Page 53 of Bear With Me

Oh, thank god. Bjorn let out a breath of relief. “I love garlic bread,” he said, and it was even mostly true. Garlic bread wasn’t his most favorite favorite, but it was certainly enjoyable. Especially if it meant his mate would have garlic breath too. “I think I’m going to get the shrimp scampi.”

“Mmm, so classy,” Dennis teased. “And here I am just like ‘give me pepperoni and grease’.”

Bjorn couldn’t help picturing Dennis’s lips slicked in grease from the pizza’s cheese, all rosy and wet. Oops, now his cock was twitching. That visual…hngh. “I see nothing wrong with pepperoni and grease,” he finally managed, hopefully without sounding too strangled. “And garlic.”

Dennis grinned. “At least we’ll both stink, right?”

It was so close to what Bjorn had been thinking that he couldn’t help his self-conscious laugh. “Haha. Yeah. Stinky, that’s us.”

“Maybe if you’re a good date you’ll earn stinky kisses.”

Oh, hell yeah. Bjorn couldn’t – didn’t even try to – hide his excitement at that statement, and his grin felt a little bit manic. “I will do just about anything to earn those kisses, mate.”

Dennis wrinkled his nose a little, probably at how cheesy Bjorn was being, but didn’t protest any further. Instead, he picked up the hotel phone. “I’ll call the order in.” Meanwhile, Bjorn shucked his jeans and t-shirt, leaving him only in boxer briefs.

“What?” Bjorn said innocently when Dennis hung up the phone and raised an eyebrow at him. “I don’t want to ruin those clothes if I shift!”

Dennis still looked skeptical, but he sighed and nodded. “Unfortunately, that’s logical. Just…make sure you let me get the door when the food gets here.”

“Oh, so I don’t scare them if I go bear?” Bjorn nodded his understanding.

Dennis, however, just snorted and shook his head. “I was thinking more so that our waiter doesn’t get an eyeful of your junk and decide to invite himself in for dinner.”

Was that…a compliment? Bjorn thought it had been! He gave his mate a wide smile. “The only person I’m interested in having dinner in my underwear with is you, Dennis.”

Dennis scowled at that, and Bjorn had just a moment to wonder what he’d said wrong, before Dennis lunged at him and planted his lips on Bjorn’s in a hard, possessive kiss. He nipped at Bjorn’s lower lip, just enough to sting, and Bjorn gasped into the kiss. His mate had used his teeth on him! And sure, he probably wasn't thinking about how meaningful that was to a shifter, but still, the use of teeth excited Bjorn. After interminable seconds – minutes? – Dennis pulled back to study Bjorn’s face. He was sure he looked utterly wrecked; it was certainly how he felt.

“Whoa,” Bjorn muttered, mostly to himself, as he lifted a hand to touch his swollen lips.

Dennis nodded firmly, ignoring Bjorn’s astonishment. “Damn right I’m the only one you’re eating in your underwear with.”

Oh, did his mate have a jealous streak? Bjorn added this to his mental Encyclopedia-of-Dennis. Then he got a little more serious. “Dennis…do you understand how fated mates work? Now that I’ve met you, I’ll never be interested in, uh, underwear dining with anyone else. You’re it for me. I couldn’t get it up for another man even if I wanted to. It’s part of why shifters who are rejected usually choose to stay in animal form – like, if there’s no hope of being with the person you love, why even maintain your humanity?”

Dennis stared at him with wide eyes. “I…did not know that. God, shifters really get the short end of the stick with mates. The human can happily leave and go on with their life no matter what, while the shifter is basically screwed unless everything goes perfectly.”

Bjorn managed a careless shrug that he hoped hid his internal turmoil. “But when things do go right, we’re guaranteed a lifetime of love. Plus, you know, I can turn into a bear, which also doesn’t suck. Usually.”

Bjorn promptly turned into a bear, as if the universe were determined to match deed to his words. Well, shit. The good news was he hadn’t shredded any clothes and these boxer-briefs were surprisingly stretchy. The bad news was he now had a really bad bear wedgie. He slid forward off the couch and started trying to tug the underwear off himself.

Dennis, next to him, had his lips pressed together as he fought laughter. “Stop…” he finally managed through his giggles. “Stand still and I’ll help you, uh, undress.”

Bjorn grunted his frustration, but turned his furry ass toward his mate, who seized the waistband of the underwear and started pulling. “This…is surprisingly difficult,” Dennis commented as he worked the waist over the muscles of Bjorn’s hind legs. “Gotta say I would much rather undress human you.” Finally, the underwear hit the floor and Bjorn stepped out of them.

That could definitely be arranged. In fact, Bjorn would happily put his clothes back on just so Dennis could peel them off him…just as soon as he managed to get out of this damn bear form. Trying to communicate his willingness, he snuffled at Dennis’s ear, giving it a lick with his long tongue.

Dennis squeaked and pushed his snout away. “Gross, man! ‘I licked it, so it’s mine’ doesn’t work with people, just in case that’s what you were going for.”

Well, surely if he licked him enough, it would work. Bjorn sat back on his haunches and tried to give his mate a skeptical look, but bear facial features weren’t really conducive to that, so he doubted he was getting the message across.

Just as Dennis was opening his mouth to retort to whatever he saw on Bjorn’s face, Bjorn shifted back and found himself kneeling, nude, at his mate’s feet. Oh, this was quite the perspective.

Dennis must have had the same thought, because heat rose in his eyes as he looked down at Bjorn. “Uh, hi there.” He reached down to pick up the boxer-briefs they’d just discarded. “Want these?”

Bjorn considered them, considered his goals for the evening, considered the look on his mate’s face…and shook his head. “I’m good.”

Dennis looked him over from head to toe, slowly. Yes, he’d had time to get used to seeing Bjorn naked over the past week, but somehow this study seemed…different. Hotter. “Not gonna argue with that. Think you’ll stay human for dinner? It’d be tricky to feed you pasta as a bear.”

He could only shrug, because who the hell knew what controlled his shifts these days? “Not a clue. If I shift again, I guess just put my bowl down and let me slurp it up. I can clean up any I spill once I’m back to human.”