Bear It All: A Werebear Paranormal Erotic Romance (2 page)

“Sorry, I’m on duty tonight, Rosie...” Taylor hoped like hell that was the woman’s name. It wasn’t like it was the first time he would have gotten a name wrong though.

“It’s Rebecca, but that’s never stopped you before. Can’t you come over on your break?”

“Not tonight, Rebecca.” Taylor waited until she had stopped complaining before hanging up the phone. The only person he was interested in pursuing at the moment was Gemma and he would have her in his bed, no matter how long it took him to get her there.

The radio bleeped angrily in his patrol car and he pushed the button, allowing it to convert to a hands-free device.

“Officer Arrowsmith.”

“Mr. Roberts is passed out on the sidewalk by Angels again,” sighed Betsy, the phone operator.

“I’m on my way,” said Taylor, as he pushed the button for the radio to turn off before heading towards the local gentleman’s club.

While there weren’t many people who used the club, it was there for girls to practice how to use a pole. The women were only allowed to strip after one o’clock in the morning, per a law set by the mayor.

As he pulled up outside of Angels, he couldn’t help but sigh. It was the fourth time this week that the station had had to pick up old Mr. Roberts. Each time he was either passed out or drinking the illegal shifter drink. Taylor stepped from his car and immediately saw the old man on the sidewalk.

He bent down and shook Mr. Roberts by the shoulder, as he said, “Mr Roberts, come on. It’s time to wake up.”

As with every other time this happened, Mr. Roberts groaned, rolled onto his side, vomited on the pavement, and opened his eyes to glare at him. Taylor heaved him up by the wrist and tossed him in the back of the car. He knew from experience that if he wasn’t forced into the patrol car, the old man could become irritable and change.

“Is it illegal to drink now?” Mr. Roberts spat out.

“It’s illegal to drink
Whack.
You know that by now.”

Whack
was the only alcoholic drink in the world that could get a shifter drunk. It didn’t taste good, it tasted like pure gasoline, but shifters still depended on the liquid to get drunk. The drink severely damaged a shifter’s body though. If a shifter consumed too much of the concoction, then their body would start deteriorating. Plus, they wouldn’t be able to move because their body would be too busy trying to heal itself.

“It’s just a little drink.”

“Are your fingers numb?”

“No.”

“Can you raise your right arm?”

“Yeah.” Mr. Rogers threw his arm up in the air and flopped back into the patrol car’s seat with a silly grin on his drunken face.

“Let’s just let you sleep this off, Mr. Rogers.” Taylor drove him back to the station, booked him, and helped him onto the cot that was in the cell. While he was a drunk, he wasn’t a horrible drunk. He had just lost his wife of fifty years and took to drinking, so the town tried to make sure he was okay as often as they could.

“Poor man, I couldn’t imagine losing Harvey” said Betsy, as she placed a hand over her chest and a single tear rolled down her cheek.

“Harvey is perfectly healthy right now, Betsy.”

“I know. Why are you not out with a woman, Taylor?” Betsy asked, as she took a sip of her coffee. Taylor hopped up to sit on the counter next to her.

“I’ve already slept with all the women in this town and I don’t want them anymore.”

“So you’ve slept with them once and are now ditching them all?”

“I told them that’s how it would be before I slept with them.”

“As long as the women know where they stand, Taylor.”

“What do you know about the new schoolteacher?”

“Gemma? She moved here a little over two weeks ago. Apparently, she was thrown from her last three homes, once the towns found out what she was. You’re not trying to sleep with this young woman are you?”

“I tried to, but she wasn’t having any of it. She says she wants to be wined and dined, but I’ve never done that. I’m more of a player than a person to date.”

“Well, if you really want to get Gemma in your bed you need to show her that you’re different. Prove to her that you’re a good man.” Betsy reached over and patted his knee, her wrinkled face screwing up into a smile.

“I’ll give it a go, Betsy.” Taylor kissed her cheek before heading back out the police car. He still had eight hours on the clock and he was hoping in that time he would be able to think of a way to show Gemma that he was a good man.

****

Gemma lifted her bags from the car and hoisted them over her shoulder the next morning. It was her first day teaching the older children. While she was nervous, she was also excited to try something new. She’d never taught teenagers, but was told that they were an easy bunch.

“Gemma!”

Gemma turned and squinted into the bright morning sunlight to see Taylor standing off to one side, a bag in his left hand.

“What are you doing here?”

“I bought you breakfast.” Taylor jogged across the parking lot and opened the bag, a smirk on his face. Gemma peaked into the bag and smiled back up at him before motioning with her head for him to follow her. Once they were both in the staff room, they sat down on the sofa and Gemma pulled a bear claw doughnut from the bag, licking her lips happily.

“Why bring me breakfast?” Gemma asked, as she took a bite of the sticky, sweet pastry.

“I thought you might be hungry. I could hear your stomach growling yesterday afternoon.” Taylor grinned before stuffing a whole donut in his mouth and winking at her. Gemma couldn’t help but laugh at the childish action.

Once Taylor swallowed the doughnut, he took a sip of his coffee and cleared his throat. “Let me take you out to dinner.”

“I knew there was an ulterior motive behind breakfast.”

“Not really. If you say no, then I’ll bring you breakfast tomorrow, too.”  Taylor shrugged and reclined on the chair, his coffee cup held loosely in between his fingers.

“Why are you interested in me?”

“You’re new in town and I want to show you around. Am I not allowed to be friendly?”

“You admitted that you want to sleep with me.”

“I still want to show you the town. Allow me to do that and I promise I will make no advances on you unless you allow it.” Taylor placed the cup on the table before scribbling his number down on a piece of paper and handing it to her.

“If you decide you want to see the town, then call me. If not, I’ll see you tomorrow morning with breakfast.” Taylor stood up, tossed the trash away, and left the school building a few moments before the rest of the staff headed into the staff room.

Gemma must have looked at that piece of paper at least thirty times that day. She contemplated whether she was going to take Taylor up on his offer or see if he would actually deliver her breakfast tomorrow morning.

“Miss Drake? I need your help.” Gemma snapped out of her haze and turned back to the classroom. She was expecting the teenagers to be grumpy or hard to deal with, but they kept their heads down and studied quietly.

“What’s wrong?” Gemma knelt beside a red-headed teenage girl and rested her arms on the table.

“We are studying history and I need to know about the Battle of Hastings.”

“Well, if you go to the library, I know there are plenty of books about Hastings. Tell Miss Everton that you’re bringing a book back to my classroom and she’ll allow you to leave the library with it.” Gemma stood up and watched the young girl rush from the room.

“Miss Drake?”

“Coming,” she responded.

Gemma’s day was crazy and hectic. She barely had a chance to sit down and was happy when the school day was over. She decided that she wasn’t going to call Taylor, but she would see if he would bring her breakfast tomorrow like he said. If he did, then she would take him up on his offer. Gemma slumped into bed with a groan.

****

“I got you more bear claws,” Taylor said, as he leaned against the gates at the school, chewing gum.

“I didn’t think you’d be here,” said Gemma, as she shrugged at him and headed inside the big building, knowing that he would follow. Once they’d both settled on the sofa with coffees, Gemma knew she should approach the subject; but, Taylor beat her to it.

“Look, I understand you don’t want to jump straight in my bed and I respect that. I want to take you out though. Even if we don’t touch the entire time, it would still be a pleasure to have you in my company.”

“But why?”

“You seem like an amazing person. I’d like to get to know you better, if you would like to?”

“One date. I’ll give you one date and if you’re lying about trying to get me into your bed, then I don’t want to see you around here again, understood?” Gemma took a sip of her coffee, as Taylor pondered over the deal.

“I would love for you to be in my bed, but it isn’t important. Shall I pick you up tonight? You don’t have to work tomorrow, do you?”

“It’s Saturday, the only work I have to do is grade papers.” Gemma cleared away the mess that they made before she turned back to Taylor.

“Well, then I’ll pick you up this evening. Be ready around seven, Gemma.” Taylor took her hand in his and placed a gentle kiss on the back of it. Then, he exited the room with a grin on his face.

“That Taylor is a player, you know that right?” Gemma turned from watching Taylor walk from the building and came face-to-face with a young female teacher. She hadn’t quite memorized the names of all of the members of the faculty yet, but there was something about the way the women spoke about Taylor that made her think she personally knew him.

“How do you know?”

“Because he’s slept with every available shifter in town, I included.”

“And you are?”

“The name is Rebecca.”

“I told him that I wouldn’t sleep with him, so I’m not sure why he is still bothering.” Gemma sat back down on the sofa and flipped through her lesson plans. She had the younger children for the first half of the day and the older children for the rest of the day.

“Yeah, he turned me down the other night when I called him. I was wondering what was keeping him away.” Rebecca frowned and sat opposite Gemma on the sofa.

“I wasn’t with him the other night. I haven’t been out with him, yet.”

“Then, you must have really made an impression on him, especially if he’s not wanting to get his rocks off right away.” Rebecca tilted her head to the side and pouted.

“Maybe he doesn’t like desperation,” responded Gemma, as she smiled at Rebecca, picked up her stuff, and left the staff room. She couldn’t help it but feel satisfied with the look of shock that was plastered over Rebecca’s dark face.

Once safely in her classroom, the class was already seated and waiting for her. “Kids, I want you to each take a cup and follow me outside,” Gemma instructed. She watched as all the children followed her orders, smiles spread across their young faces. Today she had decided to teach the children about the different type of bugs in the playground.

They seemed to have a great time and the rest of her day went quickly. Although she was excited about the upcoming evening, she was also nervous that Taylor would try and seduce her into his bed, like he had done with all the other available shifters.