Bear Unbound: A BBW Bear-Shifter Romance (Shift Your Fate Book 1) (3 page)

“Hey! Remember me? I know we haven’t talked in a long time, but… well… I’m in NYC. If you’re still here, wanna meet? Amber”

She couldn’t believe she had just tapped “send”. Her heart started beating faster, pumping adrenaline into her blood.
“What am I doing?”
Her whole body was tingling with anticipation and fear that he might not reply, but Amber had to admit she hadn’t felt so alive in a very long time. So what if he didn’t reply? It wasn’t the end of the world. Oh, and the fact that she texted him and asked him if he wanted to meet didn’t mean anything. It certainly didn’t mean that she missed him, or that she had been thinking too much about what could have been between them if she hadn’t met Stephan. No, it didn’t mean anything. She decided to wait outside for a few more minutes. If he didn’t reply in five minutes, then she’d go up to Rebecca’s, have a nice dinner with her daughter and her friends, and forget all about it.

Her phone beeped.

“Of course I remember you. Yeah, I’m still here. Have any plans for tonight?”

She almost dropped her phone. She covered her mouth with one hand to hide her ridiculously large smile, while she typed a reply with the other. The next second, she dashed inside the building, ignored the elevator, and ran up the stairs. She needed to get all this excitement and energy out of her system somehow.

CHAPTER TWO

The restaurant was nice. Tyler had actually come to pick her up from Rebecca’s. As she was stealing glances at him from across the table, Amber realized her cheek was still tingling from the small kiss he had planted there. She cleared her throat to stifle a silly giggle and reached for her glass of wine. Tyler looked up at her and smiled.

“So… what brings you to New York?”

She sighed and hesitated for a second. She had yet to decide what she really wanted from him, from this date. Was this even a date? An hour ago, she had run into Becca’s apartment, then into the bathroom to take a shower, shave her legs, and style her now dark red hair. She had barely had time to tell Ava she had some business to attend to, and whisper to Becca that she was actually going out with a guy, that Tyler had texted her letting her know he was waiting for her downstairs. Judging by her own reaction and the tight little black dress she had borrowed from Becca, Amber could be pretty sure that yes, she wanted to consider this a date. But she wasn’t sure Tyler wanted that too. Aside from that kiss and the awkward hug, he hadn’t made any move.

“Visiting a friend,” she finally answered. If this was a date, then it was bad practice to talk about her divorce.

Tyler pouted. “You never visited me, and I thought I was your best friend.”

“I… I still consider you my best friend. Sounds weird, huh?” She bit the inside of her lip. “I honestly don’t know why we stopped talking. I regret it now. We should have stayed in touch.”

He gave a deep sigh, patted his lips with a napkin and leaned back in his chair.

“Well, if I’m still your best friend, then maybe you should trust me and tell me why you really are here.”

He looked her straight into the eyes, and Amber felt like her insides were melting. After so many years, he could still read her like an open book. He had a smile on his full, sensual lips, but his slightly furrowed brows said he was being serious. He wanted to know everything, wanted to be the shoulder she could cry on. For real now. She had cried on his shoulder, virtually, years ago. Now she could actually touch him, look into his eyes and read his thoughts. God, she had been such a fool! This tall, handsome man was sitting across from her and waiting for her to pour her heart out. And she knew he would have the right reaction, say the right words to make her feel better. She needed Tyler. She needed him more as the friend he had always been to her online and on the phone, than as the man who could envelop her in his strong, bulky arms and make her forget her disastrous marriage.

“Stephan and I are getting a divorce. He hasn’t signed the papers yet, but I couldn’t wait. I simply couldn’t. I had to get out of there and try to sort my life out before I went insane. So, yeah… I’m not actually visiting a friend. I’m staying with her and her husband until I figure out what to do next.”

Tyler leaned over the table and took her hands in his. He squeezed her fingers tightly, loving the feel of her smooth skin.

“I’m so sorry, Amber.”

“Thanks…”

“Is your daughter okay? It can’t be easy for her…”

“Oh, she doesn’t know yet.”

She looked at their joined hands and willed her brain to function normally. His thumbs had started drawing circles on her skin, and it was sad, so sad that she couldn’t remember the last time when a man had been so gentle and tender, so caring. She swore to herself she wouldn’t cry.

“I don’t know how to tell her. She thinks we’re taking a short vacation before school starts, and my friend, Rebecca, is keeping her busy every day. She’s a wonderful person! If it weren’t for her, I don’t know where I’d be now.”

“You know you can always count on me, right? You should have called me sooner.”

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly…” She averted her gaze. “I wasn’t even sure you’d remember me.”

Tyler’s lips stretched into a wide smile.

“I never forgot you, Amber. The fact that we stopped talking was almost entirely my fault. You met Stephan, you were happy, then you got married. I realized it was better to let you go, you know? You had more important things to do than waste hours online with a geek like me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Come on! You know I’ve always liked you. You never seemed very interested, so I preferred to simply be your friend and not ruin what we had by insisting, or doing something stupid.”

“Are you serious?!” She couldn’t believe her ears. Tyler had always liked her. “You never… you never told me.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “We spent hours chatting. I often didn’t go out on Friday nights because I wanted to be with you. Even though you were miles away, you were still more fun and more interesting than any of the other girls I knew. If that didn’t give it off…”

“You should have said something!” She freed her right hand to punch him playfully. A shiver ran up her arm when she felt his hard biceps under her knuckles.

“Yeah, I admit I was pretty young and stupid.” He gave her a goofy smile. “But it doesn’t matter anymore. You’re here now, so let’s drink to that. Better late than never.”

They raised their glasses and clicked them.

“Better late than never,” whispered Amber, completely lost into his warm brown eyes.

The waiter brought their dessert. While they ate, she told him what the past ten years had been like for her. Since she hadn’t done anything notable, she finished her story quickly. She didn’t want to go into detail about her sad relationship with Stephan, and Tyler didn’t insist. They were having a good time, and none of them wanted to let the cheating husband spoil their evening.

“What about you? Are you still drawing?” she asked.

“In my spare time, yes. It’s not so much of a hobby now, since I’ve been working as a graphic designer for the past eight years or so. When you spend all your day working in Photoshop, painting and designing materials for your clients, you can’t really go home in the evening and do the same thing, no matter how much you love it.”

“God, you have a wonderful job! I remember when I sent you those photos of me and you did your magic and turned them into fantasy pieces. I think I still have them somewhere on an old hard drive.”

He smiled. “Oh, those were horrible.”

“Where do you work now?”

“Advertising company.” He bit his lower lip. He would have loved to tell her about his second job, the one he actually found exciting, the one which truly mattered, but he couldn’t. Not yet. Looking at her bright blue eyes, red hair, and full, sexy curves, he thought he would probably never tell her. Yes, she was getting a divorce and she seemed prepared to move on, but who said she would want him? She hadn’t wanted him ten years ago, why would she want him now? She really saw him as a friend and nothing more.

“Cool. That sounds cool.”

“You?”

She started playing with her napkin. “I don’t… I don’t work anymore.”

“How so? I remember you loved teaching. It was like your dream job.” He thought back to those winter evenings when she’d come back from the school, tired and cold, take a quick shower, then log in and tell him everything about her day. “Every time you started talking about your students, I knew you’d be at it for at least an hour.”

Amber laughed. “Oh, I’m sorry. You must’ve been so bored.”

“Not at all. So, what happened?”

“The Castell family happened.”

Tyler let her tell him about the Castells and their weird family traditions. He saw no reason in telling her he already knew the Castells treated their mothers, wives, and daughters the same way they used to treat them in the Middle Ages. Old family, old habits. For those who could track their ancestors back to Medieval Europe, tradition was often stronger than social evolution.

Listening to her, he felt bad for not telling her everything, for not telling her then, ten years ago, what she should have expected from Stephan Castell. She had seemed so happy with Stephan; Tyler had been too in love with her to ruin her dreams. But it was over now, wasn’t it? She certainly didn’t sound like she still cared about her husband. Soon to be ex-husband, in fact. Maybe, just maybe, this was their second chance. He was still afraid, there were so many things she didn’t know, and even if Stephan signed the divorce papers and let her go, being with Amber was still dangerous. And now she had a daughter. Tyler had to think about Ava, as well. He had never met her, but he was sure she was just as amazing as her mother. Two wonderful ladies who were betrayed by the man who was supposed to respect and protect them. He had told Amber he would always be there for her if she wanted him. He would honor his promise even if it meant putting himself and his identity in danger.

Amber went to the restroom and Tyler paid the bill. When she came back, he helped her put on her light summer coat.

“So… I’ll drive you home?” he asked.

“No. I don’t want to go home.” She looked up into his eyes and immediately knew he understood.

***

Tyler’s apartment was way bigger than she expected. Probably bigger than Rebecca’s, which was weird given that he lived alone. Amber let him help her out of her coat, and she almost moaned when his fingers brushed her bare shoulders. He had held her hand from the parking lot up to his apartment, and she rather liked that he took things slowly. He made her feel safe. He made her feel like she could change her mind at any time and everything would be fine. They didn’t have to do anything tonight. They could just have another glass of wine and chat until morning.

He let her study her surroundings, inspect the books in his small bookcase, and the video games displayed in the niche under his TV. He took his time to admire her generous cleavage, round hips, and long legs. Wrapped in that tight dress, her body looked so inviting. He had been hard since he had first seen her, but now the pressure in his trousers was too much. No matter how sexy she looked in those back high heels, she couldn’t possibly be comfortable.

“So, what do you wanna do?” he asked.

“I don’t know…” She turned around. He was leaning against the back of the sofa, his arms folded over his chest. God, he looked so hot in that elegant white shirt, red tie, and rather tight dress pants! “We could watch a movie, I suppose.”

“What kind of movie?”

“What do you have?”

“Just about anything. Name a genre.”

“Umm… Action?”

“All right.”

He smiled and went to his stack of DVDs.

“Wanna change into something more comfortable?”

“I would, but I didn’t bring anything with me,” she giggled. “Had no idea this would turn into a pajama party.”

Tyler browsed through his movies for a few minutes, then gave her the DVDs so she could choose one.

“I’ll go change if that’s okay with you. I’ll find a T-shirt or something and leave it for you in the bathroom.”

“Sounds great!”

He disappeared into the bedroom, and Amber couldn’t help but stare at his wide back. Yes, this did sound great. When had it been the last time she had simply enjoyed a quiet evening with a friend, watching an action movie and talking about what was happening on the screen? She settled for “The Unusual Suspects”.

When he came back, Tyler was wearing a plain T-shirt that hugged his chest and abs in just the right way, and loose jeans. He was barefoot, his longish black hair was disheveled, as if he had forgotten to smooth it down after ruffling it while changing, and he looked absolutely delicious in a roguish, carefree kind of way. Amber swallowed hard and bit her lower lip. She was dying to know what was hiding under those loose pants of his, but she had to keep it together. Even though she had known him for such a long time, she had just met the guy face-to-face. She went to the bathroom while he put the movie on.

Tyler had left a long, loose T-shirt for her. She looked at herself in the mirror and was surprised to see it stopped right above her knees. She wasn’t, by any means, a tiny girl, so it was impressive that she actually felt small in his clothes. She wondered how she would feel in his arms. He was big and strong. He definitely looked like the kind of man who knew how to handle a curvaceous woman. Her phone vibrated in her bag and snapped her out of her thoughts. She rolled her eyes when she saw Stephan’s name. No way was she going to answer him now. She dropped the still vibrating device back into her bag, folded Becca’s dress neatly, took a deep breath and went into the living room.

Tyler was waiting for her on the sofa, remote control in hand, ready to hit “play”. He smiled up at her and she blushed. She looked even more gorgeous in his T-shirt. The simple fact that she had accepted to wear it gave him a nice, warm feeling inside. It was as if she belonged to him now, and the thought put him at ease. He patted the spot beside him and Amber sat down. She couldn’t quite relax at first, but then he encircled her shoulders with his arm and she had no choice but to give in to his embrace and place her head on his chest.

They watched the movie in silence, but she found it hard to focus on what was happening on the screen. Her body was pressed against his side, and she could smell his clean skin and the faint scent of wine. Her palm was pressed on his chest, and she couldn’t help the urge to move it around and touch more of his body. She massaged his chest slowly, absently, as if she didn’t even realize she was doing it. His breathing became heavier, and Amber couldn’t believe how quickly her own body started responding to his closeness.