Husband Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire #1)(37)

When she came back, Ian was nowhere to be seen in the yard, but the telltale sound of tinkering echoed from the barn, so she hobbled closer and sat on an old rope swing tied to a tree in the yard. From here, she could see inside the double doors. Ian was working on the opened front of the broken-down snow machine. And from the pan of grease in the yard beside the generator, he’d been working on that this morning as well. Handy bear. She cracked an accidental smile at her little, silent joke.

Cocking her head, she tried to put the massive bear she’d seen yesterday to Ian’s human form. Okay, so he was a bear-man. Or…a werebear? He changed into an animal when the feeling struck, and thankfully, he’d done it yesterday to save her. She’d be a lot worse off than a swatted leg if he hadn’t been there. Undoubtedly, this place would be safer with him around. But spending winters without him would be brutal.

Perhaps she was thinking about this all wrong. She did love him. It seemed so strange to have that thought this soon, but there had been this instant connection between them. He cared about her enough to tell her what he was when he hadn’t told anyone his secret before. Winters would be hellish, but at least she would get half the year. It came down to just warm-weather months with the man she was falling in love with, or cutting him loose and hoping to find a man who was less than Ian. And the more she thought about it, the more she considered that, for the rest of her life, this decision could cause her pain and regret. Who could compare to him? No one she’d ever met. If she cut her heart off from him and moved on, the most she could hope for was a relationship with a man half as good.

Elyse sighed. Half as good didn’t sound good enough anymore. Not after he’d made her feel so deeply.

“Would you hibernate around here?” she called out, gripping the rough ropes of her swing.

Ian didn’t answer, but Miki came bouncing out of the barn toward her. Ian muttered something below her hearing and yanked his hand back, shook it, and sucked on the side of his index finger. He wore a white T-shirt with grease smudges all over it, and old, worn-out, threadbare jeans that sat low on his waist. The brown had left his eyes. She could tell from here because, when he cast her a quick glance, it was all blue-flame sexy.

“Ian!”

“No, I wouldn’t hibernate around here.” He strode out of the barn, wiping his hands on a dirty rag as he sauntered toward her.

“Why not?”

“I have a proposal,” he gritted out, pulling back the rope swing she sat on and pushing her forward.

“Oh, now you want to talk?”

“I didn’t want to talk because I know what you’ll say. And dammit, woman, I want to get shit done around here before you give me the boot.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I saw the way you looked at me last night. Like I was a freak. That’s part of the reason I didn’t want to tell you what I am. And I get it. I do. I’m not normal, and this is a lot. But hearing you cry over what I am last night ripped me up. I know what’s coming, but I still want to get you set up for winter before you kick me out.”

“I wasn’t crying for what you are, you ridiculous man. I was crying about missing you all winter.”

He stopped pushing her and strode around front. “What?”

“You’re a bear, okay. I can deal with that. It’s a lot, yeah, but I thought about it, and the animal side of you isn’t a deal breaker. Not after you used him to save me. It’s hard to swallow being away from you for half the year, though. I already miss you.” She shrugged helplessly and repeated softer, “I already miss you.”

His chest rose with his deep inhalation. “Well, we have options on that.”

“What options?”

“I can sleep six months as a bear, holed up in a den somewhere, or I can hibernate human. I’ll wake up for about an hour a day to eat if I do that. The upside is that we’ll be together an hour a day, the downside is I’ll take up more of our food, and we’ll have to work harder to feed us both through the winter.” Ian squatted down between her legs and looked at her eye-level. “I don’t want to leave you for winter either, Elyse. I wish I was human and normal for you, but I can’t avoid this part of my life.”

“So, if you hibernate human, you can stay here?”

“Yeah, but I’ll be boring as f*ck. My body slows down so much, I literally only revive for food so I don’t starve. If I’m a bear, I don’t need food. My body is more efficient at hibernating as a grizzly.”

“So, technically speaking, if I had an hour, and you ate quickly, would you have enough energy for anything else?”

Ian gave her a baffled smile. “Like what? Card games?”

“Like sex?”

“Oooh,” he said, lifting his chin as his eyes sparked with humor. “You’re worried about your needs all winter.”

“Whose selfish now, bear-man?”

“Still me…and that’s bear shifter. I have no right to ask you to be okay with this.”

“Will it hurt you to hibernate human.”

He shook his head as the smile dipped from his face.

“Then will you do it for me? I don’t want to dread the winter alone. I’ll take care of your body when you’re sleeping, and I’ll have food ready when you wake up every day. I’ll protect you.”