by C. D. Gorri
“Sorry, thank you,” she said and held out a hand, “I’m Roxanne Winters.”
Her voice was huskier than he’d expected he nodded at her suitcase and avoided taking her hand since his was filled already.
“Oh,” she said and smiled sheepishly, “silly me.”
Shit. Was he scared of touching her? Maybe. Just maybe.
Damn. If sexy was a voice it would be hers. He fought back the shiver that threatened to announce itself and turned away from her. A deep frown on his face.
He had no use for a spoiled princess regardless of what his Bear thought. Not princess, Ice Queen. He could tell by her rigid stance that she’d earned that nickname.
She could probably freeze a man solid with one look or harshly whispered word. Fucking right, she could. The woman was that damn fine. He listened for her footsteps to see if she was following him and frowned. She moved slowly as if she was hesitant about going with him.
For some reason that bothered him. He breathed deeply and fought the urge to sneeze. Shit. He forgot about that little problem the Fox Shifter seemed to be having with her perfume or whatever.
The stuff made it impossible for Bowie to determine her feelings. Hell, he couldn’t even smell her Fox beneath that chemical stink. He didn’t know much about fashion or beauty products, but he did know that whatever cream or perfume the little Fox was wearing, she needed to throw it away. Like now. Damn stuff was making his nose itch.
“Achoo!” Fuck. He never sneezed.
He was a Shifter for fuck’s sake. His Polar Bear shook his big, white head. The animal covered his eyes with one massive claw. Damn thing was ashamed of his human half’s unmanly allergic reaction to the woman. If that didn’t beat all!
It wasn’t like it was his fault. What kind of Shifter wore perfume like that anyway? Maybe her nose was broken?
His Polar Bear moaned at the excuses. The beast urged him to sniff deeper, but Bowie recoiled. Hell no. He wanted nothing to do with the female.
“Bless you,” was her automatic reply to his sneeze and he felt momentarily ashamed for thinking badly about her.
Her good manners definitely spoke of her well-bred ways. She probably had a number of degrees from expensive fancy schools too.
She was the total opposite of Bowie in every way, shape, and form. He had no business even thinking about her. His Bear growled and he stopped abruptly, shocked at his animal’s behavior.
He caught her smelling her arm then looking at him. Her bright green eyes flashed. The consequential darkening of her cheeks made him suspicious. Was she blushing? What the hell?
He just kept on walking, not bothering to say thank you. Let her think he was a Neanderthal for all he cared. The sooner Bowie was rid of the odd Ms. Winters, the better.
CHAPTER 4
Oh no! Roxanne wanted to just crawl into a hole and die! How could her father have arranged for this young, hot as hell Bear to pick her up?
She knew he was a Bear because she was in Barvale. Duh. Not that she could smell his beast underneath the stupid spray tan she had splurged on. Her inner Vixen was having a hell of a time getting the stink out of her nose. Roxie damn near died when he’d sneezed.
He hardly even spoke to her. Just kept walking in front of her to his huge vehicle. Typical. Shifters like him needed a giant monster truck like that. He was the size of a Bear on two legs, she couldn’t even imagine how big he was on four.
Her Fox yowled at the idea of seeing him in his fur. The little beastie was definitely interested in a little one on one time with the man, er Bear.
Crap. This was not good. Daddy had definite ideas about interspecies mating. Not that she was saying he was her mate or anything.
Nope. Slow your roll there, chickie!
He was just so darn interesting looking. With his bright blue eyes and white hair! The roots were black as was his slight smattering of facial hair, she couldn’t help but want to touch it. Not to mention his gorgeous caramel skin color. So, yeah she was staring. She couldn’t help it and, okay, if she was honest, she’d admit she might have drooled a little.
She wondered if his tanned skin was a result of working in the sun or natural. Either way she sure wouldn’t mind finding out just how far it went. That golden color definitely drew her eye. Oh, she’d tried to mimic the same with her phony spray tan, but as usual it fell short. Her coloring much too fair to carry any kind of tan for more than a few hours. Sigh.
It was the plight of natural redheads everywhere. She was normally milk white and would be again in a day or less. Less than that once she showered. And she would have to since she could tell the smell was going to bother all the Shifters around her.
Ugh. How mortifying! Here she was eye fucking her guide and stinking like she was dipped in a vat of chemicals. Not that it mattered. Guys like him did not dig chunky little Vixens like her.
Especially once they found out she was smarter than them. Being bright was hard on a girl living in a Shifter world, especially when she had a reputation like Roxie.
Her Fox growled inside her head. The little beastie hated the moniker as much as her human half did. Ice Queen. Grrr.
“Oooh,” she gasped as she followed the broad back of her guide and stepped out into the cold December wind.
For the first time she wished she was an actual Ice Queen. Then the cold wouldn’t bother her. This was insane! The airport had been nice and heated. Shit. She’d packed for a tropical vacation, not a winter wonderland.
“Look, Mr.?”
“Call me Bowie,” the huge hunk of a Bear grunted, but didn’t bother looking at her.
Rude much? She scowled. Okay, bitch mode it was.
“Look, Bowie. I need to stop at a mall or something. I don’t have anything with me that is appropriate to wear in this weather and, since I will be here all week, I need some things.”
“I’m not your personal shopper,” he began.
“And I don’t recall asking you to be. I said I need a mall.”
“There’s a shop on the way to town. I can wait in the truck.”
“Do they have shoes also? I will need something other than these sandals,” she pointed to her pink painted toes and watched his eyebrows raise as he trailed his eyes down her legs to where she stood in the smattering of snow.
“No,” he cleared his throat, “I don’t recall them selling shoes.”
“Well then, I need a store that does,” she tried not to squirm under his blue-eyed stare.
He was still looking at her legs and she felt self-conscious. It was one thing to be in a short skirt on a beach somewhere and quite another to be standing in front of this intensely masculine Shifter.
She’d heard it all spelled out to her before by her father, brother, and several members of her Skulk. Roxanne was brainy, she worked for her Alpha father, and if that wasn’t enough of a turn down for most Shifter men she knew, the fact that her body was thicker than usual for Shifter females made her a triple no-no.
No doubt Bowie here was simply adding up all her faults. Well, she didn’t have to take that from anyone. She was Roxanne Winters, there to represent the Winter Falls Skulk, not some desperate woman looking for approval from a male.
“If you won’t drive me, I’ll just rent a car. You can send me the GPS coordinates of your Clan Den and I-”
“Fine,” he interrupted, “I’ll take you to the mall,” he said the words as if he’d rather face a firing squad.
Roxanne did not react on the outside, but inside she cheered. She knew how to handle Shifters of all sizes. Just freeze them out, girlfriend.
Her Fox whined at her decision, but she quickly shushed the beastie. She was there to do a job, not fish for sweet words and compliments from some big, grumpy old Bear.
Sitting primly in the front seat of his enormous vehicle, Roxanne tried not to shiver at the intense cold. Was he kidding? She wondered as he pulled onto the highway without even turning the heat on.
True, Shifters ran hot, but it w
as twenty degrees out if that! She cursed the stupid sundress she’d chosen to wear for travel. As if he’d tuned in to her thoughts, the straight-faced man pursed his lips and turned on the heat.
The truck was equipped with leather seats and she soon felt warmth seep through her backside and realized he’d turned her seat warmer on. He also turned the vents to blow directly onto her feet.
Considering he didn’t even wear a jacket, just the oddly festive vest, she figured he liked the cold and was making the adjustments for her comfort. That fact warmed her more than the actual heat did.
“There’s a blanket on the back seat,” Bowie murmured and sure enough when she reached behind her, she found a plaid lap blanket.
“It’s for the cubs. Sometimes I drive my Alpha’s or his brother’s kids around and the little ones seem to like it,” he said by way of explanation.
To say she was shocked was an understatement. This huge powerful Bear kept a blankie in the back of his truck for a couple of cubs that weren’t even his? How freaking adorable was that!
Roxie nodded and bit her bottom lip. She was starting to get an idea that this tough guy wasn’t as bad as he appeared to be. Despite the six and a half feet of muscles and the no-nonsense scowl on his ruggedly handsome face, he definitely had a soft side.
The mall parking lot was crowded as she expected it would be. He pulled over outside of a large department store and let her out with a promise to find her as soon as he parked.
“Thanks,” she said, oddly touched that he would let her out at the door instead of making her traipse through the lot in her inappropriate travel gear.
“Right, uh, I’ll just be a minute if you don’t mind staying in this store.”
“Sure. I’ll be looking at shoes first.”
“Okay,” he grunted.
Roxanne hopped out of the truck before he had a chance to move. Okay, she fell out of the truck and walked through the inch of cold white fluff. It had started snowing on their drive and now it seemed to be coating the ground. She would have to be quick.
Brrrrr. She walked to the shoe department past a few snickering normals. One look told her the skinny, stuck-up blondes had something to say about her outfit or her curves or both.
“Did you forget to check the weather before you went out today?” One stick-thin woman asked with a snarky grin.
Rather than get involved in any kind of argument with them, she proceeded to ignore the lot of saleswomen. Instead, she found the one lone salesman who was older and stood off to the side.
“You know, you look like you need a lot of help today. How about we show you some things? Not that we have much in your size,” one of the other saleswomen spoke up and the others giggled at her passive aggressive bit of nasty.
The younger women were obviously used to getting attention from customers and probably had the most sales in the department. Roxanne didn’t go for the type of salesperson who thought they had to put down their customer to sell things.
She might be a bigger woman, but she had been shopping for herself for quite a long time. Being born wealthy and earning a pretty hefty salary at her job had helped her develop her own specific tastes in clothes and shoes. Expensive clothes simply fit better.
The bitchy saleswoman was correct in that not many stores had fashionable clothes in her size. But she knew which ones did. She had her own favorite designers and she knew that particular store carried one of them.
The saleswoman smirked and gave her sly looks while their leader circled her with one long red nail on her chin as if to say she needed more help than they could give. Roxanne had to bite her tongue to keep from growling.
Clearly they had no idea what a real predator looked like. Roxie would have loved showing them, but her good manners wouldn’t let her. Besides, her feet were cold. She turned her back on them instead and headed to the salesman.
The older man smiled at her with kind eyes and she was happy she’d ignored the women. Including their whispered “bitch” as she walked away. Ha! They had no idea how close they were to the truth though Vixen was more accurate than bitch.
Believing in Karma meant Roxie did not have to retaliate. Those women would get theirs. The amount of commission her sales would accrue alone would be enough punishment for those catty normals.
“Can I help you, miss?” The older gentlemen perked up as she stepped up to him.
“Yes, please,” she smiled at his friendly demeanor, “Can I see the pair of boots that were in the window with the thick fur around them?”
“Sure thing. Size nine and a half?”
“Yes, good guess,” she smiled at Jeff, as it said on his nametag. That was something you didn’t see anymore. The kind of amicable customer service that existed once upon a time in big name stress like this one.
“Oh, I’ve been doing this for more than twenty-years. I should be able to guess a person’s shoe size by now,” he smiled widely. “You take a seat and I’ll be back in just a second,” he added.
After trying on the warm boots, Roxie asked for a few more things to be added to her order. A pair of black low-heeled ankle boots, and for the fun of it, a pair of expensive knee-hi boots in butter soft leather with spiked heels. They were the kind of fuck me boots she’d always wanted but never splurged on.
Those aren’t for you. She could almost hear her father’s condescending words and see her brother’s sneer when she’d attempted to dress even remotely sexy during her first solstice run.
She’d been eighteen and bright-eyed with her first crush on her father’s Enforcer, Otis. Her father had the man shipped off soon after he’d seen her interest in him.
“I told Otis about your obsession with him and he opted to leave for another Skulk. You cost me my best Enforcer Roxanne with your ridiculous behavior. Now, I expect this will never happen again. You are my daughter and will behave in the manner fitting your position.”
She knew now her feelings had been nothing more than a schoolgirl crush. Something everyone goes through at one time or other. It was knowing her own father had revealed her secret to the man she’d been crushing on that had left her feeling even more mortified than the fact that Otis had left soon after.
Once she’d started working full time for the Skulk, Roxanne had religiously adhered to the strictly prim and proper façade her father had demanded. She’d worn that mask for so long she hardly knew who she was anymore.
Imagine being her age and completely untouched. All she did was work. Her inner Vixen had been yelping and barking at her for months. The little beastie wanted a mate and young. And she wanted them now. But how was that going to happen when no one seemed to want her with her reputation?
Dammit. It sucks, but this is still your vacation, she told herself. And it was. Yes she had a job to do in Barvale, but that didn’t mean she had to spend every hour negotiating terms for the Skulk. In fact, she didn’t have to strictly adhere to her Ice Queen persona at all. Hmmm.
As she carried her purchases to yet another department in the vast holiday decorated store, Roxie devised a plan.
Her guide was still parking the car. He’d obviously underestimated the holiday congestion at the shopping center.
Not that she minded. It gave her time to grab some things she normally would never even consider. She passed through the tinsel draped displays, ignoring the carols playing in the background. The décor hardly registered as she chose her outfits for the next week.
Picking daytime clothes for her meetings with the Barvale Clan Alpha was easy. She’d been dressing the part for so long it was second nature now. As a bigger girl finding the right clothing was difficult. After her first time displeasing her father, she’d learned quickly how to dress for success while underplaying her fuller figure.
Something she had no intention of doing in Barvale. She bit her lip and chose a few no-nonsense pencil skirts, a nice pair of fitted slacks, and a few blouses and cashmere sweaters for her meetings with the Alpha. She could look professional
and still be feminine. Despite what her father believed.
Now, she told herself, time to buy some other things. Things to wear when I’m not in meetings. Things to wear out on the town with a certain Bear-y handsome guide maybe.
She shook her head and bit her lip hard enough to make herself wince. She grabbed a slinky silk top low enough to show off her ample cleavage paired with a bright red miniskirt. Perfect for barhopping at Christmastime.
She selected a few more downright scandalous pieces and dropped them all on the counter where another friendly looking employee began ringing her up. Roxie exhaled as a certain euphoric giddiness took over. She’d never had so much fun shopping! She took out her platinum card to pay for it all and waited.
“Would you like to wear one of your new purchases home, miss? There is a changing room just here,” said the smiling older woman.
“Yes, I think I would,” Roxie returned her smile. Eagerness brewed in her belly at the thought of wearing such casual form fitting clothing!
Twenty minutes later, she gathered her bags and ordered a latte from the coffee stand inside the store. The butterflies in her stomach were causing a tornado at the moment and she hoped the sweet, warm drink would help soothe her nerves.
She’d never done anything like this before, but since her father thought nothing of ruining her first ever vacation alone, she figured she deserved a little adventure.
Now, if she could only get a certain Bear to cooperate. Roxanne blew on the large cup and sipped slowly. This had to work. She had never dealt with this Clan before, so it reasoned that her father had no ties to Barvale.
That was good news. It meant she might actually have a shot. She turned around the second she heard a familiar grumble. There he was, stomping up the aisle. And there were her butterflies back in full force. Gulp.
Lord, was he big! If it was possible he seemed even larger than before. He was easily over six-and-a-half-feet of testosterone fueled male. The normals in the area seemed to scatter as he approached.