The Rolling River bar was small, intimate, and Cassie liked keeping it that way. Danny had no complaints, enjoying the extra help—he was heading toward retirement age and Alec was a young, strong man who didn't mind lifting heavy crates of liquor.
At the end of every shift, they'd lock up the bar or hand it over to Danny, and walk along the riverbank, Alec telling her fantastic stories. A whole new world opened up to her, filled with people she had only viewed as fantasy before.
Alec would help make dinner and then sleep in the spare bedroom—what had been her father's, once upon a time.
It was getting...
Domestic.
***
Suddenly a month had passed, and she was comfortable with him being there.
More than she thought she should be.
It became apparent how important he'd become when a fight broke out at the bar—not the first time during her shift, but the first since her father's passing.
It'd been a short fight.
Before Cassie could react, Alec leaped over the bar and grabbed Frank's shirt, lifting him up off the ground. His free hand shot out and took hold of Frank's "friend", who he'd brought in tonight for the first time and had started the argument over some sports trivia.
Both men calmed down almost immediately.
Alec marched both to the door, telling Frank he wasn't welcome back for a month—and for his new friend, a permanent ban.
Behind the bar, Cassie forced herself to take long, steady breaths. Ed, the part-time employee, came out from the back where he'd been busy stacking empty beer bottles for return, frowning as he took in the astonished faces.
No one dared start anything while Alec was around, not after that.
Except now over a month had passed, and she knew, she knew his wound was healed. One time he'd stepped out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his middle, sending her pulse skyward, and she'd spotted the thin, white line on his leg. The slight limp he'd suffered since his arrival was gone, his pace along the riverbank steady and firm.
So why was he staying?
Every time she tried to think about it, her heart kicked into overdrive. If she asked, he might leave.
But she had to ask...
Her curiosity broke a day later.
***
Cassie sat on the couch as Alec finished up the dishes, in a now-familiar evening routine. She turned the volume down on the television when he joined her, pressing her lips together in a tight line in an attempt to gin herself up to ask.
He looked... fuck, yeah, sexy as hell. He always took his shirt off when doing the dishes, claiming it saved the shirt from getting wet.
She suspected it was because he liked being as close to naked as possible—she'd caught him more than once walking around the house with just his pelt on, covering his privates. His chest was littered with scars, each with a story—he'd told them to her, the wild underwater adventures beating out any fantasy novel she'd ever read.
When dressed, his pelt was tucked into the waistband of his jeans, keeping skin contact. It wasn't mandatory for him to have it on his person to stay in human form, but Alec had told her it felt reassuring to keep it nearby, either on his person or sitting on a table, within reach.
Having read legends about selkies and other shapeshifters, she couldn't blame him. One fairy tale told of a man keeping a woman's sealskin from her for years, forcing her to marry him and have children, until she found where he'd been hiding her fur skin and escaped.
Whatever sort of relationship she was going to have with Alec, it wouldn't be like that.
Speaking of...
"I..." She blinked, trying to focus. "I was wondering when you were thinking of leaving."
He turned, capturing her in those dark, brown eyes. "What?" His forehead furrowed. "Did I do something to upset you?"
"I just... you said you'd stay until you've healed." She tried hard not to look at his leg, imagine the naked skin lying under the jeans. "Except..."
Alec cocked his head to one side, giving her the now-familiar soft smile. "Why am I still here when I could have put my pelt back on and swum away, down the river and back to my people?"
"Yes."
"What do you think?" He moved closer on the couch.
"I..." She closed her eyes. "I don't know."
"Yes, you do." The command in his voice shocked her even as it tempted her.
"Yes..." she said as his lips brushed hers, waiting for her response.
Cassie didn't hesitate. She leaned in, meeting his intensity with her own, deepening the kiss until she was dizzy. Her hand wrapped around the back of his neck, tangling in the loose hair there.
"Nice," Alec replied as his arms went around her, pulling her into his lap. "But I can do better."
Her hands roamed over his chest, wallowing in his embrace. The strong, toned shoulder muscles she'd admired from afar were now flexing under her touch, the silent strength within setting her insides afire.
Cassie moaned as he dropped kisses along her jawline, settling in at the base of her throat as Alec unbuttoned her blouse with swift, measured flicks of his fingers.
Her hand slipped under his waistband, pausing as she touched the soft, silky fur.
"Before you ask," he said, "Yes. I'm like every other man." He took her hand and moved it down.
"Oh. My." She felt him rising through the jeans, the zipper already straining under her hand.
Alec kissed his way up to her ear while sliding the blouse off her shoulders, pushing it onto the cushions. Another flick of his fingers and her bra fell away. "I have to confess, you're the first and only human woman I've ever been attracted to."
She paused and pulled back, her hand slipping under his jeans to undo the single button. "Have you been around many?" A nugget of jealousy curdled in her gut, escaping into her words.
"A few. Except none like you and not what I want to talk about right now." He let out a soft grunt as she pulled the zipper down at a slow, steady, pace. "If that's all right with you."
"Perfectly." Cassie smirked as she pushed his underwear aside and took hold of him, thick and heavy in her grip. "Not to mention I can think of much better things to do with your mouth. And mine."
Alec let out a sigh before arching back against her. "Agreed."
***
It wasn't a perfect relationship.
She yelled at him when he threw out the fresh fish she brought home from the local grocery store for dinner, telling her it wasn't.
He yelled at her in the back room when she stepped between a loud argument between two bar patrons, pulling them apart seconds before they came to blows.
In his eyes, she was putting herself in danger. To her, it was just another day, dealing with drunken fools.
Except whatever arguments they had during the day disappeared at night, curled up around each other in bed, whispering apologies and murmuring sweet words after making love.
Cassie knew it couldn't last, wouldn't last—she might be falling in love with an otter shapeshifter, but she knew reality.
And reality told her nothing good lasted forever.
***
The first sign of trouble started five months in after Alec's arrival, three months into their relationship, when Aunt Jean came to visit. In theory, she had come to visit her brother's grave and spend Easter with them—but Cassie suspected Jean's goal was to convince Cassie to sell her share of the bar to Danny and move to Arizona.