Buck Me... For 4th Of July: BBW Paranormal Were-reindeer Shapeshifter Holiday Romance (Frost Brothers' Brides Book 5)

by Anya Nowlan

  Buck Me… For 4th of July

  Frost Brothers’ Brides

  Anya Nowlan

  Contents

  A Little Taste…

  Copyright

  1. Rina

  2. Comet

  3. Rina

  4. Comet

  5. Rina

  6. Rina

  7. Rina

  8. Comet

  Epilogue

  Also by Anya Nowlan

  Big Bear Trouble Excerpt

  Want more?

  About the Author

  A Little Taste…

  That should be far enough, right?

  He snorted to himself, not entirely sure if he believed that. All those years flying around the globe, and he still didn’t feel like he’d put enough ground between himself and Rina. She kept calling to him like a siren in the night, even though Comet was pretty damn sure that he was the last man on earth she wanted to deal with. But that was just how life worked, wasn’t it?

  You make one mistake and you pay for it all your life.

  I deserve that, he decided, an understanding he’d come to time and time again over the years.

  Though he couldn’t see anything on the road yet, Comet frowned slightly to himself. Something caught his ear and he turned the music down, muting it completely. Over the roar of the engine, he could hear loud laughter and a woman’s voice coming from up ahead. She sounded pissed and scared at the same time.

  It took another second for Comet to realize why the voice sounded so familiar.

  Rina.

  His heart skipped at least a few beats and, for a second, it felt like it might stop in his chest altogether. Without thinking, Comet stepped on the gas and the truck jerked forward with the sudden acceleration. It only took a few moments for the beam of his headlights to catch the silhouette of a car parked on the curb, the doors thrown open.

  Rina’s voice came through clearer and Comet’s mouth went dry and his hands clammy as he slammed the brakes, pulling up right in front of the parked car. He jumped out of the truck in time to see a couple of assholes chasing the form of a woman deeper into the desert, shooting those dumb bottle rockets and little firework packets at her. They kept missing by an inch here or there, other shots swinging wider, but it was mostly because of her expert dodging rather than their shoddy aim.

  Comet reacted far faster than his mind could keep up. He’d taken two steps past the car when he felt his body convulsing and twisting, the stag forcing its way past the barriers Comet usually kept up against it. It was rare that a shifter who’d put conscious effort into controlling its animal side would succumb so easily and so suddenly, but this time Comet didn’t have a chance of fighting it.

  Nor did he want to.

  Copyright © 2016 Anya Nowlan

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Buck Me… For 4th of July

  Frost Brothers’ Brides

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this work may be used, reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means by anyone but the purchaser for their own personal use. This book may not be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of Anya Nowlan. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material is prohibited without the express written permission of the author.

  Cover © Jack of Covers

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  Rina

  “Jake, I’m not so sure about this,” Rina said, dropping her head back on the headrest of Jake’s convertible Camaro as the desert whipped past them. “There’s still so much work to do to prepare for tomorrow. I don’t think Kalina and Ray can do it all on their own.”

  “Just relax,” Jake grumped, his words pierced by a sudden yawn as he stretched one arm back and over Rina’s shoulders, snaking it between the seat and her body. “Everything will be fine. Can’t you let loose and relax for once, Ri?”

  “Not really, no,” Rina said, sighing as she did her best to force the stress out of her body.

  Rina Reynolds felt like a block of wood trying to force itself to suddenly become liquid – it just wasn’t happening. After a few seconds of shifting about aimlessly on the seat, watching the peaceful scenery of the golds and browns of the Arizona desert pass her by, Rina sprung to sit up straight again, stiff as a board.

  “No, I can’t relax. Not on the eve of what’s the most important day of the year for me. You know that,” she said, turning to look at her boyfriend.

  Jake’s brow was furrowed as he retracted his hand and put it back on the steering wheel. Rina could almost feel the way he wanted to shake his head and sigh under his breath, but Jake kept it together well enough.

  “I’m sorry,” she added quickly, a tiny bit of guilt swirling around in the pit of her stomach. “It’s just… It’s the Fourth of July tomorrow, and like every year, the sales of the rest of the year depend on the show going flawlessly. I won’t sell anything for birthday parties, weddings or New Year’s if we screw up with the show in Seberra tomorrow.”

  “I know, honey,” Jake said, giving her a weak smile and patting her on the knee. “But you’re wound up tighter than a spring, and I’m pretty sure you’re going to pop a vein if you don’t relax a little. Besides, I need to talk to you about something tonight, and I’d rather we do it surrounded by people we actually like, in a place where you won’t be running around like a chicken with your head cut off, worrying about things that don’t matter.”

  Rina opened her mouth to protest, but closed it just as quickly, a mild scowl creasing her tanned features. She was a tall woman at 5’8’’, with long blond hair that had a bit of a natural curl, blue eyes and a curvy body made strong by years of working hard to succeed at her business.

  Every year on Fourth of July, her and the team she’d built around Rina’s Fireshows would put on a big fireworks show over a small town in Arizona, and it would determine how well they would do for the rest of the year. Everything – everything! – hinged on that show going off without a hitch, and so far, each year had been better than the previous.

  But this time, she wouldn't be there to oversee the preparations, and for some reason, her boyfriend, who also just happened to be the pilot flying the plane they would use to launch most of the fireworks, was insisting on taking her to a party the night before. To say that Rina was stressed was… well, an understatement.

  What could he want to talk to me about? Is it… No, it can’t be.

  Glancing at Jake quickly, Rina plopped back into the seat once more, that frown still carved on her face. Jake was a handsome man by most standards. Tall, broad-shouldered, with those good old-fashioned Dutch facial features and a head of lush blond hair that seemed to be almost too perfect for words. Rina’s mother kept saying how their children would be the cutest blond babes and Rina kept rolling her eyes at it.

  Jake had made it entirely clear that he had no interest in settling down and starting a family. After three years of being together, Rina was starting to wonder if her original assumption that he’d simply change his mind at one point was actually going to hold true.

  For a while now, she’d been sort of expecting
him to pop the question. He’d been asking her pointed questions about what she wanted for her future – a successful business, a nice home and a yard full of kids, of course – and seemingly making some pretty big decisions based on them. Hell, he’d even asked her to move in with him a few months ago, which had seemed like an impossibility to Rina a scant half a year before.

  Could he really be considering marriage? My mother would lose her mind.

  The fact that her mother’s excitement was the first thing that sprung to mind when thinking about settling down with the man she supposedly loved should have put any woman on edge. Rina pursed her lips and her blue gaze flicked to her hands, nervously wringing her wrists over and over again. It was an old habit she’d picked up from someone she’d once loved.

  When she realized what she was doing, she stopped immediately.

  “What do you need to talk to me about?” Rina asked finally, suddenly becoming aware that she’d been quiet for far too long as the shiny new Camaro roared through the seemingly abandoned desert.

  “You’ll see,” Jake said with a wink, patting her on the knee for a moment before returning his attention to the road.

  A dozen objections to the whole situation sprung to Rina’s mind, but she kept her tongue locked behind her teeth. Coming from a privileged background, Jake had always had a sort of leisurely approach to work. Rina, on the other hand, was used to working her hands to the bone to get ahead in life. Their different mindsets had been a stumbling point for the two of them more than once.

  He loves me and I shouldn’t make him feel guilty about trying to show me a good time. Even if he chose the worst possible time for it, Rina reminded herself, letting out a deep breath and trying again – unsuccessfully – to relax into the moment.

  She kept checking her phone, having spent the better part of the evening texting with Kalina and Ray. Armaments needed to be checked, fuses counted, boxes cataloged and the firing order checked, rechecked and then triple-checked to make sure that everything was as it was supposed to be. Every time Kalina or Ray reported back to her with a question, Rina felt the almost unbearable urge to jump up and run back to Seberra if that was what she had to do.

  But she didn’t.

  Instead, she mingled and tried to have a good time. With her smile looking like it had been painted on and her body rigid and unwieldy because of the streams of stress galloping through her, it wasn’t the most natural act she’d ever put on.

  “Rina, are you sure you can’t come in tonight?” Kalina texted just as Rina was taking a sip of punch, standing under one of a number of large tents set up in the middle of the desert.

  There were at least seventy people there and what Jake had described as a small, intimate gathering with friends had turned out to be a large-scale pre-Fourth of July cookout with people whose purse and sports car expenses for a calendar year were probably more than Rina had made in the last five years. Looking at Jake, she found him laughing and genuinely having a good time, though.

  I’ve been so impossible this last month… I owe him this, right? And he did say he wanted to talk to me about something…

  “No, I can’t. ): Please call me if there are any issues, okay?”

  Shoving the phone into her purse was almost physically painful, but she did it. Conjuring another smile on her lips, she walked through the crowd and reappeared on Jake’s arm, cuddling close to him. Jake barely spared her a look, continuing his conversation with a couple of guys who looked like they’d stepped off the Yale rowing team a couple of hours ago.

  “Honey, any idea how much longer you want to stay?” Rina asked, leaning into Jake to keep the question between the two of them as his buddies started arguing about the Republican presidential race. “It’s getting sort of late…”

  “A few more hours, babe,” Jake said, patting her hand absently. “Go have fun with the girls, won’t you?”

  It sounded more like a command than a request. Jake pulled his arm from her and walked off with his friends, laughing and clapping one another on the back.

  I bet they went to college together, Rina thought.

  She turned to look at the ‘girls’ Jake was referring to and found herself being stared down by a pack of malnourished-looking beach babes, who were giving her the stink-eye like never before. Rina looked down at her jeans and the t-shirt and open-toed sandals she was wearing, wondering if she’d spilled wine on herself or something.

  It took a moment for her to realize that it wasn’t anything specific about her that garnered the look of disgust from Jake’s friends but that it was more generally just… her.

  Great, Rina thought, stifling the desire to roll her eyes as she turned her back on the chattering women. This is exactly what I needed. A bunch of rich trust-fund babies judging me. If this isn’t an omen of some sort, I don’t know what is.

  But as usual, when things were looking bad, they had plenty of room to become worse before getting better again. Rina was about to find that out the hard way.

  Comet

  “No,” Comet said, stopping the truck pretty much in the middle of the street.

  At least three drivers were practically stepping on their horns behind him.

  He didn’t particularly care.

  “Why not?” Dash asked, exasperated, throwing his hands up in the air from the passenger seat of the large semi they were driving through the Podunk town of Seberra, Arizona.

  “Because I said no. N-O. Two letters you should be more than intimately acquainted with, considering that you at least appear to be a well-educated stag,” Comet gruffed, throwing the door open.

  He was about to jump out but twisted around at the last moment, grabbing his duffel bag from behind the seat.

  “Come on, man, it’s been too long. You can’t avoid her forever, and you and I both know that she’s the one!” Dash said, looking at Comet with a mixture of what appeared to be honest disbelief that Comet had no intention of running into his ex-girlfriend after eight years apart.

  “She may very well be, but I made my decision a long time ago and that’s that, okay? I know you lot are all fucked up in the head now because of your little love stories, but I want no part in it. I’m happy, okay? I’m fine. Leave me the buck alone,” Comet roared, jumping out of the truck and into the traffic, steaming with rage.

  A car swerved and honked its horn, but Comet didn’t even spare it a look, throwing the bag over his shoulder and stalking onto the sidewalk in front of the truck. Dash in the meanwhile had wiggled himself into the driver’s seat and was now hanging out of the truck, holding on to the door.

  “Comet, come on! This is your one chance. Don’t make the same mistake again. And you telling me that you’re happy has to be the biggest piece of bull I’ve ever heard.”

  Comet just gave his brother a hand-motion that should have told the other stag shifter to buck off completely and continued down the street. He was seeing red and his steps were long and fast, carrying his powerful form swiftly forward.

  The city couldn’t have had more than maybe twenty or thirty thousand inhabitants and the grid of the streets showed that perfectly. Having gone through as many cities, towns and countries as the Frost brothers had, one became sort of intimately aware of how and why certain architectural and city planning decisions had been made.

  He and Dash had almost been at their destination, delivering a large order of fireworks before Comet had noticed the name of the company that had made the order and put two and two together. The Frosts rarely had to do more than bringing the plane to the right town, but sometimes when their queue was slower and they had the time, and there was no one else to do the job, the renowned pilots would also take on the roles of truckers and do actual deliveries.

  This time, though, Comet knew that the whole plot had been set up by his brothers to get him to do something he had no intention of doing.

  Assholes.

  Comet was sort of certain that it had all been set up just to annoy him. It wasn’t only
Dash’s little plan to make him see Rina again, it was as if the whole city had been plonked down where Comet stood to piss him off.

  Which was ridiculous.

  But it didn’t make the feeling any less pronounced.

  I can’t believe they thought bringing me here was a bucking good idea, Comet thought, steaming as he walked on.

  He didn’t particularly know where he was going, and it probably didn’t matter that much either. Using his internal compass, he made his way toward the middle of town, hoping against hope that it wasn’t exactly where Dash had been planning to drive him.

  I really should have checked the GPS before I got out of the truck.

  Hindsight, as always, was 20-20. Well, okay, in the case of the Frost brothers, it was way better than 20-20 at all times, but the point remained.

  The nine brothers of the Frost household all worked as commercial cargo hauler pilots for ELF – Elevated Logistics by Frost, a company that was owned by the extended Frost family. The circle of owners included their uncle, Nick, and a small handful of other Frosts that may or may not have been familiar from various fairytales to most kids under the age of twelve.

  When it came to shifters, not all things written down in human fairytales turned out to be made up. But Comet was damn sure that no tall story had ever described one of the buck brothers as angry and upset as he was at that moment.

  You’re overreacting. They’re trying to do something nice, he reminded himself, his grip tightening on his bag.

  While Comet understood the sentiment his brothers were going after, he didn’t appreciate being the target of it. He still had four other brothers who hadn’t been forcefully tied down by wonderful women, so why did they have to pick on him?

  Probably because you’ve been a douchebag ever since you left Rina, he reminded himself.