Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,74

this point it seemed as if they were repeating a pattern of promising to talk then resolutely not talking. It was a dangerous business. If things started up between them again, she couldn’t promise herself she had the will power to turn down Eric Strauss.

But she only texted back: Sure. Your suite?

Eric texted back a thumbs up. She answered that she’d be there in fifteen minutes as she finished up the meal Cody had cooked for her before sorting through the things she’d bought on the shopping promenade. Even if it was just a conversation, she wanted to show up in something better than yoga pants.

“I’m gonna miss this fancy stuff,” she muttered, sighing.

There was a big, dark void waiting for her. She should have been used to it, she supposed. But even this state of uncertainty with Eric sometimes made her think things could be better. Yet that wasn’t reality. The best thing she could hope for was that they resolved their old messy issues and parted as friends.

Lydia settled on jeggings and a tunic sweater in an icy blue that was soft and snug around her curves. She brushed her hair out and put on some lip gloss before heading across the lodge to Eric’s residence, taking her time to memorize everything about the place. She thought it must be strange to live in a resort that other people could only visit for short periods. But it looked like a lot of fun to her. She wondered what it would be like to raise children in such a place.

“Hey.” Eric smiled sheepishly.

He looked casual for once. He was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt and there was some beard bristle dusting his chin. He looked more like his younger self. His hair didn’t even have product on it and it looked like it would be soft and silky between Lydia’s fingers.

“Hi.” Things felt excruciatingly awkward immediately and Lydia’s heart pounded in her chest as Eric shut the door behind her. “Do you actually want to talk or-”

“I actually want to talk,” Eric said quickly. “If that’s okay.”

“Yeah.” They should have properly talked days ago. They’d ‘talked’ for hours about this and that, but had carefully skirted the giant elephant in the room that had been standing there between them for so long. “So go ahead.” She crossed her arms and nodded at him. “Talk then.”

“It was not just sex,” Eric said quickly. His eyes were blazing as he looked at Lydia who already felt a little heated under that intense gaze. “I’m sorry I made that crack that made it sound like that’s all it was. It was bullshit. Of course, it wasn’t just hot sex, although, holy shit, was that some hot sex-”

“The sex was amazing,” Lydia said wryly. “That’s not in dispute.”

“Definitely not.” Eric sighed, never looking away. “But it wasn’t just about that. There was...I felt… I mean didn’t you?”

“It got telepathetic,” Lydia said quietly.

“Exactly.” He grinned, throwing up his hands. “I can’t pretend it didn’t mean anything when we obviously formed that connection. It was… I’ve never felt that before.”

There had been a few times when they were kids when they could read each other’s minds. But that total merging of two souls...that was new.

Lydia had heard of mates who could read minds. It was rare, but it did happen. As kids, they’d tossed it off as some magic fluke. But she’d read some lore. Mates who could read minds could do other things like transfer strength to each other in times of crisis or enhance magic ability - though Lydia had never learned to use magic. It made her feel special that they had that potential with each other.

“Me either!” Lydia said. She was starting to get her hopes up. And that was dangerous. “You think that happens for me everyday?”

“I’m glad, if it doesn’t.”

“Of course, it doesn’t!”

The quick back and forth made them both laugh and Lydia felt a little more relaxed.

Eric hovered near the door and then said, “I’m going to make some coffee. Okay?”

“Oh, I didn’t find any coffee in my-”

“Of course, there’s coffee,” Eric said with a snort. “I gave you the deluxe fridge. There’s packets of gourmet stuff in there behind the booze.”

Eric strode with purpose over to the mini fridge and knelt, rooting around.

“Aha!” Eric shook a bag of fancy looking coffee grounds. He whistled as he filled the coffee maker carafe with water.

“Maybe this is the danger.” Lydia smiled softly, getting settled on the couch and turning