Geek Bearing Gifts (BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance): A BBW in search of love + A sexy shifter who secretly loved her = Smokin' Roaring Romance (Paranormal Dating Agency Book 2) (2 page)

“I need a little break. Sometimes it’s good to take a few days to just eat ice cream, watch bad TV and wear PJs all day
.” Nita laughed, hoping Tally would think she was being honest. Though all those things sounded damn good to her. Maybe she would go home and do them all if her date went to shit.

“Yeah, I guess.” Tally didn’t sound convinced.

A glance at her GPS told her she had another half hour drive. In the quiet frickin’ lone stretch of road. Nighttime fast approached. She should’ve made it a daytime date. But she’d been so damn excited about going on a date with a shifter, she’d forgotten all about her fear of the dark.

Thankfully, she always carried around pepper spray in her bag. Not because she liked drama or fights, but because she didn’t want to ever be caught unaware by anyone. She lived in a dangerous city. Anything could happen.

“Besides, you, Connor and Theron are busy getting to know each other. You don’t need me hanging around like a fourth wheel.”

Tall
y gasped. “Nita Islas! How could you even say something like that? You’re not a fourth wheel!”

Yeah, right. She definitely felt like a fourth wheel whenever they met up at a restaurant or for some drinks. Connor and Theron
were all over Tally. She wasn’t jealous of her cousin. Hell, she was so happy she could squeeze the two men to bits. It was the fact she didn’t have anyone in her life worth a smile that made it so difficult. Goddammit!  She wanted her own man all over her groping her ass like they were teenagers on a first date.

“Have you called Mrs. Wilder?” Tally suddenly asked.

“Um...”

Tally growled on the other end of the line. “Why won’t you do it already? I really think it could be helpful for you.”

Again, she wasn’t keeping things from Tally. She loved Tally more than most of her family, other than her parents and her grandma Kate. It’s just that with her past relationship having turned into something out of the Twilight Zone, Nita didn’t want to talk about anything without knowing where it was going first.

“I’m going to trust her to find me a man. I promise.” She was going to hell
in a limo at this point. Where were the antacid pills when she needed them? Lying to her best friend was bad. But Tally loved her. That made things that much worse.

“Okay. As long as you try.” Tally said something so softly Nita didn’t make it out. “I’m going to have to go now. We’re about to go out to dinner and a show.”

That was another thing. How in the hell did Tally end up with the best of both worlds? Hot men who did everything she wanted and amazing sex. Nita had never had it that good. The closest she’d come was the bear best friend in high school.
Ky. And even though she hadn’t cared about his features, he’d been a good-looking guy. He’d been so shy she’d had to make sure their friendship never turned weird by telling him how much she liked him. Her extra limb is what Nita’s mom had called him. Wherever she went, he went.

For her entire sophomore year of high school he’d been her rock. There had been things they didn’t discuss, like guys or girl
s. He got a bit growly at her mention of him finding a girlfriend. Not that she wanted him to go out there and find anyone who would take too much of his attention. It’s just that Nita had been a big girl since she was born.

It wasn’t that she ate unhealthy foods, though she had a sweet tooth that would make any baker delighted. She ate normal and exercised
regularly with her dad. She was just big. The last thing she expected was for anyone as cute as Ky to ever notice her. She’d had insecurity issues as a kid. Major ones with a side of shyness.

In order for her to
finally accept that she needed to embrace her body because it was the only one she had, she’d ended up going to therapy. It didn’t end there. There was a mass of dieticians with meal and exercise plans. Her mother also took her to various health professionals that worked alongside her to help grow Nita’s self-esteem.

After a few years, she finally learned to love her body
. Once she did, it was so much easier— and fun —to be sexy and sensual. It stopped being uncomfortable for her to wear the sparkly short skirts and some of the tops that plunged and showed off her abundant cleavage. She was a new person. All because she stopped hiding behind what others thought and allowed herself to be Nita Islas, curvy Latina.

B
y the time she had found herself, learned to love Nita and stop letting haters take her self-esteem, she’d moved away from Ky. Her heart ached for her old friend. She could only hope he found some way to outgrow his own shyness and embrace the handsome geeky guy inside.

It was already dark by the time she reached the cabin.
She hoped her host hadn’t waited too long. A peek at her dashboard clock said she was only half an hour late. Damn it. A stickler for time, she hated being late. Especially when she knew how much of an impact keeping correct times made in her life. She glanced down at her wrinkled ankle pants and pretty but not overtly sexual purple top. Then she lifted her arms and sniffed to make sure she didn’t stink. Nope. All was good there. Since she knew how sensitive shifter senses were, she had decided to opt for a light perfume.

She
pulled out a tube of cherry lip gloss out of her bag and popped two breath mints. It wasn’t a shower and toothpaste, but that’s as good as it was going to get.  With a quick, deep breath, she hopped out of her Prius and hiked to the cabin. Fall fast approached and that meant the temperature was just perfect for being outside without sweating bullets. She hoped her date liked walks.

Her heart started to hammer hard in her chest the closer the got to the door. What if he
wasn’t right with her? What if Mrs. Wilder had made a mistake? Fuck it. She kicked the kernel of insecurity in the ass and knocked on the door. The knock pushed the door slightly open.

“Hello?”
she called out into the homey interior. She wasn’t trying to get into the guy’s life, but he had a place built for comfort. Large brown leather sofas with pretty gold and yellow decorative pillows sat in the living room.

She pushed the front door open some more. Maybe he couldn’t hear her. Did she really want to date a shifter that was hard of hearing? Tally had told her they were known for their wonderful sensitive hearing. Figured, she snorted. Her date would probably end up being an old, hard
-of-hearing shifter who probably couldn’t shift. Now Mrs. Wilder’s words made sense about having preconceived ideas of him. Dear God! What if he couldn’t get it up?

“Oh, hell no!”
she said through gritted teeth. The guy wasn’t home for their date. He probably forgot her. Her temperature rose with her anger. How could he not be home and leave his door open? Nobody in the city did that. Curiosity made her take another step inside and call out again, “Anybody home?” 

She wasn’t really breaking and entering since she’d been invited there. At least she hoped using that as an excuse when her date showed up worked.

She moved deeper into the large cabin. It smelled delicious. Like someone had been cooking all day. That calmed her some. The cabin was big. What if he couldn’t hear her from wherever he was? Pitchers filled with fresh wild flowers sat at every table. Still no sign of her host. Maybe he’d gone out to run an errand. If that was the case, why was there a massive Jeep parked in front? It made no sense to her.

She strolled through the cabin with caution, but still managed to ogle every beautiful piece of carved furniture.

His dining room table was gigantic with enough chairs to sit her entire family and then some. She started making up a story in her head about her date. He had so many children and grandchildren that he had to have a big table. He had to be really old at this point. Like ancient. Nita tried not to giggle, considering her date had clearly forgotten she was coming. It was obvious between the two of them that she’d been the only one excited for their date.

“Hello?”
she yelled louder. Nothing.

The scent of food drifted from the open kitchen. She strolled into the space and bit back a moan. Christ. If there had ever been a kitchen made with lots of cooking in
mind, this was it. Whoever picked the cabinets had done an amazing job. They were made of a beautiful wood that blended the inside with the outdoors. It was the huge stove and two double ovens that made Nita’s mouth water. She loved baking. It helped her relax. Not that she was as good as Tally or Mrs. Wilder, but she hadn’t killed anyone so far. Seeing this kitchen was heaven. Her date had already earned brownie points in her book and he wasn’t even there.

She stalked closer to the huge refrigerator and almost tripped on something. A pair of feet. She gasped. “What the hell?”

Rounding the corner in a flash, she lost her breath at the sight of the large man sprawled on the shiny wood floor of the kitchen. He was so big that she stood there for a second, unsure what to do. Something clicked in her head and she moved closer. Once she reached him, she kneeled beside the man’s face, which was turned to the side. She tried not to gawk, but it was impossible.

He lay there, in nothing but a towel
, his muscled body displayed for her to view. And touch...if she dared. That was so wrong. So very wrong. But he was passed out. One tiny feel of his six pack wouldn’t really be so bad, would it?

“Bad Nita! This guy needs your hel
p, not for you to drool over his passed out body.” She gently turned his head to face her. Air caught at the back of her throat. He was frickin’ gorgeous. The hair on his chest wasn’t so thick that she could still make out the muscles underneath it. Her throat went dry. Her palms itched to touch him and see how smooth he’d feel. She imagined running her nails over him and grazing them down to his innie belly button. Even that was sexy. Her gaze shot down to where the towel hung precariously over his hips, the sides having slid over to reveal his muscular and slightly hairy thigh.

Dear God! Without a doubt she was going to hell. If not hell at least somewhere she would be punished for lusting after a passed out
, possibly dead, mountain man. How long had it been since the last time she had had sex that she was now mentally licking this poor man while he lay there needing help.

She raised a trembling hand to his neck to feel for a pulse. He was alive. Thank you God! This was probably the first time she’d ever given a silent prayer that a first date wasn’t really avoiding her.

“Hello?” calling softly to him, she cupped his face in her hands. There was a large gash on the other side of his head and blood matted his hair. She should call 9-1-1 and stop feeling on the guy. Darn it, but she couldn’t help herself. She tried to tap his face, but ended up sliding her fingers over his scruffy jaw. Yep. She was a pervert. Taking advantage of a man down. That ticket to hell was now first-class on the fastest jet known to man.

A soft groan sounded from the big guy.

“Wake up, sleeping beauty.” She couldn’t help herself. Should she kiss him? That would probably only add to her list of infractions in the book ‘What Not to Do with a Passed out Stranger’.

She was dying to see
his eyes. She knew they’d be spectacular. Sure enough, a few blinks and his long thick lashes fluttered open to a piercing stare. He lifted a hand to the one she had on his cheek and covered it with his own.

Oxygen froze in her lungs. His eyes might be hazel, but there was something about him that told her she knew him. She couldn’t know him. She’d never have forgotten someone this big.
This sexy. This— Shit! This naked!

She swallowed hard at the nerves knotting in the back of her throat. “Hi.”

Sexy man licked his lips and winced. Fuck. For someone who worked in the medical field she was acting like an amateur. His head probably hurt and there she was feeling on him like a sex-starved maniac. Probably breaking some laws in the process.

Ky
Stone’s bear rumbled for him to wake up. The soft, sexy scent of the mate he’d long ago given up filled his lungs. Another rumble from the bear and the fog slowly dissipated. The scent of his mate grew stronger still. The bear pushed for a shift, but even though he wasn’t fully awake, Ky was in control. Another rumble and the bear made his muscles ache with the strength of his power. He wanted out. Now.

Hold on
.

He’d let the bear roam soon.
Right now he needed to open his eyes and deal with the world. Except, he couldn’t find it in him to let go of the scent growing more powerful by the second. Nita.

So he lay in the half-aware state if only to hold on to her scent a little longer.
Only problem was the bear’s loud roar inside was hard to tamp down.

The animal was angry. So was
Ky. His head hurt and he knew someone had come in and hit him from behind when he’d been arguing with his sister over her matchmaking ways. She’d called to tell him she’d set him up on a blind date. Without his knowledge. Knowing Jess, she must have thought he’d hung up on her, angry over what she’d done when the call had gotten cut off.

He didn’t need or want any female.
The one he’d known long ago belonged to him. Back then he’d been a gangly teen with braces. He’d also had a massive case of shyness around Nita. Her beautiful smile and sparkling brown eyes had made him tongue-tied more times than he could count.