Pursuing the Panther: BBW Shifter Mail Order Bride Romance (Mail-Order Mates Book 7) (4 page)

Ben felt great. He knew he should feel a little more ashamed of his behavior. He wasn’t, though. Not even a small bit. He hadn’t fought in years. There were shifter fights all the time behind the Boozy Bear and Ben used to be a regular when he was younger. He was good at it, too. He’d worked hard to gain a reputation among the hardened shifters who fought. That had all ended once he started hanging out with Sunset Falls’ shifters again. None of his friends knew that he used to fight. Ben wasn’t ashamed of his old habits, but none of them would understand.

Zelda was very quiet for the ride back. Ben was worried she didn’t understand either. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “I’m a little drunk. I don’t want to say anything I might regret.”

“I’ll never hold drunken confessions against you,” Ben assured her.

“Why did you fight that guy?”

“I wanted to. He needed to be punched. Those kinds of guys think they can get away with anything.”

“Kind of like you, huh?”

“Maybe.” Ben smiled. He could be a bit arrogant. It wasn’t one of his better traits, but the flip side of arrogant was confidence. “I don’t want you to think I’m someone I’m not.”

“I’d say the same,” she spit.

“You’re mad now.”

“You’re damn right I’m mad. You took me to a shitty bar and then got in a fight. You think that’s the kind of thing that impresses me?”

Ben pulled into the parking lot at the Lunar Hotel. “I thought you’d like the bar. I knew it was rough, but I really didn’t think I’d get into a fight tonight.”

“Then you shouldn’t have.” Zelda tried to get out of the truck and slam the door but it didn’t go right. She ended up falling out of her heels onto the pavement. “Damn!”

Ben rushed to get out of the car and help her up. “You didn’t have that much to drink.”

“I have a low tolerance.”

“You’re a bartender.” Ben laughed. “I’m going to help you get to your room.”

It was slow going up the first three steps and Ben became impatient. He picked Zelda up and carried her the rest of the way. She didn’t even protest.

“Key,” Ben demanded when they were at her door. Zelda fished around in her purse until she found the hotel key. Ben lowered her so she could open the door, then he carried her inside and set her down on the bed.

“Thanks.” She looked up at him and smiled drunkenly before remembering she was mad at him. She frowned. “You can go now.”

“I don’t think you’re the kind of girl who likes bar fights. I only thought you’d like the bar. It sounds like your bar at home is very similar.”

“We don’t have a shifter fighting ring.”

“You know about that?”

“It’s kind of hard to miss. Did you used to fight?”

“A long time ago. I would never do something like that again.”

“Wouldn’t you? You basically did the same thing tonight.”

“There was no betting. I fought because the way they were all looking at you got to me.”

“What?”

Ben sighed. “I like the bar, but I’ve never been there with a girl I cared about before. That stuff never bothered me before.”

Zelda considered the admission. “You care about me? When you just met me?”

“I think...” Ben stopped. He couldn’t just come out and say it. Not when she barely wanted to stay as it was. “Have you heard about how shifters fall in love?”

Zelda nodded. “I have. Tessa told me how she knew Hank was the one right away.”

Ben looked at her pointedly. “Exactly.”

“You think I’m the one?
The
one, the one?” Zelda seemed shocked. “I don’t believe it.”

“Don’t you feel something when you look at me?” Ben could hear the desperation in his voice. She was drunk. He shouldn’t take anything she said personally, but he wanted her to like him too. He had always believed in the back of his mind that people were more honest when they were drunk.

“I don’t know.” She shook her head. “I think I could like you one day. Maybe. But your mother is a real pain. And this town is very small. It seems like everyone knows everyone.”

“That’s the good thing about it,” Ben told her. “Stay for a month. Give it a month and you’ll love this town like I do.”

“And I’ll love you too?”

“Maybe.” That was what he hoped. Given enough time, she would realize she was his mate. She could only fight it for so long. There wasn’t anything else for him to do.

“You said one date and I could leave. You wouldn’t follow or try to get me to stay.”

“I think it was a pretty good date,” Ben ventured. “We should extend it for another three dates.”

“What about that kiss?” Zelda asked softly.

“What about it?” Ben could smell the lust rising from her body. She wanted him. Was it the alcohol or did she really want him?

She leaned back on the bed. “I don’t know. Maybe we should extend that too.”

Ben’s panther agreed. He could clearly see the path forward. If he mated with her, there was a good chance she’d see that she was his match, that they belonged together forever. She might also be very angry that he had slept with her. Or she could be tricking him. She had wanted to sleep with him when they first met. Maybe she had already made up her mind but she still wanted to get off before she left town.

The last possibility was the one that worried him. If it was true, there was nothing he could do to keep her with him. At least he could experience his mate one time before losing her for good.

He put one knee on the bed. “Maybe.”

***

Ben leaned over her and kissed her softly on the mouth. Zelda didn’t know what she’d been thinking. All that talk of mates and being his one true love had done something to her. He might as well have said he wanted to knock her up. There was something so very appealing about a man telling her she was his one and only. It made her feel special. Loved.

She wasn’t happy about him fighting in the bar and she still thought he could be an arrogant prick. But he was growing on her. He could be
her
arrogant prick. So what if he lived in a stupid small town? The people here were nice. It wouldn’t be as exciting as home, but at least she could leave her doors unlocked during the day. She could walk alone at night and not have to worry about getting robbed or worse. She could let her kids play outside and not have to worry about someone selling them drugs. Life could be a lot worse.

Zelda kissed Ben back and pulled him down on top of her. If she was his mate, she was going to show him how special that made her feel. She hoped kissing wasn’t the only thing he was good at.

She ran her hands up and down his biceps and along his six-pack. He was in great shape. His body was the perfect mix of muscle and mass. She loved that she could feel his weight on top of her.

Ben’s hands went right up her skirt and he pulled her thong off quickly. He left the skirt on and ran his finger through her wet folds. Zelda shivered as he pressed against her clit softly. Her hips thrust against his hand as if they didn’t belong to her. She heard a needy mewling noise and was shocked that it had come from her. She wanted to show him how special she felt, not beg for it.

Zelda grabbed Ben by the shoulder and guided him onto his back. He wasn’t the only one who knew how to tease. She straddled him before pulling off his shirt, then ran her hands down his abs one more time before letting her tongue trace the same route. She licked along the top of his jeans and let her tongue dip into his belly button. Ben laughed and then his breath hitched as she played with the button on his jeans. She unbuttoned it with her hand. He watched, biting his lip, as she pulled the zipper down with her teeth. She looked him in the eyes the whole time.

His hard cock had been pressing into her chest the entire time she was working the zipper down. She tugged his pants down slowly and let his cock spring free. She was very pleased when she finally got a good look at him.

“Wait.”

Zelda looked at Ben quizzically.

“Take off your shirt. I want to touch your tits while you have my cock in your mouth.”

She unlaced her top and let him get a good look at her. Ben repositioned her so she was perpendicular to him. He could easily get his hands on her while she went to work. She took the head of his dripping cock between her lips and sucked him softly. Ben moaned, letting her know she was starting off well.

Zelda worked him between her lips as he rolled her nipples between his fingers and massaged her breasts. She could feel him expanding in her mouth as she took him as deep as she could. Ben moved her again and he popped out from between her lips.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to mess you up. I just want to taste you too.”

He moved her until her dripping pussy was in his face. Once he had her in place, Zelda took him deep into her throat again. Just as he hit the back of her throat, his tongue slipped between her folds. She moaned around him and her knees trembled on the bed. He was even better at eating pussy than he was at kissing. He worked his tongue until she was a trembling mess and could barely keep up on her end. Once she’d come, he stopped and tapped her until she looked up.

“I want to come inside of you.”

She was suddenly very sober. Inside? She didn’t do that. It was too risky. He was growing on her, but she wasn’t in love with him yet.

He stroked her until she was on the verge of orgasm again, then said, “I’ll pull out. Is that okay?”

Zelda nodded and let him roll her onto her back. As soon as she was flipped over, he plunged into her and rode her until she came again and again. Only when she was babbling incoherently and scratching at his back did he finally pull out and come on her stomach.

Ben rolled off her and growled, “That was fucking amazing.”

Zelda nodded. She couldn’t say anything. She was exhausted. She couldn’t remember if she’d ever had it so good. He was definitely a keeper, just for his tongue skill alone. She nestled into the crook of his arm and promptly fell asleep.

A loud buzzing woke her the next morning. She could hear Ben singing in the shower. Looking around for the source of the buzzing sound, she saw his phone on the nightstand. It wouldn’t stop. She tried to roll over and go back to sleep but the sound was intrusive. She picked it up to try to find the silence button.

It was a text from his mom. She hesitated for only a moment before opening the text. It was a crazy thing to do and an invasion of his privacy. She knew better. Searching through a man’s phone had never gotten her anywhere good. This time was no different. The text detailed how Maude was sorry but was only looking out for her boy. She thought Zelda was a lying gold digger and wanted Ben’s permission to hire a PI to look into her background.

Zelda’s heart dropped. That woman was never going to stop. A PI? Really? That was something out of a reality TV show, not real life.

If she was going to be with Ben, she was going to have to put up with his mother too. She only hoped that Ben would have the balls to stand up for her.

“You aren’t going to the fair?” Gwen sounded stricken, as if Zelda had just announced she was going to kick a puppy.

“I can’t go.” Zelda was really sorry. She had been looking forward to the big event until she found out that Maude was one of the big sponsors of the event and would be there all the damn time. It was silly, but she didn’t want to have to deal with the dirty looks on opening day. She would only feel uncomfortable and it would ruin Ben’s day. She would go with Ben on the third day or so. No one would care and she would be able to relax.

“You have to come to opening day,” Amy told her. “It’s going to be the most fun day and all the big events are happening then. Owen is speaking and everything.”

“Is it because of Maude?” Gwen put her hands on her hips. “That woman wouldn’t know good if it smacked her in the face.”

“Sometimes I’m tempted,” Zelda murmured.

She was in the office at the hotel talking with Rachel, Gwen, and Amy. She needed to extend her stay by a week and wanted to pay for it herself. It was nice of Ben to take care of the first few weeks, but enough was enough. She had money. For now, anyway. She didn’t know how much longer her job would be waiting for her in Louisiana. It was getting down to the wire for her. She needed to decide soon.

One more week. She was going to stay until the end of the fair. If she hadn’t made up her mind by then, she never would.

“You can come with us,” Rachel suggested.

“I don’t want to be a third wheel.”

“You can be the fourth person for rides.” Amy pointed to her belly. “We can’t go on most of them and our husbands are going to need a fourth person.”

“It’ll be a lot of fun,” Gwen said. “Maude won’t say a thing to you if you’re with all of us.”

“Ben will be mad if I go without him.”

“We can meet up with Ben after the big kick-off,” Rachel said. “This is perfect for everyone. Ben is going to be busy shaking hands and schmoozing.”

“We’ll ride all the rides and then Ben can meet us for food,” Amy said. “Frank wants to try all the desserts he can.”

“This is his only chance.” Gwen shook her head. “He needs to hire more help. This is starting to get ridiculous. He’s way more successful than he gives himself credit for.”

Amy’s eyes lit up. “Zelda, you have experience in food service.”

“I’m a bartender,” she said. “That isn’t the same as cupcakes. I can’t bake to save my life.”

“You won’t have to bake,” Amy assured her. “All you’d have to do is hand people their bags and take their money.”

“You could start training now and then Frank would have help for the big rush during the holidays,” Rachel said. “People buy so many Halloween cookies, and Thanksgiving to Christmas is insane.”

“If I stay,” Zelda reminded them.

Gwen rolled her eyes. “You’re going to stay. Nobody has turned away an LK match yet and you aren’t going to be the first.”

“You’ve heard how we all got matched,” Amy said. “Me and Gwen were the worst. I mean, I left town and told Frank to leave me alone. I didn’t take his call for weeks.”

“I didn’t want to tell Dom I was even pregnant.” Gwen shook her head. “Thank gosh I came to my senses. Two babies and just me.”

“It took Clint and me years to find each other,” Rachel said. “Ben is your mate. You don’t want to walk away from that just because some lady is mean to you.”

“It isn’t like Ben is a
mama’s boy,” Rachel said. “He loves his mother very much. He’s a good and devoted son, but he wouldn’t put his mother above his mate.”

“I can’t think of any shifters who would,” Gwen added.

“I don’t know.” Zelda wavered. It did sound like fun. It would be the best of both worlds. She could see all the opening night activities, spend time with Ben, and avoid his mother. This was a once in a lifetime event. There was only one kick-off for the county fair. Who knew if there would even be a fair ten years from now? If she stayed in town, she would want to have those memories. Ben and his friends had worked hard getting it all set up so quickly, and this would also be the only night they would all be able to see each other. Owen, Frank, and Clint were all working booths at the fair on different days.

“You want to come.” Amy laughed. “I can see it all over your face. Stop being such a worrywart. When I first met you, I thought you were the kind of girl who wouldn’t take shit from anyone. Was I wrong?”

“Letting a little old lady chase you away from the biggest social event of the summer.” Gwen shook her head and sighed. “Guess you aren’t as tough as we thought you were. Maybe you aren’t cut out to be an LK bride.”

It was Zelda’s turn to roll her eyes. “You guys are laying it on real thick. I’ll go. But if that ‘sweet old lady’ says one off-color remark, I am going to slap her into next week. Metaphorically, of course. I am a lady, after all.”

“Atta girl!” Amy hugged her. “You’re going to fit in great around here. I’m so glad Ben got matched with someone cool.”

“Thanks. I’m glad he has some neat friends.”

Zelda couldn’t begin to tell them how much they added to the appeal of Sunset Falls and Ben. At home, she didn’t have Tessa anymore. Her sister was her best friend and was going to be hard to replace. If she stayed in Sunset Falls, there was a whole network of women who were already befriending her. It made the town so much more attractive to her. Ben was lucky to have great friends, and she would be glad to call them her friends too.

***

“You look so wonderful when you dress up.” Maude complimented her son. “I’m glad you decided that you’d still escort me to the stage and introduce me.”

“I would never renege on a commitment.”

Ben wouldn’t miss out on this for the world. He was glad Zelda hadn’t pushed the subject. It seemed like she wanted him to back out, but she’d never asked. Things were going very well between them with the exception of anytime the subject of his mother came up. Zelda didn’t like his mother even though they had only met the one time.

Not that his mother liked Zelda, either. She refused to comment on his match. It was frustrating, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it now.

He had been glad to hear that Zelda was coming to the opening ceremony with his friends. He owed the women something big for helping him out. He’d never imagined how invaluable his best friends’ wives were going to be to his own happiness. He was going to hire the best professional makeup artists from Hollywood to come and work on the commercial. The women deserved it and it was the best way he could think to thank them. He also knew that they couldn’t refuse that gift. The women were all so humble he knew it would be almost impossible to get them to accept big gifts.

The carnival was already teeming with people. They had picked a very good weekend. It was starting to get cooler at night and the days weren’t out-of-this-world hot anymore. The only thing that set their carnival apart from the rest was the lack of grass. Ben had been to a few fairs and carnivals in the Midwest, East, and South when he was younger. There was no way Sunset Falls could put on anything like that. Instead, they had gone for more of a seaside boardwalk look. The finished product looked far more interesting than any other fair or carnival Ben had ever been to.

His mother and her friends had chosen well. Nothing would have made him happier than Zelda sitting in the front row as he introduced his mother. Instead, she would be somewhere in the crowd with his friends, likely still near the front. It hurt that the two most important women in his life didn’t get along. There was no clear path forward. He had barely been able to convince Zelda to extend her stay. He liked to think it was the sex that had sealed the deal, but that was probably too arrogant even for him.

He was going to have to settle for a standoff. The less his mother saw Zelda, the better. He would wait until the wedding to have to deal with the problems. If there ever was a wedding, anyway. He still hadn’t been able to get a straight answer from his mate on whether she was staying or not. She wanted to, and she seemed to care for him more each day. He couldn’t tell what was holding her back.

“I think it’s time for us to head to the main stage.” Maude tapped her watch. “We don’t want to be late. I am the second most important speaker.”

“Not that you’ll ever let anyone forget it,” Ben joked good-naturedly. He offered Maude the crook of his arm. They walked arm-in-arm from the small vendors’ trailer to the main stage. There were people everywhere and it was hard not to stop and chat. If Maude hadn’t set a brisk pace and refused to stop, it would have taken Ben an hour to reach the stage. The closer they got, the more excited he felt.

He didn’t spot Zelda or her group in the crowd but he knew they were there somewhere. They took their seats in the roped-off VIP area and waited. The mayor’s assistant, Maria, came over a few moments later and marked off on her clipboard that they had arrived. She gave them both a quick rundown of the schedule for the night.

Ben already knew the order of speaking but he was glad she went over it again. First the mayor would speak, then Maude, then his good friend Owen would give the final speech and officially open the week’s festivities.

Maria went to the stage to get things started. It was a very good thing Maude had rushed him. He was so excited he hadn’t even realized they were the last VIPs to arrive.

Maria introduced the mayor and he spoke about the transformation the town had made over the last year. It was a very nice, very quick speech. It was Ben’s turn to introduce his mother before he knew it. He didn’t even have to pull out his notes. He had only written a page-long speech. He didn’t want to take up too much of everyone’s time since he wasn’t a guest speaker. He thanked his mother and the Ladies’ Club for their help organizing the event and said a little about his mother’s longtime charity work in town.

Ben didn’t take his eyes off his mother while she was speaking. Once she had finished, he quickly looked around for Zelda and his other friends. Sure enough, he spotted them along the side of the large crowd. They were hard to miss with Frank and Clint in tow. Ben quickly waved to Zelda while his mother was getting back to her seat. Zelda blew him a kiss that he mimed catching and laughed.

“I see you found your lady,” Maude said, surprising him. She’d gotten off the stage very quickly. She turned and looked toward where Zelda was standing and Ben’s stomach clenched. He wanted to scream at his mother not to even look at his mate. Instead, he sat rigidly. He should have been more careful.

“Why is she sitting all the way over there?” Maude asked. “Are you ashamed to be seen with her in public?”

Ben turned his head slowly and spoken in a very low, controlled voice. “I’m ashamed of the way you’re acting, but you’re my mother. I have no choice but to sit with you. But rest assured, if this is the way you continue to act, this will be the last time I’m near you in public.”

Maude’s eyes were wide and her mouth dropped open. “I think she’s a terrible influence on you. But if you choose to be with that...woman, I’ll support you. I won’t be happy about it, but I can’t stop you from doing what you want. You’re an adult. You’re free to make your own mistakes.”

Ben smiled. “Okay, Mother.”

He relaxed in his seat and couldn’t wipe the grin off his face. That was as close as he was going to get to an apology. It would probably take years for his mother to ever really warm to Zelda. But that didn’t matter. At least now she would put on her public face and be “nice.”

Maybe, just maybe, he would have a chance now.