Cinderella's Billionaire Bear: A Shifter Fairy Tale (4 page)

Chapter 4

Cinderella

As usual, my stepmother
found ways to criticize me the moment she stepped inside the door. According to
her, the supper I made to welcome her home from the trip tasted way too bland.
But I knew without a doubt that had I served something spicy or flavorful in
any way she would have complained about it, too.

Honestly, sometimes I
had to wonder why I even bothered to continue living here when my stepmother
had so openly despised me from the moment my dad passed away. She made me sleep
in the attic even though there were spare bedrooms in the house. She reasoned
that it was to save the spare bedrooms for guests who visited, but I knew the
truth, she wanted to keep me in the attic to make me feel like I wasn't a true
member of the family.

My stepmother made it
very clear she didn't approve of her biological daughter having a close
relationship with me. She had always taught Tasha to treat me like a servant
instead of the sister that I more or less was to her. So whenever my stepmother
was around, Tasha and I didn't have much interaction with one another. We
waited until she was out of the house to openly interact as sisters.

At the end of the day,
I guessed there were two main reasons why I had not left the house despite the
way my stepmother treated me. The first reason was because I really did think
of Tasha as my own sister and didn't have the heart to leave her behind. The
second reason was because the house we lived in belonged to my deceased parents
and staying here allowed me to feel somewhat connected to them.

After my stepmother had
finished her supper, I made sure to clean up after her before going to the
casino to work my evening shift.

****

Upon arriving at the
casino, I was surprised to see that there were no customers there. I quickly
found someone to ask what was going on and was told that the police department
had our casino temporarily shut down. Apparently, someone had made numerous
reports saying that our casino wasn't complying with state and federal laws.

I was dumbfounded by
the news. It didn't make any sense to me. As a cocktail waitress, I had always
been told to card anyone who looked like they might be younger than 35. So how
was it even possible for us to get in trouble for serving alcohol to minors?
Someone must have tried to set us up somehow. But who would do that? And why?

With the casino
temporarily closed down, I thought for sure all the staff members would be sent
home for the day. Surprisingly, that wasn't the case. The owner of the casino
had arrived an hour before my shift started, and he had made it clear to
everyone that he was going to get to the bottom of all this misunderstanding
soon. In the meantime, he wanted everyone to continue to show up for work even
if there weren't any customers here.

Being a cocktail
waitress meant there wasn't much for me to do when there weren't customers
around. However, I didn't want to get paid for standing around doing nothing,
so I kept myself busy by helping to clean up the place.

As I moved around the
casino with a cleaning rag, I overheard some of the other female staff giggling
as they all huddled together to talk about the owner of our casino.

According to the women
who saw him earlier, he was by far the hottest man they had ever seen. That
should have made me curious to see what the owner of our casino looked like.
But instead, it made me think of Charming again. Even without meeting the owner
of our casino, I was almost certain he couldn't possibly be as handsome and
sexy as the man I had hooked up with last night.

****

The next day, I came
into work at the casino, and once again the place wasn't open for business.
This time, I was told by my manager, Donald, to sit and wait my turn to meet
with the owner of the casino.

"I don't
understand, Donald. Why in the world would the owner want to meet with
me?" I asked the man my stepsister was secretly dating.

"Mr. Moore insists
on talking to everyone who works here. He wants to have a better understanding
of what has been going on here to make the police department believe that we
haven't been compliant with the laws."

"But as far I can
tell, we have been compliant with the laws."

"I know. So you
don't have anything to worry about. Just speak the truth about what you do or
don't know and it will all be over with soon. Although, from what I have been
hearing from the other female staff members, you might not even want your
meeting with the owner to end soon. Supposedly, he's the sexiest man alive. Although,
I'm not really sure I agree with him being hotter than me. But whatever,"
said Donald with a playful grin.

I thanked Donald for
letting me know we were all expected to meet with Mr. Moore today. Then I found
a chair to sit in while I waited for my turn to meet with the big boss.

An hour later, Donald came
back to retrieve me. He led me upstairs to the executive office where I was to
meet with Mr. Moore.

In the two years I had
been working at the casino, I had actually never been to the top floor. So I
couldn't help but have my eyes roaming around as I walked behind Donald.

The top floor was very
airy and spacious. It was a nice contrast to how crowded it usually got on the
main floor of the casino when the place wasn't closed down.

The marble floors
gleamed and the ceiling lights sparkled. Artful sculptures gave the place
personality without overwhelming the person walking through.

In front of me now was
the door to Mr. Moore's office. Donald knocked on the door and a masculine
voice answered to please come in.

Donald opened the door
and said, "Sir, this is Cinderella. She's one of the cocktail waitresses
at our casino."

Charming

My mouth fell open as I
looked up at the cocktail waitress Donald had just brought in to see me. There
was no question about it; Cinderella was none other than my mate, Sin Natasha.

The bear inside me
growled, and I wanted nothing more than to jump over my office desk to hold her
in my arms. But remembering that Donald was still there, I quickly dismissed
him so that I could be alone with my mate.

As soon as Donald had
exited the room and closed the door behind him, I swiftly joined my mate on the
other side of my desk.

She looked at me with
obvious recognition on her face. At first, she seemed happy to see me. But then
her expression changed to something that more closely resembled either fear or
worry.

"Cinderella? Is
that your real name? No wonder none of my men were able to find a Natasha that
matched your physical description."

"Charming...I
mean...Mr. Moore, I'm so sorry I lied to you about my name. I just...I never
thought I would actually see you again."

"Of course, I
would see you again. After the amazing time we had with each other, I'd have to
find you one way or another. My men had been searching everywhere for you. And
had it not been for the current problem with the casino, I would have been out
there searching for you myself." 

"You had people
out looking for me?" she asked in astonishment.

"Yes."

"I thought it was
just a wedding hookup. You know, a one-night stand."

"Was a one-night
stand all that it had meant to you?"

"I...I don't
know...I mean, I definitely felt a strong connection with you...I just...I
never thought it could be anything else," she mumbled.

I closed the distance
between us and held her face in my hand before speaking again.

"Well, Cinderella,
I'm telling you right now that I refuse to have just a one-night stand with
you. I had been thinking about you nonstop since you left my hotel suite
without a single word. And I believe the fact that you're here in my office
right now proves that fate wants us to be together."

Cinderella

I was in total shock.
The owner of the casino I had been working at for the last two years was the
same man I had hooked up with in New York!

And as if that wasn't
enough to make it hard for me to breathe, he now had his hand cradling my face
while telling me he wanted more than just a one-night stand with me.

Words failed me. I
couldn't think of anything to say. In that moment, all I could focus on was the
heat radiating between us.

Charming leaned down.
His lips a mere inch from my own. I breathed in his air and felt dizzy with
arousal.

 Then his lips pressed
against mine, and he drove his tongue inside my mouth. I kissed him back,
unable to resist his sensual lips and tongue.

His hands dropped down
to cup the curve of my ass, and a moan escaped my lips. My body ached for him.
I wanted him to bend me over his desk and have his way with me. But it was a
bad idea. He was my boss. I shouldn't be kissing him like this, and I
definitely shouldn't be thinking about fucking him again. So I mustered all the
strength I could gather and pushed him away.

"We can't do
this," I said.

"Why not?" he
asked.

"Because you're my
boss. And because you're way out of my league."

"Why would you say
that?"

"Mr. Moore, you're
the owner of this casino. You're a billionaire. Me? I'm just a cocktail
waitress. I'm not delusional enough to think that anything serious could ever
develop between us."

"You're right,
Cinderella, I am a billionaire. That means I've got more money than I can
realistically spend in this entire lifetime. So I don't need the woman I'm with
to be made of money, too."

"I can't be
bought, Mr. Moore, and I don't want to be your kept woman."

"Who said anything
about buying your time or affection? I just want to date you."

"But why me?"

"Because you're
beautiful, interesting, fun to talk to, and awesome in the bedroom. Is it
really so hard to believe that I'd want a chance to date you?"

"It is hard to
believe actually."

"Well then,
believe it. Because it's true. I want to date you and get to know you better,
Cinderella."

I studied his face. He
certainly looked like he meant what he was saying. Nonetheless, I was still
afraid. This man could easily break my heart. Was I willing to take the chance?

"I don't know, Mr.
Moore. You're my boss. Won't it be awkward for us to date?"

"It's only awkward
if you let it be awkward. Besides, despite being the owner of this casino, I'm
actually not around much. So it's not like you really have to worry about
bumping into me at work or anything like that."

"Oh yeah, I almost
forgot that you live in New York. Yet another reason why it's a bad idea for me
to get involved with you," I said with a sigh.

"Why? Do you have
something against New Yorkers?"

"No, of course
not. I'm just realizing that you'll probably go back to New York again as soon
as the whole problem with the casino gets resolved. That means even if I were
to date you, it won't be anything more than a short-term fling."

Charming

I wanted to tell her
right then that I could never have just a fling with her because I wanted
nothing short of a lifetime together with her. However, I dared not say such
things to her for fear of her running for the hills. She was fully human after
all. She wouldn't understand how I could possibly be so committed to her after
only knowing her for a short amount of time.

So instead of telling
her how I planned on living happily ever after with her, I simply told her to
stop overthinking it all.

"I like you a lot,
Cinderella. And I can tell that you like me, too. So let's not overthink this.
Let's just date each other and see where it goes from there. Also, don't forget
that I'm a billionaire. The distance between New York and New Jersey won't be
enough to keep me away if what I want is to be with you."

She considered my words
for a moment before speaking again. "Okay, I'm willing to give this a try.
However, if it's okay with you, I'd like to keep this under wraps for a
while."

"Okay, I'll agree
with anything you say, so long as you stop pushing me away."

I then kissed her again
to distract her from coming up with even more reasons as to why we shouldn't be
dating. Mainly, though, it was because I didn't get enough of her sweet lips
earlier. But then again, who was I kidding? No matter how many times we kissed,
I could never get enough of her sweet lips.

Cinderella

Charming's tongue
flicked inside my mouth, and I remembered how he had used the same tongue
movements to pleasure me during oral sex in New York. As a result of the
memory, an achy, needy feeling instantly reached my core.

His hand cupped my ass
again, and this time, I didn't stop him. I was tired of coming up with reasons
for why it was a bad idea to hook up with Charming. I just wanted to give in to
my carnal desire. Plus, I wanted to believe I could trust him to not break my
heart.