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“Give her our numbers so we can text. If that’s…do you think she’ll be comfortable with it?”
“One way to find out.”
Marney’s message said that she wanted to video chat and that exchanging numbers would be great. She wasn’t at home but would text us as soon as she was. She was eager to see us in person, or over video, which was as close to in person as we could get right now.
“I can’t believe it,” I said, putting the phone down. “This is it. We might’ve found our mate.”
Riggs nodded. “We did. We found her.”
We made ourselves busy as we could, waiting for Marney to get home. I found myself smiling despite doing simple things like sweeping and mopping. Riggs and I were making sure our den was perfect for her. I didn’t think she was going to inspect our baseboards or above our refrigerator but that didn’t stop me from cleaning them all the same.
We bears took pride in our dens, even more so when our mate would be here soon.
I was getting the sticky dust from the top of the fridge when Riggs came in, breathing hard. “She’s home. She’s ready to talk. Get your ass down from there, Nacho. It’s time to meet our mate.”
Chapter Eleven
Riggs
The first time she said hello, I was hooked. We both were.
“You’re even more beautiful than your pictures,” Nacho said as she came on the screen with a smile.
“Thank you. You must be Nacho. Ignacio, I’m assuming.”
He blushed. “It’s Ignacio, yeah.”
She giggled, and I swore the heavens quaked and the ground shook. “Not Iggy?”
My turn. “It used to be Iggy, but when we became friends, Riggs and Iggy were too easily confused. I started calling him Nacho and it kind of stuck.”
Marney nodded and pushed a tendril of platinum hair behind her ear. I wanted to be able to do that for her. She wore no makeup but was blaringly more beautiful than any female I’d ever seen. “Is Riggs short for anything?” she asked me. Gods, my chest seemed to ignite hearing her ask me a question, like a boy with his first crush. But this was no crush. My polar bear roared and bellowed from his place inside my body, calling out to her the only way he knew how without shifting right there on screen.
“No. That’s my given name. How old are you?” I asked. Nacho gave me a look. “What? Was that inappropriate? I’m sorry if I overstepped, Marney.”
She shook her head. “No. It’s not overstepping. But it’s on my profile, I thought.”
“Oh.” Of course. “I must’ve missed that.”
“What?” she exclaimed, but there was a glint of kidding in her eyes. “You mean you didn’t worship and scour my profile for every detail. Shame.”
Nacho let out a breath. “A sense of humor. Thank the gods. I did scour it. I’m just saying.”
This back-and-forth questioning went on for hours.
“If you were to come here…what is your job situation? Do you need to give notice or…” I started, still wondering if I was stepping over a boundary. But this woman, in my mind, was about to come here to be our mate. Asking about her job didn’t seem too personal.
“I’m actually between jobs right now. What about you two? What do you do for work?”
We explained our different jobs. Of course, she was fascinated by Nacho’s writing career. Most women and some men were. She wanted to know what his pen name was and if she could download all of his books but, once they were in the thralls of his genre, her eyes flicked to me. “Riggs, I’m sorry. Your job must be great as well. I’m just an avid reader and got excited.”
I shrugged one shoulder. “My job is not exciting, but all jobs don’t need to be. They pay the bills. That’s what’s important.”
“That’s very true. So…you two really live in the middle of nowhere? Please tell me the snow is as beautiful as it is in those pictures.”
I chuckled and took the phone, walking toward the front door. “See for yourself, female.” I turned the camera to face the back of my phone and did a one-eighty. “Winter is still hiding a bit, but this is the beginning.”
There was a gasp while I turned the camera back on myself. “That’s your tree? Is it real?”
