Goldie and the Billionaire Bear by Catelyn Meadows

Author:Catelyn Meadows [Meadows, Catelyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-09-11T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

ADRIAN STOOD AT THE BASE of the steps inside the main house and watched until Goldie’s door closed. Their conversation on the porch played on “repeat” in his mind. He couldn’t believe how perceptive she was, or how being around her had liquefied his defenses. When was the last time he’d felt so comfortable around a woman, so willing to bare his soul and skeletons in one fell swoop?

She’d been so calm, so collected as he’d spoken about his life in Chicago, as she’d inquired about his father. Talking about his dad usually opened up old wounds, and that was something Adrian definitely didn’t want to revisit. Much like his desire to avoid the cabin and its memories, speaking of his dad had the same effect on him. Yet, he found part of himself eager to tell Goldie everything. He had the suspicion confiding in her would help somehow.

He’d loved standing on the porch and chatting with her, holding hands and drinking Cokes. In the moment, it had seemed exactly as Goldie apparently saw this place. Magical, charismatic and enchanting. Maybe it had more to do with the company than anything else.

Adrian made his way back to the kitchen to deposit his empty Coke bottle into the recycle bin. The sound of a door opening stole his attention, and his mom bustled out from what used to be the mudroom, just off the kitchen, where he and his brothers would kick off their shoes and boots after a long day of mucking out stables or riding horses. Now, it’d been converted into a laundry facility, with several machines at the guests’ convenience.

“Hey, Mom,” Adrian greeted.

“Danica is coming over later,” she said without any other preliminaries.

Adrian withheld a groan. “I’m with Goldie, Mom. She and I have plans tonight.”

While the living facility had been expanded and filled with smaller, round tables for guests to enjoy their meals in quietude, the family’s old, long dining table was still in its place behind the line of stools at the bar. His mother set her box down on the table and gave him a syrupy smile. “I’m sorry, sweetie, but I just don’t see it. You and her.”

“What about us don’t you see?” he asked, stepping closer.

She opened the box and began rifling through the tablecloths and linens within. “Why haven’t you told me about her before now?”

Adrian folded his arms. He wasn’t about to go into this, not when he felt like both he and Goldie had already given his mom decent answers to the same question. “Did you tell Danica about Dad’s lockbox?”

Mrs. Bear snapped down the box’s cardboard flaps and gaped at him. “Why would I do that?”

The dismay on her face seemed sincere, but it was sudden enough to make him question it.

“Are you sure you don’t know where it is? I get the feeling I’m being manipulated.” If similar situations hadn’t happened in the past, he wouldn’t buy it so easily, but his mom had always been one to twist her way around him and get him to do what she wanted.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.