Joel (BBW Bear Shifter Wedding Romance) (Grizzly Groomsmen Book 5) (50 page)

She sat on her floor, crying quietly for a while and missing Valerie. Then, she took out her phone and dialed the number on the business card.

“Slade Walker,” he said.

“It’s Veronica Harper. Meet me in the back of Michael’s on sixth tomorrow at two.”

“I’ll be there.”

She hung up and stared at the card, at his name. She didn’t want to feel anything for him. This was no time to get involved in anything. But the thought of meeting in the back of that dark bar excited her. She pictured his face. That dimple. He was so hot. And it had been so long since she’d spent time with a man. She hadn’t had a boyfriend since before Valerie, and after, she’d been too consumed by grief to feel anything except pain.

Maybe it had been long enough now. The pain would never leave. But most days, it was manageable. Even now, when missing her hurt so badly she couldn’t breathe, she still felt a stir of excitement at meeting him tomorrow. Maybe that meant something then. Maybe she was ready to be in a relationship again. Maybe. Though the leader of her enemy clan was probably not the one to try with.

Veronica got to Michael’s several minutes late on purpose. She wanted to keep Slade waiting. Wanted to make an entrance. She’d taken much too long to dress and do her makeup. She needed to look hot, but without looking like she was trying to look hot.

She’d settled on a tight-fitting black tank with a slight shimmer in the fabric. Short denim shorts and wedge sandals. With her makeup and accessories and hair pulled up on top of her head, she thought she’d managed to do what she intended. Drive him a little mad. Hey, it could only help her case, right?

She pushed opened the glass door of the bar and walked right to the back table, where Slade sat, watching her. She slid into the booth and pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head.

He looked even hotter than she remembered. He wore a t-shirt, but the sleeves strained around his muscles. She could see the glimmer in his eyes better, and that dimple. In the dim light, it was deeper and even cuter. It somehow added to his mystery. Like that little spot was full of his deepest secrets that his hard expression wouldn’t tell.

“Does your clan know you’re here?” she asked.

“Not yet. Yours?”

“Hell no.”

“So.” He crossed his arms and sat back.

She let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I appreciate what you guys were trying to do. But you gotta understand, my clan is a bit nuts. When they smell blood, there’s no stopping them.”

“Tell them we’re bears, not sharks. They need to back off. I don’t know what to do, here, Veronica.”

“What do you mean?”

“You think my guys are fine with all of this? You think they don’t want blood spilled just as much? I’m doing my best to keep everyone calm and happy so this doesn’t break into a fight. But they are not calm and happy. Especially after you were so unreasonable yesterday.”

“Not me. My clan. Things should have gone very differently yesterday.”

Slade pressed his palms on the table and leaned forward. “Maybe you chicks don’t understand how the whole bear clan thing works, but there’s one alpha. One leader. And that alpha gets the first and last say and the others have to listen. You clearly need to learn how to manage your clan. They don’t make the decisions, you do.”

Her cheeks grew hot and she felt the anger building in her. “Shut up. You don’t know what you’re talking about, okay?”

“Well, why don’t you tell me what you wanted to have happen yesterday, then?”

“First of all, I couldn’t very well go against my clanmates, could I? All five of you showed up, making the numbers even. If we had shown any sign of weakness or lack of solidarity, what do you think would have happened? You’re telling me the big, beefy blonde would have ignored that?”

He cocked his head to the side. “He would have done what I told him to.”

“Whatever. I couldn’t let us look weak, even if I didn’t agree. You know that’s true.”

“Fine. But you didn’t answer the question.”

“I don’t want them to attack you. I’ve forbidden them from stepping onto your property. But they often don’t listen to me.”

He threw his hands into the air. “You’re supposed to take them out if they don’t obey. You know that, right? Honestly, did you skip bear instincts day? Do you not know how all of this works?”

Veronica looked down at her hand. At the small half of a heart tattoo that no longer had a living match. “You don’t understand. But it doesn’t matter.”

“It does. If you can’t control your clan members, if you can’t lead them and make them obey, I’ll have no choice. We’ll have to take action.”

“And that means what, exactly?”

“My guys will go after them. Or attack if they come on our property again.”

“What did you want to have happen yesterday?” she asked.

“I was hoping to come to an agreement. To first of all, agree to keep off each other’s property. Then maybe, I don’t know. I guess I was being too optimistic.”

“What? What else were you hoping for?”

“That we could somehow work together instead of against each other?”

“In what way?”

He sighed. “I don’t know. In a perfect world? We form a company and all take part. With twice the manpower and resources, we could produce a lot more. Expand our market reach, expand our products. Be one big team instead of fighting for business.”

She laughed. “My clan would never go for that in a million years. We came here with plans to chase you guys out of town.”

His eye twitched as he glared. “Yeah, I sort of figured that after yesterday. I don’t know why you think you can just come in here and chase us out. Our roots are much deeper. And in two years, your business is the one suffering, not ours.”

Veronica hung her head. A lot of that was her fault. She hadn’t been working nearly as hard as she should be working. But she had so little fight left in her. There was too much pain for there to be enough room left for strong motivation and a good business sense. “I know,” she said quietly.

“Then why let this go on? At least stop trying to chase us out, and focus on your own marketing. That would be much better for business.”

“They won’t agree to that. They like the fight. They like the challenge.”

“Veronica. You have to take charge.”

She shook her head. “This isn’t my clan. That’s what you don’t get. That’s why they don’t listen, and I can’t do anything about it. It was my sister’s clan. She was the alpha. She was also my twin. She was killed three years ago and the clan fell to me. But I never wanted them. She put the clan together, not me. I was happy being on my own, or with just our family. She wanted to expand, she wanted a business group. She brought me in and I joined willingly, but I never would have started a clan with half of these ladies.”

His mouth parted slightly. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” She looked across the room, staring at the neon beer signs and dingy mirrors high on the wall. They had timed it just right so that the place was pretty dead. The lunch crowd had gone and the after work crowd hadn’t yet arrived. They were nearly alone, and the perceived intimacy had made her say far more than she should have. She forgot, when she looked into his sparkling eyes, that their clans were enemies. Which meant he was technically her enemy, too.

“I guess I see why that’s hard for you,” he said softly and with compassion.

“So, I don’t know what to tell you. I’d love to merge, but it’s just not going to happen. Hopefully they’ll stay off your property like I told them to. I’m sorry. They’re just out of hand.”

He sat quietly for a long while, running one fingertip along the rim of his glass. It looked like he was just drinking a soda, but she didn’t know for sure. Maybe he’d added whiskey or rum. Finally, he looked up at her.

“I know it must be hard. But even if you didn’t want them to begin with, they’re your clan now. You’re going to have to step up and learn how to lead them properly. Or they’ll just keep walking all over you. Unless you want to step down, you have to step up.”

She nodded slowly. “I might step down.”

He looked at her, surprised. “Don’t do that. You’re a natural leader, Veronica. I can feel it. Maybe you don’t see it, but you have what you need to do this well. You’re just too consumed by pain to see what you have to do to change your life. To take a risk on something that might be…” He broke his gaze from hers and looked down at his hands for a minute before meeting her stare again.

She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Some risks turn out to be worth it in the end,” he said.

They shared a long gaze. The feelings she had for him earlier seemed to be growing. He was so calm and cool. Even now, he sat back in the booth, casual and chill, like nothing in the world could shake him. Yesterday, he’d been confident and strong. In charge. And his clan listened to him. They didn’t step out of line. One or two spoke up, but they didn’t overstep. They didn’t make decisions. And it seemed like what they said was in line with what Slade said. He was a real leader. She wasn’t. But she deeply admired him for it.

“If it means fighting with your clan, it’s not worth it to me,” she said. “I’m happy to make honey and moonshine and any other products we come up with, but that’s it. I can lead in business. I never had trouble with that. Our workers follow my commands with no trouble. But I don’t want to wrangle a bunch of crazed bear women who just want to tear something apart. I’m more interested in building.”

“I’m not sure where that leaves us,” Slade said. “I feel like we really didn’t accomplish much.”

She shrugged. “We got to know each other better. That’s not nothing.”

He pulled up his mouth in a half smile. “No. That’s not nothing.”

“I’ll talk to them again. Maybe eventually I can get them to see the light.”

“Let’s hope.”
 

He stood and dropped a $5 bill on the table. Must be just soda then. She stood as well and followed him out of the bar. He waved to her as he walked in the opposite direction.
 

She was almost to her car when she turned around. “Slade! Wait!”

She ran over to where he was unlocking his car door. He turned to face her. She stopped in front of him, leaving just a foot or two of space separating them. Then she reached up, took a fistful of his shirt, and pulled him toward her as she leaned it.

She pressed her mouth to his hard, not letting him back away easily. But he didn’t back away. He put his hand at the small of her back and drew her closer. He kissed back just as hard.

She laughed when she ended the kiss. “Sorry, I… I guess I’m so starved for time with men and you’re just so hot.” She winked at him. “I spend way too much time in a household of women. They get on my nerves. It’s really refreshing to hang out with you. If you ever want to do it again, let me know. You have my number from when I called you.”

“Okay.” He nodded. “I just might call you then.”

“I hope so.”

He kissed her again, short and sweet, before she hopped off to her car.

Maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but she really didn’t have a choice. She wanted him so badly and he just sat there, looking all sexy. It was the first of anything she’d felt since Valerie died and if she didn’t act on it, or do something to keep it going, then it might fade and she’d be right back in her grief, lonely. She was sick of feeling lonely. And she wanted Slade.
 

Well, that was one way to show her leadership abilities, wasn’t it? To take charge and make the first move? He had to like that. Most guys did. Found it hot when the woman acted first. Usually it was because the guy didn’t want the pressure of making the first move, of the chance of rejection, but that couldn’t be true in Slade’s case. He had far too much confidence to be one of those guys. No, with him, it would be about the challenge. She’d challenged him by making the first move. Now, he had to step up and take charge unless he wanted to let her run the show. And she was pretty sure that, being a man, his alpha was stronger than hers.
 

Good then. Let’s see what he does. See what move he made. See how much he really wanted her in return. She hoped it proved to be as much, or more than, she wanted him.

Veronica was on her way home when her phone rang. At first, her heart skipped. Was it Slade? But when she looked at her phone, she saw Beth’s name on the caller ID.

“Hey Beth,” she said.

“V? Where are you?”

“On my way home. What’s up?”

“You should probably hurry.” Beth sounded worried and her voice was hushed.

“Why? What’s going on?”

“Did you go to meet Slade?”

“What? Why would you think that?” She hadn’t told any of them, and she’d been careful. How did they find out?

“That’s what Christina said. And now, she’s got everyone going over there to attack them.”

“What?! Attack them how?”

There was a muffling sound, like someone was covering the phone.

“Beth? You there?”

The call ended. She must have hung up. Beth probably called without the others knowing. She could have endangered herself if they’d told her not to tell Veronica. They might have attacked her as well.