Her Bear and a Baby: BBW Bear Shifter Baby Paranormal Romance (Who's the Daddy? Book 2) Read Free Page A

mate.
    How was she supposed to sleep under his roof, when he was lying in bed, only feet away from her, with another woman in his arms?
    A hotel was the best idea. She had to go and find him and tell him she had changed her mind about staying here.
    Turning away from the front door, she walked purposefully towards the staircase, her eyes lifting to the landing and wondering if Mrs. Beau was up there. Only one way to find out.
    Each step was deliberate. She wasn’t trying to hide the fact that she was coming, in fact she made more noise than she had to, to ensure he knew. The last thing she wanted to do was walk into a room and find the two of them having sex. Not just because she didn’t want Connor to see, but because it would tear her heart in two.
    Reaching the top of the stairs, she was confronted by pictures of a pretty woman, wearing four-inch blue heels, and a dress that fitted her like a glove, surrounded by three young men. One of whom was Beau. She stepped forward and took a closer look. They all had similar features, making them obvious relations. Maybe even siblings. That was it, the shoes belonged to his sister, she tried to convince herself.
    They looked so happy, and the lump in her throat returned, to remind her of the sibling she had lost.
    Tearing herself away, and trying to blink away the mist of tears that crossed her eyes, she headed down the left-hand hallway, to where she could hear movement. Steeling herself, trying to tell herself that if he was in there with another woman she would cope with it, she opened the door, reminding herself only after it was too late that she should have knocked.
    “Everything OK?” he asked. He was leaning over the bed, tucking a blanket in.
    “Yes. Perfect.” She let her eyes sweep around the room. Clean, neat, no personal objects at all. “I just wanted to let you know I was going out to the car to get my things.”
    “Want a hand?” he asked.
    “No. I can manage,” she said evenly, her breath catching in her throat at the sight of him standing by the bed. If Connor wasn’t in her arms she would have thrown herself at him. But as was becoming her natural defense now, Connor’s weight acted like armor.
    “You have a baby in your arms. It would be much easier to let someone help you.”
    “Do you have a wife?” she blurted out.
    He took a sharp breath, and he almost stepped back away from her. “A wife? Why would you ask that?” He sounded bemused.
    “Or a girlfriend?” she asked.
    He smiled. “No. Why, were you wanting extra services?” he asked, a wicked grin on his face. Was that how he expected to get his mate into his bed, by offering himself as an extra? She blushed furiously, and realized she had somehow phrased the question all wrong.
    “No, of course not,” she snorted. “I was only asking because I wondered if it was all right, me staying here. You didn’t have to check with your wife, or girlfriend.”
    “No. It’s just me here. My brothers are off traveling the world somewhere.”
    “Oh. Only there was a woman’s coat and shoes by the front door, and so I figured…” She saw the pain dart across his face. He was not quick enough to cover it up and she wanted to reach out and comfort him. It seemed she was the one doing the stabbing now, but she had no idea why. Elise was his mate; she knew that. So whom had he lost, who was close enough to cause such pain?
    “They belong to my sister.” He frowned. “ Belonged . Belonged to my sister,” he corrected himself.
    “Oh.” She noted his apologetic look, and her heart squeezed in understanding, a recognition of another wounded soul. “I’m sorry for your loss.” He didn’t need to explain, her own loss was so near, so keen, she often had trouble thinking of Eleanor in the past tense, and could not speak of her as being in the past at all.
    He nodded. “I’ll help you with those bags.”
    Head bowed, he walked past her, and she hated herself. Hated herself for not reaching out