by J. K Harper
Livy smiled. "I'm so glad, Jessie." She gently chucked Grant under his chin, the dopey smile that everyone in town seemed to get every time they looked at him coming across her face as he uttered his usual cute little baby coos and gurgles at her. "You deserve some stability and quiet after everything you've been through."
"I sure do." Jessie sighed with contentment as Livy knocked on the door.
Almost instantly, it opened, sending out a whoosh of warmth, the happy chatter and laughter of many voices inside, the delicious scents of baking cookies.
And a deeper, darker, far more intense something else beneath it all.
A something that swept through Jessie like a delicious, icy wind of alertness and clarity. A touch musky, yet crisp like snow, wild and rough, the scent slammed through her with an intensity she'd never before experienced.
"Hey, Shane," Livy said in oblivious cheer as she pulled off her scarf and hat, stepping toward the door. "I thought you were still out of town. Did the big ole manly grizzly bear come back just for our girly cookie exchange?" she teased. Then she gestured at Jessie. “This is Jessie, she's new here. Jessie, meet Shane, another one of our resident hulking shifters.”
Jessie stood rooted in front of the door, staring at the enormous guy filling the entire frame. Her jaw dropped as her eyes slowly traveled upward to find his. The guy was massive. Just like all the other male bear shifters she'd met so far, but he seemed even bigger. He must be 6'5”, she thought to herself in a daze. A half-wild tousle of golden brown hair on top of his head was at odds with the darker, neatly trimmed beard and mustache that bristled out from his granite hard, drop-dead gorgeous face. Light whiskey eyes that seemed familiar looked back at Jessie with as much startlement, his strong lips somewhat parted and sending the bizarre image of absolutely ravaging her with kisses as Jessie stared back at him, completely frozen.
Whoa, she thought, still dazed, he's a freaking sexy as hell bear shifter lumberjack god of the woods.
Except lumberjacks had never looked this sexy, she was pretty sure. Especially—
Especially ones she recognized.
Wait a minute.
Holy.
Freaking.
Nuh-uh.
He looked like—
"Maverick?" Jessie's voice was strangled as the name she had often thought about for the past two years managed to shove its way out of her mouth. She sensed more than saw Livy's smile falter as her head suddenly swiveled back and forth between Jessie and Mr. sexy lumberjack bear shifter dude. “You have a beard now,” she whispered stupidly.
His own voice rumbling out so deeply it vibrated through her body, he replied in an equally shocked tone, "Jessie? What—what the hell are you doing here?"
Grant chose that moment to emit one of the screeching little kid cries of those not quite into toddlerhood, demanding the attention come back to him. Obligingly, three sets of eyes clamped on him, though all Jessie could see was the corner of his face since he was still ensconced in the backpack carrier. He waved his snow-suited arms around, almost seeming to reach forward to Mav.
“Who—what—no, no, no. That's Shane,” Livy stuttered, eyes about popping out of her head. “He's the handyman up at the lodge. You said the guy's name was Maverick. And that he was some sort of fighter dude on the underground rings.” Her wide eyes darted between them. “No way.”
Seeing Jessie's expression, then that of the sexy guy Jessie knew as Maverick, Livy's face slackened. "Oh, my god," she breathed. She looked from Grant to Jessie, then back to Grant. Then she gestured at the huge, gorgeous man taking up all the space in the doorway. "No freaking way. This is him? For real? He's your baby daddy? Shane Walker from Deep Hollow is Grant's father?" Her voice dropped to a stunned whisper.
Jessie shook her head, completely lost as she stared into the achingly familiar face of the man she'd been looking for ever since she found out she was pregnant.
The man with whom she'd spent the most erotic, blissful, exciting three days of her entire life.
The man who was the father of her bear shifter son.
download MOUNTAIN BEAR’S BABY: SHANE now!
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About J.K.
J.K. Harper is a USA TODAY bestselling author. She lives in the rugged, gorgeous canyon country of the Southwest, which is a great place to let her imagination run wild.
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Series by J.K. Harper:
Dragon Mates
Wicked Wolf Shifters
Black Mesa Wolves
Silvertip Shifters
