Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,82

weird but it happens. It’s not a big deal. It’s just life.”

“Are you sure she’s not secretly an evil mad scientist or something?”

“Yes,” Eric said, laughing, and kissed her hair. “She’s just fine.”

A regular morning with Eric felt strange precisely because it felt so normal.

He’d set his alarm for six as he did every morning. Lydia, considering herself to be on a sort of vacation, groaned at the sound of AC/DC blasting from his phone.

“Sorry,” Eric whispered into her neck. He kissed her there before rolling out of bed and she grumbled in protest, burrowing under the covers before tentatively poking her nose out. “Gotta work.”

Lydia rubbed her eyes and sat up, smiling to herself. Her hair was a mess and she probably had wrinkles on her face from the blankets and she hadn’t brushed her teeth yet but Eric was looking at her like she was the most precious human being in the world.

“That’s okay.” She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and sighed, watching him hover by the bed, smiling down at her. “You said you wanted me to move in here? Should I...do that? I mean if you don’t want to after all, it’s completely fine, I just thought my room should be booked instead of sitting there but I’m not trying to-”

“Move your stuff up here,” Eric said, his voice throaty but sure. He winked at her. “I meant what I said. I want you here with me. I mean, I know this seems fast but-”

“But we’ve known each other for what...fifteen years?”

“Exactly.” He nodded at her and said, “You have the run of the place. I’m serious. I gotta get ready for work. You sleep in, order whatever you want or eat downstairs. Whatever you like. TV’s got cable and Netflix and-”

“I’ll figure it out,” Lydia said, unable to contain her grin.

“Okay.” He leaned down and pecked her on the lips. “You can come down and eat lunch with me?”

“Of course.”

“Good.” He looked giddily happy at that. It put butterflies in her stomach and she burrowed back under the covers, feeling young and in love as Eric went off to shower and ready himself for the day.

This is the best day of my life.

The thought came to Lydia suddenly and it made her smile. She had gone back to her own room across the lodge to change clothes and shower and had found the maid cleaning up her room. The maid had insisted on a porter helping Lydia move her things, having already been told that Lydia was moving in with Eric.

It all felt like a fairy tale to Lydia as she walked around the snowy gardens outside in a parka, listening to music on her phone. Everything seemed more beautiful than it had been just a day ago. The white mountains were as pretty as a postcard, where before they had seemed foreboding. The little icicles dripping water from the eaves of the lodge’s roofs were poetic details rather than threatening. The other guests, who she’d felt completely out of place standing next to, suddenly seemed like old friends.

She could hardly contain her giddiness.

It all made her think of other things she wanted in life, beyond having Eric as her mate. She had been forced to take whatever job she could get for so long, she hadn’t had any time to think about what she wanted to do. But keeping in mind that she would likely be living at Black Bear Lodge for the foreseeable future, she wondered about going back to school. There was a community college nearby and a small liberal arts college outside town.

It was something to think about that she’d never before had the luxury to ponder. It was a nice thought to imagine kissing Eric goodbye in the morning before heading off to a class. She could study in the dining hall or in the big reading room by the coffee cart that looked out on the big slopes. She imagined Eric testing her with flash cards, teasing her about her grades, and taking her out to celebrate when she did well. Not that it wouldn’t also involve hard work. But it would be hard work she could actually get excited about.

That was a kind of life she could get used to.

It was a scary notion to chase something she had never had the freedom to chase before. But she had no doubt in her mind that Eric would support the idea. She promised herself she would talk