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Should I tell him the truth or some bullshit about just being tired? I was tired, but I had been for the past three days, and I didn’t have an attitude like this.
“It’s nothing, really. I probably just need to sleep, and I’ll be in a better mood.” There, I didn’t lie, but I also didn’t tell him what I was feeling. Because I wasn’t sure I should be even feeling what I was because Bear and I weren’t anything. He didn’t have to be home at a certain time. Hell, he was busy trying to find Dr. Douche before he killed anyone again. He did not have to be punching a clock with me.
“Tell me what it is, and I’ll make it go away.”
Bear, the gentle giant who always wanted to fix any problem I had. Big or small, he was going to be the one to make them go away.
“We went to the grocery store today.” I stopped and thought about what I really wanted to tell him.
“Okay, you mentioned that.”
I tapped my fingers on the edge of the tub. “And Meg was getting ready to buy a bunch of food for dinner and what not.”
“Did I miss a big meeting of the bikers?” he laughed.
I shook my head. “Well, you would have if I hadn’t told her that I didn’t want that.”
“Good, mama. I know your aunt, and everyone just wants to be here for you, but you also need to rest.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I agreed. “This all started with the talk of Lunchables, and Meg put her foot down and said there was no way I was going to buy those for you and me to eat.”
“Gotta agree with Meg on that one. Not saying I wouldn’t eat them, but I would need about ten of them to actually get full.”
I smiled wide and pointed at him. “We also came to that conclusion. So, I told her I wanted something like that. A shark-coochie board.”
Bear closed his eyes and held up his hand. “I know you can’t be meaning to feed me shark coochie, so I’m trying to figure out what you could actually mean.”
“There’s a fancy word for it that sounds like shark-coochie, but it basically is like a grownup and homemade version of a Lunchable.”
Bear opened his eyes and tipped his head to the side. “I could get behind that.”
“Right? I mean, who doesn’t love cheese, crackers, and shit?”
“So, what happened? She wouldn’t let you buy that?”
“No, she actually went over the top and bought so much stuff we can have shark-coochie for two weeks.”
“Mama, you need to get to the point,” Bear laughed.
That was what I didn’t want to do. When I got to the point, that would mean I would be spilling my guts. “There’s a board in the fridge. For dinner.”
Bear nodded and winced. “Dinner that I wasn’t here for.”
I closed my eyes and rested my head back. “I had some with Easy. It was good.” Easy had actually ordered a pizza, and I had been munching on hunk of leftover cheese and three beef sticks.
“Easy must have been pretty hungry since he carried out a pizza box with him.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Did he really?” I asked.
“Greta,” Bear called. “Open your eyes, mama, and stop lying to me.”
“Must I?” And as much as I liked when he called me mama, I wished he would stop it because I couldn’t think straight when he did.
“No, but if you don’t, I’m gonna climb in that tub with you.”
I cracked open one eye and looked over at him. “I’d like to see you try to fit in here with me.”
“That a challenge?” he drawled.
I quirked my eyebrow and nodded. “Yup. It is.”
Bear pushed off the vanity and shook his head. He walked out of the bathroom and left the door wide open.
“Ha, I called your bluff!” I called after him.
So much for being some big, bad hottie who was going to climb into the tub with me.
That was more than a letdown. I sat back and closed my eyes again. “Disappointing,” I muttered.
I listened to him jog down the stairs and walk into the kitchen.
The water was starting to cool so I only had about ten minutes before I needed to get out. Back to enjoying my bath by myself. Next time, I was going to have to lock the door to keep Bear out if all he was going to do was ogle me and then walk out.
“Make room, mama.”
My eyes snapped open, and my jaw dropped as I watched Bear walk into the bathroom with the shark-coochie board and no shirt or pants on.
“What are you doing?” I gasped.
“I grabbed our dinner, and now, I’m gonna hop in the tub with you.” He unwrapped the shark-coochie board and set it on the vanity. “You’re gonna have to scoot up or back, mama. Wherever you want me to sit.”
My brain was still stuck on the view of him standing in my bathroom with only a pair of boxers on. “What are you doing?” I repeated.
Bear chuckled and hooked his fingers in the waist of his underwear. “Do you really need me to repeat myself?”
I blinked rapidly and dragged my eyes off his expansive chest covered with a black, swirling tattoo that went onto his upper arms and trailed over his shoulder. “You’re actually going to get in here? The water is getting cold.”
He reached into the tub and splashed his hand around. “Feels hot enough to me, but I don’t want you to get cold.” He stepped to the end of the tub where the faucet was and pulled the drain. He turned the water on and cranked it all the way to hot. A quarter of the water whooshed down the drain, and then, he put the drain plug back. He ran the water until it was refilled and then switched it off.
“I can get out if you want to take a bath,” I offered. I had been soaking for a while, and I was going to become a prune shortly if I didn’t get out.
Bear shook his head. “You challenged me to get in the tub with you, mama, and that is what I’m going to do.”
