Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,174

were, or how crazy amazing he was in bed, he was her enemy. Her pack’s enemy. They’d fought and nearly tore each other apart. She could still feel the the ghost of his touch on her arm, on her thighs, inside her-

She started the car.

When she pulled into the parking lot outside her apartment Vince was standing outside her door, signature scowl in place. He watched her climb out of the driver's seat, eyes following her as she walked towards him.

There goes my good mood.

All she wanted was a hot bath, some whiskey and her bed. She wasn’t needed at Cole’s until after lunch, and she intended to dedicate the day to forgetting how good Connor smelled curled up against her.

“What do you want, Vince?”

“I think you know, Brooke.”

She sighed. She’d known this was coming. Ever since she’d beaten him out for the alpha position he’d had it in for her: opposing everything she said, antagonising her at every turn. She should have kicked him out. The wolf in her snarled, hackles raised, every time he opened his mouth, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. The pack was so small then, and really, they were still short numbered. Vince had been there since the beginning. He was family, even if he was an unbearable asshole.

“Vince. I’m tired. Can we please have this ‘my dick is bigger than your dick’ competition for some other time?” She tried to move around him but he stepped with her, pushing her back to collide with the brick wall beside her front door, flakes of orange dust flying into the air with the force of it. She growled a warning, but Vince ignored her, baring his teeth. “What the fuck, Vince?” she snarled.

“You reek of bear.” Fuck. She should have known he’d be able to smell Connor on her clothes. Fuck fuck- she struggled out of his grip, fixing him with a glare.

“I work at Black Bear Lake Lodge, Vince. You think I’m gonna smell like fucking roses?”

“You can’t fool me, you’ve been gone for hours,” he sneered and Brooke wanted to rip his throat out then and there. “Tell me who you were with!”

She surged forward, fisting the fabric of his gaudy silk shirt and hauling him in. “None of your goddamn business,” she growled. “And if you ever touch me like that again I will pluck your teeth out of your skull one by one.”

She let go, sending him stumbling away from her and reached for her keys.

“Your time is coming to an end, Brooke!” Vince called as she opened the door. “You’d be wise to watch your back.”

She flipped him off and slammed the door.

Cole’s was practically empty as she walked through the door and, as Elsie waved and left her to it, the hours passed by agonizingly slowly. Brooke had doused herself in her scent suppression perfume, using almost half the bottle in one go. If Vince had smelled Connor on her, then there was a chance that Connor would smell wolf. It was a goddamn miracle he didn’t smell it when we had sex.

She’d been trying not to think about it, but with Vince on the offense and the pack slowly slipping further and further into decline, thinking about Connor gently treating her wounds and taking her apart with his fingers was a pretty nice distraction.

Until the man himself hesitated at the door. He looked just as flawless as usual, but Brooke found herself missing the way he’d looked when she left him - softer.

Gone was the man she was allowed to like, replaced once again by her boss and a bear.

“Brooke.” The way he said her name sent shivers down her spine. Dark eyes met hers and didn’t look away. “You were gone when I woke up.”

Brooke looked away first, buckling under the intensity of his gaze. She plucked half-heartedly at some non-existent fluff on the collar of a shirt. She hadn’t expected him to come and find her. Sure, he said he didn’t want to fight anymore, but there's becoming tentative friends and then there’s jumping into bed together.

“Missed me?” This she could do. She was being a coward, avoiding her feelings by going back to what she knew, but teasing was familiar territory.

“Yes.”

Oh. She looked up. There wasn’t a hint of a joke in those deep dark eyes. All her breath left her and she was overcome with a need to be closer.

“Well, some of us can’t afford to lounge around in bed all day