The Wait: Belonging to the Bear (BBW Werebear Erotic Romance) (Mates of the Walkers Book 3) by Anya Nowlan Page A

made her head spin and the constant expectant teetering over the edge just made her blood-pressure rise and her heart beat like a jackhammer. If she didn’t know better, she’d think she was having a heart attack from just the thought of standing closer to the bear of a man.
    This is no way to live, she thought to herself miserably, pursing her lips as she picked up Colden’s waffles from the window. He liked them with extra whipped cream and syrup and honey slathered all over them. It looked like the express train to diabetes, but she thought it was kind of adorable that he still ate like a boy, despite being quite a bit more than any man she had met.
     
    Colden had dirty-blonde hair and eyes that could see right through lies. His wide chest and impressive height made him tower above any man in town and Tara always felt like a tiny little speck next to him. Rippling muscles twisted under his skin, his arms tanned and coarse with work. She could just imagine them dragging up the hem of her shirt, sliding across her soft stomach until reaching the very edge of her breasts…
    Oh, stop it, she said to herself, a frown knitting across her brows. Show some backbone. But really, she didn’t feel much like having a steadfast stance against the mesmerizing man. She wanted him and had done so for a long time and it was starting to wear her down. Tara had never been the kind of girl to lust after someone, let alone someone who looked like they could move a mountain just as a daily chore. Yet, something about Colden had gotten deep under Tara’s skin and she couldn’t rid herself of thoughts of him.
     
    She had tried to make it casual when she asked about him and his family from her aunt and friends, but there was no fooling them. After vigorous teasing, they had parted with the few nuggets of information they had about him. Colden and his two brothers all lived in the mountains, far away from the towns and nestled so deep in the forests that no one but themselves could really find the cottages. While the youngest of the family, Callum, and the eldest, Caleb, were a rare sight in Auberville, Colden had made a point of coming down each morning. No one really knew much about the three striking men, other than that they didn’t seem to need to work for money, but were always there if someone needed a helping hand or a supportive shoulder. Almost every family had a story to tell about how one or all of the Walker brothers had shown up at just the nick of time to save them from a harrowing disaster. They were also known jokingly as the Bear Brothers, as for some reason there always seemed to be grizzly sightings near the Walker boys.
     
    Colden seemed to like working as a lumberjack, so he often went to help out one of the smaller logging companies in the region. He never accepted pay, yet he had the best work-ethic of any man in the county – and Colorado men were no slouches! All of that was, of course, of little help to Tara, though she appreciated the curious glimpses into his life. Careful deduction had led to her deciding that the man must be single, as after a year one would assume that if he had a girlfriend, she would have accompanied him at least once. That bit of knowledge made the curvy redhead feel a bit better. She had seen Callum in town a while ago, a bright-eyed auburn-haired girl on his arm, and she could only hope that Colden shared that particular fascination with fiery-haired girls.
     
    Of course he does, you’ve seen the way he looks at you, Tara told herself as she rounded the corner of the counter and made her way over to Colden’s table, her hips swinging with forced seductiveness. It made her blush even harder, but she couldn’t really help it. Just being around the man made her behave like a silly teenager. She made it to his table and Colden looked up at her, the tiniest hint of a smile dancing on his lips. It made her gulp drily, a smile forced forward to match his. Tara was entirely preoccupied by