Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,110

he was nothing but happy even when he was exhausted and stressed out. It was annoying and it was annoying to Cody now, the heat in his blood bubbling up within him.

He was pissed. His bear was even more pissed.

He hated to think about why.

“Nothing’s up my ass, Nathan.”

“You always get like this when you’re really upset about something else.” Nathan had grown a beard and he stroked it, leaning on the kitchen island. He grabbed an almond from a charcuterie board waiting to be served and popped it into his mouth and just that set Cody off again.

“Don’t eat my charcuterie!”

“Cody.” Nathan frowned and looked eerily like Connor when he was being very serious. It brought Cody up short and he sighed, running a hand through his hair and wishing he could skip out on work and just go for a run in the woods to vent his frustration. It usually made him feel better. “What’s up?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Cody snarled and crossed his arms.

“Okay well, I think everything’s taken care of here even if you’re pretending to have a problem with the Béchamel,” Nathan said. “So why don’t you go cool off? Breakfast just ended. You’re fine.”

He wanted to resist on principle. But he did want to get out for a bit.

“Fine,” Cody snapped. “But not because you’re telling me too.”

“Oh, have it your way,” Nathan said, shrugging.

Cody sighed and hung up his apron, stomping out of the kitchen and catching more nervous glances from his staff. It almost made him feel bad. He knew he could be well, a bit of a bear, so to speak, when he was in the wrong mood.

He marched through the hall, out to the lobby, and through the front doors, sighing in relief when he breathed the summer air outside. He walked down the veranda and all the way around to an elevated patio that looked out on the lake beyond the bunny slopes. He supposed he didn’t need to go on a run. He’d just needed some air.

He was upset about Jessie. Obviously. He could admit as much to himself, at least.

The thing was, he had not dated much. Before he’d found happiness with Lydia, his brother Eric had dated plenty. Women were always chasing Nathan before he’d met Alanna. And Connor. Connor was a bit of a mystery. He disappeared into town from time to time and they all assumed he was on the hunt for a future mate. But he refused to talk about his conquests.

But Cody had never been much of a dater, and more than that, he’d never felt so strongly about anyone before.

“You’re being an asswipe,” he muttered to himself. “Be a man.”

It was true and he felt like a real jerk. He’d avoided Jessie all day, feeling a little pathetic after she’d rejected him.

It was time to clear the air. This was usually how things went with Cody if he was honest with himself. He got pissed off and projected his feelings all over the place, and then eventually came around to common sense.

Cody took one more cleansing breath of the crisp air of the cool summer day and went back inside, checking his watch. It was ten in the morning. He’d had a whole night of grumbling and feeling weird about what had happened with Jessie and now it was time to man up.

It took him a while to find her after asking around, especially since people kept running in the opposite direction since word had gotten out that Cody was in “one of his moods.”

He found Jessie making up a bed in a honeymoon suite on the fifth floor and he sighed, hovering in the doorway and watching her work for a moment before knocking softly on the door jamb.

Jessie spun around with a start and he considered it a good sign that she smiled when she saw him. “Oh! Hey. Hi, Cody.”

“Hey.” Cody stayed where he was and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I thought I should uh, clear the air? For a second?”

He saw her expression shift. Her dark brow furrowed and straightened again and she looked down, tucking a bright white sheet neatly under the mattress, not looking at him. “Clear the air?”

“Yeah, I just wanted to apologize,” she shrugged, sheepish. “Really. I misunderstood things. And it was inappropriate with me being your boss-”

“You’re just a quarter my boss.” She smiled and he sighed a little.

Why must she be so cute?

“Well, regardless-”

“You don’t have