Bearly Christmas

by Becca Fanning

  “You bastards!” Stacey shouted. “No weapons, you said!”

  Jack glanced her way, but neither he nor Al answered her. The crowd was drawn to the fight, as the bear suddenly reared up and gave a howl of pain. There was blood on the blade, but Kurt’s wound was lost somewhere in his fur, too obscured to make out whether it was a full slash or just a cut. He charged for the man with the sword, but had to rear up again when the human pointed it right for his skull. Two of the other adversaries had gone to help their flattened comrade get out of the dirt, but knife-boy was confident. Stacey wasn’t surprised to find a maniac in Big Al’s employ, but she was fearfully impressed by his fearlessness. Even when Kurt snapped and snarled, bearing a huge jaw full of teeth, the sword wielder made another charge forward. He had Kurt on the run.

  Stacey willed him to run up the side of the dirt bowl. She knew Kurt could get out if he wanted to, digging his claws into the earth to make the climb. Kurt was circling the lower part of their makeshift arena, as if considering his next move. He was too proud to run from the man. He wanted to best him. It was then that Stacey remembered what he’d said about winning and the search for excitement. This fight was just as a much of a drug as his gambling woes.

  Kurt took a sudden lunge forward, intending to throw his enemy off guard. It worked, to some extent at least, for the sword wielding man dived to the left to avoid the attack. But his reflexes were just as good as Kurt’s, and when he landed, he shoved the blade deep into the ground. The crowd gave a horrified gasp. The long knife had gone straight through the center of Kurt’s paw, trapping him in place. The bear gave a pained howl, trying to free himself, but it was no use. Stacey watched in horror as the man returned to his other fellows, retrieving the lasso rope from them. If he put it round Kurt’s neck, it was all over. Stacey saw her future being stolen from her.

  She couldn’t let it happen. She was running down into the bowl before anyone could stop her, and she heard the annoyed hollers of the crowd following her down. Every sound echoed larger in the bowl, and the closer she got to Kurt at the bottom, the more speed and force she seemed to build up. Gravity was on her side, and she knew exactly what to do with it. Changing course, she let herself barrel straight into the man with the rope. Her speed knocked him flat, and she fell on top in a haze of pain and panic. She would hold him off as long as she could.

  Fortunately, she didn’t have long to struggle. A huge floodlight came down into the bowl, blinding everyone in its brilliant white beam. It had come from a portable rig which two men were holding up on the ridge, and once her vision had cleared, Stacey recognized their uniforms as that of the police. Officers were everywhere, swarming the crowd and taking Big Al and Jack into handcuffs. They were scrambling down the side of the bowl too, racing towards the men, who couldn’t get away even if they’d tried.

  There were others coming down the hillside too, four men in park ranger uniforms. Two dark-haired men who looked fairly similar raced towards Kurt, who had collapsed in a pained heap. They were shouting at one another and examining the knife carefully. Stacey realized that she was being helped to her feet by the other two men. One had a stern face, full of fury as he gave the rope wielding man, still on the floor, a solid kick. The other man was blonde, the same kind of blonde as Kurt, but with a slightly older, kinder face.

  “You must be Stacey,” he said brightly. “I’m Hart. My brothers told me all about you. Everything’s going to be all right now. I promise.”

  * * *

  Two months later.

  “Sixty days,” Kurt said.

  He crossed the day off the calendar, the one with the big red ring around it. Sixty days had arrived, and Stacey felt a thrill rush through her.

  “I can’t believe we’ve waited this long,” she said in amazement.

  “Well, there were a few slip-ups,” Kurt added. “A few temptations. But we made it.”

  Kurt set the calendar on the table, and settled himself on the sofa. They were sitting in the back room of the Rangers’ Lodge, where Stacey had recently moved in. She crawled across the wide, soft fabric of the sofa, nestling her lips against Kurt’s ear.

  “Sixty days with no gambling,” she crooned, “I’d say that deserves a reward.”

  It was what they had agreed, albeit reluctantly on Stacey’s part. Kurt said he couldn’t be with her until he was sure that his problem was under control. Sixty days clean was enough to prove that he could stay away from casinos and the like if he wanted to. Now, they were free to be together, with Big Al and Jack safely locked away for racketeering.

  “Hang on,” Kurt said, a hitch in his voice. “Here? Don’t you want to go upstairs? What if someone comes in?”

  Stacey let her tongue slide out, teasing Kurt’s earlobe. He gave a groan.

  “You weren’t shy about being naked in the crowd before,” she reasoned. “Besides, it’s the middle of the day. They’re all working.”

  It was true enough to convince him. Kurt let his hands slide away from his lap, and Stacey climbed on, her thighs either side of his. They kissed with deep, lingering kisses, Kurt catching her lip between his teeth when she tried to break away. He reeled her back in every time, hands caressing upwards under her skirt. Stacey moaned when he found her buttocks, squeezing and massaging with his huge, strong hands. She could feel the scar on his right palm, where the stab wound had eventually healed. That little rough patch made her skin shiver when it stroked over her.

  “I’ve waited sixty days,” Stacey said, breathless. “I’m not waiting even a second longer.”

  She pawed at the buttons on Kurt’s shirt until they were all undone, pushing it apart to reveal his chest. It was golden from so much sun exposure, and she kissed him all over, the blonde hairs there tickling her jaw. Her hands found his abdominal muscles, trailing down each one in turn. When she reached the end of that trail, Stacey leaned back, looking down at the bulge which had appeared in the groin of his pants. She lifted herself a little higher on her knees to give him room.

  “Off. Now,” she commanded.

  Kurt grinned. It was that glorious grin that lit up whole rooms, brighter than the sun. He was panting with excitement as he fumbled with his belt, letting his pants slide off down his legs. It was then that Stacey realized he’d been playing coy before. If he hadn’t been expecting her to leap on him no sooner than he’d marked the day off the calendar, then he wouldn’t have been going commando. His cock was hard and proud, waiting for her touch.

  Stacey reached out, her fingers wrapping around the shaft. Kurt gave another groan, so low that it sounded like a growl in his throat. As Stacey stroked him, feeling the throb of his pulse with every move, Kurt’s hands made their way up her skirt again. There was some clever moving around as he teased her panties off, and when his fingers found her clitoris, she gave a little gasp of surprise. They teased each other with long, languid movements, kissing and letting their tongues dance for a moment.

  Then Stacey moved forward, the ache inside her too strong to resist. She hovered her body over Kurt’s hips, letting him hold her legs and ease her down onto him. When his warm, throbbing hard-on slid into her, she couldn’t help the grin that burst onto her face. They stayed like that a moment as Kurt helped her out of her shirt and bra. He kissed and teased her nipples, slowly starting to rock their hips together. Every push upwards sent a surge of lightning into Stacey’s nerves.

  “It’s you, you know,” Kurt said, his breath hot against her chest. “You’re my new addiction. I have a Stacey problem now.”

  She grinned, pushing her hips down to get him as far in as he’d go. The ache was building, begging her to move faster, but she resisted long enough to ask him one last question.

  “Do you want to solve your Stacey problem?” she asked.

  “Never,” Kurt said with a grin. “I want to have it forever.”

  He held her suddenly, hands gripping her thighs tightly. Stacey gripped his shoulders and let out a moan as they began to thrust together
. She felt his body slick with sweat against hers, and heard the growl in his throat again as he showered her collarbone in kisses. Every thrust was harder and faster than the one before, until they were a blur of passion. Stacey felt her body rumble with the build-up to her climax, and she threw her head back to ride out the wave. They came together in a mutual cry of ecstasy.

  Moments later, as they were panting and recovering from the orgasm, a key turned in the door to the Rangers’ Lodge.

  “Only me, darlings,” Anina called from the hall. “Anybody want some lunch?”

  Kurt’s golden eyes were wide in panic and amusement. Quickly, he and Stacey gathered their clothes and snuck out the back door of the sitting room. They rounded the stairs, running naked and trying to stifle their giggles so that Anina wouldn’t hear them. Once safely inside the bedroom, Stacey suggested that they’d better get dressed and go and answer her. But Kurt slid the bolt across his door. He was serious about his addictions, and now that he’d had a taste of Stacey McKinley, he couldn’t help but crave more.

  * * *

  Epilogue

  It was summer when Elise Davenport and Dietrich Best had their first baby. He came into the world on the anniversary of the night they had met, and that meant that all the Best boys were standing in the waiting room of the hospital. Elise was still in labor when Stacey and Kurt arrived, hand in hand. Anina came over to greet them, kissing Stacey on both cheeks. The old woman was clearly overjoyed, her milky eyes brimming with tears.

  “Not long now,” she said excitedly. “Just think, a whole new generation of the clan is being born.”

  “And another one on the way in two months,” said a voice behind her.

  Here, Ben was sitting with his new wife Layla, whose own baby bump had swelled recently. Stacey gave them a wave and a grin. She looked at Kurt to find his golden eyes shining. He nodded, like he knew exactly what she was thinking. He often did.

  “Actually, Anina, we-” Stacey begun.

  But the old matriarch of the clan was still talking, too wrapped up in her excitement to listen to anyone else.

  “Yes, yes,” she said to Ben, “and now Kurt and Stacey are happy and settled together. It’s all so wonderful. You next, Reinicke?”

  She said this last with a teasing hitch in her voice. Stacey gave a giggle. It was a well-known fact in the family that Reinicke, Kurt’s cousin, hated to be teased. He looked the least excited by whole fiasco, though even he was tapping his fingers against his chair with impatience. He scowled. Reinicke might have been quite handsome, if not for all the scowling.

  “No thanks, Gram,” he answered dryly. “You’ve got quite enough baby-making going on without my efforts.”

  “Speaking of which,” Kurt tried to interject, but he was cut off once again.

  “Well, what about you Hart?” Anina pressed. “Any new girls on the horizon?”

  Hart caught his brother’s eye for a moment and they shared a sigh.

  “I called Karina at the agency, just like you said,” he told his grandmother, “but she’s short on girls in this area right now. Sorry Gram, it doesn’t look like happily ever after is on my cards just yet.”

  “However,” Stacey said loudly, but once again Anina was jabbering away.

  “Oh, that’s a shame,” she said gently. “I thought you and that girl from Ben’s wedding were very well suited.”

  “She’s gone back to China, Gram,” Ben cut in. “To her husband, remember?”

  “Gram-” Kurt tried again.

  “Ah,” Anina said. “I knew there was a reason that wasn’t going to work.”

  “Gram…” he tried again.

  “Such a shame, she was very pretty.”

  “GRAM!”

  Silence filled the room. Kurt’s voice had risen to shake the atmosphere, almost as loud as his roar. Anina looked at him, aghast. She seemed as though she might have been about to tell him off for being so rude, and Stacey felt it her duty to step in. She took the old woman’s hands gently, touching as they had when they’d first met.

  “Anina, we’ve been trying to tell you our news,” she explained gently. “Kurt and I… Well, I’m two and a half months pregnant.”

  Silence followed as the news sank in, then everyone was speaking at once. They rushed to crowd around Stacey and Kurt, congratulating them on the happy news. Even Reinicke got up to shake Kurt’s hand, before making some excuse about finding a vending machine. Amid all the fuss, Stacey looked to Kurt, and this time he shook his head. The crowd was excited enough for one night.

  They’d wait until later to tell them it was most likely twins.

  Hart

  Bear Dating Agency IV

  by

  Becca Fanning

  “Oh my God, Elise, he’s perfect.”

  Jane Walsh leaned carefully on the edge of the hewn wooden crib, peering in with a lump in her throat. The baby boy was tiny, a perfect replica of humanity in every way. Tiny hands with tiny fingers, tiny lips that blew bubbles as he breathed. He even had tiny dark, hairs starting to sprout from his scalp. He was two weeks old, peaceful and perfect. And, when he opened his eyes to look at Jane, they shone with a ring of glittering gold.

  “Say hello to Isaak Best,” Elise told her brightly.

  Elise had been working less and less in the run-up to giving birth, and Jane hadn’t seen her for more than a month by the time she came to visit Fairhaven Park. Now, Jane could see that it was all so worth it, the slowing down, the taking time to create and care for something so beautiful. It stirred her heart into a warm, deep sensation, and she found herself watching little Isaak with a wistful smile on her face.

  “You want one, don’t you?” Elise asked her.

  Jane turned, eyeing up her favorite client carefully. Elise was glowing with all the charms of new motherhood, despite the tired shadows lurking beneath her eyes. Jane was more than just Elise’s agent, she had grown to be a dear friend to the slightly younger woman. She weighed up her options for answering the big question, and nodded slowly.

  “Sure I do,” Jane replied, “but that involves meeting a man, making commitments. It just takes so much time, Elise. It’s time I don’t have right now.”

  Even as she spoke, Jane couldn’t help but glance at her cell phone, which she’d kept one hand on in her pocket the whole time since she’d left LA. It was on silent for baby Isaak’s benefit, but the emails and instant messages were already piling up. Every five minutes, someone somewhere had a crisis for her to solve. She felt the wistful feeling leave her, a wave of stress returning to turn her body tense.

  “But when will you ever have time, if you don’t stop and look once in a while?” Elise challenged. “Why don’t you call Karina Vasquez? Her agency sent me up here in the first place, remember?”

  Jane shook her head at once.

  “Not everyone can be as lucky as you and Dietrich,” she insisted. She glanced at her phone again. “I really ought to check this. Do you mind?”

  Elise gave a sigh, which seemed to signal that she did mind, but Jane started to move away from the crib all the same. Her steps were heavy as she walked away, and at the door she looked back on the scene of a happy mother, and a woman in love.

  “I…” Jane began sadly, but she couldn’t let go of what she really wanted to say. “I’m just here for the week, working out-of-office, to see you and get to know Isaak. Love just isn’t on my schedule right now. It’s not like I can just expect a man to fall out of the sky and-”

  The door hit Jane square in the chest, and she stumbled backwards. Baby Isaak began to bawl at once, filling the room with the shrill cry of shock. Jane shrieked too, for as the door swung open, a tall, muscular man crash-landed at her feet. He had rolled his head into his arms to prevent any damage, and beyond him the hatch to the Rangers’ Lodge attic was wide open. His collapsed ladder had sent him flying towards the bedroom, and he looked up into Jane’s eyes with a sudden awareness.