Hero Bear: BBW Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance (2 page)

“Some, when I was in the hospital. Seemed silly to me.”

“Did it help?”

He shrugged. Yep, definitely one of Marty’s clients. “Silly or not, how about you humor me and we try some today, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am, you’re the boss.”

They started out with stretches, and it was pure hell. Normally she’d help when necessary, guiding to correct alignment, leaning in to help a client extend the stretch, but it turned out, professional or no, touching Caleb at all set off every nerve in her body. She couldn’t assess the range of motion he had in his tree-trunk thighs without imagining what they looked like under his sweatpants. Helping him flex his hips? Lord, she’d need a cold shower. Michaela was sure he knew exactly what she was thinking, and she was horrified at herself. He grew more and more taciturn with each exercise, and she just knew she was going to wind up the day by getting fired for inappropriate conduct. And she could not afford to lose another job, not now.

By the time they got to the mirror work, her face was hot and misery sat in her gut, warring with the butterflies. The skepticism on his face didn’t help matters any. She helped him position the floor-length wall mirror between his thighs (
don’t think about it, don’t think about it
) and walked him through a series of exercises with his good right foot. The mirror reflected a whole left foot as well, the stump hidden behind the mirror. For cases of phantom pain, tricking the brain into seeing a whole limb go through a series of motions helped relieve pain, as if Caleb were actually stretching and rotating a real left foot.

“You know, you can do this at home.” Michaela tried desperately to restore some level of professionalism. “Pretty sure this mirror was ten bucks at Wal-Mart, so it’s not specialized equipment or anything. I’ll give you a handout to take home with the exercises we’ve done.”

He grunted, staring at the reflection of his right foot. Oh god, he wouldn’t even look at her now. What was she going to do? Fired on her first day— that had to be some sort of record.

Finally the session came to an end, and Michaela gave him the papers she’d promised. Their hands brushed as he took them from her, and he visibly jumped. He
flinched
from her; could she blame him? She’d practically been drooling over him for the last hour. If she were a man, he’d have had to deal with seeing an obvious erection.

To her surprise, he didn’t stop in Dottie’s office on his way out the door to get her fired, but flew out of there like a demon was on his tail.

Way to go, Michaela Jane.

Chapter Two

Caleb barely knew where he was until he was sitting in his truck with his keys still in his hand. Rather than put them in the ignition, he rested his head on the steering wheel and tried to collect his thoughts. The moment he’d walked into the clinic, he’d known something big was about to happen. For the first time in months, his inner bear had lifted its head and scented the air. Then he’d seen her. Brown hair and green eyes and with the exact sort of curvy body that had been getting his attention since he was old enough to notice girls at all. Her voice was like honey straight out of the comb, and when they’d shaken hands, he thought he was going to jump out of his skin.

He couldn’t help it, he just shut down. He wanted to talk to her, to charm her, make her laugh, but he couldn’t string two words together. No wait, he had. “Yes, ma’am,” he’d said once. Idiot. She probably thought he was self-absorbed, or a jerk, or one of those Marines who tried to be the strong and silent type.

He hadn’t been this rattled by a girl since he was twelve. What did it mean, his bear suddenly sitting up and paying attention? Since the IED took his leg, Caleb hadn’t felt any hint of his companion. He’d started to think maybe that part of him was gone forever. It wasn’t like he could ask around and see if anybody else had ever heard of a shifter losing their animal. Dalton was the only one who knew. He got enough pity from everybody in town; he couldn’t take it if the tiny community of shifter folk started feeling sorry for him too.

A rap on his window startled him out of his reverie. Dottie, the clinic manager, stood out there, so he rolled down his window.

“You all right, Caleb? I was just coming back from getting coffee and saw you sittin’ here.”

“Yeah, it’s all good. Your new girl in there wore me out, is all.” He could smile at
her
, that wasn’t a problem. Dottie was old enough to be his mom.

“She’s good, ain’t she? I don’t know why she decided to come out to ass-end of nowhere, but I’m glad she did, we needed an extra pair of hands.” Dottie waved a finger at him. “Don’t you go getting any ideas. Marty’d kill me if I let you switch therapists. Don’t tell anybody I told you, but you’re his golden boy.”

Caleb ducked his head. Marty had done good by him. It was thanks to him that Caleb had adjusted as well as he had. Marty had worked Caleb’s ass off in the first months he’d come home, and as a result, Caleb was almost as strong as he’d been before the IED. “Nah, I wouldn’t do Marty like that. He doing all right?”

“He’s fine. Sick kid. You sure you’re doing okay?” Dottie peered at him with the practiced gaze of a small town busybody.

“I’m fine.” He grinned. “Go on, shoo. You’ve got other chicks to look after, and I gotta get going.” To prove his point, he finally put his keys in the ignition and started up the engine.

“All right. You take care.” She waved him off as he pulled out of the parking space.

His mind was clearer, but he was halfway up to the holler before he remembered:
Smithson’s.
He needed to stop by and see about a job. Just as well, he wasn’t thinking too clear about that either, thinking he was going to go job hunting in sweatpants and a t-shirt. He’d run home and change, then come back.

An hour later, after a quick shower and shave and letting Lucille run in the backyard, Caleb was back on the road headed back to the Smithson store. He got there during an afternoon lull. There were just a few shoppers wandering up and down the aisles. Smithson’s maybe wasn’t the fanciest grocery store, but the prices were fair and it was Smithson’s or drive twenty minutes down Route 5 to find a Piggly Wiggly. Caleb straightened his shirt and went to the door marked “Office” in silver hardware store letters and knocked.

Old Man Smithson himself opened the door, and Caleb fought the urge to stand at attention. “Afternoon, Mr. Smithson. I don’t know if you know me, I’m Caleb Bentley, Mattie and Sam Bentley’s boy.”

“‘Course I know who you are,” Smithson said, and caught Caleb’s hand in a fierce handshake. “You think I don’t know the town hero when I see one? Come on in, what can I do for you?”

Caleb kept the smile on his face, but it took some doing. Town hero. He was just a dumb kid who made a stupid mistake and got his leg blown off. He was damned lucky to be alive, and he sure as hell was no hero. This was going to be harder than he thought. He let Smithson usher him into the office and sit him down. “Well, sir, I saw you had a Help Wanted sign out front and wanted to see about a job application.”

“Aw, you don’t want that, son. It’s a cashier job. Man like you can do a helluva lot better than that!”

“A job’s a job. I learned real quick not to think I was too good to do anything.”
Keep on smiling.
“I’d be much obliged if you’d let me go ahead and apply.”

Smithson paused, but pulled a form out of a folder on his desk. “You’re welcome to apply, of course. You know you’d be on your feet all day—” He grimaced, catching himself. “I mean—”

Caleb took the application. “They’re both mine and they’re both feet.” He wasn’t going to sit here and let the pity party get started. “Left one’s probably tougher than my right, these days.” He stood up and offered his hand again. “I appreciate it, Mr. Smithson. I’ll have this back to you in no time.”

“All right.” They shook hands again. “A pleasure to see you, Caleb. We were real sorry to hear about your momma.”

“She’s in a better place now.” Stock phrases came easy, and he could say them without thinking. He escaped the office, and slipped out of the store before anybody else could speak to him.

Michaela managed to make it through the rest of her day without making a fool of herself over another client. She got into her apartment without running into Miss Harvelle, and slouched back against her door. She’d seen Caleb and Dottie talking out in the parking lot before he drove off. Had he told her what happened? If he had, Dottie didn’t show any sign of it. Dottie wasn’t the type to mince words. If she was mad, Michaela would know.

She changed out of her work clothes and started putting together a simple supper. She’d never been much good in the kitchen, and left to herself, would have lived on frozen dinners if it weren’t for the new stream of vegetables from Miss Harvelle’s garden. After dinner, she settled in at her computer to make her usual rounds of email and Facebook. In her email was a note from Brenda. All it said was, “
Girl, CALL ME.
”

Knowing Brenda, it could be anything from a world-class tragedy to meeting a new guy at the gym, but Michaela dutifully dialed her number.

“What took you so long?” Brenda answered the phone. “Girlfriend, you won’t believe it. We are falling apart without you here. The receptionist and two more therapists quit today.” Michaela had worked beside Brenda at Silverwood for two years, and they’d been instant friends. Brenda was the one real thing she felt bad about leaving behind in Louisville.

“You’re kidding.” Michaela flopped on her couch, settling into gossip mode. “What happened?”

“Well. Everybody already thought the way you got treated was shady as hell, so the whole place was already on edge.” Brenda paused to take a dramatic breath. “But then today Reuben decided that not only were we going to be open on weekends and that everybody had to work them, but he told us that after the ‘discrepancies’ he’d found in the billing, he was going to be going over everybody’s paperwork with a fine-toothed comb.”

Michaela winced. “That sounds like him. Did he actually say he’d found discrepancies?”
More importantly, did he say they were mine?

“He did, the smug son of a bitch.” Brenda snorted. “You know nobody believes him.”

“Oh, I’m sure a few people do.”

“I don’t know what we’re going to do. He never got around to replacing you, either, so we’re down a quarter of the staff
and
we’re working on Saturdays. I think you got the better end of the bargain.” One of the great things about Brenda: she was fiercely loyal. “How’s it going out there in Hooterville?”

“Okay. I started my new job today, and managed to make a jackass of myself.”

“I know you. Whatever you think you did, I bet nobody noticed.”

“He noticed, all right. Bren, have you ever been attracted to a client before?” She was almost afraid to ask, but she had to tell somebody.

“Ooh-wee, don’t tell me, did Miss Stoneface finally crack?” Brenda sounded too gleeful. “You’re in the middle of nowhere, how hot could this guy have been? Are you dropping your standards already, girl?”

“Marine,” Michaela said. “Tall. Built. Blond hair and blue eyes. You tell me if that sounds like a drop in standards.” She sighed. “No, he’s so far out of my league I don’t even think we’re playing the same sport. But I practically threw myself at him,
while
I was working, ugh.”

“What’d he say?” Brenda sounded both delighted and scandalized. “Did you grope him on the table? Ask for his number? Spill!”

“It’s not funny!” That didn’t stop Michaela from cracking a smile. “He didn’t say anything, like, at all. I think he was horrified.”

“Nah, if he’s all that, he’s probably used to women losing their cool. Probably expects it, if he’s like the Marines I know.”

“I just— what if he tells my boss?” With Brenda, Michaela could voice her worst fears. “I can’t get fired again.”

“You’re not gonna get fired. And anybody with half a brain could figure out what Reuben did doesn’t count either.” Brenda got more serious. “I mean it. You can’t start looking over your shoulder every time you think you made a mistake, ’Chaela. You’ll drive yourself crazy.”

She was right, but that didn’t make it any easier. “I think I’m already there.”

“Well, look at it this way, at least you aren’t going to have to start working on Saturdays.” Brenda changed the subject. “So when are you going to invite me out to see your new place?”

“I dunno, if you’re going to be working all these weekends, when are you going to have time to come down?” Michaela teased. “Besides, I thought you weren’t interested in Hooterville.”

“That was before you told me Hooterville was crawling with sexy Marines.” Brenda laughed.

Michaela laughed with her. “I think they like to keep it quiet, so they don’t get overrun with big city girls.”

“Lucky for me, I’ve got someone on the inside. Let me double-check to see when this weekend shit starts and we’ll figure something out.” She paused. “Other than being needlessly worried about your job, you like it okay there?”

Michaela thought about it, considering any number of answers, and settled on the truth. “It’s okay. It’s kind of... cozy. The mountains are everywhere. And wait until you meet my neighbor. First thing she’s gonna tell you is that you’re too skinny. And then she’ll try to feed you.”

“Can’t wait. ’Chaela, try not to worry so much, okay? It’s gonna be fine.”