Sassy Shifter Brides: Complete Series - BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Mail-Order Romance (14 page)

“What can I do for you, Tony?” she asked, trying to conjure some sweetness into her tone and, frankly, coming up a mile short. Tony ambled right to her cluttered desk and dropped what felt like a ton of paperwork on the edge of the table, making it rattle precariously. Aubrey considered the pile with mounting worry, keeping the frustration off of her face and, instead, managing a look of utter blankness.

“I need those checked by Monday. Tempest Inc. is getting audited and we need to be sure there’s nothing wrong with their books,” Tony stated matter-of-factly, straightening up to his less than impressive height of 5’7’’ and puffing up like a blubbery peacock. It made little to no impression on Aubrey, what with the man’s balding head and too tight dress shirt straining around his belly. Glancing at the pile again, Aubrey could see her weekend slowly wafting away from her, waving a sorrowful little goodbye as it disappeared like ether.

“But,” she started carefully. “Isn’t Tempest
your
client, Tony? I’d hate to get something wrong with a big client like this.” Aubrey knew that she was playing with fire. Not the oh-my-god-the-house-is-burning-down kind of fire, but the I-will-scorch-your-favorite-tablecloth kind of fire. Really, Tony wasn’t that scary. That of course didn’t mean that she could sass him too much, what with him being her boss and all.  

Tony snorted with indignation, an additional layer of crimson lighting up his already beet-red face.

“Yes, but it’s Friday, and I have plans that can’t be cancelled. And this just came to my attention,” he answered curtly, brushing a crumb of what appeared to be puff pastry from his chest. Aubrey’s thoughts rolled over with darkness. She could feel the storm clouds rowing in, taking permanent residence in her head and her chest growing tighter with irritation.

Just? Just!? The notice came in Monday!
she screamed in her head, but not a word of it rolled over her lips. They did, though, narrow into a tight line, and Aubrey bit down on her tongue in an effort to keep what she thought of it all to herself. It was a hard struggle.

“So I trust you’ll get this done.” Tony looked at his shiny Rolex, furrowing his brow like a confused toddler. “Look at that, it’s already 4 p.m. Time to head out for the weekend. Have fun, Aubrey,” he offered, flashing a smile that made Aubrey want to ball up her hands and punch him right in his crooked nose. Instead, she managed a faltering smile and nodded as Tony twirled around and headed out the door, saying his good-byes as the door slammed shut behind him. For a moment, Aubrey glared daggers at the door and wished the fires of the seven hells upon it. Then, she considered getting about 3 more locks and having them installed over the weekend so no one could barge into her office and shovel their work on her, claiming seniority.

Aubrey breathed in once, twice, three times.

Find your center
, she told herself, echoing the words of the perky blonde yoga teacher who’d been tormenting Aubrey at the fitness club.
Nope, not going to happen.
Instead of finding her center, Aubrey rested her forehead on the table, right next to her laptop. Everything felt off. Her skirt was suddenly too tight around her luscious curves and the room too musty to draw a decent breath. She closed her eyes, sighing softly. Another Friday, another weekend filled with work she shouldn’t have been doing to look forward to. This was the third week in a row. On the one hand, she knew she was supposed to feel valued and needed, but when that
valuing
and
needing
never came with a pay raise or even a simple thank you, a girl had to wonder why exactly she was subjecting herself to that kind of treatment.

I hate this job,
Aubrey thought sourly.
I miss Idaho. In Idaho, men like Tony would have been sent to sit in a corner and out of the way of the real men a long time ago.

It was right then that her phone made the small buzzing noise that made her sit up ramrod straight and fumble for the sleek device. She pressed the power button, and when the notification screen told her that it was a message from Dale on SassyDate, she grinned wide. Okay, so maybe not
everything
in her life sucked currently. But plenty of it certainly did.

***

“Well, what’s the use of all that money if you’re hating every moment you spend there?” Delia asked, swirling a spoon in her double chocolate macchiato. It smelled like heaven. Aubrey almost regretted getting her usual – a vanilla latte with cinnamon. She took a sip, letting the delicious coffee swish around in her mouth a little before swallowing. Leave it to Delia to ask the kind of questions Aubrey would rather have not answered.

“But what else is there?” she asked. As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew they were weak. She could think of a million things more important than money. Love, happiness, family, the pitter-patter of little feet. All the things she didn’t have time for because her job was keeping her chained to the desk and her eyes on the screen.

“Even you can’t listen to yourself and take that seriously,” Delia snorted, giving Aubrey a long look that was equal parts amusement and exasperation. They were sitting in a lovely but somewhat crowded café just a block from Aubrey’s office. It was a sunny, gorgeous Saturday in Los Angeles, and instead of shopping, hiking or lounging with a good book, Aubrey was busy at work, doing someone else’s work. She’d allowed herself a half an hour to grab lunch and a quick shot of caffeine to kick-start her less than enthusiastic mind.

“I can’t, no,” Aubrey agreed, grinning slightly.

“So why do you do it?” Delia pressed again, making Aubrey feel more and more like a naughty schoolgirl being told off by the headmistress.

“I don’t know,” she sighed finally, shrugging. “I got the job right out of college. And they pay me well, but less and less well every year.” It still burned that she hadn’t got a raise in two years. “And when I started, it seemed like everything I dreamed of – solid perks, a 401k, good money, safety, security, dependability…”

“Boredom, stagnation, desperation,” Delia took over the description, counting them on her fingers and ducking as Aubrey tossed a napkin at her. Delia giggled, her blue eyes sparkling. “Tell me I’m wrong, please.”

“You’re not wrong. But if I quit, I’ll just have to get another job just like this one, and it’ll be the same problems, just new scenery.” Not that new scenery didn’t sound perfectly tolerable at that point.

“Okay, okay, enough of the drudgery. Tell me about your hot piece of manmeat instead!” Delia urged. Oh hell. Was that a blush Aubrey felt creeping on her cheeks? She never blushed.
Ever.
And now just the mention of her hot cowboy made her squirm and brighten.

“Things are going well,” Aubrey offered carefully, trying to focus her attention on her coffee and swallow the embarrassment.

“Well? Please. I’ve never seen you react like this to a guy before. Well, other than to he-who-will-not-be-named. Spill the beans! Is he hot? Where is he? I think you mentioned Idaho? And he’s a shifter?” Delia rattled off questions.

The mention of the unnamable man sent a jolt of guilt through Aubrey. She hadn’t dated anyone since Deacon. Not a single man since they broke up all that time ago. Sure, she’d spent a few quick, fun nights, but she’d kept herself guarded ever since the werebear from Idaho turned her life upside down. Finding someone else that she could actually have a connection with still seemed amazingly impossible, even though she was sure that it could hardly live up to the fast, hot romance she’d had with the polar bear shifter back in Idaho.

No, you will not think about him. Get over it, he’s in the past. He hurt you, and you don’t want to dwell on that.

“I’ve only seen a profile pic, and it wasn’t lit great, but yes, by all accounts, he’s hot.” She’d long ago decided that he
had
to be hot. No man could write the things he did and not be hot. At least that was what she hoped. “And he’s in Idaho, yeah. Not too far from my hometown, actually. He’s a werebear.”

It felt good telling someone about Dale. He’d been on her mind since October, when he’d first contacted her on SassyDate. Now, they’d been talking for 4 months already, and she felt like she knew him inside and out. Hell, she’d told him everything about herself, right down to the little things she’d never dare mention to anyone. Something about Dale just made her feel at ease. Safe. Protected. There was something incredibly warm and familiar about him, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was.

“Are you planning on meeting him?” Delia pried, taking another sip of her coffee and waving off a waiter coming by to check on them.

“I’d like to. But it’s
Idaho,
” Aubrey said, grimacing. She’d run from Idaho after her first semester in college. It wasn’t something she wanted to talk about, but suffice to say, there was a wound there that hadn’t quite healed yet. Delia nodded serenely, not letting that bother her one bit.

“You’re going to have to go back at one point. You can’t keep flying your folks here every time you miss them, even though I know you’ve been doing great with that so far. Why not take a chance on the guy, if you like him so much?”

“They’d never give me time off,” Aubrey countered. But, the thought had some merit. She was surprised at the warm feeling it awoke in her, making her tingle a little all over. Meet Dale? Like a siren’s call, it beckoned.

“So
take
time off,” Delia replied resolutely, staring Aubrey down until both of them broke out in giggles. Yeah, why not? Why not go meet the first man since college who could make her feel excited about dating? She couldn’t hang onto her past forever, after all.

CHAPTER TWO

“What’s eating you up, cowboy?” Cerise asked, tossing the rag over her shoulder and leaning on the bar with her elbows. Deacon looked up from his whiskey, smiling weakly at the green-eyed bartender. It wasn’t unusual for the inhabitants of Shifter Grove to spend a quiet evening or two at Cerise’s Sunrise Diner – seeing as it was the only place in the near vicinity that served food or alcohol – but Deacon certainly wasn’t one of the guys who made more than a passing appearance for a slice of pie every now and then. That night, he was already on his third drink and showed no signs of slowing down.

“The usual,” he mumbled a noncommittal reply. Cerise’s lips pursed into a smirk, her silver and black hair falling over her shoulders. She was one of the more mysterious inhabitants of the small mostly shifter town, but the locals had a habit of not asking too many questions about anyone’s past. Everybody was there trying to get away from something, or at the very least to find a new start. Deacon had tried his darnedest to follow the lead, but recently he’d found himself falling short.

“Women, money and cattle, then?” Cerise asked, not letting Deacon off the hook quite so easily. His eyes glanced at the phone sitting next to him. It must have been the fiftieth time he did that during the evening. “Ah, women,” Cerise concluded, smirking like she’d just uncovered a secret. Deacon glanced up at her, a hint of mirth behind his eyes. For a woman who seemed to be a city girl through and through, Cerise was far too good at reading the heart of a cowboy.

Am I really that obvious? Must be.

“No other reason to down three glasses of whiskey, really,” he mused, swishing the bitter drink around in his mouth. It felt good going down his throat. The burn was just what he deserved. His recent behavior was far from sweet, and scorching himself into a straight and narrow path seemed perfectly reasonable.

“Plenty of reasons to down three glasses, Deacon. But none of those should be plaguing you here. And, as far as I know, your cattle’s doing peachy, and the money, while never great, isn’t exactly much to complain about. None of us came here to get rich. So that just leaves women. What have you been up to?” Cerise asked, straight as an arrow. Her frankness took a while to get used to, but she’d been one of the first residents in town, and the men had simply had to adjust to her. The fiery woman wasn’t leaving them any other choice.

“I’ve been untrue,” he finally said with a sigh. Cerise quirked a brow at him, and he could see the surprised look on her face. “No, no, not like that. I haven’t been cheating on anyone. Lord knows I’m not even with anyone.”

Not that I wouldn’t like to,
he added darkly in his head.

“So what is it then?” Cerise pried, hanging on like a dog to a bone.

“I have been misleading a woman. I found a girl I used to date when I was barely out of my teens. We broke it off suddenly, and I don’t think she’s forgiven me for doing what I did to her back then. But when I saw her profile on SassyDate and saw that she was still single, I couldn’t help myself. She’s been on my mind for years, and before I could sit down and think, I’d already written her a message under a different name. I just wanted to know if she was all right, how she was doing… And now I feel like shit because I’ve… I’ve…”

“Fallen for her all over again?” Cerise offered. Deacon nodded sourly. It sounded incredibly childish, spelt out like that. He was a grown-ass man, far more than just capable of controlling his wayward urges. But Aubrey?
Damn
. She made him act like a lovesick puppy, and he couldn’t rein himself in if he tried.

“So what are you going to do about it?”

Deacon looked at Cerise and then to either side of him, making sure no one was eavesdropping. It wasn’t the Shifter Grove way, but in a small place like this, people really didn’t have much in the way of amusement other than other locals’ drama.

“Probably going to keep drinking until I find a way to break things off with her without hurting her.” His heart constricted just saying that. A true, pounding ache. It made his vision flash black for a second, his bear roaring in him with indignant protest. Deacon had known from the day he met Aubrey that she was the one for him, his fated mate. But, in his youthful exuberance, he’d ruined the relationship before it even had a chance to blossom. And now here he was, miserable and grouchy, pining for a woman he was on the road to hurting for the second time. Something he never wanted to do.