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Book: Promising Peter (Bad Boy Alphas) (Shrew & Company Book 6) by Holley Trent
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Authors: Holley Trent
Tags: Romance, Paranormal, romantic suspense, alpha hero, multicultural, Werewolves & Shifters, Multicultural & Interracial, bad boy, shapeshifter, shapeshifter romance, bear shifter, Forbidden Love, Fated Mates
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doesn’t like the way you look , the bear teased.
Drea rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms and forced back the tears.
You’re not like the other women in the office. You know that, right?
She refused to cry—not over that. She dropped her hands.
Peter stared at her with his brow furrowed.
You’re not one to draw the eye.
He pulled the pad of his thumb across her lips, and she realized then that she’d grimaced and held that contortion on her face.
“What’s going through your head right now?” he asked.
She shook her head and covered her chest with her arms.
“Did I upset you somehow? You smell upset.”
“No.”
The word and her quavering delivery of it were in stark contradiction.
Her eyes blurred and sinuses burned, and she looked down so he didn’t see those first few tears fall.
I’m a mess .
That was just Drea, not the bear. She didn’t need her critical inner bear’s input to tell her what she already knew about herself. While Drea hoped that the bear’s insights about Peter weren’t true, she knew that her demeaning statements about the lady she shared a brain with were factual. She wasn’t a deluded woman. She knew her shortcomings and though she tried to rise above them, the odds of her ever being much more than she already was were slim.
Peter pressed his hands to her cheeks and lifted her face. “Fuck.”
He pulled her against his chest and slid down on the sofa, holding her atop him again.
And she didn’t know why, but that made her cry, too.
Maybe the pity triggered the tears. Too many people pitied her, and while she might have been deserving of tenderness, she didn’t want the fact that Peter felt sorry for her to overshadow any other emotions he might have had for her. She didn’t want to start a relationship based on some misguided sense of obligation.
He pulled the covers up over her and murmured soothing things in one of those languages she didn’t understand.
She cried until she couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore, and then she stopped trying to.
CHAPTER SIX
Peter thought Andrea was never going to wake up.
If he didn’t worry that his bladder was about to explode, he would have been content to lie there on the sofa rubbing her back and nuzzling his face against what was left of her hair.
He hadn’t expected such a chaste act to be so fulfilling. He was comfortable and calm for a change, as if his inner bear had been tranquilized and the man part of him had been treated to a long massage.
The calm had to be due to Andrea. There was no other explanation he could think of. Mated shifter pairs complemented each other in unpredictable ways, and they weren’t always evident in the first few meetings. Sometimes, their strengths weren’t apparent until the relationship underwent some stress, and he’d certainly categorize abducting her as a stressful event.
He didn’t know what he’d done to make her cry—probably so many things given his usual tactlessness with women. He should have known what the trigger had been, though, because he was her mate. He should have been able to glean her cues, but hers was so unusual to start with. Like her brother, he read her as a born-Bear and obviously one of the same clan, but her energy was different in a way he hadn’t encountered before. He couldn’t even describe what made her different, only that she was.
“Okay, my peach,” he whispered. He had to move. The need to empty his bladder was becoming an or-else crisis.
He slid her off his chest and atop the sofa crease.
She didn’t move a muscle as he tucked the covers in around her. If his supernatural hearing hadn’t been able to pick up her slow, quiet breaths, he might have panicked.
He used the bathroom quickly, washed his hands, and then brushed his teeth. When he glanced out at the living room, Andrea remained in the same position she had been. He wasn’t exactly being quiet. Any other Bear might have waked.
Leaving the door cracked, he
Drea rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms and forced back the tears.
You’re not like the other women in the office. You know that, right?
She refused to cry—not over that. She dropped her hands.
Peter stared at her with his brow furrowed.
You’re not one to draw the eye.
He pulled the pad of his thumb across her lips, and she realized then that she’d grimaced and held that contortion on her face.
“What’s going through your head right now?” he asked.
She shook her head and covered her chest with her arms.
“Did I upset you somehow? You smell upset.”
“No.”
The word and her quavering delivery of it were in stark contradiction.
Her eyes blurred and sinuses burned, and she looked down so he didn’t see those first few tears fall.
I’m a mess .
That was just Drea, not the bear. She didn’t need her critical inner bear’s input to tell her what she already knew about herself. While Drea hoped that the bear’s insights about Peter weren’t true, she knew that her demeaning statements about the lady she shared a brain with were factual. She wasn’t a deluded woman. She knew her shortcomings and though she tried to rise above them, the odds of her ever being much more than she already was were slim.
Peter pressed his hands to her cheeks and lifted her face. “Fuck.”
He pulled her against his chest and slid down on the sofa, holding her atop him again.
And she didn’t know why, but that made her cry, too.
Maybe the pity triggered the tears. Too many people pitied her, and while she might have been deserving of tenderness, she didn’t want the fact that Peter felt sorry for her to overshadow any other emotions he might have had for her. She didn’t want to start a relationship based on some misguided sense of obligation.
He pulled the covers up over her and murmured soothing things in one of those languages she didn’t understand.
She cried until she couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore, and then she stopped trying to.
CHAPTER SIX
Peter thought Andrea was never going to wake up.
If he didn’t worry that his bladder was about to explode, he would have been content to lie there on the sofa rubbing her back and nuzzling his face against what was left of her hair.
He hadn’t expected such a chaste act to be so fulfilling. He was comfortable and calm for a change, as if his inner bear had been tranquilized and the man part of him had been treated to a long massage.
The calm had to be due to Andrea. There was no other explanation he could think of. Mated shifter pairs complemented each other in unpredictable ways, and they weren’t always evident in the first few meetings. Sometimes, their strengths weren’t apparent until the relationship underwent some stress, and he’d certainly categorize abducting her as a stressful event.
He didn’t know what he’d done to make her cry—probably so many things given his usual tactlessness with women. He should have known what the trigger had been, though, because he was her mate. He should have been able to glean her cues, but hers was so unusual to start with. Like her brother, he read her as a born-Bear and obviously one of the same clan, but her energy was different in a way he hadn’t encountered before. He couldn’t even describe what made her different, only that she was.
“Okay, my peach,” he whispered. He had to move. The need to empty his bladder was becoming an or-else crisis.
He slid her off his chest and atop the sofa crease.
She didn’t move a muscle as he tucked the covers in around her. If his supernatural hearing hadn’t been able to pick up her slow, quiet breaths, he might have panicked.
He used the bathroom quickly, washed his hands, and then brushed his teeth. When he glanced out at the living room, Andrea remained in the same position she had been. He wasn’t exactly being quiet. Any other Bear might have waked.
Leaving the door cracked, he
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