The Bear Comes Home For Christmas: BBW Paranormal Romance Read online

  “Well… I suppose something good has come out of it then,” Leeane said, sounding relieved. “You know I never thought he was good enough for you.”

  Hazel smiled. “I only wish I’d listened to you sooner. I feel like a complete idiot, now.”

  “Put it behind you, Hazel,” Leeane said. “He’s not worth the time to even think about. But…” she trailed off, as if another thought had suddenly struck her. “That doesn't mean you’ll be alone on Christmas, does it?”

  Hazel sighed. For the few brief, shining hours she’d spent with Del, she’d honestly thought she wouldn’t be. But that had been before… well, before the bear incident.

  “I’m not sure,” she said. “I… thought that maybe… for a little while…”

  “Yes?” Leeane said, encouragingly.

  Hazel sighed again. It was no good. She just couldn’t keep herself from talking about Del. “I met someone. Someone I thought I’d really connected with.”

  Leeane laughed. “My goodness, you do work fast!”

  The urge to contradict her rose in Hazel’s chest. You don’t understand! she wanted to say – the connection between her and Del hadn’t been something ordinary or everyday, like chatting with someone at a bar and finding he made you laugh. What she had with Del, brief as their time together was, had been like a line, connecting her heart to his. The moment she’d opened her eyes and saw him she had felt it tugging in her chest, telling her that he was special.

  That he was the one.

  She shook her head to clear it.

  “No, no, it wasn’t like that,” she insisted. “It wasn’t the usual story, you know, we got talking and thought we had a few things in common. This was… well…”

  Leeane laughed. “Maybe you’d better tell me the full story.”

  So Hazel did. About how she’d been determined not to have her Christmas ruined by Charlie. How she’d stupidly got into the car and tried to drive to the cabin in the middle of a snowstorm. How she’d run off the road and found her way to Del’s cabin, only to fall asleep, exhausted, on his couch.

  And how she’d woken up to find him looking down at her, a look of infinite surprise and tenderness in his eyes.

  “Well, you’re right, he certainly does sound divine,” Leeane said cautiously. “But… if everything’s so wonderful, why aren’t you overflowing with joy at this Christmas miracle?

  Hazel bit her lip, wondering how she could explain.

  “Did he tell you he’s the kind of man who just can’t stay loyal to one woman, or something like that?” Leeane asked before she could get a word out.

  “No!” Hazel, said, a little more forcefully than she’d meant it to. But Del hadn’t said anything even slightly like that.

  Just the opposite, in fact, she thought. She recalled Del’s words: You’re my mate, Hazel. The one I’m meant to be with.

  They had freaked her out, at the time. The idea that she could be anyone’s destined anything. Things with Charlie had been so miserable that she wasn’t sure she could stand the idea of jumping into anything long-term again so quickly.

  But if it was with Del…

  Leeane was silent on the other end of the phone. She was clearly waiting patiently for Hazel to tell her what had happened, in her own time.

  “I just… I think I got my hopes up a little too quickly,” she said. “After all, I barely knew him.”

  Barely. Ha, ha.

  If Hazel had been in the mood to laugh, she might have had a little giggle at her unintended pun.

  “I shouldn’t even care so much. After all, how long did we know each other? Only a day,” she said.

  “But I can tell you’re still sad about it, all the same,” Leeane said. “We can’t control our emotions. We feel what we feel.”

  Leeane’s voice was quiet and steady. Hazel knew she was right.

  “Any chance at all you could tell me what he did to suddenly make you not so sure about him?”

  Hazel pulled in a deep breath. “It turned out that… he had a secret.”

  “Ohhh.” Hazel could practically see Leeane nodding knowingly. “He was gay. Don’t worry, sweetheart. All the best ones are.”

  Hazel frowned. “No, no, I’m sure he’s straight. I mean… he made it clear he was very interested in me.”

  She shivered involuntarily at the memory of how he’d made her feel in the car. It had been… incredible. And he’d obviously been so into her…

  “Then what?” Leeane’s voice interrupted the drift of her thoughts. “He has a secret criminal past as a drug runner? He’s a mafia hitman on the run?”

  “No, no!” Hazel could feel her head spinning. “No, nothing like that. In fact, he has his own IT company – and he donates to the Soper Resource Center. He told me himself.”

  “He donates to us?” Leeane sounded surprised. “Well, that doesn’t sound like something that would put you off. The opposite, in fact.”

  Hazel gripped her phone hard. Again, it was hard to argue with that. Del had been nothing but kind and sweet and courteous to her. He’d told her he understood their work and appreciated it – and he’d donated money to help them do it.

  When she’d asked him to help her get to her own cabin, he hadn’t even tried to talk her out of it. He could’ve been angry, or tried to argue with her. But he’d been nothing but the perfect gentleman, from start to finish.

  “Yes… yes, I suppose you’re right,” Hazel said. “The secret is… I mean, it’s not that he’s gay, or married, or on the run from the law. It’s…”

  She trailed off. She wasn’t quite ready to try to explain it. But now that Leeane had laid out all the things that Del could possibly have turned out to be, being able to turn into a bear just didn’t seem so bad after all. In fact, it had been very handy when the other bear had shown up and started sniffing around. He’d been able to protect her from a threat that no ordinary man could have stood up to.

  Del had saved her. And he’d seemed horrified at the thought that she was frightened of him.

  Am I, though? Hazel wondered. Now that the shock of what she’d seen had worn off, she realized that perhaps she’d been hasty.

  Is being the mate of a bear really such a bad thing after all? He’s kind. He’s strong. He’s compassionate. And he said I was the only one for him.

  And he’d really wanted to tell her about himself – to explain it before they got in too deep with each other. In all the shock of what had happened, she’d forgotten that before the bear arrived he’d been struggling to find the words to explain.

  He hadn’t wanted them to take the next step before she knew about him. He had been trying to explain, but she’d talked over the top of him, and told him it could wait.

  And then she’d walked away.

  “Hazel?” Leeane’s voice jerked her out of the reverie she’d drifted into.

  Hazel swallowed past the lump that had suddenly risen in her throat. “I’m here.” She paused. “Leeane, I’ve got to go. I think you’re right – and I’ve been very silly. I think I need to go put it right, as soon as I can.”

  “Well, I’m glad I could help you get your thoughts together,” laughed Leeane. “If that’s in fact what I did.”

  “You did,” Hazel reassured her warmly. “You helped more than I can tell you. But now, I better run. I don’t want to leave it any longer!”

  “Good luck!” Leeane called down the phone, just before Hazel hung up.

  Chapter Eight

  Del sat slumped on his couch, his heartbeat feeling heavy in his chest. He’d watched the sunrise, the thick clouds turning from deep purple to pink to brilliant gold the higher the sun rose in the sky. At least it was unlikely to snow again anytime soon – not that he really minded if it did. Snow might’ve suited his mood better, in fact.

  He honestly didn’t remember the last time he’d felt so low.

  It had been a long time since he’d given himself the time to feel anything, in fact. He’d worked so hard over the past few y
ears that he’d just put his emotions to one side, telling himself he could always think about things like that later. After he’d signed and sealed this contract. Then the next one. Then the next one. And the next one after that.

  Del sighed. It all seemed so… pointless, now.

  Yes, he’d had success. But beyond wanting to live comfortably and provide for his mother – and his mate, if he ever met her – he had no desire for more money. He was ambitious, it was true. But without a mate to share it with, it was nothing but an illusion.

  And now, just as he’d finally found the mate he’d wished for all his life, he might’ve let her slip through his fingers.

  All because he hadn’t been brave enough to tell her the truth about himself right away.

  What a joke!

  He was a huge grizzly bear, and owner of a successful tech company. Other animals feared him, and the humans he worked with liked and respected him. He knew he could work hard and get results.

  But when it had come to the one thing that really mattered, he’d failed.

  Del sighed again, before slowly getting to his feet. He’d sat in the same place on the couch all night, feeling listless and sad. The darkness had closed around the cabin like a fist, but he hadn’t been able to make himself get up. The pain was just too deep.

  He wondered if perhaps all of this might be easier to deal with as a bear. The animal was disconsolately pacing in his chest at the moment, unable to understand where its mate’s warm presence had gone.

  It would still hurt as a bear, but perhaps his thoughts wouldn’t be so jumbled. He could simply lose himself in the bear’s senses, and wander alone in the forest, listening to the early morning sounds all around him.

  Stretching, Del was just in the process of lifting his shirt up over his head, when his sensitive shifter ears alerted him to the sound of feet crunching on freshly plowed snow. Curious, Del turned in the direction of the sound – only for the sweet, clean smell of summer rain and peaches and cream to hit his nose.

  For a moment, Del couldn’t quite bring himself to believe it.

  Could it be…?

  He stood stock-still, hardly daring to breathe in case in the next moment, it was all revealed to be a dream.

  But no – the sounds of the footsteps grew louder, and the smell stronger. And now, Del could tell it was mixed with something else… something sweet.

  There was a quiet knock on the door. Del almost tripped over his own feet in his hurry to cross the living room and open it.

  Hazel stood on the other side, a sheepish smile on her face, and a box in her hands. For a long moment, Del couldn’t do anything but stare at her, overcome. His bear stood up, prancing joyously.

  Our mate! She’s back! Our mate!

  “I… I wanted to say I’m sorry,” Hazel said, her words coming out in a rush. “For what I did. And what I said. It wasn’t right.”

  His heart in his throat, Del couldn’t quite find the words to answer.

  Hazel bit her bottom lip in that adorable way she had, lifting the box in her hands a little higher.

  “I brought this as a peace offering. Store-bought, I’m afraid, but I read somewhere that bears like sweet things. It’s cherry – I thought we might be able to eat it together?”

  “Of course,” Del said, finally finding his voice. “I’d love to. I’d love nothing better.”

  Hazel smiled, seeming relieved. Del stepped back to make room for her to enter the cabin, and she crossed the floor, putting the pie down on the counter.

  “I’ll warm it up right now,” she said. “I even brought some ice cream, if you’d like it.”

  “I’d love it,” Del said. A thousand questions were chasing themselves through his mind. Well – perhaps a thousand was a little bit of an exaggeration. And in any case, there was only one that mattered: Why?

  “What made you decide to come back?” Del asked, as Hazel leaned over to turn the dial on the oven, then stood to begin unboxing the pie.

  Hazel looked at him, the same sheepish smile flashing across her lips.

  “I realized… I realized that I’d been way too quick to cast judgment,” she said. “It’s one of the things we’re specifically trained not to do at work – to judge people too quickly or too harshly. But I still did it to you. Even after you’d been so kind to me. And on Christmas!”

  Del swallowed. “It’s understandable. I mean… this isn’t your usual type of issue. It wasn’t as if I… I don’t know, forgot flowers on your birthday, or something like that.”

  Hazel laughed, her dark eyes flashing. “All right, that might be true! But you did try to tell me. I just wouldn’t listen.”

  “I think you’re being a bit too harsh on yourself, now,” Del said. “I seem to recall there was another distraction before I got very far.”

  Smiling, Hazel nodded. “Point taken. Perhaps we can just agree we’re both to blame, and put it behind us?”

  Del felt a surge of joy in his heart. “You really mean that?”

  “I really do.”

  Laughing, Del crossed the room in two paces, wrapping her up in his arms and lifting her off the ground. Unable to resist, he twirled her around, uncaring of the tiny confines of the cabin.

  Hazel laughed breathlessly, looking up into his face.

  “Wow,” she said, her cheeks flushed. “I’ve never had a guy do that to me before.”

  “I’m sorry,” Del said, putting her down. “I just… couldn’t help myself. You’re just so perfect. I feel like I’m walking on air whenever I’m around you – I guess I just wanted to share the feeling.”

  “Well, mission accomplished,” Hazel said. Her head was thrown back, looking up into his eyes. And then, slowly, she stood up on tip-toes, reaching for his mouth.

  Del lowered his head to hers, kissing her, sweet and deep and slow.

  When they broke apart, Hazel had a serious expression in her eyes.

  “I feel like this has all been a whirlwind,” she said. “I mean, we’ve only known each other for a day. Everything’s happening so fast.”

  Del nodded. “I know. I understand entirely. And if you want to take things slow…”

  Hazel shook her head. “No. I mean… we still need to get to know each other properly. But I’m game if you are. I’m not going to run away again. I promise.”

  Twining her dark blonde tresses through his fingers, Del looked down into her deep brown eyes. “I know. I feel like we still have so much to learn about each other. But one thing I do know is that you’re my mate. And if that’s true, then we can make anything work.”

  Hazel smiled. “Your mate,” she said slowly, as if she was trying the words on for size. “That sounds…”

  “I know, it’s a little primitive,” Del said, feeling a bit sheepish.

  “I was going to say hot,” Hazel said, a wicked grin on her lips. “Sure, it’s primitive – but in a good way.”

  Del burst out laughing. “Well, when you say it like that…”

  And then, they were kissing again, their lips pressed together, their tongues entangled. Hazel’s fingers ran up beneath his shirt, tracing over his sides, digging into the muscles of his back. Del cupped the back of her head, his other hand sliding over the bountiful arch of her hip.

  Del wasn’t sure how long they stood together like that, touching, kissing, breathing in each other’s scents. He barely heard the ding! of the oven timer as it went off – he’d forgotten all about the proffered peace offering of cherry pie. Thankfully, Hazel seemed to have more of her wits in order than he did.

  She pulled back a little. Her lips were rosy and swollen, her eyes dark with desire.

  “Let me just go put that on a plate,” she said. “And then… well, we’ll see.”

  Del could only grin, his eyes fixed firmly on the beautiful curve of her ass as she turned and walked away from him.

  ***

  They ate the pie as they sat together in front of the small log fire in the cabin’s living room.

>   Del had drawn the thick curtains and turned down the lights, so the only illumination in the room was the soft orange glow of the fire, flickering and dancing over the deep shadows of the room.

  The pie wasn’t too bad at all, considering it was store-bought – though Hazel had to admit she’d never been much of a cook, so this was what she was used to.

  “I hope it’s up to your standards, Mr. Corporate Businessman,” she teased, before popping another forkful of pie into her mouth.

  “It’s perfect,” Del laughed. “Honestly, I don’t get much time to eat home-cooked meals. Usually it’s just takeout at my desk. So believe me, this is heaven.”

  Hazel realized she must’ve been hungrier than she thought. Perhaps pie wasn’t an ideal part of a complete breakfast, but right now, she couldn’t bring herself to care.

  “Hey, you have a little something on your face,” Del said, his voice warm.

  “Where?” Hazel popped her tongue out between her lips, searching for pie on the corners of her mouth.

  Del’s smile was both indulgent – and filled with desire.

  “Here.” He stretched out an arm, his thumb running over the side of her chin. A moment later it slid against her lips, and she opened them eagerly, drawing it inside. Del shivered as she ran her tongue over the pad of his thumb, tasting the sweetness of the pie, as well as the slight tang of his skin.

  It was delicious.

  “You keep doing that and this whole thing is going to go to waste,” Del said, gesturing at the remaining pie, his voice throbbing low in his throat.

  Hazel smiled around his thumb, before pulling back and pressing a kiss to his hand. “All right. But only because I hate wasting food!”

  When at last they had both finished scraping their plates clean, they sat back beneath the warm glow of the fire, basking in the flames, feeling totally satiated.

  Leaning over, she captured his lips with hers. They were already sitting so close together that she barely had to move – his mouth was open and hungry, his tongue seeking hers.