Brash Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES fur BEARS Book 3) (2 page)

Joshua shook away his sudden
anger and reminded himself sternly that he was not to ruin his
brother's wedding in any way. Jax could tell his moods with just one
glance. There was nothing he could hide from his twin.

Jax was laughing with Ashley
as they watched the unfolding madness before them. The ladies were
tripping over themselves and spinning all over the place as they
rushed to catch the bouquet.

Gramma and Ne-ma had already
brought half the pack down with them, but at least a third of the
ladies at the back were still standing.

Joshua surveyed the scene
with amusement and his eyes casually tracked the path of the bouquet,
which was sailing gracefully over the women's heads.

He smirked in approval. It
was a good throw. He flashed Serena the thumbs-up and saw her grin
and clap in delight.

“She caught it!
Woohoo!” Serena jumped up and down and pointed. Ashley ran to
Serena's side and took her mother's hand excitedly. Joshua turned
and saw a pretty redhead standing in the middle of the ballroom
holding the bridal bouquet. She was holding the bouquet stiffly away
from her as if the flowers were going to explode any time.

Her large, gray eyes were
rounded in shock. She looked around helplessly and gulped.

“Oh...this...I...”
she sputtered.

The women began to clap and
crowd round her, blocking her from his view. Joshua heard a growl,
and only realized that the sound came from him when Marcus and Jax
turned to him with raised brows.

“What?” he
demanded.

“Nothing,” Marcus
said with a straight face. “Her name is Bella,” Marcus
supplied, as the corner of his mouth quirked up. “She's one of
Staci's clients.”

“Oh yes, Staci told me.
She said Bella's new in town and she doesn't know anyone, so it
would be nice for her to come to the wedding and mingle,” Jax
added helpfully. “She bought that old house two streets from
ours. You know, the one that was on sale forever.”

Joshua's eyes widened in
surprise and alarm. “You mean that rickety house with the
crooked roof?”

Marcus and Jax nodded.

“She's staying in that
house?” Joshua gaped.

“Uh-huh.”

“Alone,” Marcus
emphasized slyly.

“That house will come
crumbling down around her ears!” Joshua snapped. His bear
growled agitatedly at the thought of the beautiful, red-haired woman
in danger.

“Let's go over and talk
to her,” Jax said eagerly. “Staci introduced her to
Serena and me earlier, but I didn't think of recommending our
services to her at the time. The lady deserves the best, don't you
think? And no one does repair and remodeling work better than Beck's
Builders,” Jax finished rather pompously.

CHAPTER
FOUR

Jax strode forward a few
paces determinedly before turning to jerk his head at Joshua. “Come
on. What are you waiting for?” he barked.

“You're the groom, so
you're the boss. For today,” Joshua said, walking after his
smirking twin.

Marcus chuckled and ambled
after them.

Joshua growled at his
brothers. His big brother and little brother were giving him funny
looks, and he had the feeling they knew something he didn't. But
they weren't sharing the joke with him.

The three brothers plowed
through the mass of giggling, hysterical women and finally reached
the shell-shocked woman.

A dozen witches had their
arms around her and were gleefully snapping wefies. They were being
photobombed by Gramma and Ne-ma who were leaping up behind them to
pull faces with impeccable timing.

“Hi, Bella,” Jax
said smoothly, coming up to her. “Nice catch.”

“Uh, thank you,”
she stuttered, as the witches took one last picture and kissed her
resoundingly on both cheeks. A few witches winked at Joshua and
propositioned him before their buddies came to drag them towards the
beer table.

The leering, lusty females
left Marcus and Jax alone. He was the only single guy among the
three brothers now, so the females focused all their charms and
attention on him. Well, lucky him, he supposed.

But at this moment, Joshua
wanted the attention of the only female he hadn't yet been introduced
to.

“I'm Joshua Carlan. I
think you've already met Marcus and Jax,” Joshua said, stepping
forward to offer his hand. “I'm the brother of the groom.”

She smiled. “I'm
pleased to meet you, Joshua. I'm Bella Paige.” Bella's voice
was soft but she had a firm handshake.

Bella smiled awkwardly when
the wedding photographer came and snapped a photo of her chatting
with the groom and his brothers.

She wasn't being unfriendly
but she was terribly shy and she wasn't comfortable with the
attention, Joshua realized.

“We heard that you've
bought Mr Naidu's old house, so we...” Joshua began.

“Oh, Serena and Ashley
are beckoning us over,” Jax said suddenly. “No, not you,
Josh. We are leaving, but you are staying,” Jax said, giving
Joshua a long, meaningful look.

Turning to Bella, Jax smiled
and said, “Joshua will stay and chat with you. Feel free to
ask him anything. Anything at all. He'll tell you all about the
town, the work we do, where to get the best steaks...he's the guy you
want.”

Jax excused himself smoothly
and dragged Marcus away.

Marcus grinned and winked at
Joshua. He didn't even have to say a word. Marcus often said in
mock exasperation that the twins did all the talking for the three of
them.

Marcus was a good big
brother. He wasn't biologically related to them, but he was their
big brother in every way that mattered.

Joshua turned to glare at his
brothers but they had already disappeared.

Bella fidgeted and kept
glancing at the door. She looked like she wanted to make a quick
getaway but didn't know how to politely extricate herself.

“It's a wonderful
wedding...but I think I need to leave soon,” she mumbled.

“I'm about to leave
too,” Joshua said. “I'll give you a ride home.”

She began to shake her head,
but Joshua took her hand and led her gently towards the buffet table.

“Have some food before
you go,” he urged.

“It's okay...”

“Have a bite at least,”
he insisted with a growl. He didn't know why he wanted to feed her
so bad. He just wanted to take care of her and make sure she didn't
go hungry.

She looked startled at the
sound of his feral growl. Sucking in a breath, Joshua said quickly,
“I don't bite.”

His bear immediately perked
up and sneered.
Liar, liar, pants on fire!
You do want to
bite her. You want to bite and mark her hard.

“But I won't,” he
snapped at his bear.

Wordlessly, Bella eyed him
with concern and bafflement. He bit down a growl when he saw her
edge a little further away from him.

CHAPTER
FIVE

Joshua kept his eyes on Bella
as he walked her to the buffet table. His eyes raked down her
delicious, generous curves. Bella was so soft, small and sweet.
Standing beside him, she reached only to his biceps. She didn't talk
much and she seemed overwhelmed by all the noise and action around
her.

Joshua was intrigued at her
reserved, guarded demeanor. The females in town were all pretty
extroverted and forward. Too forward sometimes. Not that he minded.
The girls were good fun, and everyone loved a good time. And the
sex wasn't bad either. There was no messy, complicated emotional
entanglements. It was all good. Up to a point.

Joshua scrubbed a big, rough
hand down his face. Ah hell. All that champagne was getting to his
head. Seeing both his brothers happily married was making him
question his priorities and wants. But—what more could he
want? He had a great family, friends, the business was doing well,
and he had all the women he wanted. He could walk into any bar in
town and walk out with a lusty female for the night. He used to go
bar-hopping with his brothers, but now Marcus and Jax wanted nothing
more than to rush home after work to spend time with their mates.

Joshua found himself studying
Bella with increasing interest. She was certainly very different
from most of the females he knew. Most women loved attention, but
Bella seemed awfully uncomfortable when she was thrust unwittingly
into the spotlight. There was an air of mystery and vulnerability
about her, but he sensed a stubbornness to her as well.

He didn't find her aloof
or unapproachable, but it was clear that she had yet to trust anyone
in this town. It wasn't that she didn't like them. She did.
But...she was just a very private woman with secrets and emotional
wounds of her own. He could see the buried fear and hurt in her
eyes, and his bear snarled at the thought that someone had hurt her.

He would have to be patient
with her. She might be sweet and shy, but she was a tough nut to
crack. Not that he wanted to break or crack her in any way. But he
desperately wanted to get past that hard, outer shell she'd built
around herself and get to her soft, inner core. He wanted to see her
open, exposed and naked—in his bed, beneath him, opening her
heart to him and taking him deep inside her…

Joshua inhaled sharply and
jerked at a crash behind him. He shook his head hard to clear his
one-track animal mind of that tempting, erotic image. With a deep
growl, he warned his horny, hot-blooded bear to behave. It was his
twin's wedding, for God's sake.

Bella's red curls danced
wildly and he caught a whiff of her floral-scented shampoo when she
spun round at the loud crash. Chairs toppled as two lion cubs began
to brawl near the buffet table. Their parents immediately jumped up
to pry the youngsters apart.

Unconsciously, Bella took a
step back and her body pressed against his chest. Joshua tensed as a
shock of desire jolted through his body. All his nerve-endings lit
up and he had to resist the urge to grab her. He bit down a groan
and clenched his fists at his sides. His entire body was hard and
pulsating with lust and hunger.

Completely unaware of the
effect she had on him, Bella inched closer to him as more restless
cubs gleefully leaped into the fray.

Joshua leaned forward and
inhaled her scent deeply. God, she smelled delicious. He might not
be able to stop himself if she continued pressing her luscious body
so close to his. Her body seemed to move subtly against his, pushing
and rubbing slowly against him.

She wanted him. But she
didn't know how much she wanted him. Yet.

Bella was arching her back
and rubbing her curves slowly against his hard body. Her body was
reacting to his, even without her realizing it. Heat was spreading
through her body and he could scent her sweet, feminine arousal.

At the moment, Bella seemed
to be oblivious to what her body was doing. But once she realized
how aroused they both were, she might be terribly embarrassed.
Mortified and horrified. And she would run from him.

She was a human woman. A
very skittish, leery human woman at that.

Joshua bit down a groan.
They weren't going to make it to the buffet table. She was inflaming
his bear with her touch, her scent, her unconscious desire for him.
If she continued standing so close to him, he might just pounce on
her and take her right here on the ballroom floor.

He should let her go home,
with her clothes and dignity intact.

“Maybe you should leave
now. While you can,” Joshua growled in her ear.

CHAPTER
SIX

Bella gasped and jumped,
almost slamming her forehead into his nose as she jerked round to
face him.

She blinked at him,
swallowing and blushing as her breathing quickened. He scented her
sudden, fierce arousal as she staggered back, her eyes wide with
confusion and alarm.

“Y-you're right. I
should leave now,” she mumbled. “I'll just...”
Her eyes finally lighted on the bride and groom, and she started to
hurry purposefully towards them.

Joshua trailed behind her,
reluctant to let her out of his sight. His bear rumbled angrily at
the loss of contact. He wanted to feel her soft, lush body against
him, and breathe in her sweet, female scent. But the woman was
clearly spooked right now. And whose fault was that? Joshua swore
viciously and kicked his bear hard.

Joshua saw her shake hands
with Jax and give Serena a warm hug. Staci came up to them and the
three women talked and laughed for a bit. Then Bella hugged them
again and stepped away with a cheerful wave.

Bella might be shy and wary
but she wasn't unemotional or undemonstrative. She was just...very
careful about showing her feelings.

Coming up to him, Bella gave
him a quick smile and said, “Bye, Joshua. Thank you...very
much, for your family's hospitality. It's a really beautiful
wedding...”