Page 40 of Bear and Book

The cushions were still indented from where he’d been, and there was a faint trace of his scent. It was warm and a little sweet, like honey left in the sun.

It was ridiculous how much I already missed him.

I gathered up the mugs from our tea and carried them into the kitchen. My hands went through the motions automatically. Rinse, soap, and rinse again. However, my mind was still on him.

The way his arm had settled around my shoulders like it belonged there. The way he’d said I smelled like his. The fact that I hadn’t bristled at the word “mine.”

If anything, I’d liked it far too much. That was the problem.

I’d promised myself I wouldn’t get in too deep, not after Jason. And yet, here I was, letting Leo’s laughter curl up in my chest, letting his warmth seep into the cracks I’d kept sealed for years.

I dried the mugs and set them in their place. My fingers hesitated on the cupboard handle before letting go.

Maybe this was moving too fast. But my fox, the part of me that had been suspicious, guarded, and self-contained for so long didn’t agree.

He’d been calm around Leo from the start, almost smug, like he knew something I didn’t.

Last night, that calmness had been a quiet hum in the back of my mind, telling me to lean in when Leo kissed me, to relax when he pulled me close.

I hadn’t felt like that in years, which was terrifying.

I turned off the kitchen light and walked into the bedroom. The faint scent of Leo was there too, clinging to the quilt. I sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing my thumb over my palm.

I tried to put words to what I was feeling. It wasn’t just attraction.

It wasn’t just the pull of the potential mate bond, thrumming low and steady whenever he was near. It was something softer, more dangerous.

I trusted Leo. Not completely, not yet. But enough that I’d let him see me without my armor, even if just for a little while.I leaned back, bracing my hands on the mattress, and let out a long breath.

Old me would be panicking right now. Making excuses. Finding a reason to end things before they got too close.

New me well, I wasn’t sure there was a new me. Not entirely. But if there was, Leo was the reason.

The thought was both comforting and unsettling. Because if he could do this to me, if he could make me want more again, then he could also break me in ways Jason never had.

I shoved that thought away. I was tired of my own fear.

The apartment felt too still, so I got up and grabbed the book I’d given him earlier, pulling a different copy from my own shelf.

I sat cross-legged on the bed, flipping pages, trying to distract myself with the familiar stories. But even the old fox tales felt different now, as if I were reading them through new eyes.

I caught myself thinking about which parts Leo would like, which he’d tease me about, which ones would make him tilt his head and give me that soft, almost shy smile.

I didn’t realize how long I’d been sitting there until my phone buzzed. I picked it up without thinking.

It was a message from Jason.

Jason: I’ve been thinking about you. I’m sorry for the way I acted. I should’ve treated you better.

For a moment, everything inside me went still.

There it was. The kind of message that would have had old me typing back before I’d even read it twice. Old me, who still wanted answers, closure, a version of the past that didn’t ache so much.

I stared at the screen, the words blurring a little. My fox stayed silent, but alert.

I could hear the echoes of the old patterns. The way Jason would disappear, then reappear with an apology vague enough to hook me but never deep enough to mean anything.

The way I’d tell myself it was a start, that maybe things could go back to how they were. But that was before.