Bear Unbound: A BBW Bear-Shifter Romance (Shift Your Fate Book 1) Read Free Page A

Amber.”
    “Oh, and I don’t need to think about the past! Every time I go back, I have second thoughts and I get this… this dreadful feeling that whatever I’m doing now is useless, that I don’t have a future.”
    The old woman cleared her throat. “You see, that’s where you’re wrong. You shouldn’t live in the past, but you shouldn’t ignore it either. There might be something there, someone actually, who can help you get through this.”
    “Someone?”
    Kassandra smiled knowingly, but Amber was at a complete loss.
    “Don’t you remember? Rebecca isn’t the only friend you have in New York. There’s someone else, someone special. You haven’t talked to him in a long time.”
    Amber’s eyes grew wide with realization. “Oh my God, how did you know?” She stood up and started pacing the small room. “I don’t know how you do it. I mean, I’ve read some things about empaths, but this is ridiculous. You’re right, I haven’t talked to Tyler Atwood in ages. We used to be good friends, would chat online for hours, call each other sometimes, but that was before Stephan. Way before Stephan. God, how long has it been? Twelve years? Thirteen? A lifetime!”
    Kassandra clapped her hands in excitement. Finally, they were making progress. It was true that Amber needed a job and didn’t need a man to make her happy. It was also true that she had to detach herself from her past, but only from her past with Stephan. The key was to find the person she was before she met her husband, future ex-husband, actually. And Tyler Atwood could help her do that.
    “I wonder what has become of him,” Amber whispered. “He could be married; he could have children of his own… I can’t believe we lost contact. We were such good friends!”
    “Why don’t you give him a call? You still have his number, right?”
    “Yeah…” She took out her phone to check. “He’s probably changed it, though.”
    “He hasn’t.”
    Kassandra’s words sounded so matter-of-factly that they made Amber’s heart jump. What was the old woman implying?
    “Oh, no… you’re not thinking… I’ve just told you I intend to steer clear of men for a while.”
    “No, you didn’t say that. You said you don’t need a man, and I didn’t contradict you. But why should you steer clear of them? Don’t you have your own needs?”
    Amber took in a sharp breath. Needs. Of course she had her own needs. Stephan had been too busy with his mistresses to take care of them.
    “No, that’s insane.”
    “There was something between you and Tyler…”
    “No, there wasn’t. We never even met. I only know him from the pictures he sent me.”
    “There could have been.”
    “Not really. I was in Chicago, he was in New York. I had my life there, and he had his life here.”
    “But things have changed, haven’t they?”
    Amber fixed Kassandra with cold, blue eyes. Yes, there had always been a strong attraction between her and Tyler, but they had never been open about it. In fact, she remembered quite clearly she had never told him how she felt because she was afraid he didn’t feel the same, or worse, he would’ve thought she was pathetic for falling in love with someone she only knew online.
    Kassandra knew she was losing her. Their conversation had been great until Tyler’s name was mentioned. Amber still had unresolved insecurities in what her old friend was concerned, and she needed time to work through them.
    “Look, just promise me you’ll get in touch with him. You have nothing to lose.”
    “I can’t promise you anything.”
     
    ***
     
    The cab had been caught in traffic for a while now, and Amber got bored of staring out the window. She took her phone out to check the time, but it proved to be a bad idea. It reminded her of the number she still had. Tyler’s number. What if she tapped “call”? Would he answer? Would he remember her? Did he still have her phone number, as she had his? She sighed and slipped the sleek piece of