fix whatever had made her cry—rode him hard, and he ran straight for the chair near the fire pit. Unfortunately, he didn’t remember that he was in his bear form until after her eyes met his.
4
Something nudged Elle’s thigh, and she jolted awake. She blinked a few times, trying to get her bearings, and then everything came rushing back. The cookie dough, the broken oven, and the extreme despair she had felt at not being able to bake anymore.
In hindsight, she knew her reaction to the broken oven was extreme, but after everything that had happened since her brother died, she decided it was okay not to be too hard on herself. Baking was her thing, and not being able to bake, even for a short time, made her feel powerless.
She knew that description sounded ridiculous, but it was the only way to explain how much baking was an intricate part of who she was. She briefly wondered what Liam would think if she shared those ideas with him, and then quickly shoved the thought away. Gavin had been the only person to truly understand what baking meant to her, and that was enough.
She didn’t care about what anyone else thought.
At least that’s what she told herself as she rubbed the tight, crusty skin around her eyes. Her head hurt from crying so hard, and thin, dried sheets of salt caked her eyelids and ran down her cheeks. She knew she looked like a hot mess, and for the first time that day, she was grateful Liam had decided to stay away all day. She knew she wasn’t his type, but she still didn’t want him to see her at her worst.
She shifted in her seat, intent to scan the area and make sure no one was around, and she came face-to-face with a giant grizzly bear. Okay, so he was probably a normal-sized bear, they were huge after all, but this one was sitting on the ground next to her chair, and his head was very close to her own.
And he looked humungous.
She looked into his dark eyes, and took a deep breath as she realized the bear was probably what had woken her. She couldn’t fathom a reason why...unless he was hungry for a snack. Liam had said the bears were friendly—and to not shoot them under any circumstances—but he’d also said that they would keep their distance, and this bear was definitely in her bubble.
“Hey bear,” she said, her voice wobbly. “Liam said you won’t eat me, but he also said that you wouldn’t come this close, so I have to admit that I hope you’re not hungry.”
The bear snorted, and Elle wasn’t sure what to make of the sound. It almost seemed like the bear was laughing at her, and honestly, he probably was. The bears on the lake were used to humans, which meant they not only lived in harmony with the tourists, but they probably understood plenty of human words. Even if they didn’t, the bear’s presence soothed her, and she started talking to him.
“Even if you were hungry, I couldn’t give you anything to eat. I tried to bake some cookies earlier, but Liam’s oven is broken. Do you know Liam? You probably do. He lives in that cabin, and he’s my new husband. Well, in name only. He doesn’t...we don’t...you know. Anyway, weird right?” She nodded as if the bear understood her. “I agree, it’s totally weird. Anyway, his oven is broken, and I may have overreacted when I found out. Maybe not. Honestly, I don’t know, anymore, but it’s the reason why I look like such a mess right now. I’m a baker—just in case you didn’t figure that out yet—and a baker without an oven is just…nothing.”
Her voice broke on the last word, and her bottom lip trembled a second before her eyes filled up with tears once again. The bear became blurry, but apparently, he’d heard enough of her sob story because he got up and ran toward the house, disappearing into the dense trees.
God...she was so pathetic.
She closed her eyes and brushed away the few tears that had escaped. Only a loser would scare off a hungry bear with a lame sob story, and that was exactly what she’d done. Either that, or she’d bored him to death and he went searching for a quieter, less ridiculous meal. Neither scenario did anything for her pride, but at least she was alive.
Hopefully the bear would tell all of his