Page 20 of Falling for the Bear Dad

“Good morning,” Greyson said. He turned and his eyes roamed my form. I shivered. It felt like he was physically caressing my body even though he was standing at a distance. I looked down and realized I was in a long T-shirt and knee socks. My hair was probably sticking out in every direction.

“What is happening? Why is my car being towed? Did you fire me? I don’t understand.”

Tears came down my face, not because of sadness but anger and straight-up fear.

“What? No. I’m having it towed to a mechanic.”

“Why? I thought you were going to try and fix it.”

Greyson closed the distance between us. The car was finally all the way on the truck, and the driver had Greyson sign something.

“That’s my decision. It’s my car. I don’t know where you’re towing it to or how much it’s going to cost. I was planning on saving some of my paychecks and having it towed in the next couple of weeks. It’s my car. It’s the only thing I have that’s mine. You had no right.”

His eyes widened. The tow truck drove away. “I was trying to help. I thought I could do this for you. Make things easier.”

I crossed my arms over my chest realizing that in addition to my driveway fit, I had no bra on. Perfect. “It’s my car. I decide.”

My boss furrowed his brow. Clearly, he was confused. “I understand, but I have to get to work. Can we talk about this later?”

“Yeah.” I turned to walk inside. No more highhandedness. No more manhandling my things and my problems. I wasn’t someone who needed to have things made easy.

I looked out the window as Greyson got into his car and drove away and instantly felt bad. I could’ve handled that better.

Then again, so could he.

Chapter Seventeen

Greyson

Mya was feisty.

Jeanine had been all sweetness and softness and content to let me make many decisions. Like those about cars. As long as her vehicle started and took her where she needed to go, she had no interest in knowing how it worked. She was not about painting the siding or fixing a clogged sink. Not that she was a traditionalist or anything. If asked, she wouldn’t have said that it was a sexist thing. Jeanine did not believe that males and females had different jobs based on gender. She just didn’t prefer to do those things.

So, when I made a decision to send off Mya’s car to be repaired—legitimately not my best skill, although I could do minor repairs in a pinch—I didn’t think to let her know. Also, I didn’t plan to have her pay for it. She was doing a lot for us, and getting her car repaired was the least we could do in return. That and, of course, her salary. Room and board.

From the moment Mya walked into our home, everything was better than it had been before. The mood lighter, not just Benji and I staring at each other over grilled cheese sandwiches, not sure how to act without his mother in the picture.

We had begun to heal, of course, and I did my level best to make a happy home for Benji, but sometimes I’d felt like a real failure in that department. I would always miss Jeanine. Of course I would. But Mya had helped us with that healing. Had made things better.

But I didn’t need to act as if she was Jeanine because she was not. Our new nanny was a real firecracker, as I’d learned when I overstepped my bounds by having her car towed away. In my feeble little male brain, she had the use of the other car, and we’d see if this one was even worth fixing.

Mya was not my mate.

Mya mate.

No, she’s our nanny. She takes care of Benji, remember? Not our mate.

Mate. Then he fell silent.

All of this thinking and arguing with my bear was happening at the office where I had a meeting in ten minutes and a phone conference right after that. But it was a reminder that Mya needed to know about us at some point. Fortunately, Benji would not be shifting for a number of years, probably a decade. But I would be, and it would be very awkward to have to drive somewhere every time instead of going out through the backyard into the woods.

Still, best to let her get settled before we went into anything like that. Most humans would be very shocked to learn about their boss turning into a bear.

My meetings went on as scheduled, but I couldn’t keep my mind off Mya and Benji at home. My bear was getting louder by the minute about her, fascinated in a way he’d never been about Jeanine. He thought she was our mate. He didn’t know why I wasn’t leaping on it and immediately mating and marking her.

And I was tired of explaining. But at the same time, I kept comparing Mya and Jeanine. Both amazing females, but one of them was gone. And had extracted that promise from me before she passed.

A promise I’d only made because she was in so much pain, and arguing would only make it worse. She had to know how heartbroken I’d be when she left me behind. And being the kind, loving mate and mother she was, she wanted us to continue with our lives. I wanted to go with her. Only Benji made it possible to continue on and live day to day.