching the business as carefully as we thought.”

Twila nodded, taking another sip of coffee. “That’s something we’re going to figure out today. I’m going to call Lauren and see if she knows who was running her reports. We’ve got to figure that out before we take any further steps. And payroll’s coming up at the end of the week, so we have to get it sorted out by then.”

Just then, there was a rap at Jasper’s door. They both jumped slightly at the noise. They heard a voice call out to them. “Jasper? It’s Ranger Mills. I was wondering if I can have a word.”

Twila cocked her head in confusion. “Ranger Mills? What’s that all about?”

Jasper shook his head. “I have no idea. We’re really good here about following the laws of the parks. We don’t want people bringing up past or anything anymore than she does.”

Twila’s eyes narrowed. “You mean my parents? The attack?”

He nodded solemnly, “She hasn’t been out here to talk to your grandmother in probably over a year. Put some pants on before I let her in.”

He closed the bedroom door behind him, and Twila shimmied into a pair of leggings and threw on a bra and a hoodie. She took a moment to smooth out her hair and put on some lip gloss. It didn’t matter that Jasper had now seen her at her complete worst; she wanted him to see her at her best too. Or at least decently dressed. When she came out of the bedroom, the ranger was sitting at Jasper’s kitchen table. A mug of coffee was in front of her as well, but she didn’t look like she had touched it yet. Jasper had his back to both of them, washing dishes in the sink. The place was small, and three people felt like too many, but obviously, whatever the ranger had to say was important.

“Jasper, you didn’t tell me you had a guest.” Ranger Mills was a beautiful American-Indian woman. She had long, dark hair tied up in a tight bun, while her hat sat on the table next to her. She also had gorgeous high cheekbones and dark brown eyes, and was not at all what Twila had expected to see when she emerged from the bedroom.

“Yeah, this is Twila…” said Jasper.

“You must be Twila. Your grandmother’s told me so much about you. I am so very sorry for your loss. Grace was an amazing woman.”

Twila stuck her hand out to shake the ranger’s in greeting. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“Well, I won’t keep you, but I wanted to provide you with some information. I felt the need to tell you, for your guests’ safety, that there seems to be a bear on the loose. Multiple hikers have started seeing a couple different crews walking around in the woods the past few days. And I felt that you deserve a warning, especially you, Twila. We all remember how your parents passed away; such a shame and an anomaly. They typically don’t attack humans. It’s why we questioned all the shifters in the area back then.”

Jasper tensed up the word.

“So what are you saying? Do you think our guests are in danger?”

She shook her head. “I’m not really sure. I’m going to reach out to a clan of shifters that lives on the other side of the mountain, but it’s about a half a day’s drive just to get there, and they don’t use any sort of technology. They’re pretty reclusive.”

Twila sat down across from her, the old chair creaking under her weight. She wondered if Jasper had many guests. How many other girls had sat in the same spot? “Aren’t they all?” she asked. “I mean, we have a few out in Montana and they’re not the best people. Well, except the ones in the police. I always kind of believed that’s who killed my parents. I remember the investigation; it didn’t match up with any natural bears.”

Jasper turned around and leaned on the sink, crossing his arms over his chest. “I thought they said that your parents may have stumbled into a den. The mother bear was protecting her cubs.”

“Yeah, that’s what people said, but that’s not where they found them. I never believed it.”

“Well, I’m going to go visit the other clan and see if they have any information. Maybe a rogue shifter or two just wandered into our territory. I doubt that anyone is in trouble, but Jasper, I felt you should know especially. Just in case.”

Twila looked up at Jasper’s tense frame, which looked like anything but what she was used to. “Just in case of what?”

The Ranger put her hat back on her head. “Thanks for the coffee. I’ll let you know if I find out anything. Oh hey, maybe you could go talk to Liam, see what he knows about it.”

Jasper nodded to her. “Sure, and stop by anytime. I’d like to hear follow-up.”

“Bye Twila, it was nice meeting you.”

The Ranger exited the cabin, closing the door behind her. Twila still sat at the kitchen table, confused by this turn of events. “What did she mean just in case? And what does some random bears wandering around have to do with you?” Just then, Twila remembered seeing the bear right near the lodge yesterday. “Oh my God, I should’ve told her. I saw a bear yesterday, when I was in Gram’s office. He was walking up the mountainside, but nothing looked off about him. And he wasn’t anywhere near the guests, so I didn’t think anything of it. Not that he didn’t terrify me, because he did.”

“You’re terrified of bears?”

She nodded slowly. “Wouldn’t you be? A bear killed my parents. I know the damage that they can do.”

“You don’t know anything,” Jasper said before he left the cabin, slamming the door behind him.

Twila stood from the chair so quickly that it rattled against the floor. She flung open the door and yelled after him. “Then tell me! You’re so goddamned secretive all the time that I don’t know what’s going on. So why don’t you just clue me in? Maybe then…”

He turned around, looking at her, green eyes almost glowing in the morning sunlight. “Maybe what?”

She sighed heavily, “I don’t know. Maybe then whatever we had, what I think we still do have, could be something more. We could be something more, Jasper, you know it. Why won’t you just accept it?”

He crossed the grassy hill that led back to the cabin in seconds. Now they were so close that it was hard not to touch him. To reach out and stroke her hand along his stubble.

“You think that I haven’t accepted it? I knew who you were to me the minute that I met you. There hasn’t been a single day in the past three years that I haven’t thought of you. That I haven’t dreamed of going to Montana and bringing you back here. But I couldn’t. It wasn’t right.”

“Why? What’s so different about us?”

He set his lips into a thin line for a moment, shaking his head and looking away.

“You’re human,” he finally said, looking back into her eyes.

“Of course I am.” She paused, confused. “Wait, are you telling me that you’re not?”

He put his hands around her shoulders, trying to convey the heaviness of his burden. “No Twila, I’m not.”

Her eyes grew wide, but she didn’t flinch or step away like he expected. “You’re a shifter.” She said it like it didn’t surprise her. He didn’t understand.

“You knew?”

“No, but I suspected. I remember when you went looking for Britney in the woods, you went by yourself, with no tools, and I don’t even remember you taking your jacket. No supplies, but yet you said you’d be staying out overnight. These woods are dangerous. I suspected then. But I didn’t have any confirmation until just now.”

“You just told me that you’re terrified of shifters, which makes this situation difficult. But I know how I feel, and there’s nothing difficult about that. I’ve missed you so much.”

She broke free from his hold and pushed herself into him, his arms enveloping her. He had just told her his biggest secret, and even though she’d suspected for years, she knew it took a lot out of him to finally admit the truth. Jasper had always been different, but in a good way. He wasn’t like any other man she’d ever met. There was just something about him that made her whole world shift when she was around him. He made her feel things that no one else ever could.

“I want to make this work. And I know I have to be honest with you.”

“Then be honest.”

“I love you.” He said it so smoothly, like he had been holding it in his whole life. For a moment he, and his bear, felt relief.

She held her breath for a second. This incredibly sexy man that had been the source of all of her sexual fantasies for the past three years had just told her that he loved her. And that he was a bear shifter. But the thing that worried her the most about the situation was that she wasn’t concerned about either of those things. She loved him too. She had known it all along, since the moment she laid eyes on him. That weekend wasn’t a fling—it was a glimpse into what could be. And every time she thought about it, she wanted it to happen. She wanted this vision of what her life could be like.

“I love you too,” she whispered. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he kissed her, pushing his hand against her waist. Every time she touched him, it was like a surge of electricity went to her body, but now, it was a series of shocks going through her system. It was like fireworks were going off in her brain. She never wanted them to stop.