The Wait: Belonging to the Bear (BBW Werebear Erotic Romance) (Mates of the Walkers Book 3) Read online

  THE WAIT: BELONGING TO THE BEAR

  BBW WEREBEAR EROTIC ROMANCE SHORT

  BY

  ANYA NOWLAN

  HINT OF WHAT IS TO COME IN THIS BOOK

  The redhead had just resigned herself to her fate and taken a few steps down the street towards her apartment, when heavy breathing and pounding footsteps sounded behind her. She whipped around, a familiar warmth flooding her core even before she could see who it was. Her lips twisted into a hopeful smile, seeing the flustered form of the big man rush down the street towards her. When he stopped before her, just a small distance from her, she felt a sudden calm brush over her. It didn’t matter that he was a werebear, he was just the man she had always imagined him to be. Though, of course, she would be properly wounded at his tardiness.

  “I’m so sorry I’m late, Tara,” he said, his breath heavy and his chest heaving. Her gray eyes rolled over him, noticing that he had changed his clothes since last she saw him (well, being nitpicky, she had last seen him naked, but still). Colden was wearing new jeans and a proper blue button-up shirt, the tiniest hint of a white undershirt and a tuft of brownish chest hair peeking out behind two unbuttoned buttons at his collar. It made her a bit embarrassed that she had not thought to change, but she hoped he would not mind too much.

  “I thought you weren’t coming,” she said with a small voice. The man tilted his head and exhaled deeply, his hands clutching her arms. She gasped, her eyes widening. They had never touched before and it was as if lightning strikes of heat and lust coiled through her, starting from his fingertips on her skin.

  “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.” There was no room in his tone to doubt his words.

  Copyright © 2015 Anya Nowlan

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The Wait: Belonging to the Bear

  BBW Werebear Erotic Romance Short

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this work may be used, reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means by anyone but the purchaser for their own personal use. This book may not be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of Anya Nowlan. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material is prohibited without the express written permission of the author.

  Cover image © DepositPhotos, user curaphotography, jukai5

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  HINT OF WHAT IS TO COME IN THIS BOOK

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  WANT MORE?

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  CHAPTER ONE

  Tara’s neck burned under his watchful gaze. She knew he kept a close eye on her and it always made her stomach flutter with millions of butterflies. Tara bit her lip and did her very best to keep from peeking over her shoulder at the broad-shouldered, hazel-eyed devil she knew to be at the corner booth. Instead, she focused on spreading a friendly smile on her lips as she stopped to refill a cup of coffee for one of the other regulars at Mae’s Diner. Tara chatted merrily with the elderly couple, discussing the weather and the upcoming Summer Festival that everybody looked forward to. In a small town such as Auberville, Colorado, there weren’t that many things to get excited about. Any kind of festivities would do.

  When she spun about on her heel to head back behind the counter, she caught a glimpse of Colden, sipping on his steaming black coffee and reading the town newspaper. She bit her lip slightly, averting her eyes and busying herself with preparing another pot of coffee. If there was one thing that there was never enough of at the diner, then it was good strong coffee. Most of the people of the town were simple folk. They either worked at the nearby mine or logged for a living, meaning that there was never a shortage of tired, muscled men in loose plaid shirts and worn jeans around the only eatery for 20 miles. Tara liked the place she worked at and the people that frequented, though she had to admit that perhaps she liked Colden the best of all.

  She had only been living in the town for about a year, having come all the way from Chicago at her aunt’s beckoning. Auntie Mae had lost her husband to a heart-wrenching battle with cancer and now that she was alone, it kept getting more and more difficult running the small but successful diner on her own. There weren’t a lot of young people around town and she could hardly afford matching their salaries from more physically grueling work, so help was in short supply. Tara, however, had jumped at the chance. She hated living in the city and her heart had always belonged to the great outdoors, so moving to the depths of Colorado seemed like the best idea she had heard in a long, long time.

  Ever since starting to work for her aunt, Tara had learned to expect certain things. She expected the first eggs of the month to be three days late because the farmer was a bit of a boozer and got his first check of the month then. She also expected the cook to be a happy sing-songy nuisance every now and then, his joviality getting in the way of his work. The flash floods were a given and it didn’t scare her none to come across an animal or two on her way to work at dawn. But, most of all, she had come to expect seeing Colden Walker at the corner booth every morning at 6 sharp. He never disappointed.

  They had barely said a word to each other over the year, aside from careful small-talk when she brought him his meals. He didn’t strike her as particularly brooding, but there was something about him that just made her tongue-tied and more nervous than a cat in a rainstorm. Every time she looked at him, her cheeks would flush with a tint of pink and her core would tighten and twist, driving forth a hunger she had never felt for any man before. It was confusing and a bit unnerving, but she had the feeling that the man shared her nervous attraction. It was in the way he looked at her and the long lingering glimpses he gave her when he thought she wasn’t paying attention. Auntie Mae had made a bit of a game out of all of it – spot when Colden Walker is drooling over the pretty waitress again. Tara was almost expecting the dastardly old minx to start a coin jar for each glance he gave her. She kept saying that it would fill up right quick.

  Day in and day out, she hoped that the man would break through his shyness, or she hers, and ask her out. The sensation of her lungs seemingly contracting every time she had to share a few words with him made her head spin and the constant expectant teetering over the edge just made her blood-pressure rise and her heart beat like a jackhammer. If she didn’t know better, she’d think she was having a heart attack from just the thought of standing closer to the bear of a man.

  This is no way to live, she thought to herself miserably, pursing her lips as she picked up Colden’s waffles from the window. He liked them with extra whipped cream and syrup and honey slathered all over them. It looked like the express train to diabetes, but she thought it was kind of adorable that he still ate like a boy, despite being quite a bit more than any man she had met.

  Colden had dirty-blonde hair and eyes that could see right through lies. His wide chest and impressive height made him tower above any man in town and Tara always felt like a tiny little speck next to him. Rippling muscles twisted under his skin, his arms tanned and coarse with work. She could just imagine them dragging up the hem of her shirt, sliding across her soft stomach until reaching the very edge of her breasts…

  Oh, stop it, she said to herself, a frown knitting across her brows.
Show some backbone. But really, she didn’t feel much like having a steadfast stance against the mesmerizing man. She wanted him and had done so for a long time and it was starting to wear her down. Tara had never been the kind of girl to lust after someone, let alone someone who looked like they could move a mountain just as a daily chore. Yet, something about Colden had gotten deep under Tara’s skin and she couldn’t rid herself of thoughts of him.

  She had tried to make it casual when she asked about him and his family from her aunt and friends, but there was no fooling them. After vigorous teasing, they had parted with the few nuggets of information they had about him. Colden and his two brothers all lived in the mountains, far away from the towns and nestled so deep in the forests that no one but themselves could really find the cottages. While the youngest of the family, Callum, and the eldest, Caleb, were a rare sight in Auberville, Colden had made a point of coming down each morning. No one really knew much about the three striking men, other than that they didn’t seem to need to work for money, but were always there if someone needed a helping hand or a supportive shoulder. Almost every family had a story to tell about how one or all of the Walker brothers had shown up at just the nick of time to save them from a harrowing disaster. They were also known jokingly as the Bear Brothers, as for some reason there always seemed to be grizzly sightings near the Walker boys.

  Colden seemed to like working as a lumberjack, so he often went to help out one of the smaller logging companies in the region. He never accepted pay, yet he had the best work-ethic of any man in the county – and Colorado men were no slouches! All of that was, of course, of little help to Tara, though she appreciated the curious glimpses into his life. Careful deduction had led to her deciding that the man must be single, as after a year one would assume that if he had a girlfriend, she would have accompanied him at least once. That bit of knowledge made the curvy redhead feel a bit better. She had seen Callum in town a while ago, a bright-eyed auburn-haired girl on his arm, and she could only hope that Colden shared that particular fascination with fiery-haired girls.

  Of course he does, you’ve seen the way he looks at you, Tara told herself as she rounded the corner of the counter and made her way over to Colden’s table, her hips swinging with forced seductiveness. It made her blush even harder, but she couldn’t really help it. Just being around the man made her behave like a silly teenager. She made it to his table and Colden looked up at her, the tiniest hint of a smile dancing on his lips. It made her gulp drily, a smile forced forward to match his. Tara was entirely preoccupied by the sound of her heart pounding against her chest, worried that he might hear it.

  “Here’s your usual, Colden. More coffee?” she asked, immediately battering herself for the shrill note of over-eagerness in her voice. Colden seemed to catch it and his smile crept wider, the man nodding.

  “Yes, please.”

  Tara breathed easier as she turned her back on him and went to nab the coffee pot, but the return was made that more harder. This time, Colden wouldn’t hide his gaze. He eyed her the entire short way back from the counter, keeping his steady hazel eyes fixed on her luscious form. Tara thought she would melt into a puddle right in front of him and was surprised to find that she was still in a solid shape when she poured out the coffee. She paused for a moment and Colden quirked a brow at her, a devilish smirk planted on his expression.

  He has to know…

  “Did you want to ask me something, Tara?” he asked, and her name sounded like honey as it rolled off his lips. It sent a deep tremble down her spine and made her slit pulse with need. It was ridiculous what just his words could do to her.

  Tara squared her shoulders, exhaling deeply. It had gone on long enough. If she didn’t find out if he was interested in her or not, she would pop into a million pieces soon.

  Maybe I can get over this obsession if he just shrugs me off? No way to know other than to go ahead and try.

  “Colden, would you like to go out with me some time?” Tara asked, her eyes staying on him even though she wanted to huddle under the table. Her cheeks were beet-red now and she squirmed with discomfort, but the time had come. She couldn’t deal with not knowing for any longer.

  He pursed his lips slightly, inclining his head. A twinkle of amusement sparked to life in his soulful eyes.

  “Yes. I’ll come pick you up after work, if that’s okay?”

  Tara took a sharp breath, a rock falling from her chest. She hadn’t even noticed that she had neglected to breathe while she waited for his answer. Taragrinned from ear to ear and nodded quickly, almost stumbling as she rushed away from the table. She couldn’t really make herself say another word to Colden, but her heart threatened to explode with anticipation.

  It wasn’t just me!

  CHAPTER TWO

  Tara’s head was muddled with thoughts for the rest of the day. She couldn’t concentrate on anything other than the date she was going to have that evening. Questions of where Colden would take her (not that there were that many options) and whether or not he would kiss her made her tremble and giggle. After she dropped the third plate of the day, Mae had told her to go for a walk and clear her head. The diner was going to run out of dishes if Tara continued with her wanton destruction. Reluctantly, she had agreed, and had stalked out of the diner with measured steps.

  Without thinking about it, Tara’s legs took her out of the small town and into the plush woods, rolling up gentle hillsides, right outside of it. She had walked all throughout the forests ever since she had arrived in town, reveling in the scents and sights that the wilderness had to offer. The slopes made it not the best place to build a house, though she would have loved to live there, but it was perfect for a walk to clear her mind. She had never seen another person there and that was just how she preferred it. Her lungs filled with the fresh smell of pine, her worries clearing bit by bit. Tara could feel the seemingly ceaseless shudder calm down a bit, allowing her clarity of thought for a change.

  Her feelings for Colden seemed out of place for knowing so little of him, but she had thought she could sense a bond between them from their first meeting. It was as if something invisible had bound them to one another and the two had been desperately trying to make sense of it for far too long. It would have been so much easier if she had just spoken up right away, but her shyness and his reserved nature made for a problematic cocktail. Tara took a seat on a small hilltop, overlooking a quiet valley with one of the many streams that came down from the mountains snaking through it. Her hands twisted around a few blades of grass while her mind ran rampant along the paths it had taken so often.

  Something caught her attention in the warm sunlight, a speck of motion down in the valley. She squinted her eyes and leaned forward a bit, her hands wrapping around her knees. Tara’s gray eyes widened as she recognized the familiar form of Colden trudging through the low grass, following the path of the river. She never had quite found out where he lived, but it seemed that the rumors about his cottage in the woods were true. What happened next almost made her faint.

  Colden undressed quickly, having stopped by a big tree. Tara gnawed her lower lip, knowing that she should look away, but the sight before her was just too delicious to ignore. A soft moan escaped her lips as Colden removed his shirt, revealing his muscled chest and abdomen. The sun licked at every small curve and dent between the bulging muscles and she could feel herself getting wetter by the second. Colden was damn tasty. Tara blushed deeply as he stepped out of his worn jeans and her glance went down to the grass for a second as he shimmied out of his boxers. A moment of hesitation and she looked up again, taking in his powerful thighs and round ass. He stood as a god amongst boys and Tara had never seen a man built quite as squarely while remaining so sexy.

  Her breathing had picked up, the beat of her heart muffling her thoughts once more. But, she was in for more surprises. Colden wrapped up the clothes and placed them safely between two large branches. He took a few steps and what happened then made Tara rub her
eyes in disbelief. Colden shifted and contorted before her very eyes, his athletic form turning from man to beast in a matter of seconds. Tara gasped and raised her hand to cover her mouth, her eyes filled with disbelief as she watched it unfold. His body seemed to widen and grow at the same time, his tight muscles bulging and expanding. Thick hair thrust out, first from Colden’s neck and then trailing down his back and limbs until he was covered with a dark brown coat. Tara shuddered as his wide palms turned into strong paws and long nails sprouted out, the padded feet making a loud thud as he lowered himself down.

  His face contorted into the shape of a fearsome bear, the long muzzle and powerful jaws taking the place of the kind grin he usually wore. The massive bear, bigger than any she had seen before, set off at lightning speed down a track only he knew, disappearing from view into the thicket of trees further up the river. For a long time, Tara simply sat there, completely taken aback by what she had witnessed. Thousands of questions rolled about in her head, unanswered and confusing. Either she was going mad or she had just come across the first shifter of her young life.

  Slowly, her expression cleared, the momentary panic subsiding. She knew little about shifters, suspecting that it was how they preferred it, but instead of fear she felt warmth. Suddenly, everything made more sense. Colden’s inability to show her his interest, though she could feel the electricity between them, and how reclusive he was in all his dealings. Tara wrung her wrists, trying to figure out what she would do next. Could she truly go out with a man who was part beast? She had no doubt that he wouldn’t harm her, there was not a cruel bone in his body. Yet, the only right reaction when faced with a beast was to look for safety. But what if her safety waited for her in the arms of the bear?