Bearly A Squeak (7 page)

Snickering, he opened the door and left, pausing at his car to wave to his mate. He could put it off no longer. He'd have to go home and talk to his mother.

The morning arrived bright and sunny. With a groan, Tara pulled the covers over her head. Too bright. It had no business being so bright. With the day off work, she had no reason to get up right now. She was free to doze for as long as she wished. Her stomach rumbled, disagreeing with her. Then her bladder started to grumble too. Dammit.

Dragging herself out of bed, she attended to business in the bathroom, had a shower, and then wandered into the kitchen.

“Sleep okay?” Sara asked. She was sitting at the table with a cup of herbal tea. Since when did Sara drink herbal tea? She'd always been a coffee addict.

“No coffee?” Tara asked, nodding towards the cup.

Her sister shrugged. “Felt like a change.”

Tara looked at her but her sister wasn't making eye contact. Something was definitely going on.

“Sara,” she began. She paused, and then decided to just ask. “What's going on?”

“Nothing,” Sara said, taking another sip of her tea. “No wereslug sightings.” She paused. “So, when is hot bear dude picking you up?”

“Eleven.” Tara narrowed her eyes. Her sister was avoiding the question.

“He'll be fully dressed this time, right?” Sara asked with a fake shudder.

“Of course,” Tara answered. “Look, Sara...”

Sara stood up. “Well, gotta go. Things to see, people to do.” Clearly her sister wasn't in a sharing mood. Never mind. She'd corner her later. Tara wasn't one to let things go.

Tara hummed to herself as she made herself some toast. She'd almost said no to Alex's idea of a picnic. There was a part of her, a small mousey part of her, that just wanted to hide and wait for Barry to go away. Another part of her was yelling that she should woman up and refuse to let him destroy her. Several years ago she had left Barry, fleeing to Bearbank to start over. Now she was settled here, she'd built a life, and she loved it. She loved her job, minus the uniform obviously. Also, she had good friends, and now she had Alex. Life was good and she was not going to let her ex take that from her. She was going on a picnic with her mate and nothing was going to spoil that.

By eleven o'clock, she was ready and waiting for Alex to pick her up. Dressed in a pretty summer dress, a light cardigan, and strappy sandals, she looked cute, even if she did say so herself. She could do this. Alex would never let Barry get anywhere near her. She didn't have to deal with her ex alone, and that gave her the confidence to continue living her life.

Alex turned up on time and handed her a bunch of white and yellow gerberas. Like large daisies, they were fresh and beautiful. She could add sweet and thoughtful to her reasons to like Alex. The sneaky bear was making himself awfully hard to resist.

“Thank you,” she said, smiling up at him. She took the flowers and quickly put them in a vase with water. Alex followed her, watching her.

“You're welcome,” he said. “I wanted to give my mate something pretty. Are you ready to go?”

“Yes,” she said taking his hand and leading him to the door. “Do you have food?”

“It wouldn't be much of a picnic without any,” he laughed. “I have a basket in the car. Before you ask, yes, I made sure there was cheesecake.” Yeah, Alex was officially perfect.

A short car trip later and they were sitting in a small clearing in the woods. It was a beautiful day. Warm and sunny without being too hot. Perfect picnic weather. Alex opened the basket and pulled out a plate of sandwiches, handing it to her. She put the plate down and picked up a sandwich, carefully peeling back to the bread to peek suspiciously at the contents. She grinned when she saw cheese.

“I thought that cheese sandwiches were a pretty safe bet,” Alex said drily. “There are some other things too though, so help yourself.” He poked around and came up with two bottles of cola. A small box appeared next. He caught her watching and grinned at her. “Would I dare take you on a picnic and not bring cheesecake?”

Ooh, the magic word. Cheesecake. Why hadn't she mated him yet? When she reached for the box, he gently batted her hands away. A small growl escaped her. She wasn't sure which of them was more surprised. Alex threw his head back and laughed. For a moment, the cheesecake was forgotten as she stared at him. The man was delicious, truly stunning... and hers for the taking. After she'd had some cheesecake. A girl needed priorities.

“Lunch first. Dessert after,” Alex insisted. “Woman cannot live on cheesecake alone. It'll still be there when you're done.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, holding out a hand for the box. “Alternatively, we can have dessert first, lunch after.” She was not the kind of woman that you could dangle cheesecake in front of and then make her eat a sandwich. Not unless that person was a sadist. Or asking to be gnawed to death.

“That's not the convention,” Alex said. “Dessert is basically bribery to make you eat the healthier, more nutritious food. It doesn't work if you go straight for the dessert.”

Tara shrugged. “I'm not the conventional type. Dessert should be eaten first while you still have room. You can savour it properly.”

Alex looked at her. “I'm not giving up the cheesecake until you've eaten at least two sandwiches. Unless you think you can take it from me.” He smirked at her.

She stared back at him, assessing. Okay, so he was a lot bigger than her, had a lot more muscles, was stronger, could turn into a bear. On her side? Ummm... she had a desperate need for cheesecake. Screw it. She was going for it. Without warning, she launched herself at him, noting his eyes grow wide. Clearly he hadn't expected that move. He lifted up his hands to catch her, grabbing her around the waist and holding her to him as he fell backwards. She wriggled against him, trying to climb up his body, her hand reaching out for the box of cheesecake. She just couldn't... quite... reach. Her fingertips grazed the box but only succeeded in pushing it slightly further away. Dammit. Maybe if she climbed a little higher.

She wriggled some more, inching up Alex's body... and what a body. Even through his clothes, she could feel the hard sculpted muscles. This close, he smelled heavenly. Like freshly baked biscuits and honey with a hint of bear and trees. Gradually she noticed that he wasn't moving. Looking down, she could see that he was holding himself still, his gaze firmly on her chest. In all her manoeuvring, she now had her chest positioned right over his face. Her dress had dipped down a little, not exposing her but showing a little more flesh. She should probably move. Yet she didn't. As she panted, she saw her breasts move and watched as Alex swallowed hard, his eyes following the movements.

Slowly, she slid down him, bringing their faces level, his eyes flicked up to meet hers, his gaze hot and hungry. She leaned down and brushed her lips against his, barely a whisper of a kiss. With a growl, his arms tightened against her and his head lifted up to capture her lips. No gentle kiss, he took possession, branding her with his passion. Lost in sensation, she rubbed herself against him, trying to get closer. His hand slid down and cupped her ass, grinding her against the hard length of him. She moaned into his mouth. Her clothes felt restrictive, confining. Breaking for air, she spotted movement in the corner of her eye. A dog was sitting watching them.

“What's wrong?” Alex said, smoothing hair back from her face.

“We have an audience,” she told him. The dog continued to sit there, staring at them. It was a labradoodle, off-white in colour. It watched with its head tilted, tongue hanging out.

Alex twisted a little to look. “It's just a dog.” He shrugged.

She looked down at him. “It's watching us. The dog is a pervert and I am not doing this with him watching.” With that, she clambered off her mate and sat next to him. It was pure coincidence that her new position left her closer to the box of cheesecake. Honest. Poor cheesecake. She'd almost forgotten about it.

Alex sighed and sat up, running his hand through his hair. As he turned to reach for a sandwich, she snaffled some cheesecake from the box. By the time he turned round again, she had a mouthful. A beautiful, beautiful mouthful of heaven. Alex merely raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged.

Alex tossed the dog some food. Big softie. They ate their food, chatting between bites. The picnic was fun. Tara discovered that it wasn't just the attraction of mates drawing her to him, she actually liked Alex. She enjoyed talking with him, spending time with him. She simply loved being around him. Meanwhile, the dog sat there, continuing to watch like a furry little stalker. She popped the last of her cheese sandwich into her mouth as Alex polished off the last salmon one.

“Fancy seeing you here.”

Her mouthful of sandwich suddenly seemed hard to swallow. She should have known Barry would turn up. She deliberately chewed and swallowed. Alex was here. There was a limit to what Barry would try with Alex present. Still, she refused to let her mate see her being weak. Just being around Alex had helped her to regrow a spine.

“What do you want, Barry?” she asked. She was so proud that her voice didn't tremble. She looked up at him, meeting his eyes and refusing to look away. To her surprise, Barry looked away first and he did not seem happy about it.

“I hope I'm not interrupting...” He smirked at her.

“Yeah, you are,” Alex said, taking a drink from his bottle. He flicked at glance at Barry, clearly dismissing him as a threat.

“I'm sorry,” he said. He didn't sound sorry in the slightest. “I was just walking and saw you here. I wondered if I might talk to Tara.”

“You're talking to me now,” she pointed out. “You just haven't said anything interesting yet.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. She stared him down and his face flushed. He wasn't used to assertive Tara. If they were alone, he'd be doing his best to assert control over her, but he couldn't do that with Alex around. Inside, Tara was quaking and desperate to get away. On the outside, she kept her expression controlled, refusing to give ground to her ex. She wasn't alone any more. It had taken time, but she'd rebuilt her life and regained her confidence. She had friends, she had family, she had Alex. Nothing was going to threaten that.

Barry cleared his throat. “I meant, can I speak to you in private?”

“No,” she said. “Anything you have to say to me, can be said in front of my mate.” She may have stressed that last word a little. She shrugged. “Besides, I doubt there's anything you can say that I actually want or need to hear. I know there's nothing I want to say to you.”

Barry was now turning a rather alarming shade of red. Oh, he was angry. She knew. She'd seen that expression numerous times. It was often followed by several new bruises on her body. She'd rarely allowed him to get that angry before backing down, but it had happened once or twice. By the end, she'd been such a shell of herself that she'd spent all her time trying to please him. She never could, but at least she could avoid most of the major outbursts.

She glanced at Alex. His shoulders looked a little tense, but otherwise he seemed calm. He gave her a little smile. He stayed out of the exchange, allowing her to handle it. Part of her wanted him to step in, but she knew that he was giving her a priceless gift. He was showing her that he thought she was capable of dealing with it herself, that he believed in her. She knew he'd help her if she needed it, but he wanted her to stand up to Barry herself. She had to do it herself, she knew that. If she didn't, there would always be a part of her that cowered in fear of him. This was about reclaiming the control that Barry had stolen and healing herself in the process. She could do that because Alex believed that she could. She wouldn't let him down.

“Tara...” Barry ground out.

“Go away, Barry,” she said, her tone deliberately bored. “We've been over for a long time. You don't love me. I sure as hell don't love you. We are not mates...”

“We are!” Barry shouted.

“No, we're not,” she stated firmly. “I have no idea why you've always claimed otherwise, but it's clearly not true. Alex is my mate. I have absolutely no doubt about that.”

“Good to know,” Alex murmured. She shot him a look, half amusement, half exasperation. How could she yell at Barry when her hunky mate distracted her?

“Shush,” she said to Alex. Yeah, look at her. She just shushed a grizzly bear. Okay, so it was cheating when he was her mate, but she was still counting it as part of the new, bolder Tara. Turning back to Barry, she said, “We are not mates and never have been. You were a lousy ass boyfriend and I'm glad I left you. I have zero, absolute zero, interest in having anything whatsoever to do with you. So go away. Shoo.” She made flapping motions with her hands.

Barry stood, fists clenched, face red, clearly trying to hold onto his temper. “You mouthy little -”

“Now I know you're not going to insult my daughter-in-law,” came a new voice. Just like that, Tara's new found confidence headed for the hills. Alex's mother had arrived. Seriously, how did everyone know where they were? Had there been some kind of public announcement?

Turning, she saw Alex's mother stroll out of the trees. How long had the woman been there?

“Oh, this is going to get bad,” Alex whispered. He started packing up the remains of their picnic. Quickly.

“Aren't you going to do something?” she whispered back. The dog had finally quit staring, and now padded over to stand behind them, watching Alex's mother with a wary expression. Smart dog.

Alex looked at her helplessly. Shrugged. Then went back to packing up the basket.

Tara turned her gaze back to Alex's mother. She was advancing on Barry, expression frosty. Anna Russell was actually pretty intimidating for a small woman. Silently, Tara pitched in with the packing up.

“Well?” Alex's mother demanded.

“I don't see how it's any of your...” Barry began. His face was twisted in a sneer and he looked with disdain at the woman. He paused as a growl erupted from Anna. He took a step back before he could stop himself and then stood still, glaring at the small woman.