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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
This book is intended for adult readers only.
Any sexual activity portrayed in these pages occurs between consenting adults over the age of 18 who are not related by blood.
Contents
Author’s Note
Story Description
1. Parker
2. Maxim
3. Parker
4. Maxim
5. Parker
6. Parker
7. Maxim
8. Parker
9. Maxim
10. Parker
11. Maxim
12. Parker
13. Maxim
14. Parker
15. Maxim
16. Parker
17. Parker
18. Maxim
19. Parker
20. Maxim
21. Parker
22. Maxim
23. Parker
24. Maxim
25. Parker
26. Parker
27. Maxim
28. Maxim
29. Parker
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Tactical Bear
P.O.L.A.R.
Candace Ayers
Lovestruck Romance
Author’s Note
P.O.L.A.R. (Private Ops: League Arctic Rescue) is a specialized, private operations task force—a maritime unit of polar bear shifters. Part of a world-wide, clandestine army comprised of the best of the best shifters, P.O.L.A.R.’s home base is Siberia…until the team pisses somebody off and gets re-assigned to Sunkissed Key, Florida and these arctic shifters suddenly find themselves surrounded by sun, sand, flip-flops and palm trees.
Parker is fighting extinction—
Of her own shifter species!
She’d already be mated.
If not for those bullying polar bears.
They've scared away all decent prospects.
Maxim has met the one
But, she’s an activist with silly notions.
And she wants nothing to do with him.
As a Tactical Bear, he’ll need all his strategic skills.
Not for military advancements,
But to win over his mate!
1
Parker
The bell over the door at Rise and Shine Bed and Breakfast had a shrill, piercing peal. I’d fussed with Penny about the damned thing almost nonstop since I’d started working for her, right out of high school. It practically shattered my sensitive eardrums every time it went off. And a cranky employee wasn’t great for Yelp reviews. Neither was a front desk clerk who was scowling in pain every time a new guest walked through the door. That sort of thing made it hard to get off on a good foot, customer-service wise.
Penny thought the bell made the house feel vintage, and Penny pretty much did as Penny pleased. Which, of course, was her right. So, the bell stayed.
I trained my pain-induced grimace on Penny since she was the one I was standing with in the small entryway at that moment. She just flashed a wide grin back at me and then turned to the young couple who’d stepped inside and were looking around expectantly. “Hello, folks! Welcome to Rise and Shine B&B. I’m Penny, the owner and proprietor.”
Facing the couple, I took in their tightly clasped hands, eager smiles, and slight nervousness.
Newlyweds.
“You must be Mr. and Mrs. Gaines from Birmingham?”
Mrs. Gaines grinned so wide her back molars showed. “Yes! How’d you know?”
“Oh, there’s a ‘just married glow’ about you two.” I smiled back at her and held in the bitter sigh trying to escape. It wasn’t the glowingly happy Gaineses that bothered me. It was having my own not-so-glowing reality thrown in my face. And my reality was that I was twenty-seven, single, and without a prospective mate anywhere in sight. Happily ever after came easier for some than it did for others.
Others, like me.
The only glow I had these days was from the sparkly lotion my teenage niece had gifted me with for my birthday.
Penny put on her figurative innkeeper hat and took both of the new guests by the hand. “We’re so glad that you chose us for your honeymoon. Parker will get you checked in and I’ll have your bags carried up to your room for you.”
“This place is just so quaint!” Mrs. Gaines squeezed Penny’s hand right back and then turned to her husband. “Isn’t it, Joe?”
“The quaintest.” Mr. Gaines looked like he wouldn’t have minded honeymooning in the bowels of hell as long as he was there with his new bride. He nodded and kept right on staring at her.
“There’s coffee or tea and cinnamon rolls in the dining room right now, if you’re interested. Sweet tea, or a nice rose blend, and the rolls are made by a woman here on the island who could bake Martha Stewart right out of business.”
I cleared my throat. “And before you slip away, we have a petition here for you to look over while you’re spending the week with us. We’re petitioning to get a name change for an endangered rabbit subspecies indigenous to this island.”
“Why? What’s wrong with the name?”
I could feel Penny shooting daggers at me, but I ignored her.
“We’re—uh, they’re named after Hugh Heffner. Those cinnamon rolls, by the way, even better than Penny described.”
“Why would anyone name a rabbit after Hugh Hefner?” Mrs. Gaines looked at her husband and then it must have dawned on her. She slapped a hand, laden with a diamond the size of a marble, over her mouth. “Oh! Of course, we’ll sign.”
I grinned and slid the clipboard their way. “Thank you. I really appreciate it.”
Penny mouthed something at me from behind the guests that looked suspiciously like a vulgar curse. When Mr. and Mrs. Gaines turned to face her, she was all smiles, though.
“We’ve put you up in the Swan Suite. It’s a perfect honeymoon suite, with a patio that opens right out onto the beach. You two will have your own jacuzzi just outside the room, completely private, of course. Marvin will bring you anything you require, including breakfast in bed each morning, if that’s what you’d like.”
“Marvin?”
“Oh, yes, Marvin. He’s been with the house since it opened in 1960. He likes to work, even though he could have retired years ago…” Her voice trailed off. “Anyhow, whatever you need, he’ll be more than happy to accomodate you. Just let him know.”
After another few minutes of checking them in, Penny escorted them to the dining room to enjoy the tea and cinnamon rolls, then called in her son, Jacob, to take their bags up to their room.
As soon as Jacob was out of sight, she leaned over my little counter and poked me in the chest. “What have I told you about that damn petition? Knock it off.”
“What kind of unsupportive friend are you? Do you not even care about my cause?”
“Nobody cares that some local rabbits are named after Hugh Hefner.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “I care. You just don’t get it.”
“I get that you’d better hide that clipboard and keep it hidden, or I’m going to smack you over the head with it.”
“Is that any way for a boss to treat her subordinate?”
“I think you mean insubordinate.”
“Pot-ay-to, pot-ah-to.” I put the petition under my desk, but I fully planned on asking everyone I could to sign it. Penny was not only my employer, but a close friend. Even so, she didn’t know everything about me, and she didn’t know anything about shifters. It wasn’t just any rabbit species that was named after Hef. It was the local rabbit shifter population. Of which I was a part.
Jacob came back down the side stairs and winked at me. “All done, Mom. Can I go?”
Penny, who rarely missed a beat, caught the wink. She lightly smacked him on the arm and frowned. “Leave her alone.”
His face burned bright red, but he kept his chin up. “If she wants me to leave her alone, she’ll tell me herself.”
I smiled sweetly. “Leave me alone.”
Jacob pouted instantly. He was barely sixteen and for some odd reason, considered me his dream woman. It was cute and made me a little envious of the woman he’d genuinely fall for some day.
I wasn’t a slender supermodel type. Nor was I conventional. At five foot five, I had curves and a little extra weight around the middle that wouldn’t go away no matter what I did. Not that I did much. I also had a multitude of tattoos, a few odd piercings, and my current hair color was a lovely shade of pastel lavender. I liked that Jacob wasn’t solely focused on stick thin, conservative women. If only I’d had someone like Jacob around when I was his age. All the boys at the high school I went to had wanted supermodels.
“I’m just teasing, Jake. But listen to your mother.” I winked back at him, unwilling to crush his spirit. “Hey, do you have any friends over eighteen that would want to sign—”
“Oh. My. God. Parker, quit with the petition. Jacob, go help your father with yardwork.” Penny pointed at us like she was mom to the both of us. “I need a vacation.”
Just to mess with her, I pulled my clipboard out and smiled. “Granted. I’ll take over while you’re gone, but sign this petition first.”
Jacob grinned. Penny scowled. Mr. and Mrs. Gaines emerged from the dining room, still glowing.
My smile became a wince when the bell over the door rang again and another happy couple stepped inside.
2
Maxim
Mallory, Melanie, Minnie, or whatever her name was looked up at me with her mascara running down her face and smiled. Her lipstick was smeared all over her mouth from doing things that I was pretty sure were illegal in some states. “Are you sure I can’t talk you into staying the night?”
I buttoned my pants and looked for my shirt. “I’m sure.”
She pouted and let the sheet she held around her chest drop down to her waist. Her tits were great, I’d give her that. She leaned towards me, pushing them together. “We could have more fun, Maxim.”
I found my shirt half under her bed and pulled it over my head. The neck was stretched out and ripped a little, a casualty of foreplay with what’s-her-name. “Sorry, babe. I’ve got work in the morning.”
She pouted. “No fun.” Then, she stood up, baring all, and stalked over to me. Running her hands down my chest, she batted her lashes at me. “At least take a shower with me?”
I considered it for second. She was hot, crazy wild, and kinky as hell. She’d done things and let me do things to her that were off the charts. She also had all the makings of a stage five clinger. Better to shut that down early. “No, thanks. I’ve got to go. Thanks for a good time, though, uh…babe.”
She ran her hand down to my crotch and grabbed a handful of my junk. “We can do it again.”
I lightly removed her hand and looked for my shoes. Had I kicked them off in the front of her house? Had I worn a belt over? I needed to start keeping up with that shit.
“Hey, was I wearing a belt when I got here?”
Her voice raised a few octaves. “Seriously?”
I followed her gaze to see what she was getting so worked up about and noticed my belt hanging from her bedpost. Oh, yeah. I walked over and snagged it before spotting one of my shoes. “Thanks.”
“You can’t be serious right now. You didn’t remember that?”
Red flags began waving all over the place. I swore as I stepped into my shoe and still couldn’t find the other one. “Of course, uh, I did. Sorry. I was just distracted.”
Judging by the hiss from her side of the room, she didn’t buy my flat tone. “They said you’re an asshole, but I didn’t believe them. I guess I should have.”
I spotted my other shoe and grabbed it. Knowing my time was running out, I didn’t even bother to put it on. I unbuckled my belt from the bedpost, and headed towards the door. “Who said I’m an asshole?”
She didn’t bother covering herself as she followed me. “People. And they were right. You don’t have any feelings about what happened here between us at all, do you?”
It took me a second to get all three of the locks on her door undone. “What? Yeah…sure I do. I feel that, uh, it was fun…but I have to go.” What the hell did she want from me?
“What’s my name?”
I had the door open and I should’ve beat feet the hell out of there. I definitely shouldn’t have turned to face her trying my hardest to remember her name. I knew it was something like Minnie. Mipsy? Moopsy? Fuck, I had no clue.
“Oh, my god! You don’t even remember my name!” She came at me, tits swinging, and shoved me the rest of the way out the door. It was barely midnight and there were people walking along the beach, typical for a Friday night. She gave them all a show as she stood in her doorway naked, yelling. “It’s Karen, you jackass. My name is Karen!”
I shoved my foot into my other shoe and kept moving. I was on the other side of the island and had to walk all the way home to the P.O.L.A.R. house. I nodded to the teenagers who were giggling at what they’d just witnessed.
Early November, the weather was cooler on Sunkissed Key, but it still fucking sucked compared to home. I hated Florida. I hated Florida so much that I’d been keeping a tally of each nightmarish day we were there. And I blamed Serge for every tally mark. I knew headquarters couldn’t keep us stranded forever. We were far too capable at what we did for them to refrain from fully utilizing our skills forever. It was ridiculous of them to keep us away from where we could actually do the most good.
I couldn’t wait to be back in the snow, and no longer sweating my ass off. Worse than ass sweat, was the ball sweat. I could barely remember a time when my nut sack wasn’t stuck to my thigh. I wasn’t even comfortable engaging in oral intercourse without a solid shower and scrub. No one deserved that.
I wanted to be able to fuck without worrying about ball sweat. I wanted to be able to walk outside without feeling like I was either going to melt into the pavement or go up in flames at any moment. Fucking Florida.
By the time I got to the house, I was drenched in perspiration. I knew that some of the guys didn’t abhor Sunkissed Key anymore. Alexei even seemed to thrive in the heat. Not me. I felt every fucking degree of the thermostat.
Serge was sitting in the kitchen with Hannah on his lap and they were whispering to one another when I walked in. He looked me over and shook his head. “Another walk of shame?”
“I didn’t know there were any women left on the island that you hadn’t slept with.” Hannah’s words were harsh, but her tone was light and teasing. She seemed to like me for some reason.
“There are still tourists.” I grabbed a glass and poured myself some water. “What are you two doing up?”
Serge grinned and Hannah blushed. “None of your business.”
I nodded at them and headed for the stairs. “Just keep it down, you crazy kids.”
Upstairs, I could hear someone else going at it. A couple of
the other guys had been staying at their mates’ homes, but they randomly stayed at the P.O.L.A.R. house, too. Now that four of the six of us were mated, it was rare to walk into the house without hearing the groans and pants and whatevers of lovemaking in progress.
Shaking my head, I climbed to the third floor and locked myself in the bathroom intending to shower off my night. As the cold water shot from the showerhead, I undressed and stepped under the frigid spray letting it wash over me as I did my best to block out the sounds of mates being mates all throughout the house.
3
Parker
Latte Love was my absolute favorite place on the island. It was the local coffee shop, owned and operated by Penny’s twin sister, Paige, and it was right next door to Rise and Shine B&B. Plush, comfy, and decorated with huge potted palms, flamingos, and every other kitschy thing you could think of, I loved it. I could sink back into one of the overstuffed, furry chairs and be hidden away by a couple of massive palm fronds. I did that frequently—hide away from the world with my laptop, earbuds, and java. Paige made coffee that could rival Starbucks.
I tucked my feet under me and leaned forward. I was surfing the web for a date. Not just any date. A rabbit shifter date. There were a couple of secret shifter dating sites online, but they were sad, sparse things, only utilized by those shifters that were hard to match like porcupines and skunks. Online dating in the human world had finally gotten less taboo, but in the shifter world, it was almost unheard of. Shifters just met—where and when they were supposed to. It was considered by many to be fated.
Tactical Bear (P.O.L.A.R. Series Book 4) Page 1