The Right Bear's Arms BBW Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance(2)

Katie just smiled at him. “Slippery floor. You stay sweet to everybody, and I’ll be sure to be extra careful.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Now you’re getting it.” She blew him a kiss and went to take care of her other customers. Including and especially Jake and his friend.

“What did you say to him?” Jake asked. “He went white as a sheet.”

Katie poured coffee for the two men, this time with no threat of bodily harm. “We just had a little talk about food safety.”

Jake looked at her with wide, awed eyes. “Damn, woman. Marry me. Anybody who can shake up an old goat like that is somebody I want on my side.”

A tingle shot down her spine, as if she thought he really meant it. Stop it. Doesn’t matter how much he stares at your boobs, he’s not the type to go for you.





***





Jake told himself he had to stop staring at Katie’s breasts. He’d noticed her the second they’d come in, like there was a spotlight following her around the greasy spoon. Every inch of her glorious curves made his hands itch to touch her. Statuesque, curvy, and a redhead to boot, it was like someone took a peek at all of his favorite fantasies and turned them into one girl. And then she started talking and the urge to pick her up and run away with her got worse. She was more than sexy as hell, she was sharp and tough. His inner bear was awake, growling, and scenting the air hungrily.

When he blurted out his proposal, he was only half-kidding.

She laughed at him. Damn. “You don’t have to marry me to get me on your side,” she said.

The answer to his next question suddenly seemed vitally important. He looked her up and down, giving in and lingering on the sweet swell of her hips and the way her waist dipped in just enough, before slowly meeting her bright green eyes. “What do I have to do then? Cause right now, I’d do anything.” He let his voice drop, in hopes of making his meaning unmistakable.

Katie shivered, and his bear let out a growl of satisfaction. “Anything?” she repeated.

“Anything.” Their eyes locked until Rafe, the jerk, kicked him under the table.

“Can you two get a room or something?” Rafe didn’t look up when he spoke, busily pouring a small pile of sugar into his coffee.

“Sorry,” Katie said, her cheeks shading that delicate pink again. Jake wondered if the blush moved all the way down her body, then wanted more than anything to find out. Before he could say anything else, she excused herself and got back to work.

“Damn it, Rafe, I had something going there.”

Rafe wrinkled his nose and swallowed a gulp of coffee. “I know, I can smell the pheromones.” He lowered his voice with a glance around. “She’s shifter kin, did you smell it on her?”

Jake shook his head. Figures that Rafe, the wolf, would pick up on it before him. His sense of smell was better than Jake’s. “I don’t think I’ve ever met one before. She one of yours?” Shifter kin were rare, and usually treasured. They all had a shifter or two in their family tree, and mating with one had a much higher chance to produce a new shifter. In his hometown, kinfolk damn near ran the place, and anyone chosen to be their lover or, god willing, mate, was a lucky bear.

“Nah, man, I think she’s one of yours.” Bear shifter kin were rarer still. Well. That helped explain Jake’s instant interest in her. Even if she hadn’t been straight out of his dirtiest fantasies, he still would have felt that pull. “You know, if you were an alpha,” Rafe continued, “you’d know that.”

Jake wasn’t. He couldn’t be. Not ever. “What’s she doing here in the city?” he wondered instead. He tried to keep from watching her as she moved around the diner, and failed miserably.

“Dude, what are we doing here in the city?” Rafe retorted.

“Trying not to starve.” They’d met when they both tried to play the same street corner, Jake with his guitar and Rafe with his hand drums. Working together they pulled bigger crowds and a bigger payoff too. Most days were pretty good. Today wasn’t one of those days.

“Ennnh, we’ll be fine. Look at us, we’re having a real breakfast in a real diner, aren’t we?” Rafe waggled his eyebrows. “Rent’s paid. What else do you want?”


Jake thought briefly of the home he’d left in Montana, the big warm house filled with family. Even though he missed it every day, he knew he could never be what they wanted him to be. He just wasn’t alpha material. That had been Mark, his brother. Not Jake. Damn it, Mark. The loss hit him anew It had been over a year since Mark was killed in what his family called a “hunting accident”—and it was, sure it was, but Mark hadn’t been the hunter. What had he been thinking, running around as a bear during hunting season? Now that Jake was the oldest, he had the right to access the old ways, the line of power that stretched back longer anyone could remember. He had that right, but with it came the responsibility for taking care of his extended family, and he just couldn’t. They deserved better than him.

Jake dragged his thoughts back to the here and now, and refocused on the pretty girl nearby. “So you think she’s running from something too?” Maybe they could run together. Literally or figuratively. Jake knew he sure as hell was never going home, and Rafe couldn’t go home, not without getting ripped to pieces by an alpha wolf.