“Whatever you want, baby,” he easily agreed.
Dropping my keys on the kitchen counter, I followed him out the door. After he placed the last box into the bed of the truck, he opened the passenger door and helped me into the seat. Then we made the half-hour drive back up the mountain, Keane’s hand on my thigh the entire way.
It didn’t take him long to carry my things inside the cabin, stacking the boxes against the walls of each room where my stuff belonged. I was excited to put my stamp on the home I would share with him and dug into a few of the boxes while he set up my television. He didn’t have cable, but I’d be able to stream my favorite shows using the Wi-Fi, which totally worked for me.
Since I didn’t have a lot of stuff, it only took us about an hour to finish moving me into the cabin. When we were done, I rubbed my hands together and grinned. “It feels homier already.”
“I like having your things mixed in with mine,” he growled, pulling me close.
“I love you.” If Keane wasn’t a bear shifter and my mate, it would be too early for those three little words. But I was the luckiest girl in the world, and I didn’t need to hold them back. Nothing would scare him off from me because we were meant to be together.
“You mean the world to me, Laina.” He lifted me off my feet and swung me around in a circle. “I love you.”
“And I love your bear, too…even though I haven’t officially met him yet.”
He flashed me a grin. “You wanna see him?”
I bounced on the balls of my feet as I nodded. “Yes!”
“Good, because he’s dying to spend some time with you.” Kicking off his shoes, he stripped out of his shirt.
I bit my bottom lip as I stared at his broad chest. “Not that I’m complaining, but why are you getting naked?”
“I don’t want to ruin my clothes during my shift,” he explained.
“Ah, yeah. That makes sense.” I could have guessed that on my own since the shifters in the paranormal romance novels I read had to get naked before changing into their animal form. But it was hard for my brain to function properly when my sexy-as-sin mate was stripping in front of me.
All I could think about was sex…until he led me out onto the back porch and turned into a huge grizzly bear in the blink of an eye. “Whoa, you really are a big guy, aren’t you?”
He dropped onto all fours and bumped my hand with his giant head. His bear easily weighed three or four times as much as I did, but I didn’t feel an ounce of fear. Keane would never hurt me. Those sharp teeth and giant paws would only ever be used for my protection.
He let out a little chuff and bumped my hand again. “You want me to pet you, huh?”
When I stroked my fingers through his thick fur, a deep hum rumbled up his chest, letting me know how much his bear enjoyed my touch. He let me pet him for several minutes before he lumbered down the steps into the backyard and looked at me over his shoulder. Although I hadn’t put on my shoes, I followed after him, figuring that the grass was thick and green so my feet would be fine. But Keane had a different idea in mind.
He nuzzled his snout against my lower back before hunkering low to the ground. “Sorry, big guy. I don’t understand what you want.”
He nudged my back again and looked over his shoulder at his own. Then he dropped lower. My eyes widened as it dawned on me. “You want me to climb on your back?”
He made that humming sound again deep in his throat, and I rolled my eyes. “I cannot believe I’m actually going to do this. You’re lucky I trust you, big guy. Or else I’d be running screaming into the cabin right about now.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, and then I scrambled onto his back. His fur was warm and soft beneath me as I tried to figure out how to hold on when he started to inch off the ground. Luckily, he stayed on all four paws as he ambled around the yard, which made it easier for me to stay on his back as he moved. As big as he was, I had plenty of room. After a little while, I relaxed and enjoyed the ride.
“Now that’s not something you see every day,” a female voice called.
I shrugged as best I could with my arms wrapped around his thick neck. “Yeah, I think this will take some getting used to.”
Keane carefully crossed over several yards until we were at the bottom of the stairs leading to their back porch.
“I’m Thora.” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “Rome is inside feeding our daughter before we hit the road.”
“Where are you headed?” I asked.
“We split our time between Timber Ridge and here,” she explained with an apologetic smile. “Sorry we can’t stay longer this time around, but I need to be at work tonight. It’s our first trip back since Danika was born, but she loves it here. We plan on getting back to our regular schedule, so you’ll see us again next weekend.”
“Great.”
Her gaze darted toward the giant grizzly beneath me, and her smile widened. “Maybe Keane will be ready to share you with me by then and we can have lunch.”