Fast and FURious Bears: BBW Bear Shifter BWWM Werebear Paranormal Romance (Wild Alpha Shifters Book 4)
Page 1
FAST and FURious BEARS
Zola Bird
They’re best friends and colleagues,
but he knows they can be more.
Can this bear win the race to claim his mate?
Amanda James is the sexy, curvy, go-to-gal at Wild Alpha Auto. Whether you need an expense report, a test drive, or just a cup of coffee—Amanda will arrange it for you. Amanda, however, hasn’t always been as good at arranging the matters of her own heart.
Greg Smith is a grizzly shifter and the general manager of Wild Alpha Auto. He’s loved Amanda from afar since the moment he hired her, six years ago. But even though Amanda and Greg have become best friends, the timing has never been right to go to the next level.
Everything changes, however, when a new bear enters the mix. Tom Cooper is as charming as he is deadly. And he has one goal—to settle an old score with Greg.
Amanda likes bad boys and Tom fits the bill. Sparks fly between them. But beyond the heat and desire, a secret lurks. And when things get too hot to bear, Greg will have one chance to defeat his arch rival Tom and claim his mate.
A Note to the Reader: Fast and FURious Bears is a story of wild, hot Alpha love. In addition to steamy lovemaking, it contains some adult language. If sizzling bear shifter love isn't your thing, you may want to skip this book. But if you're a curvy girl who likes her leading men strong and her action scorching hot, enjoy!
**If you haven't already read First Bear, Fast Bear, and Faster Bear, be sure to check them out!
FAST and FURious BEARS
Zola Bird
Contents
Copyright
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Epilogue
From the Author
More Wild Alpha Bears!
FAST and FURious BEARS
BWWM Paranormal BBW Bear Shifter Romance
Zola Bird
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, brands, locations, media, corporations, institutions, organizations and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, or, if real, are used fictitiously without any intent to describe their actual conduct. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication and/or use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Published By
Bear Shifter Romance Press
http://zolabird.com
FAST and FURious BEARS
Copyright © 2015 by Zola Bird
All rights reserved. The reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the author.
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement (including infringement without monetary gain) is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
Prologue
Amanda James gripped the seat tightly as the car ripped around the tight corner. She had said she liked to drive fast, but what exactly had she gotten herself into? She leaned back into her seat again as they flew around the S-bend. The car had been heavily modified with, among other things, a metal roll cage, a fire extinguisher, and an engine that absolutely roared. It was so loud inside that Amanda almost had to shout to be heard.
“Well, I’ll say one thing. It goes fast,” Amanda said loudly.
“You haven’t seen fast,” the man in the driver’s seat said.
They left the S-bend behind them and shot out onto the straightaway. Amanda felt her adrenaline spike as he pounded down on the accelerator, the speedometer rising well beyond any safe speed.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve seen fast now,” Amanda said.
The man in the driver’s seat laughed and Amanda brushed back her straight platinum-blonde hair. The driver, Tom Cooper, had suggested they take a ride, and Amanda was beginning to wonder if the whole thing was a bad idea. At first she thought that Tom was simply into her, but now she wondered if he had some kind of death wish. The way Tom worked the gears was almost maniacal, the inked black tattoos on his powerful forearm flexing as he manipulated the shift lever. He brushed his shaggy black hair out of his eyes and cast her a smoldering glance. She just wished he would keep those brown eyes directed ahead. Amanda wasn’t looking too bad tonight. Her curves were out in full force, and her form-fitting dress left little to the imagination, but still…
Keep your eyes on the road, sailor.
Tom reached down for her hand. His touch was strong, possessive. She took her hand from his. She wasn’t ready for that. Not yet.
“Tom…”
Tom took Amanda’s hand back, and at that moment, he seemed more focused on her than his driving. The car wandered over the centerline.
“Yeah, babe?” Tom growled, staring over at her.
“Look out!”
A semi-truck came over the rise toward them, its air horn blasting through the night air. As the bright headlights bore down on them, Amanda wondered if the chrome emblem on the truck’s grill would be the last thing she ever saw.
Chapter One
ONE DAY EARLIER
Amanda danced across the Wild Alpha Auto showroom floor with a smile on her face. She was inexplicably happy. It was just such a sunny late-summer day that she felt like smiling. Amanda had been working as the receptionist, office manager, and all-around go-to-gal at Wild Alpha Auto going on six years now, and she counted nearly every one of her coworkers as friends. From Brandon and Jeremy, to Jada and Chloe, she was close to everybody, and none more so than the general manager, Greg Smith. Greg was, after all, more than just her manager. He was her mentor, her counsellor, and an all-around good guy.
Today, the entire dealership was operating like a well-oiled machine. The showroom was buzzing, the service department was buzzing, heck, even the auto detailing shop was buzzing. Which reminded Amanda. She grabbed a piece of paperwork from her desk. She had a delivery for the new employee.
“Jada, hon, cover for me out front.”
“You got it, girl,” Jada said.
Amanda skipped out the back door and headed to the wash shack, birds chirping in the tall trees above. Secretly, Amanda was happy that she had received the paperwork she was now delivering. Not so much because she wanted to get outside, but because she wanted to have a chat with the man she was giving it to.
Tom Cooper, a friend of Amanda’s brother, had come to town two days previously, and Amanda had asked Greg if they might have a job for him. Greg had assigned Tom to the wash bay. Not a plum position, to be sure, but the business promoted from within based on attitude and ability. Do a good job and there was no telling where you might end up. A rainbow hung in the mist above a sleek red Ferrari that was being sprayed down. The radio played and, of course, the new guy wasn’t wearing a shirt
. Why did the new guys always break the rules? Amanda walked up behind him.
“Howdy, stranger.”
Tom turned toward her with the hose, a stream of spray blasting past her right shoulder. Amanda ducked away but still got a little wet.
“Sorry, doll.”
Tom let go of the trigger. His jet-black hair was damp from the mist, the intricate tattoos adorning his broad chest gleamed in the sunlight. Yup. Tom was a good-looking guy, no doubt about it. But he was still breaking the rules.
“Did I get you?” Tom asked.
Amanda looked down at her white dress. She was a little damp from the spray, but the jet of water had basically missed her.
“I’m fine, but just so you know, you’re not supposed to take off your shirt at work.”
“I’m washing a car.”
“I know. But it’s not professional.”
“And wearing a shirt isn’t comfortable.”
Boy, Amanda thought. This guy was a piece of work. The water droplets glistened on his muscles in the hot sun. Of course, it was hot out, and he was washing car. He had a point.
“Look,” Amanda said, “I get your point. But I did help you get this job, and rules are rules. So I’d appreciate if you didn’t make me look bad and you just put your shirt back on.”
Tom smiled. It was a big, bright smile, perfect teeth grinning back at her. But there was a hint of something else there as well, a hint of danger, and Amanda found herself attracted to him. Attracted to the thrill of uncertainty she felt in his presence.
“Since you put it that way.” Tom reached for the bench and pulled on a white T-shirt.
“Thank you,” Amanda said.
“Tell me something,” Tom said. He looked Amanda up and down.
“What?”
“You like to drive?”
“Like how?”
“Fast.”
Amanda could tell that Tom was doing more than looking at her—he was devouring her. He was consuming her with his eyes. She wore a white cotton dress and his look ran from her bare, golden-brown legs, up and around her curvy hips, and then onto her ample breasts, where he lingered for a moment before meeting her light-green eyes.
“I can tell by looking at you. You like to drive, maybe even race a little.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Your look. Everything about you says speed.”
Amanda smiled.
“I don’t know if I should be flattered,” Amanda asked.
“Better than being offended,” Tom said.
“Then I’ll be flattered. Yes. I like to go for a ride occasionally. Sometimes even a fast ride.”
Amanda eyed a car parked in the back lot, far beyond the Ferrari. It wasn’t the usual high-end product the dealership carried. No, it was a street-legal race car: a heavily modified rice rocket in glittering metallic red paint.
“Is that your ride?”
“Why? You like it?”
“Not too shabby,” Amanda said. “You got NOS in that thing?”
“She’s packing.”
NOS was some kind of racing boost system Amanda had heard the guys in the garage talking about. It was supposed to give the car a blast of power to win at the end of a race. She didn’t know much more about it than that. What she did know was that if you wanted a guy to like you, all you had to do was ask about his toys.
“You know, I still need to thank you for getting me this job.”
“That you do,” Amanda said.
“So you and I should go for a ride sometime,” Tom said.
“You think that’s a good idea?”
“Sometimes bad ideas are the best ones.”
Amanda laughed. “You need to sign this.”
Amanda handed him the paperwork and a pen, and Tom hunched over to sign the papers. Amanda firmly believed in karma, and she was pleased that she was able to help him get this job. What was the expression? What goes around comes around? It felt good to give back. Not to mention the fact that Tom Cooper was hot. Amanda wondered what it would be like to have his hands on her, to feel those ripped muscles up close, to taste his heat.
“Here you go,” Tom said, handing her the paperwork.
Amanda shook herself back to reality.
“Thanks, Tom.”
She turned on her heel and walked away.
**********************
Greg ran his fingers through his dirty-blond hair, sighing inwardly as he watched Amanda cross the lot. Damn! He hated it when she wore that dress. The way it clung to her curves made him hard from a mile away. And now that he could see that her dress was damp, he got even harder. The wet fabric clung to her skin, not soaking wet, but just moist enough to reveal a glimmer of the treasures that lay beneath. Greg wanted to slap himself. Inappropriate, he said inwardly. She’s a friend. Just a friend. You shouldn’t have those thoughts about her. Greg smiled as Amanda walked past.
“Hey, Greg.”
“Hey, Mands.”
He felt her heat as she brushed by him. So curvy. So soft. So perfect. Greg had wanted Amanda for a long time. Since she had first set foot in Wild Alpha Auto six years ago, résumé in hand. But the time to act on his feelings had long since passed. Greg was now firmly in the friend zone. They could never be lovers at this point, even if Greg’s bear knew, somewhere deep inside, that she was the one.
Greg was a thirty-three-year-old grizzly shifter, and he tended to take what his bear said seriously. The truth was, though, he spent the majority of his time in human form, which meant it was often difficult to balance what his bear wanted with his human side. In many ways, Greg reflected, grizzly shifters were like everybody else. They were all about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But there were differences. Almost all grizzly shifters were Alphas, for instance. They also tended to be immune to most disease and lived a very long time.
There were other differences, too. Shifters weren’t widely known outside their own kind, which tended to complicate the world of dating and mating. Things could get squirrelly when the women you were interested in had no idea you might transform into an eighteen-hundred-pound grizzly bear when the need arose. However, all those things aside, the biggest complication Greg experienced with Amanda was the fact that they were such good friends. He’d heard it said more than once that when a guy crosses over into the friends zone, there was no going back. And so far, in his experience, that had been entirely true.
Chin up, Greg. At least the sun is shining.
Greg’s thoughts turned to Tom Cooper. He hadn’t wanted to hire him in the first place but had done so as a favor to Amanda and her brother. It occurred to him, however, that it was about time that Tom and he had a word.
“Hi, Tom.”
Tom finished spraying off the soapy Ferrari before turning to him.
“Yeah, I know. Amanda told me about the shirt,” Tom said.
“Rules are rules,” Greg replied.
Tom smirked and looked away.
“Is there something funny?” Greg asked.
“No.”
“Then what is it?”
“I just think it’s rich listening to you go on,” Tom said.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean, playing by the rules hasn’t always been your thing, has it, Greg?”
Greg felt his hackles rise. He was an Alpha bear, after all, and he was beginning to resent this rogue bear shifter he had allowed to remain in his territory. Tom knew perfectly well that Greg was a grizzly shifter because the two of them had once been acquainted. But that had been a long time ago. When Tom arrived in Wild Summit a few days ago, Greg had been suspicious. But Amanda had asked him for a favor and he had laid his doubts to rest. Now he was wondering if he had been right to be skeptical about Tom’s sudden presence.
“What are you doing here, Tom?”
“Washing cars.”
Greg walked forward.
“No. What are you doing here, in Wild Summit?”
Tom dropped
the hose and stared Greg down, unflinching. Tom was several inches shorter than him, but Greg was no fool. He knew from past experience that Tom could be a dangerous opponent. Tom smiled.
“I think you know what I’m doing here, Greg.”
“No. I can truly say I don’t.”
“Well, let me refresh your memory. You and I have unfinished business.”
Greg gritted his teeth as he felt his bear welling to the surface. His blood heated to a simmer and he felt an urge he hadn’t felt for a very long time. It was the urge to rip into Tom, the urge to take him down to the mat, the primal urge to fight.
“You asked for a job and I gave you one. I did that because the past is the past. We have no unfinished business,” Greg said.
Tom dropped his washrag.
“Well, maybe business is the wrong word,” Tom said, glancing at his car. “But there is the little matter of a race. That is, if you’ve still got a car and the balls to drive it.”
Greg stepped forward to within an inch of Tom’s face. Greg’s blood was now approaching a boil. His bear wanted out. It wanted out so badly he could almost taste his prey.
“Oh, I’ve got my ride,” Greg said.
“Good,” Tom smiled, seemingly taking Greg’s blatant aggression in stride.
“But I won’t race.”
“No balls?” Tom said.
“None that I’m laying on the line for you.”
“One race,” Tom said.
Greg shook his head. He couldn’t believe the guy. Not after what had happened so long ago. “Is that really why you’re here?”
Tom shrugged. And then Greg reached forward and took him by the forearm. Tom’s muscles tensed and his brow furrowed.
“Let go of me,” Tom said.
But Greg didn’t want to let go. He held Tom in his iron grip. “One thing you need to understand, Tom. I don’t race. Not anymore. Not against you. Not against anyone.”
Greg released Tom’s forearm. “Now, get to work. You’ve got cars to wash.”