A Date For The Bear: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Bear Brides Book 2)

A
DATE FOR THE BEAR

By

Natalie Kristen

Also by NATALIE KRISTEN

Bear
Brides

A Bride For The Bear

A Date For The Bear

Billionaire
Bear Shifters Romance

Taken By The Bear

Owned By The Bear

Saved By The Bear

MISTY
VALLEY SHIFTERS

Growl
For Me

Fight
For Me

Purrfect
For Me

MATE
series

Alpha
Mate

Bear
Mate

Vampire
Mate

Wolf
Mate

Wild
Mate

Dark
Mate

Blood
Mate

NORTH
WOLVES

To
Kill A Wolf

ALPHA
GAME

Alpha
Game

Alpha
Game 2

Alpha
Game 3

DARK
erotic romance

Rapture
In The Dark

Release
In The Dark

One
Night With Death

Copyright
© 201
5
Natalie Kristen

ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED

No
part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are
used fictitiously or are the products of the author's imagination.
Any resemblance to actual locales, events, establishments or persons,
living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

About
this book

Terri Quinn has just
officiated her best friend's wedding in Moonstone Creek. After a
weekend filled with fun and booze, Terri has to return to the city
and who should offer to drive her home but the Alpha's surly, growly
cousin, Tony.

She should refuse, but
there's just something about the dark, handsome werebear that makes
her heart race and her body heat up.

Tony Jameson has sworn off
human women, but he can't seem to fight his attraction to the curvy
human spitfire. He offers to drive Terri back to the city after his
Alpha's wedding. He is just doing his cousin a favor, or so he tells
himself.

Tony is determined to drive
away and not look back after dropping Terri off at her condo.

But her screams bring him
running and roaring back to her.

Terri is in mortal danger,
and Tony may be the only one who can save her.

But one small mistake can
cost him everything.

*****

Terri Quinn walked into the
kitchen and was greeted by the delicious sight of three tall, hunky
males preparing breakfast.

“You guys didn't go
home last night?” she asked, making a beeline for the coffee
pot. She needed a big, strong cup of joe. She'd had way too much to
drink at the party last night.

The three Jameson werebears
turned to grin at her. “And a good morning to you too,”
Tony muttered.

Terri ignored him. Instead,
she directed her remarks to Brad and Dalton. “Don't tell me
you guys just crashed on the living room floor,” Terri said,
taking in their rumpled white shirts. Their shirt tails were hanging
out of their smartly tailored pants and there were wine and food
stains on their rolled up sleeves.

Brad nodded. “Yep.
Didn't see the point in going home. The wedding party ended late,
and by the time we straightened up everything and cleared up the mess
after the caterers left, it was just a few hours to dawn.”

Terri took another sip of her
coffee and grinned. “You guys just slept for a couple of
hours, and you're up cooking breakfast? Wow.”

“We aim to please,”
Tony drawled, flipping the eggs with finesse.

Dalton, Tony's elder brother
and the Beta of the Nightfire clan, shot his brother a look and
turned to Terri. “We thought we'd let the bride and groom
sleep in.” He gave her a wink and turned back to buttering the
toast.

Terri laughed. “Yeah.
Abby and Cole have been busy all night. You don't know what it's
like to be in the guest room beside the master bedroom.” Terri
gave a dramatic shudder and Brad chuckled.

“You should have come
down to join us in the living room,” Brad quipped. “We
slept on the carpet. You could have had the sofa all to yourself.
Then you wouldn't have to contend with the noise from the master
bedroom.”

“But she'd have to put
up with your snoring,” Tony snorted.

Brad scowled at his cousin
and tossed a rag at him.

Terri leaned against the
kitchen door and observed the three men laughing and joking as they
cooked. She had to admit that the Jameson men were all very
good-looking. Tall, brown-haired, tanned and rugged from working in
the sun. They were landscapers, co-owners of Nightfire Landscaping.

Her best friend, Abby, had
just gotten married to Cole Jameson last evening. Cole was the Alpha
of the Nightfire clan of bear shifters in Moonstone Creek, and
together with his cousins and younger brother, Cole had founded
Nightfire Landscaping. Terri could see that every one of the Jameson
men pulled his own weight. Dalton was Cole's Beta, and Tony and Brad
were next in the chain of command in the Nightfire clan.

The Nightfire clan was a
relatively young clan. It wasn't a very large clan, but it was
tight-knit. The entire clan had come together to make Abby and
Cole's wedding a roaring, rowdy success last evening.

Terri had gotten herself
ordained in a hurry over the internet and with her freshly printed
certificate in hand, she had made it to Moonstone Creek before
sundown to officiate her best friend's wedding. And what a wedding
it was. Wonderful, romantic and so beautiful.

Terri finished her coffee and
sighed inwardly.

Her best friend had found a
wonderful man who loved her with all his heart and soul, and she
would be staying in Moonstone Creek with her husband. Terri would
have to return to the city, alone. The weekend had been magical.
She had officiated her very first wedding, and she'd enjoyed herself
tremendously at the party last night. The wedding was held in Cole's
sprawling garden, and Cole and Abby had insisted that she take the
guest room even though she'd told them that she could easily book
herself into one of the hotels in town.

Cole hadn't extended the
invitation to his cousins and brother, but they had made themselves
at home all the same. They had just piled into Cole's living room
after the party and crashed. The rest of the clan had gone back to
their own homes in the wee hours of the morning, singing and swaying
their way down the street.

Despite the glorious mess
they were making in the kitchen, Terri found herself smiling
appreciatively and approvingly at them. It was so sweet of them to
drag their asses up after just a few hours of sleep to cook breakfast
for the newlyweds. They had to be exhausted after the rush of the
wedding preparations, but they wanted to do something nice for their
Alpha and welcome his human mate, Abby into the family. It was a
really nice touch.

Terri felt a pair of eyes on
her and looked up to see Tony Jameson leaning against the kitchen
counter and staring straight at her. Tilting up her chin, Terri met
his dark brown eyes head on, taking him on in a staring contest. It
felt childish, but she didn't want to back down.

The moment she arrived in
Moonstone Creek, Tony had looked her up and down and greeted her with
a scowl. Cole, Dalton and Brad had been courteous and hospitable,
but Tony seemed hellbent on making her stay in Moonstone Creek as
uncomfortable as possible. He had even volunteered to drive her back
to the city after the wedding, no doubt to get her out of Moonstone
Creek as soon as possible. What did he have against her?

Terri's gray eyes narrowed.
Did he despise curvy, plus-sized human women? But Abby was human and
around her size, and Tony seemed to treat his new cousin-in-law
civilly enough.

Or maybe he had something
against outspoken, successful women. Terri held a well-paying albeit
stressful job as a secretary to one of the Directors in an
advertising firm in the city. Her job required her to travel often,
and she frequently worked late, but the pay was good and it allowed
her to rent a comfy apartment in a condominium block in one of the
more peaceful neighborhoods in the city. She was independent,
headstrong, and she had a tongue that was more sarcastic than sweet.
But she had gotten along swimmingly with all the Nightfire werebears,
so what was Tony's problem?

Tony was still staring at her
with his arms folded across his broad chest.

Terri put down her empty
coffee cup and planted her hands on her generous hips. She widened
her eyes and refused to blink. She wasn't going to lose a staring
contest to a mean, conceited, grouchy werebear who didn't like her
personality.

But the funny thing was,
Terri had a feeling that they were more alike than either of them
would ever admit.

They were like magnets. Like
repelled like.

They were too similar in
temperament and character. Too headstrong, stubborn individuals
would inevitably rub each other the wrong way.

“Cut it out, Tony,”
Dalton scolded, punching his younger brother on his muscular arm.
“Stop glaring at the lady and help lay the table. Terri is a
guest and you're not being a very good host.”

Tony smirked. “I'll be
a good host if she's staying at my house.”

“Why would Terri want
to stay in your hovel?” Brad snorted, putting a large plate of
sizzling sausages on the dining table. “She's leaving today.
She has to go back to the city.”

Tony glanced at her, and
Terri could have sworn that there was a quiet, hopeful look in his
eyes. “Maybe...she'd change her mind and...stay...” Tony
said very softly. His throat moved and he seemed to be holding his
breath.

Terri's breath hitched. What
was he saying?

What was he up to?

She stared at Tony for a long
moment, her thoughts spinning and her body heating up in a most
inappropriate way.

Tony's lips twitched in a
small smile, and in that instant, something sparked between them.
Terri's heart was racing in her chest, and her brain signals seemed
to be scrambled all of a sudden. She wasn't seeing straight and
breathing right. It was as if the air around them shimmered and
shifted, and she suddenly saw Tony in a strange, new light.

As she stared at Tony, she
realized that he was actually very handsome when he wasn't scowling
and frowning. His smile transformed his features, and he looked so
much younger. He looked about her age, early thirties. His chestnut
hair was cut very short, and it accentuated his strong, chiseled
features. His shoulders and arms were nicely toned, and his pants
molded perfectly to his powerful, corded thighs. He was tall, easily
more than six and a half foot, yet he moved with an easy, languid
grace.

Terri was suddenly aware of
the heat spreading through her body. There was a flash of desire in
Tony's dark, brown eyes as he growled low. Terri gasped as a tremor
of desire coursed through her body. She bit her lip hard to stop a
whimper from escaping.

Was Tony...attracted to her?
Did he hunger for her?

Well, if he wanted her, he
could have approached her, chatted her up, flirted with her,
and...well, she wasn't a prude.

She wouldn't have said no to
having some no-strings-attached fun. It would have added some spice
to her trip.