“What the hell is the matter with you?” Blaine mumbled to himself, dressing quickly, careful not to wake Estelle up. She was sleeping so peacefully; had seemed to be a good dream that she was having to keep her so content.
He had been stupid to bring her back to his cabin, but now that he had, he would just have to be a gentleman about it and make the lady breakfast.
It had been a long time since Blaine had cooked for a woman. Bear shifters had very voracious appetites, and he wondered briefly what someone like Estelle might like to eat.
Almost as soon as he wondered, the perfect meal popped into his head and he set to work. He was going to give her a nice breakfast and let her down easy. Tell her that this was something that could never, ever happen again.
“Good morning.”
Blaine’s heart lurched at the sound of Estelle’s soft, sweet voice, and he turned to her, almost angry. Furious, actually, more at himself than at her, but the look on his face must have been enough for her to see right through him. But would she blame herself for his anger?
“Hi,” he said gruffly, turning away quickly and heading back toward the kitchen.
He had to look away as quickly as he could. Estelle looked almost more beautiful than she had been the night before. That just made it that much harder. What they had done was wrong, and there was absolutely no way that they could do anything like that again.
Still, the bear within him was grinning, urging him to look back again. giving in to temptation couldn’t be that big of a deal. He had broken the rules. They were already broken. Nothing he could do about it now. he could take her right back upstairs and…
But no, he wasn’t going to be that kind of a man. He had a plan, and he was going to stick with it. Make the girl breakfast. Explain that everything they had done had been a mistake. Then drive her back to her cabin and pretend that nothing had ever happened. Easy enough. Sure, things would be hard and awkward at work for a while, but he had been through much worse.
Forcing himself not to think about that almost made him as angry as the temptation to claim Estelle again. But he would just have to be stronger than that, no matter how big of a fit the bear within him was planning to throw. It had gotten its way once, and that was more than enough. He couldn’t let that happen again.
“You like pancakes?” Blaine asked, desperate to get his mind off his temptation.
“Yeah,” Estelle said. “I love them. Especially with eggs.”
Blaine nodded. “That’s the only way to have them.”
Estelle sat down at the table and they fell into silence as Blaine began to cook their breakfast.
“Can I help?” Estelle asked.
Somehow, the question made the strained silence between them even more unbearable.
“No, I’ve got it,” he said, refusing to look up from his task at her. Last thing he needed was to feel guilty for doing the right thing. It was hard enough, damn it.
“All right.”
They didn’t speak again until the smell of food was wafting through the kitchen and Blaine sat the plates down on the table. Estelle mumbled a quiet, nearly imperceptible “thank you,” and then let out a little gasp of surprise.
“What’s all this?” she asked, staring down at her plate.
“A little something special,” Blaine said, raising his brow. “Is that a problem?”
“No, not at all!” Estelle looked up and beamed at him, and once again, his heart hammered against his chest. God, she was beautiful. The man she ended up with would be one lucky son of a bitch.
“Well try it,” Blaine said gruffly, grabbing his fork. “It’s got a bear’s touch.”
“If I don’t like it, will you fire me?” Estelle asked, laughing softly as she brought the first bite to her lips.
“Yes,” Blaine grumbled.
She studied him, as if not quite sure whether he was serious, and then let out a beautiful laugh.
“This is amazing,” Estelle breathed, her baby-blue eyes lighting up.
Blaine couldn’t help but feel the surge of deep pride that heartened him, and he grinned at her.
“Special family recipe.”
“I believe that it is pretty special,” Estelle said, bringing another bite eagerly to her full lips. “I never would have thought to put seeds and berries in a plate of pancakes.”
“Well, we know how to utilize our resources,” Blaine said.
Estelle smiled brightly and they held each other’s gaze, probably a lot longer than they should have. That was enough. He couldn’t let this go on any longer.
“You know that can’t happen again between us, right? What happened last night…”
Estelle stopped chewing for a moment and looked at him, her eyebrow raised. Her expression implied that he was the stupidest son of a bitch who ever lived, but somehow, he still found himself on the edge of his seat waiting for her response.
“You’re the boss,” she said with a noncommittal shrug.
Blaine peered at her, shocked by her indifference. Surely no woman was going to take it that well! But when he tried to tune in with his inner bear, hoping that his heightened animal senses would be able to tell what she was really feeling, he was hurt and surprised to find that she seemed to feel legitimately relieved. She didn’t want anything else to happen between them. She was perfectly fine.
“All right,” Blaine said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. He wanted to test her, to push her until he heard for himself what she really felt about it, but he didn’t want to find himself being vulnerable to a woman again. no matter what kind of woman she thought she was. no matter how strong the bear’s claim on her might be.
“Thanks for breakfast,” Estelle said, standing abruptly once she finished eating. Blaine had lost his appetite in trying to deconstruct Estelle’s response to him, and stood too.
“It’s no problem. We burned a lot of energy last night.”
Estelle quirked her brow at him, and he could almost read her thoughts. “Classy.”
“Anyway,” Blaine said, clearing his throat quickly. It wasn’t like him to be so damn blustering, but this damn girl brought out the worst in him. “I’m going to take you back up the mountain. Ain’t going to let anything crazy happen to you this time.”
Estelle looked like she was going to refuse his help at first, but then nodded slowly.
“All right,” she said quietly. “Let’s get going then.”
Blaine was surprised that she surrendered so quickly. This wasn’t the kind of woman who submitted to a fight. He had learned that much for himself in the time they had known each other. And it was part of the reason why it had been so damned impossible for the bear to resist her. but he wouldn’t make that mistake twice.
“Right,” Blaine said gruffly.
They headed out of the cabin and shut themselves into his little car. The air around him was suddenly thick with her voluptuous scent and Blaine had to do everything in his power to keep his eyes forward. No matter how much the bear wanted it, he wasn’t going to give in. not again. he wasn’t going to be that big of an asshole. She was just a kid, and they both deserved better than this. It was a stupid, careless affair that would just hurt them both in the end.
The drive was quiet, and Blaine sighed deeply to himself as he surveyed the damage.
“There was something weird about that storm last night, wasn’t there?” Estelle asked suddenly, after passing by one of the fallen trees that the wind had whipped right out of the ground.
“Seems like these days all I can do is make enemies,” Blaine answered, doing his best to keep his eyes forward, his thoughts on the road.
“Dragon shifters?” Estelle asked quietly.
“You heard of them?”
“Yeah…in one of my classes on shifter history, they said there was a myth that they could control the weather. But that had never been proven…”
“That’s something the humans say to make themselves feel better. Safer against the shifter people. But truth is that we’re all very powerful in our own rights, and there are ancient magics that have been passed down through the ages. Only a really powerful shifter warlock can change the weather, but it’s not impossible. You just have to manage to piss them off just right…”
Estelle let out a deep breath, but before she could speak again, Blaine pulled into the driveway and turned to her.
“See you in the office at 8:00 tomorrow. And not a word about any of this to anyone, it’s not really their business. Don’t want to make either of us look bad.”
“I understand.”
Estelle got out of the car and headed toward the door and Blaine sighed, even more furious now than he was before. Because when she said she understood, she was the kind of girl who actually meant it. And for some reason, that scared the hell out of him.