Second Chance Bear and a Baby: BBW Bear Shifter Baby Paranormal Romance (Who's the Daddy? Book 3) Read online

  “Of course,” he said and tilted his head back, taking the shot in one gulp, not even noticing the taste, just waiting for the buzz to hit his brain.

  “You should go in and I’ll bring your food to your table. I hope your buddies don’t mind if it’s stood for a couple of minutes while I’ve been out here.”

  He turned to hand her the glass and their eyes locked. A sense of knowing swept over him, the fog in his mind lifted, but he was even more confused. His memories of the woman he’d lost, the mate he’d lost, began to shift to the back of his mind and he felt a rush of panic, because he didn’t want to lose them. They were all he had left of his mate.

  But this woman in front of him was his mate. The sensation hit him squarely in the chest. His heart seemed to swell, blossoming. Breaking out from the shriveled shell it had become. It was impossible: no shifter had two mates. Yet the need for her was so strong, so undeniable, he knew he could not fight it, in the same way he had been unable to fight the huge gaping loss of Louisa.

  Poor Louisa. His heart stuttered and threatened to implode. Louisa was the one his heart belonged to.

  “Are you OK?” Carla asked, placing a hand on his arm. A shot of electricity went through him. She had the touch of his mate. It was a recognition that went deeper than emotions, than his senses even. It was a knowing that permeated his soul.

  “I… I’m not sure,” he said.

  A weight seemed to lift, and for the first time since he lost Louisa, he felt hope. Hope that he had a life to look forward to. He no longer wanted to fade away into nothingness in the hope he would be with her again. His life was with the living, not the dead.

  “Let’s get you inside. I shouldn’t have given you that drink on an empty stomach.” She put her arm around him, and he liked it. He liked the warmth of her body pressed against his, the way her luscious curves moulded to his hard, toned body. The way she cared for him. It was probably just her nature, but he liked it, reminding him of Louisa, and how she risked everything to help people.

  “I can manage.” He should pull away from Carla: she wasn’t his mate, couldn’t be his mate. But she was. It was like a paradox, some unsolvable puzzle. They were both his mates.

  She walked by his side and he couldn’t help it, he inhaled her scent, and she blew his mind. He wanted her: a mixture of pure lust and a need to claim her as his own threatened to overpower him. As if it wasn’t confusing enough, his bear, who had been almost comatose since they lost Louisa, lifted his head and took notice of the world once again. Carla had stirred something inside him. Something he thought gone for good.

  He could fight it, and a small part of him wanted to. Wanted to scream and say it wasn’t right. That same small part knew what had happened, knew it was to do with the drink she had given him. He should be angry. What was in his drink was the whole reason Louisa was dead.

  Who had done it? Was Carla part of the drug ring? Was she going to ask him to make the case go away? If she did, would he do it, for her, for his mate? Was she connected to Louisa’s death?

  All these questions flew though his head at lightning speed. But as they entered the bar, he saw Joel’s anxious expression, the way his eyes were fixed on the doorway as he walked back into the bar. He knew. Joel knew about the drug.

  His friend, the person he trusted most, his partner for many years on the force, had spiked his drink.

  With Niq It.

  Chapter Three – Carla

  “Here you go, fellas, sorry it took a while.” Carla set the plates down on the table, her eye catching Liam’s, and this time she was shocked to see a glimmer of something that wasn’t sadness. There was a spark there. Joel saw it too and smiled, although he quickly hid it.

  Carla frowned, sensing something odd was going on here. Were they setting her up? Had this whole thing been a setup? Liam had been acting all sad and forlorn just to make her feel sympathy for him, and now he thought he had reeled her in, he was giving her the kind of look that would melt her panties.

  Not these panties, she thought hotly, and turned around sharply to head back for the rest of their meals. As she walked she felt the heat creep into her cheeks, and other places. No, she would not let him get to her, he was obviously unstable: either that, or he had drunk more than one shot of liquor while he was outside. That was it—the guy was probably an alcoholic and had been secretly drinking, or smoking something. Yep, drugs, that was more often the culprit these days instead of alcohol.

  She sighed, picked up the plates, and headed back, cursing Eloise for asking her to swap. This was not Carla’s table, and she had a good mind to tell Eloise she could have them back.

  “Is there anything else I can get you?” she asked with her best fixed smile on her face as she set the last of the plates down.

  “No, thank you,” Liam said, his eyes lingering on her face a moment too long before they flicked to Joel, who was smiling, not so much in a happy way, more of a mouth hitched up on one side, concerned kind of a way.

  Weird, she said silently to herself. They may be men of the law, but that did not stop them being all kinds of crazy. Maybe you had to be crazy to do their kind of work. Just like you had to be crazy to be a waitress in a steak house filled to the rafters with testosterone.

  “Enjoy your meal,” she said sweetly, and then headed over to her next table. “What can I get you fellas?”

  “What are you offering?” one of them asked, smirking suggestively.

  She rolled her eyes internally. This was going to be a long night. “The fries are our cook’s specialty…” She should have that emblazoned on her T-shirt, she thought with a smile, and took the order.

  It was one of the busiest evenings she could remember. Whatever case they had cracked, must have been big; they were certainly patting themselves on the back. Even Party Pooper had brightened up, although she tried not to look at him too often, because every time she did, he was staring at her. His eyes following her around the room as if he owned her, as if her flesh was his and he wanted to devour her.

  She shook that thought right out of her mind. Don’t let yourself get sucked in, there is something off about him, she reminded herself. Yet her body was aware of him, a sixth sense that honed in on him.

  “Hi there, honey,” Eloise said as they both took dirty plates back to the kitchen. “How is it going? They are a rowdy bunch, aren’t they?”

  “They are.” Carla turned back towards the crowded room.

  “That guy on your table seems to have perked up. Keeps looking at you.”

  “Does he?” Carla asked, feeling the heat creep across her cheeks.

  Eloise nudged her. “You are allowed to have a little fun, you know.”

  “I’m not into the same kind of fun as you,” she retorted, and then took it back. “Sorry. I’m feeling a little strung out over Mike.”

  “And that is exactly why you should let that one scratch your itch.”

  “I don’t have an itch.”

  Eloise burst out laughing. “We all have an itch, and I know for a fact yours has not been scratched for a long, long time.”

  “I don’t do one-night stands.”

  “Listen. Sometimes you have to just take the plunge. Talk to him.”

  “I don’t have a choice; their plates need collecting.” They had needed collecting for a good few minutes, but she had put it off. Although Carla didn’t like to admit why. Whatever reason he had for staring at her seemed to be contagious, because Joel kept looking at her, too. His glance would flick to Liam’s, and then follow her admirer’s to where they were lingering on Carla’s body again.

  It made her shiver, but not in a chill way. Damn, what if they wanted a threesome? That was most certainly not going to happen.

  Eloise’s words echoed through her brain as she headed across the room to where Liam was. His eyes kept flicking over to her and then he kept dragging them away, only for them to attach themselves on her face again. It was as if he was fighting every moment to not look at
her.

  “Shall I take these for you?” she asked.

  “Yes, thank you,” Liam said.

  As she moved her hand to pick his plate up, his allowed his fingers to stretch out and touch her skin. She jumped, almost dropping the plate. How could such a brief touch burn her skin like that? Her eyes flew to his, and she could see why. A fire raged there, a passion so deep she would be consumed by it if she allowed herself to get too close.

  “Sorry,” he murmured and moved his hand off the table, placing it on his thigh. It was curled up, the tension evident, as if he was fighting himself not to reach out and touch her again.

  She couldn’t help it; she looked him right in the eyes, wanting to accuse him, although of what she didn’t know. But what she saw in his eyes wasn’t lust, it was deeper than that, and although it was a cliché, she was sure the world stopped turning for a second, the rest of the room melting away as they shared a moment of knowing.

  Their souls touched, their hearts beat as one, and their future roads seemed to entwine, crisscrossing each other’s as they headed into a beautiful sunset.

  She snapped out of it and busied herself collecting the rest of the plates. Nearly dropping them as she turned to walk away, she gathered her wits and walked back to the kitchen, her legs feeling shaky. Taking a moment, she placed them down on the counter, and breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth, just as she had been taught when she used to have anxiety attacks when she was a kid.

  These had occurred frequently during the time her mom and dad were divorcing and they argued all the time, never thinking of how Carla or Mike might feel. It was strange: as brother and sister, they had shared that whole period of their lives and yet they had dealt with it in different ways. Mike had yearned for love and a steady home life, which was what he had found with Tammy, until the arrival of Sophia.

  Carla grew up knowing she could never go through that kind of traumatic situation, and never inflict it on her children. As she grew up, she figured she would simply wait until she met a good man, the kind of man she could depend on. Instead she had ended up not risking her heart, and dating less and less, convinced Mr. Right was not out there.

  “So why not embrace your needs?” she asked herself out loud. Shocked that someone might have heard her, she turned her head quickly, only to get caught up in Liam’s stare, which was holding onto her like one of those tractor beams in a sci-fi movie; threatening to never let her go.

  “You OK there, Carla?” Howie asked, coming up beside her and dumping more plates onto the counter.

  She jumped but quickly recovered, saying, “My, it must be busy if you are mucking in this side of the bar.”

  “Tell me about it. Maybe if Eloise stopped flirting quite so much, we might not have everything stacked up.”

  “You’re joking; she would die if she couldn’t chat up all these good-looking men.”

  “Good job I have you, isn’t it?” He winked at her, and normally she would feel proud of her work ethic and be pleased she wasn’t like Eloise, who often joked she expected to have been married five times by the time she died.

  “Sure is,” she murmured in return.

  “You OK?” Howie asked again, this time aiming his penetrating stare at her, the one that could tell what kind of mood a customer was in even before he ordered his first drink.

  “Yes, just tired. And Mike and Tammy are still bickering…” She trailed off. “I might need a few days off to go and see if there is anything I can do to help.”

  “Sure, but can we talk about it tomorrow?” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, making her giggle.

  “You are incorrigible, Howie.”

  “Have to catch those kisses when I can.”

  “You know I could have you charged with sexual harassment. There’s a room full of lawmen who would be witnesses.”

  “If I was going to harass you in any way, it would be more than a peck on the cheek,” he said, and walked off whistling.

  She sighed. Howie must be about the best boss in the world; it was why she was still working here instead of moving on to something new and better. She liked the people, both customers and coworkers, and to Carla, happiness was more important than any material objects she could buy with money earned in a job where she was unhappy.

  Who was she kidding? Now that Mike had left town, these people were her family, and she didn’t want to lose them.

  Chapter Four – Liam

  “That guy just kissed her,” Liam said to Joel, his fists balled by his sides as he stood up.

  “Hey, Liam, take it easy,” Joel answered. They were left at the table together while Freddy went to talk to some of the other guys. A lot of them were drunk, too drunk to keep their hands to themselves, so he had been watching Carla carefully, wanting to make sure she was safe, waiting for the moment when he might have to prove to all the men in here that she was his.

  Was she his? It had become a gray fog in his brain; it swirled around until he no longer knew what the truth was. Carla’s face blended with Louisa’s, it was as if he had taken some psychedelic drug.

  He had.

  He looked at Joel accusingly. But he kept his mouth shut, not knowing what to say, because he didn’t know how he felt about the tricks his mind was playing.

  Before tonight he was in mourning, a mourning that cut into his soul so deep he could feel it draining away, leaving him empty. Now his feelings for the waitress were mending that hole. That didn’t mean he was healed, but he could feel it was possible. That he could find a way through this pain, in a way he had lost hope of in the last few days.

  The comedown of toppling the drug ring had been immense. He was out of step with the rest of the office. They were celebrating, and he was trying to figure out how he was supposed to go on breathing, eating, and sleeping now that his focus had gone and he had nothing to put up as a barrier, nothing to convince himself to go on for.

  Thoughts of joining Louisa in the next life had begun to creep in, and he was powerless to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Each step was the greatest of effort, taking all of his strength.

  Until he drank the drug and looked at Carla.

  Joel’s concerned voice cut in, and he realized he had his hands on the table, about to push himself up out of his seat and launch himself across the room. “Settle down. He’s walked away, it was nothing; he’s her boss.”

  He settled back down. “She is mine,” he said, looking at Joel, leaving him in no doubt that Liam knew exactly what his friend had done.

  Liam wanted to ask why. But the answer was already there in his friend’s dark brown eyes. As a fellow shifter, he knew what Liam had been experiencing; he knew that Liam had been sentenced to a life of loss. He had done the one thing he thought would help. In giving Liam Niq It, he had changed his friend’s future.

  Niq It. The drug that had led to Louisa’s death was the thing which had the potential to save his life. An ironic bitterness welled up inside him.

  “Just stay calm,” Joel said.

  However, Liam stood up abruptly and walked over to where Carla was. She had her back to him, piling dishes on the counter, oblivious to him. Or was she? There was a rigidness in her body, her head rose, and she stood as if listening, letting her senses feel his approach. This confused him. Was she a shifter too? If so, she would know he wasn’t her true mate.

  “Carla.” He was so close, his breath caressed her skin, the tiny hairs standing up on her neck, and he wanted to run his fingers along her naked flesh. Her ponytail, holding her blonde hair off her face, was hanging over her left shoulder, he longed to pull out the scrunchy, let her long locks fall down around her shoulders, and bury his face in it and inhale her scent. It didn’t matter that it was tainted by the smell from the kitchen and the other people in this room. Even under her perfume, he could distinguish the part that was all hers.

  How he wanted to taste her skin with his tongue, to lick her, kiss her, and feel her writhe under him in ecs
tasy.

  “Yes,” she said, a little sharply, and with a wary look on her face that told him she had noticed the change in him. He might be a little worried, but he also liked that she had at least paid attention to him. It meant his next words were not going to be completely out of the blue.

  “I…” I what? Want to kiss you. Screw you, claim you as my mate. Even though I already had a mate and she was murdered. He faltered. The words stuck in his mouth, unable to come out into the world because of the betrayal and guilt he felt, like a stabbing pain in his heart.

  Her face softened. “Do you want to walk me home, Liam?”

  He did the whole goldfish thing. Mouth opening and closing, taking in air, looking like a real imbecile or a drunk. But he wasn’t drunk, even if his brain was clogged with confusion. “Yes.”

  “A man of few words,” she said and smiled, a rose-pink tingeing her cheeks. This was hard for her too, a step out of her comfort zone. He liked that. He liked that she wasn’t the kind of woman who usually went home with strange men. He liked that she wanted to go home with him.

  “I’m just a little rusty,” he said, not meaning to sound so enigmatic. There was no mystery in the way he was behaving, only uncertainty.

  “I get off in…” She looked at her watch and sighed. “Three hours. If you want to wait that long. Or we could just meet tomorrow. Unless this is just a one-night stand and by tomorrow you’ll have come to your senses.” The words tumbled out in a rush and he was in danger of losing her, because she was going to change her mind.

  “No. I can wait.” He wanted to tell her he would never change his mind, that she was the one for him now that he had taken Niq It. He frowned. What happened if it wore off?

  “I’ll meet you later then. I have tables that need me.” She brushed past him, and he inhaled her scent one more time, savoring it.

  “Great. Yes. Of course.” He went back to the table and sat down, putting his head in his hands. “What have you done, Joel?”