The Christmas Tree Bear: A Bear Shifter Paranormal Holiday Romance Read online

  “Help me up?” she asked quietly.

  Willis helped her carefully stand up in the tub and started it draining. He yanked a big towel out of the linen closet and watched her start to dry off.

  “I’m…” He watched her rub at her legs in distraction for a moment before he shook himself. “I’m going to go get a fire started, all right?” He ran out the bathroom door before he could get an answer.

  Charlie smiled to herself. Her big farm bear was a gentleman, no matter how much he teased her.

  ***

  Willis squatted by the fireplace and struck another match. The big space heater was keeping the worst of the cold at bay, but it would help if he could get the fire going. He hadn’t thought to stir the gas heat system in the old cabin yet this season, and that made him afraid to turn it on yet. He could check it in the morning after the storm.

  He had already pulled out the sofa bed. He could make a nest for himself on the floor with extra blankets while giving Charlie the bed. The cabin was just the one big room, making it not too hard to heat. Besides, it was comfortable on the floor right by the fire.

  After the third match, he finally got the kindling to catch, and the rest of the logs quickly followed. The snapping of the logs in the fire was almost cheery. They could forget they were trapped here while the storm raged outside.

  He got up and checked his phone again where he had plugged it into the wall before the electricity went out. He had sent his mother a text to let her know what was going on, but he had yet to hear back. He glared at the single signal bar at the top of his phone. If he didn’t hear from her by morning, he’d use the satellite phone. It was after eleven, so he didn’t want to call and wake her; she’d just worry all night. She was worried enough already, convinced that this winter wasn’t going to make enough of a profit to keep them in the black come spring. He kept reminding her that he could sell the extra pine tree field a year earlier if they needed it, but she worried any way.

  Dad had been good at getting her not to worry.

  He shook his head out of the gloomy thoughts. Other things to worry about right now. The bear in his chest made a contented noise. It had its mate here; it had no worries whatsoever.

  Of course, then the power went out. Willis sighed as the space heater stuttered to a stop. At least he had gotten the fire going so they had a light source. He could flip over to the generators in the morning once the storm stopped. Why his father put the generator access only on the outside, he had no idea.

  He lit a candle from the fireplace and slowly made his way toward the bathroom. “Charlie?” he asked. He knocked once. “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” she called back. “I got my pants on before the power flipped.” She opened the door and looked up at him.

  They smiled slightly at each other in the faint light of the candle. Willis fought down the urge to tell her how beautiful she was.

  “You want to put the candle in there?” he asked instead.

  “Good plan.” Charlie took the big glass candle holder and put it by the sink.

  “Here.” Willis took her hand and led her carefully back to the main living area. “You take the bed. I’ve got all the blankets I can find. And I’ll sleep by the fire. We’ll be good until morning--”

  “Willis.”

  “--when I can get all the gas generators started. I’ll have to check on the reindeer, too. And--”

  “Willis.” Charlie tugged firmly on his hand. “Stop being all gentlemanly. Get in bed.” With that said, she crawled onto the bed and scooted over to the far side.

  Willis blinked at her. “You don’t--”

  “I want you to sleep here.” Charlie told him firmly. She patted the other side of the bed. Looking down, she whispered, “You saved me. Get in here, sexy farm bear.”

  He shook his head and snatched up his nest of blankets. Crawling into bed, he tossed all the blankets over the pair of them. Charlie didn’t waste any time snuggling closer.

  “You’re so warm,” she whispered with wonder as she laid her head on his bicep. “It’s so nice.”

  Willis buried his face in her hair. “And you fit just right,” he muttered back. He wasn’t sure if she heard him: Charlie was asleep within moments of curling under the blankets. He made a contented noise as he settled in around her and quickly joined her in sleep.

  Chapter 6

  Willis blinked awake in the early morning hours. The storm had stopped; he couldn’t hear the wind any more. The fire had died down to embers. He had managed to wiggle his left foot out from under the blankets, and his toes were freezing. He dragged his foot back under the blanket and managed to stick it right on Charlie’s leg.

  “Nooooo,” Charlie moaned. She tried to kick Willis away while still burrowing into his chest.

  He chuckled. He gave the top of her head a kiss before slowly disengaging himself from their nest of blankets. Charlie muttered sleepily and quickly took over his warm spot as he sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed. He watched her like that for a moment, mostly asleep and her face relaxed in dreams. He realized she had a faint line of freckles around her nose. It was adorable. He hoped he got to wake up to it more often. Then he hoped this was even still an option after last night’s events, surprising Charlie with being a bear shifter.

  When his bare feet hit the cold floor, he swore a blue streak. Willis made haste to the fireplace and the small rug by the hearth. He dumped another log on the fire and stroked the embers slowly back to life. When he turned back to bed once the fire was started again, he found Charlie sitting up and watching him.

  “Morning,” he slurred. Then yawned. “Sleep at all?”

  “Like a log.” Charlie’s voice was raspy. From all the yelling they did last night, he thought. She patted the bed next to her. “Come back to bed. Everything is cold without you.”

  That made Willis snort, even as he climbed back across the bed the long way. “Is that all I am to you? A blanket warmer?” he teased, all hope.

  Charlie gave him a sleepy smile. “Yes,” she agreed, and pulled him down into the blankets. She wasted no time in wrapping herself around him. “How are you so warm?”

  “Bear thing,” he reminded her, then kissed the side of her neck because it was there. She was there. His person, all warm and snuggling, wrapped about him. Until she shoved her cold feet up his pant legs. “Fuck!”

  She blinked cutely at him. “But I’m cold.”

  “Cold, huh?” He tackled her down to the bed, and they both laughed as they play struggled with each other, twisting themselves utterly up in the sheets.

  He meant for it to be a quick kiss. Then, it was another kiss. Then another. Play-wrestling turned into settling over Charlie as they kissed deeply. She wrapped her legs around his hips and arched up into his mouth when he trailed his lips down her neck.

  “Willis,” she breathed.

  It made his blood burn to hear her whisper his name like that. He slipped his hands slowly up her sweatshirt, giving her a chance to tell him no. She breathed out sharply once he stroked his thumb across the underside of her breasts. He cupped both of them in his palms: just right. With a little wiggling, they managed to get her out of her borrowed sweatshirt. His own followed suit, which he tossed over the edge of the bed.

  Her long hair spread out on the pillow; the fire light cast her pale skin the same red and gold color. Her nipples were a pale pink set in heavy breasts. His mouth watered, and he leaned in to lick one into his mouth. Charlie choked out a moan above him, but cradled his head as he suckled her nipple into a hard peak. He switched breasts, sucking and licking, while he squeezed her other breast.

  “So good,” he whispered.

  Charlie whimpered.

  He pulled himself free. Charlie was just so beautiful, all rosy from the heat of the fire and lust that he had to kiss her again. He surged forward, and their teeth clacked together before they could right themselves. She was making these tiny little noises, half whimpers but half moans, and twistin
g her fingers into his hair. Her whole body felt so good against his.

  He broke off the kiss to lick his way across her breasts again, then down the center of her torso. He licked at her belly button, making her laugh and moan at the same time, as he toyed with the drawstring of her sweatpants. Committing, he slowly pulled her pants down. Charlie helped him by lifting her hips up, and he tugged them off her legs in one yank.

  They were both panting now. Willis paused above her, watching this woman, his mate, writhing naked in his bed.

  “Beautiful,” he breathed.

  Charlie tried to cover her stomach, probably to mutter something about what she didn’t like about herself. Willis stopped her and moved her hands. He kissed her knuckles, then placed her hands firmly on the bed.

  “Beautiful.”

  He kissed her stomach, and made sure to lick at her side again to make her giggle.

  “Beautiful.”

  He kissed down her hip and over her thighs, then lifted up her legs. Charlie gasped as he settled between her legs and rested her knees on his shoulders.

  He kissed just above her mound. Charlie watched him with wide eyes. “Beautiful,” he breathed again, making sure to blow cool air across her heated clit. Charlie shuddered in his arms.

  Mine, the bear whispered.

  Yes, Willis agreed. Mine.

  He closed his eyes and sucked gently at her clit. Charlie arched into his mouth, letting out a keening cry. Her fingers flew into his hair, trying to both hold him there and push him away at the same time. It made Willis smile.

  He settled his hands on her hips to keep her in place and licked his way up and down her cunt. Her honey was incredible. The taste of her, the smell made him hungry for more. He buried his face in her mound, licking and sucking to his heart’s content.

  Charlie was making those tiny whimpers again. It made his dick twitch to hear how turned on she was. Using his thumbs, he parted her folds and licked at the very center of her. She choked out a cry. Determined, he set to work. He stroked her clit with his thumb and licked his way inside her, thrusting his tongue in and out in time with his strokes.

  Charlie was arching into his face and hand, muttering over and over again, “Yes, there, that, yes, oh.”

  Switching tactics, he settled his lips on her clit and sucked while stroking in and out of her with two fingers. That made Charlie keen his name. With a few quick strokes, she froze. Her hips stuttered slightly, then her scent became heavier.

  Willis smiled to himself. He gave her one last lick before pulling away to pepper her thighs and stomach with kisses. When Charlie finally came back down from her high, she rolled her head to look down at him.

  “Holy shit,” she whispered.

  Willis gave her a smug grin.

  “Come ‘ere,” she slurred, and opened her arms.

  He crawled up her body, trying not to batter her with his rock hard dick as he went, and settled next to her. They kissed slowly, Charlie licking at his mouth, which was wet with the taste of her.

  With careful fingers, she slipped a hand into his loose pants. Her fingers brushed his hard length, and that made him hiss.

  “Baby,” he whispered, “we can’t. No condoms.”

  She kissed him again. “You can do other things without condoms,” she reminded him.

  “You don’t--” he started, then groaned.

  Charlie was already rolling with him, kissing his abs as she shoved his pants down lower on his hips. He grabbed up her long hair so he could watch her kiss through the thick trail of hair leaning to his member. She looked up at him, wrinkled her cute little nose, then swallowed the thick head down all at once.

  “Shit!” he shouted.

  It was so warm and perfect, like everything else about her. He watched with half-open eyes as she took him down, then bobbed back up again. Her sweet pink lips sucking him in, and Charlie used both her hands to stroke him up and down along the length that she couldn’t swallow.

  He smacked his head once against the couch frame to try to keep himself from release. It felt so good. He was not going to last long, not after tasting her for the first time.

  “Charlie, baby,” he warned, with a tug on her hair.

  Charlie released him, letting his thick cock smack against his stomach. Her lips were swollen, and he grabbed her by the hair to haul her up his body, desperate to kiss her. She stroked him up and down, again and again, as their tongues warred with each other before Willis finally came across her stomach with a grunt.

  The kiss slowed and softened.

  “You’re incredible,” he whispered in her ear.

  “So are you,” Charlie promised.

  They curled into each other, kissing and touching. Willis couldn't get enough of her. He had to touch everywhere: her hair, her hips, her ass, her thighs, the ticklish parts on her shoulders.

  “I’m crazy about you,” he whispered.

  “I think you’re pretty awesome, too, sexy farm bear,” she whispered back.

  Chapter 7

  “Okay, let’s see if I have all this right,” Charlie started. She was lying with her cheek on Willis’ chest while they watched the sun finally start to rise over the horizon out the big picture window in the cabin. “Your dad, Big Ed, bear. His sister, Claire, bear. And she married Jethro, also bear.”

  “But different sort of bear. He’s a grizzly,” Willis added.

  “Your mom, not a bear. They had you, a bear. And your aunt and uncle had Leroy…”

  “He’s a little older than me, ex-navy. Grizzly.”

  “Right. Navy seal bear. Then Marta, my age, and not a bear. But she married a llama.”

  “They aren’t sure yet if their youngest boy is a shifter, but their daughter, Cassie, is for sure a bear shifter.”

  “And Elvis is your youngest cousin, and he is a smaller black bear.”

  Willis nodded with a laugh. “The almost literal black sheep of the family.” He played with her hair a moment, then kissed the top of her head. “What about you?”

  “Well, no bears,” she teased. “Just my younger sister, Beth Anne. She married her husband Jeff last year, and they're expecting twins by the end of January. My mom is ecstatic. She's planning all the photoshoots with the babies and the corgis.”

  Willis tipped his head slightly to look at her, and Charlie quickly added, “My parents have two corgis, Mork and Mindy. I guess they might be considered siblings?” she questioned. “My parents are dog crazy and were empty nesting for a few years while Beth Anne and I were in college.”

  Willis nodded. “My mom got reindeer.”

  That made them both burst into laughter.

  “So, you went Duke,” and Willis laughed at her when she wrinkled her nose at him, “and got a degree in engineering.”

  Willis hummed in agreement. “Focus in sustainable energy use in farm usage. I kind of made my own degree.”

  “Why Duke?” she finally asked. “NC State has a much of great agriculture degree programs. Some of the best in the country.”

  Willis shrugged a bit. “Dad loved Duke best in basketball? Honestly, they gave me the best scholarship. While I loved football, I didn’t really want to have to depend on it for university money. And Duke gave me the best bang for my buck. I just wanted to go to college.” He shrugged again. “I made it work. Maybe will even get to apply it if the farm brings in a bit more money and I can apply for more grants.”

  “Man, I understand.” Charlie snuggled down and traced across Willis’ chest with the tips of her fingers. “I got mine degree in museum studies and art history. All I’ve ever wanted is to work in museums. It’s kind of hard to get into that without working for free for a while. I had to move back home after my last internship didn’t get me a job offer.” She sighed. “Kind of hard to find museum jobs way out here in the boonies.”

  Willis ran his fingers through her hair. “You thinking about leaving?” He asked after a long moment.

  Charlie sighed again. “Sometimes,” she ad
mitted. “I’m trying out with a friend right now, see if I can afford to live on my own with roommate. But maybe, some day.” She shook her head. “It’s silly, though. I’m happy right now.” She leaned up and kissed Willis, peppering his lips with quick little kisses until he laughed to break the serious atmosphere.

  They rolled apart slightly, and Willis leaned over the edge of the edge of the bed to check his phone.

  “7:00am, and the weather thinks it's stopped snowing for the most part.” He rubbed at his face. “I should go try and get the generator to work. Get the barn and the cabin heated up.” He paused. “Shit. And call Bill Poole. He can tow your car at least back to the farm so it isn’t on the road, and plow at least part of the way up here.”