Bearing the Late Thaw (Ice Bear Shifters Book 5) by Sloane Meyers Page B

trying to look out for his friends and family. You saved my life, even though you barely knew me.”
    Neal still didn’t turn to look at Christine, but his voice softened as he spoke. “I think I’ve always known you.”
    “What do you mean?” Christine asked. His statement didn’t make much sense.
    Neal finally turned to look at her. The yellow in his eyes had intensified now, along with the sadness. “Don’t you get it, Christine? I loved you. I didn’t want to love you, but I did. I’ve been looking for a woman like you my whole life. A woman who is strong, friendly, and just a little bit stubborn. A woman who knows what she wants and is willing to work for it. You’re like that. You know that you want to do legal work that helps people. You were willing to work hard to come out here when no one else from your firm wanted to, so that you could speed up your student loan payoff and be free to pursue your true passion. You understand that sometimes getting to your dream means taking unpleasant detours along the way, and you just buckle down and do it. I admire that.”
    “I told you all that?” Christine asked. “I don’t remember explaining all of that to you about the student loans.”
    “I overheard you talking about it with your friend Jill in here all the time.”
    “Wow, you’ve got good hearing.”
    “Yeah,” Neal said wearily. “It’s a side effect of being part bear. But anyways, I fell hard for you. At first I didn’t even want to admit it to myself. But the more I saw you, the more I realized you were everything I had ever wanted. The only hiccup was that you weren’t a shifter. Trusting a full human with my secrets is dangerous. People often react with horror and disgust, just like you did. But I thought maybe, just maybe, you’d be different. That you would see through the craziness of the fact that I’m half bear and realize that I’m a good man, who only wants to love and protect the people who matter most to him. But in the end you were just like everyone else. Afraid of what you don’t understand.”
    Neal stood and turned towards the entrance, leaving his half-drunk mug of beer behind. As he pushed in his barstool, he looked over at her one more time, with the saddest eyes Christine had ever seen.
    “I took a chance on you, Christine. And you never even gave me one.” His voice rose as he said the words, and he slammed the bar top in anger. Christine jumped at the loud pop.
    Then he was gone. Storming out the front door of the bar, and, presumably, out of her life. Christine let her face slump into her hands. She didn’t know why she felt so disappointed. What did she expect? That a simple apology would make him forget what she had said? That they could pick up exactly where they left off? Things weren’t going to work that way. Everything had changed.
    And, yet, one thing hadn’t changed. The fact that his gorgeous face sent her heart racing. The fact that the sound of his voice gave her butterflies. The fact that, despite knowing he was a bear, she still wanted to be with him. She still admired the man that he was. Christine sat up straight, and realized what she had to do. He might reject her, but she had to try. She had to at least tell him how she really felt.
    Christine hopped off of her barstool and ran out of the bar without bothering to put her heavy jacket back on. She didn’t have any time to waste if she was going to catch him before he drove away. As she exited the building, she saw him several dozen feet away, just climbing on to his snowmobile.
    “Wait!” she cried out, her voice urgent as she started running toward him. He looked up at her, surprised, and she sprinted over to stand right next to him.
    “I’m giving you a chance, now,” she said.
    Neal raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
    “I know it’s a little late, but it’s all I have left to offer, and I hope you’ll take it. I’m sorry for the way I acted. It was wrong, and I’ve spent every