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  Bunny Bear

  (Wild Bear, Book 2)

  Ruby Shae

  Bunny Bear

  (Wild Bear, Book 2)

  Copyright 2015 by Ruby Shae

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, 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.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  About This Book

  Gabriel Turner, bear shifter and owner of the Wild Bear bar, knows firsthand that fated mates don’t exist. If they did, he would be happily mated with a cub on the way, not drawn to the curvy, shifter-hating waitress he employs.

  Curvy girl, Michelle Larsen has been in love with her employer since the moment she stepped into his office looking for work a little over a year ago. Even though the bossy, workaholic made it clear he didn’t have feelings for her, she’d secretly hoped time would change his mind.

  After his cousin finds her mate, Gabe starts dating again hoping to find a woman who can make him forget about Michelle. When he does something crazy for a woman he just met, he’s forced to reevaluate his decisions. Michelle is crushed when she catches Gabe in a lie, but she’s devastated when she realizes he will never see her as anything more than his employee. In an effort to move on, she starts looking for another job, but Gabe won’t make leaving easy. When the truth is revealed, they both must decide whether to listen to their heads, or their hearts.

  Bunny Bear

  (Wild Bear, Book 2)

  By Ruby Shae

  Chapter One

  Michelle Larsen pounded on the back entrance to the Wild Bear and frowned when a huge bunny opened the metal door to let her in. The Wild Bear, the bar where she waitressed in the evenings, was closed Sundays and Mondays, but the owner often worked in his office on his days off.

  When Gabe had called her and asked to borrow an Easter basket, she’d stupidly thought his words were a lame excuse to get her alone and confess his feelings. Seeing him dressed up in the white carpet-like suit triggered the realization she’d made a horrible mistake.

  “Hey,” the rabbit said.

  “Hey, Gabe,” she said, casually.

  She forced a smile, but disappointment swamped her.

  Gabe hated costumes and dressing up, which meant there was only one reason the bear was dressed as a bunny. He had another date.

  He stood inside the building and held the outward opening door with one hand. She grabbed the metal so she wouldn’t have to squeeze past him, and breathed a sigh of relief when he took a step back to let her pass. Seeing him across the room on the nights she worked was enough to make her overheat, if she touched him, she might burst into flames.

  Damn him!

  He didn’t start walking toward his office until she led the way, and even though she wanted to run, she focused on putting one foot in front of the other at a normal pace. She could feel his presence on her heels, and she desperately wanted to stop and force him to collide with her. She longed to feel the weight of his big body pinning her in place, preferably while sinking his cock deep into her needy pussy.

  Stop it! Get a grip!

  She walked into Gabe’s office, took a deep breath, and forced the images from her mind.

  Gabe was her boss, and sometimes her friend, but he would never be anything more. The one time she’d gathered up enough courage to ask him out for coffee, his answer had been a solid, resounding, no. He had left no room for interpretation, and she’d been grateful he hadn’t fired her on the spot.

  She wanted a man, a special someone to share her life with, but she needed her job. From that moment on, she’d made sure to keep everything between them as professional as possible. Gabe seemed to hold a grudge against her offense, and he often bossed her around more than he did the other employees, but he was still a good man. He was also arrogant, stubborn and overly devoted to his business.

  Usually.

  His rejection had stung, but she’d consoled herself with the belief that he would never have time to nurture a relationship anyway. Up until two months ago, she’d believed her assessment.

  In reality, he simply hadn’t wanted her.

  “How did you know it was me?” he asked, entering the room behind her. She could tell by the sound of his voice that he’d removed the giant rabbit head.

  Her cheeks heated and she stalled by placing the basket on his desk. His office had a desk in the center with a chair behind it so he could sit facing the door, a filing cabinet, a bookcase, a small sofa and an end table that housed a tiny, rarely used lamp. When she thought she could look at him without giving away her desire, she turned to face him.

  “Who else would it be?” she asked with more confidence than she felt.

  In reality, it wouldn’t matter if he wore an oversized bunny suit or nothing at all, his form was branded in her brain and she’d recognize him anywhere.

  She looked up into his brown eyes and pressed her thighs together to stop her pussy from tingling. He was only six inches taller than her five-foot-eight frame, but he was wide, muscular and strong. His body was big and hard, and shifters were known for being larger than humans everywhere. Her pussy fluttered, as if begging to be filled by him, and liquid heat dampened her panties.

  Embarrassment surged to the surface, but it was quickly doused by anger.

  Two months ago, his cousin Isabelle, one of the bartenders, and Lucky, the bouncer, mated and got engaged. Since then, Gabe had been going on dates at least twice a week. He couldn’t help it if he wasn’t attracted to her, a lot of men didn’t like curvy, plus-sized women, but he was wearing a costume, and the outright lie fanned her bubbling anger into a heated rage.

  She knew she should keep her mouth shut, but something inside her snapped.

  “Why the hell are you dressed up like that?” she asked. “It’s not even Easter.”

  “I’m doing it as a favor for this girl I met last week,” he shrugged. “It’s her little sister’s birthday, and the girl apparently loves bunnies. Their original rabbit-man backed out at the last minute, so I agreed to help out.”

  “You’re willing to dress up as a giant rabbit for a woman you just met, but you sent me home to change last Halloween because you supposedly hate costumes?”

  “That was different and you know it,” he said. “Dressing up at work is a lot different than dressing up for fun.”

  “There was nothing wrong with my costume,” she accused.

  Except that he didn’t like her in it.

  She’d dressed as a bunny, too, but her outfit had showed a lot more skin than his.

  She thought back to the clothes she’d worn that night and cringed. It had been the one and only time she’d replaced her normal jeans with a black, short frilly skirt. She’d still worn her Wild Bear t-shirt, with the name of the bar stretched across her chest in blue, but she’d added a round, white bunny tail to her skirt, and a pair of bunny ears to her head.

  The men had seemed to enjoy her effort, and she’d made a k
illing in tips until Gabe had walked out of his office. He’d escorted her off the floor, scolded her, and sent her home to change.

  His obvious distaste for her looks had wounded her pride, and the only reason she’d returned that night was because she’d needed the money.

  “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “This is my business and I’ll run it how I see fit.”

  His harsh words cut through her anger and reminded her how much she needed her job.

  She’d lived in Liberty her whole life and grew up waitressing in her parent’s diner. When they’d both died in a freak accident last year, she’d been forced to sell the business to pay off their debts and funeral expenses. Selling the business had been their choice, but it had nearly killed her to execute their plans. When it was all over, she’d placed the meager remains of their estate into her savings account, and started looking for a new job.

  After months with no leads, Tanya, the other waitress, had given her an inside tip. She’d approached Gabe before he’d had time to list the opening, and he’d hired her immediately.

  “You’re right, of course,” she said. “You can keep the basket. Please excuse me.”

  She walked past him, rushed down the hallway and pushed open the metal door leading out to the parking lot. She was able to keep the tears at bay until she reached her apartment, but as soon as she stepped into the private dwelling, all bets were off.

  She crawled into bed and sobbed into her pillow.

  There was no way she could go on living like this. As much as she loved Gabe, she had to let him go and cut all ties.

  She needed to start looking for a new job as soon as possible.

  ***

  Gabriel Turner looked at himself in the mirror and growled. He had no idea what had provoked him to rent the bunny suit, but the fact that he had proved how desperate he was to find a woman, any woman, who made him feel the way Michelle did.

  He’d always been told fated mates didn’t exist, but one look at the curvy beauty and no other woman mattered. She was his mate, the one woman created specifically for him, and he couldn’t be with her.

  Before she’d walked into his office a little over a year ago, he was content with work and building his business. The Wild Bear was a shifter bar frequented by both shifters and humans, and he’d strived to make it a comfortable place for everyone. With two similar businesses across town, and one in every city surrounding Liberty, the Wild Bear had experienced tremendous success. He was proud of what he’d accomplished and he’d always thought love would happen when it was supposed to.

  He’d hired Michelle on the spot, but when he’d overheard her tell a group of humans she hated shifters, his bear went wild. Pain, anger and betrayal had made him ache, but he’d also wanted to hunt her down and force her to accept him. The conflicting feelings were a struggle to control, and he often teetered between punishing her in the bedroom until she changed her mind, and firing her from the bar so he never had to see her again.

  Yeah right!

  He knew he would never willingly let her go, even if she wanted nothing to do with him. Aside from the fact that he felt the need to protect and take care of her, she was a good waitress and the patrons loved her.

  Many of them loved her too much, which made his bear linger just below the surface.

  Shifters had a higher tolerance for alcohol than humans, but they did get rowdy and loud after a few drinks. He usually worked in his office until ten, and then he’d walk the floor until closing. Lucky handled almost all of the fights and removals, and he often spent his nights following Michelle around and issuing warnings to the rowdy bears. He looked after Tanya, too, but the other woman didn’t garner as much attention as his mate.

  If Michelle knew he followed her, she didn’t let on, and he preferred it that way. He favored her more than he did his other employees, but no one seemed to notice or care. He also noticed he was harder on her, and often bossed her around, asserting his dominance, for no apparent reason. If he could find a way to boss her into his bedroom, he would have done it a long time ago.

  While his nights were spent in the hub of the bar, he passed his days by burying himself deeper into the behind the scenes of his business.

  Everything had been fine until Lucky showed up.

  His cousin Isabelle and Lucky were perfectly matched, and the spark between the two was hard to miss. Their passion rekindled his desire for a mate, and he began dating again in an effort to find another woman who called to both him and his bear.

  Unfortunately, he compared every woman to Michelle.

  In this case, he should have listened. His bear growled, confirming the obvious. He should have listened to his heart and not his head.

  He grabbed the neck of the suit and ripped it off his body. He didn’t care about losing his deposit, or paying for the ridiculous costume. He was thirty-five years old and he’d never done something so out of character for someone he didn’t trust, and there was a reason for that.

  There hadn’t been a party.

  The woman, a shifter hater like Michelle, had invited him over in costume so she and her friends could laugh at him. He hadn’t experienced such blatant hatred in so many years, he’d been shocked. The only reason he hadn’t asserted his alpha side, or shifted and taught them a lesson they’d never forget, was because he didn’t attack women in either form unless his life depended on it. After a few minutes of their ridicule, he’d walked away without a word and returned home.

  Aside from the inconvenience, the only pain he’d endured was the awareness Michelle could have been with them. He’d actually combed through the group of mocking women, looking for her familiar face, not knowing what he’d do if he found her.

  Michelle is nothing like those women.

  It was true, he’d never seen Michelle do anything so degrading to anyone, human or shifter, but he knew he’d overheard her words correctly. She hated shifters, and he could never be with anyone who couldn’t accept all of him.

  He peeled off his soaking wet t-shirt, athletic shorts and boxers and stepped into the cool spray of the shower. Liberty was in the center of the nation, but with a forest on one side, and a nature preserve on the other, the cross breeze kept the heat off the flat plains, yet he’d still come out of that costume a sweaty mess. Hell, he had a feeling he would have been sweating even if it had been snowing outside.

  Never again.

  He hated dating, and he didn’t want to be with anyone other than Michelle.

  Earlier, when she’d called him out for sending her home last October, her eyes had sparkled, and her wavy, shoulder length auburn hair had bounced around her shoulders wildly. The combination was how he’d always envisioned she’d look as he sank his cock deep inside her. His cock hardened at the thought.

  There was no denying she’d been angry, and he secretly hated the fact that she’d backed down. He’d wanted to argue with her more, then kiss her hard, bend her over his desk and fuck her until she screamed his name.

  He stroked his cock as he thought about all her curves, and how soft she’d feel pressed up against him. He’d always been attracted to women with curves, and that was another thing that didn’t make any sense. In the past two months, he hadn’t dated one plus-sized woman. If he were truly looking to find a replacement for his mate, he would have at least tried to find a woman he was attracted to.

  It didn’t matter what he did. Michelle was the only woman he wanted.

  He tightened his grip and moved his hand faster, thinking about her soft, warm channel flexing around him. He knew she would be able to accommodate his size, and the tight fit would feel amazing.

  His release came quick and he stood under the running water, breathing hard and waiting for his limbs to work again. When the tingling subsided, he washed his hair and body, and then dried off and pulled on a pair of pajama pants.

  He went to the kitchen and pulled out a carton of day-old Chinese food. As he ate, he looked around his empty home and sighed. Even
though he felt a tremendous pull toward his mate, one he’d never felt with anyone else, he still believed fated mates didn’t exist. They couldn’t.

  If they did, he’d have his woman in his bed with a cub on the way.

  Instead, he faced a long, listless and lonely future.

  Chapter Two

  Michelle looked out of the restaurant window and into the forest. Several bears wandered in and out of the trees, and she wished she could join them. She knew the animals were merely shifted humans, with all the same problems she had, but seeing them in their bear forms made her wonder what it was like to run free, without the pressures of the human world looming.

  She’d spent the morning filling out job applications at the two bars across town, although one was actually a dance club, three eating establishments, a bagel place and a coffee house. The rest of her day off had been spent waiting by her cell-phone, hoping for callbacks, even though the probability of a same day call was unrealistic.

  When her stomach rumbled, she grabbed her purse and drove to the local Chinese place next to the Wild Bear. She’d been just about to order when her phone rang, and she gave up her spot in the long line to run outside and answer the call with a shred of privacy.

  The owner of the dance club had returned her call and wanted to meet for an interview. When he found out he’d interrupted her dinner, he’d suggested they talk over a meal at his expense.

  As he spoke, she looked down and realized she couldn’t attend a job interview-slash-dinner in yoga pants and an oversized t-shirt. A little white lie bought her some time, and she raced home and switched her lazy clothes for clean jeans and a fancy black top. She cleaned her teeth, ran a brush through her hair, and raced out the door in a pair of black trendy dress shoes.

  Somehow, she’d still beat him to the restaurant even though his club was across the street. Warning bells chimed in her head, but she ignored them. She needed a new job, and although the dinner wasn’t starting exactly as planned, she decided to keep an open mind.