Bear's Baby (Bear Heat Book 4) (3 page)

He was very good-looking,
with short black hair, gray eyes, and a smile that could melt the
panties off any hot-blooded woman. Lindy kept her eyes on him,
studying his angular, chiseled features. Her heart was thudding in
her chest, but she kept her expression cool and calm.

She had seen him before. She
remembered him.

She already knew the answer
to her question, but she wanted to hear it from him. The reason she
hadn't screamed and yelled for help but had invited him to take a
seat at her table was because she knew that he wasn't a bad guy. In
fact, she knew that he was one of the good guys. She knew that he
was a Black Bear. After that initial flare of annoyance at his
intrusion, she had recognized him.

“I'm with the Black
Bears Group, a security firm,” Baxter answered, taking a sip of
his coffee.

Lindy nodded and stuffed a
big piece of waffle into her mouth so she didn't have to speak. She
was right. Her photographic memory served her well. It
was
him.

She had seen him ten years
ago when she went with her boss to the office of the Black Bears
Group. They were there for a meeting with the Black Bears alpha and
beta, Ethan Flint and Caleb Nash. She had been with the department
for just a few months, a twenty-five-year-old newbie. As she was
leaving the building with her boss, she had heard a roaring laugh and
caught sight of Baxter walking into the office. He was wearing his
Black Bears security vest and his face was covered with grime and
bruises but he looked indescribably happy. His gray eyes shone with
relief and delight as he punched his fists in the air and shouted to
his alpha, “We found them! Every single one of those kids!
The search and rescue mission was a success! Yes!”

She had developed a crush on
him right there and then. She heard the Black Bears alpha call out,
“Great work, Baxter!” And she had watched Baxter do a
happy dance around the office. His joy was infectious, and the other
Black Bears had crowded round to congratulate the team and toast the
success of their mission. His energy and enthusiasm seemed to infect
everyone, including her. She remembered him, but it was clear he
didn't remember her. There was no reason for him to remember her.
She had been about to leave the Black Bears office just as he
barreled through the front doors. He didn't notice her. And who
could blame him? She was just a plain, chubby, nerdy girl.

But that was ten years ago.
She was no longer an insecure twenty-something woman. She was
thirty-five, and she had forged a successful career. She was
meticulous, thorough and one of the best criminal profilers in the
department. She had switched to wearing contacts instead of
spectacles, but her inner nerd was alive and well, thriving in fact.

She no longer bemoaned the
fact that she didn't have a date on Friday nights. She had her work,
and her work was important. She was still chubby, but now she
embraced her curves. She no longer wore loose-fitting clothes that
hid her curves. Instead she knew how to dress to flatter her full
figure and highlight her best assets.

In ten years, she had done a
lot.

So had Baxter. She was aware
of the work the Black Bears did, and she admired their courage,
commitment and tenacity. They had helped the law enforcement
agencies hunt down dangerous criminals and helped plan and execute
daring search and rescue missions.

Baxter had rolled up the
sleeves of his white shirt and she saw the scars down his powerful
arms. Who would have thought that she would be having supper with a
tough, macho Black Bear on a quiet Friday night?

Taking a deep breath, she
swallowed and smiled pleasantly at Baxter. He downed the rest of his
coffee and leaned back. “You're not going to ask to see my
badge?” he asked.

“Should I?”

Baxter stared at her for a
beat. “You should.” Without waiting for her to ask, he
pulled his Black Bears badge out and laid it on the table. She
glanced at it and nodded.

“You didn't have to do
that,” Lindy said when he put his badge away. “I believe
you.”

“You shouldn't,”
Baxter said solemnly, and she detected a note of disapproval in his
voice. “I could have been lying. No, don't be mistaken. I'm
not thinking of lying to you,” he said quickly. “In
fact, I will never lie to you, Lindy.” He frowned suddenly as
if surprised by his own fervent words. Giving his head a subtle
shake, he continued, “But there are people who will lie to get
what they want. And people end up getting hurt. I don't want you to
get hurt.”

Lindy stared at him for a
long while. “That's...sweet of you, Baxter.”

“I'm not sweet,”
he said gruffly. But she saw that he was blushing.

His eyes flicked to her
briefcase. “You work late. What do you do?”

“I...” Lindy
hesitated. “I can't really...”

“You can't talk about
your work,” he said simply.

When she bit her lip and
didn't reply, he leaned forward and said quietly, “You could
have lied. Just fibbed about your job.” He batted his
eyelashes as he recited in an exaggerated falsetto, “Oh, I work
in finance, retail, advertising, management, marketing, whatever.”

He took a breath and looked
her straight in the eye. “But you didn't throw any of those
lines at me. For some people, it's easy to lie. But not for you.
You're an honest person, Lindy. You would rather not answer my
question than to answer it with a lie.”

The corner of her mouth
curved up. “You make a good shrink.”

Baxter laughed. “Nah.
I don't have the patience to take a stroll through someone's
headspace. I'd rather just beat the truth out of them. Did I
mention that I'm one of the best interrogators in the Group?”
He folded his arms and gave her a cocky grin. But she could see that
he was just pretending to be a know-it-all and a show-off. He wasn't
bragging so much as poking fun at himself. And he wanted to warn her
that there were bad people around, people who had no qualms lying,
cheating, kidnapping and inflicting terrible hurt on others.

There were monsters around.
She knew that. It was her job to study them, understand them and try
to identify a method to their madness. She had been trying to burrow
deeper into the mind of a killer just tonight. Those fevered
scribblings on her legal pad were the outline of a map. She was
mapping out the mind of a serial killer and this map might just lead
them to his hidey-hole.

Lindy made her smile broader
and brighter, but that didn't seem to fool Baxter. The guy was
sharp, astute and observant, and she had no doubt that he was indeed
a top-notch interrogator. He was able to read his subject well,
understand the subtle body language and zero in on the person's true,
hidden thoughts and emotions.

“Your work sounds
really interesting. But...I'm afraid there's nothing interesting
about my work. My work's boring. So, there's nothing much to say
about it. Just paperwork and admin stuff, you know,” she said
with a light shrug.

Baxter nodded slowly. “Yeah.
I know.” I know it's
not
just paperwork and admin
stuff.

He hadn't said that last
sentence aloud, but she could hear it clearly in her head as he held
her gaze searchingly, steadily.

“This is a wonderful
little diner. The staff are friendly and this is a safe
neighborhood.” He kept his tone casual and nonchalant but she
read the genuine concern in his eyes. “Do you live around
here? Do you need a ride...”

“Oh, that's my car
right there. I parked right in front of the diner,” she said
breezily, inclining her head towards the window. “It's just a
ten-minute drive home from here.”

He nodded. “Okay. I'm
going to be upfront about this. You see that car at the side of the
road?” He pointed to a black BMW roadster. “I'm going
to tell you my license number, and I'm going to tell you right now
that I'll be following you home. You'll see me in your rear view
mirror, and I don't want you to freak out. I just want to make sure
you get home safe. I'll wait until you've walked through your front
door and locked up behind you. Then I'll drive away. I can assure
you I'm not a stalker, or some pervert. I promise you I won't...”

“That's fine.”
She stopped him with a smile. “I was going to say you don't
have to do this, but I know you'll do it anyway. Thanks, Baxter.”

He looked surprised and
pleased that she wasn't going to argue and fight him on this.

“Let's get you home
then. It's getting pretty late.” He slid out of the booth and
went to the counter. She picked up her things and rushed after him.
She had her wallet out but he had already picked up the tab.

“How much...” she
began but he waved her down.

“I come by this diner
very often. Maybe we can meet up for breakfast one weekend. You can
buy me a coffee then.” Baxter held the door open for her. He
smiled uncertainly and mumbled, “That's if you'd like to see me
again...”

“Breakfast...sounds
lovely,” she stammered.

He beamed and said, “I'll
walk you to your car. Then I'll hop into mine and start tailing
you.”

“I drive real fast,”
she smirked.

“You'll try to lose me?
You can try but I never lose a mark. That's a fact.”

When she got in her car, he
leaned down and said through her open window, “Drive safely,
Lindy. I want you to be safe. I...really do.” He scrubbed
his hand across his face to hide his embarrassment. “Ah, I've
become a ninny,” he muttered under his breath as he
straightened up.

Not a ninny, she thought as
she started her engine. “You're a sweetheart, Baxter
Sadowski,” she said to her reflection as she watched him jog to
his car. “I knew it the moment I saw you.”

CHAPTER
FOUR

Baxter drove two car lengths
behind her. Lindy was a good, confident driver. She wasn't a speed
demon. Neither was she a road hog. Baxter had no doubt that she was
trying to make it easy for him to follow her, but he would have no
trouble at all keeping on her tail even if she led him on a
high-speed chase through gritty alleys or down rocky dirt tracks. He
had never lost a mark, ever.

As he cruised along the
highway, he found himself snarling, swearing and sweating for no good
reason at all. He was acting and feeling all weird and uptight. He
had been with many women but he had never felt so nervous and anxious
before. He had always been a smooth, suave operator. He could
flirt, have fun, have a great time. He always made sure the women
had a great time too. He wasn't a selfish lover.

But he had never felt this
way when he was with any of those women. Lindy made him feel...like
a damn Papa bear! He wanted to protect her, pamper her, keep her
safe. She was pretty, so sweet and sexy, but he wasn't thinking of
getting in her pants. Well, she did turn him on and get him all hot
and bothered, but he wasn't thinking about his dick for once.

He just wanted to get her
home safe and sound. He had been so arrogant and smarmy when he slid
into her booth uninvited, but once he started talking to her, he
realized that she wasn't just a pretty face. The girl was cool,
calm, smart and she had sized him up with just one glance and a few
pointed questions.

He liked her, a lot. He had
never liked a woman so much before. He usually just liked their
bodies, and he knew that the women only wanted him for the same
thing. He had a strong, powerful physique; he was good in bed, and
well, who didn't like sex? Those women were adventurous, raunchy and
fun, but he didn't feel anything for them. They were just sex
partners, and they were just helping each other scratch an itch.

But Lindy...she was
different.

Hell, he hadn't even had sex
with her, and he was thinking and feeling so much more than he had
ever done with any other female.

Just what the hell was this
weird mix of feelings that was welling up in him and turning all his
insides to a gooey mess? He felt both powerful and vulnerable with
her, strong and shy in her presence.

He felt protective and
possessive towards her. He wanted to protect her, provide for her,
and...possess her. He wanted her to be his. Physically,
emotionally, completely. He didn't want just her body, he wanted her
heart as well.

Baxter cursed viciously.

There must be something
wrong with him.

God, he was creeping himself
out, even if Lindy didn't find him freaky. He was following her in
his car, for God's sake. And he wasn't doing it with the aim of
getting in her bed. He was just doing it for her.

No expectations, no payback,
no reward, no sex.

He definitely wasn't himself
tonight.

His palms were sweaty and he
was shivering. Was he coming down with something?

A fever? A head cold? The
pox?

Shit.

Lindy's car turned into a
quiet suburb and she drove slowly down the street. Baxter clamped
his shaky hands on the steering wheel and followed her, trying to
regulate his harsh, uneven breathing.