Reforming the Bear

by Vanessa Devereaux

  “You getting excited about the wedding and giving your mom away?”

  “I don’t understand … if I give her away, will she still be my momma?”

  “Sure she will. It’s just a term that’s used when someone, usually the bride’s father, walks her down the aisle and hands her over to her groom.”

  “That’s Bear.”

  “Sure is. And remember, at the weekend we’re going with him to try on our suits.”

  Bear had chosen his cousin Ash as his best man, and Charlotte’s husband Aiden was going to be an usher. Hannah had picked Charlotte as her bridesmaid and the Renners’ niece Kaitlin, who was Sam’s favorite pal, was going to be flower girl. Liam had only expected to be given an invitation but they’d chosen him to read something during the service. Probably more for Sam’s sake than Liam’s … but still, it meant a lot to him to be included.

  “Can’t I wear my shorts and t-shirt?” asked Sam.

  “Nope, you have to look the part. And you, you’re going to look so handsome.”

  Liam smiled, wondering what Danny would think. How proud he’d be of his son standing in as father of the bride. In fact, he’d get the good luck medallion mended and cleaned so Sam would wear it on the big day.

  “You want to hand me the wrench?” asked Liam.

  Sam instinctively knew what it was without ever having to be told. Liam guessed he got that from his dad. Just like Liam was good with cars, Danny could fix a bike everyone else had given up on.

  “Will I fix cars like you when I need to make a living?”

  He looked at Sam. That’s the last thing he wanted for Danny’s son. Sam was going to do so much more. He was going to university. Hell, he might even become a doctor like Bear. “Nope. You’re going to work with your brain.”

  “But that will hurt me.”

  Liam burst out laughing. “You’re going to use it when you go to university. You’re going to solve all the world’s problems. You’re going to find a cure for every illness known to man.”

  “I am?”

  “Sure you are.”

  He, like a proud father, wanted the best for Sam. An education, a future, and a way to earn a good living. He knew his future stepdad would see to that and for that reason he’d been happy to hear Bear was going to marry Hannah. Of course, it was perfect for Sam to have a family, but in truth Bear and Hannah were both head over heels in love.

  “What did you think of Lucy?” asked Liam.

  He wasn’t quite sure why he asked that right after he’d thought about Hannah and Bear being in love.

  “She’s pretty,” said Sam.

  He obviously wasn’t too young to see what made a person attractive. Liam wondered if, like his father, Sam would grow up to be a ladies’ man. Yeah, he probably would. But, education first and women second.

  Boy, he was starting to sound like a strict father rather than the fun uncle he hoped to be for Sam.

  “Okay, that’s about done. You want to come inside and watch TV while I shower and then we’ll head out for pizza?”

  ****

  Lucy smiled when Sam laughed while watching SpongeBob SquarePants. Her niece and nephew loved the show too. For that matter, so did she. She finally gave in and laughed along with Sam. He turned and smiled at her.

  Sam was a nice kid. No wonder his uncle thought so much of him. How sad that his father was dead and wouldn’t be around to watch him grow up into a young man.

  She thought of Mike and his kids as she glanced over at the bag. Lucy was tempted to call him from a pay phone, but he’d made her promise she wouldn’t. Not only for his welfare –– for hers too. She’d never break her promise to him, ever.

  Sam laughed again and she suddenly felt guilty for leading all these wonderful people on about why she was actually in Montana and what she did for a living. The bit about doing interior design work in the apartment had rolled off her tongue without a second thought. Besides painting the walls in her own townhouse, she didn’t know the first thing about design, but now she’d have to keep her promise.

  She stood up, thinking she should put on some make-up, as they’d be leaving to eat soon … and boy, was she hungry. She stood and leaned over for the crutches, leaving Sam to watch TV on his own. She got to the hallway and ran straight into Liam, who was exiting the bathroom with just a towel wrapped around his waist. His dark brown hair was wet and pushed back from his face, showing his strong bone structure including those high cheekbones to the best of their advantage. The hair on his chest was flattened against his skin and glistening with some remnants of water.

  His biceps stood out like beacons calling her, luring her, to walk over to him and make him wrap his arms around her. Insist that he kiss her with those full lips of his. A slight bulge suddenly appeared where the two sides of the towel joined together. She tried to focus anywhere but his crotch, but once again it was like that beacon and she felt her face turning hot. She guessed she was blushing … her cheeks were probably scarlet.

  An uncomfortable silence hung between them until he spoke.

  “Did you need to use the bathroom?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she said quickly, thinking that might diffuse the tension.

  “Sorry I took so long, but sometimes ridding my body of grease from the old cars is a nightmare,” he said, stepping aside.

  “No problem.” Lucy grabbed her bag, flung her purse over her shoulder and hobbled into the bathroom.

  She took in the lingering scent of what was clearly a combination of soap, shampoo and aftershave. Woodsy, and sexy ...

  Yes, Liam was a very sexy man who under any other circumstances she’d like to pursue for a possible relationship, but it wasn’t fair to start something with him that she knew she couldn’t continue from miles away.

  Lucy had a life somewhere else and once Mike gave her the all clear, she and the bag would head home and time spent at Liam’s would just be a very pleasant memory.

  She looked at herself in the mirror. She had dark circles under her eyes due to not getting much sleep the night before. She hoped she’d sleep like a baby tonight, because she’d been on edge and had suffered from insomnia since she’d left Philly.

  Running the tap, she leaned over, splashed her face and then pulled out some blusher and lipstick from her bag. Next she fluffed up her bangs and pinched her lips together. Lucy headed back out to see Liam now dressed in a clean pair of jeans, a white shirt with its two buttons opened and its hem hanging out of the pants.

  The bag.

  It wasn’t there. Her heart skipped a beat and she went both hot and cold at the very same time.

  “I moved your bag to over there on the chair,” said Liam.

  Had he seen the panic on her face and her blank stare at the chair where it had previously sat?

  “Oh, that’s fine,” she said relieved and thinking how stupid she was to imagine that someone had taken it while she’d left it unattended for not more than ten minutes. And while it had been inside a house, to boot.

  “Sam, you want to turn the TV off and we can go get something to eat?” asked Liam.

  Would it seem stupid if she insisted on taking the bag with her? Sure it would and she didn’t want to draw any attention to it. Not that she didn’t trust Liam completely or the part of town where he lived, but she didn’t want him thinking she had some type of obsessive-compulsive disorder and couldn’t leave the house without having it in her possession. Maybe she could take it without him noticing. Nope, that was stupid. It wasn’t like a small purse that she could hide.

  It would be fine. She’d been fine.

  “Okay, buddy, let’s go,” said Liam putting his hand on Sam’s back as they left the house.

  “I want sausage on my pizza,” said Sam getting into the back of the truck. Liam helped Lucy up into the front seat and then handed her the crutches.

  “How about lots of anchovies?” asked Liam getting into the driver’s seat. He winked at Lucy.

  “Yuck, no way,” s
aid Sam.

  “What if that’s all they have?” asked Liam glancing in the rear view mirror as they backed out of his place and headed down the road.

  Lucy could tell he loved teasing Sam.

  “Then we’ll need to go back to the burger place.”

  “Did I tell you that Hannah owns a restaurant?” asked Liam.

  “No, you didn’t,” said Lucy.

  “The Starlight Café,” said Liam.

  “We don’t live there anymore. We live in a new house with Bear,” said Sam.

  “Do you help out at the café?” Lucy asked Sam.

  “Sometimes, but most of the time I just play outside in the new backyard,” said Sam.

  Liam pulled the truck up outside a row of stores with one called The Pizza Shack situated right smack in the middle of them.

  “Let’s go eat before they run of pizza,” said Liam. He got out and ran around to the passenger side of the truck and held the door while Lucy slid down and reached for the crutches. Sam rushed ahead and went inside and Liam held the door for her.

  “Sam, a polite thing to do would have been to hold the door for Lucy. Can you remember that next time?” asked Liam.

  Sam shrugged his shoulders and ran toward the counter.

  “Sorry about that,” said Liam, putting his hand on the small of her back.

  “He’s still young and we can’t always remember everything we need to do. My niece and nephew are the same way,” said Lucy as they joined Sam.

  “Let’s get the extra-large,” said Sam, pointing at the chalkboard at the back of the store.

  “Maybe Lucy doesn’t want sausage pizza,” said Liam, getting out his wallet.

  “No, that’s fine with me,” said Lucy. She was starving and right now a gooey pizza with any topping sounded like heaven.

  “Extra-large sausage pizza,” Sam shouted to the girl behind the counter.

  “Sam, it’s not your turn to be served,” said Liam, putting his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Someone needs to remember their manners tonight.”

  “I’m hungry,” said Sam.

  “I know … but you have to wait until these people ahead of us have ordered,” said Liam.

  The girl smiled. “So that’s one extra-large sausage pizza. Is that to eat here?”

  “Yes,” said Sam gathering up a bunch of plastic forks and napkins.

  “Anything to drink?” asked the girl.

  “Sam, what do you want to drink?” Liam called over to him.

  He rushed back and looked at the menu. “Cherry soda, large,” he said before running over to a table by the window and sitting down. He set out the flatware, tucking a napkin under each fork.

  “How about you?” Liam asked Lucy.

  “Lemonade, small,” said Lucy, hoping Liam didn’t think she was making fun of Sam.

  “Me too, also small,” Liam told the girl.

  “The total comes to $21.42.”

  Liam handed her his credit card, which she swiped and handed back to him.

  “That should be about ten minutes and we’ll bring it to your table. Help yourself to drinks,” she said, handing him three Styrofoam cups.

  “Why don’t you go and sit with Sam and I’ll get our drinks,” said Liam.

  “You sure?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Lucy walked over to the table and sat down, putting the crutches against the wall. Liam followed behind and put the drinks down.

  “You haven’t done it right and you moved the napkin,” said Sam, straightening everything up again.

  “You need to go for a run later?” Liam asked him as he slid in beside him.

  “I think so.”

  “You’re a jogger?”

  Liam looked up at her. “Yes…yes, I am. Well, Sam runs with Bear.”

  “He’s too fast and I can’t keep up,” said Sam, folding the napkin.

  “I used to belong to the running team when I was at school.”

  “You still run?” Liam asked her.

  “Sometimes. When I get time.”

  “So do you have your own interior design business or you work for someone else?” he asked her.

  Boy, she never thought lying and playing someone else could be this hard. Maybe it was because this was Liam, a super sweet guy, and she hated to spin a web of deceit at his expense.

  “I have my own business,” she said, thinking the more she thought about the response the guiltier she’d feel. So best to just let the words spill out over her tongue.

  “And that’s what you’re going to do here?”

  “Yes, hopefully.”

  Lucky for her the pizza arrived and closed down that topic.

  Sam quickly picked up a slice and started to eat it making exaggerated noises as he did so.

  “Sam, right now you’re walking a fine line,” said Liam. “I think as soon as we drop Lucy back at the house you and I should go for that run.”

  “I can come with you. I mean obviously I can’t run … but I can watch.”

  “No, where we go is pretty far out there and I’d hate you to be by yourself in the woods.”

  She guessed that made sense. She thought about last night and the animals she thought roamed these parts. “Okay, but when my leg’s better, you think I could join you?”

  That might just be what she needed. The wind ripping through her hair. Her body relaxing. And her mind forgetting she was miles from home.

  “Sure, I’d like that,” said Liam.

  Lucy took her first bite of the pizza. She wasn’t sure if it was just downright great or if it was because she was so hungry, but it tasted like the best one she’d ever eaten. Some grease from the sausage slid onto her chin. “Wow, this is good,” she said, swiping it with the back of her hand.

  “What do you think of it, Sam?” asked Liam.

  Sam ignored his uncle and instead continued eating and pulling some cheese “bubble gum” from his lips. He finally nodded.

  “I guess he likes it too,” said Liam, reaching over and dabbing some grease that she’d missed.

  They looked at one another and then Liam finally smiled. This guy made her heart beat at what she assumed was an unhealthy pace. And, yes, truth be told. He made her panties damp, too.

  ****

  It had been a close call, Lucy asking to tag along so she could watch him and Sam run. Not having spent much time around humans, and yes, that had been an intentional act on his part … he wasn’t well versed in dodging issues. One thing he’d already learned about being around Lucy was you needed to be on your guard the whole time. One foolish slip and she’d catch on to something being different about them.

  Sam ran by him. This was the first time he’d shifted and run with his nephew while the two of them were alone. The little guy was fast just like his dad had been at his age. Liam took off after him, making sure he kept him in sight at all times. He’d sensed that Sam was getting that edgy feeling again. It hadn’t been so long ago that they’d diagnosed him with autism, when in fact all that was wrong with him was his DNA: half human and half shifter. He just needed to shift to put the wiring in his brain right. However, these were still early days for him after his diagnosis, and Bear had told Liam that sometimes when Sam got tired or frustrated he slowly regressed back and retreated within himself. The word repetition would emerge all over again and he’d become obsessed with straightening things like he had back at the pizza parlor. Shifting and running was the only thing to turn off the bad wiring so Liam took the initiative, driving him out to the woods.

  He knew Hannah would probably be unhappy about it because, one, she was human, and two, she assumed Bear was the only person in the shifter community who could deal with this young, energetic cub. She, like all humans, was so wrong.

  Liam picked up speed, sensing that if he didn’t Sam would pull away and be out of sight before he knew it. That would mean big trouble for Liam, and he wasn’t in the mood for trouble with either humans or shifters. He also guessed Bear would, withou
t a doubt, blame him if anything happened to Sam.

  It was a beautiful evening and perfect for running. He finally caught up with Sam. Running with his nephew was great. He only wished Danny was around so the three of them could run together. Danny, running with his son…

  Me, running with a son of my own.

  He’d never thought about having kids before now, but being around Sam brought out his parental instincts. Oh yeah, this big grizzly was getting broody in his old age. Of course he’d have to find his mate before that could happen.

  They both picked up speed and ran through a heavily wooded area.

  Lucy’s face suddenly sprang into his mind. She was human and he didn’t touch humans. One of his golden rules … but every time he laid eyes upon her, his heart beat faster and his cock twitched and went hard like never before.

  Running would help his pent up energy and libido. If only she could run with him as a bear. If only she was a bear shifter … then things would be perfect.

  Sam stopped and panted. It had been a hard run for a young cub and Liam knew he’d had enough. Liam needed to shift back to let Sam know he had to do the same, otherwise he’d be too exhausted. Liam relaxed his muscles and soon paws became feet and hands, and the rest of his body transformed back into his human self. Liam stood up tall and stretched.

  “Okay, Sam, it’s your turn!”

  Liam knew Sam still had to get used to this and it took him a few attempts to return his body to human form. With each shift, things would get easier and easier for his nephew.

  “You did great, Sammy. Let’s go back to where we left the truck and our clothes and get you home before your mother starts ranting and raving about keeping you out late on a school night.”

  ****

  Lucy checked that the bag was still where she’d left it. Of course, it was. The chances of anyone knowing she was here were miniscule, but then she heard the doorbell ring. At first the sound made her panic but then she guessed, hopefully correctly, that it was Hannah dropping by to pick up Sam. Liam and he had not returned from their run yet.

  Lucy struggled with her crutches as she opened the door to her.

  “Hi,” said Lucy.

  “Did they make you answer the door?” asked Hannah.