Geek Bearing Gifts (BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance): A BBW in search of love + A sexy shifter who secretly loved her = Smokin' Roaring Romance (Paranormal Dating Agency Book 2) (3 page)

“Wake up, Sleeping Beauty
.” He heard her voice now. Shit. He must have been hit hard enough that he was hallucinating.

Why would the world be so cruel as to do that to him? He hadn’t seen or heard from her in almost seventeen years. Not that he hadn’t had women in that time. He was no saint. But he knew as well as his bear that Nita was the one for them.

He took a deep breath and her scent, sexy and warm, along with some flowery perfume, filled his lungs. If this was a hallucination he needed serious help. Fuck help, he wanted to savor every second of it.

Then he felt the slight touch of her fingers over his jaw, caressing him so lightly he thought he might have imagined it too. Except the bear wouldn’t imagine it. He roared under his skin. The animal pushed to get out and be near her.

Quiet!

His bear wouldn’t listen, though. Another rumble sounded from the animal. If she wasn’t a hallucination, she’d hear his bear soon.

Ky opened his eyes to an older, much more beautiful Nita. She leaned over him. Her hair, long ago, held in a curly ponytail, now fell straight in a long mass. He met her gaze and watched her pupils dilate. Arousal. A slow smile crept over her full lips. A stream of light from the kitchen lamp covered her head in a halo.

“Hi.
I’m Nita Islas.”

Jesus. He wasn’t hallucinating. She was real flesh and blood.
She was in his house touching him. What the fuck had he missed?

He tried to sit up, but she pushed him down.

“Don’t move, there’s a gash on the side of your head. You’re Kyer Ash, right?”

Why was she using his
full first name and half of his last name? Nobody called him Kyer, Ash-stone or Ash. He was Ky Stone since he was a ten year old that got sick of being picked on because of his slim weight and name. “Yes, that’s me. Just call me Ky.”

A pretty rose color swept over her cheeks. “
Hi, Ky. I’m sorry I’ll call 9-1-1. I just got distracted...trying to make sure you were alive.”

“No. No need to call anyone.”
He couldn’t figure out why she was lying about making sure he was alive, but when she bit her bottom lip he realized he didn’t really care. It was his Nita. And she was there.

“What are you doing here?”
he asked, dying to know.

Her br
own eyes went wide. “Oh, my gosh! Maybe that hit to your head was worse than I thought. Did you forget our date?” She lifted a perfectly manicured hand and held two fingers up. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Two.”

“Times what?” she asked, a worried pitch in her voice.

If she hadn’t appeared so concerned, he’d have laughed at the ridiculous question.  “One?”

She blinked in clear shock. “You don’t know your times table or were you guessing?”

Jesus. She of all people knew that he knew his times table backward, forward and squared.

He pushed up to a sitting position but didn’t push away her hand. In fact, he moved closer to her. The bear rumbled softly. He liked what Ky had done. Sly bear.

“We had a date.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. Now he knew why his sister had been so excited about his date. She’d found Nita.

Nita nodded. One thing bothered him. She wasn’t looking at him like she knew him. In fact, why wasn’t she saying anything about their past?

“Yes. But under the circumstances. I am more than happy to postpone.” She grabbed his arm and helped him to his feet. He leaned closer to her, bringing his body flush
against her soft curves and then faked a flinch.

She curled her arms around his abs in an effort to offer more support. He might feel like an ass tomorrow, but right now he’d take her touch and enjoy it.

“Don’t go,” he rumbled. The bear, so close to the surface, made his voice deeper.

She offer
ed her physical support to help him to the breakfast table he usually ate his meals at unless someone from the clan showed up with a problem. Being chief of the Stone Clan meant he dealt with issues all the time. Mainly over other clans in the area wanting to feed at their lake. 

“Don’t worry, big guy. I’ll stay until I’m sure you won’t pass out again
,” she whispered the words, her breath caressing his neck. It was hard to think past the pain in his head. To make matters worse, she inhaled, brushing her nose over his jaw. His cock went rock-hard.

He sat down and drank in the vision of his mate. The sole woman to make his bear and the man he was
, whole. The aching gape in his chest filled with hope. Then it occurred to him, she didn’t remember the geeky teen with glasses, bad haircut and braces. The image of him as a super skinny kid with clothes that fell off his gangly body wasn’t really going to get in his way. He could seduce Nita as the man he was now. Bigger. Stronger. Self-assured.

He was the Chief of the Stone Bear Clan.
He knew his body had changed. He knew women wanted him. Hell, watching lust flare in Nita’s eyes while he’d been on the floor had been unreal. He didn’t have the self-esteem issues now that he did back when he wanted to ask her to the movies but ended up offering to tutor her instead. Though that had been one of the best mistakes he’d ever made.

The time they’d spent together had been better than any single date.
Going to the movies wasn’t going to tell him how much she loved watching TV with her feet curled under a blanket. It didn’t matter what they saw, she’d always hide her feet. Nor would he have found out that she moaned when she ate her favorite brand of ice cream. Much to his discomfort.

He would have
never seen the smile of happiness when she told him of the latest book she read and how much she loved it when the hero and heroine ended up together and happy. All those and dozens of other regular everyday things he’d learned from tutoring her and spending a lot of time as her friend.

She glanced around his kitchen then back at
the right side of his face. “Let me get something to clean that with.” She rushed to the sink and wet a dish towel before returning back to him to wipe blood off his head. He didn’t bother telling her the wound was almost healed. Nor did he explain he wasn’t so much in pain as he was angry over the hit. Whoever had done it would be found out. Then they’d regret it.

They’d knocked him out at the worst possible time. He’d been arguing with Jessica over setting him up. Now that he thought about it, his bear had been agitated right before he was hit. If he’d paid attention to his animal’s anger, he’d have known something was going on. But instead he’d been angry over Jess’s matchmaking. How could he ever find the words to thank her for bringing Nita into his life
again?

He reeled back when her hand caressed under his ear.

“I’m sorry, did that hurt?”

Hell fuck no! It felt damn amazing and he wanted her to do it again. She thought he moved back from pain. It had been a pure jolt of pleasure that blasted him and caught him unaware.

“No. It’s okay,” he mumbled the words out.

Curling his hands into fists, he tried to stop the urge to pull her over his lap and kiss her.
To finally touch her lips to his and see how it would feel. He’d been dreaming of that day for almost seventeen years. Knowing she was there now was a shock to his system.

She moved back and forth
in his kitchen like she belonged there. Who was he kidding? She did belong there. With him as his mate. He was having a hard time keeping the tongue-tied teen out of his mind and figuring out how to talk to her like the man he’d become. A leader. A chief. Someone who knew his own sex appeal. This was Nita. His Nita. He didn’t want to sweet talk her like any other female. He wanted what he’d always wanted from her. Her love.

“How’s your head?”
she asked, rinsing the towel for the third time, her hips swinging with her movements. She was so sexy. So sensual. That outfit, though proper, had fueled every dirty fantasy he had ever had and multiplied it. The tight pants molded to her curvy hips and showed off her ass beautifully. Her purple top was cut low up front for a mouth-watering display of her breasts.

“Um...”

She’d never dressed this way as a teen. All her clothes had been so large and covered her up, he’d never really had a chance to lust over her like he did now. All those curves. Wide at the hips and narrow at the waist with enough to grab on to when he drove deep into her.
Fuck fuck fuck
! He should not be thinking of sex now. Not now.

“Still hurting, huh?” She scrunched up her nose and gave him a
sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry. So what happened? Did you slip and fall or something?”

“Something al
l right.” He cleared his throat. He couldn’t go into details with her. Not when he didn’t know what the hell happened. He’d definitely be finding out soon though. Growling sounded from where she stood.

“Tell me you didn’t hear that
,” she said, her cheeks tinged red with embarrassment.

“I did.
” He scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Your stomach is trying to tell me what a horrible host I am.”

She groaned and widened her eyes.
“You’re not! You were hurt.”

“I’m sorry.”
He found his manners. “Are you hungry?” The sound her stomach made and the fact she kept eyeing the food his sister had come over and cooked earlier told him she needed something to eat soon. If Nita was anything like she’d been as a teen, she would get cranky when hungry.

“
I guess I must be. The drive wasn’t long, but I was so busy all day I didn’t get a chance to eat anything.” She grinned and handed him the clean towel.

“Let me grab some clothes really quick and we’ll eat.”

“But your head—”

“Is fine. I’ll be back in a second,” he said and stood. He marched to his bedroom and threw some clean clothes on only to rush back to the kitchen.

She shoved him back in his seat. “Here. You sit, hold this,” she said, handing him the washcloth once again. “Tell me where everything is and I’ll bring the food to you.”

Nita had always been
a nice person, caring and considerate of those she felt deserved it. She’d always covered that with a layer of insecurity that kept most people at bay. He’d never seen the self-assurance in her as a kid that he saw now.

He pointed to
a cupboard. “Plates are in there. Utensils are in the drawer by your left hand.”

In no time, the food was on the table and she was helping
serve it. He would have felt bad if not for the fact he really loved watching her move around his kitchen. Okay, she could’ve stayed in one spot and he’d still have been staring at her like a love-sick fool.

“How’s the head?”
she asked before starting to eat.

He glanced down at his plate instead of staring at her lips for the billionth time. He should be over his geek boy ways. Well, most of them. He still wore glasses as a human when his contacts irritated him. As a bear, his vision was good enough that he didn’t have to worry about
his sight. Besides, he’d never live it down if his clansmen saw him in his bear with a pair of black framed glasses on.

“I’m fine. Really. It wasn’t a big deal but thanks for your concern.” He reached out a hand and placed it over hers.

Her gaze shot down to his large hand covering hers. “It looked pretty bad but maybe it was all the blood. You sure you don’t need a doctor?”

He brushed his thumb over the top of her hand. “No doctor. I’d never live it down if my clan knew I went for a tiny scratch like that.”

“You must be a bleeder.” She stared at his mouth and his blood traveled south.

He
gripped the spoon tight enough to bend it and attempted a smile. “No. I’m a bear. I heal faster than others.”

“Of course!” She laughed
, her top dropping a fraction lower to show more of her cleavage. He shouldn’t be staring at her chest, but he was a geek, not an idiot.

“I should have known that’s why you stopped bleeding and your wound appeared to have healed before my eyes.”

He didn’t tell her the wound had been bad at first, but his bear had been huffing and roaring him back to health. During the moments he’d been unconscious, the bear had quickly pushed for him to come to his senses. That link between man and animal had saved his life more than a few times.

“What did you think I was?” From what Jess told him, the site she’d used to set him up with was a Paranormal Dating Agency and so Nita should have known he was not human.

She shrugged. “I didn’t stop to think about it, to be honest.”

The right
side of her top slid down her shoulder to reveal a purple polka dot studded bra strap. Fucking hell. Why did fate torture him with glimpses of her undergarments? What he wanted to do was tear all her clothes off. His cock ached and she’d been there for all of a few hours. By the end of the night he’d have blue balls.

“I guess I was so caught up in you being passed out and bleeding that I didn’t focus on the fact you can probably heal faster than I can from a paper cut.” She smiled,
her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Don’t tell me what really happened was that you fainted.”