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could live with his inner bear acting like this.
    When he pulled in front of his house, he grabbed the phone out of his pocket and flicked across the screen with his thumb. Drew pushed open the front door and sat at the dining room table. He let out a deep sigh and clicked on the Mate.com icon on his phone.
    Quinn’s text came up, and he read it again. His grizzly gnashed at his ears and bit at his heart. Drew pressed his eyes closed and took three deep breaths. What the hell was he supposed to say now?
    Things hadn’t been good since she’d gone, but that was the last thing he was going to tell her. He didn’t even know if he wanted to see her again, despite his bear’s protests to go find her immediately. There was no use in resisting any longer. He had to at least text the woman.
    Drew clicked on the screen and brought up the text keypad. He growled and started to type.
    “Things are great.”
    There. The biggest lie of his life. She deserved it. He felt self-satisfied staring at the screen, waiting for a reply. He hated that he’d fallen back into her web. What if she rejected him again? He didn’t know if he could live with that.
    Drew walked into the kitchen and put his phone on the counter beside the stove. Angus had installed cabinets a year ago, and they’d put in nice appliances. The kitchen was still the place he did most of his brew experiments. Small batches of beer in oak barrels were fermenting along the back wall.
    He grabbed a steak out of the fridge and threw it in a frying pan with some salt and seasonings. Drew scratched his beard and grimaced at the delicious smell. He used to be a fun bear. What the heck had happened to him? He flipped his steak, and his phone pinged from the counter.
    “Good to hear it,” Quinn’s text said.
    Drew gritted his teeth as he read the message. What was she playing at? What did she want? Obviously something had changed. But what? Did he even care? His bear rumbled inside him, reminding Drew that his inner grizzly cared very much about what was going on with Quinn. He typed out a quick message almost involuntarily.
    “How are things with you?”
    He regretted it almost instantly.
    “Super strange. TBH.”
    “This is strange.”
    “I know.”
    “Why are you contacting me?” he typed. Might as well put it out there and be honest.
    “It’s been a long time.”
    “You dropped off the map for nine months.”
    “I had my reasons.”
    “Which are?”
    “I don’t want to talk about it over text.”
    “You contacted me.”
    “I know.”
    Drew put his phone back down and scooped the overcooked steak onto a plate. Dang it. Quinn was ruining his dinner now, along with the rest of his life. He decided he wasn’t going to text her again, no matter how much his bear protested.
    He was a man. He was in control of his own life. Right? His grizzly moaned loudly and sulked off into the back of his mind. Drew knew it was a temporary victory. The bear would not be contained when it came to Quinn.
    He took his plate to a table and covered the steak in Shane’s secret BBQ sauce. The sauce made up for it being well done, and Drew sliced bites, popping them in his mouth until he was done.
    When he took his plate back to the sink, he picked up his phone. She hadn’t answered back. Maybe his attitude scared her off. It was for the best, really. She didn’t want to be his mate. She’d made that perfectly clear. It was better to cut all ties and be done with it.
    He rinsed his plate and put it in the dish drain when his phone pinged again.
    “I’m sorry.”
    Drew looked at the text on his screen, shocked she’d said it. Sorry was something he hadn’t expected to hear from Quinn. That meant she was taking responsibility for her actions. He was so tempted to tell her she should be sorry, but decided against it.
    He had no idea how to respond. There was no way he was going to let her back into his life, just so she could stomp all over his heart again.
    “That’s