“I’m really mad at you,” Maisie said.
Cece smiled. “No, you love me.”
“We do, even if you suck right now,” Kinsley said.
Cece laughed, and the sound made his bear push forward, growling happily.
“I love you both very much,” Cece said. “You know that, right?”
“Yes,” Kinsley said.
“Did you convince your hot polar bear bodyguard to go to bone town with you yet?” Maisie asked.
“Oh my God, Maisie. No. I told you I can’t do that with him. Besides, he hates me,” Cece said.
His bear whined unhappily, and Briggs didn’t even have it in him to soothe the beast. Cece thought he hated her?
Can you blame her? You’re an asshole to her all the time.
He ignored his inner voice as Kinsley said, “Impossible. Everyone loves you, Cece.”
“Trust me, he can’t stand -” Cece’s eyes widened when she glanced toward the doorway and saw him. “I have to go, ladies. I love you.”
She ended the video call, clutching her phone and staring at him. “Were you spying on me?”
“No,” he said. “Are you ready to go grocery shopping?”
“I was thinking I could go by myself,” she said. “Give you a break from um… me.”
His bear whined again, the damn thing nearly pouting because Cece thought he hated her.
“You don’t have a car.”
“The grocery store is within walking distance,” she said.
“Are you forgetting what happened the last time you walked home from the grocery store?” he asked.
Her face went as white as his bear’s fur, and her lips pressed together in a thin line. He was upsetting her again, but Christ, she couldn’t possibly think he’d let her go anywhere alone, could she?
“My job is to keep you safe,” he said. “You don’t go anywhere without me.”
“Right,” she said. She threw back the blankets, revealing her flannel pajamas that he was starting to find weirdly sexy. “Give me fifteen minutes to get ready.”
He stepped back, giving her plenty of space to move past him. His bear huffed unhappily at the sadness he could smell on Cece.
She’s sad because of you. Fix this, his bear growled.
He waited until Cece was upstairs, and he heard her bedroom door shut. He pulled out his phone and hit Hudson’s number.
It only rang twice before Hudson answered. “Hey, Briggs. What’s up?”
Hoping like hell Hudson would agree to his plan, Briggs said, “Hey. Are you busy this afternoon?”
Cece stared out the window as Briggs drove toward the grocery store. The silence was thick and awkward, and just like most of last night, she kept reliving their conversation at dinner. The disgust and worse, disappointment, in Briggs’s face when he found out she wanted to go to Alaska to see polar bears was seared into her brain.
There’s nothing wrong with your plan.
Up until last night, she hadn’t thought so, but now she was questioning her motivations. Did it make her a bad person? She’d never even thought to consider a polar bear’s feelings before.
