Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,191

face.

Eventually, she had to wrestle her way out of the bed. As warm and comforting as Connor was, his arm was pressing directly onto her bladder.

The bathroom door closed behind her softly and Brooke scoffed at the sheer size of the room. Fucking rich people! Who the hell needed a bathroom the size of a ballroom? It took her longer than she’d like to admit to figure out which one of the many switches on the shower wall turned the damn thing on. She stepped under the hot water with a barely contained groan of bliss. It was easily the best shower she’d had in well over a year - water pressure was always the first thing to go in crappy motels and apartments.

The tension melted away from her shoulders and Brooke sighed in contentment. I’m never leaving this place, she thought idly, he’ll have to peel my pruney remains out of this shower. The soap smelled like him: sort of woodsy, with hints of sage and sandalwood. Brooke breathed it in as she washed her hair, pulling out leaves and twigs knotted into the ends and watching with satisfaction as they collected in the drain.

Wrapping a towel around herself and feeling much more human, Brooke stepped back into the bedroom. She’d never stopped to appreciate just how gorgeous Connor’s suite was before; despite being stupidly big, it was tastefully decorated in warm shades of blue and cream that made everything seem cosier.

Brooke gathered her clothes from where they were scattered on the floor, being careful not to wake Connor. He had rolled over onto his side in his sleep, face adorably squished into his pillow. Her clothes were covered in mud from their run and still smelled faintly like river water, but she dutifully pulled them on, casting her eyes heavenward as she desperately prayed she'd get the chance to change clothes before anyone saw her.

She was just pulling her shirt over her head when a hand shot out from under the wonderfully thick, warm duvet, closing around her wrist and tugging. Brooke laughed as she tumbled back onto the bed, Connor rolling over to instantly pin her against the mattress. She looked up into his handsome but sleepy face and looped her arms around his neck.

“Good morning,” she smiled.

Connor’s eyes were half-lidded and still dream-hazy, and Brooke felt a throb of arousal go through her when he leaned down to nuzzle against her throat. He looked so soft, unguarded, and vulnerable, and she thought she could stay like this with him forever.

“Mm, good morning, my mate.” He smiled, adorably clumsy round the edges, and kissed her with a mouth stale from sleep. Brooke still arched into it, loving the feel of his body pressed against her. She caught sight of the clock by the bedside as he pulled back.

“Although it is now, technically, afternoon.”

“Early enough,” Connor’s sure hands went to the zip of her jeans and Brooke’s brain short circuited. This wasn’t fair. She’d only just put them back on!

“No, no no no we need to get up - we’ve got a lot of important shit to do today, or don’t you remember?”

“More important than keeping you in my bed?” Connor responded, collapsing dramatically on top of her. Brooke wheezed with laughter, shoving at his chest as she tried to wiggle out from under him. “Impossible.”

And it was that sentence, that subtle promise that he wanted to wake up like this every morning, that had Brooke finding herself with a soft, silly smile on her face and uttering three words into the space between them, “I love you.” She couldn’t imagine being parted from him, she wanted to know everything about him, find out what he was like around his brothers and their mates. Mates. She wanted that with him, wanted to be his and he hers, she wanted a family… What was Connor like around children? Brooke was excited, eager, to learn.

“I love you, too,” Connor whispered like a promise into her mouth and she swallowed the words, savoring their taste. She didn’t realize she was crying until the tears had already trickled down her cheeks, into her hair, onto the mattress.

Connor wiped them away with his thumb, kissing her sweetly. “Don’t cry.”

“I am not crying,” she muttered furiously, wiping her face with the back of her hand. She looked away from him, embarrassed, and pushed him off her so she could sit up. “Now, you said yesterday that we should try getting everyone to talk to