Home > A Baby for the Bear (Wylde Brothers, 1)(14)

A Baby for the Bear (Wylde Brothers, 1)(14)
Author: Jenika Snow

He didn’t wait for a response, just kept hold of her hand and took her outside. The patio was surrounded by a stone wall that offered privacy in an almost intimate manner.

There was one other couple seated outside, but they were far enough away from the table Charlie led them to that she wasn’t worried about being overheard. After they took their seat, a young waiter stopped by, and they gave him their drink orders. She opened up the menu but wasn’t hungry. Her stomach felt like it was in knots for what she was going to have to tell him.

“Have you ever been here before?” he asked her.

She glanced up at him. He was scanning the menu and after only a minute of looking at it closed it and set it aside. “Not since they had the reopening,” she replied.

He nodded but didn’t respond, since the waiter chose that moment to set their drinks in front of them.

“Have you decided on what you’d like to order?” The waiter looked between them. He was a cute human male, but she could sense his interest leaning more toward Charlie. That had her smiling, which in turn made him look at her quizzically.

She closed her menu and handed it to the waiter. “I’ll just take a chicken Caesar salad, please.” She wasn’t hungry, but she also didn’t want to be rude or seem like she was one of those girls who couldn’t eat in front of a guy. If Ary was anything, it was not shy to eat around people.

Charlie invited her to lunch, and maybe if she forced herself to eat something, the tightening dread in her stomach would ease.

He ordered the biggest burger they had, a double order of fries, and a side salad. Ary supposed a man of his height and weight, especially concerning his profession, would need a lot of calories. The waiter left, and a moment of silence filled the space between them.

“Only a salad?” he prompted and brought his glass of water to his mouth.

She shrugged. “I’m not all that hungry.” The sound of the couple on the other side of the patio seemed a lot louder than it had been only moments before. “So, um….” She started to pick at her napkin, and even if he hadn’t been a shifter and able to smell her unease, her twitchy movements would have been loud and clear.

“Hey.” He reached across the table and took her hand in his. The heavy weight of his palm settling over hers had the effect of grounding her. “I know this must be awkward and all after we slept together.” The corner of his mouth curved up, and heat spread up her neck and to her cheeks.

All it took was him mentioning what they had done in the most non-descriptive way and a small smile, if it could even be called that, and she was ready to push everything off the table and beg him to take her right there. She opened her mouth, but he started talking again.

“You’re probably wondering why I called you after waiting so long.”

Actually, that had not been what she thought at all. That hadn’t even crossed her mind.

“I’ll be straight and just tell it like it is, since we are both adults, and beating around the bush is not my style.” She swallowed and didn’t know why that ball of dread in her stomach started to grow at an astounding rate. “I freaked about... well, you know, but then after I watched you leave that night, I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind.”

He let go of her hand and leaned back in the chair. He didn’t speak, but she could hear him breathing and see the rise and fall of his massive chest.

“I have always just stayed to myself, knowing I would never need anyone to live my life with.”

The sound of her heart seemed so incredibly loud, and the feel of it pounding in the base of her throat made it hard to swallow. He leaned forward again and took hold of both her hands.

“In all of my forty years of existence, I have never wanted a female the way I want you.” His blue eyes bore into hers, and she swallowed past the lump. “I know this is probably pretty heavy, but I have done a lot of thinking and know that if you’ll give me a chance, I’d like to show you that we can be good together.”

Ary licked her lips and removed her hands from his. She swore a flash of hurt crossed his face, but a millisecond later, it was gone, and that stoic, hard mask was back in place. His jaw clenched tight, and he leaned back in his chair.

Well, it was now or never. She bent down and grabbed the small black-and-white picture tucked into the side pocket of her purse.

Straightening back up, she stared into his face for a suspended moment before reaching across the table and handing the picture to him. He took it while keeping eye contact, and Ary was shocked by how her hands shook so forcefully. Placing them in her lap she waited to see him lower his gaze to the sonogram picture of their baby.

When he did, the world stopped, time stilled, and there was nothing aside from that one, tense moment. Would he toss the picture back in her face, call her a liar, and say the child she carried wasn’t his, or would he accept it and actually want to go through this journey with her? He looked up at her then back at the picture.

“February….” She watched as his throat worked when he swallowed. He kept looking between her and the picture. Although their child looked like a tiny dot right now, in just a few months, they would be able to tell the sex and whether their child would be a bear or ocelot shifter.

Before either could say anything else, their food was brought out. Once they were alone again, she lifted her gaze back to Charlie’s and saw him staring at the photo again.

“I found out about a week ago that I was pregnant, but I should have told you that night you dropped me off at my car that it was only days before I was fertile.” Taking a deep, steadying breath, she pressed on. “I want you to know that I don’t make it a habit of going home with men I don’t know and sleeping with them.” Ary looked down, suddenly unable to keep eye contact. “I was trying to work up the courage to tell you, but as if we were on the same wavelength, you called me.” When she forced herself to look at him, a gasp left her at the fact that he was right in front of her on his knees.

He still held the picture of their baby, and his expression couldn’t be called anything but awe-filled and expectant. Could it really be so easy for him to accept all this?

“I know there are probably doubts in your head on whether the baby is yours, and I’ll understand and won’t take offense if you want a test once the baby is born, but—”

Before she could finish her sentence, he had his mouth on hers and was kissing her breath away. He broke the kiss far too soon and leaned back. His hand was on her cheek, and she was so stunned by the play of events that she was speechless.

“I thought it would go a lot differently.”

He shook his head and smiled.

“So, you’re not upset or think I’m lying?” There were a lot of males out there who would not be having this kind of reaction to a bomb like this being dropped.

“February.” Just hearing him say her full name was an auditory orgasm. She shouldn’t be thinking about sex right now, but here she was, inhaling his scent and being surrounded by all his masculinity that it made it impossible not to. “Kitten, I asked you to come out here, because I wanted to talk to you about starting a relationship. I want you, and the fact that you carry my child only solidifies the fact that you are mine.”

She curled her toes at the declaration. The heavy feel of his hand on her belly shocked her to the point she had to grip the armrest of her chair to steady herself. He moved back to his seat a moment later, and she was left feeling utterly confused but happy. He certainly wasn’t the type of male many talked about.

Hot Books
» House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1)
» A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire
» From Blood and Ash (Blood And Ash #1)
» A Million Kisses in Your Lifetime
» Deviant King (Royal Elite #1)
» Den of Vipers
» House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City #2)
» The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #
» Sweet Temptation
» The Sweetest Oblivion (Made #1)
» Chasing Cassandra (The Ravenels #6)
» Wreck & Ruin
» Steel Princess (Royal Elite #2)
» Twisted Hate (Twisted #3)
» The Play (Briar U Book 3)