Confessions of a Mail Order Bride - Complete (10 page)

“Those sirens just keep getting louder,” I said, desperate to change the topic. I was still reeling from the shock of Brad’s true colors. I wasn’t ready to jump into any kind of relationship with Evan and Grant—at least, not just yet.

Evan cocked his head listening. “It sounds like they’re close. Damn, someone probably started another fire!”

“Let’s check it out.” Grant grabbed my hand and we walked briskly, following the noise coming from the fire trucks to an area around the corner.

“Oh shit!” Evan grimaced, pointing to a building ahead of him. “The fire is at C and K Realty.”

“It’s right near the coffee shop,” I said, surprised. “I was there earlier with Brad!”

“It looks like it must have been set deliberately. It has the same M.O. as the other fires. Look at that!” Grant pointed to a high spot on the building.

Evan and I glanced at where he was pointing. The words ‘FU Dirk’ were spray painted in bold, red letters on the side of the business.

“Holy shit!” Evan exclaimed. “Come on. Let’s find out what’s going on.”

As we moved closer to the building, I covered my nose to avoid inhaling the smoke. Dozens of people were hanging around rubbernecking as the firemen worked the blaze. Sherry’s wedding reception had been held close by. Thank goodness it had ended earlier in the evening. I recognized the waitress, Marcie Shore, from the coffee shop standing close to the building. She was next to a man in a police officer’s uniform.

“I see Dirk Matthews,” Grant said, pointing to the man in uniform next to Marcie. “He’s the town sheriff. Let’s go talk to him and see what’s going on.”

We made our way over to the officer. He saw us approaching and waved his hand. I nodded at Marcie, but she frowned as she acknowledged me. I had to wonder what I’d done to make her dislike me so much.

“It looks like we have the fire almost under control now,” Dirk said. “Unfortunately, the fire department has had a lot of practice lately.”

Evan nodded. “Sorry the fire department is so busy, but glad things are under control.” He pulled me next to him. “This is Judith, Judith Banks.”

“She’s from Pennsylvania,” Grant added.

“Dirk’s our town sheriff, Judith. He’s the best.” Evan said. “It doesn’t hurt that folks are afraid to cross him. He’s a tiger shifter.”

The sheriff leaned in, his weathered face inching close to mine. “I haven’t seen you around here before. Are you Evan and Grant’s mail order bride?”

I felt my face flush. What was I supposed to say?

“We’re hoping she’ll be our bride,” Grant said, his jaw set firmly.

“I met a pretty woman named Sherry at another fire. She’s a mail order bride too—she got married to one of my buddies, Adrian Landen, just today as a matter of fact.” Dirk grinned.

I smiled. “Yes, I know her. I was at her wedding earlier. She was one of my co-workers before she and Adrian got engaged.”

“You mail order brides sure do heat things up around here,” Dirk chuckled. “Just kidding, I know you had nothing to do with it.”

“Any idea who started the fire, Sheriff?” Marcie asked.

“I still think it was Max,” another man in uniform grumbled.

“This is Deputy Bob Griffith, Judith,” Grant said, pointing to the man. “He’s Dirk’s right hand man.”

I could see Deputy Bob wince at the words ‘right hand man’.

Deputy Bob held out his hand. “Welcome to Shifter Villages. We’re known here for our rocky terrain,” then added sarcastically, “and our fires and theft.”

“Don’t be scaring the lady, Bob,” Grant said. “I’m sure the culprit will be caught soon and Shifter Villages will be back to being the peaceful, loving town it is.”

Dirk laughed. “Peaceful? This place can get hella rowdy, and don’t let anyone tell you any different Judith. But in the past it’s just been shifters having fun. But lately…well, it’s gotten pretty damn serious. I’ll get to the bottom of it,” he added sternly.

“Have you looked into Brad Stanford? I don’t normally point fingers, but I hear he’s been having some money issues so he’s got the motivation. You better talk to him, but ah…he’s a little messed up right now, so he’s probably at home licking his wounds,” Grant said.

“Messed up? Why so…have you boys been fighting?”

Evan made a face. “We had a brawl tonight, but he was asking for it.”

Dirk shook his head. “Well, I can talk to him and find out where he was when the fire was set. What time were you all slapping the shit out of each other?”

“It was about fifteen minutes ago,” Grant said.

“Well, the fire was set before that.”

“I, uh, I was with him before that for about an hour.” Ugh. I hated to admit I was with Brad, but I couldn’t let them focus their attention on him and not find the real fire starter.

Dirk raised his brows. “Well, the fire was probably started about two hours ago and it festered till someone saw it.”

“See there, two hours ago. That’s when we were talking at the wedding reception and Brad wasn’t there,” Grant pursed his lips.

“Yep, he was missing in action,” Evan grunted, “when he could have been busy with this sweet little thing,” he pointed at me.

I couldn’t help but smile. ‘Sweet little thing.’ No one ever called me that.

“Maybe he was busy starting fires,” Grant chimed in, waving his hand at the C and K Realty building. “Yeah, I’ll bet he did it.”

“No, it wasn’t Brad. It definitely wasn’t Brad.” Marcie hadn’t said too much of anything, so it was a surprise to hear her voice break into the conversation.

Evan furrowed his brow. “How do you know?”

“He, ah, was…he was with me,” Marcie said, stumbling over her words.

“Well,” Dirk said, “that coffee shop you work at can get awful busy, and the fire was right close. I guess it’s possible he left for a few minutes and started the fire.”

“We weren’t at the coffee shop,” Marcie stared directly at me, her eyes focused on mine. She shook her head sadly. “We were at my apartment, in bed together.”

“Yum, this looks delicious, but it’s too beautiful to eat!” It was a gorgeous Saturday morning and I was back in Shifter Villages with my two favorite bears. I felt rested and refreshed after a good night’s sleep at the Big Bull Inn and ready for a fun day with the two burly men.

“It’s made from scratch, our best recipe ever,” Evan said.

“All your recipes are the best ever,” I joked. But it was true. The bears took a lot of pride in their bakery goods and they were constantly creating and tweaking recipes. They always used the freshest ingredients and took time to make the best product possible. Their bakery was immaculate. It was funny because when you looked at them they were very clean but still scruffy; with their scraggly head and facial hair.

I admired the cupcake again. It was a red velvet flavor with cream cheese frosting capped with shaved dark chocolate swirls.

“Enjoy it,” Grant said smiling, the cleft in his chin deepening.

“Well, if you insist. It’s so yummy looking, I can’t resist!” I lifted the cupcake towards my lips. Closing my eyes, I swirled my tongue around the layers of icing. “It’s luscious, so smooth and creamy.” I licked the sides of my lips. “Mmmm,” I moaned, taking a bite into the moist velvety cake, “so heavenly.”

I opened my eyes. Grant and Evan were watching me closely, their rich brown eyes taking in my enjoyment.

“You’re the luscious one,” Evan said, grinning. His eyes traveled to my mouth as he licked his full lips.

“Silly.” I gave him a swat, but little butterflies floated inside me. The more time I spent with these two, the greater they affected me. God, were they cute. Yeah, the beards and hair were a little scruffy, but that dimple Evan sported and the cleft Grant had…and their chocolate brown eyes. I just melted. It was hard not to let myself go with them, but I was determined not to repeat my past mistakes. So far we’d done nothing more than a little light kissing.

“We’re calling it the Judy, after you,” Grant said.

“I’ve never had anyone name a cupcake after me!” I squealed. “That’s so cool.” I’d been visiting the bears on and off for several weeks and they’d started calling me Judy. Though I’d always been called Judith, it felt right for them to call me by a less formal name. It was more relaxed and comfortable, mirroring the way I felt when I was around them.

“It was your flame red hair that inspired our red velvet cupcake. It’s only right we name it after you.” Evan picked up another one from the tray. “Want another?”

“I do, I do. But I haven’t finished this one yet.” My two bears loved feeding me. Well, I wasn’t going to disappoint them. I took another bite of the treat. After I’d finished swallowing, I took a sip of the caramel latte Grant had made me.

“This is all so good. You have a way of making me feel really special.” And they did. For the past few weeks I had been leaving work early on Friday. I would drive to Shifter Villages, enjoy time with them, and then return to my apartment late Sunday night. Normally I was a workaholic, and leaving work early was way out of the norm for me. But I loved seeing my two bear men. The one weekend I’d had to miss seeing them because of a work deadline had been awful.

We’d fallen into a comfortable routine. When I arrived in town, I always stopped by and helped them out in their bakery. ‘Crazy Cakes Bakery’ was a very successful business. I was shocked when I’d looked over their books. Who knew there was so much money in desserts—even more in the specialty coffees and teas they sold to accompany them. Their profit margins were high.

It was a lot of fun making cookies, cakes, and pies. It was like therapy…a relaxing change from the number crunching I was used to at the accounting firm I worked at.

Though I spent a lot of time with the two shifters, they gave me my space. I could see by the look in their eyes they were ready for more—much more from me, but they were giving me time. They knew I’d been divorced twice, and after my experience with that rotten wolf Brad Stanford, I was afraid to jump into anything again.

“Do you want to go for a picnic in the park?” Evan asked.

“Of course, that would be delish.” I loved the bears’ picnics. They would bring along a loaf of homemade bread, thick slices of smoked ham and creamy butter, cheese, fruit, water and wine...and dessert of course, everything from simple snickerdoodle cookies to chocolate éclair’s tenderly made with puff pastry, sweet cream filling and chocolate glaze. “Can I help pull it together?”

“Just relax,” Grant said. “We got this covered.”

As the men gathered the food for our lunch in the park, I gazed out the window. A dark haired man passed by that reminded me of Brad. I hadn’t seen him since the night he’d insulted me and fought with Grant. It had been shocking to find out that Marcie had slept with him. The whole time I had been anxiously waiting for him to take me to Sherry and Adrian’s wedding, he had been busy fucking Marcie.

Marcie Shore…no wonder she’d been so surly at the Dixie Diner when she’d waited on us. She’d probably thought he was her happily ever after and then she saw him with me. At first I felt bitterness towards Brad, but as I got to know my two bears, the feeling slipped away. My scars and my bears had helped me dodge a huge bullet.

“Are you ready, Judy?” Grant asked, offering me his arm.

I smiled as I got up from my chair. “I can’t wait.” I looped one arm in his and the other in Evan’s.

The park was not too far from the bakery and Grant spread a big, soft blanket on the ground. As he poured a glass of wine, I could see the two brothers talking to one another with their eyes.

“I see you two communicating…don’t leave me out of the loop. What is it?”

Grant pursed his lips but said nothing.

“Tell her, Grant,” Evan said.

“We don’t want to put any pressure on you,” Grant blurted out.

“I know, and I appreciate that.”

“But,” Evan said, “it’s like we told you when we first met you. We know you’re our mate and we want you—every part of you, in every possible way. At first, we knew your mind was elsewhere and there was that whole mess with Brad. We didn’t want to put any pressure on you.”

“Right,” I said softly, “I know that.”

“But the more time we spend together, it just reconfirms that you’re the right one for us too.”

Grant nodded his head.

They both looked so serious, and so adorable. “We want to mate with you. You
are
our intended—our marriage match.”

I looked from one brother to the other and a shiver washed over me. They were watching me so expectantly. I knew they were right. I wanted them and they wanted me. But everything was perfect with them now…well almost…I had needs, and I knew they did too. We all wanted, no needed to satisfy those urges…but what would they think when they saw my stomach?

I had told them I’d been burned in a fire when I was a kid, but I’d never told them about the scars. I just hadn’t been ready. I’d been comfortable in my body and gotten used to my scars over the years, but Brad’s look of disgust had brought up old childhood feelings and emotions I hadn’t even realized were still there. I could see myself standing in front of them, naked, and their jaws dropping as they saw how the fire had worked its flames on my belly. What if they looked at my stomach and their faces reflected displeasure like Brad’s had? Or, what if one of them didn’t mind but the other did—what then?