The Wait: Belonging to the Bear (BBW Werebear Erotic Romance) (Mates of the Walkers Book 3) Read Free

in sight. Tears threatened to sting her eyes, though she kept them down with valiant effort. It wasn’t so much that he had not shown yet, but that she had been waiting for the date for so long and now it seemed to be going down the drain without any help from her.
    Maybe he saw me? she pondered, but disregarded that possibility quickly. He hadn’t looked up once, though perhaps he felt her presence as strongly a she did hers.
     
    Tara had just resigned herself to her fate and taken a few steps down the street towards her apartment, when heavy breathing and pounding footsteps sounded behind her. She whipped around, a familiar warmth flooding her core even before she could see who it was. Her lips twisted into a hopeful smile, seeing the flustered large form of Colden rush down the street towards her. When he stopped before her, just a small distance from her, she felt a sudden calm brush over her. It didn’t matter that he was a werebear, he was just the man she had always imagined him to be. Though, of course, she would be properly wounded at his tardiness.
     
    “I’m so sorry I’m late, Tara,” he said, his breath heavy and his chest heaving. Her gray eyes rolled over him, noticing that he had changed his clothes since last she saw him (well, being nitpicky, she had last seen him naked, but still). Colden was wearing new jeans and a proper blue button-up shirt, the tiniest hint of a white undershirt and a tuft of brownish chest hair peeking out behind two unbuttoned buttons at his collar. It made her a bit embarrassed that she had not thought to change, but she hoped he would not mind too much.
    “I thought you weren’t coming,” she said with a small voice. The man tilted his head and exhaled deeply, his hands clutching her arms. She gasped, her eyes widening. They had never touched before and it was as if lightning strikes of heat and lust coiled through her, starting from his fingertips on her skin.
    “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.” There was no room in his tone to doubt his words.
     
    Tara nodded softly and gave a small smile. She didn’t want him to pull away from her, but she imagined it looked right silly as the pair of them stood transfixed in front of the diner. A glance at the window confirmed her suspicions – curious eyes were drinking in the sight of them. She blushed and brushed his hands from her arms, twirling about and continuing in the direction she had been headed in. Colden fell in step next to her easily, though he had to slow from his usual pace to keep from striding off in front of the girl. After a moment of hesitation, she slipped her hand into his wide palm, her blush deepening. It all felt a bit rushed, but she had been yearning for him for a year and she was going to be damned if she’d allow coyness to mask her true feelings for him.
     
    They walked in silence, neither one knowing what to say. It took Tara a while to realize that she didn’t even know what they were walking towards. The girl glanced up at the much taller man, his eyes seeming pained with thoughts he couldn’t share with her. She was about to ask where they were going, as there weren’t that many options, when alien words spilled across her lips. Before she could stop herself, she had given in to the loud demanding voices in her mind once again. Though, admittedly the first time she had spoken her mind to Colden that day had brought with it rather pleasant consequences.
    “I saw you change today.” Her voice wavered, almost wishing she could grab onto the sentence and gulp it back down. The heat that emanated from his rugged palm up her arm was met by a cold jolt, fear engulfing her.
    What if he doesn’t want me to know?
     
    Colden looked at her, fear mixing into his expression. It made her heart ache. The last thing she wanted was to cause him agony.
    “You did?” he asked quietly, his soothing, deep voice almost a whisper. She nodded, gripping their entangled fingers with her other hand