Too Much To Bear Read online

  The rest of the drive passed in silence. Willa had a lot to think about.

  The heavy wooden gate swung open with a click from the controller and Willa leaned forward to look through the windshield to see the property with her own eyes. She’d looked over the photos that Boone had sent her and read and re-read the descriptions in his emails. She tried to pick out the individual buildings that he’d pointed out. It was so much to take in.

  When she groaned he gave her a little chuckle and smiled. “Having second thoughts?”

  “No,” she breathed a little sigh, “it’s one thing to see your life in pictures, but to actually be here? Amazing!” She looked over at him and narrowed her gaze. “How tall are the boys again?”

  Boone shrugged. “Normal boys.”

  She gave his hand a little pinch.

  “Hey!”

  “Normal boys,” she scoffed, “normal for bear shifters?”

  He shrugged. “Pretty much.”

  “And,” she laughed as he put the truck in park, “what does that mean against normal teenaged boys?”

  He turned off the engine and pulled her closer for a quick peck on her lips before he let go of her hand and drew the key from the ignition. “They’re certainly loud enough. Now, let’s go and greet the mob.”

  He opened his door and slid out, leaving her sitting stock still and shocked on the seat. “Wait, what? A mob?”

  As Boone moved around the front of the truck, the front door of the lodge swung open and banged against the wall. Half a heartbeat later, nearly half a dozen boys rushed out the door, spilling out onto the sprawling front lawn.

  When the passenger side door swung open, Willa saw Boone’s smiling face waiting for her, his hands outstretched. “Let me give you a hand.”

  She nodded and tried to quell the worries boiling up inside of her. “Looks like you’re offering me two.”

  His chuckle helped take more of the edge off. “Anything you want of mine, Willa, it’s yours.”

  “Great, they’re already grossing me out.”

  Boone’s head fell forward, his chin dropping out of sight. “Cobb?”

  There was a flurry of noise and Willa caught sight of a bunch of arms and shoulders as the boys jostled each other, managing to shove one boy to the forefront.

  Willa brushed the back of her fingers across Boone’s cheek and smiled as he looked up to meet her gaze. With a conspiratory wink she slid down into his arms. A few moments later she was on the ground beside him, her heart thundering frantically in her chest.

  Turning, she looked at the boy standing out in front. “So, you’re Cobb.”

  “Yep.” His head bobbed side to side. “I’m not big on corn, just so you know.”

  “Noted,” she grinned as one of the boys tried to plant the toe of his boot in Cobb’s backside. “What about Cobb salad?”

  He thought about it and then shrugged. “I’ll try anything once.” He looked at the other boys before turning back. “Except radishes.” Giving Boone a look he gestured at the truck. “You want me to get her stuff?”

  Boone set an arm over her shoulders. “That would be nice, Cobb. Thank you.”

  Willa blushed at the teen who very nearly towered over her like Boone, nodded his head in greeting. “Thanks.”

  One of the others stepped up beside Cobb and nudged him with an elbow. “I’ll help him.” As they passed by, he extended a hand and gave her a shake. “You can call me, Sonny.”

  Cobb rolled his eyes as he passed by. “It should be Sunny with a ‘U,’ he’s a sun bear. A cutesy little sun bear.”

  “Cutesy?” Sonny jumped on Cobb’s back, stumbling them both into the side of the truck bed.

  One of the others rushed past Willa. “Pino, ma’am.” He dove in and tried to get an arm between the two, only a second or two before the other boys joined in the sudden hill of bears.

  Boone pulled her out of the way and turned them around to watch the sudden pile-up of teenage muscle and energy. The last two boys seemed to stay along the edges of the fray. The shorter of the two was broader in the shoulders and his demeanor reminded her of Boone and his softer ways.

  “So that’s Bolt and Chad?”

  “Chad escaped the name ‘Beanpole’ but that was only after a big wrestling match with the others, but Bolt is the most settled of the group.”

  “You mean he’s like you,” she sighed with pleasure.

  Boone shrugged, “I guess.”

  Willa watched as Bolt leaned closer to Chad and pointed out something in the pile of flailing arms and legs. It took Cobb a few ducks to avoid a black eye, before they managed to break up the melee. After that, the boys wrestled the bags out of the back of the trunk and carry them toward the house.

  Willa took a step toward the house and felt Boone step up against her side.

  She looked up at him with a question clearly written in her expression. “We’re not going in?”

  “In a moment.” He turned her toward him, grasping her chin with his fingers. “You’re going to relax tonight, Willa. The boys and I are taking care of dinner and you can get to know them, get to know more about me.”

  She nodded. “I’d like that.” Willa lifted a hand and set it on his bicep, feeling the tight stretch of muscle under his cambric shirt. She should have stopped herself, but she couldn’t help the way she smoothed her hand up to his shoulder, and from his shoulder up to his neck. And when her fingers brushed along the ends of his hair at the back of his neck she felt his growl through his skin. “And I’d like to spend some time tonight, just the two of us.”

  He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers. “Let someone try to come between us.”

  In the end, it wasn’t any living thing that came between Boone and Willa. It was the excitement of the day. The boys continued on with their joking more than a half an hour after she fell asleep, curled up on the porch chair, her head on the overstuffed pillow.

  Boone had watched her for hours, eager and hungry for any bit of her attention. He’d had his share of it during the night, but Willa had taken the time to get to know the boys. Five boys under the age of seventeen was enough to drive him into the ground every night, but Willa had taken it all in like she’d been born into their family.

  And maybe she had. The look of joy on her face as they all vied for her attention made him want to rush across the deck, sweep her up and over his shoulder and up into his room, but even his bear, who had been pressuring him to do just that all day long, was content to remain there watching the firelight play over her features. She was home. Home with them.

  They were halfway through the marshmallows when Pino grabbed at Cobb’s arm and nodded toward Willa. “She’s asleep.”

  The conversation around the fire-pit dimmed as the boys all took note of her sleeping form.

  “Looks like we tired her out.” Sonny elbowed Chad. “Get the dishes.”

  Without a word, he slid off the bench, reaching out his arms for as many things as he could pick up before he headed inside and toward the kitchen.

  Reaching up, Boone rubbed a hand across the back of his neck, working at the tight muscles under his skin. “I’ll put the fire out and-”

  “I got it, Boone.” Sonny was already picking up the pieces of trash that had fallen to the deck around their feet. “Go on and take her inside.”

  Standing there, amidst the bustle of activity, his cubs rushed to help clean up their mess, leaving him to take Willa to bed.

  And that’s when his bear woke up, bright-eyed and ready for anything, especially taking care of their mate.

  Instead of waking her up, Boone leaned over the chair and swept her up into his arms, resting her head against his shoulder. With a quick look at the boys, he took Willa inside and climbed the steps.

  By the time he reached the top of the stairs, Boone was aching. Willa was barely any weight in his arms, her silken hair brushed against his shoulder and he wished he could feel it against his bare skin. She was a glorious sight cud
dled against his chest.

  Nudging the door to her bedroom open with his foot, he shouldered the door the rest of the way open to keep it from smacking against the wall and waking her up.

  The bedroom was in near darkness, save for the moonlight falling in through the window, but he knew the room by heart. For the few days that they’d been apart, he’d walked the room at all hours of the night obsessing over what she’d think about the room when she finally arrived.

  He set her down on the edge of the bed so he could reach over and turn down the blankets and slip her under, but Willa had something else in mind.

  Fisting her hands in his shirt, she tugged him down with a sigh.

  Surprisingly strong for a smaller woman, she was in real danger of being crushed by his larger body, but even as he worried about her safety, there was no way he was going to pull himself away from her.

  Sliding an arm around her, he drew her against him as he lowered himself to the bed beside her.

  He wouldn’t do anything more than fall asleep beside her, but that was more than enough for him.

  Willa tucked her head against his shoulder and breathed soft puffs of warm air against his chest as she wiggled closer.

  He closed his eyes and struggled to remind his body that they weren’t mates, not yet, but that couldn’t reverse the flow of blood. Lying there in the near-dark, Willa’s curvaceous body pressed tight against his, her intoxicating scent in his nose, he was as hard as a spike and desperate with need.

  It did nothing to help when Willa drew her leg up and over his muscled thigh. The simple movement pressed her warmth against his hardened length.

  She parted her lips and sighed.

  All Boone could do was bite down on his lip, hard.

  Her hands tugged on his shirt front again and he was almost half on top of her, managing to brace his weight on his hand. She drew in a breath, almost tasting his skin.

  Her satisfied sigh was another nail in his coffin. Another moment later, her hands relaxed and she fell into a deep sleep.

  Chapter Six

  The next morning Boone woke up to a half-empty bed. It hadn’t taken him more than a few seconds to figure out where Willa had gone. The kitchen was calling to him, filled with the most amazing scents. His bear was almost drunk on the smell of bacon and when he’d ventured downstairs he found the boys in similar states of adoration.

  It had been tough to find a few moments to speak to her with the number of bodies crowding the kitchen, but Willa seemed to understand the question in his eyes and found a way to clear the room. “Boys?” All their heads swiveled to look at her and he’d had to stifle a laugh. They usually held out until he was shouting loud enough to shake the trees outside. “Go and wash your hands,” the boys started to move, “and use soap!” That got her a few half-hearted grumbles, but they ran off to get ready for their meal.

  Boone wasted no time, stepping in close to speak directly into the shell of her ear. “You okay?” He brushed his lips along the silken curve of her ear. “If you have any questions about why I stayed with you. About we shared a bed-”

  “Because you’re warm?” She laughed and finished slicing the honeydew melon and let the pieces tumble into a big bowl. “It was the best way to wake up that I could come up with.”

  His shoulders relaxed a bit. “I didn’t want you to think I was rushing things. That is your room, mine is the next one over.”

  “Good to know,” she leaned up and brushed a kiss on his cheek as the boys started to rush back into the room to eat.

  “Okay, you get this finished up and I’ll make sure the chores are done outside and the SUV gassed up.” He mimicked her kiss on her cheek and walked out through the side door.

  Bolt was the last one in, his steps measured instead of rushed. He smiled a soft, tentative grin at Willa. “Did I hear right last night during dinner? Boone’s taking you to the store today?”

  Willa nodded and handed him the bowl of cut melon. “That’s right. It’s why I made pies to take to the store,” she paused as a few grumbles filled the air, “there’s plenty of pies that we can keep some at home, so shush. Go ahead and eat your breakfast so you can all get on with your day.”

  The boys dug in, but it was Chad who looked up at her a few moments later. “You know we’ll help you with the cooking,” he grinned, “Boone would have our heads if we didn’t at least offer. None of us like it much, but we’d do it to help you. So, you’ll want to stay.”

  Willa grinned from ear to ear. “Well, I want to stay, and I’d be happy to have anyone help me if you’d like, but if there’s one thing that I’ve always loved doing for other people,” she explained with a sigh of joy in her voice, “it’s cook for them and feed them.”

  Cobb’s chuckle was unmistakable. “Well then, Ma’am, we’re gonna make you ecstatic. We don’t have a small stomach in the bunch.”

  Willa moved toward one of the empty chairs at the table and Pino tugged the chair out and helped her take her seat. He accepted her smile of thanks and gave her one of his own back.

  Sonny looked into the glass pie plate at the center of the table. “What’s that?”

  She didn’t even have to look to know what he was talking about. Willa knew that the smile playing across her lips was barely holding back a laugh. “That’s a frittata.”

  “A freeto-whatta?”

  Pino shrugged at Sonny’s question. “I’ve never seen something like that.”

  “It’s an egg dish. I made it with some Italian sausage and peppers.”

  Satisfied, Pino reached for the handle of the server that was already waiting under a slice. “You had me at eggs and sausage.”

  Sonny reached for the tool, but stopped short with Bolt’s hand on his wrist. “Leggo, Bolt. I was looking at it first.”

  “Manners, man.” He passed a look around the table that made his point loud and clear. “You keep your manners, you keep your hand.”

  Willa felt her cheeks color with worry for a moment and then she felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

  “Bolt’s driving home the point, but it’s more a metaphor than anything else. The boys know there’s no bloodshed at the table.”

  All the boys agreed with Boone readily and a long moment later she burst into laughter. “Ha, you had me going there…”

  “Yep, you got us.” Cobb shrugged. “The only place Boone lets us shed blood is in the yard.”

  “It makes sense when you think about it.” Bolt’s sigh was a melancholy one. “It’s so much easier to clean up that way.”

  Willa was sure her face was pale as a ghost as she looked about the table from face to face, until she got to Sonny. The boy’s expression crumpled into a rasping repetitive laugh.

  “Sonny just can’t hold the laugh.” Cobb groaned and then retaliated by picking a piece of melon off Sonny’s plate. The other boy was laughing so hard he hadn’t seen the theft and just kept laughing right along with the others.

  Boone pulled out his chair beside hers and sat down amidst the ruckus. “Still enjoying yourself?”

  She started to laugh and couldn’t stop herself, even when she dropped her hand down on her belly to hide the way it shook with her joy. It didn’t stay there for more than a few seconds when Boone picked it up and brought it to his lips, kissing the inside of her wrist.

  On the road, in his SUV, Boone couldn’t help the nerves he felt. He almost flinched when Willa touched his thigh when he turned down the last street.

  “Are you okay?” Her voice was filled with concern.

  “Yeah. Sure. I’m just going to work, right?”

  Willa remained quiet in the passenger seat, looking out the window. “Sure. You do that at least five times a week, no biggie.”

  “Yeah, no biggie.” He could hear the growl in his voice, but it wasn’t his bear. That lazy bag of bones was sidling up to Willa’s gentle touch, basking in her warmth. “Are you?”

  “I’m excited,” she turned to look at him and her hand moved
up his thigh an inch. “This is your business. Something you built. I can’t wait to see it and meet the people there.” She grew a little silent and he felt the tip of one of her fingers draw a slow circle on his thigh. Even through his jeans, he felt her touch like a brand. “I was just wondering about you, you didn’t eat much this morning.”

  It pleased him that she noticed, but it also felt odd that she was worrying about him. He didn’t want to make her worry.

  “It wasn’t because it wasn’t good.”

  She laughed. “Thank goodness! I think the boys were happy to let you walk away hungry.”

  He nodded, and a small smile teased his lips. “I had plenty to eat last night.” He lowered his hand to cover hers. “Especially after dinner.”

  The next breath he took in was laden with her sweet honey.

  “Your kisses fill me up, Willa.”

  She sighed, stretching beside him. “And this morning, you tasted like coffee on my tongue. It certainly made it easy to feel alive and ready to face the day.

  Taking his foot off the gas pedal ever so slightly, he leaned closer to her. “We can postpone this-”

  “And do what?” Willa looked up at him with curious shock on her face.

  “I can take you back home. The boys are gone for the day and we wouldn’t have to worry about anyone walking in, so we can do whatever we want… wherever we want.”

  He didn’t need to take a breath to know that she was just as interested as he was. Her fingertips bit into his leg and the hard length he’d been sporting since he saw her in her flowing knee-length dress, was suddenly like iron and rubbed the worn denim of his jeans against the back of her knuckle.

  “Oh,” she was breathless, “you have no idea how much I want to tell you to turn around-”

  “But,” he chuckled, “you’ve got those fruit pies in the back.”

  He saw her nod in his peripheral vision.

  “I’ll make you a deal,” he knew his voice was little more than a gruff scratch from his vocal chords, “if you save one of those pies for home, we’ll keep going.”