by Ruby Shae
Lone Bear
(Bear Mountain, Book 1)
Ruby Shae
Lone Bear
(Bear Mountain, Book 1)
Copyright 2014 by Ruby Shae
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
About This Book
Kate Sinclair is a waitress working in the small tourist town of Bear Mountain. She’s wanted Gage since their first meeting, but he’s never made a move even though she suspects he wants her too, despite her plus-sized curves. When she finds out his secret, she resolves to risk everything and ask him out.
Gage Adams, a grizzly bear shifter, has lived on his own for several years. The moment he saw Kate for the first time, he knew she was destined to be his mate. The problem? How to control his lust enough to earn her trust and tell her about his bear.
When Kate is put in danger, nothing will stop the bear from claiming and protecting his mate.
Lone Bear
(Bear Mountain, Book 1)
By Ruby Shae
Chapter One
Gage Adams watched as Kate circled the small café and refilled coffee cups, stopping to chat briefly at nearly every table. She didn’t discriminate between locals and tourists, though neither did most of the town. With a population just under one thousand, the business owners weren’t stupid enough to turn away any possible income. If the tourists were treated badly, they’d either eat at a different restaurant on the way home, or come down the mountain on the west side and avoid the town completely. The result wouldn’t be good for anyone.
Bear Mountain had a reputation to uphold and most of the locals tried to keep it. Their town, though small, had been recommended by the State National Park Service and mentioned on the website as a quality, friendly, last-stop in civilization and it was an honor everyone wanted to keep.
“More coffee, Gage?” Her sweet voice warmed him from the inside out and he wanted to listen to it forever.
“No thanks, I’m going to head out.”
“Oh,” she frowned, and her green eyes lost some of their sparkle. “Okay. I’ll be right back with your check.”
Could she possibly feel something for him, too?
Kate had only been in town for two years, but she was still considered a local. He didn’t know the whole story, but she’d stopped in town after a hiking trip with some friends and never left. The moment he saw her, he’d wanted her.
Until Kate arrived, he’d spent most of his time on his property, only coming into the center of town every weekend to help some of the older business owners with odd jobs. He didn’t have to work, and he never accepted money for payment. He helped because he cared about the town and the people who lived there.
When he’d stopped in to help the café owner nearly two years ago, he knew he’d never be the same. The elderly man had hired Kate on the spot and Gage had been visiting during one of her shifts every week ever since.
Gage had been alive nearly three centuries and he’d never met a woman he wanted for his own. Until Kate. Her presence soothed him in a way no one had before. She made him want to be a better man. One that would be worthy of her love.
Two years might seem like a long time to woo her, but he was immortal and used to being alone. He’d only moved back to Bear Mountain about twenty years ago, and he spent most of his time in his home. A couple of years compared to centuries of loneliness didn’t seem like that much to him. Besides, though she was friendly, Kate had never given him any indication she shared his interest. It made it harder to come clean about his feelings.
“Here you go,” she said as she placed the ticket on the edge of the table and glanced outside with a frown. She rushed away without looking at him and stationed herself behind the register near the front door. He watched as the sheriff and his deputy walked in and approached her.
She took a step back, as if to distance herself from the two men, and Gage realized her apprehension. What had happened? Why did she try to hide?
“Take a seat anywhere you’d like, guys,” she said. “I’ll be over with your menus in a minute.”
“I’d like you to lead us, Katherine,” the sheriff said.
“It’s Kate, and I’m sorry, but I’m busy right now,” she said, fingering through some receipts. “I’ll be over in a minute.”
“Katherine is so much more elegant and upstanding. You should use it instead of Kate; it will give you more credibility in the community.”
Gage grabbed his bill and walked up behind the two men. The deputy eyed him, but he didn’t cower or look away. He towered over them both by at least a foot, and he was used to people looking at him with fear due to his size. He expected law enforcement to be different due to their oath to protect others, but not everyone had the ability to hide their fear.
“I think my credibility is safe. Go ahead and have a seat, I’ll be over in a minute,” Kate reiterated as she looked at him over the sheriff’s head. She’d never cowered from him either, another thing he loved about her.
“Listen, Katherine—”
“Cut it out, Tom. Come on, let’s go find a seat,” the deputy said, cutting the other man off.
The deputy, Dave, patted his partner on the shoulder and walked toward a table. The movement seemed to break the artificial trance the sheriff had tried to create between Kate and himself, and he turned to follow the other man.
He nearly crashed into Gage, and though he tried to hide his unease, he wasn’t quick enough. He hastily masked his fear, then stepped aside and made his way to the table. Gage shook his head and approached the counter.
The man was sheriff of the town and yet he couldn’t even look Gage in the eye. The citizens deserved better, but they kept reelecting the loser. Gage had wondered why on more than one occasion, but he never asked. Instinct told him to keep his distance, but when the sheriff insisted on talking to Kate, all bets were off. Her obvious dislike of the sheriff fueled his desire to protect her at all costs. Even if it meant he gained unwanted attention from the man.
He stepped up to the counter and she met his smile with one of her own.
“Six eighty,” she said.
He gave her his credit card and when he signed the receipt, he left her a generous tip like he always did.
“Have a good day, Katie.”
He shoved his receipt in his front pocket and walked out the door. He heard the bell on the door ring again, but he didn’t pay any attention until he heard her call his name.
“Gage. Gage, wait up!”
“What’s wrong?” he asked after he turned back toward her. He looked up and down the street, but they were alone.
Out in the open, without the confines of the diner, the differences in their appearan
ces were more evident. Kate was tall and curvier than most women, but he still towered over her. He liked her ample breasts and ass, and the fact that she wasn’t stick thin. He’d dated many types of women over the years, and he knew he needed someone who could take a pounding from a man of his size. He knew Kate would be able to take everything he had to offer. Her body had been built for a man like him.
“Um…nothing,” she blushed and he realized he’d been raking his eyes over her form since she caught up to him. They were on the edge of winter and the crisp autumn air whisked around them. Her nipples hardened and poked through the cotton top of her uniform. He couldn’t rid his mind of the images of her laying beneath him as he slid into her warmth and sucked one of those hard nipples into his mouth.
“Go back inside, Katie. You shouldn’t be out here without a coat,” he could feel his dick pressing against the zipper of his jeans and in an effort not to scare her off with his blatant arousal, he snapped at her.
Her face fell and she crossed her arms over her breasts in an uncharacteristic self-conscious way. Had he embarrassed her?
“I’m sorry to bother you,” she turned to run back inside, but he took one large step and stopped her with a hand on her bicep. He tried to be as gentle as he could, but the surge of heat that raced up his arm made him want more. He squeezed her arm again before he spoke.
“No, I’m sorry. Did you want to ask me something?”
“Um, no,” she shook her head. “Never mind. I have to get back.”
He released her arm and she ran back in the café, with her arms wrapped around her like a shield. Her brown hair had been pulled back into a high pony tail and the curls bounced against her neck as she ran.
Shit!
She’d finally approached him and he’d botched it all up. Sex was all he could think about with her so close and in an effort not to scare her off, he’d done exactly that. What had she been about to ask him? He wished he knew, but hope swelled deep in his heart. She wanted something and he felt certain it had been personal.
Had she been about to ask him out? He had no way of knowing unless he asked, and he wouldn’t put her on the spot like that. Besides, she might have changed her mind because of his behavior. He needed to man up and make it up to her.
Gage had most of her shifts memorized and he knew she wouldn’t be off work for a couple of hours. He hopped in his truck and made his way back to his home on the edge of town.
Bear Mountain had been named many years ago when his father acquired some land for sale near the border of the National Park in northern Montana. At the time, the tree filled land that led to the Great White North hadn’t been claimed yet and their family had enjoyed the seclusion.
The property consisted of the mountain with Gage’s home and the neighboring valley below. After several years passed and they needed to relocate, his father sold the growing valley and kept the family property which he eventually granted to Gage. The town grew and prospered under the original name and they’d never changed it. When bears had been more prominent in the National Park, the town’s name had been a great marketing tool.
Gage’s property started five miles from the center of town, and had an incline of two more miles before his home came into view. His property expanded a couple more miles in three directions and it bordered the National Park to the north.
His bear had plenty of room to run on his own property, but he often wandered into the National Park to mix things up and people watch. Both pieces of land were marked, though not with a fence, but to his surprise, he’d had almost zero encounters with trespassers over the years.
He went inside his home and replaced his jeans, flannel shirt and t-shirt for a pair of athletic shorts, then he ran out to one of his favorite spots in the trees to shift. The power that allowed him to shift also allowed him to keep his clothes intact as he switched from one form to another. He’d been thankful for that skill on more than one occasion.
After his run, he planned to shower and meet Kate at the end of her shift. This time, instead of taking it easy, or slow, he’d ask her out. He felt certain she’d been about to take the plunge and ask him, something he’d been too afraid to do, so he had to make it up to her.
Hopefully she’d give him another chance.
***
Kate Sinclair ran back inside the café and rapidly blinked the tears away.
“Everything okay, Katie?” her boss, Randy asked.
“Yeah, it’s just cold out there. I shouldn’t have run out without a jacket.”
“Did you return Gage’s card?”
“Huh?” she asked as she rubbed her hands up and down her arms.
“He forgot his card, didn’t he?” he placed a cup of coffee in front of her. “Isn’t that why you ran out?”
“Yeah,” she lied. “I caught him and gave it back.”
“Good girl,” he said and went back into the kitchen.
Randy treated her more like a daughter than an employee. The café owner and his wife didn’t have any children of their own, and they’d been the first ones to welcome her into Bear Mountain—and offer her a job on the spot—when she’d decided to stay two years ago.
That trip had changed her life.
After years of being bounced around between relatives that didn’t want her, she’d gone to college on a scholarship and graduated with an honors degree in English. She didn’t know if she’d ever use it, but she’d gone because everyone told her she couldn’t.
To celebrate graduating, her boyfriend and several of their friends decided to take a trip to the infamous National Park in Montana for a week of camping and hiking. She loved the outdoors and had been enjoying a great vacation until she found her boyfriend fucking her best friend in the tent next to hers. She’d left the campsite and hiked back into town on her own to wait out the rest of the week and cool off, but they’d never come back through the valley. By the time she’d figured out they’d left her behind, she’d decided to stay.
What little she had, she’d moved out of the dorm and put in a storage locker before the trip. When she’d earned enough to pay the rent on the locker, she’d rented a car and drove down to retrieve her things. The trip took two full days of driving, and a restless sleep at a rest stop, but she’d taken control of her life.
When she met Gage, she’d known she made the right decision.
Gage was a loner who lived on the outskirts of town. She only saw him every couple of weeks during her first year in town, but she’d been enamored with him. He was nearly six feet, five inches of pure muscle and next to him she felt small in her five foot, ten inch frame, even though she carried extra weight. His short, brown hair looked gray tipped in certain light, just like his bear pelt, and his dark brown eyes mesmerized her. When he started coming in the café every week, she’d thought he felt something for her, too, but he never made a move.
A few weeks ago, she’d found out his secret and thought it might be the reason he held back. In an attempt to break the ice, she’d formed a plan to ask him out, certain he shared her feelings.
The way he’d looked her up and down when she’d caught up to him, set her skin on fire. Her nipples hardened under his gaze and she felt grateful the wind had come. It cooled her down and offered an unspoken excuse to hide her arousal. It didn’t make a difference. Without the confines of the café, his voice couldn’t hide the distaste of her form, and she’d suddenly felt embarrassed and self-conscious.
What had she been thinking? He was a strong, muscle-bound God and she had no business thinking he’d want anything to do with her generous, soft, curvy body. She winced as she remembered his giant hand squeezing her bicep. Her body betrayed her and heat pooled between her legs, but she’d known he’d been assessing her extra flesh.
She finished her shift, locked up the restaurant and stepped outside with her scarf wrapped around her neck. Her coat hung open and after she double checked the door on the building, she huddled inside the covered entryway and buttoned up
her coat. With only one button remaining, she stepped out onto the sidewalk in front of the café.
“Hi Katie.”
She jumped and spun around at the voice as fear raced down her spine. The sun had set and the street showed no signs of activity. Randy and his wife had gone home and she’d been the one to lock up. No one would hear her if she screamed.
“Oh, Gage,” she placed her hand on her chest. “You nearly scared me to death. Good evening.”
She turned away from him and started walking toward her apartment.
“Kate! Katie, wait up!”
She stopped and faced him.
“Why were you so frightened?”
She shrugged and couldn’t help but look up and down the street, eying all the dark shadows. She didn’t want to lie to him, but her uneasy feelings toward the sheriff really weren’t any of his business.
“You startled me, that’s all.”
He stared at her with narrowed eyes for several seconds and she had a feeling he knew she’d lied. He didn’t call her on it though.
“I’ll walk you home.”
It wasn’t a question and she wanted his company, so she didn’t object. Without a word, she turned on her heel and started home. He fell into step with her easily.
“Listen, Kate, about earlier—”
“Please don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t do whatever it is you’re doing,” she said as she waved her hand between them. “Look, I get it okay. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”
“I was uncomfortable, but I’m pretty sure it’s not in the way that you think. I didn’t mean to snap at you, and I’m sorry.”
“Apology accepted. Let’s just forget it, okay?”
She could feel his stare, but she refused to look at him. She’d never be able to hide her desire if she did.
“Okay. Would you like to go to the movies with me on Friday night?”
“Um,” she cleared her throat, stopped walking and finally made eye contact. “What?”
