Joel (BBW Bear Shifter Wedding Romance) (Grizzly Groomsmen Book 5) (58 page)

Clan Best was a quite a family to join, but Karina, as in all things, was confident that she could make it work.

“Sorry, we’ve been in Vegas,” Reinicke explained.

“No,” Dietrich said at once, his voice hitching in shock. “You don’t mean…”

“May I introduce Karina Best, my wife,” Reinicke said with all the pride in the world.

There was an explosion of shouts and disbelieving cries of joy, then suddenly Karina and Reinicke were surrounded by the clan. The flurry of people showered them in congratulations amid the sounds of babies cooing and waking from their sleep. In the eye of the joyous family storm, Karina held onto Reinicke, looking up into the proud expression of her new husband.

“You know what comes next right?” she asked.
 

She patted her tummy as if to explain. Reinicke raised a brow, a genuine grin on his face.

“Well, you’re the boss,” he reasoned.

“I am,” Karina replied.

And in that moment, she realized that she hadn’t seen Reinicke pull that long, sour expression in weeks.

Beck

120 Proof Honey IV

by

Becca Fanning

Harmony reached out to grab Aiden’s hand. He kept pulling away and wandering off to look at other things and she had to keep a tight hold on him. She couldn’t lose him here, in the middle of the county fair where there were so many people. She’d be fired in a second.

Connor and Hunter wouldn’t stop fighting with each other. Hunter pushed Connor for walking too close. Then Connor pushed him back for pushing him. Why in the world had she thought taking the boys to the fair was a good idea? She’d really thought they’d be so excited and distracted by the sights that they’d behave.

She already had a headache and after a few hours, was more than ready to leave. But the boys were just getting started and wanted to ride the rides. Which would surely be a hassle because the older boys couldn’t handle waiting in line, and Aiden wasn’t tall enough to go on the big-kid rides. Hunter and Connor wouldn’t want to go on the little-kid rides with him, either.

Up ahead she saw the building that had bees and honey products. Maybe the boys would stare at the live bees for a while and give her a minute to breathe.
 

“Wanna see some bugs?” she asked them.

Hunter and Connor both said, “Yeah!”

But Aiden looked scared. “What kind of bugs?”

She leaned over to whisper to him. “Bees, but they’re all in a glass case where they can’t get out and hurt you. Okay?”

He nodded and they walked toward the building.

Inside, they did look at the bees for a little while, then they wanted honey.

“I’m sure there’s a booth somewhere that sells honey sticks.” She looked over and saw a large banner that read “Bear Natural Honey.” The table below had many honey-related products, including flavored honey sticks. And behind the table was one of the hottest men she’d ever seen.
 

Big and muscular, he was tall and had enchanting eyes. She couldn’t help but stare at him. His
 
blond hair fell into his eyes and he brushed it away.

“I see some,” she said, and dragged Aiden over to the table. Hunter and Connor followed, pushing each other again.

When they got to the table, she told them, “Each of you can pick out two.” She smiled at the man. “Hi.”

He smiled back and she almost melted. The boys started pawing through the honey sticks and finally chose their flavors.

“We’ll take six,” she said. She handed him two dollars.

“How do I get this thing open?” Connor asked.

Harmony looked at the stick. She didn’t see any place to open it. She tried squeezing the ends, but that did nothing. She looked over at the man. “Help?”

He took the stick from her and pinched it in his thick fingers just below where she had tried to do the same thing.

“You have to find just the right spot.” He winked at her.
 

He looked like he would find just the right spot, indeed. Her face went warm at the thought and she looked away.

Then Hunter and Connor, like they always did, started fighting.

“That one is mine!” Hunter said.
 

“No, I had the cherry one,” Connor said.

Hunter pushed him. “You had strawberry. The cherry one is mine!”

The man pulled another cherry honey stick from the display and handed it to her. “Here. Just take another cherry one.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that.”

He waved it off. “No problem. Better than hearing them fight.”

She handed the cherry honey stick to Hunter.

But then Aiden said, “Hey! He got three! I only got two.”

She closed her eyes and sighed. Of course it couldn’t be that easy. “Just charge me for three more.”

Then Aiden and Connor went back to the display and pulled out two more sticks.

“I guess they get to be a lot, huh?” the man asked. He looked like he was somewhat horrified at their fighting.
 

“Yeah. They really don’t pay me enough. Some days I can’t wait to get home.” Maybe if she made it clear that it bothered her, too, it wouldn’t ruin her chances with him.

He pulled his eye brows together. “They’re not yours?”

“No.” She chuckled. “Thank goodness. I’m their nanny.”

“Oh.” He laughed, too. “I thought you looked too young to have three kids that old.” He looked relieved, which made her feel relieved, as well.

She smiled. “Thank you.”

Harmony kept her head facing the boys, but she could feel him watching her. She needed another reason to talk to him, to keep things going between them.

“So, are you having one of your own soon?” he asked.

Her face went hot and she looked down at her top. It was loose fitting. Did it make her look pregnant? “No, why? Do I… look like I am?”

“Oh no,” he said, shaking his head. His face went pink. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Oh.” She let out a relieved sigh.

“I just meant, umm…” He scratched the back of his neck. “Is there someone in the picture? Someone you’re seeing? Like a boyfriend?”

“No, there’s no one.” Not yet anyway, but if he wanted the job, she’d gladly give him the title.

“Harmy, I have to go pee,” Aiden said, holding himself and wiggling back and forth.

“Sorry,” she said. Why did he have to go right now? If she didn’t get him to the bathroom soon, though, he’d wet his pants and she’d have even more of a problem on her hands. “I better get him to the bathroom. It was nice meeting you.”

“Wait,” he said, following her a few steps. “Could I maybe get your number? Maybe you’d want to go out sometime? You know, without all the kids.”

She smiled and her heart jumped for joy. “You wouldn’t want to help me wrangle these wild kids all night?”

“Uhh…”

“I’m kidding. I’d love to.”

He took out his phone and she gave him her number.

“I’m Harmony,” she said. Aiden tugged on her hand and she walked a few steps toward the door, looking back at the man.

“Beck!” he called after her. “I’ll call you!”

Meeting Beck had been the highlight of the fair by far. By the time they got back to the car, the boys were tired, still fighting incessantly, and Aiden was covered in cherry water ice stains. Next time, it didn’t matter how much their parents gave her to take them, she wouldn’t do it.

She wondered when Beck would call. There was the standard three-day wait, but was he that type of guy? Maybe he was so into her that he’d call sooner. She thought about what she’d say when he called and what she’d wear on their first date.

After three days passed and he hadn’t called, she started to think he wasn’t going to. Had she done something to make him second guess getting her number? Maybe he’d met someone better after she’d left his booth. Disappointment filled her. It wasn’t exactly easy to meet guys as a nanny. Most days she was with a two-year-old and a six-year-old all day, then some evenings, when their parents had to work late, she watched Aiden, Connor, and Hunter.

Unless she took the kids out, she didn’t meet anyone aside from whatever new imaginary friend had been created since last time she was with her charges. And when she did take them out somewhere, she was either too distracted to notice any guys, or she was so frazzled and disheveled that she was not attractive at all.

So, when Beck still hadn’t called by the fifth day, she’d given up completely. By the next week, when it had been a full eight days since she met him and her phone rang, he was the last person she expected it to be.

“Hello?” she said as she folded laundry on one of her nights off.

“Hi, is this Harmony?”

“It is.” Who was this guy calling her? She tried to place his voice, but couldn’t.

“Hey, this Beck. I met you at the county fair?”

It took her several seconds to realize who he meant. “From the honey booth?”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Oh wow.” She set down the towel she was folding. “I didn’t expect you to call. It’s good to hear from you.”

“Oh. You didn’t?”

“Well, I just mean that it’s been over a week, so I thought you’d changed your mind.”

He chuckled softly. “No, I’m just sadly not very good with women.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“Thanks, but it’s true. I had a girlfriend for a long time, so I skipped a lot of years of practice asking women out. Since we broke up, it’s been a struggle.”

Oh no. Was he on the rebound? This could end up being a disaster. “Did you break up recently?”

“It’s been almost a year now. But we were together for four.”

That wasn’t bad, then. A year should be time enough. “Sorry to hear that. I guess it’s good luck for me, though.”

He chuckled. “Right. So, about that. Do you want to get dinner or something? Is that too boring of a date?”

“No, not at all. Gives us a chance to talk and get to know each other.”

“Great. Umm, what kind of food do you like?”

He was right. He sure wasn’t good at this. It was kind of cute, though. “There is a fabulous Mexican restaurant over on Green Street.”

“Great. Let’s do that, then.”

“Perfect.” Now, the day and time… She wished she could just tell him what to do next and get it over with. This was getting painful, cute or not.

“So, umm, how was your day?”

“Good. Don’t we need to pick a day and time to go out, though?”

“Oh, right. Geez. Sorry. Friday?”

“That works for me.”

“I guess like 7?”

She bit her lip to keep from laughing. “Perfect. Want to just meet there?”

“Sure.”

Good thing he was so cute, for all his awkwardness. Hopefully, he’d get past that soon. If he was like this every time he tried to ask someone out, no wonder he hadn’t had much luck.

“What do you do, anyway?” she asked.

“Oh, I take care of the bees. I’m a beekeeper and I do some of the household stuff. My business partners and I all share a house and that’s where our bees are kept and the honey processing plant is.”

“You do it all right there on your property?”

“Yup.”

“You’ll have to give me the tour sometime. I’d love to see all that.”

“Sure. It’s kind of my passion in life.”

She smiled. “That makes sense. I think the sweetness has rubbed off on you.”

There was a bit of a pause. Then he said simply, “Thanks.”

Hopefully in person, this would go much better.

Harmony found herself more nervous than normal for their date. Partly because he seemed so nervous. Was it just going to be completely awkward the whole time?
 

The babysitter knocked on the door and Harmony let her in.

“Thanks for coming, Rachel. This is a first date, so who knows how long it’ll be.”

Rachel grinned at her. “I hope you’re out all night and he’s the man of your dreams.”

Harmony sighed. “Let’s hope. I don’t know, though. He seems a bit unsure of himself.”

Rachel scrunched up her face. “That’s never good.”

Logan came running into the room then. “Rachel!” He jumped at her, and she stumbled back, but caught him in her arms.

“Hey Squirt, you ready for a super fun night?”

“I got the Xbox all set up!”

“Awesome.”

Harmony gave Rachel a quick hug, then squeezed Logan and kissed the top of his head. “Don’t wear Rachel out, Logan.”

“I won’t!” he called from the hall as he ran to the living room.

Harmony closed the door behind her and smiled. She’d met Rachel, a fellow nanny, at the park a few years ago. They were both there with their charges, trying to get some peace. They’d bonded over nanny-life discussions and had been friends ever since. They tried to get together with their kids every week. The kids loved it and it gave them adult time to talk. And Rachel was so awesome and loved kids so much that she babysat anytime Harmony needed her. Harmony would take her out for lunch next week to pay her back.