Page 6 of Bear With Me

After who knew how long, the bear in his lap tensed, shivered, and suddenly turned back into a naked man kneeling at his feet. Dennis’s dick twitched traitorously at the concept and he prayed Bjorn hadn’t caught that. He raised his knee slightly, putting pressure on Bjorn’s ribs. “Up. I’m not reading to a naked man.”

“But I was enjoying it!” Bjorn protested. “It’s a really interesting book.”

Dennis gave him a flat look. “You can get your own copy. Get up.”

Bjorn huffed, but stood in one smooth motion that Dennis wasn’t sure he could have emulated. He had a flash of satisfaction at the obedience before he realized that he was now face-to-dick with the naked man. Fuck. “And put on some pants,” he snapped.

Bjorn shrugged. “They’ll just shred next time I shift.”

Dennis growled. “And how many times do you think you’ll do that today?”

Another shrug. “I haven’t the slightest idea. This is the first time I’ve met my mate, so…” He let his voice trail off meaningfully.

“Goddamn it.” He considered insisting on pants nevertheless, but then he imagined Bjorn bursting through every pair of pants he owned and then ending up naked anyway. Probably better to let him keep them for when he left and needed to drive home. “Fine. But back the fuck up.”

Bjorn looked down and seemed to belatedly realize the position they were in. He grinned. “Admit it, you like what you see.”

Dennis rolled his eyes and directed a smack at Bjorn’s hip. “Back.”

“Fiiine.” Bjorn turned and walked to the armchair, plopping down in it with a sigh. “Man, that floor is fine as a well-cushioned bear, but it’s hard on human knees.”

“Not my problem.”

“Well, you were the one who told me to lay down on it, actually.”

“You -” Well, he hadn’t had to obey. Dennis spiked a frustrated hand through his hair again. “Ugh. You know what, I’m gonna take a walk. I’ll be back…eventually.” He needed to get out of here before he…did something. He wasn’t entirely sure what that something would be, but he was betting it was undesirable for at least one of them.

Without waiting for a reply from Bjorn, he stood from the couch and strode out the front door. Just as the door was swinging shut behind him, he heard an aborted noise that might have been the beginning of “No”, but he ignored it and kept walking. He couldn’t deal with this.

***

After walking - ok, stomping - around behind the cabin for ten minutes and not really feeling any better, he realized he needed to bring out the big guns and pulled out his phone. Myrah picked up on the third ring, just as Dennis was beginning to think she wouldn’t. “What’s up? It’s the middle of the day, boo. You never call me in the middle of the day.”

Dennis groaned reflexively. “Don’t call me ‘boo’. You know this. And sorry. I know you have meetings and stuff.”

“Eh, if I’d been in a meeting I wouldn’t have picked up,” his ex-wife verbally shrugged. “And I’ll call you ‘boo’ all I want. I got it in the divorce.”

He snorted. Their divorce had been so amicable that people had kept asking them why, why they were splitting up. Neither of them had felt the need to inform people that Myrah had come to the realization that she couldn’t be happy with a man, any man; they’d figured it would become clear when Myrah brought home a girlfriend someday. That day hadn’t happened yet - Myrah claimed she was still finding herself - but since the split, they’d stayed the best friends they’d always been. Case in point, she was who he was calling in this moment of enormous what-the-fuckery.

“You got shit in the divorce,” he shot back, nudging his thought train back into the background. “I definitely didn’t sign any papers assigning you ‘boo’. Snookums.”

“Ewww.” Myrah made a shuddering noise. “Do not call me that.”

“Truce?” Dennis offered, to which Myrah huffed but agreed.

“Fiiiine. Now, what’s going on that you’re calling me in the middle of the day?”

He sighed. “I have had the weirdest fucking day. The. Weirdest.”

“Oh?” Now she sounded intrigued. He was glad someone was having a good time with his angst, because he sure wasn’t. “Tell me all!”

“So…” How did he even start this tale? “You know how I rented a cabin to take vacation for the next couple weeks?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’m here. And I was taking a walk around the property and I came across this…” He huffed. “This sounds ridiculous. I can’t believe I’m about to utter this sentence.”

He could almost hear the grin in her voice when Myrah announced, “Oh, now you’ve got to tell me!”