Crystal lifted her chin, smiling up at him with sleepy eyes, and his heart swelled. If that’s what Bullet thought, he’d be wrong. Bear had made his choice and he intended to honor it. Crystal’s well-being came before anything, or anyone, else.
They’d made love for a second time in the middle of the night after they’d woken tangled up in each other. He’d waited for her to take the initiative, not wanting to come across too pushy, and she had. Stepping back from the aggressive lover he’d always been had allowed him to feel more connected to Crystal and her needs. And that had deepened their connection and opened his eyes to other parts of his life that he’d been plowing through. It was time to figure out how to do the right thing where his father and Dixie were concerned. Had life always been this complicated and he hadn’t seen it clearly until Crystal had opened his eyes?
He lifted Harley from the bed and kissed her before setting her on the floor.
“Mm.” Crystal pressed her lips to his chest. “Does my Bear need sustenance?”
“Your Bear needs to hold you.” He gathered her in his arms.
She pressed her hips to his. “Little Bear has other ideas.”
He kissed her again, rolling her onto her back and deepening the kiss. “Don’t feel pressured by my body’s reactions to my beautiful girlfriend.”
She touched her lips to his again. “Thank you, but finally being honest with you about why I held back for so long freed me from being under its thumb. I promise, if there are times that I need to slow down, I will let you know. But I have never felt happier, or more in control, in my entire life.”
“Okay, then I won’t ask again.”
She smiled. “Yes, you will. You’re my pushy, caring Bear. But hopefully you’ll learn quickly and will let me own this decision sooner rather than later.”
“You can own that one.” He pressed a kiss to her chest, above her heart. “I only want to own this one.”
“We don’t own—we are one, remember? Now shut up and kiss me so I can see if my biker boy is as good in the morning as he is in the evening.”
She pulled him into a scorching kiss, and he showed her just how incredible morning lovemaking could be.
Later that afternoon Bear was traipsing through the kitchen of Whiskey Bro’s with Dixie, thinking about Crystal and Silver-Stone and wondering why he was wasting his time coming up with an expansion plan for the bar.
“I’ll call Crow and get a handle on renovation costs.” Bear leaned against the counter watching his sister take copious notes. She tucked her hair behind her ear, revealing the colorful tats on her shoulder. Her eyes were serious and focused, underscoring the differences in their interests for the project.
“I have ideas about how to reconfigure the kitchen, and I was thinking. Maybe we shouldn’t offer dinner food. If we just offer things like sandwiches and fries, then we don’t really need a chef. It’ll keep expenses down while still offering more to the customers.”
“I agree. Catering to a dinner crowd would turn Whiskey’s into a different type of place altogether, and I’m not sure that’s what any of us want.”
Dixie closed her notebook, and he could practically hear the gears in her mind turning. After fourteen years of working in the bar, he had none of that excitement left in him, whereas every time he walked into the auto shop he got a rush of adrenaline. The shop wasn’t just a job or just part of the family business he had to take over. It was the place he could see himself working thirty years down the line, and when he looked that far ahead, other than his family, there were only three other things he envisioned. Crystal, a family of their own, with snarky girls and badass boys, and his name attached to some of the most sought-after motorcycles in the world.
Chapter Seventeen
IF ANYONE HAD told Crystal that one day she’d be happy and in love, she never would have believed them. Even during all those months when Bear was claiming her and she was unknowingly falling for him, she had still expected the floor to drop out from under her at any minute. But it had been a week since they’d first made love, and every day that passed had brought them closer together. Her legs weren’t being kicked out from under her. They were becoming stronger, and she was learning that it was okay to take her trust to another level and rely on Bear.
Most mornings she woke up wrapped in Bear’s arms, with a happy flutter in her chest. She’d noticed that Bear’s need to throw threatening glances at every male they passed was easing, though it wasn’t gone completely. It helped that every time he did it, Crystal threatened to withhold kisses. Her hungry Bear was a very fast learner.
Crystal had discovered other, unexpected pleasures of staying overnight with the man she loved, like how nice it was to be a real couple. Sharing their deepest worries and their dreams. She’d learned that lying in his arms talking until the wee hours of the morning could be as intimate as making love. She enjoyed listening to his stories about the uncle he’d admired and still missed, and her heart broke over how conflicted he was about the offer from Silver-Stone. The fact that he hadn’t just walked away from his family’s businesses when he’d gotten the original offer was proof of his loyalty, but she worried for him. If he went his whole life without doing what he really wanted, wouldn’t he regret it? Maybe even blame his family? They talked about that, too, and it was clear that whatever decision Bear made would be what he thought was the right one.
On the nights Bear bartended, Crystal worked on the costumes for the boutique and went to sleep in a bed that felt too big, longing for him in ways she never imagined possible. Not for sex or the electricity that accompanied every kiss—although she missed those things, too—but for him. With the exception of a few of life’s frustrations, such as Bear’s dilemma over working with Silver-Stone Cycles or helping his family and her ongoing discomfort about visiting her mother, she felt happy and fulfilled.
Most of the time.