The Billionbear's Bride: BBW Bear Shifter BWWM Paranormal Romance by Zoe Chant

wrong?"
    Her shoulders shook slightly at his words, but she only said, "Please?" while clutching some clothes to her chest. He was powerless to deny her.
    As he waited anxiously outside the door for her to emerge, his bear rumbled his displeasure. It was not happy that his mate was upset—and it blamed him. You did something wrong. You made her unhappy. Fix it .
    But it was hard to fix things when you didn't know what had gone wrong.
    Violet had been enthusiastic enough the night before. She'd wanted him as much as he'd wanted her, he was sure of it. Something must have happened between then and now, but they'd only slept. Maybe it was a ghost from her past, a bad relationship. Or, he thought, she was embarrassed about having slept with him so soon, wedding night or no. Bears didn't care about that kind of thing—animal instincts ruled the day, generally—but she didn't know about that aspect of him.
    This was not what he'd hoped for the morning after his wedding.
    It was a long time—or it felt that way to Bruce—before the door to the honeymoon suite bedroom cracked tentatively open. Thanks to his enhanced senses, he heard her take a deep breath, as if steadying herself.
    Bruce jumped up. "Violet—"
    He was about to spill his guts about everything—about his bear, about them being mates, about how she didn't have to be afraid—but she held up a small hand before he could get any further.
    "Please, let me go first," she said.
    She came out; she'd put something shapeless on that camouflaged all those beautiful dips and curves. They sat together on the couch, Violet maintaining a careful distance between their bodies.
    Her eyes met his. "What happened last night—it was fun. But it was a one-time thing. We have an arrangement—a business arrangement—and I don't think it's a good idea to mix business with pleasure." Beat. "Even if it was fun pleasure."
    He heard a hint of humor in her voice. At least there was that.
    "We'll go our separate ways in six months, and I don't want things to get complicated between us. What happened in Vegas stays in Vegas."
    They aren't complicated , Bruce nearly said, you're my mate, and I love you. Simple as can be .
    But the look on her face brooked no arguments.
    The morning had started out so well with the promise of warmth, intimacy, and love—and the illusion had been shattered by her words. She didn't want to be his mate. She didn't want him at all.
     
    * * *
     
    That conversation set the mood for the rest of their stay in Vegas; she held herself a little ways apart from him. What had begun as a grand adventure, full of laughter and hope, became an awkward, quiet affair.
    His desire for her wasn't gone. Far from it. He found himself thinking about her, fantasizing about her luscious, generous body, at the most inopportune moments—in line at the café, on their return flight. How she had felt under his hands, so delicate and soft, how she had responded to his touch—it was agonizing having her so close , and yet so far.
    Where there had been hot desire in her eyes, there was now a cool reserve. A wall had come down between them, or maybe she had put it up, wanting to protect herself.
    Time , he thought, trying to calm his bear. She wasn't a shifter—maybe it just wasn't the same for non-shifters. It would just take time. He hoped.
    He wasn't sorry to leave the punishing sun and harsh architecture of Vegas for the cool stillness of the river valley.
    Violet seemed to agree—she breathed in an audible sigh of relief as she stepped off the plane, and the residual tension he'd seen in her shoulders ever since the Morning After (as he'd come to think of it) seemed to relax out of her body.
    Bruce showed her around the house. He was proud of what he’d accomplished—and he showed it.
    “This stonework I laid myself,” he said as they approached the fireplace. It was enormous without being grand; instead it had a homey vibe. The stone was a patchwork of different natural