Caring Bear: A Paranormal BBW Shifter Pregnancy Romance (Love Laid Bear Book 5)

by Amber Belmont

  “Stay there,” Dom ordered, as he adjusted his position so that his cock was directly above my face and he could bury his face between my legs. I was still sensitive after cumming, but Dom knew my body well enough by now that he could use his tongue in just the right way to get me back to where I needed to orgasm again.

  Although Dom was naturally well endowed, one of the advantages of being a shifter was that he could adjust any part of his anatomy, so he made his cock the perfect size to fit in my mouth without making me uncomfortable. I loved the taste of him, the feel of his shaft in my mouth, knowing that I was driving him wild.

  Grabbing his buttocks, I used my hands to guide him as he thrust into my mouth, letting him know just how much I enjoyed sucking him off.

  “You’re going to have to stop now,” he told me at last, pulling away. “Otherwise, you’re going to make me cum and I’m in the mood to fuck you first.”

  “If you insist,” I grinned, as Dom moved to kneel between my legs. His cock was back to its impressive natural size as he guided it into me. Sometimes, he was so big that he had to take his time penetrating me, slowly edging himself in as my body got used to him, but tonight I was so turned on that he slid in easily, naturally hitting my G-spot with every movement.

  “You need to fuck me hard,” I ordered and Dom was more than happy to obey, holding my legs against his shoulders as he slammed into me. I felt like I was going to die with the intensity of how he was making me feel, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want him to ever stop.

  “Now, Dom. Now. Yes, yes, yes!”

  I could feel my senses building to yet another crescendo and I could tell by Dom’s movements that he was close too. With an animalistic roar, he came into me.

  “Oh, Jen!” he cried.

  “Jen?” I gasped, the pleasure instantly draining out of my body, as I sat up in bed.

  Alone. It had been just another dream.

  Chapter Five

  How about if I take you out to dinner tonight to make up for yesterday? D x

  I read the text on my cell, but hesitated before answering.

  “Oooh, sounds like someone’s got some explaining to do,” observed Kate, reading the text over my shoulder.

  “It’s nothing like that,” I assured her, although I was beginning to question whether she was right.

  “Are you sure?” Kate arched an eyebrow. “You know you can’t keep any secrets from me.”

  “Okay, you got me,” I sighed. “But it’s all a bit weird so feel free to tell me that I’m being paranoid.”

  “Of course. You know you can trust me to tell you when you’re being delusional.” Kate crossed her heart and held up her hand as if making a promise, so I took a deep breath to tell her about the past couple of days.

  “It all started with a note in the suggestion box,” I began. “I thought that you’d left it to wish me luck, but when I opened it, it didn’t seem to be from any of the staff. It said that Dom wasn’t who I thought he was.”

  “And you don’t know who wrote it?”

  “No.”

  “Can I see it? Maybe I’ll recognize the handwriting.”

  “I ripped it up.”

  “Good girl.” Kate nodded in approval. “You don’t want to give whoever wrote it the satisfaction of thinking they got to you. If they had something serious to say, they would have just told you what they were talking about.”

  “That’s exactly what I thought,” I agreed, “but then something else happened. Dom came over last night, but then he got called away on business. I thought that he came back after his meeting and joined me in bed, but it turned out that I was only dreaming.”

  “Sounds like somebody’s frustrated they didn’t get some,” grinned Kate.

  “I’d agree with you, but it was so real, as if Dom was really there, only at the end when he, you know…” I blushed.

  “Yes, Steph. I know.”

  “Well, when he finished, he called out another woman’s name. Jen. Am I going mad or is there something actually going on I should be worried about?”

  Kate frowned as she considered what I’d just told her. “It’s all a bit weird, I’ll definitely give you that,” she finally told me. “But whether there’s any real significance to it is a completely different matter. It sounds to me like you were more stressed about the note than you realized, so when you dreamed, your mind picked a name at random as a way of trying to process what it had said. Jen’s a pretty common name. You probably made coffee for a random Jen yesterday and since you got the note in the coffee shop, your brain scrambled the two together.

  “I’m sure Dom isn’t keeping any secrets from you, but your subconscious might not know that. I don’t think there’s anything sinister going on, but if you want to set your mind at ease, then the best thing to do is tell Dom about all of this. After all, he’s just asked you out to dinner. Why don’t you go and tell him what you’ve just told me? He’s the only one who’ll be able to fill you in on what it all might mean.”

  “You’re right,” I said. “I should have just talked to Dom about this last night, although there wasn’t much time before he had to go out. I’ll discuss it over dinner with him.”

  I quickly tapped out a reply on my cell.

  Sounds great. S x

  o0o

  I checked myself over in the mirror one last time, adding the last touches to my makeup. I was wearing my favorite gray wraparound dress. There were so many reasons why I adored it. It wasn’t just that it was made out of the softest material that I loved feeling against my skin, it showed the perfect amount of cleavage, cinching my waist to emphasize my hourglass curves. Wherever Dom was taking me, I was going to look good by his side.

  Just as I was thinking about him, the buzzer to my apartment went. Grabbing my purse, I went to answer the door. The appreciative look in Dom’s eyes told me everything I needed to know about my appearance.

  “You’re gorgeous,” he told me, lightly kissing me so that he didn’t smudge my lipstick.

  “So are you,” I replied, and it was true. I still couldn’t get over the fact that my boyfriend was the hottest man I’d ever met. It was strange to think that he’d been a regular in the coffee shop for ages and I’d never realized how great he was until a disastrous date made me see what had been right in front of me all along. He had ash blonde hair that he kept on just the right side of short, green eyes that could change color depending on the light – or when he let some of his bear side show – and he was slightly built but naturally toned in a way that spoke of good genetics rather than hours spent in the gym.

  If we ever had babies together, they’d be beautiful.

  Dom took me to a restaurant overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, where we were lucky enough to get a table with incredible views across the water. After the waiter took our order, I gazed out of the window, wondering what on earth I’d done to get so lucky. Did I really want to spoil a great evening by mentioning some dumb note? And nobody ever wanted to hear about other people’s dreams, unless they were in the mood to be bored. Maybe I shouldn’t talk about it after all. There were more interesting things to discuss, like what happened when Dom had to leave to meet up with the Love clan.

  “What are you thinking about?” Dom asked. “You look like you’re miles away.”

  “Sorry.” I shook my head to clear it of any negativity. “It’s been a weird few days. But that doesn’t matter now that I’m out with you. How did it go with the Loves last night?”

  A cloud fell over Dom’s face.

  “I’m sorry,” I apologized again. “I know that shifter politics are none of my business, since I’m not a bear, and I know there’s only so much that you can tell me about what goes on at meetings. You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to or you can’t. Although I have to say that I still don’t really understand why you need special permission to be in San Francisco. I thought the bears were supposed to be the more laid back of the shifters.”

  �
�We kind of are,” Dom replied, “but there are times when I think we’re still stuck in the Dark Ages. Basically, if I was just at the bottom of my clan, I could go wherever I liked and nobody would really care, but the higher up the clan hierarchy you are, the more complicated it gets. The leader of a clan can’t go anywhere without years of negotiation and paperwork signed in triplicate.”

  “Seriously?” I gasped.

  Dom shrugged. “Well, maybe it’s not quite that bad, but it still holds that the more senior you are, the more aware you have to be of the implications of your decisions. Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on your perspective – I’m quite high up in my clan, so that’s why I have to answer to the Loves while I’m here.”

  “Isn’t that annoying?”

  “It is what it is,” came the simple reply. “Sure, it would have been easier if I’d just stayed home with my own people but I believe that if the clans are going to build stronger relationships with each other then we need to be constantly working at maintaining those ties, so I wanted to experience living with other werebears so that I’d have friends I could call upon if my own clan ever needed support. My dad agreed with me that the experience would do me good, so here I am.”

  “Why would a clan need support from other bears?”

  Dom picked up his fork, tapping the tines against the table as he considered his reply. “I can’t go into detail with a non-shifter, but let’s just say that not all shifters are as pleasant as the bears. There are some who believe that we should be ruling over the humans – and that certain types of shifters should be in charge of everyone, weres and humans alike. There are rumors that it’s only a matter of time before the dissidents start gathering shifters to their side to assert their dominance, so it’s important that those of us who think that it’s better for everyone to live and let live can come together without the kind of petty in-fighting that usually accompanies a load of different clans in the same place at the same time.”

  “And that’s why you had to go to see the Loves last night? Because they wanted to check that you were still obeying the terms of the agreement that let you come here?”

  “Yes and no.” Dom sighed. “Yes, I have to go whenever the Loves need me as part of the agreement, but they’ve never abused that or taken advantage of it to prove a point. It’s one of the reasons why I’m glad I came to San Francisco. They’re good people. It was the right call to build an alliance with them.”

  I sat, waiting for him to expand on what exactly had happened last night, but for once my usually eloquent boyfriend seemed lost for words. At that moment, the waiter returned with our drinks and Dom took advantage of the interruption to change the subject.

  “Let’s lighten the mood a little,” he said, after the waiter had poured our wine and left. “We’re meant to be celebrating your promotion, remember? To you and your future success.”

  “Thank you.” It seemed a little strange to be toasting myself, but I lifted my glass to knock it against his, noticing that while I only sipped at my wine, Dom downed a large gulp.

  “Well isn’t this cozy?”

  I frowned as I looked up to see a vaguely familiar woman standing over our table. It took me a moment to place where I’d seen her before.

  “You!” I gasped when the memory slotted into place. It was the woman who’d complained about the coffee in Perk yesterday. Seeing her up close, it seemed doubly weird that she’d made such a fuss. She really didn’t look like someone who needed to make a scene just to save the price of a latte. She was tall, almost as tall as Dom, with legs that seemed to go on forever. A wave of auburn hair tumbled down her back and, like Dom, she had green eyes, although there was something catlike about hers. Her clothes hugged her body as if they’d been specially made for her and looking at how expensive the material clearly was, they probably had.

  Instinctively, I hated her.

  “Close, but the name’s actually Jen.” She smiled a smile so smug that it was all I could do to restrain myself from slapping it off her face. It took a lot to get me angry, but we weren’t in the coffee shop anymore, so I didn’t have to worry about upsetting the customers. “Isn’t this place a little upmarket for someone like you?”

  It looked like Kate had been right about one thing. I must have heard someone call this woman Jen when they took her order, so when my subconscious needed the name of someone I disliked to use in my dream, it conjured up her. Good job, brain! It couldn’t have picked a more obnoxious person to use as inspiration.

  Still, this was real life, not a dream. Dom had far too much taste than to get involved with someone like her. Interrupting my date over an allegedly bad coffee was taking things a step too far. There was creating drama and then there was going into bunny boiler territory.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Dom opening his mouth to defend me, but I put up a hand to stop him. I didn’t need his help in dealing with people like Jen.

  “Clearly not if they let you in,” I countered.

  Her eyes narrowed a little, but the smile didn’t leave her face. “Touché,” she murmured.

  “Now if you don’t mind,” I continued, “we were right in the middle of something, so as much as I appreciate your devotion to great coffee in seeking me out to give me more feedback, I think you should just move along.”

  “Coffee?” Jen frowned and then burst into laughter. “You think this is about coffee? Oh you dear, sweet, innocent creature. You really have no idea, do you? Dom, I know you like to play with your toys, but how could you be so cruel? Why haven’t you told her yet?”

  My stomach clenched, as I turned to face Dom, who was looking as if he wished the ground would swallow him up. “Told me what? Dom? What haven’t you told me?”

  “I hope you had a good time with him while it lasted,” said Jen, placing a hand on Dom’s shoulder as if marking her territory. “Because he’s mine now.”

  I ignored her, keeping my focus on my boyfriend. “What does she mean?”

  At last, he lifted his gaze to meet me in the eyes. “I’m so sorry, Stephanie.”

  “Sorry about what?”

  “Whatever this…” Jen waved her hand around, as if trying to find the right words to sum up our situation. “Whatever this thing is, it’s over now. Dom’s coming back to my side where he belongs. You see, Sharon, no, sorry, Stephanie, I’m pregnant. I’m having Dom’s baby.”

  I laughed. “Nice try, lady, but Dom’s not that stupid.” I turned to Dom. “You need to tell her to go before I make her leave.”

  “I’d like to see you try,” Jen sneered.

  “That’s enough, both of you,” snarled Dom, making me jump. I’d never heard him snap like that. “Jen, you’ve done what you came to do. Could you let Steph and I have some peace to talk things through? Please?”

  Please? He was saying please to this woman?!

  “Anything for you, beloved,” purred Jen, sashaying out of the restaurant. “But don’t take too long will you? We’ve still got a lot to sort out.” As I watched her go, she turned at the exit, winked and blew me a kiss.

  My blood boiled as Dom reached out to take my hand. I snatched it away, not wanting to give him any kind of reassurance until he explained what the hell had just happened.

  “Say that she’s lying,” I hissed, desperately needing to hear that this nightmare was yet another dream.

  “This isn’t how I wanted you to find out.” he began, telling me everything I needed to know. “I asked Jen to give us some time, but-”

  “Save it.” I stood up, almost knocking over the waiter who’d come to bring us our first course. “They were right. You’re not the man I thought you were.”

  “Who was?” Dom reached out to stop me, but I brushed him aside as I stormed out. “Steph? Stephanie? Come back and let me explain.”

  I started running, knowing that Dom would want to come after me, but not in the mood to hear excuses. None of it mattered anyway. Dom and I were over.

  Chapter Si
x

  I jumped at the sound of someone banging on the door to my apartment.

  “If that’s you, Dom, save us both a world of pain and go away.” I didn’t bother to move from the couch. I had no intention of seeing him ever again and the sooner he got the message, the better.

  “It’s me, Steph,” came Kate’s voice through the door. “Let me in.”

  At first I stayed where I was, hours of ugly crying having left their mark on my face. I didn’t want anyone to see me in this state, let alone someone I worked with who was supposed to look up to me with respect.

  “I’m not leaving until you talk to me, Steph.” Kate pounded on the door. “Save us both the hassle of having to fix the door when I break it down and open up.”

  The thought of the petite Kate managing to smash through my door made me smile despite myself and I crossed over to let her in, dashing the backs of my hands across my cheeks in a vain attempt to hide the impact of my tears.

  “Thank goodness I brought alcohol,” said Kate, holding up a bottle of wine when she saw my face. “I just don’t know if it’s going to be enough.”

  “It’s fine,” I sniffed, leaving Kate to close the door behind her while I went to fetch a couple of glasses. “It’s a bit early to be drinking anyway.”

  “Pah!” snorted Kate. “It’s never too early when you split up with your boyfriend. At least, I assume that’s what’s happened. Since you’re not in hospital hooked up to machines that go ping, that’s the only other reason I could think of for your not coming into work today. What happened? I thought you guys were perfect for each other.”

  “So did I,” I wailed, unable to stop even more tears flooding out. Kate simply sat there, letting me cry as she supplied me with a never ending stream of tissues until I finally managed to calm myself down.

  “What happened, Steph?” Kate gently repeated. “Everything seemed to be going so well.”