by Sway Jones
Never Let You Go
Bears In Love Series, Book One
By Sway Jones
Text copyright © 2016 Sway Jones
All Rights Reserved
Chapter 1
“So what are you?” the big burly man asked sitting down in the chair across from Waverly. He was cute but the next comments out of his mouth didn’t endear him to her. “Let me guess. Bear shifter! Right? Big girl like you gotta be a bear shifter. There are no such things as cow shifters are there?”
Waverly stared at him angrily. Why did she always get the ones who only noticed her outside appearance and felt a compulsion to tell her exactly what they thought of her looks.
“What?” the man asked when she didn’t say anything but continued to stare at him. “Are there cow shifters?”
Ding! The bell couldn’t have rung any earlier?
Why did she let her best friend, Delilah, talk her into this speed dating crap? Most men seized her up as soon as they saw her and dismissed her because of her looks. She was a big girl. She liked to think of herself as curvy, but knew the rest of the world thought she was fat. And fat wasn’t attractive.
Delilah had convinced her that guys forced to spend at least fifteen minutes with her would see just how great a person she was and therefore speed dating would be perfect for her. It seemed plausible.
What neither of them had counted on were the guys using the restroom or getting a drink for most of the fifteen minutes and only sitting with her for a few minutes before moving on to the next woman. These were their excuses not to actually have to interact with her just in case she took seriously their politeness as interest. That would have been disastrous, being mooned over by such a chubby cunt.
The next guy sat down, introduced himself and went right back to his phone, texting someone. Waverly didn’t pull out her phone. She thought it very rude for people to be on their phones when others were there willing to interact with them in real life. Even if he was doing it to her, she wouldn’t stoop to his level.
By the third guy who asked her what type of shifter she was and all of them concluding she was a bear shifter, she wanted to scream. They all looked disappointed. At least they were willing to entertain the idea of fifteen minutes with another species. But she couldn’t accommodate them. So they had pulled out their phones and played games or texted their friends.
“I’m not a shifter –”
Her words died off when she turned to face the man who sat down next at her table. He was huge. At least six feet five inches tall and two hundred pounds of muscle with not one ounce of fat on him. He had green eyes that seemed to sparkle with laughter. They complimented his brown hair nicely. His face was all hard planes and had an aristocratic bearing but he didn’t come off as a snob. Perhaps it was the sweet smile he wore that made him seem approachable despite being a god incarnate.
“Hi,” he said, his voice raw sex, like he had been drinking whiskey and smoked his entire life of only thirty some odd years, she thought. “Name’s Ryan. And I am a bear shifter.”
“H – hi Ryan,” she managed to stutter out. “I’m Waverly and I am not a shifter. As far as I know, there is no such thing as a cow shifter. But you would know better than anyone. Sorry to disappoint you.”
He frowned at her and Waverly hated being on the receiving end of such a look from him. It made her heart ache that he was no longer smiling at her. But after all the men so far, she felt it best to lay all her cards on the table with this new guy for both their sakes.
“No there are no cow shifters,” Ryan commented in that sexy rumble of his. “Although they are very beautiful creatures.”
“What?” she exclaimed caught off guard by his compliment.
“Yes, cows are very beautiful and fun animals. I should know I own several on my farm.”
“Oh. I had no idea they were – fun.”
“Oh yes. My cows love to dance and frolic. They often play practical jokes on each other.”
“What? Really? That’s so – sweet.”
“They are. Now why would you be talking about cow shifters at a speed dating event?”
She blushed embarrassed by where the exchange was about to go. She had meant to say those things in order to not go through this conversation.
“Most men here think I am a – cow shifter because, well, that’s obvious.”
“Because of how beautiful you are,” he said knowingly.
She stared at him in shock.
“What did you say?” she whispered.
“You’re beautiful.”
She shook her head as if trying to clear her head of a misunderstanding. She actually looked over her shoulder to see if some other woman was standing behind her. Surely he wasn’t talking to her? But there was nobody there.
When she looked back at him he was smiling again. Then she knew what was going on.
She now frowned.
“I really don’t appreciate being the butt of your practical jokes,” she hissed at him. “At least the other men were up front about their disgust for me. They didn’t try and make a fool out of me.”
“Whoa, sweetness,” he sounded, holding his hands up against her tirade. “I wasn’t playing some joke on you. I meant every word I said.”
“You expect me to believe that you, a god of a man, thinks someone like me, a fatty, is beautiful?”
“I’m not in the habit of lying to people I just met,” he drawled irreverently. “As for those other men, they aren’t worth you worrying over them since they can’t seem to recognize the beauty in you. Don’t give them any power over you.”
Ding!
Before she could comprehend all his words, he was gone. Had that just happened, she thought? Had a gorgeous man said she was beautiful?
Out of the corner of her eye she watched him with the next woman. He smiled and was nice to her. She saw that he was interested in her. The woman was tall, like him and willowy. Very pretty and not at all like Waverly.
He was only being kind, she thought, her hope cracking. The more he laughed with the other woman the more the idea that he might be interested in her deflated. Not only was the other woman more like his type, she was charming. Not at all like Waverly, who had been distrustful and angry.
Maybe she was as bad as men thought she was both inside and outside.
Before she left, she only marked Ryan as a possible follow up. In order for that to happen, he would have to mark her as well. She didn’t think that would be the case but sometimes all one had were their dreams.
Chapter 2
Waverly worked from home. She was a cyber-security consultant. She spent her days looking for attacks against the power grids. She had watch over one of the most populated areas of the country – the northeastern corridor. Well she and about five hundred other consultants. They had managed to stave off several attacks from overseas hackers affiliated with the Russians. It was a 24/7 job but luckily she only had three twelve-hour shifts she had to work, usually during the day, but sometimes she had to pull a night shift.
This week she had one night shift. It was during the early morning hours of work that she received an email to her personal account. Generally she didn’t look at her personal email during work hours, but the night was proving to be uneventful.
She didn’t recognize the email address – [email protected]. She debated about clicking on it. She was extremely security minded and didn’t need to have some anonymous email triggering some cataclysmic breakdown of her government issued laptop.
But it was late and she was bored, so she clicked on the email.
It read:
“Hi! Hopefully you’ll open this email although I under
stand that being a single woman in this day and age of cyber bullying you might not. But in case you do, I got your address from the speed dating organizer. She said that we were a match! I had hoped you would mark me as a possible regular date candidate.
“I know we didn’t get much time to talk about ourselves, but I am interested in getting to know you better. Perhaps we can meet for coffee or tea if you prefer. My farm is in Thurston but Millers Hill isn’t too far from me. I’d be more than willing to come back into town to spend some time with you.
“I’d really love for you to meet my cows, but I know that is asking too much for you to come all the way out to my farm. I would love to show you how beautiful and sweet they are. Much like yourself. When you aren’t so prickly! But I understand the need for self-protection. Rest assured I am not here to tear anyone down. Least of all you. I just want to get to know you and see if maybe we have something between us to explore.
“If you’re interested, name the time and place and I’ll be there! If not, it was nice to meet you and I hope you find what you are looking for.
“Sincerely, Ryan.”
Waverly was stunned by the email. Was this the same man who was so gorgeous and beautiful himself that she knew there was no way in hell he would ever be interested in her?
She reread the email and it didn’t change. She wanted to wake Delilah and ask her to read it and make sure she wasn’t just imagining it. But it was nearly three in the morning and nobody would take kindly to being awoken this early.
Before she could chicken out, she wrote a short, terse response …
“Millers Coffee House. Wednesday. 4pm good for you?”
Before she could close down her account for the night, she got a response. It was like he was waiting for her email.
“See you there and then!”
She gasped. This was happening! She had a date with a gorgeous god of a man. He had asked her out. No man had done that in quite awhile. When she had been not quite as big, she had gathered enough courage to ask a couple of guys out herself but eventually stopped when they all kept turning her down. That was when she realized that she was ugly as well as fat.
But this man had asked her out! Even after she had been caustic with him. Either this was some elaborate joke or he really was interested in her. The hope that swelled in her heart nearly choked her on its need. She always had some faith in maybe finding someone to love and who loved her, but as the years had gone by, she began to realize that unless she changed who she was physically, no one would ever look past her fat and want to spend time with her.
So she had exercised but it never seemed to do anything but tighten up her muscles but she was stuck with her large breasts, wide hips and thick thighs. While the romance novels she read glorified the hourglass figure, in real life bodies like hers were scorned.
But maybe … maybe this one time her hope could be realized.
Maybe …
Chapter 3
Ryan checked his watch. She was fifteen minutes late. Of course it was snowing really hard. He should have given her his phone number so she could contact him. Perhaps she was snowed in somewhere.
His bear rumbled at the thought of his mate trapped anywhere. The animal wanted to go to her and keep her safe from even the weather.
He had been surprised when he sat down in front of her at the speed dating event and his bear had almost come to the surface wanting to claim her as his. He managed to control himself and they had an interesting conversation.
It boggled his mind that she had no idea how beautiful she was. How could those other men disregard her beauty so easily? Sure she had an hourglass figure but that made her all the sexier to him but evidently it turned some men off. His bear and he loved all those curves. All the better to hold onto her during their mating. He was a big man. He needed a big woman so he could make love without fear of breaking her.
Ryan had hesitated to do the speed dating thing, but his older brother Hank had signed him up without his permission. He decided that it was something to do on a Sunday evening. He didn’t have anything else to do. Little did he know he would find his mate there.
The snow was falling hard. He pulled his phone out to see if maybe she had emailed him. She hadn’t. He stared out the window growing more concerned every minute. Finally he saw a bundled up person walk across the road and into the coffee shop.
As the person pulled off their gloves, hat, and scarf, he got a whiff of the human. His bear groaned at the scent of his mate. She had come!
“Let me help you,” he said getting up and going to her.
“Oh thank you,” she sounded breathless, as he took her coat. She was dressed in a light yellow sweater and black snow pants. She hugged herself against the lingering cold.
He led her to their table with a hand on her lower back. Pulling out a chair next to the window and on the same side as his, he sat her down.
“Hot chocolate?” he asked not sitting down yet.
“That would be wonderful.”
He returned her smile, liking how it lit up her face. Her long black hair cascaded around her face like a waterfall. Her tanned skin was flawless. Those almond-shaped eyes of hers were sparkling with life. She was genuinely happy to be there at that moment.
“I’ll be right back,” he said before turning to go get her hot chocolate.
Waverly blew on her fingertips to try and warm them up. She hadn’t been able to find parking any place close so ended up walking a few blocks to her destination. The temperature had turned bitter while the snow continued to fall. A part of her was concerned about getting back home especially for Ryan who lived farther away.
“Here you go,” he said setting a mug of steaming hot chocolate in front of her.
“Thank you so much,” she said, her teeth chattering slightly. Wrapping her cold hands around the mug brought some relief. As she blew on the hot liquid to cool it enough for her to drink, she missed the look of need on Ryan’s face as he sat down. Her pursed lips excited him. What he wouldn’t mind doing with that beautiful mouth.
“I’m worried,” she began after take a sip of the hot liquid.
“About what?” he asked concerned that she was anxious.
“As much as I want to be here right now with you, I think maybe you should head home soon. I’m scared you’ll get caught out in the snow in the middle of nowhere.”
He smiled at her distress for him. She was so damn sweet.
“I’m pretty happy where I am right at this moment,” he responded grinning at her brightly.
He looked happy, Waverly thought dazed by his beautiful smile. He was happy to be there with her in public. She was amazed by the sentiment. The few men she had dated had always found the most secluded restaurants and bars to meet her at, ones where nobody knew them. At least that is what they told her.
But here was Ryan not seeming to have a care in the world that he was being seen in public with her. He only seemed to have eyes for her too. Again the men she had dated always seemed to be looking for someone better looking to latch onto and leave with, not that many of them did, but they constantly looked at the other women in the establishment trying to flirt with them as she sat right across from them eating her meal.
“I have a big truck that can handle the snow well,” he said trying to ease her mind. “No worries.”
“Great! I might have to ask you for a ride home then,” she chirped looking back out at the snow that seemed to be falling even heavier.
“Not a problem. So how have you been?”
It seemed like the hour they spent at the coffee house was gone in an instant. They talked like old friends. For once Waverly found herself relaxed in the presence of another person who she hadn’t know for years. As an introvert it had taken so long for her to be able to let her guard down with even her best friend Delilah. But with Ryan it was like they had been with each other since birth.
The stories he told about his cows had her laughing out loud. They really did
have personalities. Thankfully Ryan owned a dairy farm and not a meat-producing ranch. Just talking to him about his playful cows had her rethinking eating meat altogether.
They would have continued talking if it weren’t for the coffee house announcing that it was closing early because of the weather. He helped her bundle back up and led her to his truck, which was parked behind the building. Practically lifting her up into the passenger seat, Waverly wished she had not been hidden underneath all those layers so she could feel his hands on her body. As it was the layers of down between them muffled his touch.
As she directed him down the streets to her home, the big truck decided it didn’t like being in the snow anymore than any other car. It got stuck a few times in some drifts. It slid around on some of the more icy patches. Waverly didn’t feel good about letting Ryan take off for home in this weather.
“I know you want to get home as soon as possible but I’m really worried about you being able to get there,” she sounded with alarm when they reached her driveway. She looked up at him from behind her scarf and hat.
Ryan again was touched by her concern. He had actually started to worry a little himself.
“Is there a hotel back in town?” he asked looking out the window at the now fast approaching snow. “I don’t recall there being one.”
“You don’t have to trek all the way back to town,” she began gently. “You can – stay with me unless you want to stay somewhere else, which I can understand. We hardly know each other.”
“I don’t want to put you out or make you feel uncomfortable. You don’t know me and if I were your brother and you were considering letting this strange man come and spend the night I would be putting a stop to that,” he growled.
She smiled at his depth of emotion about the prospect of her putting herself in some sort of danger. It sounded like he cared. It had been so long since anyone had given a damn about her.
“You sound a lot like my best friend,” she finally replied still smiling. “I appreciate your – worry but you aren’t going to hurt me, right?”
