Bearly Hanging On (A Werebear Shifter BBW Romance) (Laid Bear Book 3) (16 page)

She had no idea why Chet hated her so much, but ever since he bought the rental from her former landlord several months back, he’d been hinting she should find another place to live.
Fuck you, I know my rights
, she thought every time he made some comment like that.
 

So she was diligent about making sure her rent was on time, never a day late — even after he raised it unexpectedly — and that she never did anything he could evict her for. Heck, she even took care of most of the minor maintenance stuff in the place because it was easier than dealing with that jerk, even though it was his responsibility.
 

As Bethany peered out the window, she watched Chet hovering near the bed of the new guy’s pick-up. He was a fat, hairy schlub of a man while her new neighbor was what could only be described as eye candy. Yet her landlord acted like he usually did — superior to everyone else. Yuck.

Her new neighbor had been wearing a wife-beater — an honest-to-goodness wife-beater — when he arrived, but at some point he shed it as the heat of the day beat down on his bronzed skin. Sweat glistened on every hard curve of his torso, rivulets disappearing into the waistband of the jeans that rode deliciously low on his hips. She swiped her tongue across her dry lips, sucking her plump bottom lip between her teeth.

God, he was hot! Bethany’s heart raced at the thought of skimming her fingers — screw that, her
lips
— across all those ridges and bumps. It had been so long since she’d been with a man — like, almost a year, and then it was just a rough and drunken tumble at a friend’s party. Afterward, he’d called her a fat slut and stumbled out to his beater truck. She’d heard he got a DUI on the way home and was not-so-secretly pleased.

The memory of her last encounter brought her back into reality. She let the blinds snap closed and headed into the kitchen. Why get all hot and bothered over a guy who would never look twice at her? He looked like he should be an underwear model — probably was! — while she was big and tall and full of curves. The only guys she ever seemed to attract were either assholes or drunk, and more often than not, both.

As she rummaged around her freezer for just the right flavor ice cream, Bethany wondered how she was ever going to find a good man and have a family. She’d grown up with three older brothers who taught her how to be tough…on the outside. Inside, she was as soft as her ample ass.
 

Every rejection, every nasty comment, every disgusted look sent her farther and farther into an abyss of self-doubt and self-pity. She knew she couldn’t control other people’s reactions to her bountiful body, but she just wished that occasionally that reaction would be positive. Her friends all insisted she was gorgeous, voluptuous, Rubenesque, but she knew that was just shorthand for ‘fat’. Of course, eating Chunky Monkey out of the tub probably didn’t help matters.

She was jolted out of her reverie when the doorbell bonged. It didn’t bing-bong, like a normal doorbell; it had broken a few months earlier and now just bonged. One more thing Chet should fix but wouldn’t. She knew before she opened the door that he would be looming there, telling her she’d done something wrong — like the time she didn’t set the garbage cans at the curb just right — and ask yet again when she was moving.
 

The sight of her handsome new neighbor filling her doorway caused her throat to clench and her stomach to drop as the door swung open. Holy hell, this guy was even better up close. A sharp whiff of sweat caused her nostrils to flare. Her eyes closed as she inhaled this man’s feral scent, every bit of her body becoming highly sensitized in response. The sound of her own sigh startled her.

“Um, hi, neighbor.” There was definitely a hint of amusement in his deep rumbling voice.
Oh, shit, he caught me!
A deep crimson flush spread from her chest to her blond widow’s peak.

Bethany gulped and allowed her eyes to sweep up his rippled chest, droplets of sweat glistening in the sun, to his impossibly handsome face where they met warm brown eyes. She’d never seen eyes quite like his before, flecked with gold and…cinnamon? How was it possible that everything about this man was the most gorgeous thing she’d ever seen?

It took a moment for her to realize she hadn’t uttered a word yet. “Hi,” she squeaked. More than anything she wanted to avert her gaze but it was proving impossible. She was mortified, which wasn’t an unusual state for her, but this time she’d done it to herself in front of her god-like neighbor. Yet she couldn’t tear her eyes away from his. It was as if they were magnets locked together.

“Just wanted to introduce myself,” he said. Thank goodness he took the initiative or they would have stood there all day, Bethany drooling all over herself, no doubt. Her gaze trailed down his bulging arm to the hand he was extending to her. Why was everything moving in slow motion?!

“I’m Maximilian Pearce, but everyone calls me Max.”

Even his name was perfect!
 

“Uhh…” Her downfall was about to be complete because for the life of her, she couldn’t remember her own name. Brittany? Brittania? Bathilda? “Bethany… Mills.” It came out a whisper as she watched her fingers disappear into his paw of a hand.
 

The amused tone was back. There was something else, too. Something deeper, more throaty. “Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Bethany. I’m sure we’ll bump into each other
very
soon.”

With that, he turned and strode back to his truck, where Chet stood glowering at her over Max’s shoulder. Bethany was numb as she eased the door shut, her eyes never leaving his perfect retreating figure. The last thing she saw before an eggshell white wall of door blocked her view was Max glancing back over his shoulder, his lips twitching in a smile. Then he winked.

~ * ~ * ~

The growl of Max’s truck driving away brought Bethany to her senses…on the floor. She’d just managed to close the door before leaning back against it and sliding into a puddle in her entryway. That was the most male interaction she’d had in months, if you didn’t count Chet (which she didn’t), and it was with the sexiest man on the planet.

“I have to call someone!” She flicked through her mental Rolodex, frantically trying to figure out who would be as giddy as she while still sane enough to offer her sound advice. Kimmy would tell her to fuck Max’s brains out, Paul would ask if
he
could fuck Max’s brains out, Joanne was visiting her sick mom…Charlotte!
Charlotte will be the voice of reason
, Bethany thought as she scrolled through her phone’s contact list.

“Hey, B! How freaky is this?” Charlotte wasn’t much for pleasantries. “I was just picking up the phone to call you and invite you over for a party on Saturday. Weird, huh?”

“Yeah, yeah, sounds good. Listen, I need some of your famous words of wisdom.”

“Sure, what’s up?”

Bethany described her interaction with her new neighbor, not leaving out a single detail, including his epic hotness. She wandered around the apartment as she spoke, ending up in front of the bathroom mirror.

“
Ohmigod!
” she screamed into the phone.

“Shit, B! Take it down a notch.”

Bethany wanted to cry at what she saw. A big smear of Chunky Monkey was drying near her mouth, and a dollop decorated the tip of her nose. Charlotte just laughed at the news.

“Forget about it, B. So he’s hot, and so you had a little ice cream on your face. Big whoop. It’s not like anything can happen between you two anyway — you’re neighbors. Like gramps always said, never shit where you sleep…or eat, or something like that.”

Scrubbing the tell-tale signs of her culinary weakness away, Bethany let her friend’s words sink in. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Besides, a guy like him would be better suited to some hard-body like Kimmy.”

“Girl, don’t sell yourself short. You’re a good-looking broad. A lot of guys like a girl with a little meat on her bones. Kimmy’s a stone-cold fox but she’s all hard angles, ya know? She’d probably bruise him.”

Bethany giggled at Charlotte’s joke. She felt better. “I knew you were the right person to call, Char. Thanks.”

“Anytime, B. So are you a yes for Saturday?”

“Huh? Oh, sure, as long as I won’t be the only singleton there. I already feel enough like Bridget Jones without going to a couples’ party, thank you very much.”

“Weeeeell….”

“Oh, no, Char!”

“C’mon, it’ll be fine. There’s only one couple you don’t know. And Paul might come. You’ll have a blast. Besides, you haven’t been over for weeks. Please say yes?”

Charlotte knew Bethany couldn’t say no to her wheedling tone. “Fine. But I’m not bringing a goddamn thing!”

“Yay! See you at six, then. Bye, hon!”

BUY NOW AT AMAZON

~ * ~ * ~

Laid Bear 2: The Kodiak Clan

Curvy bear shifter Veronica Muir is ready for a new mate. It's been six long and lonely years since her husband was killed, leaving her to raise rambunctious twin cubs on her own. And wouldn't you know it, the first time she dips her toe into the dating world, she ends up falling head over heels in love…with a human.
 

Marine biologist Jess Slade is still raw from his divorce when he spots Veronica's online profile. Unable to resist her luscious curves, he takes a second chance on love by moving to her hometown of Kodiak, Alaska. But the one thing he doesn't know about her might be the one thing he can't get past.
 

When a group of human-hating werebears called The Brotherhood threaten to tear them apart — quite literally — Jess and Veronica, with a little help from Max and Bethany, must decide where their loyalties lie and if their love is worth fighting for.
 

Sneak Peek

Chapter One

T
he cursor on Veronica’s screen flashed incessantly, blinking his impatience for an answer.
 

When can we meet?

She didn’t know how to respond to that. She’d never meant for things to go this far. It had seemed like an easy, no-harm-no-foul way of getting back in the game after being out of it for so long.

The last thing she’d expected was to fall in love.

And now Jess wanted to meet. Which meant he really liked her. Which was exactly how an online relationship would normally develop. And which was totally out of the question.

The cursor continued to blink at her, demanding a response.
 

She glanced over her shoulder. The twins were happily playing dump truck and fighter jet in the middle of their small living room, blowing each other up then hauling away the crash debris. Toys were scattered everywhere, as usual, and a basket of unfolded laundry lay half-dumped on her old sofa, a hand-me-down from her in-laws, one they’d had since before Keith’s birth.

Keith. Deep down, even after all this time, she felt as if she was betraying him by having this online flirtation. She glanced at the boys again, seeing his eyes and mouth every time they smiled. Sam glanced up at her and gave her a patented heart-melter that seemed to be a genetic quirk of all the Muir boys, even her father-in-law.

Her heart lurched, loving her children and missing their father. Tears started welling so she turned back to the screen, wondering what to do.
Just do it, babe
, a voice whispered in her brain. Keith’s voice. He’d always encouraged her to follow her dreams, mainly because she was a big fat fraidy cat.
You deserve to love again. And to be loved.

A big dollop of saltwater splashed on her keyboard as she watched the cursor flash. “Why not?” she half-whispered to herself.
 

“Whatchya say, Momma?” Though they were identical twins, it was easy for Veronica to tell her boys apart. Sam was the charming extroverted daredevil, while Jason was tender, sweet and sensitive. Their voices matched their personalities, making them easy to distinguish, at least for her.
 

“Nothing, Jace. You keep playing.”

Before she’d even decided to respond, her fingers were flying over the keyboard.
Can you meet next Tuesday at the Caribou Cafe on Main? Say 11 a.m.?

She was just reading it over to make sure it was exactly what she wanted to say when she heard a crash and a shout of anger from behind her. She turned just in time to see Sam shift into bear form and leap on his defenseless brother.
 

“Sam, stop that right now!” she yelled as she pulled the struggling cub up under one arm while grabbing Jason’s bleeding forearm. “What’s gotten into you?!”

With a shimmer and a shudder, the cub became a boy, ducking his head with shame.
 

“I’m sowwy, Momma,” Sam mumbled. “But Jason wan over my jet with his stupid twuck and it made me mad so I thwew it and…” He trailed off. They all knew the rest.

“Don’t apologize to me, Sam. You need to apologize to your brother. Look, he’s bleeding. You’re six years old now. A big boy. You know better than to attack him when he’s in human form. There’s a reason it’s against clan law.”

Tears spilled from Sam’s eyes as he turned to Jason. “Sowwy, Jason. I didn’t mean to make you bweed.”