Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
“Kids!” Adrian bellows in his deep booming voice. “Breakfast!”
They all turn and start popping out of the water, dripping all over the dock. Nathan starts throwing them towels as the kayaks return and the bears morph back into our kids. That bellow even woke up Ethan who’s walking out of the cabin in his underwear, yawning with his hair sticking up.
“Wow,” Erica says, smiling as she watches everything going on. “We’re so lucky.”
I smile as Ethan walks up beside me and puts his head on my shoulder, yawning so big I can see his tonsils. “We really are,” I whisper.
Erica leans her head on my other shoulder, and I kiss the top of it. Her delicious scent is still the same. It still makes my bear rumble with happiness. Still makes me feel whole.
I still haven’t forgotten what it felt like before her—how restless and broken I was, like my bones didn’t quite fit right inside my skin. She changed everything for me. From the very first second, everything in me knew: this is who I was waiting for. This is who I belonged with. This is who I loved.
She saved me.
She still saves me, every damn day.
Ethan heads down the stairs to help his aunt Victoria with the food. “Ethan, I’ve never seen you up this early,” she teases as he takes a few containers.
“Remember our first kiss?” Erica whispers, nudging me gently while we’re still alone.
I grin. “In my truck. You accused me of using you to make another woman jealous.”
She winces. “God, I was such a mess.”
“No, I was a mess,” I say, turning to cup her face. “You were everything. You still are.”
She rolls her eyes, but her cheeks are pink. “You’re still such a sap.”
I lean in closer, brushing my lips against hers. “Only for you.”
The kids are running up the path now, soaking wet and yelling about waffles and syrup. Our third child, Finn, is carrying his little cousin on his back who’s screaming because he got a splinter in his foot. It’s chaos. Loud and messy and perfect.
“Time to feed the zoo,” Erica says as they all pour onto our porch. We have the largest porch, so outside meals are usually at our place.
A few minutes of chaos later and Victoria has the splinter out of Christopher’s foot, I’ve flipped about forty pancakes, the platters are set, and the mimosa is half drunk.
The second we drop the plates on the table, the kids go at it, elbowing and stabbing forks and grabbing every last morsel of food.
“I’m not hungry,” Hunter says, his empty plate in front of him.
“How many frogs did you eat?” Victoria asks with a frown. “Tell the truth.”
“Three.”
Everyone laughs as she shoves a bagel onto his plate. “Eat this.”
Erica comes over and tops off my mimosa, giving me a sexy smile in the process. God, I just want to drink her up.
I sip on my drink and stand back, letting the warmth of the sun soak into my skin.
This life… this love… this family.
It was everything I didn’t know I needed. Everything I never dared to want. And now that I have it, I will never take a single second of it for granted.
I want to live this forever.
Erica. Me. Our kids. Our family. This beautiful legacy.
I’ll never get tired of any of it.
I may be older now. My beard is streaked with gray and my joints creak louder than they used to, but the fire in my chest—my love for my mate—burns brighter than ever.
And it always will.
Forever and ever, until my last breath and beyond.
Because once a bear finds his true mate…
That fire will burn forever.
The End