Brash Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES fur BEARS Book 3) (6 page)

She shrugged. “Intuition.
Maybe.”

Joshua watched her walk to
the kitchen. She was wearing a big t-shirt that skirted the top of
her thighs. He saw a hint of her pink cotton panties as she moved,
and his cock jerked in appreciation.

Bella poured him a glass of
water and handed him the drink. “Thanks for looking out for
me, Joshua,” she said. “I shouldn't have lost my temper
at you this afternoon. I know you meant well.”

He shook his head. “I
was a dick.” He held his breath at his unfortunate choice of
words. He hoped he hadn't drawn her attention to the bulge in the
front of his pants.

Luckily for him, she turned
and went back to the kitchen.

After she glugged down a
glass of cold water, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand
and said, “Can I ask you something, Joshua?”

“Sure.”

“How old are you?”

His eyes rounded. Of all the
questions he expected her to ask, this was not it.

“I'll be twenty-six
soon.”

She let out a strange laugh.
“And I'll be thirty-six soon.”

Joshua frowned and shrugged.
So?

She whipped round to face
him. “I'm ten years older than you,” she said, sounding
angry. “Ten years. That's a whole decade! I'll be forty in a
few years' time, and you—you'll still be...”

“I'll grow older too,”
he said reasonably.

“You're a really nice
guy, Joshua,” she mumbled, turning away. “Why do you
have to be so young?”

“Bella.” He went
to her and held her shoulders.

“Age doesn't bother me.
At all. Why should it bother you? I am not a boy, Bella,” he
growled. “I am a man. And you are a woman. A woman who is
perfect for me.”

CHAPTER
SIXTEEN

Bella pushed at the wall of
his solid chest but he just kept coming closer. His arms snaked
around her waist and held her to him.

“Tell me you don't want
this,” Joshua growled. “Look into my eyes, and tell me
you don't want me.”

Bella's eyelids fluttered but
she held his burning gaze. Her lips parted as she tried to choke the
words out. But she couldn't lie to him, to herself.

Slowly, she shook her head.
“Josh...” she whispered. “I c-can't...”

His eyes narrowed as he
leaned in. “What can't you do, Bella?”

Bella swallowed painfully and
whispered, “I can't fall in love with you.”

Joshua crooked a finger under
her chin and turned her face to him. “Why are you fighting
this?” he murmured. “I know we've only just met, but I
can't stop thinking about you, Bella. I know there are a lot of
eligible males in town—they're better groomed, better looking,
richer, hotter...”

“I think you're hot!
I...” She clamped her mouth shut suddenly and stepped back,
looking completely mortified. “I didn't just say that, did I?”
she muttered under her breath. “Of course I did.”

Joshua's lips curved. “You
totally did say that. And you can't take it back.” He leaned
in and whispered, “I think you're hot too, Bella. In fact, I
think you're perfect.”

“You...” she
stuttered. “You're making fun of me.”

“I'm not. I'm
serious...”

She shook her head at him.
“Don't tell me you don't care about the huge difference in our
ages,” she said, narrowing her eyes.

“I don't,” he
replied honestly. “And the difference is not that huge.”

“You say that now...”
she muttered, but she couldn't hide the hurt and resignation in her
voice.

“And I'll say the same
thing a hundred, a thousand, a million years from now,” Joshua
said fervently. “Give me a chance, Bella. Please, give
us
a chance.”

“No.” Squeezing
her eyes shut for a moment, she took a steadying breath and said, “I
know how this will end. I've been there, done that. It won't end
well, for either of us. I...I don't want to have my heart broken
again. And I don't want to hurt you, Josh. You'll meet someone,
someone your own age...”

Joshua's brows shot up. “My
own age? What are you talking about? You talk like you're the same
age as my grandmother or something! Why are you so hung up about my
age? What has it got to do with us? I know I'm younger than you,
but...”

“I won't be with a
younger man. Ever again.” She made a frustrated sound and
tried to shove him aside.

“Your ex-husband was
younger than you, wasn't he?” Joshua said, tightening his grip
on her.

She closed her eyes and
nodded.

“So you think I'm like
your ex,” he ground out.

“You're nothing like my
ex. You couldn't be more different from him!”

“So why...”

“It won't work. I
know...”

“You don't know shit,”
Joshua snapped, smashing his fist into the wall above her head.

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

When Bella gasped and
flinched, Joshua grimaced as though he were in physical pain and
said, “I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Bella. I...I just don't know why
you're putting up all these barriers and walls between us. This age
issue...isn't even an issue at all! You're...making unfair and wild
assumptions and I will not go along with these—these goddamn
ridiculous, stupid notions that you seem to have about younger men!
You think just because I'm young, and I'm not that young by the
way—I'm not a fucking teenager!”

Joshua ground his teeth and
sucked in a breath to compose himself. “You think that just
because I haven't hit my thirties, I'm foolish, frivolous,
untrustworthy and unstable. No, don't even try to deny it. You do
think that. In fact, you believe that. You think the worst of me
without even trying to get to know me. Why, Bella? You refuse to
give me a chance, so I think I deserve to know why I am being
condemned! I've done nothing wrong. Wanting you isn't wrong.”

His chest was rising and
falling with his heavy breathing. His hot breath fell on Bella's
cheek and his muscles were taut and throbbing. Caging her in with
his powerful arms, Joshua kept his intense, piercing gaze locked on
her, allowing her to see the storm of emotions swirling in the depths
of his glowing, dark eyes.

The electricity between them
crackled as he pressed closer to her. The veins were bulging from
his neck and his jaw was tightly clenched. She was trembling
slightly but her eyes never left his. They stared deeply,
searchingly, hauntingly into each other's eyes, looking right into
each other's heart and soul.

“Josh...” she
whispered, struggling to breathe.

She looked up at his stark,
handsome face and read the raw hunger, pain and anger in every line
of his face and body. He didn't hide his emotions from her and he
didn't mince and sugarcoat his words. He thought she was a fucking
coward, and he told her so. Not in those exact words, but well, she
got the message.

Bella pressed her back
against the wall and clenched her fists. “My ex...” she
began in a quavering voice. “He was irresponsible and
immature. He lied to me, cheated me...and he hurt me.”

Joshua didn't move but his
gaze softened as he listened to her. As she told him all about
herself and her past, he stroked her arm soothingly, encouragingly.
He was glad to see no shame and sadness in her eyes as she opened up
to him. Instead, she seemed relieved to have unburdened herself to
him.

Joshua remained silent for a
long while after she finished. Finally, his huge hands cupped her
face and he pressed his forehead to hers.

“I think you know this
already, but I'll just say it again. I. Am. Not. Your. Ex.”

Bella exhaled a sigh. “Yes.
I know.”

“Good. Just checking.”

The corners of his lips
curved but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

He didn't release her. He
stared into her eyes and for a moment, it seemed no one even
breathed.

Joshua waited for a few
pounding heartbeats, but when she made no move to push him away, he
pressed his mouth to hers in a hungry, passionate kiss.

Bella moaned softly and
reached up to cling to his strong shoulders. Joshua ran his tongue
over her lips, coaxing her to open up for him.

Once he felt her melting
against him, his kiss softened and became slow and sensuous. His
tongue tangled with hers and he took his time to taste her
thoroughly.

She warmed to his kiss and
returned his ardor and passion. Spearing her fingers through his
hair, she pressed herself to his hard, powerful body. Time seemed to
stand still and the world narrowed to just the two of them.

With a ragged breath, Joshua
finally pulled away. “You...are amazing, Bella,” he said
hoarsely.

Before he could change his
mind, Joshua stalked to the front door and opened it. “I'll
stay in my car,” he said in a low growl. “I'll make sure
you're safe.”

She looked confused and hurt
as she started after him. Did she think he was rejecting her?

“I want you, Bella,”
he said. “Never doubt that. But I won't push you. I am sure
about you, Bella. But I want you to be sure about us.”

With that, he stepped out and
pulled the door firmly shut behind him.

CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN

Bella walked out of the
library and squinted against the late afternoon sun. She worked the
morning shift, so there was still plenty of sunlight when she got off
work. She made her way home briskly and stopped momentarily when her
little house came into view.

Along with the view of her
house came the jaw-dropping, tantalizing view of three hunky
shirtless men doing various repairs to her house.

Once she had given Beck's
Builders the green light, the guys had started work straight away on
her house. They seemed anxious to get the job done quickly. She had
no doubt that there were many other projects in the pipeline for
them. Compared to their other projects, this was just a simple,
small-scale job. They would be done in less than a week, Nick had
told her.

Bella glanced over at Celia's
neat little house that was right next to hers. She hoped she wasn't
causing too much disturbance to her lovely neighbor. Celia was a
retired teacher and she was thoughtful and caring. Bella
instinctively trusted her. She had taken the small box that held her
grandmother's ring over to Celia's house just before the guys started
work on her house and asked Celia to take care of her ring for her.
She knew the guys wouldn't touch her things, but anyone could walk in
and out of her house while they were working at the back. If she
lost the ring, who could she blame? Herself. No one but herself.

Bella stood under the shade
of the enormous tree across her house and watched Nick, Damien and
Joshua. Nick and Damien were carrying some planks towards the back
of the house while Josh was perched on the roof.

Bella tried not to stare, but
her eyes greedily roved down Joshua's handsome face to his
glistening, ripped torso. His bare, tanned body was hot as sin.
Every inch of his powerful body was hard defined muscle and his old,
faded jeans hung deliciously low on his narrow hips.

The sight of his muscles
rippling as he worked was making her stupid with lust. She could do
nothing but stand and ogle openly at the gorgeous, half naked man on
the roof of her house.

And apparently, she wasn't
the only one. A few ladies had also stopped by to gawk and giggle at
the sweaty, sexy men in her yard. The women smiled coquettishly and
made a few flirtatious remarks to Josh and his team.

Nick and Damien grinned and
came forward to chat and flirt with the women. But Josh didn't even
seem to notice the women. His brows were furrowed in concentration
as he worked steadfastly, replacing the broken roof tiles and
patching up holes and leaks in her roof.

One of the ladies called out
to Josh, and he merely glanced over his shoulder and nodded in
acknowledgment. Then he turned his back on her and continued
working.

Bella found herself
inexplicably happy and triumphant at his response. She huffed and
hurriedly wiped the smirk off her face. What was she feeling so smug
and satisfied about? Josh wasn't hers. It shouldn't matter to her
how he responded to other women.

He was an attractive, single
guy, and he could date and bed any woman he wanted. It wasn't any of
her business.

There was the sound of
gnashing teeth and Bella started. She spun around but there was no
one behind her.

She clapped a hand to her
mouth when she realized that she was the one gnashing and grinding
her teeth.

“I'm crazy,” she
muttered with a wince. She was acting all possessive and territorial
over a guy who wasn't even hers.

Why are you fighting this?

She hadn't answered Josh's
question directly that night but she knew the answer all too well.