by C. D. Gorri
“So, what’s your name?”
“Uh, Krissy. Sposa. Well, it’s Kristianne Sposa.”
“I’m Taylor. So, Kristianne Sposa, what can we do for you?”
“Oh, um, I need to speak to Alph- I mean Mr. Devlin about the ‘help wanted’ sign in the window, and I guess about my induction too. Uh, my mom hasn’t been up to a meeting,” she murmured and felt her cheeks grow hot under his curious stare.
“Dad’s not here, but you can talk to Marcus, my older brother. He’s the one who’s in charge now anyway. Come on, I’ll introduce you. We’ll get you a job and get your induction all squared away, alright there, Dimples?”
“Dimples?”
“Yeah. You got one right here,” he pressed a spot to the right of her lips, and she went rigid.
“You don’t mind, do you? Kristianne is a big name for such a little girl.”
“Um, no, it’s okay,” she said and walked past him as he opened the door. Hmm. No one ever called her little before.
“Then Dimples it is,” Taylor Devlin smiled, and Krissy’s Bear sat up straight in her mind’s eye.
She breathed deep as he walked past to open yet another door further inside the bakery. The scent of fresh cut grass and forest filled her nostrils.
She’d never encountered a smell quite like it. Fresh and clean. Welcoming even. Like coming home after a long hard day. One word reverberated through her entire body. Mine.
She stopped dead in her tracks and tried to still the panic welling up inside of her.
“What’s the matter?” Concern marred his perfect face as he waited for her to step through the door.
“Uh, nothing,” she stuttered but walked quickly through.
“Alright then, Dimples. Let’s get you situated.”
She knew then, her life would never be the same.
Chapter 1
“Dimples?! Come on Krissy, where ya at?” the loud rumbling Bear startled her into clicking the wrong key on her laptop. Ugh. Why was he here?
“Dimples! Marcus sent me to sign the order, he’s shacking up with his mate tonight, and I’m already late for my date,” Taylor Devlin’s voice boomed out from the front of the bakery all the way to the back office where Krissy had been holed up since the storefront closed at six that evening.
She was only supposed to stay after for a few minutes, print the orders then leave them on the counter for Marcus to sign. But as usual, she’d gotten sidetracked by work. The sound of a cell ringing had her ears perking up.
“Hey! Yeah? Sorry, I am running late, but you wear that little red number and I promise to make it up to you. Uh huh.”
Of course, the golden boy had a date tonight. When didn’t he? She sighed and looked at the clock. Nine o’clock on a Friday night and she was still in the office! Some life you have!
She shook her head and stood up stretching her long limbs. She enjoyed working at this location for a lot of reasons. One was that she didn’t have to sit at a desk for all hours of the day.
Here she got to interact with real people. The forest behind the ovens was great for an afterwork Shift, and she was close to home! So, yeah, it was perfect.
Not to mention she could eat her heart out over Taylor Devlin from up close. Guess I’m a glutton for punishment. Groan. Ignoring his continued shouts, she walked around her desk and rolled her shoulders. It wasn’t her fault he got roped into actually working tonight! First time in how long?
“Dimples!”
Stupid friggin’ nickname! It was better suited for a pet. Something you called a kitten or guinea pig! Her Bear bristled at that.
No matter how many times she complained, he never called her anything else. But that was Taylor for you. He barely even noticed she was there half the time.
Still treated her like she was a kid. She exhaled slowly, willing her anger and humiliation to die down. Easy girl. Just finish up your work! Stupid billion-dollar company.
The brothers kept their main offices in the original bakery, despite the building in nearby New York City that held the rest of corporate. Which was also why she still worked there.
Money hadn’t changed the brothers and in a way she was glad. Bear Claw Bakery was a family run business and, though she wasn’t technically family, she was still damn proud of the place. She’d seen them rise after all.
“Dimples!”
“One second,” she murmured. She didn’t need to yell. Like her, Taylor had supernaturally enhanced hearing. He just yelled to piss her off. Jerk.
She hurried to finish plugging in the right quantities. Taking inventory was always a bitch, and she had dozens of locations to account for. She was the general manager for all the bakery branches in the tri-state area not to mention she oversaw the other managers across the USA.
Krissy was damn good at her job. She loved the responsibility and the trust the brothers had in her. She would never leave them willingly, despite her humiliation at last year’s office Christmas party.
Bear Claw Bakery had saved her life. Literally bailing her and her family out when she was barely a teenager. The Devlin family had done more for her than her own father.
Krissy pushed all thoughts of the past out of her head and hit print. She waited for the old wireless multi-function to get fired up and to start spitting out paper.
The machine took forever, but Marcus wasn’t particularly into tech and he saw no need to replace it. He was the big boss as it were. New Clan Alpha and CEO of Bear Claw Bakery. He’d been voted in on both offices by his brothers.
Marcus Devlin was as trustworthy as they came. And he was the one who usually stopped by the office once a week to sign the necessary papers.
The other two were in and out less and less frequently. Each of them trusted Krissy. Like a sister. Her Bear chuffed at the thought. She didn’t feel sisterly to all of them. To Marcus and Daniel, sure. But not to Taylor.
Her Bear had insisted from the first time she saw him that he was theirs. Mate. A wave of mortification swept over her as unpleasant memories from this year’s holiday office party surfaced in her consciousness.
She’d made the fatal error of telling Taylor after ten too many shots that he was her mate. Of course, he’d let her down gently. But still. It was a humiliation she could’ve gone her whole life without. Fucking shit.
“Where the papers at, Dimples?” Taylor Devlin loomed in the doorway to her small office.
A golden-haired Bear of a man with a deceptively lean build. He wore black leather boots on his feet and no jacket. His button-down shirt looked like it was made just for him. Probably was. She knew all too well that he had muscles on his muscles underneath the shirt and stylishly deconstructed jeans.
They were Clan after all, and though it was bad form to ogle Shifters when necessarily nude to perform their Change, she may have snuck a peek in every now and then. She was single, not dead.
And Taylor was mouthwateringly good too look at. She clamped down that part of her that wanted to roll belly up and be petted by him and gestured towards the printer.
“Papers coming out now, boss,” she said and tossed a pen in his general direction. Of course, he caught it without even looking.
“You sure we need all this in the Springfield store?”
“Yeah. We just signed a contract with a local wedding planner. She’s been ordering huge amounts of our pastries and coffee by the pound for these amazing wedding breakfasts she organizes.”
“Ugh. Don’t say wedding or I’ll break out in hives. It’s bad enough with Marcus and Leya around here. We don’t need you mooning over wedding bells too!”
“As if,” she said and forced herself to ignore the pain that shot through her heart at his cold words. Jerk.
“Alright, Dimples, here you go.”
She nodded and reached a handout to grab the papers from him forcing herself to keep her eyes downcast on her keyboard. Don’t look. It only hurts more when you do.
“You know,” he hesitated, and she felt his ey
es on her. Krissy didn’t need to be told from his slow, measured gaze, that he was looking over her work uniform of a plaid shirt over jeans. No doubt, he found her lacking. As usual.
She knew what she was. A Bear. Tall and big boned. She stood almost six-foot tall, weighed about a hundred and seventy-five pounds of some muscle, but mostly flub. She worked in a bakery for fuck’s sake!
Yes, she had T and A, but she was too insecure to flaunt it. Choosing jeans and flannel shirts over anything else to wear at work. The bosses didn’t mind. They were like her brothers after all. Oh damn. FML.
“It’s Friday night, Dimples. Don’t you have a date?”
“Sure. I have two actually,” she sassed and tried to smile, but failed.
“I’m serious, you’re too young to work all the time-”
“Taylor, I am fine. Luisa isn’t home yet from med school, and mom is recovering from her latest round of physical therapy. The hip replacement was only a month ago. She needs me.”
“How is she? Did she like the flowers?”
“Yes. She did. That was very thoughtful of you. Now, I’m going to scan and send these documents, then I am going home to relieve the nurse. You have fun on your date,” this time her smile was genuine. Of course it is, my heart is genuinely breaking.
Taylor nodded and with a small wave, walked out of her office without looking back.
I can’t do this anymore, she thought sadly as she stood up an hour later to go home. She locked the place down and waved to the bakers in the back as she grabbed a half dozen rolls fresh from the ovens before taking off for the night.
Taylor Devlin might not think of me as mate material, but surely someone out there would. Maybe it is time to move on.
She pondered that thought all the way home.
Chapter 2
“Earth to Taylor! Bro, you haven’t said a word throughout this whole meeting,” Marcus stared down at his little brother with unflinching concern in his dark brown eyes.
Daniel grunted, but did not add to his brother’s comments. Waiting for Taylor to enlighten the group instead. He figured his baby bro had some female troubles and he was best left out of any discussion involving women.
Especially after his heart had been torn out of his body by his ex. Grrr. His Bear riled too easily at the remembered pain and Daniel shut it down before shit got away from him.
As Enforcer to his brother and the Barvale Clan, he needed to act the part with the temperament befitting his station. He turned his blue stare onto his youngest brother and watched him. Hmm. Something was on the guy’s mind.
His handsome face was scrunched up in thought and he waved a hand in the air as he turned to both of his older brothers. It was only the three of them gathered around the large mahogany table at the Clan Den.
It used to belong to their father, but as Alpha, Marcus now lived at the enormous fifteen-bedroom cabin that sat in the middle of the hundred and eighty acres of forest and land, including the freshly stocked Lake Ursa, the Devlin family owned.
There was a single road that granted access to the Den and the other smaller guest cabins that dotted it, but it was all private access. The Clan took security very seriously.
In fact, Daniel had doubled their efforts with new state of the art cameras and alarm systems made by Draco Fortis. Best in the business as far as he was concerned.
“Taylor!” Marcus’ voice jolted the youngest Devlin out of his reverie.
“Yeah, um, so I was thinking about Dimples-”
“Finally,” Daniel muttered, and Taylor shot him a curious look.
“What? No! I mean, she works really hard and takes care of her mom while her sister is in med school, maybe we should do something for her?”
“You mean, like why don’t you take pity on the girl already? We all know she’s been crushing on you since forever,” Marcus glowered at Daniel for his tactless comments.
“What? It’s true! I mean throw her a freaking bone already, Taylor, man, the girl drools after you,” the Enforcer raised his hands in mock surrender as Marcus growled at hm.
“Dimples is like our little sister and I won’t have you talk about her like that,” Taylor shouted.
“Oh yeah? What are you gonna do, pretty boy?”
Marcus raised his eyebrows as he watched both his younger brothers act like cubs. Ugh. The agony and triumph of being the toughest, most dominant, AND most mature brother.
“Okay! Alright! Daniel, shut the fuck up. Taylor, you might be on to something. Now, we just gave every one of our employees a raise and new full, comprehensive health coverage. Maybe we can do something a little more personal, that does not involve Taylor sacrificing himself-”
“Some fucking sacrifice, did you see the way our ‘baby sister’ looked at the office party last year. The chesticles on her? Holy shit, Krissy Sposa is all grown up and day-yum!” Daniel was baiting him. He knew it. But Taylor couldn’t help but respond.
He’d always been protective of Dimples. Ever since he bumped into her pacing outside the bakery all those years ago. The fact his brother was talking about her like she was some chick you picked up in a bar made him see red.
He picked up the spoon he’d used to stir his tea and honey and looked it over. Yes, he drank tea fuck you very much. Then he flicked it over the table hitting Daniel right between his eyes. Fucker deserved it.
“That’s fucking sticky, you asshole!” He growled then stood up, ready to tackle the shit out of his little brother, but his Alpha stopped him with the full-on force of his station reverberating in his deep voice.
“Enough! Sit! Now, shut the fuck up about Krissy’s, uh, assets, Daniel. Taylor you knock it off too. I know you think of Krissy as our baby girl, but Daniel has a point. She is an adult and, yeah, you’re right also. She does work too hard. Tell you what. Let me talk to Leya about it,” his voice softened as he said his mate’s name and both younger brothers rolled their eyes.
“She’s been feeling a little antsy about making friends and since she’s going to start working for us anyway, we might as well throw them together before I formally introduce my mate to our Clan. Speaking of which, on to Clan business,” Marcus’ voice floated in and out of Taylor’s hearing as he pondered what his older brother had said.
Taylor exhaled a deep breath. He didn’t know why Daniel’s remarks bothered him so much, but they did. The miserable fucker was always throwing out snide comments about Taylor’s so-called man-whoring ways. Called him a play-bear and everything. Dick.
So he liked pussy. What the fuck? It was a free country. Barvale and the surrounding towns were stocked with some prime women. They knew the score. When he met a woman, contrary to popular belief, he did not lie to get them in bed. He laid out his terms, and if the woman agreed, well then good. If not, he moved on. Anyone he got involved with had a good time. No harm. No foul.
He’d always been a however-many-women-at-a-time kind of guy. Nowhere near the age where he felt the need to find his mate and settle down, he saw no reason to change his ways.
Not like Marcus. He was grateful to the powers that be that his big bro had found his fated mate. Hell, he even marveled at the idea that he’d met his destiny on a tropical vacation! Sounds like a plan. It just wasn’t for him.
Daniel had been ready to tie the knot years ago, but after she-who-shall-not-be-named left him standing at the altar, literally, he’d sworn off women.
Both stances were too strict for Taylor. He liked women. He just didn’t like commitment. Fucking Daniel. That prick had to mention the Christmas party where poor Dimples had had way too much to drink.
Who knew she’d look so damn sexy while chugging back liquor and shaking her ass to some truly hideous holiday music? But she had.
She wore a velvety black dress that clung to her generous curves and had many-a-tongue hanging out that night. Hell, he’d almost decked John from accounting for trying to squeeze her ass on the dance floor.
For the first time in recollection, her curl
s had hung loose down her back instead of in their usual pig tails. The scent of jasmine and vanilla floated around her.
She’d looked shocked as hell when he’d grabbed her hand and spun her around the dance floor. And yes, being the gentlemen, he was, he’d stopped them under some strategically placed mistletoe. It was a Christmas party, so yeah, he gave into temptation to taste her soft pink lips.
He’d been shocked as hell to find himself desperate for more than one pass after that chaste meeting of mouths. Raging desire had coursed through his veins and he’d pulled her away from the crowds to a dark corner where he could experiment with his newfound attraction to his little Dimples.
And fuck him, he’d been attracted! He’d sported a full-on boner from just that small taste. His heart had thudded in his chest and his Bear roared in his head, but it had all come crashing to a screeching stop when she’d whispered that one dreaded word to him in the darkness. Mate.
Panic gripped him and he’d forced himself to let her go. Poor Dimples. Poor him. He’d never been so hard in his life. He’d hated himself for doing it, but he’d had no choice. He wasn’t made for happily ever afters and she was.
Taylor had let her down gently. He’d ignored her teary-eyed nod and the calm way she accepted his rejection. As if she’d already known he couldn’t possibly want her. The lie tasted foul on his tongue, but either she’d been too drunk to notice, or too inexperienced to call him on it. And thank the gods, because he couldn’t have resisted her if she’d offered herself a second time.
He’d forced himself to be nonchalant the next time he saw her. And he had no regrets. He went back to living his life on his terms. Happy as a Bear in the woods. Right?
Of course, he made the right decision. Their relationship was back to normal. She hadn’t quit her job as he’d feared she would. In fact, she acted as if those frantic, shared kisses had never happened. A truth that he didn’t even realize bothered him until right then.
No. That’s dumb. This is for the best. We’re friends. She’s like my little sister.