Rancher Bear Complete Series: PLUS NEW BONUS BOOK: Rancher Bears' Merry Christmas

by Candace Ayers

  Her cheeks burned and those dark green eyes flashed. “I’m not staying with you.”

  “Also, what happened might be a little ominous. Why don’t we just call it what it was? We had amazingly good sex. The best I’ve ever had.”

  Her cheeks blushed even darker and the blush traveled down her throat and chest. Her hands fisted and she looked like she wanted to punch me. Her mouth gave her away, though. She chewed on her lower lip, her tongue flicking out to wet it when her teeth released it. “The best?”

  I tried to reach for her, but she realized what she’d asked.

  “I didn’t mean to ask that. What I meant to say was that it definitely wasn’t the best for me, so there’s no reason to think about it again. We’ll just pretend like it didn’t happen.”

  I did catch her that time. I pulled her into my bare chest and let her feel how hard I was for her. I ran my hands down her back and over the curve of her ass. I cupped each cheek in my hands and squeezed. Immediately, I could smell her arousal and I groaned as my dick hardened even more.

  She panted against my chest, the reaction immediate for her, as well. Her fingers dug into my chest and her lips parted when I lifted her until she was on her tip toes and I was nudging her core. “John…”

  I leaned down and sucked her lower lip into my mouth. “Bunny, this happened and it’s certainly nothing that we can pretend didn’t. Even when you’re screaming at me, all I can think about is touching you. I assure you, the mate bond isn’t some excuse to fuck freely until you happen to stumble upon the right one. It’s real and it’s special. It’s going to turn us both into animals for each other. More animal than I already am.

  “It’s already happened. I thought you’d broken into my home and instead of calling the police, I couldn’t get past the idea of being inside of you. It was all-consuming. I forgot everything else. I’m pretty sure my mother could’ve been standing there with me and I would’ve still let that go down the way it did.”

  “I can’t.”

  My heart ached and my bear threatened to shift. “You can. You feel it, too. You must.”

  She pulled out of my arms and spotted her bag across the room. “It doesn’t matter what I feel. I can’t be with you. You have to be with Mandy. I need this job.”

  I started to actually get angry. “No fucking way am I going to pretend to still want to be with Mandy. I couldn’t. I don’t even want to so much as look at another woman right now, Bunny. I want you. Only you.”

  I had to step to the right as a book came sailing at my head. I turned an exasperated look on her. “You’re serious? Are you sure your ex’s cheating was the only problem with your marriage? You’ve got a real anger issue.”

  She threw her hands up and huffed at me. “I’m going to find myself a room and I’m going to get my things set up for when Mandy gets here.”

  “Mandy isn’t going to be getting here.” I shook my head at her stubbornness. “I’m going to call Mandy as soon as you’re upstairs. There’s no point in her coming.”

  “Don’t you dare! I told you, I need this job!”

  “Fine. I’ll pay you.”

  “For what? Sex?”

  I might’ve missed the mark with my joke, because it didn’t go over well. “Sure. How much do you want?”

  She threw another one of my books at me and then looked down at the title of one still in her hand. “James Smith? You read James Smith?”

  I didn’t just read James Smith. I wrote James Smith. “Yeah, why?”

  She tucked the book under her arm and headed towards the stairs. “If you call her and tell her not to come, I will never forgive you. Mate or not.”

  “What the fuck do you want me to do? Should I romance her and fuck her right here? Right next to you?!”

  Bunny flipped me off. “I don’t care what you want to do but I need this. Don’t mess this up for me. I’m serious. I’ll never forgive you.”

  CHAPTER 7: Bunny

  Shit, shit, shit! What the hell was I doing? I should’ve been back on the road to Star’s place. What I definitely didn’t need to be doing was putting my bag down on one of the guest bedrooms in John’s house. I was an idiot.

  My blood pressure was through the roof and I was pretty sure I was going to have a heart attack. I should’ve just grabbed my stuff and ran. My car was waiting at the end of the driveway. I could’ve been on Star’s couch in a few hours.

  This job wasn’t the only decent paying job. It was the easiest to get, sure, but there were others. Probably. Besides, I didn’t even like Mandy. Why would I want to stick around and work for her after everything?

  The only honest reason I could come up with as to why I’d decided to stay, was one that made me want to bang my head against a wall. John. I, apparently, didn’t know as much as I thought I did about the mate bond. The sex had been amazing and I couldn’t stop my body from responding to his touch, but there was also something deeper happening. The idea of driving back to Star’s and never seeing John again made me want to throw up.

  None of it made any sense. He was a cheater. A bear shifter. And, kind of a jerk. He kept pushing my buttons until I’d resorted to throwing things at him. I hadn’t done that since I was a child. It took John less than ten minutes to get me into full blown temper tantrum mode.

  I threw myself onto the bed and groaned. “What the hell are you doing, Bunny?”

  My blood was still boiling at the last words John spoke to me. The idea of him sleeping with Mandy in the same house as me made me irate. As if I needed another reason to not enjoy the woman. Although, after sleeping with her boyfriend, I wasn’t sure that I had any right to think poorly of her anymore. I’d officially crossed a line, accidentally or not. In choosing to stay, despite what happened with John, I was crossing even more lines.

  My phone dinged and I reached into my bag to get it. I saw that I had a collection of texts that I hadn’t checked. After checking them and reading through all of Mandy’s new demands, I blew out a breath and decided that I was okay to still think poorly of her. She was terrible.

  I cleaned up in the attached bathroom and stared at myself in the mirror while I changed into a long teal colored maxi dress. My skin seemed to be glowing and my eyes were bright. I grunted in disgust at myself. Where was my self-control?

  I grabbed a notepad from my purse and made a list of all the things she wanted. Fresh flowers. White linens on all the beds. Candles in a particular scent. A grocery list with ridiculously specific items on it. I was even supposed to buy her a few fresh towels and other shit like that. Her father’s accountant had overnighted me a credit card, so paying for the things were fine, but I’d have to go and find them all.

  Standing at the door, I couldn’t help but feel nervous at potentially facing John again. My body was a traitor and tightened at the idea.

  Finally, I made myself do it. I opened the door and headed downstairs. John was sitting at the kitchen table with his phone on the table in front of him. He was frowning at the thing, like it’d done him some great disservice. When he saw me, he took in my dress and a sly grin crooked his lips.

  “You’re beautiful.”

  I frowned at him, even while a warmth blossomed in my chest. “I have to go shopping for Mandy. I’ll be back.”

  He stood up and nodded to the stairs. “Let me get a shirt on and I’ll come with you.”

  I just kept walking towards the door. “No, thanks.”

  I made my way down his driveway, thinking of all the places I would need to go in order to get everything that Mandy wanted. I considered the conversation with John over until he suddenly appeared at my side, dressed in a simple black T-shirt.

  My mouth watered at the same time I felt my panties grow wet. John was hotter than hot in the simple shirt. It fit snugly against his chest and arms and I knew that if he reached for something, I’d be able to see a sliver of his abs when the shirt rode up. I wanted to make him reach for every top shelf item in that shirt. I wanted to see the allu
ring hip V I’d seen earlier, and the thin trail of hair that pointed to his impressive package.

  He was a giant of a man, as most bears were. Even at my height, he towered over me. His arms were massive, as well. With dark, buzzed hair and a five o’clock shadow that made me want to cry it was so devastatingly sexy, he was my dream man. My dream man who was completely off limits if I ever wanted to get back on my feet.

  “As much as I love the way you’re looking at me, unless you want me to drag you back up to my bed, I suggest you close that pretty little mouth.”

  I snapped my mouth shut and grunted. “I’m not looking at you any kind of way. Get over yourself.”

  He grinned at me. “Come on. I’ll drive you around.”

  “No, thanks. I’ll drive myself. My car is right… Where is my car, John?” I looked at the ground where I’d parked it and then back at him. “What did you do to my car?”

  “I didn’t know it was your car. You had the entire driveway blocked. I had it towed.”

  “You what?” I glared at him. “Why would you do that? I have a million things to do today and thanks to you, I wasted enough time already!”

  “Now I’m a waste of your time? Ouch.” He pointed to where his truck was parked. “Even though you wound me grievously, I’ll still drive you around.”

  I marched over to his truck and yanked the door open. “Fine. You can drive me around, but this doesn’t change anything. I’m not your mate and Mandy is still on her way here. Nothing happened. Nothing is going to happen.”

  CHAPTER 8: John

  I drove my heated little mate all over the place while she refused to look at me and angrily stared at her phone. She’d finally told me that she’d only recently accepted a job as Mandy’s assistant. From the way she looked at her phone, I could tell that Mandy was probably being her typically demanding self. I shook my head and tried to work through what plan of action I was going to take.

  I’d tried calling Mandy already, but she wouldn’t answer. I knew what Bunny said, but I wasn’t willing to have my mate watch me with another woman. Hell, I couldn’t stand the idea of touching Mandy, or any other woman for that matter, now that I’d found my mate. I felt slightly sorry for her, but only slightly. Actually, Mandy would be fine. She’d probably be relieved that she didn’t have to hang out in Wyoming.

  I didn’t want her arriving smack dab in the middle of a breakup. It looked like that was potentially the way things were going to go though. I was getting a headache that felt like a vice around my head. All I wanted to do was be with my mate. I was with her, sure, but she was about as warm as a block of ice towards me. I wanted the pretense gone. She knew about bears, knew about mates, she was perfect. Except for the whole not wanting anything to do with me thing.

  I went in with her to every store, eager to watch out for her. My bear didn’t want anyone else near her. He was coming alive, full of constant growls and always at the surface.

  Whenever I tried to touch Bunny, she practically hissed at me and jerked away. It was killing me.

  “I still need fresh flowers.” She was sitting in my truck with her notepad in her lap and her phone in her hand. She had a pen gripped between her teeth and lines between her eyebrows from bunching them together all day.

  “There’s not a florist around here, but I can take you to my family’s ranch. I need to talk to my brothers, anyway.”

  She tapped the pen against her lips and frowned. “There’ll be flowers there?”

  I nodded and pointed the truck in that direction. “Yep.”

  She closed her notebook and shoved it into her purse, with the pen that I was feeling massive amounts of jealousy towards. “Fine. To the ranch we go. Then, you take me back to your house and I get everything ready for your girlfriend’s arrival.”

  I stopped the truck at the edge of the ranch. “It’s not going to work, Bunny. She’s no longer my girlfriend. I’m not going to be with her and I’m not going to lie to her about being with you. She deserves to know the truth and I deserve to be happy. Finding your mate is special. I don’t want to start it off hurting you, or myself, by pretending that I’m still with Mandy. What would be the point?”

  “We talked about the point. The point is that I need this job.”

  “Not really. You’re my mate, Bunny. That means that I would do anything for you. I will take care of you.”

  Her cheeks turned red and I’d already learned that it wasn’t going to be as cute as it looked. “What the hell is it with you bear shifters? You swoop in and take care of everything so I’m completely dependent on you and then you snatch it all away. I’m not doing it again. I don’t want to be with a bear. I don’t want to be with a man. I don’t want to be with anyone. I want to be alone.”

  I felt my bear clawing through my skin and did everything I could to stop the shift from happening. “How can you ignore the pull? I know you feel it.”

  She looked out the window, her face redder than ever. “I don’t feel anything. I’m not going to be mated to a bear.”

  I shoved the truck back into gear and headed towards the main house. I needed to get out of the truck and away from her for a few minutes. I needed to hit something and I had a feeling one of my brothers would be down for a fight.

  I slid to a stop in front of the house and jerked my thumb to the right of it. “Walk that way for a bit and you’ll find a small gathering of flowers. Honk the horn when you’re finished and back here.”

  Before she could even get her door open, I was out of the truck and striding across the property in search of one of my brothers. I shucked clothing off along the way, shifting as soon as I could. Once my bear was free, he tried to turn me around and run me towards the smell of wild cherries, but I refused. Instead, I roared as loud as I could and charged my brother Alex.

  Alex shifted immediately and wasted no time in returning the attack. He was going easy on me at first because I’d never instigated any kind of fights, but once I tackled him to the ground hard enough to piss him off, he gave as good as I was giving.

  We rolled around and lashed out at each other until we were both panting and covered in muck and dirt. Alex shifted back first and glared up at me.

  “What the fuck was that about?”

  I shifted back and sat down next to him. “Found my mate. She works for Mandy. She hates bear shifters and doesn’t want anything to do with me. That pretty much sums it up.”

  Alex shook his head and grunted. “Fuck. Did you do anything to piss her off?”

  I thought about everything that’d happened in the few short hours we’d been together. “Probably. But she asked me to go ahead and have Mandy come tomorrow. Act like nothing ever happened between us.”

  “And something did happen between you?”

  I shot him a look. My character was changing when it came to my possessiveness, but I was still a gentleman. Mostly. “I’ll just say that I can’t in any way, shape, or form pretend like I still want Mandy. God. I can’t even imagine touching Mandy now. The bond just fucking sucker punches you, doesn’t it?”

  He laughed and smacked my arm. “Yep. And there is no fighting it. Your girl can say that she isn’t interested all day long, but no matter what, she’ll give in eventually.”

  “Her name’s Bunny and she’s anything but the sweet, timid picture the name brings to mind. She’s stubborn as a fucking mule.”

  “Glad to know what you really think of me, jackass.” The woman in question stood several feet away with her hands on her hips. “I got the flowers and I’m ready to go.”

  I watched her stomp away and felt my dick turn to stone. I tried my best to cover it in my naked state and groaned. “That woman will be the death of me.”

  Alex laughed harder than I would’ve liked and nodded. “One thing’s for sure, she does not like you. Good luck, brother.”

  “What the fuck am I supposed to do?”

  He shrugged. “Give her what she thinks she wants. Pretend like you’re with Mandy and
see how insane she gets.”

  “It doesn’t feel right to do that. Not to Bunny and not to Mandy.”

  “Mandy doesn’t give two shits about you. You know it, I know it, hell the whole world knows it. She’s with you because of the mysterious writer thing and because it’s easy for her to be with you. You’re never in her business and you let her do whatever she wants. I’m not completely convinced the woman even feels normal human emotions. She’s intense.”

  I pulled myself to my feet and looked out at my truck. I could see Bunny sitting in the passenger seat, talking to herself. “Doesn’t seem like a good idea, Alex.”

  “Nothing seems like a good idea when the woman who was made for you isn’t receptive. Elizabeth left me at first. It took her months to come back and I honestly felt like I was dying at times. You’ll figure it out.”

  I sure as hell hoped so.

  CHAPTER 9: Bunny

  I watched a very naked John strut across the dirt like he wasn’t in his birthday suit, stopping to pick up articles of his clothing as he went. He stopped in front of the truck and casually got dressed. I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t ignore the pull I felt towards him as much as I wanted to.

  Spending the whole day with him, running errands, had been a bad idea. The more time I spent around him, the more I was drawn to him. I really needed to call Star and talk to her about mates. I had to know if it was something I could avoid or if I was ruined.

  John got back in the truck without saying a word. He remained quiet the entire drive back to his house and still didn’t say anything when he helped me unload everything. In the truck, I accepted it because I thought he was just trying to get to me, but after he unloaded everything and still served me the silent treatment, I was beyond annoyed.

  I got to work and tried to ignore the fact that he wasn’t speaking to me. It was hard, though. I felt awkward being in his house, close to him, and not speaking to him. It was driving me crazy.