Christina's Bear Read Free Page A

life—that he could stay with you until he found a place of his own.”
    “Bull?”
Christina asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. What kind of name was Bull?
    “It’s a
nickname, I’m not sure of the reason. I thought we could meet him and you could
decide if you wanted to extend the offer. He’s staying in a hotel right now.”
    “You
haven’t met him yet?”
    “No, he
just got into town. He got here sooner than we expected. We offered him our
spare room, but he didn’t want to impose.”
    Christina
rolled her eyes. More than likely he didn’t want to be around the new couple.
She loved Jenn and Matt, but they could be a little over the top sometimes. She
definitely wouldn’t want to live with them, even if it was only for a few days.
    “He can
move in here.”
    “Don’t
you want to meet him first? I haven’t met him yet, Christina.” Christina
understood her friend’s caution, but she trusted Matt and his judgment. If it
didn’t work out, she’d get Matt to tell him to leave.
    “I’ll
meet him today, but if Matt trusts him, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
    “Okay,
come over around four. You don’t need to bring anything. Matt’s going to cook burgers
and I’m going to pick up some salad from the deli.”
    “Sounds
good. I’ll see you then.”
    Christina
hung up the phone, made her way to the kitchen and started filling the coffee
pot. She glanced at the newspaper sitting on the counter where she threw it the
night before. If she was going to have a roommate, she didn’t need to look for
an apartment anymore. At least not right now.
    Her
thoughts drifted to the man in the market. His dark brown gaze was imprinted in
her brain. Too bad he hadn’t been as mesmerized by her as she was by him. She
wondered why he asked all those questions only to dismiss her afterward. Why
had he wanted to know? Was he disappointed that she wasn’t in a relationship?
    The
whole scenario played out in her mind again and she was more confused than
ever. None of it made sense. She didn’t understand their reaction toward each
other. Why had he let her go? Remembering his frown, she realized something
she’d said disappointed him, but she had no idea what.
    Christina
knew over-thinking the encounter would only drive her crazy. More than likely
she’d never see him again and would never know the reasoning behind his
actions. It was best to let it go.
    She
pushed aside the memory and swallowed down the rest of her coffee before
stepping into the warm spray of the shower. She did her best, but deep down she
couldn’t fight the tiny worry that she’d never find another man that made her
feel the way he did.

Chapter Four
     
    After
replaying the night before over and over until he was too tired to think
anymore, Bull finally drifted into a restless sleep and slept until noon. He
woke feeling tired, groggy and worst of all, cranky. Wanting to shake off his
crappy mood, he showered and took a walk to the nearest fast food place for a
quick lunch.
    His bear
itched to shift, run and hunt; angry that his mate got away. He controlled the
urge, barely, because he didn’t want to be late to Matt’s and he knew he would
be if he gave in.  
    Chestnut
Rock was a beautiful town and he enjoyed exploring while on his walk. Bull was
used to people moving out of his way, his size and voice was intimidating to
everyone in his path, and today was no different. Normally it didn’t bother
him, but today their reactions made him think of his mate and her response to
him.
    Growing
up, he’d spent a long time coming to terms with his size and telling himself it
didn’t matter. Most of the time it didn’t. He was happy with himself and he
didn’t want to change anything—except his mate’s reaction toward him.
    Shaking
his head to clear it, Bull bought a coffee in one of the specialty shops and
walked back to the hotel as he chugged it down. It had been a long time since
he’d seen his friend and he was excited to meet Jenn. He