Romance: My Bear Boss: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (BBW Shifter Romance, Paranormal Shifter Romance) by Ashley Hunter Page A

go. Last night, I was able to look out the window… and I saw nothing but a steep drop. Back home… it’s not any different. People don’t… they don’t treat me any better than I hoped they would. In fact, a large group of them would be rather happy if I wasn’t there. I have an apartment where I live on my own, I don’t own a dog, or a cat. I can’t own even a stupid goldfish because it would probably die. I dedicate myself to my work, I hoped to make a change—help people. Instead it’s only brought me the backlash of the townspeople and scary nights where I can’t even sleep without worrying someone’s going to do something about it. But…” Ingrid took a big breath and hoped for the best.
    “Last night, when I slept without the cuffs…” She allowed herself to slide a little glance at Leo. “It was the first time I was able to sleep without being scared I was going to get mobbed or something. Considering.”
    Silence spread between them as she felt Leo scrutinize her, watch her silently and make no move even though the food was probably getting cold between them. “So, you… you feel safer… here?”
    Ingrid shrugged, “In a nutshell, yeah… don’t get me wrong,” she said quickly. “I still don’t trust you, not even close. But you said Nadya could protect me, and you said you didn’t want to harm me. The only option I can actually take to seize what freedom I can have is if I… actually allow you to show me that I can trust you.”
    “Yesterday you insisted that you wanted nothing wrong with me because I killed a man,” Leo said, gesturing with a hand. “Why did that change now?”
    “Because,” Ingrid proceeded and she met his gaze evenly. “There are always two sides of a story. I dedicated my life to help people sort their sides of the story, their sides of their situation before they were placed behind a jury who was ready to judge them and decide their fate. I fought for ten years so that people had that right. I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t give you the same option.”
    It was almost an eternity before anything happened and for that eternity, Ingrid squeezed her fingers tight on her lap and hoped that this man wouldn’t see through her and that he would believe her. Finally, he gave her a half smile and his gaze dropped toward the direction of her wrists.
    “Well then, it seems we have an accord.”
    Ingrid let out a sigh and felt a smile push her own lips upwards, and when he reached for his glass of water she did the same. So far so good…
    The sound of their clinking glass was like thunder and when he looked at her, Ingrid felt a different shudder work from the base of her spine to everywhere else. She looked away and took a sip of the beverage, hoping nothing came from this strange feeling of foreboding.

 
    Chapter 12
     
    The days passed unusually quickly. Since her upgrade from prisoner to “permanent house guest”, Ingrid was permitted to leave her room so long as she had Nadya at her side.
    When she saw her own clothes, cleaned and dried, on her bed the following day, Ingrid insisted that she wear them despite Nadya’s singular frowns.
    She needed to have something that belonged to her and while silk felt nice on her skin, it didn’t feel like home. Ingrid felt some relief when she found she could, in fact, communicate with Nadya.
    The maid was apparently fantastic at reading lips and when Ingrid asked her to help her find a study where there might be books she could entertain herself with, the blonde woman led her toward a particularly huge library.
    Ingrid was not much of a book lover but when her eyes beheld the side of so many books, she nearly gawked in surprise. Instead an ironic laugh burst through her lips. Of course.
    Before long, Ingrid found herself collecting a few volumes in her arms, forcing happy smiles over her lips while Nadya kept a steady watch over her.
    Ingrid had no doubt that they were somewhat expecting her to try to escape soon,