Ian (BBW Bear Shifter Wedding Romance) (Grizzly Groomsmen Book 4)

by Becca Fanning

He kissed along her shoulder. “I think you’re pretty great, too. And I think we’re pretty great together.”

  “We are. But, I should tell you,” she said. “And I don’t know what exactly you had in mind moving forward, but it’s been a long time since I was in any sort of relationship.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  “Okay. I’m not really looking to rush things. Well, I mean emotionally, I guess. Physically, I like fast.” She winked at him.

  He smiled and brushed aside a stray piece of her hair. “Me either. I honestly never thought I would be able to trust anyone again. I thought I was done with relationships. My last serious relationship was a disaster and ended very badly.”

  She laughed humorlessly. “I probably got you beat, but let’s hear your story.”

  “Well.” He lay on his back and stared up at the ceiling. “We were together a few years and we were engaged. Totally in love, planning a wedding, all that. And I realize now that waiting probably made it worse, but I still hadn’t told her I was a shifter. Then one day, when I thought I couldn’t wait any longer, I told her. Then I showed her. She flipped out and ran off and never talked to me again. She wouldn’t even come and get her stuff herself. She sent a friend. I think she was maybe scared of me or something. I tried to talk to her to explain. Calls, texts, emails, letters. She wouldn’t listen and wouldn’t respond to any of it. Just like that, it was over.”

  “Hmm,” she said.

  “Pretty awful, right?”

  “Well, I can see why that would give you trust issues. It’s interesting, though.”

  “Interesting? That’s not the response I was expecting.”

  “Oh no, it’s awful for sure. But I can imagine exactly how painful that would be. That’s almost what happened to me. We weren’t engaged, but we were together for four years. One night, I drank a little too much and we were making out. I got too excited and wasn’t in control of myself. I started to feel the change. Instead of stopping it, I stood up and said something stupid like, ‘Look how wild I really am,’ and changed, just like that. Obviously, he freaked. He called me lots of names and said he would tell everyone. I had to bite his leg and promise to hurt him worse to get him to agree not to tell. And, of course, I never heard from him again, either.”

  “That is interesting. We have a very similar relationship past.”

  “Yeah. Oh hey,” she said, turning on her side to face him again. “I should tell you something before this goes any further. I don’t want any surprises later or for you to freak on me like the last guy did.”

  She saw the glimmer of concern cross his face. “What?”

  She leaned down and whispered, “I can turn into a bear.”

  He made his eyes go wide. “Oh no, you’re kidding me! Well, I have my own secret.”

  “What?” She smiled and made her face looked worried, playing along.

  He leaned in close to her and whispered, “I trust you more than I’ve trusted any woman since my ex. And this is the first time I’ve ever thought that someone was worth the hassle of a relationship.”

  Her smile vanished. She’d expected him to say he was a shifter, too, to keep the game going. But this was serious. “Really?”

  He nodded. “There are so many things I don’t have to worry about with you. You know all the intimate details of being a shifter. You even know what it’s like to be the alpha. You’re in the same business as me, and you know about running a company. You’re like the female version of me. I have no reason to hide anything from you. You already know the most complicated parts of my life. And now that you know my relationship history, you know my biggest piece of baggage. And it’s the same as yours, too.”

  “We do have an awful lot in common. It’s nice, for a change. I’m surprised more shifters don’t bear up together in relationships. I don’t know any shifter couples, actually. Any of your guys single?”

  “No,” he said. “I was the last holdout. And they’re all in shifter-human relationships. I think maybe most of us cling to that normalcy that comes from pure humans. I don’t know. There’s also not that many of us, and even fewer close by.”

  “We should start a bear shifter dating web site to help us wild, lonely folks find each other.”

  “Right.” He let his fingers trail over her stomach and breasts, her hard nipples. “God, your body is perfect. You know something? I think I could love you.”

  She closed her eyes, the emotions flooding her. When she looked at him again, tears blurred her vision. “You know something? I’d be totally okay with that.”

  She leaned up to kiss him, feeling more at peace than she had in a long time.

  Slade sat at the head of the long table in the Walker’s dining room and Veronica sat to his right. The table was filled with both of their clans. Daxton, Knox and Beck, Amir, then Beth and Robin across from them.

  “Are you all ready for the big reveal?” Slade asked.

  “Wait, I know what it is,” Robin said, holding up her hand. “Veronica is pregnant.”

  Veronica’s face went red, and she shook her head. “That’s not the big reveal. And I’m not.”

  Slade glanced at her, stood, took in a deep breath, and said, “Okay then. Here’s the design we came up with.”

  He turned around a board that held the logo design her and Slade had worked on together. Across the top of the image, it said, “Harwal Honey Products,” the name of their new company. At the very bottom, it said, “A merger of Bear Natural Honey and SheBear Honey” in small letters. Between the lines of text was an illustrated drop of honey falling into a small piece of honeycomb.

  They’d gone through multiple looks and colors and names, working together over long hours into the night. They stopped often to take sex breaks, as Slade liked to call them. It helped to keep their minds clear and focused, he claimed. Right. She didn’t care what excuses he came up with, she loved being able to alternate work and making love and was happy to pause anytime.

  The whole process of merging their clans and businesses had taken much longer, but gone much better than she expected. They had come back together the next week to discuss things. Turned out, everyone had many more ideas than either Slade or her anticipated. Great ideas, and all ways to work together to make their new company awesome.

  With Christina and Abby gone, the hostility had quickly vanished. They began regular picnics and events to get the clans together, with the guys’ girlfriends joining in. They’d all become friends over the months, and Harmony’s little boy was brutally spoiled with kisses and hugs. They’d even briefly discussed building one giant compound that all the couples could live on together. It would take more time for that to become a reality. They’d need more land, and they had to focus on production first.

  “Thoughts?” Veronica asked. She looked around the table at their reactions. There were many head nods and several expressions of interest.

  In the end, they all liked it. Next on the agenda, they discussed the new product line. They were going to expand the soaps that the Walkers had tested, and include the new lotions the Harpers had perfected. There would also be teas, candles, and candy.

  And they had plans to expand into shampoos and other food options later down the line. They had a whole five-year-plan and a ten-year-plan that had been dreamed up over the months of meetings they held. This was one of their weekly meetings, which would end with a cookout.

  “Work hard first, then play harder,” was what Slade always said. Though, when they were alone, Veronica said, “Work hard first, then fuck harder.” Slade was happy with both versions.

  Once they finished all the business on the list, Slade stood again.

  “Any final issues of business?” he asked.

  No one said anything.

  “Then, it’s time to have some fun!” Veronica said.

  “Wait a minute,” Slade said. “Any non-business issues to discuss?”

  They always left time to talk about personal things or share abo
ut what was going in their lives. Veronica was hungry, though, and wanted to speed things along. They’d all talk while they cooked out anyway.

  “I do have one thing.” Robin stood. “It’s been a long time coming, I think, but I wasn’t sure how to tell you all.”

  Veronica’s heart started racing. Robin looked nervous. Was she about to give them bad news? Was she planning to leave?

  But then Beth stood, too. “And I asked her to wait until I was ready.”

  Veronica glanced at Slade and he looked just as confused and worried.

  “But, here it is.” Robin breathed out a hard sigh and reached out to take Beth’s hand. Then she turned and kissed her.

  Veronica’s mouth dropped open. That was the last thing she’d expected. She had no idea either of them were gay, or that they had any interest in each other. Though now, it made sense. She’d never seen either of them in a relationship and they had been getting closer over the months. She had thought it was just the combination of Christina and Abby leaving and her spending more time with Slade and leaving them alone, but apparently, it was more.

  Slade started clapping and the others joined in, hooting and hollering as Beth and Robin smiled with red faces.

  “Thank you,” Beth said. “We weren’t sure how everyone would take it.”

  “You really thought there’d be complaints?” Dax said.

  Knox nudged him, but laughed.

  “Really happy for you,” Slade said. He took Veronica’s hand under the table and squeezed.

  “Yeah,” she said. “I mean, I’m shocked and I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner, but this is awesome!”

  She had secretly been a little disappointed that all the Walkers had girlfriends. After knowing how awesome it could be to date another shifter, she wanted that for them all. She hated seeing Robin and Beth be the only single ones at their events that were all filled with happy couples. But this made everything perfect. Everyone was paired up and happy. Things felt very complete.

  “Anyone else?” Slade said.

  “Who could beat that?” Beck said.

  “Well, I’m going to try,” Slade said. “Not to upstage you or anything, but I had this planned for months.”

  He stood and turned to Veronica. “Exactly one year ago today, we kissed for the first time. It was unexpected, but wonderful, and since that moment, I have not been able to get you off of my mind. The last year has been the most amazing year of my life, and I want to see just how much better it can get. Veronica, I don’t want to live without you. You’re already my business partner, my co-alpha, my best friend. But, I’d like to add wife to that list.”

  He dropped down on one knee, and Veronica’s eyes went wide. They hadn’t discussed marriage at all. They’d both said they’d been so hurt in the past and had such trust issues that they were going to take things slow. This didn’t feel slow.

  But she’d fallen so hard in love with him in the last year. So hard, she thought it would scare him if she told him. If she said how she’d dreamed of being his wife and having shifter babies. When Robin joked at the start of the meeting that she was pregnant, she wanted it to be true. But she didn’t want to move things too fast for him. It seemed now, that they’d both decided slow wasn’t necessary. Everything about this felt so right.

  Slade opened a ring box and held it up to her. “Will you marry me?”

  She took a moment to gaze into his eyes, to let the scene blur with her tears as her heart swelled with joy. But apparently, she’d taken too long.

  “Of course she will!” Robin said.

  “Yes!” Dax said.

  Veronica laughed and nodded as a chorus of “Say yes!” broke out from the table.

  Slade slipped the ring on her finger and kissed her, then stood with his arms tight around her at the head of the table. “Meeting adjourned.”

  The room cleared, but Slade held her close to keep her there. She didn’t mind. She wanted a few minutes alone, too.

  When they were alone, he kissed her again and asked, “They didn’t pressure you into it, did they?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “You’re sure? I know it’s fast and we said we wanted to take things slow, but—”

  “It feels like exactly the right time,” she said.

  “Yes. It does to me, too.”

  “Then that’s all that matters.”

  Reinicke

  Bear Dating Agency V

  by

  Becca Fanning

  Prologue

  The most irritating thing in the world was a ‘happily ever after’. As the director of an incredibly popular dating agency, Karina Vasquez was responsible for such miracles occurring every damn day. She was inundated with calls from those who she’d set up, wanting to thank her for making their dreams come true. And, when grateful past clients weren’t clogging up her phone line, new ones with dreams of their own were battering down her door. In simple terms, she had become far too good at her job. Demand was outweighing what she could supply, and there was only one solution to the problem, as far as Karina could see.

  The sign on her office door read: “Out to lunch. Permanently.”

  She had driven to the place where happy childhood memories called, memories of a time when there were no demands or pressures placed on her. It was the place where her mother, Rose, had taught her to swim, and where her father, Javier, had cooked ribs on a rickety old barbeque. As she arrived in Fairhaven Park, the sun was shining with a glorious brilliance, and all at once she was no longer a twenty-five year old business sensation in the world of romance. Karina was as free as the birds that soared above her.

  Best of all, work could not follow her here. Not long ago she’d had four clients in this very park, all of them brothers with the surname Best. But now they were paired off, a domino effect of happily ever afters that had been part of the boom which sent Karina off the deep end. That meant there were no eligible men seeking love here, only a park full of quiet, silent places where she could forget that the rest of the world existed. It was going to be heaven.

  And then there was a crash, and Karina rocked in the seat of her car.

  “Watch where you’re damn going!” said a voice that was almost a growl.

  Karina threw her head out of her car window, watching as a man in the Land Rover opposite her did the same. He had tawny brown hair cut straight and sensible, and his face was the most serious one Karina had ever seen. He had a strong jaw pulled into a grumpy sneer and shining eyes that appeared gold by the light of the brilliant sun. For a moment, Karina just looked at him, mesmerized. Before she remembered what he’d said, and done.

  “You bumped my car!” she decreed, outraged.

  “You were daydreaming!” the man insisted. “You came straight at me.”

  “Come on!” Karina retaliated at once. “It’s a wide road. You could have gone around! You’re just one of those assholes who likes to make trouble.”

  “Sure I am,” the man replied, “but I’m also responsible for other people’s safety here. Can’t let a menace like you go unchecked.”

  It was then that Karina spotted the badge glinting on his lapel. He was in some kind of uniform, and further inspection of his car revealed a huge logo for Fairhaven on the side, along with the words: Park Ranger Service.

  “Shit,” Karina said quietly.

  “Indeed,” the man said sharply. “My name’s Reinicke, by the way. I suggest you avoid me for the duration of your stay.”