Naughty But Nice: A Bear Shifter Christmas Romance Read online

  I finished packing and then took a hot shower. After that, I poured myself a whiskey and laid down in the bed while I turned on the television. I pulled up a streaming service and started catching up on some of my favorite shows. I used to watch so much television when I was younger, but now work consumed so much of my life. Now the only thing that I enjoyed besides work was that something I did between marathon sessions of work. There was no time to enjoy what I really liked. But soon I’d be back at it.

  I liked what I did, but I’d been working so hard for so long that now I really wanted a break. But right now was the worst time to do that. Still, taking a few days off for Christmas was important.

  As I sipped the whiskey, I continued to think about how much I would love to see Angie. I thought I might actually make it by her family’s house and ask them if I could get in touch with her. It would be a bit awkward, but lately, ever since I decided to go back home, I had started to think about her and wondered about this, nonstop.

  How would it go down? Would she be happy to see me? Would she approve of the changes I’d made to myself?

  I stared down at my nude body lying on the bed. Then I glanced up at the ceiling mirror. There was something Zen-like about watching myself in the mirror and knowing that I was watching myself as I slept was really therapeutic.

  I had to admire my own physique as I looked up at myself. I’d worked hard to get myself into great shape. The growth spurt helped, but I’d also been hitting the weights, kickboxing, and running daily for four years. I’d cultivated my body into something I was damn proud of and I’d become the man I’d always wanted to be.

  And I had to admit that becoming a bear shifter had added so much strength and definition to my muscles, even when I was in human form. That could not be discounted. And I could never tell anyone.

  “But what if?” I asked out loud. “What if I told Angie? Would it make her more likely, or less likely to actually become interested in me?”

  I had to laugh at my musings. This was really becoming a strange little game I was playing with myself.

  If only it were that simple. Lately the bloodlust was getting more severe. I’d always been able to maintain my composure and to fight off the change, to keep myself from becoming consumed by the rage that would fly into my soul out of nowhere when the beast took over, when the horrible anger and evil intent filled my being. I wanted to kill. I wanted to rip any person I could find limb from limb, but there was still enough of myself inside to make sure that couldn’t happen. If I ever hurt someone, I’d never be able to live with myself.

  If I ever fell in love, I’d always be worried about hurting that special someone. And what if I’d already met that someone? What if that someone, was in fact, Angie? Would I ever be able to trust myself around her? What kind of a life was that?

  I would never hurt her. But I would make sure I was never in a position to. No, if I ever saw her again, I would never be able to makie my romantic intentions known to her.

  Chapter Three

  Angie

  “This is a really nice drive,” Nia said.

  We’d been on the road about an hour and fifteen minutes. So far, I’d been driving the freeway nonstop. It was a boring way to make the trip, but it was the fastest. Nia was from Michigan, so she’d never actually been around this area before.

  We left early that morning, about seven. I wanted to get there early enough to actually have a full day of fun seeing my family, and we had some time to make a few pit stops along the way as well. First, we stopped at Lancaster so that we could browse through a music store that I had always loved around there. It was a small store, but they always had really great pianos and guitars (which I was starting to learn) and it was just such a nice place to stop in.

  We grabbed some breakfast next at a fast food drive thru, and then headed back down the road. We were actually making really good time. I hoped to get there by late morning, and maybe we would all grab some great lunch together.

  “This is,” I replied. “It is so much fun since you came along. Making this drive by myself is pretty boring.”

  “It’s a beautiful state,” she said.

  “Why did you go to college here?” I asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever asked you this, but you are from Michigan. Ohio State is your sworn enemy. You went to the enemy school. What’s up with that?”

  Nia started laughing. “Yes, it’s true, but I really don’t care about sports, and I wanted to get away from where I grew up, the same as you did, but I didn’t want to go so far that I couldn’t get back to my home within a day. So I still get to see my family and friends. It’s still similar stomping grounds, if that makes any sense at all.”

  “Sure, I get that. So, what was it like growing up with parents who are gone all the time?” I asked.

  Nia’s parents were international art dealers. They often travelled for business. I thought it was hilarious how Nia was a nursing major because both of her parents expected her to get some fine arts degree, and maybe follow in their footsteps. But she had other plans.

  “It was rough,” Nia said. We’d talked about this a few times only vaguely, but Nia had never really opened up that much about it. I always thought it might be somehow kind of painful for her. “Especially when I was younger, and I had to deal with the maid and butler basically making sure I did my homework, ate right, and went to bed at a reasonable hour. But then when I got into high school, it was just me in the evenings, so I had a lot of time by myself.”

  “Damn,” I said. “That sounds very depressing. Didn’t your parents ever think about the fact that they left you home alone by yourself so much?”

  “Nah, that was just them. Business was always first. I think that’s why I love studying nursing. I want to take care of people and help them.”

  “And it sounds like they are the same way now. I couldn’t imagine growing up as if my parents were basically strangers.”

  “Yeah, that’s the way it was, but you do get used to it, and it makes you very self-reliant.”

  “I think my parents are going to smother you a bit this week,” I said. “They are both very loving and my mother especially loves it when people are in the house. It is going to be almost annoying, especially since she hasn’t seen me in so long. She came from the old school where mothers were always home to be with their kids when they needed to be, and she still managed to work and have a career, too.”

  “Wow, sounds like a very strong woman,” Nia said. “I can’t wait to meet her.”

  “Yeah, she is great,” I said. I suddenly felt really guilty about being away from home for so long. I needed to make sure I came home more often. That was important. It was easy to get wrapped up in my own life and forget that my family might not always be there. One day, they would be gone and I needed to treasure every single second that I had with them.

  “So, what happened with you and Maxwell, for real?” Nia asked.

  I could not help blushing and laughing about this. I’ve never been one to really divulge my private life to people. It is just one of those things that makes me blush like a little girl. I’m not sure why I’ve always been that way, but when I try to describe romantic things to even my closest friends, I just get a bit tongue tied.

  I sighed. I then took a deep breath and tried to get it out. “Well, it’s complicated,” I said trying to buy time.

  She shrugged and motioned her hand for me to continue. “Well, let’s hear it.”

  “He was bad in bed,” I said.

  Nia lost it laughing hysterically. She was slapping the dash and howling with her head held back. “Wow, so I’m telling this to everyone we know. His life is now over.”

  “No!” I said. “You can’t tell anyone about this. “It’s not right. I shouldn’t have even told you. Dammit.”

  “What was so bad about it? Was he…small?” Nia giggled.

  “No. He was pretty average, but we just didn’t have that chemistry. It’s hard to explain. It wasn’t a
nything he really did that was wrong, but for whatever reason it just didn’t feel right.”

  “So, then he wasn’t actually bad, but you were bad together?” Nia asked.

  “Yes,” I lit up. “That is a much better way to say that.”

  “Well, yeah, it is. You are about to brand the guy as a lousy lay, when it’s clearly you,” Nia replied.

  “You bitch,” I laughed. “That’s not right. Quit twisting my words around.”

  Nia was laughing hysterically. She could get herself worked up occasionally. She was definitely the girl to have around if you wanted to have some fun.

  “You said it,” she replied. “I’m just trying to get the whole story from you. It’s not fair to leave blanks for me to fill out. You know how dirty my mind is.”

  “That’s true. I should know better.”

  “So, how often did you guys do it?”

  “What?”

  “Well, I’m very curious now. I mean, what if you didn’t give it time for you to learn each other and find that perfect rhythm. Sometimes it takes a while.”

  “Nah. I don’t believe so. You either have the chemistry or you don’t. That’s how I’ve always felt.”

  She shook her head. “No. You are so wrong. You have to learn each other’s quirks and mechanisms. If you touch someone in a certain way, it might do them nothing but the same way might work for others.”

  “Ok. I guess sometimes I forget you have vastly more experience in the bedroom than I do.”

  She raised her eyes and looked shocked. “Did you just call me a slut?”

  “No. Your mind instantly went there. That says it all,” I replied.

  We both started laughing our heads off. It was becoming difficult to steer the car. After a few minutes, we got ourselves calmed down and I noticed that we were getting close to the exit to Athens.

  “Well, we are basically here,” I said. “Welcome to Spooksville.”

  “I love it,” she said. “You know how I’ve always been into paranormal stuff.”

  “Yeah, I do remember that you used to be. Are you still? I thought you might have outgrown it? Or did you just learn to hide it better?”

  “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that,” she remarked with a grin. “But why would I want to hide it? I like what I like.”

  “I’m just messing with you,” I said. “But if you are looking to get that muse all hot and bothered, this is the place.”

  “I’d rather get some local guys all hot and bothered,” she said with a wry grin.

  I shook my head. She was incorrigible. Nia was definitely the biggest horndog that I knew. She was unapologetic about it, too. That was part of what made her so much fun to hang out with. I just hoped she toned down some of that in front of my family. They could be a bit on the conservative side and that sort of talk would embarrass the hell out of them. Then again, that could be fun, too.

  I took the large, looping exit that went past Ohio University and then I entered the outskirts of the town. I turned right and drove into town a ways. Everything at first looked mostly the same. It was fun seeing the old buildings, the same houses, the restaurants, and everything that just felt like home. Even though I wanted to distance myself from a lot of my classmates, I still missed the town. But it was too small for my ambitions. I loved living in a big city.

  “Wow, this place is pretty intense,” Nia said. She was gawking around at everything with that wondrous look in her eyes. It was fun to watch how excited she was. I missed having that feeling about a place. It was probably similar to the way I felt when I first arrived in Columbus to live my freshman year at college.

  We arrived at my parent’s house about ten minutes later. The second I shut off the engine, it felt totally different and I was again wishing I’d found some excuse not to come back. It was like as long as I was still moving along in the car I could keep going, but now it was solidified. We’d reached the destination.

  “Here goes nothing,” I said.

  “Oh, I’m sure it will all be fine,” Nia said.

  We got out of the car and grabbed our bags from the back. We’d barely sat the bags on the ground so I could close the trunk when I heard my mom exclaiming from the front door. She was running out to greet us. My dad was lumbering along behind her looking very much as if my mom had forced him to get up from one of his daily naps in his favorite recliner.

  “Angie!” Mom exclaimed as she wrapped her arms tightly around me.

  “Hey, mom,” I said. “It’s good to see you, too.”

  “Did you have a good trip?” Dad asked finishing off the question with a loud yawn. He then extended his hand to Nia as Mom bear hugged me and shook me all around until I felt like my insides were going to fall out. “Hi, I’m Donald.”

  “Nia,” my friend replied. My parents had never actually met Nia, except on a few phone calls and I think a face time once when she happened to be in the background.”

  “Good to meet you. I apologize about my daughter’s bad influence. We gave her a few exorcisms once, but the demons kept coming back. So eventually we just learned to live with them.”

  She laughed and gave me an eyebrow flash. “I’ve been doing my best,” she said to my father.

  “Yeah, right,” I chimed in. “Nia is the bad influence between us.”

  “What?” My father feigned being shocked. “Well, if that’s true then you’ve got to be one twisted soul.”

  “Guilty,” Nia laughed.

  We went inside carrying our bags. The house smelled exactly the way I remembered it. Everything had that great Christmas smell of apple pie and pumpkin spice all mixed together. It was such a sweet smell that it brought back so many memories, things I’d pushed away and forgotten in an attempt to distance myself from the town, but now they were rushing back to me. It felt good to be back. I was now so glad I came.

  “I hope you girls brought your appetites!” My mom exclaimed. “I baked some pies and cookies.”

  “Yummy!” Nia said.

  “Yeah, I might have forgotten to mention that your clothes will no longer fit when we leave here next week.”

  “I’m cool with that. I need a new wardrobe anyway,” Nia joked.

  We walked into the kitchen where my mother had a pot of fresh coffee, a few apple pies, a pumpkin pie, and a batch of snickerdoodles all laid out with some plates. She quickly loaded up our plates and poured some coffee. Wow, that was a lot of sugar, but if you can’t pig out during the holidays then when can you?

  Nia and I stared smilingly at each other and then looked at our plates. Then we toasted our forks together and dug into the sugary goodness.

  Chapter Four

  Tyler

  Angie was in my bed.

  I’d gone to her parent’s house to inquire about her. I was so nervous that I barely was able to get the words out and explain to them who I was and why I wanted to contact her. Surprisingly, they remembered exactly who I was. And they had another surprise for me. Angie was actually there. She’d come home for the holidays, just as I had. It was like some cosmic force had finally pulled us back together in this time and place. And here we were actually staring right into each other’s eyes.

  I was almost afraid to speak when I saw her there in front of me. I was tongue tied. Right there and then I was not able to be my true self. I had reverted right back to that skinny, short geek that she knew me as back in high school. I was not the six feet two inch slab of chiseled athlete I’d worked so hard to become.

  But somehow, I got it together. She made it easy for me. Angie was just so easygoing and easy to get along with. She made everything so easy and chill when I was around her. Angie just had that sweetness about her that put everyone else at ease, or at least it worked well on me.

  We went out for dinner and had a great time. It felt so good to get back together with her, to reconnect, and rekindle that old flame that I’d always felt. She’d never shown me that she had any interest in me that way, but the longer we talked the
more I could see it in her eyes that she was really thinking about me and taking things to the next level. The way she stared into my eyes, the way she laughed at my jokes, how she leaned forward and held that strong eye contact, the flip of the hair, leaning back to expose her long, slender, sexy neck, the pursing of her lips, and the way she continuously played with her straw in her drink, signaling to me that she was thinking about something else long and stiff…

  Towards the end of the dinner, I invited her back to the house I was renting for the week. I’d decided I needed that level of space without anyone bothering me, no one making noise around me, and it was a place to recharge my batteries after spending time with family and old friends. I’ve always been introverted that way. I can usually handle being around most people for only short time. Then I have to get away to somewhere quiet or I get very agitated. But not with Angie. No, I could never feel that way about her. I felt so damn close to her.

  We made it back to my place and it was about halfway through that first glass of wine when we started kissing and taking things further. Before I knew it we were upstairs in the bedroom and Angie was completely nude standing right in front of me and she wanted me. I quickly removed my clothes. I was so hard. My prick was standing at full attention and when Angie saw it, her eyes went wild and she began to smile widely.

  “Damn, that is impressive,” she said. I didn’t have time to respond before she dropped to her knees and plopped the tip between her soft lips. I closed my eyes and tried not to get too excited. I wanted this to last a good, long time. I thought about how many times I’d imagined this happening and now here it actually was. I was making love to Angie Silvers. This was a dream come true.

  She swallowed me farther into her mouth, the tip of my cock giving way to the shaft and following her sucking even deeper into the angelic recesses of her sweet, hot mouth. This continued until I was completely inside of her. She held me there for several seconds, sucking slight little pulses with her tongue lapping up and down the shaft. The tip was scraping against the back of her throat.