Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,78

thought.

Lydia pulled back and whispered, “I know.” And, began kissing him again.

26

Lydia

“You know when I always thought of you most?” Eric said.

They were walking hand in hand back down the foot of the mountain to the lodge. It was bracingly cold. Her shifter’s strength helped a little with that, but she still shivered. Eric had already mentioned more than once that he wished he had a jacket to loan her, bear shifter or not. She decided it was sweet the way he wanted to take care of her.

“When?” Lydia said.

“Watch out…” He stepped over an icy puddle in the middle of the trail through the trees and before she could dodge it, he grabbed her around the waist, picking her up easily and carrying her over the puddle before letting her back down. It was a cute kind of boyfriend move and Lydia smiled, laughing into his neck before they started walking again. They had found their clothes and she was wearing booties. However, they weren’t great for snow and she kept slipping on ice, so he kept his arm around her to help her along.

Eric took a breath and said, “I mean all the time, I guess. But the most was always Christmas. I guess that’s cheesy. It’s a human holiday, really. I just…We always had such big, fancy Christmases with my parents and some years we go back to Oregon to visit. But a lot of the time we just stay here. Now, we’ve started our own traditions. Part of it is just decorating the lodge. Picking out the big tree that goes in the lobby…Connor has these goofy wicker reindeer decorations he likes. We have to dig those out every time. And Cody makes way too many pies and really boozy nog and we sit around and watch all the Christmas specials and get drunk. You just missed it.”

“We could have next Christmas,” she said, squeezing his hand. Her heart was in her throat. It still felt so presumptuous to even suggest that they could have a future together. “If you want?”

Eric stopped at the gate that separated them from the bunny slope and spun her to face him. He took her other hand in his and gazed at her steadily. “That’s all I want. Us.”

“You have to tell me you forgive me first.” Lydia sniffed and felt a tear she hadn’t realized was falling touch her lip. Eric looked a little shattered and ducked forward to kiss it away. “If you do,” she whispered. “Never lie. But-”

“I do,” he said. He smiled against her mouth and kissed her again. “I do, I promise. Do you forgive me?’

“I always did,” she said, shrugging. “I just wanted you to understand.”

“Then let’s go home.”

Eric was eager to get Lydia back to his place. She was sure there was more they needed to talk about. But the hard part was over, it seemed.

I love him and he loves me and we’re mates.

She had to keep saying it over and over in her head for it to sink in. She couldn’t help but smile every time and when she caught Eric’s eye, he was smiling too.

“Come with me,” Eric said, biting his lip as he led her through a locked employees only entrance next to a storage shed. They walked down a short, dark hallway to a narrow flight of stairs that let out into a hallway near Eric’s suite.

“Can’t believe you live here,” Lydia said, sighing. “I can’t imagine it.”

“The place is so big, we figured four penthouses wouldn’t make too much difference. We renovated and expanded after buying the place,” Eric said. The wall of warm air inside was comforting and she smelled apple cider somewhere and realized how hungry she was.

Though right now, with the way Eric kept looking at her, she wasn’t eager to spend time eating food.

“I like this carpeting,” Lydia murmured. Everything in the lodge was decorated with rich warm colors - reddish browns, oranges, burgundies. The carpeting in the hallway on the way to Eric’s suite was a pattern of dark red autumn leaves.

He chuckled and squeezed her hand. “Tell me what you don’t like, I’ll have it changed.”

Lydia rolled her eyes at that. It was both sweet and over the top. But he spun her around and pulled her to him. “Really,” he whispered. “I mean, I know we haven’t gotten this far, but I want you to stay here with me. If you don’t want to stay with me in my suite,