My Heart Laid Bear (Blue Moon Junction) (4 page)

              Dead silence for a minute. She could hear Sapphire’s angry breathing. “He what? You’re working for that asshole?”

              “They offered me a great job,” she said defensively. “Health insurance, even. I need to support the kids. Social services stopped by the boarding house yesterday, by the way. I can’t be unemployed. They’re already looking at me funny.”

              “Why were they there?”

              “Because our family has the not entirely undeserved reputation of being petty criminals and trailer trash. I need this job. I barely have any money, I have student loans to pay back, and I’m supporting four kids.”

              “Stupid holier-than-thou douchebags.  Anyway, I’m pretty sure I landed a cocktail waitressing job,” Sapphire said. “I can help out when I make some money.”

              “You shouldn’t be working,” Clover said, worried. “Especially running around all night long in a place where there will be cigarette smoke…”

              Sapphire snorted. “You’re right. Tell Jeffrey that.”

              “Where are you, exactly?”

              “Call me when you find Jeffrey,” Sapphire said, and hung up.

              Great. When Sapphire refused to say where she was, that meant that she was hanging out with a bad crowd. Clover buried her face in her hands and heaved a sigh. Her family was going to be the death of her yet.

              Then she turned her computer back on and went to work.             

* * *

              Sam sat in his office, trying not to think about how badly his body was screaming to claim the luscious bear who was working right next door.  He wanted to give her a day or two to settle in before he made his next move.

Instead, to distract himself, he searched the web for information on her.  As head of security, he had access to numerous databases that weren’t open to the general public, and he wanted to find out everything he could about her.

From looking through the databases and her social media accounts, he was starting to get a picture of the family dynamic. The Jones had moved to Blue Moon Junction to crash with a group of their relatives when Clover was eight, and stayed until she was twelve.  Clover had been the responsible one, dutifully letting the family drag her around the country but always maintaining stellar grades.  That explained why she’d gotten into an excellent college; she’d gotten in on a full scholarship.

Her parents’ real names were Andrea and Calvin, but they called themselves Karma and Cosmic Traveler now. Good Lord, how had Clover grown up so normal?

From some social media postings, he gathered that Clover had worried about her family all the time while she was in college.  She’d been in New York, they’d been moving from state to state. 

The younger siblings went through long periods where they weren’t in school at all – the parents were members of a homeschool group.  

Sapphire he already knew about; a party girl, a scam artist, a user. 

She’d most recently been working as a night club hostess in Miami.  She’d abruptly left her job and breezed into town two months ago, hoping to crash with her cousins. What she hadn’t known was that Sam had finally run her cousins out of town for good a few months earlier – they’d been suspects in a car theft and chop shop operation.  As soon as she found that out, she planned on leaving town for who knew where. But then, unfortunately, she’d met his brother, dollar signs had appeared in her eyes like a slot machine, and she’d latched her claws into him.

Tried to latch her claws into him. There was no way he was letting that harpy ruin his brother’s life.

Too bad Clover was obviously so loyal to her parents and younger sister. They didn’t deserve her loyalty, but it was typical for a bear shifter. Sam would lay down his life for his family – but then, his family were good people, not a bunch of low-level thieves.

He still was determined to win her over, and the fact that she’d asked Jemma what type of woman he liked seemed extremely promising. He’d only had to pay Jemma a hundred dollars for that information – the little scam artist. Jemma had also passed along that she liked Clover and if he used Jemma’s intel for evil, she’d shave him in his sleep.

              There was a sharp rapping on the door, and Flint stuck his head through.

              “Can you come down to my office? The Enforcers want a conference call with you, me, and the sheriff, just to keep us up to date on the Somniatus situation. There’s been another incident.”

              “Damn it. What happened?” Sam stood up quickly.

Flint shook his head. “We’re very, very lucky. It was a bear shifter attacking other bear shifters at a rave, not humans, and we actually managed to keep it out of the papers.  The local bear clan played it off as a drunken bar fight, but tests showed that the bear had Somniatus in his system.  If that shifter had killed a human, it would be bad news for bears everywhere.”

              Clover’s stomach was rumbling and she was more than ready for lunch. The last few days had gone smoothly at work.  Today she’d spent the morning writing blog posts so they’d be ready when the new website was launched. The McCoy company had selected one of the web design companies that she’d recommended, and a photographer was coming tomorrow. He’d be spending the next few days on the property getting pictures of the McCoys and their farm.

              Sapphire had called and checked in a couple of times but refused to come visit unless she heard from Jeffrey. She claimed that she was too humiliated to show her face in Blue Moon Junction.

              Clover was debating whether she wanted to eat at the picnic tables with everyone else or grab her food and hide in her office. She really didn’t want a repeat of yesterday, and she didn’t know how often Marjorie and Michael Thomas came to eat with everyone. Michael apparently worked in the accounting department for the McCoys, so the two of them made frequent visits to the McCoy property.

              There was a rapping on the door, and she looked up.  Blue was standing there. “We’d like you to take a tour of the property,” she said. “We need to pick out some good spots before the photographer gets here.”

              “Good plan,” Clover agreed.

              She followed Blue outside, hoping that her stomach wouldn’t rumble too loudly…and stopped when she saw that Sam was sitting in the driver’s seat of a jeep that was parked outside the front door. 

              He grinned at her as she slowly walked up to the jeep. “Goodness, I didn’t know we needed a chauffeur,” she said, keeping her tone polite for Blue but shooting Sam a quick, deadly glare.

              “And a bodyguard,” Sam said with a smug smile. “There’s all kinds of dangers out there on a blueberry farm.”

              “Oh, sit in the front, dear,” Blue said, climbing into the back and shutting her door.

              The jeep really wasn’t built for a big bear shifter like Sam – he overflowed in his seat and pressed up against her when she climbed in. Surely he must know that – had he planned this on purpose?

              The warm, solid feel of him sent ripples of sensation pulsing through her body. He was wearing that cologne again, faint but unmistakable.  She shifted in her seat and pressed up against the door, which was uncomfortable but at least she wasn’t crushing up against Sam.

              “I packed a couple of picnic baskets for us so we can all stop and eat,” Sam said. “Got some of my blueberry pie in there.”

              Blueberry pie. Damn the man, he was fiendishly clever. He’d described it as melt-in-your-mouth. She could resist a lot of things, but you could only ask so much of a girl. Especially a bear shifter girl with a healthy appetite.

             
Blue will be there, so he can’t pull anything funny
, she reminded herself.
And I don’t give a damn how well he cooks or how much he flirts with me, I will be strong.

              They wound past the factory where their jams and jellies were canned, and headed towards blueberry fields.  They drove along the long rows of blueberry bushes until Sam found a spot that he liked and stopped the jeep. 

              As they climbed out, Blue’s phone chirped in her purse. She answered it, then her forehead creased. “Oh, for goodness’ sake,” she said.

              “Is everything all right?” Sam asked solicitously.

              “Oh, Jemma says that the oven seems to be broken, and she’s insisting I come back and help her with it.”

              “You’d better go back before she burns the house down,” Sam said, reaching into the back of the jeep and grabbing a wicker basket. “It’s a beautiful day. We’re still close to the house. We’ll walk back after lunch.”

              “Are you sure? Well, all right…” Blue climbed in and drove off as Clover stared after the jeep open-mouthed, then spun around to glare at Sam.

              “
Seriously.
  That could not have been any more obvious a setup. And I thought Jemma was my friend. That little turncoat. Broken oven, my ass.”

              “She is your friend. She likes you a lot. She’s also highly bribe-able.”

              Clover let out of a huff of indignation. “Good to know.”

              But Sam was already pulling out the red-and-white checkered blanket that had been neatly folded on top of the basket and spreading it on the ground.

              “What are you up to, anyway?” Clover demanded.

              Sam glanced at her with a grin as he pulled plates and silverware from the basket. “No good, obviously. I mean, I brought a picnic. Clearly my intentions are evil.”

              He set thickly stacked sandwiches on the plates, and then pulled out the blueberry pie and set it down next to them. Her stomach rumbled. She’d been about to ditch him and walk back to her office on her own, but maybe just one sandwich wouldn’t hurt. And some of that pie.

              She looked around. It was indeed a beautiful day. The blue sky swept endlessly into the horizon, with fat fluffy clouds floating lazily overhead. A faint breeze rustled the leaves of the blueberry bushes. Why should she deprive herself of a delicious lunch out here in the middle of paradise? It wasn’t like she’d agreed to go on a date with Sam. 

              She sat down as he knelt and poured iced tea into paper cups.

              “A picture of a couple strolling hand in hand in between rows of blueberry bushes probably wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world,” she said as Sam handed her a bottle of iced tea.

              “Are you calling us a couple?” That mischievous glint twinkled in his eye.

              “Not in a million years. I meant a real couple. A model couple. Hey, why are you sitting right next to me?” she said as he settled down uncomfortably close.

              “It looks comfortable here. And I like how you smell.”

              She could have gotten up and moved to the other side of the blanket, but that would just have been childish.

              They sat in silence and ate their sandwiches.  He’d layered on just the right amount of tangy mustard and mayonnaise, and the lettuce was clean and crisp.  She didn’t bother trying to hide her appetite around him. That was one nice thing about eating with a bear. He wouldn’t look on in horror as she chowed down on two big, fat sandwiches.

              She washed down the last delicious bite with the rest of her iced tea, and glanced over at Sam, who wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that he was staring at her. He had a sensual, hungry look on his face, and that amused gleam had changed. Now his gaze held a raw animal hunger that filled her with pulsing desire.  Her nipples swelled and hardened, and she felt them rubbing against her shirt, shamelessly announcing her arousal. 

              “We can go back now,” she said quickly. 

              “Not until after dessert.” He dug a spoon into the blueberry pie and held it out to her. A blob of jelly plopped on to her chest.  She was about to protest, but as she opened her mouth he shoved the spoon in, all sweet and tart and melting onto her tongue.  She let out a low moan, and his breath quickened.

              “I am so sorry I spilled that on you.” Sam moved closer to her, his body pressed up against hers.

              “No, you aren’t.” Her breath was coming faster too, panting. She couldn’t hide her arousal.

              “No, I’m not. Here, let me get that for you.” He bent down and slowly lapped the jam off her breast with his warm, velvety-smooth tongue. He took his time, his tongue caressing her heated skin with three long, luxurious laps.

              “Oh,” she choked out.

              Panting, he sat up and cupped her chin in his hand. “You’ve got some on your lips,” he said, and brushed his lips against hers. An electric shock sizzled through her body and she quickly pulled away.

              “What are you doing?” she choked out, her voice gone husky with desire.

              “It’s called kissing. Here, let me show you how it’s done.”

              She should have said no…but the next thing she knew, he was kissing her again, and she was actually kissing him back. Passionately. Her lips parted, and his tongue invaded her mouth, firm, probing, masterful.

              She felt arousal wash over her in a mighty wave, and she whimpered even as he kissed her. His other hand tangled in her hair even as he maintained his firm grip on her chin, but she felt embraced, not trapped.

              Then the rumble of an approaching engine startled them and they jerked apart.

              Marjorie pulled up in a Range Rover. With her were two beautiful young women who looked like younger versions of her, sitting in the back seat.  They had artfully streaked blonde hair that was flat-ironed and glossed to perfection.

              “Everything all right here?” she called out.

              “Fine. Why wouldn’t it be?” Sam yelled back, looking annoyed.

              “Blue said you were stranded out here, so we came to rescue you.” Marjorie flashed a quick, disapproving look at Clover, leaving no question as to what she was rescuing Sam from.

              “Rescue us from what? We’re a quarter of a mile from the house. I’m fine,” Sam said through gritted teeth.

              “We should head back,” Clover said abruptly. She quickly began putting plates back in the picnic basket, then grabbed the blanket they’d been sitting on.

              “Sam, you remember my daughters?” Marjorie’s tone went all sugary.

              “Since you’ve introduced them to me more than a dozen times, yes, I do.”

              Marjorie’s smile faded for a moment, then she pasted it back on. “Well, there’s only one seat back there, so you ride with them.”

              Sam looked unhappy but he grabbed the picnic basket and climbed in with an exasperated look on his face, settling between the two girls, who squealed excitedly like teenagers at a rock concert.  Marjorie looked expectantly at Clover, gesturing at the front passenger side door.

              “I’d rather be swarmed by bees in my human form,” Clover said, and she turned and started walking in the direction of her office.

              “Excuse me? Well, this is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about, Sam,” Marjorie said in an outraged tone. “She is simply not our kind.”

              Then she roared off in the Range Rover, spattering Clover with dirt and clods of grass.

              When Clover reached the building, Sam was nowhere in sight.  Her stomach twisted into a knot. Well, that had been fast.  Put him in between a couple of hot, rich chicks, and Clover was yesterday’s news. He hadn’t even come back to get her.

              Hurt and humiliation washed over her. Marjorie and her girls must be having a good laugh. Had they seen her kissing Sam? Probably.  So everyone would know that she was just as dumb as her younger sister.

              She glanced at her computer, then made a decision. She couldn’t stomach seeing him again today, and she could write her blog posts from home.  She hurried to her van, calling Blue to let her know that she’d be sending her the blog posts for her review, then got in the van and rumbled off the property, cursing herself the whole way.

              Stupid, stupid, stupid. Hadn’t she already been shown how well the McCoy men treated the women in her family?

              She heard a beep on her cell phone, indicating a text message, but she ignored it. She knew the ring tones of her family, and she wasn’t answering anyone else’s calls today.  She wanted some peace and quiet, so she headed to a small dirt road that she remembered from her childhood, and did her work from there before heading back to the boarding house.

              Thank God tomorrow was Saturday and she wouldn’t have to see Sam again until Monday. Her gut churned with humiliation at the thought. If he openly laughed at her, she swore to herself, she’d punch his lights out. No job was worth this level of humiliation.

              But she had to keep the job, she reminded herself uneasily. As long as her family stayed in Blue Moon Junction, she needed to be able to show that she was gainfully employed, and she really, really needed the money.