Page 38 of Bear My Heart

"I cannot imagine. That might sound awful."

Pete chuckled. "Well, you'll find out, right? And if you hate it, then that's a good thing for us to learn. But I should still take you to Fairbanks in the summer sometime. The only reason the sun sets there is because the mountains block it, but it's still pretty much full daylight at mid-summer."

"You are from an alien land," she told him quite solemnly. "How do people even sleep in the summer?"

"Blackout shades and habit," he answered honestly. "And also I think it's probably safe to say that Alaskans literally do sleep more in the winter."

"That makes sense. Wow. Okay, yes, I need to visit in the summer and the winter to see if I can cope with that. I can't decide if it sounds awful or amazing."

"It's some of both," Pete admitted. "But it does make me think the sun sets too early everywhere else in the summer."

"Not too late in the winter, though?"

"Somehow that doesn't bother me as much," he said with a grin. "If I Had All The Money I might split my year between Alaska and Argentina. The southern end. It's not quite as bright there as Shkalnik is, but it's pretty close. Eternal light and summer sounds great to me."

"But what about your railroads?"

"I'll build one from Shkalnik to…uh…" Pete grabbed for his phone and looked up Argentina. "To Ushuaia! It's the southern-most city, apparently. That would have worked better if I'd already known that and had just been cool about it."

Shanti laughed. "Yes, it would have, but I like the enthusiasm anyway. Do you have any idea what's happening in this movie?"

"Yes, he's the bad guy and he's going to…" Peter trailed off as another dark-haired white guy with a blinding smile came on screen. "No, wait, he's the bad guy, and…no. No, I don't have a clue what's going on."

"As long as it's not just me." Shanti turned the movie off and grinned up at him. "When did you get tickets for us to go to Shkalnik?"

Pete shook his head. "I haven't yet. The railroad's going be done on schedule, but…the first train is scheduled for the twentieth. Before Christmas."

"Yes?"

"I didn't know if you really wanted to leave before Christmas," Pete murmured. "I know you're talking about the first train out of here, but I didn't know if that was literal."

Shanti fell silent for a moment, then sighed. "You have to remember I couldn't imagine where I'd go next. I thought I'd just slink back into Virtue as quietly as I could and…hate myself a little. I would love to really, truly take the first train out and not come back for a while. There isn't anything here for me at Christmas now, and I'd rather be with you, wherever you are or want to go."

"Then that's what we'll do," Peter said softly. "I just wanted to be sure. And the last thing I want is for you to hate yourself at all." He slipped his fingers under her chin and tilted it up to kiss her, then put his forehead against hers, eyes closed. "Everything okay?"

He could hear the smile in her voice. "It is now."

CHAPTER 19

It wasn't that Peter brought her out of her shell, Shanti thought. It was more like…she wanted him to be in her shell with her. Every hour she spent with him filled her with happiness, and made the time in between, waiting, full of anticipation and joy instead of the long wearying hours that had filled her days since her grandparents had died.

She had never been extroverted. Despite society generally seeming to believe that introverts needed to act more like extroverts to be happy, being introverted had never bothered her. She liked people just fine. She enjoyed watching them, and even being around big personalities who filled the room. But she loved her quiet time, either alone or with someone who was also doing their own thing, and she hadn't realized how much of her time had been spent that way with her grandparents.

Pete got her out of the house more, it was true, and it was helping her to realize she'd been walking a fine line between 'introvert' and 'shut-in.' But he also didn't ask her to be something she wasn't. He seemed as happy with their evenings in as the ones spent wandering around town or eating out.

And he was as good as his promises, too. He came over Saturday evening and they spent it watching movies and talking, snuggled on the couch until Shanti couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. Slipping upstairs to crawl into bed with him felt almost wicked: she'd never had a man stay over at her grandparents' home before. Her heart was beating far too fast for sleep, though she lay with her eyes closed, determined to pretend.

Determined to pretend she wasn't getting all hot and bothered, too. That was silly. They were literally doing nothing more than snuggling up, blankets tucked between them for warmth and, Shanti admitted, maybe safety. But it was absolutely impossible to keep her body from reacting to Peter's presence, and Shanti barely knew what to do with that. She wasn't at all accustomed to…

A little laugh escaped her despite her every attempt to sleep. Peter made a curious sound, and she shook her head, mumbling, "I'm not used to sleeping with someone."

"Me either," he murmured back. "And I'm a furnace, so if you're too hot and need to roll away, I get it."

She was definitely too hot. Just not the way he meant. "No, I'm just…nervous."

He smiled against her hair. "I promise I won't turn into a bear in the middle of the night and eat you."

She laughed again, more loudly this time, and twisted to she could sort-of see him in the dark. "I didn't realize that was a potential threat here."