by Lola Kidd
Polar Bear Daddy
Small Town Shifters
Lola Kidd
Copyright 2019 by Lola Kidd
Cover Design: Melody Simmons
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. No part of this work may be copied or reproduced without the express consent of the author.
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About This Book
Nick hates the holidays. Seeing everyone happy and celebrating with loved ones always reminds the polar bear shifter of his greatest regret. Not starting a family of his own. To add insult to injury, he’s sure he met the perfect woman for him once. He just didn’t have enough time to ask for her number.
After a one-night stand, Pearl’s whole life is turned upside down. She finds out she’s pregnant and she has no way of contacting the father. She loves being a mother but she wishes she could tell her son where he comes from.
This holiday season, these two are getting a second chance to find love. They end up at the same event and Nick couldn’t be happier. Pearl on the other hand starts having doubts. They may have a son together but she doesn’t even know this man. What if he isn’t the kind of man she wants in her son’s life? She isn’t sure how to move forward just when Nick is ready to confess his feelings to her.
Will these two be able to sort out their differences and come together this Christmas? Find out in this Small Town Shifter holiday story!
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Epilogue
A Note from Lola
Other Books by Lola Kidd
Chapter One
Nick Lerman hated nights like this. The bar was so crowded he could barely find a place to stand and drink his damn beer. He knew it was a mistake to come out tonight, but the hotel had been loud as hell too. This place was so far off the beaten path, it was usually empty. Especially on a Tuesday night.
But it was that magical time of year that everyone wanted to come to Celebration. The town was always bustling in the time between Thanksgiving and New Year. Not helping matters, the bar was running some kind of ladies’ night special and had a local celebrity in. The place had been relatively quiet when he’d first arrived, but it had suddenly filled up in what seemed like minutes.
Once he finished the drink in his hand, he was out of here. He would rather walk the streets alone than spend any more time around people today.
There was a slight tap on his shoulder. He would have missed it if it hadn’t been accompanied by a question. “Would you like to have a seat?”
Nick looked over his shoulder and his breath caught in his chest. He was locking eyes with the most gorgeous girl in the bar. Hell, the most gorgeous girl he’d maybe ever seen. She was small with curves in all the right places. Her long brown hair was clipped back with several sparkly pins.
He had to make sure he was hearing her right. “What?”
“Would you like to sit down?” she asked again. “This place is getting really crowded and I’d like to keep my table. If you sit, I think people will leave us alone.”
Nick eyed the chair across from her. He knew it was bad idea, but what was the worst that could happen? He was just sitting and drinking across from a beautiful lady. Not exactly the most dangerous thing he could do.
“Thanks.” He pulled out the stool and sat down. “I lost my space at the bar. Some college girls muscled me out to get their umbrella drinks.”
She eyed him up and down. “College girls muscled you out? They must have been some pretty intimidating women.”
He smirked and resisted the urge to flex. He was a big man—there was no hiding that—and women never missed an opportunity to tell him about it. Not bragging. Just a perk of being a shifter.
It wasn’t like he had to work to get this big. Plus, with all the baggage that came with his shifter status, it was the least that he deserved. Yeah, there was the constant stress of knowing the humans around you probably hated your guts just for existing, but hey, at least the ladies loved his hot body. For the night. Never longer than that, but you take what you can get.
“They were very insistent,” he told her. “Not many options when they crowd around and keep inching closer and closer. Unless I wanted one of them in my lap, I was going to have to move. Better for everyone that I got the hell out of the way at that point. I was only making all of our lives harder by insisting on holding my ground.”
“So I’m guessing you didn’t come out for ladies’ night then?”
“Nope. The people next door to me at my hotel were arguing loudly so I decided to step out for a few hours. What about you?”
She chuckled. “Funnily enough, my sister sexiled me from our room.”
“Sexiled?” Hearing a word that sounded like “sex” coming out of her mouth was not what he needed right now. Not only did his animal start salivating, his dick was starting to get hard. Jeez, he felt like a horny teenager.
“Exiled me so she could hook up with some shifter she ran into. An old friend she hadn’t seen since high school. What are the odds of that? I had to let her have the room. I thought this place would be perfect to wait for her all-clear text, but I was badly mistaken.”
“Are you going to stick around?”
“Nope.” She held up her bottle. “I was going to nurse this, maybe order one more, but I guess I’ll have to go to a coffee shop or something. I’m not sure what would be open now besides rowdy bars. I think I’m out of luck. Guess I’ll be posting up in the hotel lobby.”
“Exactly my problem. I’m just going to walk around if you’d like to join me.” He held out his hand over the table. “I’m Nick, by the way.”
“Pearl.” She mulled over his offer. She looked down at the table and fiddled with the label on her beer before locking eyes with him. “You know, I’m not feeling much like walking. What about your room?”
He couldn’t keep the stupid grin off his face. She obviously wasn’t shy. She barely knew his name and she was already asking to come back to his room? He knew the ladies liked him but it usually took a little more effort than this to get one to sleep with him. Even Speed Mating took longer than this.
“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.” His animal was having none of that and immediately fought to come to the surface. Panic made his heart race.
What the hell did it even think it was going to do? Transform here in the middle of the bar and drag her back to his room?
He had been having some incidents lately that scared him. When his animal got like this, he almost never got it to stay inside. That was why he’d been avoiding crowds for the last year.
And now was not a good time to shift. Even in a shifter town like Celebration, it would be a disaster. A polar bear in the middle of a crowded bar? Never going to fly and no way to explain it away. He’d for sure lose the job he was in town for and maybe even get a record.
No way he could let that happen. He was going to have to give the beast what it wanted.
Luckily, it was what he wanted too. She
was so beautiful. He would be leaving in a few days anyway, and he’d never have to see her again. No way to get attached. And there was no way she was looking for anything serious. She was the one who’d asked him.
“Actually, let me try answering that again.” He downed his beer quickly. “I’d love that. Should I call for a ride?”
She nodded and smiled. “That would be great.”
He pulled his phone out and just their luck, a car was close. “Less than a ten-minute wait.”
“Wow. I better hurry up with this beer then.” She pulled out her phone too. “I need to text my sister. What hotel are you at?”
He gave her the hotel name, room number, and room phone number too just in case, to make her feel safer. Not that he’d given her his number or his full name. No need for any of that and she didn’t ask. They were both clear on what this night was going to be.
Now that he had agreed, his animal was sated. The polar bear was still very interested in his companion though. Pearl. It was practically drawing hearts around her name every time he thought it.
His bear had never been this into a woman before. It was strange. He wasn’t going to think about it too much. He was going to enjoy himself tonight and celebrate another day of keeping his animal exactly where it was supposed to be. Safe inside of him.
***
Pearl Game searched for the light switch. The lamp wasn’t working and she couldn’t see a thing in the dark hotel room. Nick was in the bathroom cleaning up, and she wanted to be dressed by the time he got back. She had to be dressed. She wanted to be up and out of there as quickly as possible now that they were done.
After a few orgasms, she wasn’t feeling as bold anymore. Honestly, she had no idea what had come over her.
This wasn’t like her at all. But when she’d seen him standing awkwardly and glowering at the bar, something had stirred inside her. Clearly she needed to get laid on a more regular schedule. This was the longest she’d been single as an adult and now she knew what happened when she wasn’t getting some regularly.
She made stupid, stupid, stupid decisions.
Not only had she slept with this stranger, she hadn’t even used protection! And he was a shifter. She hadn’t known that before they’d started, but she should have been more careful. They were in a shifter town after all.
Judging by where she was in her cycle, she had little to worry about. She’d triple-checked her period tracking app the moment the bathroom door had closed. It was two days after her fertile days. It was fine. But still very scary and embarrassing. She’d gotten entirely too carried away with herself. He was too handsome. Way, way too handsome. Even for a shifter, there was too much handsome for one person. It wasn’t fair.
He was a giant man with bulging muscles, piercing blue eyes, and a shock of blond hair. She was used to being around shifter men, but he was different. And his voice? Umf. That deep bass had put her over the edge. She hadn’t stood a chance. And in bed...he was a monster. Hands down the best she’d ever had.
She smiled to herself. Okay, she needed to get the hell out of there, but maybe she was a little proud of what she’d just done.
When she found the switch on the wall, she made a mad dash around the room collecting her clothes. She was pulling her shirt over her head when the bathroom door opened.
“Find everything all right?”
She was glad her shirt was covering her face. Her entire body was hot, and sweat quickly pooled between her breasts. Why had she left the light on? He was going to see every part of her in the glaring fluorescents.
“Yup. I have a car coming. It should be here any minute.”
“Great.” He lay back on the bed. Still naked.
Pearl was tempted to crawl back in with him and ask for round four. He saw her staring and raised his eyebrows. “There’s a great breakfast place around the corner...”
He let the sentence trail off. She considered it but nixed the idea quickly. Best to make it a clean break. The longer she stayed, the more she would learn about him. They would have to have a real conversation and that would ruin everything.
She always got attached so quickly, and she really didn’t want to screw up her first one-night stand by trying to make it something serious or fall in love or something else stupid. Or at least, more stupid than doing it without a condom. Ugh.
“My car just pulled up. Thanks for the...fun.”
She smiled and then left the room. He didn’t even get up to let her out. When she closed the door behind her, Pearl looked to the sky and smiled to herself. Not the smoothest, but it was done. She’d had sex with a guy and now she was never going to see him again. Boy was she going to have a story for her little sister.
Chapter Two
She was not going to cry. She was not going to cry. She was absolutely not going to cry.
Pearl looked down at the little boy kicking on his playmat and forced herself to turn her attention back to her mom.
“I went shopping so there’s tons of food in the fridge and the cabinets are all stocked. I left two hundred dollars in an envelope on the fridge. Do you think that’s enough?”
Her mother huffed. “I can afford to feed my grandson for three days, Lo-bunny.”
“Don’t call me that,” Pearl said reflexively. No matter how old she got, her mother was always going to use that nickname. “Tell me again why you can’t go with Kelly?”
“Because you’re her manager and you haven’t taken a trip in the last two years. You need a break, honey.” Her mom hugged her. “Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. It’s just three days, and we’ll video chat every day. We can do it twice a day if you want.”
Pearl nodded. “It just doesn’t feel right. It’s too soon.”
Her mother patted her on the back. “Little George is almost fifteen months old. You haven’t left his side for even a moment all these months. You can take three days, Pearl. I know it’s hard, but you have to do this. Do it for him.”
Her brow wrinkled. “I don’t understand. How can I be leaving for him?”
“You think that by never leaving him you’ll be the best mother ever, but that’s not true.” Her mother shook her head. “Trust me, you need to be yourself. Live your own life while still being a mother. You had a life before he was born, and when he grows up you’re going to have to have your own life again. If you only live for him, it’s going to be very hard to let him go when the time comes.”
Now the tears did spill. “All the more reason to spend every moment I can with him while I still can.”
Pearl thought back to her teenage years when all she wanted was to be as far from her parents as possible. The thought of little George feeling the same way, and as she did it made her heart ache. She knew it would have to happen one day, but that day was far off. She wanted to spend all the time she could with him now while she could still hold him in her arms and feel like she could protect him from all the evil in the world.
“Do you think I’ll do a good job keeping him safe?” her mom asked.
“Oh yes,” Pearl said quickly. “That’s not my problem. It’s the actually leaving part. How did you do it?”
“I had a job I loved,” her mother told her. “Teaching is like breathing to me. I loved being with you girls, but I loved my work too. And I’m so glad I never gave it up. Every woman is different though. I know it’s much harder for you, but you can do this. I know you can.”
She’d last-minute canceled on Kelly many times in the last two years. She really wanted to do it this time too. Her sister would understand. Kelly was so sweet about the whole baby thing. Pearl knew that it hurt the business and was very difficult for Kelly to do everything on her own. But her sister had never complained, not even once. In fact, she was Pearl’s biggest supporter. Without her, Pearl had no idea how she’d have been able to handle all of it.
That fact made her straighten her spine. She could do this. Not for George but for Kelly. She owed this to her little sister.
“I’m going to go now.” She bent down and picked her sweet boy up and kissed him. “Mommy has to leave for a little while, George, but I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
She hugged her mom. “I’ll call as soon as we get to the hotel.”
“Okay, sweetie. Good luck. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Pearl grabbed her bags and walked quickly to her car. She had to get out of the driveway now. If she hesitated for even a minute, she knew she’d cave and have to apologize to Kelly for standing her up once again.
Once she was on the road her anxiety flared up, but she wasn’t going to let it stop her this time.
Her mom was right. One day, George was going to be all grown up and she was going to have to let him go. If she could keep just a little piece of her old life, maybe the future wouldn’t be as unbearable as it sounded.
Because right now, the thought of her sweet little boy leaving her made her want to curl up in bed, pull the covers over her head, and never get up. But she wasn’t going to do that. No. She was going to be fine. They were going to be fine.
It was hard to believe that this was her life now. If you’d asked her even a year ago, she would have said that she’d never be one of those moms that gets wrapped up in her child.
Hell, if you’d asked her two years ago, she might have laughed at the question. Her? A mom? No way.
But life had a funny way of giving you exactly what you needed, even if it wasn’t what you thought you wanted.
That one-night stand had been the best thing that had ever happened to her. Not that she believed it until she’d held George in her arms. She’d been so angry and disappointed when she took the pregnancy test and it came back positive. She thought her whole life was going to be over.
Wrong.
She’d been oh so wrong. She didn’t like to remember those early pregnancy days. She’d been so lost and had felt awful. She’d pushed everyone in her life away until Kelly figured out what was going on and forced her to engage in life again.