Boss Bear by Scarlett Grove
"Sometimes family secrets can be at the root of financial problems. I've seen it happen more than once."
He squeezed her hand and looked up into her eyes sympathetically. The waiter arrived just then and set their hot dinner plates in front of them.
"This is supposed to be our night,” Leland said after the waiter had left.
“I honestly can’t believe this is happening,” Sylvia said with a small giggle as she cut into her salmon.
“Why not? It’s perfect.”
“That’s exactly why. My dating history has been a series of one disaster after another. Then you came along. I didn’t expect it. Not at all.”
“You know, Sylvia, they say strange things happen on Fate Mountain,” Leland said. “I’ve been looking for my own special someone for a long time. I signed up for Mate.com years ago, but no one ever came along. Until now. Until you. And it couldn’t have happened at a better or worse time. That’s all part of how fate works, I guess.”
He let go of her hand and took another bite of salmon. Sylvia watched him as he finished his meal. The look in his eyes was distant and strange. She could only imagine what he was going through right now. Time would only tell the fate of his family and their land. Her heart contracted in her chest and she took a deep breath, wanting to reach out to him.
“I never believed in fate. I always looked at life as a series of cause and effect events. Now I am beginning to change my perspective. It might take me a while to fully comprehend.”
“That’s what they say about human mates,” Leland concluded. “It takes time. We should have waited the first night.”
“I’m not sorry we didn’t,” Sylvia said, almost too loudly.
Her heart started beating faster. She hadn’t wanted to wait the night they’d met. Did he regret being together? She hoped not because she didn’t regret it. She’d felt things she’d never felt before, with any man.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he said in a low voice. “It was the best night of my life.”
She could see the color in his face rise and his Adam’s apple bob when he swallowed.
“Mine too,” she said softly.
The waiter returned asking if they wanted dessert. They both ordered the lemon tarts with sweet cream. When Sylvia took the first bite she could barely hold back a moan. It was so good. She savored each bite of the rest of the tart just as Leland was finishing his.
After he paid for dinner he asked her if she wanted to go out for a walk on the grounds. She pulled her coat around her shoulders and followed him out of the dining room onto the back patio that overlooked the lake. It was dark outside, but there was still a glow in the western sky.
Sylvia shivered slightly in the cool air, and Leland reached to her and took her hand. His warm hand on hers sent heat up her arm and down her back, warming up her entire body. She followed him down the patio, under the draping lights. They walked around the corner of the building and away from the windows of the dining room.
He turned to her under the twinkling lights and took her other hand in his. His eyes were bright and a smile curved on his lips. Her breath caught in her throat as he leaned in to kiss her. His lips where soft at first but he quickly pulled her to him, pressing harder against her. She groaned as his tongue tasted her mouth. She reached out to greet him, sliding into the heat of him.
He cupped the back of her head and held her close, her body like burning hot coals that had just sprung back to life. Everything she’d felt the first night they were together came rushing back in a burst of hunger and need.
“Oh, Leland,” she gasped when he let her up for air and held her to him, kissing her neck and cheeks.
“Baby,” he whispered in her ear, holding her against his taut body.
The feel of him against her, pressing hard over her every soft curve, made her moan and melt, growing more wet and languid with each movement of his rough hands.
“I’ve been waiting to kiss you all night,” he said, raining kisses over her forehead, cheeks and lips.
“Yes,” she said, as he kissed her mouth.
“I want to take you home so bad,” he said, crushing her to his chest.
“We should,” she said, growing bold and cupping his ass with her delicate hands.
He growled in her ear and held her closer. She could feel his erection, rigid against her. She ached to have him inside her again. She squeezed his ass tighter, encouraging him.
“Oh baby, yeah. I want this.” He kissed her and held her face in his hands. His eyes twinkled in the moonlight that had come out from behind the clouds. It hung bright and round above them.
“I do too.”
He kissed her softly and rested his forehead against hers.
“We’ve already gone too far too fast. I don’t want to scare you off with all this need inside me. My bear is growling and scratching inside my head and my loins. I can barely control him, Sylvia.” His hot breath brushed her ear as he spoke. “But I’ve got to protect you from all this. I know you’re feeling things too. But I don’t want you getting confused. It’s all in for me. All the way. You’re a human. You need time. You might not think you do now when the heat is on you, but later, in a few days... Your human consciousness won’t be able to keep up with the instinct that’s coming over you now. I don’t want you to regret it later.”
“I won’t,” she said timidly.
“I know, baby, I know. I know you won’t. But I’ve got to be gentle with you. Take my time. Give you all the things you need. I’m more of a gentleman than I appeared to be at first. On the first night, my animal won control. Taking over as Alpha of the clan, my brothers’ anger. Sick cattle. Then finding my mate. It was a lot. I lost control. But that’s not the man I want to be. Not for you. Not for my sweet Sylvia.”
“Oh, Leland. I want you just as much as you want me.”
“We both want it, baby. I know we do. I’ve just got to ease you into it. You’ll understand later.” He backed up and took her hands in his, bringing them to his lips. “I’m going to take care of you forever if you’ll let me, lovely woman, but we need to do this right. Trust me, darlin’.”
“I do, Leland.”
He wrapped her in his arms and kissed her again, hard and passionate, making her melt. He touched her body with his big hands, awakening her, letting her know how much he wanted her tonight. Then he let her down gently and led her back to his truck.
When they pulled up in front of her hotel, he helped her out of the truck and walked her to her room. He gave her an affectionate kiss before pulling back and wishing her a good night.
“I want you to get a good night’s sleep tonight. We’ve got a lot of work to do in the morning,” he said, tipping his hat with a smile.
“You’re right,” she said, hurt, but understanding what he was doing. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
He watched her go in as they said their last goodnights. She stood on the other side of the door, letting out a deep sigh. It was so hard to close the door on him and not pull him into her bedroom. Her body ached with need, throbbing between her legs. Her nipples felt so tight they pressed against the soft fabric of her bra. She turned and looked through the peep hole, hoping that he would still be there. She saw him for a split second before he started to walk away.
She groaned and turned to the bed, trudging over and falling on her back. She groaned and pressed her palms to her eyes. She wanted to understand where Leland was coming from, but it was so damned hard. Why didn’t he come in? They’d already been together, what difference did it make?
But on the other hand, she knew he wanted to marry her and mate with her. They’d already gone over the line on the first night. Suddenly, she understood why Leland didn’t want to push her too far too fast.
She still had a huge job to do with him, and that might not have a happy ending. It certainly wasn’t looking good so far. Maybe it was best not to get too attached to him. That idea hurt her heart. She wanted to be all in with him. Bu
Chapter 11
After a day of slogging through paperwork and meeting with the expensive vet, Leland was ready to let off some steam. Holding himself back from making love to Sylvia the night before was still killing him. Whenever he looked at her throughout the day, he had to force his inner grizzly to walk past her without spreading her across the table and messing up all that paperwork.
He walked into the dining room and stood in the doorway from the parlor. She’d worn a form-fitting white button-down shirt with the top three buttons undone. He could see the curve of her cleavage under her shirt as she typed on her computer. She pushed her horn-rimmed glasses up the bridge of her nose and looked at him, smiling when she met his gaze.
“I’m just about done here,” she said.
Sylvia finished typing into the computer and stood from the table. She’d worn blue jeans and hiking boots with her white shirt. Her hair was pulled back in a French braid. She looked so cute, he had to hold himself back from slapping her round behind as she passed. He was a gentleman, but Sylvia’s curves did things to his inner grizzly that he’d never want to have to admit in public. Maybe he’d show her later, after he’d given her his bite, but not now. Now, he was still trying to win her heart.
She grabbed her purse off the coat rack and pulled on the leather jacket she’d worn that morning. He escorted her out to the truck and helped her inside. Leland drove down the gravel road from Timber Bear Ranch and turned out onto the main highway toward the motocross race track. It was about fifteen miles out of Fate Mountain Village to the west in a large staging area with a wide parking lot, already full of trucks and trailers.
Leland could hear the buzz of dirt bike motors before he even parked his car. They stopped beside Jessie's old Ford pickup, and Leland helped Sylvia out onto the gravel parking lot.
The sky was overcast, but there were still several hours of light left in the day. She slid her arm through his and looked up at him with a soft smile. The feeling of her little hand in the crook of his elbow sent a shiver of desire and protectiveness through his body. Sylvia was everything to him. She had brought more meaning into his life in just a few days than he had felt in all the years since he had left his family’s farm. Somehow, she filled all the empty places in his heart and soothed his deepest wounds.
He patted her hand and walked with her through the parking lot to the stands near the track. They stopped for a moment to buy cotton candy, corndogs, a soda for Sylvia, and a pint for Leland before climbing the bleachers. They took a seat at the top. Leland could see Jessie gearing up for the next race. He was wearing a formfitting yellow jumpsuit and a dirt bike helmet.
The last time Leland had seen his youngest brother ride it had been right after the war. Jessie had already gotten back into motocross by then. Cyrus had left for the mountains, and Buck was establishing his timber management business on the ranch with the equipment he bought with his veteran’s benefits. Jessie had only been twenty-two back then, having spent his entire adult life in the military and at war.
Leland knew that fighting in the war had done something to his youngest brother. It had knocked around all the dark places he had from when their mother had died. Leland suspected that's why his youngest brother remained so reckless at twenty-nine.
They hadn't had time to have a heart-to-heart since he'd returned to Fate Mountain, but Leland hoped that his youngest brother had let go of the past.
The next group of riders moved their bikes to the starting line. Jessie was among the group as he sat on the back of his dirt bike and revved his motor.
“Which one is Jessie?” she asked.
"That's him in yellow." Leland pointed.
The whistle blew and the riders jetted out over the starting line. Jessie took an early lead, his shifter agility and strength allowing him to dominate the pack. But there were several riders in red right behind him. They seemed to have as much agility and strength as Jesse himself. Leland watched the riders in red gain on Jessie. The longer he watched, the more convinced he became that they were also shifters.
Before shifters had come out of the closet thirty years ago, many of them had participated in sports as humans. But after the Great Shifter Council revealed to the world that shifters existed, there had been new tests developed to keep shifters out of sports leagues. In many fans’ opinions, that had been a serious downturn for all sports. But many had created entire shifter leagues that were beginning to get more viewers than the human sports leagues of today.
Small town dirt bike racing had always been dominated by shifters on Fate Mountain. There were two human riders bringing up the rear of the pack. One of them gained on one of the shifters in red and took the lead. The shifter in red charged over a jump and cut off the human rider, causing the human to smash right into a barrier. The dirt bike went flying into the air and landed on the human’s leg. A scream went out from the crowd and the rider wailed. People ran to his assistance. Sylvia shot to her feet in the stands and gasped as she covered her mouth with both hands, dropping her soda between the slats in the bleachers. Jessie continued down the track and crossed the finish line in first place.
The human was lifted onto a gurney and carried off to a waiting ambulance that quickly departed for the hospital. The crushed bike and the broken barrier were swiftly removed and replaced before the next race started.
Jessie road again and narrowly won the second match. The top-ranked riders for the day were all in the final match. It was Jessie, the shifters in red, and two other humans.
“I think I’ve seen those riders in red before,” Sylvia whispered into Leland’s ear.
“Really? When?”
“When I first got to Fate Mountain. They tore down the highway like demons out of hell, screaming, ‘Hyenas rule this town’.”
“Hyenas? This is a bear town.”
Leland watched in anticipation, his heart pounding. Sylvia sat beside him, her little hand crushing his. The hyenas in red played dirty and didn't seem to care who they hurt. They didn’t seem to mind getting hurt themselves, either, if it meant keeping someone else from coming in ahead of them.
Leland's inner grizzly growled as he gritted his flat human teeth together. He watched his brother maneuver around the hyenas’ dirty tricks all the way around the racetrack. When Jessie finally came out at the finish line as the winner, one of the shifters in red smashed right into his back wheel. It was hard enough to jostle Jessie’s dirt bike and topple him on his ass, right as the announcer moved toward him to declare him the winner.
Down in the pit with the other racers, Jessie stood at the center of a circle of reporters and fans. The winning trophy was handed to Jessie, and Leland slapped his youngest brother on the back. Just then, the two shifters in red strutted toward them, crossing their arms and sneering.
"Leland Kincaid," one of them spat out.
It was then that Leland recognized them. Brandon and Chuck: the overly-privileged hyena shifter brothers from the Updike family. Their father had owned Fate Mountain Lodge before Levi Buckthorn had taken over the place at the end of the war. The family had been nothing but trouble for as long as Leland had known them. Although the brothers had gone to private schools, the families had a long history of bad blood. Leland had heard a while back that their father had gone to prison.
"I barely recognized you," Leland said. “Is it true what they say about hyena shifters?"
He wasn't trying to start anything, but somehow, he couldn't help it.
"Hyena shifters lead the pack," Chuck, the older one, said. "The Updikes still own a thousand acres of the mountain, free and clear."
"That's right," said Brandon. "How is Timber Bear Ranch doing these days? Have you had any luck with keeping your fences repaired and your cattle healthy?" The both snickered as if sharing an inside joke.
The scent of anxiety mixed with amusement waf
"What about our cattle?" Leland asked.
"You’ll never pay off your debts with them,” Chuck said.
"You have no idea what’s under your own nose,” Brandon added.
“Shut up, Brandon!”
"What would you know about my cattle or my debts?" Leland asked.
“You’ll never know.”
They both snickered and rode off on their bikes into the crowd. People spread away from them, yelling at their backs.
"What was that about?" Leland asked Jessie.
"I have no idea. Those assholes are always getting into a fight with someone. I try to ignore them. It’s hard sometimes with them cutting me off at every turn."
"Do you think they had anything to do with the fence lines?" Leland asked.
"They don't care about our land. Those two spoiled brats have all the money they need. Their father went to jail for fraud, but somehow they’re still rolling in it."
"Why do they know about our debts?"
"How the hell should I know?" Jessie said.
Jessie looked around the crowd and spotted whoever he was searching for. His eyes brightened and then a smile curved on his lips.
"There is a blonde human coming my way, and I'm going to need you two to disappear.”
"Is that your fated mate?" Leland asked, craning his neck to get a better look.
"No," Jessie said.
"Right." Leland shook his head.
He took Sylvia's hand and escorted her away from the confusion. He threw the cotton candy stick in the trashcan and led her back to the truck where he helped her inside.
“What a strange day,” Sylvia said.
“I couldn’t agree more.”