Page 39 of Bear and Book

I wanted to tell him to stop, because I could feel myself falling even deeper, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to climb back out. But I didn’t tell him.

Eventually, reality nudged its way in.

“I should get up,” I said, though I didn’t make a move to do it.

He grinned. “You’ve said that three times already.”

“This time I mean it,” I told him in a firm voice.

“Uh-huh,” he said.

Leo leaned in and kissed me again, slow enough that by the time he pulled away, I’d completely forgotten what I’d been trying to do.

When I finally made myself leave the bed, he followed, padding barefoot into the kitchen like he belonged there. Which, in a way that both terrified and thrilled me, he did.

Leo made coffee while I threw together something passable for breakfast, and we ended up eating at the small table by the window, the sun spilling across the floor.

It was all so domestic. Easy.

I caught myself watching him as he talked about some customer from Bear and Bun, the way his hands moved when he got animated, the curve of his smile.

My fox pressed forward in my chest, utterly sure, utterly at peace.

And maybe that was the problem. Because the more my fox settled, the more I realized how much I stood to lose if I messed this up.

When we finished eating, Leo offered to help clean up, but I waved him off, saying he’d done enough.

Truth was, I just needed a moment to breathe without his presence filling up the room. Not because I didn’t want him there, but because I wanted him there too much.

Leo lingered in the doorway, watching me as I rinsed plates.

“I could get used to this,” he said, almost offhand, but his eyes stayed locked on me.

The words landed heavy. I forced a small smile.

“Careful. You might,” I said.

And then where would we be?

He crossed the kitchen and kissed the side of my head before grabbing his jacket. “I’ll see you later?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

When the door closed behind him, the apartment felt different. Quieter, but not in the lonely way it used to. His scent still clung to the air, to the sheets in my bedroom, to me.

I leaned against the counter, exhaling slowly. My hand went to my chest without thinking, fingers brushing the spot where his hand had rested when we woke.

The doubts were still there. I couldn’t pretend they weren’t. But so was something else. Something that felt dangerously close to hope.

Chapter 12

Elias/ Leo

ELIAS

The apartment felt different after Leo left.

I stood in the middle of the living room for a minute, looking at the couch where we’d been sitting not half an hour ago.