Men Love Curves: BBW Romance

by Ruby Madden

  Ryland turned his hand over and gripped her hand, bringing it to his mouth. “I know, sweetheart.” He looked into her eyes and saw her worry. Fuck. Now he was upsetting his brother’s mate. His brother’s pregnant mate. He was relieved to see the same concern in his brother’s eyes. An angry male grizzly chewing on his ass would have made a fucking great ending to this shitty week. To this shitty month.

  He leaned back in the booth trying to soothe his bear and distract Paige and his brother until Ryker arrived. “So, have you decided to leave this grumpy butt yet?”

  “Hey, I’m not the one that’s been like a lion with a sore paw lately,” Quinn protested. He waited until Paige picked up her burger before picking up one of his.

  Ryland reached over and took Quinn’s other burger, ignoring the growl for stealing the food.

  “What?” he said after taking a big bite of the cheeseburger. “You can’t afford to buy me lunch?”

  Quinn just shook his head and pushed the plate of fries to the middle of the table. Ryland lifted some to his mouth more out of habit than hunger.

  They all looked up when the outside door slammed open and Ryker strode inside. As soon as he took his first full breath inside the restaurant, Ryland knew the man had picked up their mate’s scent. “Where is she?” His eyes were a little wild looking as he marched toward the booth. “Where is our mate?”

  Well, so much for subtlety Ryland thought when Paige gasped. Quinn on the other hand didn’t look that surprised.

  “She’s not here anymore.”

  When Ryker’s shoulders slumped and he continued to tower over the booth, Ryland shot him a sympathetic look. He felt the same way. As if all the life had drained out of him. “Sit down, Ryk. We’ll find her.”

  The waitress came over to see if the twins wanted anything to eat. The men ordered the same as Quinn—two of everything. Picking up the used dishes, she stacked them along her arms. The skill told Paige she’d been a waitress for a long time. Paige’s heart broke at the glum expressions on the twins’ faces. She was a human and couldn’t help track the female shifter, but maybe she could help some other way. She smiled up at the woman. “Was there another waitress on duty just now? One that might have, um, left early?”

  The waitress popped her gum, her attention focused on the twins. Paige couldn’t blame her. They were quite handsome. Not as handsome as her bear, but she could see where they could turn a woman’s head if she were so inclined. She laughed at herself. The twins were drop-dead gorgeous.

  “Yeah, Abby. She said something about a family emergency.”

  “I just bet,” Ryker mumbled under his breath, his large fists clenched on the tabletop.

  The woman picked up the empty water glasses. “Are you friends of hers?”

  “Yes, we are.” Ryland smiled at the woman, turning on the charm.

  “Well, I don’t think she’s scheduled back to work for a couple of days.”

  Well, damn it to hell. Ryland thought as he shared a frustrated look with Ryker. He didn’t know if they could wait another hour, much less another few days before they could hunt for their mate again. They wanted to know why the hell the little cat wasn’t trying to find them. He knew they’d take turns spanking her ass for that behavior when they finally did manage to catch her.

  And they would. Of that, Ryland had no doubt.

  “But I have seen her working at O’Henry’s, about two blocks down. It’s a bar and grill.” The woman gave them a shred of hope.

  Thank the heavens.

  “When does she work there?”

  She popped another bubble. “The weekends, I think. There’s better tips on Friday and Saturday.”

  Ryland’s heart pounded with anticipation. Today was Thursday. They wouldn’t have long to wait, even though each hour would seem like an eternity. His bear wanted to go hunting now.

  Still holding the dishes, she said, “Look, I don’t know what you want with the girl, but you seem like nice enough guys.” She gave Quinn and Paige a quick smile. “A nice family.”

  “Thank you,” Paige said, giving both Ryland and Ryker a stern look when they started to speak. “We just want to find her. Make sure she’s alright. I think we kind of spooked her.” She laughed quietly. “She hasn’t seen us in a while, and these boys can be intimidating.” She pointed to the twins with a sweep of her hand.

  “Yeah,” the waitress smiled. “Real intimidating.” She sighed, looking like a kid who’d just had her candy stolen. “If I were a few years younger, I’d be giving her a run for her money.”

  Ryker rose and took the dishes from her with a wide smile, proving he could be just as charming as Ryland when he wanted. Ryland kissed the woman on the cheek. “Thank you, darling.”

  Paige laughed when the woman looked like she was about to swoon. The twins, in a coordinated move that amazed Paige, turned her toward the counter. As they moved away, she knew the woman would give them every last shred of information she had on the mysterious waitress.

  “They are incorrigible,” she laughed, leaning against Quinn’s broad chest.

  “And obviously have a mate.”

  “Um, how does that work exactly?”

  Quinn grinned down at her and she wanted him all over again. “Why don’t I take you home and explain it to you.” He pressed a soft kiss on her lips. “Detail. By detail.”

  Paige couldn’t wait until they got home.

  ~*~

  Abigail rounded the end of the counter, a pot of hot coffee in one hand and a plate of bacon and eggs in the other even though it was lunchtime. The diner served breakfast all day long. It had been a busy morning and didn’t look as if it would slow down anytime soon. Striding to the back booths, she delivered the food and refilled coffee cups on the way back. Most customers this time of day were regulars at the Downtown Café and greeted her by name. She winced at the familiarity. They last thing she needed was for someone being able to identify her.

  She heard the door jangle and from the corner of her eye, she saw the customers who had just come in head to the back of the restaurant to one of her tables. She finished giving out refills and turned back around to take their order.

  Crap on a cracker.

  The big guy was a bear shifter. And not just any bear shifter—a Blackwood. Her mates’ brother. And someone to avoid at all costs.

  She walked backwards.

  “Hey, watch where you’re going, sweetie.” The waitress working the shift with her stopped her before she walked into the counter.

  Abigail thrust the almost empty pot of coffee at her. “I’ve got to leave, Doris. Family emergency. Tell Roger I’m sorry.” She didn’t give the other woman a chance to say no, just turned and hurried to the kitchen. Her instincts were telling her she needed to get out of here as fast as possible. Her cat was begging her to stay. Spying the walk-in cooler she glanced around to make sure no one was looking and stepped inside. There was no way a bear could scent her in here. She just wished it wasn’t so damn cold. Cats did not do cold.

  As soon as she pulled the door closed, she grabbed her cell phone from her apron pocket and prayed she’d get a signal. One bar. Thank you. Her fingers shook as she dialed the number and waited for her sister to answer. “Come on, Emma, answer the phone.”

  After the sixth ring, she heard her sister’s voice. “You better have just won the lottery to call me at this Godforsaken hour.”

  While Abigail worked the day shift at the Downtown Café, Emma worked nights at a bar just a couple of blocks down the street. Even though it was almost noon, to Emma it was the middle of the night. “One of them is here.”

  “What?”

  Abigail thrust the phone away when her sister’s voice screeched in her ear. That had certainly woken her sister up. She could hear rustling in the background. No doubt her sister was trying to get out from under a tangled mess of the covers. Emma was a restless sleeper and Abby had always hated sharing a bed with her. Luckil
y, with the different shifts they worked, each of them could usually enjoy a good night’s sleep. Well, as good a night’s sleep as one could expect on a lumpy old mattress.

  But beggars couldn’t be choosy. They weren’t destitute, but sometimes it was close. Much too close for comfort. They had gone to bed hungry more than once while they’d been on the run. Looking down at her ample hips and thighs she sighed. The lack of steady meals hadn’t done anything to trim her figure. Obviously, she was destined to be a big girl.

  “Which one is it?”

  Abigail smiled at the note of excitement in Emma’s voice. Her twin was the gregarious, outgoing one who made life fun. The smile turned to a frown. She’d seen her twin grow quiet and subdued over the past year and hated that almost as much as she hated to burst her bubble now.

  “Neither.”

  “Is it the big brother?”

  “Yep. And boy is he big.” She opened the cooler and cautiously stepped outside. Making her way to the doorway, she stopped just short, praying the smell of frying meat and onions would mess with the bear’s sense of smell. She had an almost unobstructed view of the shifter and his mate. Dang, if he wasn’t one of the prettiest men she’d ever seen. There was nothing wrong with the Blackwood genes that was for sure. The woman by his side must have thought the same because she was practically sitting on the man’s lap. Wait. Was he…? She looked closer. Holy hell. The man’s hand was underneath the table and if she wasn’t mistaken, he was getting his mate off.

  Would her mates be as outrageous in their loving?

  “Where are you?”

  “Hiding in the back.”

  “Abigail Sorenson. Go out there and see if you can learn anything.”

  Abigail backed away from the doorway. “And how would you suggest I do that without him knowing who I am? He probably knows my scent, too.”

  Emma wanted the man to recognize Abigail. “Covertly, Abby. We learned plenty of tricks this last year.”

  “Emma, we’ve been over this before. We, I… I can’t let him…them…know I’m near. And, they might not even be mine anyway.”

  Emma snorted. “Your cat went wild the first night we camped out at the construction site.”

  “So. I haven’t had sex in a very long time, remember.”

  “Yeah. Like never.”

  Hiding from a pissed off lion was in no way conducive to having a sex life, not even a one night stand. They never knew who was working for the Panthera. Or who was a friend of a friend working for him. While most shifters had some code of ethics—except jackals and hyenas—everyone had their price. Emma and Abigail had learned that at their peril several times over.

  “I’m not going to claim my mate, or mates, Emma. End of discussion.”

  Emma drew in a deep breath. Why did her sister have to be so damn stubborn at times?

  Cause she takes after your mother. She could hear her father’s voice as clearly as if he’d been standing right next to her. And it takes a stubborn cat to know a stubborn cat.

  Yep. Abigail might like to think she could outlast Emma’s determination to make her claim her mates, but the bitch would be wrong.

  “Then come on home. Tell your boss you’re sick and need to leave early.”

  “Already did.”

  “Then why haven’t you?” A note of jealousy coated Emma’s voice as she asked the question. Her cat was moving toward the surface.

  “Shit.” Abigail didn’t know if it was her enhanced hearing or the pull of her cat, but she knew instantly when one of the twins entered the diner. The crowd, hell, even the bells above the door seemed to stop mid-jingle as the place grew quiet. The man walked across the floor with an almost feline grace. Abigail’s cat’s licked her lips at the comparison. The animal was horny, that was for sure. The man stood by the booth occupied by his brother and his mate, his nostrils flaring and his chest heaving.

  “What? What happened?”

  Abigail remembered the phone still held to her ear—and saw the scratches she’d put in the doorframe, courtesy of her horny cat.

  “One of them is here.” Peeping back through the doorway, she saw the shifter still hovering by the booth. Damn it, she had to get out of here.

  “Yes, we determined that already.” Emma’s voice sounded in her ear.

  “Quit being such a snarky bitch. It’s one of the twins.”

  Emma refused to let the small spark of heat enter her bloodstream. She knew if her plan was going to work, Abigail could never know—until it was too late—that one of the twins was meant to be Emma’s mate. Her cat had recognized its other half. Unfortunately, the bear would never recognize her. He was being drawn to Abigail, not her.

  “It’s Ryland. I think.”

  Emma’s intended mate. “Get a little closer. I bet he smells really good.”

  Emma knew if it was Ryker, he would have already discovered Abigail. All it would take was one scent and he’d be after her sister—his mate—faster than a…all those corny old-fashioned southern sayings fled from her brain.

  Abigail was about to take a step forward, not so much because of Emma’s urging but because the need to know was burning through her. Were the bear shifters really her mates? As Emma was so quick to point out, her cat had gone crazy the first time she’d scented the bears.

  She caught the doorframe, digging her cat claws into the wood again to stop herself from advancing.

  “You are a devious woman, Emma.” She recognized her sister’s effort to manipulate her with just a few suggestive words.

  “And you are the bitch from hell.”

  After the girls had scented the bears—and realized their importance—they’d looked them up on the internet at the library. The Blackwoods donated a lot of money to their local community. And attended a lot of events. The sisters had found pictures of them on several websites, always with a beautiful woman on each of their arms. Usually skinny, beautiful women. Neither of the Sorenson sisters were a five drink type of girl—five drinks and a man would be willing to take her home—but they weren’t Miss American either. Their figures were chunky and their faces pretty. A little above plain, a little below beautiful.

  Not like the twins. They were gorgeous with a capital G. From the tip of their toes to the sun-kissed hair on their heads. And in between? It made Abigail’s long dormant libido start revving like Tom Petty’s car in the Nascar 500.

  They were a powerful family in Atlanta who owned one of the largest construction companies in the region. They also employed a large number of shifters. Hard, physical labor was a must for shifters. The males needed to burn off their excess energy. In the city where the opportunity to shift wasn’t great, the physical labor helped ease their animal’s natural aggression.

  When was the last time she’d been able to shift and run for the sheer pleasure? Now shifting meant survival. She shook her head, trying to shake away the memory of the last time she’d shifted and ran in cat form. She’d been running for her life.

  Abby didn’t know what to do. Should she go out and face her mate? Face her fate? No. Despite what Emma thought, the safest thing for them to do was keep running. Keep to the plan and their father would find them.

  She was not about to let her sister be captured and used as nothing more than a breeding mare.

  Abigail studied Ryland, his brown locks, highlighted naturally by the sun, falling over his brow. How had Emma described them? Surfer dudes.

  She could tell this Blackwood brother’s face usually sported a relaxed and easygoing façade. Well, as easygoing as you could get on a face so overwhelmingly masculine.

  “Go out there and claim your mate, Abigail.” Emma put an edge of command in her voice. If ever there was a time to use a little of her animal’s inbred strength, now was it.

  She’d give anything to claim her mate. To claim Ryland Blackwood. Abigail’s cat wasn’t the only one that had sat up and taken notice on the third floor of that unfinished building
. For the first time in a very long time, her animal had come alive. Butting her head against Emma’s chest as it tried to go to the source of the overwhelming scent that had called her—animal to animal.

  Emma had pushed the cat back. She couldn’t have her mate. Her genetics had taken that from her. But Abigail could.

  “Go out there, Abby.”

  “No. We agreed. We wait a little longer for Dad, and then we leave. It’s too dangerous to get my mate—mates involved.” There was a hint of sadness in Abigail’s voice. She knew how much Emma wanted a mate and here fate was offering her two.

  “They’ll help you—us. Just tell them.”

  “Not going to happen. In fact, I’m out of here. I’m coming back to the apartment. I’ll find another job tomorrow. Maybe I could take some more shifts at the bar.”

  Abby sighed and Emma knew how discouraged she was. How damn tried they both were. “But I guess that would draw too much attention.”

  “Well, maybe that’s just the fuck what we need to do. I’m tired of this shit.”

  “Emma…”

  Emma tried to control her anger even though that was the last thing she wanted to do. Abby had been protecting Emma all her life. It was time for Emma to protect Abby.

  “Go outside and claim your mate.” Emma wished she was there right now. She’d push her damn sister into her mate’s arms and say to hell with everything else.

  “Were you always this stubborn?”

  “Don’t know, Sis, were you? We are just alike after all.”

  “Not funny, Emma. So not funny right now.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  After Abigail hung up, Emma kicked the covers from her body and went to the bathroom. Sleep wouldn’t come again, she knew. She’d wasted her time going back night after night and scenting the construction site and around the diner if her sister was going to turn tail and run the moment the men got too close. She’d never expected Quinn Blackwood would find them first.

  She almost tripped on the uneven floor as she walked. The apartment was a hellhole, but it was all they could afford. All they really needed. Brushing back the hair from her eyes, she studied her face in the faded mirror above the chipped porcelain sink.