Vega Brothers: Hannibal: BBW Paranormal Romance Pretend Engagement (The Bear Shifters of Vega Ranch Book 4) (3 page)

“Amanda, right?” Hannibal said. “Is that because you’re
a man, duh
?”

She chuckled with a deep throaty laugh. “Don’t be silly you,” she said, waving him away.

Hannibal leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms as he stared at her. “You’re a dude.”

“You’re funny,” Amanda said, lifting her broad shoulders up and giggling. “So, the article said that you had a family fortune. How much are we talking here? Seven figures? Eight figures? Nine?”

Hannibal just ignored her or him or it. “You have an Adam’s apple,” he said, pointing to her neck.

Mikki giggled as she wiped the table for the eighteenth time.

“No,” Amanda said, adjusting her balls as she crossed her hairy legs. “That’s a piece of fried chicken that’s been stuck in my throat for a few days.”

Hannibal just stared at her. “Yeah, that makes sense. And your wig is on crooked.”

Mikki snorted out a laugh and Hannibal turned towards her with a grin on his face. “Hey waitress,” he said in a monotone voice. “I think the table is clean. You can move on now.”

She giggled as she shook her head. “No, I missed a spot.”

He winked at her as he turned back to his date who was turning the wig over helplessly. “I’m going to go to the bathroom and fix this,” she/he said. “Don’t you dare go anywhere.”

Mikki giggled as Amanda stood up and wobbled on her high heels to the bathroom. She walked straight into the men’s bathroom and then walked out a second later. “Oops,” she said, touching her index finger to her lips. “How embarrassing.”

Hannibal just shook his head as she held open the door of the woman’s bathroom. She turned back to Hannibal and blew him a kiss as she went inside.

“Ew,” Hannibal said, picking up the menu and hitting away the incoming kiss like he was batting away a tennis ball.

Mikki burst out laughing. “She’s really pretty,” she teased.

Hannibal dropped his head onto the table with a thud. “I hate my life. So much.”

“You?” she asked, slipping into Amanda’s seat. She glanced into Amanda’s open purse on the chair and saw about forty tampons stuffed inside.
Is that what this guy thinks is in a woman’s purse?

“You’re Montana’s most eligible bachelor,” she said with a smirk. “You should be living it up!”

Hannibal took a long swig of his beer. “At this point, I don’t even want the ranch anymore. It’s full of crazies, including my brothers and their annoying wives.”

Mikki felt bad for him. She had never seen him so depressed. “You need a pretend marriage to get everyone to back off of you.”

His face dropped as he looked up at her with wide eyes and parted lips. “That’s genius,” he said. “Normally I’m the one who comes up with the genius ideas.”

Mikki shrugged. “You just have to find a girl to go along with it. Pretend you’re married and everyone will just go away and leave you alone.”

Hannibal was just staring right at her.

“Do you know someone who would be up for that?” she asked.

His stare turned into a grin and Mikki’s stomach fluttered. “No,” she said, shaking her head.

Hannibal nodded, never taking his eyes off of her.

“I can’t get married,” she said, leaning back in the chair.

“It’s just for pretend,” he said, leaning forward. “Like you said. I can pay you.”

Mikki held her breath. “I don’t need your money.”

“I can pay you a lot,” Hannibal said, raising his eyebrows.

Amanda burst out of the woman’s washroom with a long string of toilet paper stuck to the bottom of her shoe. “The shitter is clogged,” he/she said, pointing to the door. “It wasn’t me.”

Jack overheard from behind the bar and walked out with the toilet plunger. “I’m in charge of behind the bar, you’re in charge of in front of it.” He thrust out the plunger in front of Mikki’s face and she cringed as she stared at the dried shit encrusted all over it.

Mikki curled up her nose in disgust as she turned back to Hannibal. “How much money?”

three

“An easy ten grand,” Hannibal said, looking across the table at the pretty waitress. She drove a hard bargain. He had to unclog the toilet in the woman’s bathroom before she would even agree to speak with him about it.

Amanda had given up the charade when one of her coconut breasts had fallen out of her dress and rolled across the floor of the bar. It turned out that her name was actually Ron and he was a truck driver from Ohio. He seemed to be a nice guy but he just wasn’t Hannibal’s type, you know, with the whole having a cock and balls thing ruining it for him.

“Twenty grand,” Mikki said, flicking her gorgeous black hair with the blue streaks over her shoulder. “And I want a ring. A big one.”

Hannibal sighed. “Fine. Twenty grand and a ring.” She didn’t mention what kind. He was going to steal Julius’ decoder ring that he got by saving up six months worth of cereal boxes.

“With diamonds on it,” she added.

Damn.
This chick drove a hard bargain.

“Fine,” he said, sticking out his hand to seal the deal. “Shake on it?”

Mikki smiled wide as she jumped up and slapped her hand into his. “Deal,” she said, shaking it.

“Great,” he said, feeling like a tremendous weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He could tell all of the crazy women to get lost and he didn’t have to hear his brothers and their mates in his ear anymore. This was going to be amazing!

“You’re my fiancee now,” he said.

“Great,” she said, standing up and unclipping her apron. “Can you do me a favor baby cakes? I have a terrible headache. Can you finish up my shift for me?”

“Huh?” he asked as she dropped her apron on the table in front of him.

“Thank you schnookums,” she said, patting his shoulder as she walked past him.

“Wait,” he said, turning as she headed for the door. “What?”

“Fiancees do nice things for each other,” she said with a twist of her curvy hips. “I knew you’d understand. Bye, Jack,” she said, waving to the bartender. “My new hubby is going to finish up.”

“Wait a minute,” Hannibal called out as she opened the door. “When am I going to see you again?”

“I’ll come to your place for breakfast tomorrow,” she said with a grin. “We can announce the good news to your family then.”

Hannibal dropped his head.
What did I get myself into?

“Oh, and schmoopy pie,” she said, ready to bolt out the door. “Blueberry pancakes for breakfast.” She blew him a kiss and skipped out the door.

“What just happened?” he asked, staring at the table. He had been outsmarted by his new business partner/fake fiancee.

“Hey, Hannibal,” Jack called out from behind the bar.

He looked up in shock.

“Put that apron on,” he said with a frown. “Table seven is thirsty.”

Hannibal shook his head.

This is why I didn’t want to get married in the first place.

Mikki slapped the steering wheel of her car like a drummer performing a solo as she sang at the top of her lungs to Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal.

“Woooo!” she screamed out the open window to a cow who was chewing grass while staring at her in the open field. “Twenty fucking grand!”

She flew down the highway gripping her steering wheel and smiling up at the mountains.
I’m going to buy new clothes and a new TV and those pumps that I’ve had my eyes on.
This was going to be great. Hannibal was a nice guy and they would make a striking couple. She would get a nice diamond ring in the deal and all she had to do was look pretty on his arm, kiss his cheek, and laugh at his jokes. It might even be fun.

She just had to remember what the deal was. She couldn’t get her feelings involved but that shouldn’t be a problem. Hannibal was cute but she could be a professional. She wouldn’t even go there.

Her phone buzzed on the seat beside her and Mikki turned down the radio and picked it up. “Come on, man,” she groaned as she saw who was calling. He always brought down her mood when he called. And he had been calling a lot lately.

She took a deep breath and answered. “Hello, Dad,” she said, rolling her eyes. “What can I do for you?”

“Hello, Michelle,”
he said in a tight, nervous voice.
“I’m going to be in town on business and I was wondering if I could come see you.”
She could picture him sitting in his big empty house with a large glass of scotch in front of him, clinking the ice cubes as he talked to her.

“I’m a little busy with a work thing,” she said, biting her bottom lip. “Maybe next time that you’re in town.”

“This is the next time,”
he said.
“You told me the same line last month.”

Then maybe you should take the hint.

“Sorry, Dad,” she said, feeling a headache coming on. “It’s not a good time.”

“When will be a good time?”
he asked.
“I can send a guy to Montana for me to take care of the assignment but I always come myself to try and see you.”

Mikki swallowed hard. “Maybe you should send the other guy next time.”

She heard him sigh on the other end of the line.
“Okay,”
he said.
“Good luck with your work thing. What is it that you’re doing?”

Mikki rolled her eyes. “It’s just a thing. I gotta go, Dad. I’m driving.”

“Okay,”
he said.
“Drive carefully. I lov-”

She hung up and tossed her phone onto the passenger’s seat. “Fuck him!” she said, slapping the steering wheel. After all of this time, after everything that he put her through, he thinks he could just walk back into her life.
Fuck that! I won’t let him.

She turned off the radio and drove the rest of the way home in silence as her headache came raging on.

four

Hannibal paced around the kitchen as he glanced out of the window like he had been doing all morning.

“What’s the matter with you?” Julius asked from behind the stove. “First, you beg me for blueberry pancakes and now you’re running around the kitchen like Usain Bolt on speed. Will you sit down? You’re making me nervous.”

Hannibal couldn’t. He was freaking out. This had to work perfectly or he would be out twenty grand and the barrage of horrible dates and pressure would continue. “I have someone coming for breakfast.”

“Oooh,” Bailey said, looking up from her bowl of cereal. “Did the date go well last night?”

“If the date went well he’d be waiting for her to come down the hallway, not up the driveway,” Elena said.

“Hey!” Hannibal said, pointing at her. “Be nice. I’m only in this situation because of you.”

“No,” Alexander said, butting his big nose in. “You’re only in this situation because you waited so long to find a mate.”

“Well, I did, okay?” Hannibal said as he continued his pacing.

“What?” Ava asked, lowering the newspaper in her hands. “Tell us
everything.
”

Hannibal froze with his breath caught in his throat as a blue car turned off the main road and drove up the dirt road that led to the house. He narrowed his eyes, trying to peer through the windshield to see if it was Mikki or just another crazed girl trying to get a payday.

He rubbed the back of his neck as he watched the car come to a stop and the door open. “Nice!” he yelled, sprinting out of the kitchen.
She actually showed up!
He had been nervous all morning that Mikki was going to bail on him.

He flew out the front door and ran up to her car in his socks. “Thank you so much for coming,” he said as he greeted her.

“
You’re
thanking
me
?” Mikki asked in shock. “I’m getting paid twenty grand for this. Of course I was going to show up.”

“Still,” he said, looking her up and down as she glanced up at the window of the kitchen. She looked even better than she did last night. Her hair was wavy with curls and she had tight jeans on that showed off her many curves. Her shirt was loose and she was showing off some cleavage. Hannibal’s bear purred lightly as he looked at her breasts. His eyes darted up to her face but she hadn’t heard his inner brown bear, or if she did she had ignored it.

“Looks like we have an audience,” she said, looking up at the window and waving.

Hannibal followed her eyes and groaned. All three of his brothers and their mates were watching with their hands and noses plastered against the window. His nephew Liam had his lips on the glass, showing the inside of his mouth.

“That’s what I’ve been telling you about,” he said. “It’s a constant audience.”

She smiled at him as she wrapped her arm around his. “Then let’s give them a show.” Her breasts pressed against his forearm as she leaned over and kissed his cheek. Hannibal felt his nerve endings tingle and his mouth became moist. He stood up a little straighter and looked at the door while his cheeks started to burn red.

“Come my little love bear,” she said, pulling him to the front door. He swallowed hard as he followed her into the house. This was going to go well. He hoped.

His family came rushing to the front door to meet Mikki. She was a natural, hugging everyone and acting so excited to meet each of them.