Outlaw Bear: Bluff Bears, #2

By Amelia Jade

All Jet Taylor wanted was to settle down, find his mate, and raise some cubs. 

How hard could it be? For the former con-man turned honest bartender, it seems nothing can be done the easy way. Especially when it comes to meeting a nice girl. 

Oh sure, Kailee Britten is a tall, full-figured, gorgeous, smart and successful woman that sets his bear into a frenzy any time he looks at her. Everything about her screams mate to him, and he can tell part of her feels the same. However, she just moved to Bear Bluff's after a nasty divorce and is intent on rebuilding her life with a new direction. 

But when he overhears a phone-call between her and her father, he realizes that the two of them have more in common than he could ever have imagined. 

For Jet, this is one blast from his past that he would have preferred to stay dormant, but he'll do whatever he has to for the woman he believes to be his mate. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Amelia Jade
• Release date: Oct 21, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386102229

Book preview

Chapter One

Jet

What are your thoughts on kids, Sandra?

Jet Taylor wanted to have some kids of his own. The bear half of his soul wanted to see some little cubs running around. It was a simple question, to gauge the interest of the girl he was sort-of seeing on what she thought about the topic.

Kids? Do I look like I want to ruin this body? She gave him a look, indicating that he should damn well know the answer to that question.

Yeah, me neither. Just wanted to make sure, he muttered, turning back to cleaning the bar. The Bluff Quencher was his pride and joy, and he wanted it to look like that. Besides, it was far more rewarding than talking to his pseudo-girlfriend.

Hey, want to go out for dinner tomorrow? I'll close the bar down, we can go grab some grub at Gerard's place. How does that sound? Just you and me.  He knew that she was likely to turn him down, but perhaps a surprise was in store. Jet had never closed down the bar before, so perhaps she would see the seriousness of his gesture.

Jet, it would just be weird if people knew, you know, about us. They would all just think such bad things about me. I can't have that.

She continued to talk, but Jet had tuned her out already. Things had been on the decline like this for a while now. Part of him wondered if perhaps it was time to move on.

Why her?

The door opened, admitting another patron. There was a group of campers occupying most of his tables tonight, with the rest already having occupants from within town. All that was left was a seat at the bar, so he didn't bother to look up until she sat down.

I'll take a beer, please, a gruff sounding female voice sounded, as she practically threw herself down on the stool.

Jet looked up, already raising an eyebrow in curiosity. He didn't recognize the voice, so whoever she was, she wasn't a regular. If someone wasn't a regular in his bar, they didn't have the right to treat his chairs like that. The regulars knew better than to do that, which meant she was someone from out of town.

The sarcastic comment he had ready died on his lips as he looked at her. A pair of intense blue eyes were staring directly back at him.

Draft or bottle? he asked, the ingrained response taking control as his brain quickly fried itself into mush. His throat was suddenly drier than the drought-ravaged forests nearby.

Do you make anything yourself?

To his ear, it sounded like the woman, whoever she was, had almost lost control of her voice as well. He couldn't take his eyes off of her, which was rapidly becoming awkward, even as he continued to process her order while on autopilot.

I have a house brew, draft only. Five bucks a pint.

Sounds good. I'm ready for that and some food.

We don't serve much food here, but the menu's on the wall, he said, motioning behind him with his thumb, never once dropping her gaze.

She made him rock hard.

So hard that it hurt a little. It had been a long time since anyone had garnered such a reaction from him. Not even Sandra could do that. Eventually he tore his gaze away, feeling somewhat embarrassed and angry with himself for staring so blatantly. He busied himself pouring a glass of his house brew for her. She caught him sneaking glances her way more than once he was sure, no matter how hard he tried to be discrete.

He needed to know her name. It was driving him wild already, but he knew it would be inappropriate to flat out ask.

What's your name? he said, setting the beer down in front of her. His bear had snuck through his control and forced the question out while he was preoccupied with doing his job. Jet feverishly hoped that she wouldn't treat him like some sort of creep.

I'm Kailee, she said, sticking her hand out by way of introduction. I just moved into town. Just finished unpacking as a matter of fact. I saw this place on the way in, decided to come check it out.

She took a sip of her beverage.

Ahhh, she sighed in contentment, sitting back to enjoy it. Her long brown hair fell off her shoulders, uncoiling down to the middle of her back as she did.

She likes my beer!

His heart was going wild over that, even though it was just a minor thing.  Jet glanced across the bar, to where Sandra, his waitress and the only person of interest in his life until just now, was serving one of the other tables.

The comparison between the two couldn't be starker. Where Sandra was on the short side, thin and with near platinum blonde hair to go along with her obviously fake breasts, Kailee was none of that.

She was tall, full-figured, completely natural and absolutely stunningly gorgeous. Right now her outfit was simply jeans and a white t-shirt, through which he could see the black bra that held her large breasts in place. It was a working outfit, which is something Jet could appreciate completely.

Hey, I asked if I can get a burger and fries? Kailee was looking at him, eyebrows raised. It must not have been the first time she asked, but the words hadn't reached his ears.

Snapping out of his reverie, he nodded and went back to the grill, turning it on to let it heat. As he did, he pulled himself together.

You just met her, Jet. Get a hold of yourself. Sometimes he found that his bear listened better when he spoke out loud.

This was not one of those times. His bear was growling up a storm, demanding that he take her into his office, lift her onto the desk and mate with her. That just wasn't going to happen, not in the human world with its complex rules on dating and sex. Unfortunately, his bear did not understand human dating rituals and continued to express its desire to mate.

Besides, you've still got a commitment with Sandra, he told himself and his bear, glancing out onto the floor at her. His face turned sour, as he saw that the mayor of Bear Bluffs, Tom Garner had walked in. Tom was a sleaze, a complete creep. How he ended up in power Jet would never know.

Yet whatever it was, he seemed to have a magnetic attraction with Sandra. As he watched, she sidled right up next to him, getting far more comfortable and in his personal space than Jet cared for.

It was like that every time Tom came in. Whatever she was doing, Sandra would drop it, and rush over to his side. It seemed to Jet as if she craved his power, the authority of the mayor of Bear Bluffs.

He snorted, turning back to the burger, attempting to make it a masterpiece for Kailee. If Sandra thought that Tom had any real power, she was horribly mistaken. A human man attempting to rule over a city of primarily bear shifters had the same amount of power as a dead battery. The office was simply ceremonial, these days everything that needed to happen was authorized by the city council, which was exclusively shifters.

The burger finished, Jet garnished it with a flourish and made his way back to the bar. Sandra's actions made him want to be sick, but the smile that Kailee bestowed upon him as he set the burger down in front of her was a ray of sunshine amidst his internal storm.

It also made his cock harder than steel, which could have proven embarrassing if she could see over the bar. His hands tightened on the edge of the bar until his knuckles went white, doing his best to regain control as she dug into her food with gusto.

His efforts at staying in charge failed and so Jet had to excuse himself once more. He motioned Sandra over.

I need to go out back for a moment. Take care of things for me, okay?

What? Jet, it's busy in there!

He rolled his eyes, because the Quencher only seated twenty or so people. She was just whining because the mayor would likely turn his attention elsewhere for a moment if she was busy.

Just handle it, he replied, pushing his way out the back door, ignoring the sigh of disgust that made its way to his ears.

Outside he paced back and forth, trying to relax. Glancing over at the forest that started only a short distance away, Jet dreamed about shifting and letting his bear out to exercise. If he did that, however, he knew he would be gone for more than the five or ten minutes he intended to grab.

Finally, he managed to get his bear under control and calmed down. For the moment at least, as both halves of him knew that the instant Kailee was close to him again he was going to lose it.

The key, he told his bear, trying his best to get his thoughts across coherently, was not to drive her away by acting too swiftly. Firstly, he would have to come to a decision about Sandra.

Jet was many things, not all of them wonderful and kind. What he wasn't, however, was a cheater. Even though whatever was going on with Sandra was all kinds of messed up, he would end things there before he began to pursue another woman. That was one of the rules he tried to live by.

Besides, he told himself, pulling open the door to head back in, if she just moved to town, it's unlikely that she's going anywhere. The odds were that nobody else in town even knew she existed. So Jet would have some time to decide just what he planned to do.

Fuck! Fuck! That sonofabitch!

The first thing he saw upon walking back inside was Sandra practically melting into the mayor again. While that was bad enough, what made it worse, was that she had brought Tom over and was practically pushing him at Kailee.

Jet couldn't decide who he was angrier with at first. Tom, for trying to weasel his way into her pants, without taking the time to know her first, or at Sandra, who clearly had caught on to his feelings for Kailee, whatever they may be. She shot him a quick glance before turning back to laugh at one of Tom's jokes, a smug look on her face.

Kailee, at least, was stone-faced, betraying no emotion at all as he tried to flirt with her. It appeared, from his first impression, that she was not interested in his bullshit. His thoughts were confirmed when she turned away from Tom, doing her best to ignore him and finish her meal.

Instead of taking no for an answer, Tom threw an arm over her and leaned in closer after Sandra whispered something in his ear. When Kailee tried to shrug him off and continue eating, Tom began to get a little irate.

Something flashed in her eyes, confirming what Jet had suspected at first, that