Bad Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES fur BEARS Book 1) (5 page)

Staci lifted her head and
chewed on her pen. A thought had just struck her. “Is Tristan
Gray related to Gramma?”

“Gramma?”

“Yeah, I saw her at The
Round Table. Melanie told me that Gramma and Ne-ma...”

Marcus chuckled. “Yep,
Gramma and Ne-ma sure know how to make an impression. Yes, Tristan
Gray is their grandson.”

“Gray's Domain is a
construction company, right?” she said, taking notes.

“Yes. They've built
quite a number of the houses in Shadow Point.”

“And that?” She
jerked her chin at the house his men were currently working on.

“Another successful
project by Gray's Domain and Beck's Builders,” he answered
proudly. “We have quite a number of projects with Gray's
Domain, but we work with business owners and home owners as well. We
remodel offices, homes, install new roofs with solar panels—we're
your go-to contractors!”

Staci smiled. “You're
doing well.”

“Well, we have grown.
Beck's Builders is no longer a tiny, struggling odd-job company.”

“And you're thinking of
growing some more.”

“That's the plan.
Tristan had a chat with me and he said that he has more building
projects than he can handle. He asked if I would like to take on
some of the projects. I can work with his architect. But I need to
be able to buy the raw materials to build the houses.”

“So—a loan from
the bank.”

Marcus gave her his best
puppy-dog eyes and said, “Will you approve my loan, Miss
Castillo?”

She laughed. “I'll
write up my report and submit it to Pamela. But I'd say that you
have a very good chance of getting that loan, Mr Beck!”

Marcus watched her scribble
one last note and close the file. The meeting was over and she was
leaving.

“Will you have dinner
with me tomorrow night?” he blurted out.

“Oh.” A faint
blush crept over her face. “I...”

Marcus opened his mouth to
say more but Jax and Joshua came bounding up to them and said
breathlessly, “We're going out with the boys tomorrow night...”

“So we won't be
home...”

“You have the house all
to yourself, big brother!”

Marcus glared at them. How
long had they been eavesdropping on him?

Marcus turned and saw his
entire crew flashing him the thumbs-up and a-OK signs.

When Staci glanced towards
them, the men hurriedly dropped their hands and pretended to work.

Marcus rolled his eyes.
Having a team that was made up mainly of shifters meant they could
get more done, faster. But it also meant that nothing was secret.
Besides paranormal strength and speed, they had paranormal hearing
too.

From Staci's suppressed
laughter, he knew that she had seen everything. But she calmly
picked up her file and stood up.

Holding out her hand, she
said in a very professional, consultant-like tone, “Well, this
has been a very fruitful and informative meeting, Mr Beck.”

He took her hand and held it,
not willing to let her go.

“Dinner, tomorrow
night,” he whispered, pulling her closer.

Staci's blush deepened. “I
finish at six,” she murmured.

Marcus grinned. “I'll
be at the bank at six!”

CHAPTER
TWELVE

Staci stopped typing and
dragged her eyes away from her laptop at the knock on her door.
Unless she was in a discussion with a client, the door of her office
was always open.

“Marcus!” She
jumped up and hurriedly smoothed a hand over her hair. “Oh
goodness, what's the time now? Is it six already?” She had
been meaning to freshen up her makeup before the date, but she had
been so engrossed in her work.

“It's five-thirty.”
He grinned and handed her a big bouquet of flowers. “For
you.”

“Oh thank you!”
She took the flowers and frowned. “How did you get in? We
close the bank's doors at five, so we can have an hour to complete
all the paperwork for the day.”

“Claire let me in.”

Staci saw Claire crane her
neck and wink at her from the reception counter.

“Oh, um, take a seat.”
Staci indicated the chairs in front of her desk.

But Marcus shook his head and
backed out of her little office. “I'll wait outside. You have
work to do. I'll just make myself invisible.”

Staci laughed when she saw
Marcus stuff himself into one of the small plastic chairs and hide
his face behind a fashion magazine. There was no way he could be
invisible. Not to her anyway.

Staci found herself admiring
his long, lean body. Marcus was wearing black jeans and a plaid
shirt. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, showing his
powerful forearms. She could smell his aftershave when he leaned in
to give her the flowers.

She glanced out the door and
saw Melanie rounding her eyes and mouth at her. Staci read the
question on her lips.
He asked you out?

Yes!
Staci raised the
bouquet like a trophy.

Oh my God!
Melanie's
eyebrows shot up and she did a crazy dance.

Staci turned quickly to look
at Marcus but his face was still hidden behind that women's magazine.

Staci hurried back to her
desk and finished up what she was doing. At six sharp, she logged
off and grabbed her lipstick from her bag. She applied a fresh coat
of color on her lips and checked herself in her compact mirror. Not
too bad. She didn't look as good as Marcus, who had obviously rushed
home to clean up for the date. But good enough.

Marcus stood up and offered
her his arm once she came out of her office. She called out her
goodbyes to her grinning colleagues, and walked out of the bank with
Marcus.

“I hope you like
Italian food,” Marcus said.

“I love Italian food!
Yum!”

“Great! Rossi
Ristorante is just a few blocks away. My car is here but if you
prefer to take a stroll...”

“Let's!”

Marcus grinned. “Okay.”

Staci grinned back. “I'm
starving!”

“Me too.” There
was a flash of hunger in his eyes, and Staci wasn't sure they were
talking about food any more.

They picked up their pace but
Staci knew that Marcus moderated his speed to allow her to keep up
with his long-legged strides. Before long, they were seated in a
cozy Italian restaurant and enjoying the most mouth-watering pasta
dishes.

They chatted and laughed
throughout dinner. The conversation flowed easily between them and
they shared more about themselves and their background.

When Marcus talked about the
twins, Staci could feel the love he had for his brothers, but she
also sensed a certain pain and darkness surrounding their
circumstances.

It was only when they were
having dessert that Staci ventured to ask, “So, how did you,
Jax and Joshua become...brothers?”

CHAPTER
THIRTEEN

Staci wasn't sure if Marcus
wanted to talk about it but she had to know. She sensed he was
carrying a burden on his shoulders, and she wanted to share his
burden somehow. “Did your parents adopt them? Or...”

“No. My parents died
when I was sixteen. I found work with a circus and moved from town
to town with the troupe. No one knew I was a bear shifter. Everyone
just thought that I was incredibly tall and strong for a teenager.”

“That's where you met
Jax and Joshua. In the circus,” Staci said softly.

Marcus nodded. “At one
of the towns we stopped at, a bear tamer joined us. Bazl kept six
cages of dancing bears. Most of his bears had been captured from the
wild, but some cubs had been bred in captivity. One night, I saw him
open the cage and yank out two tiny bear cubs. Bazl threw them on
the ground and whipped them viciously. He kept shouting at them to
shift.”

“I was about to stop
him when one of the cubs shifted suddenly. I saw a shivering,
skinny, crying six-year-old boy crouching beside the other cub. They
were shifters, like me.”

Staci shook her head, unable
to speak.

“Bazl kept whipping
them. He whipped them until they both shifted into human form. He
said they weren't shifting on command and it was ruining his act.
But bear cubs sometimes can't control their shift. They're just
kids...”

“So you freed them.
Tell me you freed them,” Staci said fiercely.

“I did. I couldn't
stand by and watch him whip Jax and Joshua. The two boys were crying
and begging but he kept kicking them and beating them brutally. He
punched Jax so hard in the ear that he damaged Jax's ear permanently.
I stopped him. I rushed out and grabbed his whip and shoved him
away from the boys. But he came at me with a knife. When I fended
off his blows easily, he knew he couldn't hurt me. So...he hurt
Joshua. He slashed at Joshua and he would have killed him.
But—I...I killed him.”

Marcus looked up at Staci
with tortured eyes. “I killed a man, Staci.”

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

Marcus gripped the steering
wheel and forced his eyes back to the road. He was driving Staci
home after dinner. She made small remarks here and there, but was
largely silent during the drive. He couldn't see her face. She was
leaning against the window, away from him.

He didn't blame her. In
fact, he was surprised that she had agreed to let him drive her home.
Who would want to sit in a car with a murderer?

He wished he could say
something in his defense. He wanted to tell Staci that he wasn't a
killer. But that would be a lie.

The truth was he had killed a
man with his bare hands.

He had done it to save his
brothers, but…

No buts.

A life was a life.

Marcus could feel the blood
on his palms as his claws dug into his flesh and he chuffed out a
bitter laugh. Yes, he had blood on his hands all right. His hands
were dirty. He couldn't touch Staci with his filthy, bloody hands.

Staci turned to stare at him
and he saw the pain in her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but
she couldn't seem to get the words out. Instead, she wrapped her
arms tighter around herself and sighed.

“Marcus,” she
whispered, leaning her forehead against the window.

He jerked as a sharp,
punishing stab of pain lanced his heart. It felt as though his bear
was slashing furiously at his insides. His bear was mad at him. His
bear wanted to have Staci. It wanted to mate with her, claim her and
mark her. But there was no chance of that happening now.

You should have kept your
big mouth shut
, his bear roared in fury and frustration.

Marcus shook his head hard.
No, he would never keep anything from Staci. He would never lie to
her and deceive her. He wanted her to know what and who he really
was. Staci looked sad now, but she didn't look at him with disgust
and anger. If he kept the truth from her and fooled her into loving
a murderer like him, it would gut him if he saw the hurt and regret
in her eyes. No. He would never do that to Staci.

Marcus pulled up in front of
her house and killed the engine. Staci opened the door and got out,
but she didn't scramble madly towards the safety of her house. She
wasn't in a rush to get away from him. That was a good sign, but
maybe she was just being polite.

Marcus walked her quietly to
her front door and stared at her. He wanted to take a last, long
look at her and remember every detail about her. How she looked,
smelled, moved. He was sure that she would never want to see him
again. He would respect her wishes and stay away, but he knew that
there could be no other female for him. He had met his mate. His
bear was going berserk under his skin, ripping his insides to shreds
as it fought to free itself from its human constraints. The bear
thought that the human was too fucking stupid! The beast would take
her and claim its mate in a heartbeat, but the man was just going to
let her go!

Staci unlocked her front door
and turned to him. Marcus almost dropped to his knees in agony. He
wanted to capture that sweet, beautiful face in his hands and kiss
her. She was so lovely, so pure and good, and she deserved someone
better.

Marcus couldn't bear the
thought of another male touching her, knowing her, having her. He
staggered back a step, growling in pain.

Staci gasped and reached out
to him. Her hand landed on his biceps, and she closed the distance
between them.

“Marcus,” she
said, her gaze deep and searching.

“You shouldn't...touch
me,” he growled.

She didn't look afraid. “Why
not?”

“God, Staci. This is
sheer torment!” He closed his eyes. “I want you so
much,” he gritted out.

He couldn't help himself. He
held her upturned face in both hands and leaned in. His mouth
hovered inches from hers, and he inhaled her scent deeply. She was
already a part of him, and he would care for her forever. She would
never know this. If she knew, he was sure that she would be
revolted. She would not want a violent, murderous man like him
obsessing over her and watching over her.