Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,85

donut and washed it down with a long drink of hot coffee.

“She’s my mate,” he said, casually. “She says so. I say so. We’re…” He sighed heavily. He was definitely not used to being so open about these things. He growled under his breath and said, “We’re in love. We had to hash some things out about the past but…” He grinned, feeling helpless to deny the enormous feeling that had taken over every nook and cranny of his heart. “We’re in love. She’s going to move down here and everything.”

“Finally!” Connor punched his shoulder, laughing. “I knew it. I always knew it. Well, I knew it when she showed up again. But Cody always thought you two belonged together.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Eric said, chuckling. He bit his lip, staring out at the lobby as guests ambled in and out. “We haven’t worked out the details of things yet. But I want to give her the chance to do whatever she wants to do. I mean, literally anything. She’s been scraping by for so long, you know? If she wants to go back to school or work here or in town or just sit in a hot tub eating bon-bons forever, that’s fine-”

Connor threw his head back and laughed at that. He had been in an especially good mood lately, but he looked downright giddy as he talked to Eric. “You’re a good mate.” He clapped Eric on the shoulder. “Starting to get jealous of you and Nathan finding your mates. Next, it’ll be Cody. And me…”

“Hey,” Eric turned to face him. Connor looked suddenly a little melancholy and that wasn’t like him. When he was bothered by something he usually projected it as aggravation. But he was downright sulky now. “You’ll find someone.”

“Getting long in the tooth,” Connor said, shrugging.

Eric raised his eyebrows at that. He’d never thought of Connor as anything close to lonely. “You’re only thirty-two.”

“Yeah.” Connor cleared his throat and punched him on the shoulder and Eric winced. “Whatever. I’m fine, man. I’m happy for you. We’ll have to have a big dinner soon with the four of us and the two mates.”

“Sure thing.”

Connor left to go back to his office and it was only a few minutes before Eric was bombarded with texts from Cody and Nathan, all wanting to know when he’d gotten together with Lydia, when she was moving to Colorado, if she was going to live at the lodge, when they could all have dinner…

The fifth time his phone buzzed on the counter while he was talking to a customer, he opened a drawer and dropped it inside. But he found himself smiling despite himself. It was sweet how much his older brothers cared.

At lunch time, Eric was on pins and needles. Lydia had promised to come down and have lunch with him in the dining hall. He bounced on his toes and checked his phone before heading out to sit at his favorite table by the front window, giddy with anticipation.

Must be love, he thought. I feel like I haven’t seen her in days.

Eric sat down and spent five minutes trying to choose the right Cabernet for lunch, which he decided should be fish. Lydia had always loved fish, whether in human or bear form. He knew Cody had just gotten in a shipment of fresh bass and he was always great at making bass an event.

At five past noon, Eric texted Lydia, who he had not heard from in the last hour. There had been a lot of flirty texting before that.

I’m ordering bass. ;)

He wasn’t about to ask if she was coming for lunch when they’d already discussed it. No need to make himself sound overly paranoid about her not showing up somewhere. That could be a sore subject given their past.

Another five minutes passed.

Eric frowned and restlessly fussed with his phone, his nostrils occasionally flaring as he sought out Lydia’s scent anywhere nearby. He looked out over the guests drifting in and out of the dining hall and stared out the window at guests passing by on the verandah that wrapped around the lodge.

He texted Lydia again.

You coming?

When another five minutes of nothing passed, Eric started to worry.

He couldn’t help but think of Lydia’s nightmares and the entire reason she had come out to Black Bear Lake. What if Eric wasn’t the one in danger? What if it was her?

Eric didn’t bother to cancel his order for lunch. He just got up and left, hurrying toward the stairs up