The Bear’s Capture by Jenika Snow

Bear: The solitude had always been my companion and I accepted it, embraced it. Living on my own with the forest as my backyard had always been good enough for me.

Until it no longer was.

The quiet could be loud, the loneliness a burden. I was tired of being on my own. I wanted a wife, needed a woman to call my own.
Who I wanted was Susie. She was sweet and kind, innocent and soft in all the right places. She made this caveman part of me rise up and take control. The things I wanted to do to her would probably frighten her, scare her away for good.
I didn’t pretend to be a gentle man. I was brutal and savage in my way of living, but when I looked at her I felt something soften within me.
It was time to man up and tell her what I wanted, that she was all I thought about, all I needed in my life.

Susie: I’d loved Bear for as long as I could remember, but I was just the grocery delivery girl, a person he barely talked to, rarely saw when I did my drop-offs. I’d always been too much of a coward to tell him how I felt, so I divulged all my longings and secrets to my best friend.

But I was tired of doing that. I wanted to be honest with him even if that ended up putting this wall between us, even if I got a broken heart.
I was willing to risk all of that to pour my heart out, to finally be honest.
I was willing to do all of that in the hopes he would say he loved me too.