Tanner’s eyes widened. “It is crazy. I mean, have you ever heard anything crazier? We haven’t even known each other for twenty-four hours.”
My heart stilled in my chest. The look on Tanner’s face was unreadable. Did he think my confession was batshit crazy or let’s-run-off-to-Mexico-and-elope crazy?
He shook his head before reaching for my hand. “But if that’s the case, then we’re crazy together.” Tanner barked out a rough laugh.
I felt like I’d been stabbed with a hundred icicles and Tanner was laughing. Maybe I’d read him wrong. Why would he be laughing unless I’d misheard him? “Wait! What?”
“I said we’re crazy together.” Tanner leaned forward, brushing his lips against mine. “My head aches, my body aches, and I feel like I could sleep for a week, but all of that vanishes when you touch me.”
“How about dinner tonight?” I knew he was here with his frat brothers and would totally understand if he’d already made plans with them.
“I’d love that, and maybe drinks with the guys afterward? They’re dying to meet you.”
I was dying to meet them too. “I’m in.”
Tanner yawned. He looked like a roaring lion. “In the meantime, how about a nap? I can’t say sleeping on the floor did much for my aching body, but I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
I stood up and scooped Tanner into my arms. “I wouldn’t either.”
He pressed a kiss to the side of my neck. “I’m not sure how this whole bear shifter thing works, but can you thank your bear for finding me?”
I set Tanner on the king-size bed with a laugh. “It was his pleasure.” Just like it was about to be mine. I slipped off my boots and climbed onto the bed, pulling him into my arms.
“This is perfect. Almost paradise, actually.” Tanner snorted.
“Almost paradise?” What more could we ask for?
“Well, you’re fully dressed, and I didn’t bring condoms or lube.”
As much as I wanted to feel bad about what Tanner was saying, I didn’t. “We’ve got all the time in the world to get there.”
Tanner yawned against my chest. “M’kay. Night, my fuzzy bear.” He burrowed his face against the side of my neck, as if he wanted to crawl inside my shirt.
“Night,” I whispered back. I could already feel his deep, even puffs of breath against my neck.
I don’t know what I’d done to deserve Tanner. Not only did he accept me, but he accepted my bear, which meant more to me than I could explain.
As I drifted toward sleep, my bear growled in contentment.
EPILOGUE
Tanner
Six months later…
I turned my brand-new red Ford F-150 down Base Camp Road. The windows were rolled down, and I was warmed by the summer breeze. This place looked completely different today than it had six months ago.
Miracle of miracles, I was right on time. Kodi had gotten me a GPS that mounted to my windshield after I’d gotten lost, again, on my second trip up to see him. He’d programmed the addresses I needed into the device, and knock on wood, I hadn’t gotten lost since.
Although now that I was moving in with Kodi, I was going to have to learn my way around town.
Sighing like a lovesick schoolboy, my mind turned to Kodi and the life we were starting today. I’d known after our first date I was falling in love with him. Little did I know at the time, he felt the same way about me.
With our work hours and more snowstorms, we didn’t see a lot of each other in February or March. Once the snow started melting in April, it was game on. I drove up to see Kodi every weekend after that. In May, he gave me a drawer in the dresser and told me I could leave my essentials in the bathroom. In June, he asked me to move in with him.
I almost said no. Almost. My first thought had been about my job. I’d spent my entire life wanting to engineer space vehicles. Could I just walk away from all of that for a hot guy in the woods?
Yes. Yes, I could. And I did. It turned out, I was able to keep my job by going remote. I only needed to be in the office once a month for meetings. My bosses were desperate to keep me. I let them dangle for a few days before coming back with my conditions. Looking back now, I’m shocked they didn’t fire me on the spot. To make a long story short, they furnished a field office for me across the street from Kodi’s barracks, and I could work from home when the weather was too treacherous to be out on the roads.
The winter was a long way off. I was going to enjoy the sunshine while it lasted. I turned the truck down Kodi’s driveway. He was standing on the front porch waiting for me. My heart skipped a beat in my chest. I was home.
I threw the truck into park and was out the door. Kodi came down the stairs to meet me.
“Welcome home, Tan!” He swung me around the front yard. “I can’t believe you’re here to stay.”
“I haven’t unpacked yet.” I hooked my thumb over my shoulder at the truck. “There’s still time to change your mind.”
“Never! Falling in love with you and asking you to move in with me are the best things I’ve ever done in my life.” His dark eyes glittered happily in the summer sunshine.
“Saying yes was the best thing I’ve ever done.” I leaned up on tiptoes to kiss Kodi. God, I’d missed those lips on mine over the last week. It was all worth it. Now we’d be able to fall asleep and wake up together every day for the rest of our lives.
Kodi’s eyes darkened. He rubbed his erection against my stomach. I heard him growl under his breath.
“Grab a suitcase, and then we can get down to the good stuff.”
“How about I just grab the good stuff?” Without waiting for my answer, Kodi threw me over his shoulder and headed up the stairs. I smacked his ass and let him have his way with me. The suitcases could wait.
After all, we had forever.
THE END
HAVE YOU READ MY OTHER PARANORMAL TITLES? GO BACK TO WHERE IT ALL BEGAN WITH BOOK ONE IN THE COLD CASE PSYCHIC SERIES, DEAD SPEAK!
Boston Police Detective Ronan O’Mara enlists the help of Salem psychic Tennyson Grimm to help solve the cold kidnapping case of five-year-old Michael Frye. Ronan, ever the skeptic, is out of leads and out of options. He very well could be out of a job if he fails to solve this case.
When the child’s body is found, the work to identify his killer begins. As Ronan and Tennyson get closer to solving the crime, the initial attraction they feel for one another explodes into a passion neither man can contain.
Will working together to bring Michael’s killer to justice seal their fledgling bond, or will unexpected revelations in the case tear them apart forever?
DEAD SPEAK IS AVAILABLE IN EBOOK, PAPERBACK, KINDLE UNLIMITED, OR AUDIO BOOK!
You can find all of my books here: http://www.amazon.com/Pandora-Pine/e/B013BSSBX0/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1455742290&sr=8-2-ent