Husband Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire #1)(27)

Ian had frozen beside her and was watching her cuddle the little wiggling hellion. “What?” she asked, confused by the stunned look on his face.

“I just got this vision of you…” Ian shook his head and frowned. He let off a nervous-sounding laugh. “Nothing.”

There was a bench just inside the doorway, and she sat on it so she could better stare at her new puppy.

“Are you happy?” he asked in a soft voice from above her.

“Yeah,” she answered breathlessly. “Thank you. You’ve already done too much.”

“Not too much.”

“It feels like it. What can I possibly offer you? You’ve spent so much on me, and you’ve come out here at no benefit to yourself to help me out of the hole I dug myself into and—”

“Hey,” he murmured, sitting beside her. “You’re wrong. I have a stake in this, too.”

“What stake? A dilapidated homestead out in the middle of nowhere?”

“No, woman. You.”

Elyse sighed and rested the side of her face against his arm. Shaking her head with a soft scraping sound of her cheek against the sleeve of his jacket, she said, “I’ll owe you for always.”

Ian froze for a moment, hesitating, then lowered his cheek to the top of her hair. “That’s not how this is supposed to work, and I think deep down, you know it. You’re mine, Elyse, just like I’m yours. Sure, we didn’t come about this the normal way—”

“You mean because I hired you?”

“Yeah, but so what? We aren’t here to impress anyone but ourselves. I like you, you like me, I like to see you smile, so let me take care of you while I can.”

“While you can?” Those words dumped dread into her stomach.

Ian frowned and stood. “You know what I mean. While we’re together.” He walked off and greeted Mr. Barns behind the counter as Elyse leaned back against the wall, troubled to her marrow by the thought of him leaving. She didn’t know Ian’s story yet. He’d shared so little with her that she was at a disadvantage. If he left now, it would hurt her. It would cut her worse than Cole had done because she’d let Ian in more than she would ever admit out loud. She’d grown hopeful and imagined their future stretching on and on. He made her feel good about herself. She felt whole around him, and braver, and more hopeful they would keep the homestead if they did this together. For the first time in years, she didn’t feel any loneliness at all. The idea of losing him, of losing herself again, was too painful a pill to swallow.

She would have to become stronger so that Ian could lean on her as much as she was leaning on him.





Chapter Eleven


Ian stifled a chest-rattling growl just thinking about calling his * brother. He didn’t get why things had to be so tense when he talked to Jenner and Tobias. Okay, their bears hated each other. Loathed each other and wanted nothing but to fight when they were close. That didn’t mean their human sides couldn’t get along, though.

He huffed three slow steadying breaths, then sat on the goat milking chair in the barn. He dialed Tobias’s number and wasn’t surprised one bit when he didn’t pick up. A quick message about how he was throwing him some delivery business, and Ian hung up, leaned back on the stool, and waited.

Tobias might not like him any, but he was a bush pilot, too. If he wouldn’t answer for a brotherly chat, he might answer for money.

Five minutes later, Ian’s phone rang. Reception was spotty at best out here, so he stood and got two bars on his phone before he accepted the call.

“What business?” Tobias asked.

“Hey, brother.”

A feral growl rumbled across the line. Okay then. “I have to take a break on deliveries for the rest of the season. I don’t want to leave my customers high and dry, though, so I was wondering if you wanted to take them over for me.”

Tobias huffed a humorless laugh. “Ian, if you give them to me for the season, they’ll stick with me.”

“Worth the risk. I’m settled now, and I can’t get back to deliveries until after hibernation. If you took some of the load off my hands, I’d be grateful.”

The silence from the other end was so heavy, it held weight. “What do you mean by settled?”

“I got a fiancé and a homestead.”

“Fuck, Ian! Tell me you’re joking. Tell me you’re not shacking up with a human and threatening to expose us all.”

“I know what I’m doing.”

“Do you?”

Ian cast a look at the open barn door and lowered his voice. “Look, Tobias, I don’t expect you to understand, but I love her. I’m ready to settle. I can’t help it.” He lowered his voice to a barely audible whisper. “This is my animal’s choice. Instinct. I can’t leave her.”

“You can’t leave? And what about in a couple months when you go into hibernation? What are you going to tell her?”

“I don’t know.”

“Ian—”

“Tobias! I don’t ever ask anything from you, do I?”

Silence.

“Do I?”

“No.”

“And I want to, man. All the time, I want to call just to f*cking chat with you and Jenner, and I don’t. I know you don’t want the relationship, but I was so f*cking lonely, and this makes sense to me. I have a purpose now. I get to take care of a woman. I didn’t call for your blessing. I called to ask if you would take over my deliveries.”