Read Paige's Bossy Bear (A BBW Paranormal Romance) (A Blackwood Brothers' Book) for Free Online Page B

She didn’t know who to thank for the reprieve but she would be forever grateful. If things went well tonight, she hoped she could convince Quinn to take a couple of days off. They could lock themselves inside his house and lose themselves in each other. She needed it. He needed it.
    She trembled at the thought of having the bear all to herself for a couple of days. And the giant step she was about to take—to move in with a man. She’d never even contemplated such a thing before. She’d been on her own forever and adjusting to someone else, a bossy someone else, was difficult to say the least. Was that why she was hesitating?
    A picture of herself dressed in a white gown flashed through her mind. Sweet heavens. She wanted to marry him. She was hesitating about moving in with him because he hadn’t asked that question. Will you marry me? The feminist in her scorned the idea. She was an independent woman. So why did the other two words— I do —matter so much? Was it because he would make a vow to love and protect her in front of others? As if that gave the words more power, more credence? He’d already vowed to be with her always. He’d told her he loved her. Shown her he wanted her in a thousand different ways. He’d taken her, mated her. She knew bears mated for life. She knew nothing could ever come between them. A little piece of paper wasn’t going to change that fact.
    Crap . No wonder men got so frustrated with women. They said one thing and meant something else entirely. Her breath came faster and her whole body shook. For a moment she thought she was going to faint.
    Quinn heard the sound of an engine and then Paige’s car as it pulled into the driveway. He was in the kitchen, setting out a tray of food—grapes, cheese, crackers, chocolate covered strawberries. Every romantic food he could think of. Not only had his mother left dinner tonight, she’d stocked the fridge. No doubt she remembered how ravenous a bear could get when the mating heat consumed them. He shook his head. Again with the picture of his parents. But wasn’t that what he wanted? The love and commitment—and sexual heat—of a mated pair?
    To know Paige was his and his alone. Forever.
    Somehow he was going to make Paige see that marrying him was what he wanted, truly wanted. And once he had that ring on her finger they would be bound together in both worlds, shifter and human. Once again, he fingered the ring in the front pocket of his jeans. His mother and sisters had assured him it was perfect, and that no, she would not want to pick out her own ring. Even Molly had seen it via Skype and approved. Strangely, the twins hadn’t given him much grief over it.
    He frowned when the engine continued to idle. Plunging the wine into the bucket of ice to chill, he turned on his heel. Something was wrong. His bear could feel it. By the time he reached the driveway, she’d turned off the engine but was still sitting behind the wheel, looking straight ahead. Quinn breathed her in, realized he simply liked looking at her. He liked looking at the reddish brown of her hair and the freckles that trailed along her nose. He knew for a fact they were elsewhere on her body.
    He hurried over to the car. “Paige?”
    She started at the sharp rap on her window. Shit . He hadn’t meant to scare her. Reaching out, he opened the door and squatted between it and the frame of the car. She looked shell-shocked. “Baby? What’s wrong?”
    She turn ed toward him. Anguish filled her beautiful dark green eyes. “Come inside, Paige.”
    Taking one of her small, delicate hands in his, he helped her from the car. He had the awful feeling she’d been about ready to put her car in reverse and drive away. Like hell. He led her to the front door he’d left standing wide open. Before she could go inside he picked her up and carried her over the threshold, practicing for their wedding day. He kicked the door shut behind him. Neither one of them was leaving until