The Jaguar's Beach Bride: BBW Jaguar Shifter Paranormal Romance (Shifters of Coral Beach Book 1)
Authors: Zoe Chant
The Jaguar’s Beach Bride
(Shifters of Coral Beach Book 1)
by Zoe Chant
Copyright Zoe Chant 2016
All Rights Reserved
Table of Contents
Mina Kinney’s phone sang for what felt like the thousandth time that day. Irritated, she flipped it on silent. She knew who was calling her, and she knew she had nothing else to say beyond
I don’t have the money, sorry.
She leaned on her palm, staring out at the expanse of her little shop, aptly called Mina’s Marine Market located in Coral Beach, California. She was living her dream…for now. She’d always wanted to open a shop down at the beach, catering to both townies and tourists, providing sunscreen and boogie boards and swimsuits, with the salty wind blowing through and sand never too far away. The counter was always covered in a fine layer of grit no matter how often Mina wiped it. But she loved it. She loved the overly tanned bodies and the smell of coconut oil and even how seagulls stole hot dog buns out of unsuspecting children’s hands. She’d grown up here, and she’d never wanted to leave.
But it looked like her dream job was coming to an end. The recession had decimated little retail businesses like hers. When her friend Penny had said she knew somebody who could help, Mina had jumped at the chance. Penny’s friend Roger had offered her a loan to keep her shop running, and Mina had been desperate enough to take it, even though she thought he seemed a little shady. But once she signed the contract, Roger and his friends started demanding more.
The phone again vibrated against the wood below the register. Mina rubbed her eyes. Roger and his friends were relentless. Mina could’ve bashed her head against the wall at her own idiocy in signing that contract, but she’d only end up with medical bills she couldn’t pay.
The bell by the front door jingled as someone entered, and Mina shook off her mood. Moping wouldn’t help. She’d have to come up with another plan. Take out another loan for this loan. She groaned inwardly.
“How are you, Rosalie?” Mina asked the tanned older woman who’d just entered.
“Oh, great, great! The waves are great today, aren’t they?” Rosalie called back. “I’m going to go out there on my boogie board until I drown myself. It’s great fun, isn’t it?” Rosalie’s favorite word—besides tanning—was the ever-useful adjective great. Great fun, great weather, great tan, great man. Great, great, great.
Mina could only wish her life were great right now.
“Sounds great,” Mina replied with an inner grimace. Could she sound faker?
But Rosalie hardly noticed as she picked out what she needed. She quickly paid for her usual purchases of tanning oil and lip balm, handing Mina a bunch of crumpled dollars as payment. Mina tried smoothing them out, but what did it matter? Ten dollars wasn’t going to help her out of this situation.
She sighed. She’d really done it this time, hadn’t she?
That’s when the bell jingled again as someone entered, and suddenly there was a tall, tan, and delicious man walking around her store. Handsome surfer types weren’t uncommon in Mina’s line of work, but this man not only had the muscular surfer look going on, he had a face she could only describe as striking. Bright green eyes that tilted upward slightly, like a cat’s eyes, with an aquiline nose and high cheekbones. His skin was lightly tanned, sprinkled with freckles across his shoulders, and his dark hair curled about his forehead. Mina’s heart sped up looking at him. And when he looked her way and smiled, she felt like she was melting into the floor.
“Hey sis, you remember Brennan, don’t you?” her brother Jude asked.
Mina jerked her gaze from the hot man candy as her brother came up to the register. Jude and Mina looked almost like twins, with their light blond hair and blue eyes, but while Mina barely edged out at 5’2”, Jude had somehow gotten all of the height genes and stood closer to 6’3”. Mina barely paid attention to her brother as she watched the man—Brennan—wander about the store. The name did ring a bell, though.
“Hello, Earth to Mina! You remember my best friend in middle school, right? Brennan Dawson?” Jude asked.
Mina shook herself. Now that she looked at the stranger, her memory sparked: Brennan, who she’d had a huge crush on when she was ten years old, and had desperately wanted him to see her as someone other than her brother’s awkward, chubby little sister. But then Brennan had moved away, and she hadn’t seen him since. He’d certainly grown up well; last time she’d seen him, he hadn’t been nearly so tall.
Forcing herself to look at her brother instead of continuing to stare at Brennan, Mina replied, “Oh yeah, I remember him. You two loved to leave me behind when you went down to the tide pools to collect hermit crabs.”
Jude laughed. “And I remember Brennan telling me I should be nicer and invite you along. And then you stepped on a sea urchin and cried all the way home.”
Brennan looked up from where he was touching the puka shell necklaces, his eyebrows raised.
Mina blushed. “Thanks for the reminder, asshole,” she told her brother.
“You’re welcome. Hey, Brennan, stop looking for a new necklace and come over here,” Jude called out.
Brennan left the necklaces swaying as he walked up to the register. Mina had to crane her head backward to look him in the eye now, and she realized that his green eyes had a beautiful ring of gold around the irises. Had his eyes been this striking when they’d been kids?
“Wilhelmina,” Brennan said.
Jude laughed. “She hasn’t gone by that since we were kids.”
Mina couldn’t believe Brennan had remembered her full name. Only her mom had called her that, and for some strange reason, Brennan himself. But to everyone else, she’d just been Mina. “Yeah, you can call me Mina. I try not to tell people my full name these days.”
“That’s a shame. It’s a beautiful name.” Brennan smiled then, his teeth blinding white.
Mina realized with a jolt that he was flirting with her. With her! Her brother’s awkward little sister. Granted, she had breasts now and had since had braces to correct her jumbled front teeth, but still. Part of her continued to feel like that awkward little girl who no one noticed, and having a man as handsome as Brennan not only notice but openly flirt with her? It must be Opposite Day.
“I’ve always thought it was too long of a name,” Mina said lamely. “Not to mention beyond old-fashioned.”
“I like old-fashioned names. Gives them gravitas. And haven’t there been queens named Wilhelmina?”
“Sure, but I’m not a queen.”
“I beg to differ.”
Mina noticed that Jude was glancing between the two of them. His gaze landed on Mina, and he raised an eyebrow. Mina prayed that he wouldn’t crack a joke, because if he did, she probably wouldn't survive the embarrassment. But because her brother must’ve been feeling merciful today, he didn’t say anything remotely snarky. Instead, he murmured something about buying new swim trunks and sauntered off.
Mina wished she had something to do with her hands, and she found herself pulling a stray penny toward her to flip over and over.
“So what are you doing back in Coral Beach?” She tried to sound more “sort of interested” as opposed to “breathily enraptured,” and she told herself she’d kind of succeeded.
Brennan glanced at her moving fingers before filching the coin from her. He spun it on the countertop with a flick of his fingers. “My company is opening a branch here, and they wanted me to head it up. It’s an architecture firm that’s been expanding rapidly. And coincidentally, the new branch happens to be in my old hometown.”
“How convenient. Is it how you remembered it?”
Brennan lightly slapped the coin down to stop it spinning before his gaze landed on her face. Tracing it, making her want to tremble and blush, but she forced herself not to hide. But that might not have been the best decision, because if gazes could be felt, Mina certainly felt this one. All over.
“Not exactly,” Brennan murmured.
“Well, I’m sure my brother is happy you’re back. He was devastated that he lost his partner in crime all those years ago.”
“And you? Are you happy I’m back?”
Brennan had slid the coin back underneath her fingertips, and the touch of his skin against hers made her shudder. He was so warm, even with that slight touch. Was she happy he was back? Should she be? It was different seeing him now that they were both adults. He was
gorgeous
.
“Sure, of course. And if you need any beach stuff, let me know. If you couldn’t tell, that’s kind of my job now,” Mina said.
Brennan looked over his shoulder at Jude, who was messing with swim trunks in the corner. “When did you open this place?”
“Seven years ago, right before the recession hit.”
Brennan whistled. “I’m impressed you’ve kept it open this long. So many folded after the recession. Even the big ones you thought couldn’t ever go out of business.”
Mina didn’t feel like telling him that she was hanging on by a thread. He didn’t need to know that the business was bleeding money, and she had loan sharks after her. Although when she looked at him, part of her wanted to confide in him. He’d let her confide in him when they’d been younger, hadn’t he? Whereas Jude had teased her like older brothers did, Brennan had been surprisingly patient with awkward little Mina. Mina’s heart contracted at the stray memory.
“I’m still here,” Mina said. “Somehow. I guess there’s always a market for sunscreen.”
Brennan laughed. “Although based on all of the people I’ve seen today, not enough of them are using it.” He then eyed her, up and down, and her body heated up. “But you seem to have avoided that leather bag look.”
Mina rubbed her arms. She had a light tan, but she used sunscreen every day, all day, and her skin still managed to stay a darker shade of pale. “I’ll fry otherwise. And me as a lobster isn’t very attractive.”
“I have a hard time imagining that.” His voice was low, sultry, and Mina imagined silk sheets, kisses down her body, and bodies sliding together—
“Oh well, you haven’t seen me all blistered and peeling. Not all that sexy,” she blurted out.
Mina could’ve slapped her forehead. She knew she was babbling nonsense. Didn’t normal women flirt normally? Not Mina. Never Mina. But Brennan’s gaze was so direct, so piercing, that she had to get away from it for a moment. Turning, she messed with products on the shelves behind her, as if they needed organizing (they didn’t). The sunscreen there, maybe she’d move the coconut oil to the bottom so people wouldn’t use it as much, the aloe vera in the middle because it was probably her number one product—
Mina heard Brennan move behind her, and then she heard the coin beginning to twirl again across the counter. She then heard his intake of breath, and Mina thought he was going to say something.
Jude walked up to them. “I’m starving. Wanna go get burgers down at Barry’s Burgers? They’re still as disgusting as when we were kids.”
Mina turned as Brennan replied, “How could I say no to that?”
“Hey Mina, want anything?” Jude asked.
She shook her head. “I brought my lunch. You two have fun. Remember, don’t swim for at least twenty minutes after eating.”
Jude waved a hand as he made his way to the front door. “Thanks, Mom, we’ll remember.”
Brennan lingered by the counter for a moment longer. He eventually picked up the penny and folded it into Mina’s hand. “For good luck.”
His fingers brushed hers in what she knew had to be a deliberate caress before he followed Jude out into the open.
Chapter Two
Brennan Dawson barely registered the words on the sticky menu as he sat in a booth with his childhood friend Jude Kinney. He glanced at the items—all variations on burgers, some with bacon and some with cheese and some with a stray vegetable or two—and he settled on a regular burger and fries. Jude was already flirting with their waitress, a tall, leggy brunette with a dynamite smile, and Brennan wasn’t remotely surprised that Jude hadn’t changed much in the years they’d been apart. He’d always been a charmer, whereas Brennan had been more apt to stand back and watch. Take everything in and assess each person with sometimes eerie accuracy.
People had assumed Brennan was either shy or standoffish, but he was neither of those things. He actually possessed highly attuned senses that allowed him to take in information without having to speak a word. And those senses were because he wasn’t entirely human.
He was a jaguar shifter.
Brennan could catch people’s changes in scents or the smallest variations in the tones of their voice. It was all part
and parcel with being a shifter. Brennan had long ago gotten used to the idiosyncrasies of humanity as told to him by his inner jaguar. How a person could laugh while a sour smell of sweat pooled in nooks and crannies, immediately revealing they were nervous or afraid. Or how a woman could tell a man she wasn’t interested, but her body gave off pheromones that said the opposite.