Bearly Hanging On (The Jamesburg Shifters #6)(46)

"But then, retirement happened, and they moved to Boca Raton, because you know, that's what you do when you retire. I guess."

She kissed him lightly. "Quid pro quo, Doctor Lecter," she said.

Ryan made the appropriately disgusting Hannibal Lecter slurping noise. "I went to school, but, er, briefly. We were in a little town, Cedar Falls, for a while. I didn’t, uh, fit in.”

“That doesn’t sound ominous at all,” Jamie cut in. “Also, there’s a pair from Cedar Falls here, believe it or not.”

Ryan cocked an eyebrow. “I’ve heard. My uncle told me they existed, but that’s about all I know.”

“Yup. Thor, the dentist. His mate, too, Paprika. Red headed rabbit shifter. They showed up about six months ago. He’s really just fantastic with teeth.”

“Are you trying to say something about mine?” Ryan grinned. “But, uh, yeah anyway, I might’ve been in trouble a lot. But after I got kicked out of school, I wasn’t really homeschooled either. I just kind of grew up. I read a lot. My parents encouraged that, and spent absolute shit-tons of money on books. Whenever we'd move, they gave them all to whatever the nearest prison was. Funny how things work out."

"We're both beating around the bullshit bush," Jamie said. "Why are you here? Why of all the places on earth did you come to Jamesburg?"

His eyes got hard and stormy. There was something he didn't want to share, but was just about to do just that. "I was running."

"From your parents? From what?"

He shook his head. "Quid pro quo yourself, Clarice."

Jamie exhaled sharply. "My parents got sick in Boca. Both of them at once. That was about five years ago. I left town, thinking I'd never come back because of a string of shitty boyfriends and bad life decisions. But then I went down there, went through all that and realized there wasn't anywhere else I could be. Not with the wings, and all. They accept me here, even if I don't accept myself."

"But you're beautiful, you're elegant and graceful and you're the only person I've ever had verbal jousts with that I didn't always win."

"Oh, such an alpha, this one," Jamie said, kissing him again. "So I came back. Erik gave me my old job back, life has been relatively sedate since." Except for the entire last year, Jamie thought, but kept her mouth shut. "Quid pro quo."

They had been getting closer with each movie reference, and now the two of them were almost touching noses. His breath on her neck thrilled Jamie in a way she couldn't quite describe. It was like finding out your boyfriend is a dangerous criminal and... no wait, it wasn't like that, it was that.

"The family business didn't stop with my dad. Neither did the displaced moral crusade."

"What was your crusade?" Jamie asked, putting her hands on either side of Ryan's face, feeling his heat prickle her fingertips, tickle her palms. She felt his jeans stretching tight between her legs, and was suddenly really, really glad she'd neglected the stretched out panties. "I tried to join the Shriners when I was fourteen, but it turns out you have to actually show up at the meetings. And be a mason. And also, apparently, not be a fourteen year old girl."

"Blood diamonds," Ryan said in a whisper that was more a dangerous growl than a whisper. "Just like dear old dad."

"You're on the run from the law, so you come to Jamesburg and take care of old people?"

"That's about the short of it."

They were talking in between kisses at that point, and as time went on, the kisses were taking up more of their time than the talking. Jamie reached down and fumbled with Ryan's rigged-up jeans. "If I said I didn't care what you'd done," she said, "if I told you - honestly - that I don't think your past matters at all, can you say the same thing to me, no matter what?"

He was out and full and hard in her hand. She started to pull hungrily on him, but he stopped her with a kiss, and held her with his eyes. "I don't know why I can say this and be so certain about it, but," he swallowed, hard, but didn't take his eyes off Jamie's.

"I can tell you that I love you. And for bears? For me? That means exactly what you asked."

She kissed him again, her cheeks flushed red and hot. "I think I might be an idiot," Jamie said with a laugh, "but I'll be damned if I don't love you too. You got anywhere to be for fifteen minutes?"

"Nope," he said, smiling as he forced her head back with another kiss. "Ground's still too wet for walking anyway. Even for a bear."





-13-


“Why does it always rain right when I need some sun in my life?”


-Jamie


It had been two days.

Two long, dreadful, boring days. Life was back to normal, back to pre-Ryan forms of excitement, which for Jamie mostly meant watching Erik and Izzy argue, and trying to keep Erik from throwing things during Complainer's Court. It wasn't a bad life, but after the high she hit with Ryan, everything else felt like a valley.

She swooped by after work both days, but he'd been hard at work, stocking things, piling things, hell, even knitting hats. That part, she'd helped with, but hers turned out fairly lopsided, so much so that Cora gave her an "oh, bless your heart," and put her to work matching up yarn instead of doing any heavy lifting.