Bear With Me

by Vanessa Devereaux

  Hannah was relieved to hear that. It took the pressure off her. Yet a little part of her was disappointed.

  He reached his hand up and held it under her chin. “If you haven’t guessed, it’s you. And don’t think I’m doing all this for Sam just to get in your panties because I’m not that sort of guy.”

  In her panties. They grew damp just thinking about him touching her in places she hadn’t been caressed in years.

  He leaned over and put his lips on hers. She closed her eyes. Holy shit, this felt so good.

  They both stood, bodies pressing into one another. He had an erection and it stabbed her belly, giving her pussy that familiar ache that said I want you, take me and take me quick.

  He opened his mouth. She foolishly opened hers, letting his tongue snake it’s way over her lips. Sex, the thing she’d loved so much. The warmth of someone’s body, a cock deep within her making her feel good and forgetting what else was going on in her life.

  But no, she couldn’t go there ever again.

  She pulled away.

  “Guess I shouldn’t have tried the tongue thing just yet,” said Bear.

  She wanted to laugh at his joke, but this was serous.

  “Bear, I like you a lot. I find you a very attractive man, but I’m celibate and intend to stay that way. If you’re thinking this is going to lead to us sleeping together, well, I don’t want to get your hopes up or lead you on. You deserve a woman who can take care of your physical needs.”

  He opened his mouth to say something when his cellphone rang. He looked at the caller’s ID.

  “I have to take this, okay?”

  He walked away, spoke to someone, and then turned back.

  “I have to go because Charlotte Renner’s in labor, but I’d like to sit down and talk about this. I think I can change your mind about the whole celibate thing.”

  Chapter Eight

  Bear headed to the vending machine, placed coins into the slot, and selected 1A, the orange soda. He hadn’t had a chance to finish his meal or drink at Hannah’s. Definitely hadn’t finished their conversation. He pulled the tab back on the can and took two chugs. He touched his lips. Hannah’s had felt pretty good on them. His tongue had felt right at home passing over hers and into her mouth.

  Maybe he should have held back with the tongue bit. Yeah, he hadn’t been joking with her about that. But he was turned on, anticipating the prospect of touching her, maybe even making love to her after Sam went to bed. Two things had thrown a cold bucket of water on that, the phone call from Aiden, and Hannah’s announcement about being celibate. At first he thought she was joking, but he’d seen the seriousness on her face when she’d broken the news to him.

  He’d never come across anyone who didn’t have sex. It was the natural order of things. He grinned. She was definitely the opposite of all the women around here who wanted him to get into their panties. Oh yeah, Hannah was becoming more attractive to him every time he saw her.

  Bears loved a challenge with him being no exception. He’d make her change her mind and when she did, boy oh boy was he going to fuck her so good she’d never even think about the word celibate again. She’d beg for more and more. And he’d give it to her.

  First things first, he had a patient in labor. And not just any patient. This one was his co-worker who was about to bring forth into this world the first, as far as they knew, hybrid. He hated to think of it under those terms, but he couldn’t think of any other description.

  Charlotte was proving to be the cliché that doctors made for some of the worst patients. Upon examining her to see where things were at, she’d been shaking, pale, and finally admitted she’d never been so scared in all her life. Judging by how far dilated she was, it was going to be a long night. Her water hadn’t even broken, but her contractions were strong. He suggested she get up and walk around, hoping that might help things along.

  He finished the drink, threw it into the bin, and knew the vending machine would be his best buddy for the next few hours or so. Coffee would probably be the next pick. He’d pulled all- nighters like this before, but he, like Charlotte, was scared too. What if something went wrong because of the cross species element? Something out of his control. Nope, he had to think positive.

  Bear walked along to Charlotte’s room. They’d designed the birthing rooms to be large enough to accommodate lots of friends and family when the baby arrived. He glanced through the window to see her walking around holding Aiden’s arm. They’d brought along clothes for the baby and the baby carrier which sat by the wall. They’d be great parents and he hoped everything went smoothly.

  He opened the door and smiled. “How are you doing?”

  “I’m still trying to get my water to break,” said Charlotte, turning in the other direction.

  “It will but just try and relax,” said Bear. “How about walking up and down the corridor?”

  “Sure, I’ll try that and hopefully no one will look at my bare ass,” she said, trying to pull the sides of her gown together.

  “Why don’t I keep you and Aiden company? We can take a stroll,” said Bear.

  Bear opened the door as the two of them headed out past him. Aiden held her hand as she began walking.

  “Hope you weren’t in the middle of anything special,” said Aiden.

  “I went fishing with Hannah from Starlight Café and her son.”

  “Sam,” said Charlotte.

  “Yeah, you’ve met him?”

  “Once. He has autism, right?”

  “That’s what the doctor’s told Hannah,” said Bear.

  “So are you and she dating?” asked Charlotte.

  “I’d like to, but I don’t think she’s interested in me, well, men in general. No I don’t mean that’s she’s…”

  He shouldn’t be saying anything. All this was Hannah’s business and not his to be discussing, but Aiden and Charlotte were almost like family. He’d stayed at their place when he’d first come to town and was looking for an apartment.

  “She’s celibate,” said Bear.

  Aiden burst out laughing.

  “And what’s so funny about that?” asked Charlotte.

  “She’s probably messing with you, Bear. Probably wants you to try a little harder,” said Aiden.

  Bear was about to comment when there was a swishing noise and Charlotte stopped abruptly as her water broke.

  “What a relief. I thought that wasn’t going to happen,” she said. “Oh contraction and a really bad one,” she said, burying her face into Aiden’s chest.

  “It’s okay, honey, deep breaths like you’ve been shown,” said Aiden, patting her back.

  “You want to go back and lie down?” asked Bear.

  “Yeah, I think I might like to put my feet up for a bit,” said Charlotte.

  Bear watched as Aiden wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist and walked her slowly back down the corridor.

  For the first time in his life he was envious of a married man. A man who had a woman to love. A woman who was going to present him with a child. He’d found a woman who he’d like to pursue. Such irony that she didn’t do sex.

  ****

  The afternoon in the great outdoors had obviously tired out Sam. He’d fallen asleep on the couch and Hannah had carried him to bed. Now he was safely tucked in and even snoring just a tad. She flicked through the channels on the TV. The phone call Bear had taken had been a lifesaver. Hannah knew she might have weakened into them going further than the kiss.

  She wondered how Charlotte was doing. She was a regular customer at the café and loved the Black Forest cake so much. Maybe Hannah would take her some and something for the baby.

  Not much going on this Saturday evening so she settled on watching a movie. She pulled up her legs and rested her chin on her knees. The couple was in bed having sex, not much left to the imagination. The man drove hard into her with the woman groaning.

  In all honesty, Hannah missed sex. She wanted it again. Wanted it with Bear. She
bit her lip. That was okay, right? She wasn’t just wanting it in general with any guy who came along. She had a specific man in mind. That had never happened before. In her old life she’d given in easily to any guy who smiled at her.

  Sam’s dad had done just that when she’d seen him in the bar that night.

  “There’s a motel down the road. How about we get a room?” he’d whispered in her ear, pushed his body up against hers, his cock straining against her crack. She’d felt his dick pulsate a steady beat against her bottom and was at that point she’d become putty in his hands.

  When they’d arrived at the room, they were like two wild animals. Ripping off each other’s clothes, him taking her quickly up against the wall and pushing himself roughly inside. He’d smelled of beer and the lingering smell of leather from the jacket he’d worn. She smelled it on her own body days and five showers later. She’d even smelled it when she’d given birth to Sam.

  All she’d known was his first name and that he’d worn a condom the first three times they’d fucked that night, but then as the final act he’d fucked her while she’d been on her stomach. He’d taken her by surprise and it wasn’t until she felt the spreading warmth throughout her pussy after she’d come that she realized what had happened.

  A tear ran down her cheek. He hadn’t been a bad guy. In fact, he’d been sweet in his own way. He’d even told her they should get together again.

  “Momma.”

  Sam stood in the doorway.

  She quickly turned off the movie. “You couldn’t sleep?”

  “Bear, he’ll be back?”

  “Sure, honey, he’ll be back.”

  ****

  Bear looked in on Charlotte. It was past midnight. He’d managed to get an hour’s shut eye after she’d finally given in and asked for an epidural when the pain had gotten too much for her. She was dozing off, so he tiptoed in, waking Aiden who was sitting by the bed.

  “Has she been asleep long?” whispered Bear.

  “Yeah, once that epidural kicked in she was a lot more comfortable and fell asleep about fifteen minutes later,” Aiden whispered back.

  “I hate to wake her, but I need to check how she’s doing and if she’s ready to start pushing yet.”

  “Charlotte, honey,” said Aiden. “Wake up. Bear needs to check you.”

  Charlotte’s eyelids fluttered and then she focused on Bear who was standing over her.

  “Hi, Charlotte. I hear your dad came by to see you and I saw him out in the lounge. He’s pretty excited about the impending arrival of his first grandchild,” said Bear. “How you feeling?”

  “Better than I did a few hours ago. I feel like I’ve let myself down.”

  “You did the right thing because my goal is to make you comfortable. I’m just going to check to see how you’re doing, okay?”

  Bear put on his mask, pulled on his latex gloves, and examined Charlotte. There’d been hardly any change and things weren’t progressing as well as he’d thought. He knew it was time to make a decision that Charlotte probably wasn’t going to like. He pulled up the blanket and her gown and listened to the baby’s heartbeat. Just as he suspected with this long of a labor, it was getting weaker.

  “Charlotte, your labor’s not progressing as well as I’d like, so I think we need to think about a C-section,” said Bear, pulling up a stool and sitting down beside Charlotte. He took her hand.

  “No, I want a regular birth,” said Charlotte. “I’ve already let the natural no painkillers thing go out the window.”

  “Honey, listen to Bear,” said Aiden.

  “I think it’s best for both you and the baby. You’re getting tired and the baby’s going to struggle too.”

  Charlotte burst into tears.

  “Oh, honey, don’t cry, please don’t cry,” said Aiden, leaning over to kiss her.

  “Really, Charlotte, it’s no failure on your part,” said Bear. “And your next baby will probably pop right out. These things happen all the time. I did at least one C-section a week at the hospital in Vancouver.”

  A tear slid down Charlotte’s face. She nodded. “Okay, I guess I have to listen to my doctor, right?”

  “You better do that or there are consequences.” Bear smiled at her just as Aiden’s phone rang.

  “Hi, Lilly,” said Aiden. “No, no baby yet. Charlotte’s going for a C-section.”

  Bear could hear Lilly’s voice on the other end of the line.

  “No, no, you and Christopher don’t need to come here. Charlotte’s dad is here and you have Kaitlin to think about at this time of the night. Sure I’ll do that and I’ll call you as soon as the baby arrives.”

  Bear stood. “I’ll send someone in here to get Charlotte ready and I’ll scrub up.”

  “I can be with her, right?” asked Aiden.

  “Absolutely, you can be right by her side.”

  ****

  Bear looked at the clock on the wall as he went into the OR. It was almost 4 a.m. He walked over to Charlotte.

  “You okay?”

  She nodded. “Just really scared.”

  Aiden squeezed her hand as the nurse put an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth.

  “Be over before you realize it,” said Bear.

  Bear had chosen Mia to be one of his assistants. She was going to be a nurse, and he thought this would be ideal for her to learn about handling instruments and assisting the doctor.

  “Scalpel,” Bear told Mia. She passed it to him.

  “Okay, Charlotte, you might feel me pulling at you a little, but it’s perfectly normal.”

  Bear had always been good with surgery and in no time he had Charlotte opened up and could see that the baby’s arm was close to the surface.

  “Baby’s coming out any minute and you’ll feel a big tug but nothing to worry about,” said Bear.

  He knew from the ultrasounds that this was going to be a big baby. He pushed his hands down and gently eased Little One outside of Charlotte’s body.

  Bear lifted it out and held the baby up to check it out.

  “Charlotte, Aiden, you are now the proud parents of a girl.”

  “You hear that, honey? It’s a girl,” said Aiden.

  Bear lifted her higher so that they could take a look. “Daddy, you want to cut her cord?”

  Bear clamped off the cord and Mia handed Aiden the scissors. His hand shook as he cut his daughter’s lifeline to her mother.

  “You have a name for her? We can’t keep calling her Little One,” he said, handing her to Mia as he began to close Charlotte up.

  “Bridget,” said Aiden. “Bridget Anne. It was my mother’s name.”

  “Welcome to the world,” said Bear.

  “Nine pounds, two ounces and she’s twenty-two inches long,” said Mia.

  Bear walked over to where Mia had placed the baby on the scale and checked Bridget’s heartbeat. A little slow but nothing to worry about. Her fingers and toes were longer than the average human baby and he guessed she’d inherited that trait from Aiden, but it wasn’t anything noticeable that would draw attention.

  Thick dark hair, typical of bear shifter babies, a dark mark round her navel which was another shifter trait that would disappear within the year. He turned her over and saw the mark on her back. That wouldn’t fade, so if she ever saw a regular doctor they’d need to lie and say it was a birthmark.

  “Is she okay?” asked Charlotte.

  “She’s perfect.”

  “Does she have any shifter looks to her?” asked Aiden.

  “Oh yes, but I think she’s got the best of both of you. And there’s nothing to worry about, no one’s going to ask questions.”

  In fact, Bear was already madly in love with her, making him suddenly want a hybrid of his own. She suddenly cried and it sounded more bear than human which made him smile. Nothing like a bear baby to warm your heart. He wrapped her in a blanket and carried her over to Charlotte who cried the first time she saw her.

  “You’re right she’s so beaut
iful. Thank you, Bear, for coming here to work at the hospital and for bringing Bridget safely into the world,” said Charlotte.

  ****

  Hannah picked up her cell phone the following morning but then promptly put it back on the table. She’d thought about Bear all night. Had she led him to believe that there was something beginning to happen between them? Has she let him kiss her only to drop that bombshell on him?

  She wanted to call him but didn’t know what to say. Her mouth was suddenly dry and her hands shook. He deserved something better than he’d gotten from her the night before. She had to find a way to apologize. She’d take him something to eat, lunch maybe, and explain to him why she couldn’t physical be with a man again. She owed him at least that. Her heartbeat picked up tempo as she quickly punched in the numbers before she chickened out yet again.

  “Hi, Dr. McWilliams speaking.”

  “Bear?”

  “Hannah?”

  “Yes, I hope I didn’t wake you or disturb you on this Sunday morning.”

  She glanced at the clock. It was noon, but he sounded sleepy. Maybe he was in bed with someone. She didn’t know why, but her heart sank. How stupid was that? First telling him she didn’t want to get physical and then being upset that he might have taken another woman to bed. Of course he’d do that. Any man would.

  “Nope, it was about time I got up and back to the hospital.”

  “I did wake you,” she said.

  “No, I’d set my alarm and it was due to go off in ten minutes. I prefer your voice doing that than music blaring in my ear.”

  She smiled. He was just a sweet guy. “Did Charlotte Renner have her baby?”

  “Yes, a girl delivered by C-section and hence the late night I had.”

  “Are they both doing okay?”

  “Charlotte’s tired and the baby’s had to have oxygen because it wasn’t breathing very well. That’s the reason I need to get to the hospital soon.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, but tell Charlotte not to worry because Sam had breathing problems too about a day after he was born.”

  “Why don’t you come along to the hospital and visit her and you can see the baby?”

  “Would it be okay?”