Bear With Me

by Vanessa Devereaux

  “Sure and I’d like to see you too.”

  There was silence. “How about I bring you some lunch?” she asked.

  “That’s perfect because I won’t have to stop to buy any, and as soon as I’ve showered I can head back to my patients.”

  Shower, an image of him naked with water cascading over him was suddenly etched into her brain.

  “Okay, I’ll be by around one-thirty. Will it be okay if I bring Sam, because I don’t have a babysitter?”

  “That’s fine.”

  ****

  Bear glanced at the clock on the wall as he entered the hospital. He’d taken a quick shower, grabbed a cup of coffee, and then headed out. He yawned for the fourth time. He was a typical bear who liked his sleep. He pushed his hands through his hair and headed down the hallway. He stopped at the nursery where right now Bridget was the only baby.

  Janey, the day nurse, sat reading at the desk.

  “How’s the baby’s breathing been?” he asked, stepping inside.

  “She was fine, so I took her to Charlotte who fed her, but then she seemed to be having trouble breathing again so I put her back in here and gave her more oxygen.”

  Bear walked over to the crib and lifted the top off that provided the oxygen. Bridget had a short nose which was typical of a bear shifter and he suspected that was causing the problem.

  “Hi, sweetie,” he said, rubbing her leg.

  “She’s beautiful, isn’t she,” said Janey. “Best of both worlds.”

  Bear smiled when the baby kicked her legs and wiggled her feet.

  “Why don’t I wheel her down to Charlotte’s room because I have to go check on her?”

  “Sure.”

  Bear put his stethoscope over his shoulders and Janey opened the door so he could wheel the crib down the hallway. He pushed back the door to Charlotte’s room to see Aiden was still there along with his brother Christopher, sister-in-law, Lilly, and their daughter Kaitlin.

  “Afternoon, everyone,” said Bear.

  “Baby,” said Kaitlin, running over to the crib.

  “So what do you think of your new cousin?” Bear asked her.

  “She’s pretty,” said Kaitlin.

  “I told Christopher she looks a lot like our mother,” said Aiden.

  “How’s her breathing?” asked Charlotte.

  “The oxygen’s helping, but we’ll keep any eye on the situation. How about I let everyone visit with Bridget while I take a look at Momma here?”

  Bear pulled the curtain around Charlotte’s bed.

  “You feeling okay?” he asked her.

  “Sore and tired.”

  “That’s why you’re going to stay in here for three days.”

  He pulled down the blanket and lifted up her gown.

  “Let’s take a look here.” He lifted up the dressing on her incision. “Looks good to me.”

  “You ever thought of dressmaking because those are some of the neatest stitches I’ve seen. In case you’re wondering I used a mirror to check your work,” said Charlotte. “I’m guessing in a few months it’s going to be hard to tell I had a C-section and I’ll be back to wearing bikinis.”

  Bear winked at her while he put the dressing back and pulled down her gown.

  “You’ll have another visitor soon. Hannah from Starlight Café’s dropping by,” said Bear.

  “Really, now would that be to see me or you I wonder?” asked Charlotte.

  Bear pulled back the curtain to see Lilly now holding Bridget with Kaitlin standing on tip toe to peek at her.

  “So, Lilly, are you next in the baby department?” asked Bear.

  Lilly looked at Christopher.

  “I guess we’ll be thinking about it very soon,” he said.

  At least he was going to be kept busy. Melanie Reynolds was due in six weeks. And now there was Emily too.

  “Hello, is it okay to come in?”

  Bear recognized Hannah’s voice immediately.

  “Sure come in,” he said.

  Hannah held a shopping bag in her arms with Sam tagging behind her.

  “Hi, Sam,” said Bear.

  Sam did something Bear wasn’t expecting. He ran to him and threw his arms around Bear’s body, resting his face on his belly. He hadn’t realized just how strong a kid he was. Almost like he was giving him a bear hug.

  “It’s good to see you too, young man,” said Bear.

  “Women can’t resist him and now it’s children too,” said Christopher. “Hi, I’m Aiden’s brother,” he said to Hannah and extended his hand.

  “Nice to meet you.”

  “And my wife, Lilly and our daughter Kaitlin.”

  “Hi. Charlotte, I have some of your favorite cake. I hope that’s okay with your doctor?” asked Hannah.

  “Perfectly okay with me,” said Bear as Sam continue to cling to his side.

  Hannah pulled out a transparent box in which sat what looked to be the most delicious chocolate cake.

  “The infamous Black Forest cake,” said Aiden.

  “Thank you,” said Charlotte.

  “You are welcome and let me take a look at the baby.”

  Hannah walked over to Lilly who still had Bridget cradled in her arms.

  “See’s adorable. Look at her long fingers and toes. Sam had the longest toes when he was born. In fact, he still does.”

  Bear ruffled up Sam’s hair. “Perfect for swimming. Did I tell you I’m going to teach Sam to swim at Downward Facing Wolf?”

  “Wow, you hear that Kaitlin? Maybe you should go too,” said Lilly.

  Kaitlin skipped over to Sam. “Are you a bear?”

  “Kaitlin,” said Lilly. “That’s not very polite.”

  Bear saw everyone exchange glances and he hoped Hannah didn’t see it. He wasn’t sure what they’d told Kaitlin, if she’d seen her daddy in bear form, or was even old enough to understand that not everyone could turn into a bear or a wolf, or whatever whenever they wanted.

  “Fishing with Bear,” said Sam.

  “That’s right, we went fishing yesterday,” said Bear.

  “You want to hold Bridget?” Lilly asked Hannah.

  She hesitated at first but then walked over to Lilly and took the baby from her. She sat down and Sam walked over and touched the baby’s head and blinked rapidly.

  Hello, baby. Nice to meet you.

  What’s that, what’s my name?

  It’s Sam.

  Bear could read his mind and Sam’s sentence and internal dialogue was like that of any other child his age. There was a normal kid in there, Bear knew it, and the strangest thing was Bridget and Sam were communicating.

  “You want to come play?” asked Kaitlin, pulling on Sam’s hand.

  He looked at his mother and then at Bear.

  “Honey, you want to go play with Kaitlin?” asked Hannah.

  “I’ll play,” he said.

  “Only in the waiting area and no going outside,” said Christopher.

  Kaitlin nodded and pulled Sam out of the door.

  “It’s so great she’s found a playmate,” said Lilly.

  “You know what you guys should do?” asked Charlotte, breaking off a piece of the cake with her fork. “You should babysit Sam for an evening while Bear and Hannah do something fun. I think they both work too hard and need a break.”

  Hannah looked at him. What was she thinking? Was she going to make some excuse not to do something fun with him?

  “We’d love to have Sam visit and have a meal with us. I bet he’d love Barney…who’s our dog by the way,” said Lilly.

  “I…” said Hannah.

  “Perfect idea because I could do with a night off,” said Bear.

  “Great. How does Friday work for you?” asked Lilly.

  “Okay with me.”

  “Sure, I can get someone to help at the café.”

  Chapter Nine

  Hannah had been pushed into a corner over the night out with Bear. Today he looked positively irresistible. His hair was
a little unkempt and he hadn’t shaven.

  “This is so good and excuse me for talking with my mouth full,” he said.

  She’d made him a salad of roasted salmon and sweetened cranberries tossed together with field greens and her own teriyaki dressing.

  “I still think you should market this dressing.”

  “Yeah, I’m looking into the farmer’s market thing.”

  “Great. Now where do you think we could go for our fun evening out?”

  “Anywhere but a restaurant.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, I guess when you own one it’s not much fun going to someone else’s. What made you buy it?”

  “I’d work in catering before and no one else seemed to want it. I got a good deal and a more than generous loan from the bank.”

  “Someone told me the previous owner died suddenly,” said Bear.

  “I think they’d owned it for what seemed like forever. They kept it in pretty good order, but hadn’t really moved the menu into modern times.”

  “Well you’ve certainly done that,” said Bear, finishing the last of the salmon. “So let me think, no restaurants, and I hate going to the movies on a first date because we can’t talk.”

  First date. He’d just called it a first date. Things had shifted here. He’d gone from a nice guy helping Sam to boyfriend material. How had that happened?

  “You know I think I’ve thought of the perfect thing we can do Friday night.”

  She had too and that was the problem.

  ****

  Bowling. Why on earth had he picked bowling of all things? He’d only done it twice in his entire life. Probably the least romantic thing you could do, especially on a first date when you wanted to set the tone for things to come.

  He couldn’t take his eyes off Hannah as she leaned over, sizing up where she needed to place the ball to strike the remaining three pins. She let the ball go while still bending over to watch it spin its way downward.

  The ball struck two of them.

  “Damn,” she said, turning around too quickly for his liking because he was pretty sure she’d sensed he’d been watching her ass more than what had happened in the game.

  She sat down and took a sip of her soda. “You are going to kill me at this game.”

  He’d had two lucky strikes so far, but it really was beginner’s luck.

  “So what do you think Sam’s up to at Lilly and Christopher’s?” he asked her.

  “They were going to eat pizza and then Christopher had rented Despicable Me 2 for them to watch.”

  “I loved the first one, didn’t you?” he asked her.

  She nodded. “Sam and I went to see it at the cinema. He laughed so hard he almost fell off the seat.”

  Bear laughed just imaging that picture. He hoped to make that young man laugh some more. He stood. “Okay, let’s see if I can get another strike.”

  He lifted up the ball, lined up his aim, and let the ball drop. This time it went into the alley.

  “Did you do that on purpose just to make me feel good?” Hannah called to him.

  “Nope, I really do stink at this game.”

  He tried a second ball which turned into a spare.

  Hannah held her nose and laughed. “Yeah, looks like you stink at it all right,” she shouted to him.

  ****

  They sat face to face on the couch, so close that she could feel and smell his breath on hers. He flicked a stray piece of hair from her eyes. No matter what he did it was gentle. He had kind eyes too, like the sweetest person resided within his body.

  “You know I’m going to kiss you and do a whole lot more so we better talk about what you said last week.”

  She knew what he was referring to. They’d had a wonderful evening, laughing at one another’s antics at the bowling alley, but she’d not been able to truly enjoy herself and relax as much as she’d have liked. Hannah knew how the night would most likely end. Bear wanting sex. However, she was the one in control here and if she really wanted him, really wanted this relationship to work then it rested entirely upon her shoulders. That scared her so much that her mind raced with what she should do and say next.

  “I haven’t had sex since the night I conceived Sam.”

  There it was out. Saying it out loud made it sound even more stupid than when she’d kept it to herself. Now what would he think?

  “And the reason being what exactly?” asked Bear.

  She bit her lip knowing that if she was to reveal the truth then he’d have to know more about her than she was willing to give up at this point. He looked at her, clearly waiting for an answer. He deserved the truth. She’d never been in what you’d call a true relationship and if this was to become one, she had to be honest with him from the beginning.

  “I was a wild teenager. Went to pieces when my dad died and my mom remarried. I lost my virginity at fifteen and after that slept around mostly to get back at her for what I thought was betrayal to both me and my dad. Some kids do drugs and drink. I did sex. It wasn’t until I got into my twenties I discovered what sex did for my mind. I kept needing more and more to feel good about myself. Sex addict you might say.”

  She was right. It did sound like she’d been a total slut.

  “Nothing wrong with enjoying sex. I love it too.”

  “It’s different for guys. Society expects you to love it, to think about it every few minutes, to want to get into every girl’s panties, but women aren’t supposed to be like that in any shape or form.”

  “So Sam’s father, how does he figure into this past life of yours?”

  “He was one of my one night stands. A guy I met at a bar in Whitefish. I went skiing with some buddies one weekend. That’s one of the reasons I came back to this area. He told me he was part of a group of people from Kalispell. I assumed they were fellow bikers. I have this crazy idea…well, I did, that he’d find me and he’d finally get to meet Sam.”

  “Did you know you were pregnant?”

  She shook her head. “When I found out I was having a baby I drove up to Whitefish. I went into the bar where I’d met him, asked around, but they said they hadn’t seen him for a few months so I left a letter just in case he did ever pass that way again.”

  “And that’s the reason you don’t have sex because you got pregnant?”

  “I guess I’m scared.”

  He put his hand on hers. “You do know that guys can wear condoms, women can take the pill or wear a diagraph.”

  “I know that, but I’m a firm believer in lightening striking twice.”

  He ran his finger down the back of her hand. “Nothing’s foolproof, but I can assure you I’m a very careful guy.”

  “Bear, I want to sleep with you, really I do.”

  He didn’t give her a chance to finish before his lips were upon hers. She foolishly put her arms around his neck, causing him to push his body toward hers. He was a big guy, but he felt so light as he pushed her flat on her back. She looked up at him as he moved his mouth away. She ran her fingers over his chin. He had a cleft there. First time she’d really noticed it. She played with it by running her pinkie down its center and making him smile. He had dimples too. The guy was too cute for his own good…for hers too. No wonder the rumor was that women were lining up to be examined by him. He wanted her. Out of all the women in town he could have, he’d chosen her.

  One step at a time. If he could be patient with her then maybe they could meet halfway.

  “Bear?”

  He kissed her again, making her stomach flutter. Her heart did cart wheels, and her pussy said wow.

  “How about we compromise?” she asked him.

  “Compromise?” he repeated, flicking her bangs away from her eyes. He kissed the very tip of her nose.

  “Let me ease back into the whole having sex thing.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “How about some heavy petting to begin with tonight?”

  “Heavy petting. Sounds like I’m a dog.”

 
Hannah thought she’d offended him, but then he began laughing. “You mean like this sort of thing?”

  He rubbed the back of his hand over her nipples, making them achy and sensitive. She remembered that sensation.

  “Yeah, that sort of thing. No penetration tonight?”

  “None?”

  He looked like a little boy who’d been told he couldn’t go out to play.

  She shook her head.

  “I guess a guy’s got to take what he can. Now can I make a request?” he asked.

  “Sure, go ahead.”

  “I’m a big guy for this couch so how about we go to your bedroom and fool around a bit?”

  “Your request is granted.”

  He stood. She stood, getting hold of his hand and leading him out of the living room and into her room, where she walked over to the window. She pulled the drapes and saw Bear had already flicked on the bedside light.

  “On the bed, fair lady,” he said.

  She liked the way he talked, the way he took command. Even that was turning her on. Would she be able to keep her word and not allow him to enter her tonight?

  Hannah sat upon the bed. Bear got in front of her and kneeled on the ground, reaching up and unfastening the button on her jeans before pulling down the zipper.

  “Lift your gorgeous butt,” he said.

  She raised her hips as he pulled the jeans down her hips and legs.

  “These are very cute,” he said, drawing his fingers across the pink lace panties with the tiny bow on the front. “I think you put these on just for me.”

  “Really?”

  “Yep, and you wanted me to do this to them.”

  He gave them a tug, roughly pulling them down her thighs, their lace trim sending her nerve endings into a frenzy as they moved over her skin. She pushed her legs together, suddenly remembering he was a Gyn doctor.

  “What’s wrong now?” he asked.

  “You see women’s…pussies all the time and I’m thinking what if mine’s ugly or odd looking.”

  “I don’t think of pussies like that and I’m betting yours is just fine. I’d like to take a look at it right now.” Those dimples and cleft chin flashed again.

  He pushed her thighs apart. She studied his face as he looked between her legs. What was he thinking?

  “I’m not just saying this, but your pussy is a work of art, lovely luscious lips…”