“No,” she said, pouting slightly.
“Not having second thoughts, are you?” he asked. He’d prefer if his future mate didn’t feel he was being too pushy about this. He didn’t want her looking back with any regrets. Then again, he had a feeling he couldn’t give her a lot of time before claiming her. He’d seen the man in the store that had been here before him. The confusion and hurt in Janna’s eyes. This was the bastard who’d put all that doubt there, and the bastard clearly wasn’t done causing the damage he intended.
But Ryder intended to insure he didn’t get the chance to finish what he’d started. The man wanted Janna, but Ryder would make sure he never got her. Even if she didn’t choose him. He could sense the other man was the type who actually saw women as acquisitions, which is something Ryder found disgusting. Anything between him and Janna would have to be more of a merger.
He grinned at the thought of it and put the car into gear, enjoying the way Janna eyed the luxurious interior. He didn’t need a lot of money or nice things himself, but he thought he wouldn’t mind if Janna could benefit from some of the hard work he’d been doing.
But he hadn’t done it for the money. He’d done it for the same reason he’d done many things. The control. The power. The pursuit. The rush. The competition.
And sure, seeing that jerk in Janna’s store had fired that innate sense of competition within him, but Ryder had been set on Janna since the night he came to her table. Maybe he wasn’t that experienced with women, but he could tell by the way she blushed, the way she tried to hide her squirm when he locked eyes with her, that she was affected too. Now he had her for a week. He just needed to woo her.
But how did one do that? He was grateful he’d have Riley, the gross playboy, to give him some tips. He could always toss out the distasteful ones. He was sure Riley, as a celebrity, had a different way of getting women and a different taste for them than he, Ryder, did.
“You okay?” she asked. “You’re awfully quiet. Something you haven’t really been with me.”
Ryder cleared his throat. Damn, he had a habit of getting lost in his mind when he was nervous and trying not to be. But she was just so beautiful, and now that he’d gotten her to agree to come with him, his mind was racing on how to move forward without screwing it up. “Fine, just concentrating on the storm. These roads can be dangerous. I want you to feel safe with me.”
She grinned. “That’s sweet of you. But I’ve been up these roads many times in much less safe cars. We like to have girls’ night at the lodge, remember?”
He growled. “I don’t like the sound of that. What if you got hurt? We’ve had accidents on this road, you know. People were killed.”
She sighed. “Not all of us have fancy cars, Mister Billionaire. And I’m not giving up my girls’ nights for anything. It’s all I have in this little town.”
“Yeah, I can’t imagine living here really,” he replied. Even though he could. In a little cabin, just the two of them, until cubs came along. He wet his lips and focused on the road, as he was supposed to be doing. “So who was the guy that came in before me?”
He regretted it the minute it came out. But the jealous part of him, the part that didn’t want to share any part of her with anyone else already, couldn’t help wanting to know everything he could about his potential future rival. It was the business shark in him, maybe. Scope out the competition. Find out their weaknesses. Attack.
“Oh. Um. An ex.”
His stomach twisted in an unpleasant way. He knew it was a little odd that he was falling this hard, this fast, but according to his father, this was how it had been between him and Ryder’s mother. Ryder hated his father for being a player, but he had to admit he admired him for knowing what he wanted and going after it. It was the selfishness that came after that Ryder couldn’t accept. Damn it, would he end up like that if he mated? No, it was monogamy for him all the way. Besides, with his work, he’d barely have time for anything else.
But he had a feeling after ignoring his bear for so long, he’d be taking some time off work when he found a mate. Or at least taking it a little easier.
Ryder focused on the road, which was still icy but better now that the snow was lessening. The wipers made a kind of unpleasant intrusion into the silence, reminding him he really should have something to say about now. But bears were solitary creatures, so even his animal couldn’t help him with this one.
Bear shifters were rare and didn’t reproduce as easily as wolves or other shifters did. That was probably part of why his father had pulled them all back here to find mates. Probably there were some women around with latent bear blood or women who were just hardy in general if they could live out here in the cold, isolated weather in the winter.
Women who could perhaps carry bear shifter cubs.
He stifled a growl as he tried to think of a way to ask about her ex that wasn’t intrusive. But he couldn’t, so he just stayed silent, unable to believe he could already feel so possessive of a woman he’d barely met.
“So what brings you to Bearstone Park?” she asked quietly. “Must be pretty different for a big tech mogul like yourself.”
He sighed and clenched one hand around the wheel. “Actually, I grew up here. At least for while. Anyway, Dad’s will brought us back.”
He snuck a look at her and caught her biting her lip and eyeing him sideways. He snapped his gaze back to the road. Just the one second look at her, those lush lips bitten in just the way he’d like to bite them, had made his pulse increase.
Easy, Ryder.
“But if you didn’t want to come back, I doubt there’s anything in his will that could tempt you. I mean, you’re one of the richest men in the world.”
Ryder nodded. It was true but only because his dad had given them all something to start out with. He’d gone into investing and done very well for himself after business school. But it was more than that. His father had given him life in a world where life wasn’t easy to give. He had a duty to reproduce, and his father would know more about it than most. And with so little family, bear shifters took family ties seriously. Especially without a mother around.
His heart throbbed at that and his chest tightened painfully, as if to shield the long-buried wound there.
“You’re kind of a still-waters-run-deep kind of person, aren’t you?” she asked.
He laughed at that, palming the wheel to take a careful turn and rubbing the ache from his chest, hoping she didn’t notice. “I don’t know. I can be quite loud and forceful when the time calls for it, or even when it doesn’t. You can ask my brothers about that. I guess being home just sort of feels nostalgic.”
“So your brothers will be there too?”
He opened his mouth to say yes, that they were also there looking for mates, but then jealousy ran through him. “They’ll be around, yes. But you’ll be working mainly with me.” Damn, that sounded controlling. But best she get used to it now. If she became his mate, he’d be that much more possessive. Much as he loved them, his brothers were the last people he’d want spending much time alone with his potential future mate.
That was his bear talking. His bear had sized up the woman with her curves and her beautiful ass and made up its mind on the spot. Ryder would just have to follow because the same bear had driven him to success in the business world with its strength and tenacity, and he had no doubt its taste in women were awesome as well.
It didn’t hurt that it made Ryder’s mouth water to think about those luscious curves under his hands. He was a big, tall man, and he could easily handle those bountiful, lush breasts, that wide, plush ass. He gripped the wheel a little tighter and hoped she didn’t notice the sudden tightness in his pants.
“So I’ll be staying at the lodge?” she asked. “Fancy.”
He swallowed, grateful for the change of subject. “Yes. Or one of the cabins, which are even nicer.”
“Thanks,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to stay there.”
“Why
haven’t you?”
“Spendy,” she replied.
He shook his head. “I’ll have to talk to Mark about setting up a locals-only rate. It’s not right that the lodge should be supported by a town that can’t even afford to enjoy it.”
“Well, we do enjoy meeting up there, but that’s nice of you. I think a lot of people in town would take you up on it. But wouldn’t you lose money?”
“That’s not how I like to make money. Excluding people who are poor. And we aren’t usually fully booked, even in tourist season. The lodge is just too big.”
“Ah. Right,” she said lightly, and he panicked, wondering if the conversation was boring her. The last thing he ever wanted her to feel in his presence was boredom.
“So tell me about this ex,” he said as they rounded a turn that put the large lodge in sight in the distance. He almost caught his breath at the view. Large mountains covered in snow rising up on either side, white-laden pines swaying in a blurry haze. Beautiful white all around. “You didn’t seem happy to see him.” Well, it was out on the table now. Hopefully she wouldn’t be mad at him for bringing it up.
She let out a sigh full of confusion and pain, and his throat tightened. His bear was almost too good at reading into any sound or vocalization, and he simultaneously regretted bringing up something painful but was grateful that if she needed to share something with him, she could.
“It’s a long story. You want the long or the short version?”
“Whichever you want to tell me.”
She laughed. “You’re good with women, you know that? I wouldn’t have guessed on first meeting you.”
“I came on too strong, didn’t I?”
She leaned on the window and eyed him playfully. He made an effort to keep his eyes on the road, though he knew the route by heart. “A little. I guess I haven’t had anyone come on to me in a while.”
“I find that hard to believe,” he said a little too forcefully. “I mean, you’re beautiful. I’m sure the men in this town are just fighting over you constantly.”
“Hm, fighting? I don’t know about that. I think most of them still probably see me as Scott’s property. Lots of the folks here are old-fashioned, and it doesn’t help that he owns the bank and a lot of their mortgages. Including mine.”
“Not good,” Ryder said. “He doesn’t look like the type I’d want handling my mortgage.”
“He’s the only game in town,” she said quietly.
“Not anymore.”
“Right,” she said with a sigh. “Anyway, we met online. I thought it was amazing that this handsome, successful guy could be so interested in me. And we met up a few times. I fell in love with the town when I visited. He convinced me to move out. I foolishly jumped at the chance to open my own business. But really, I think I felt he was my last chance. I’m shy, and I’d never really met anyone. No one who showed as much overt interest.”
Ah, so that was why she’d been wary around him. She already jumped in it once with a guy who came on too strong, too fast. But this was different. Ryder was a bear, and his bear was instinctive, but never wrong. And he’d just have to prove that to her. While keeping this other jackass away, of course.
“Anyway, shortly after I moved here, selling everything I had to do so, Scott cheated. Well, I discovered him cheating. I guess he could have been cheating before that, but that’s when I found him. I felt so stupid. I couldn’t go back to my family, who’d done nothing but say ‘I told you so,’ and I had nothing left. So I settled.” Heavy silence hung over them while she thought. “But anyway, I thought he was done. But a few months later, after his girl on the side left town, he was back. Thinking, I guess, the fat girl in town wouldn’t have any other options.”
He snorted. “Fat girl?”
She shook her head. “Look at me.”
“I have been,” he said, grinning. “Ever since I first laid eyes on you. You’re beautiful, curvaceous. If you want to call it fat, fine. But I call it the kind of body that was made for a big man like me.”
“Rude!” she said, but then she laughed, and he knew she was warming to him. Good. He’d just have to keep her warming to him.
“You’re hot, babe. That’s all there is to it. He tried to have his cake and eat it too, and now he realizes what he let get away. Men often do, you know. When they cheat.”
“Do what?”
“Realize they gave up the best thing for them.” He tried to keep the bitterness out of his tone. If his dad had truly felt this way about his mom, why had he treated her like that? Why had he strayed? He clenched his hand around the steering wheel and tried to force the thoughts from his mind. He had his father’s journal to read through while he worked through the will, and maybe more answers would be forthcoming. In the meantime, he was angry.
“I’m sorry if I hit a sore spot,” she said quietly.
“Well, let’s just say the old man had a little bit of Scott in him,” he replied, hating the sourness that came from admitting it. “Anyway, have you told this Scott guy that you’re not interested?”
“I’ve been refusing to talk to him. If I try to tell him, if I give him a reason, he’s the type that will just try to argue me out of it. If I ignore him, there’s nothing he can do.”
A prickle of unease went up Ryder’s back. For what could have happened when he wasn’t around. This didn’t sound like a person who was simply interested. The fact that he’d been trying to keep contact when she’d been outright ignoring him made him something worse than simply an ex. It made him a stalker. And who knew what was on his mind. And who would inflict more pain and annoyance on a woman they’d already hurt badly?
“Why don’t you call the cops?” he asked.
“He knows the cops,” she said. “They’d probably just tell me he doesn’t mean any harm and I should forgive him, besides. Anyway, I don’t want to talk about Scott anymore. I’m fairly certain he couldn’t reach me up here, and I’m going to savor that.”
“And if he did, I’d toss him out on his ass. And then some,” Ryder grumbled, fury moving through him as they pulled up the final drive to the lodge, rising huge in the distance.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he snapped, not sure if she’d be okay with him showing his overprotective nature this early. But he wouldn’t let anything happen to Janna, not while she was here with him. Not in general, even if she didn’t choose him. She was clearly a good woman, and he’d free her from the presence of Scott in her life one way or another. If it was a ticket out of here she wanted, then the money he’d pay her for this week would be sufficient to grant that.
The thought made him a little queasy though. Janna leaving.
She’s not yours yet, he told his bear. His bear turned up his nose with a huff as if to say he didn’t believe him.
His bear was such a powerful animal that he often felt more separate to Ryder than a part of him. Yet without both sides of him, he wouldn’t have been whole. Both separate and the same, him and his bear.
And his bear was excited to pull up at the lodge safely with Janna.
Game on.
4
Janna wrapped her arms around herself as she stepped out of the car. Ryder had come around to hold her door, and she felt an ache of nostalgia at how it felt to have someone taking care of her. She hadn’t been courted in what felt like forever.
But she knew guys like Ryder didn’t go for women like her. They usually had young, slender models or Hollywood starlets on their arms. Sometimes both at once.
It wasn’t that Janna didn’t see herself as a smart, independent woman who’d seen hardship and proven herself by getting through it. It was just that after catching Scott in the arms of a skinny woman, just when she’d dared to believe a man could love her just as she was, the insecure teenager in her had come roaring to life, reminding her that guys never end up with the fat girl.
Stop it, she told herself inwardly. That’s past baggage, and Ryder deserves a fair shot.<
br />
None of her usual alarm bells were going off with him. But maybe that was just that perfect smile, those deep blue eyes that sparkled like a night sky over the mountains in summer, or that tall, immensely muscled body that made her feel small and petite. Two things she really wasn’t.
It’s not that she didn’t care. She worked out and ate all right for a busy professional. But she didn’t have the time to devote all day to fitness or the metabolism to be naturally thin. And she’d been chubby since she was little and just kind of embraced it. Unlike her sister, Beth, whom her mom had always favored, no matter what she did, it didn’t seem to result in her being skinny.
So she’d resorted to being the independent girl. The smart girl. The successful one. While Beth had ridden on her looks and married rich men. Three different times.
She sighed at the thought that she should probably call and check in on her family but told herself putting it off another week wouldn’t matter.
“Something wrong?” Ryder asked, hefting her heavy suitcase like it weighed nothing and reaching for the backpack she was holding in front of her.
“No,” she said quietly, looking up at the lodge, and the man in front of it, and trying not to be intimidated. Both the man and the building were rough, powerful, and strong. Hewn seemingly from the wilderness. Hard as rock. But she could tell from the quirk in Ryder’s lips that there was also softness there. “Just thinking.”
“I guess we have that in common,” he said, slinging the backpack over his shoulder and extending an arm for her to take. Her hand barely wrapped around his bulging bicep and she swallowed as a wave of arousal made her almost woozy. What was up with the effect this man had on her?
“What in common?” she asked, feeling off kilter.
“Getting lost inside our heads. Common thing for intelligent people, you know. I find myself thinking a lot when I should maybe be participating in conversation instead. But it’s just that—”
“The thoughts in your head interest you more?” she asked, sharing a grin with him as she finished his sentence. When she let her reservations go, it was nice to have met someone whom she seemed to click with immediately. Now, if only she could get over her own insecurity and the fact that he was rich as Croesus while she was struggling to pay her mortgage due to the poor interest rate Scott had given her. She was an accountant, she knew better, but she’d been heartbroken and not all the way there mentally. All her issues were on high alert, distracting her from reading the fine print.
Bearllionaire: (BWWM) Paranormal BBW Bear Shifter Romance Standalone Page 3