Page 34 of Mated to the Mountain Bear

Just the thought of it makes my heart hurt. It feels like getting a job or renting a new place is giving up, admitting she’s never coming back.

Ben’s hands go still on the wrench, but he doesn’t turn, just gives me the time and space to finish my thought.

“I shouldn’t even be thinking about the future.” And I definitely shouldn’t be standing in this closet, playing house in this cabin, or fighting the urge to kiss him when she could be... I can’t finish the thought. The guilt twists with grief, making me feel sick.

“You managed her career?”

I nod, watching his hands resume their work with steady precision. There’s grease under his fingernails, and a small cut that’s healing on his knuckle.

“Every audition, every appearance, every meeting. I know it sounds pathetic, building my whole life around my sister, but after our parents died, we were all we had. It kept us together.”

Dark eyes find mine.

“It’s not pathetic. It’s admirable.” His voice drops lower. “It’s family sticking together.”

Something in his tone makes me study him. The set of his shoulders has changed and tension is creeping up his spine.

“Are you close to your family?” I think of the cool reception he gave Beau, and Mason’s certainty that he wouldn’t be happy about a surprise visitor. But maybe he just doesn’t like strangers.

He grunts, reaching for another tool. His movements are sharper now, less fluid, and anger creeps into his tone. “Family can be complicated.”

“Complicated how?”

For a long moment, I think he won’t answer, but I’m desperate to have just a morsel of information about this mysterious man. The soft clink of metal as he works continues, and I think he’s going to ignore until, still focused on his task, he sighs and asks, “You ever hear of the Lennox family?”

The name sounds vaguely familiar, like something from a news story I half remember. “Maybe?”

“We’re not exactlyrespectable.My grandfather built what you might call a criminal empire in these mountains. Protection, smuggling, whatever paid.” His voice is matter-of-fact, like he’s discussing the weather. “My father expanded it by any means necessary. Made the Lennox name notorious from here to the coast.”

I blink, processing this. The cramped closet suddenly feels smaller. “You’re part of a crime family?”

“Was. Got out when I could.” He gestures vaguely at the surrounding walls. “Built this place to get away from all that, but it’s hard to escape your name.”

“Is that why you live alone up here?”

He shrugs. “Beau got out too. Turned legitimate. And some others.” He shrugs. “Not everyone went to the extremes I did to get away. And not everyone minded sticking with the family business. Crime pays better than honest work, apparently.”

Now I understand why Beau thought the suggestion that he was a cop was so hilarious. Having a family in organised crime probably makes that application process a bit tricky.

“Don’t you get lonely?”

You can’t tell me that there aren’t women who’d turn a blind eye to the rest of his family’s dealing once they see he’s not cut from the same cloth. Or once they see him, period.

He turns then, those strange flashing eyes finding mine, in the dim space.

“Sometimes being lonely is the safer option.”

The words hang between us, heavy with unspoken meaning. Safer for him or safer for his future partner, I’m not sure.

After one last twist, the muscles under his T-shirt ripple as he turns the wrench, and Ben rocks back onto his heels with a look of satisfaction on his face.

He stands again, the closet shrinking with him at full height, and reaches past me to flip a switch. His chest brushes my shoulder as he moves, and I catch my breath at even that innocent contact. The water heater rumbles to life with a promising gurgle.

“Try it now.”

“You fixed it?” I stare at him as he nods. “Don’t tease a girl. You actually fixed it?”

“Hopefully.” Behind his beard, one corner of his mouth curls.