Romance: Stranded With The Alpha Bear: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (Werebear, BBW, Bear Shifter Romance) (Sweet Shifters Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

and rush to his office.
    I think he’s avoiding me.
    On the third day, I stood in the kitchen looking at Missing Persons on the tablet and leaning on the island. It gave me some solace to have a connection to the outside world. I decided to look at Missing Persons in this area to see how many girls could’ve been taken, if I knew any of them. I felt almost obsessed with it. Maybe from being left alone for days on end with little to no human interaction.
    Suddenly, a noise came from the door. Probably just a bird. The doorknob started to turn. Maybe Christian went outside? Then the door opened and a cloaked figured entered. I froze, unable to scream. The figure lowered its hood to reveal a middle-aged woman with short grey hair.
    “Oh, hello,” the woman smiled. “I’m Gina. You must be Veronica.”
    I still couldn’t move. She didn’t seem dangerous, but she did somehow know my name. “Yeah, I am. You are?”
    “Sorry, Christian’s told me all about you,” she chuckled, carrying in a bag of tupperware dishes full of food. “I’m his aunt.”
    “Nice to meet you. I assume you’re his cook too?”
    “Naturally! I promised my brother I’d take care of his little boy. I’m just a little late this week.”
    “I was wondering if you’d actually come, but Christian kept the faith.”
    “I couldn’t let him starve,” she laughed. “Can you help me carry in the meals?”
    “Sure.”
    I followed her outside to her car. Though I’d been in the kitchen all morning with the windows wide open as usual, I hadn’t noticed the rain. Sometimes it could rain here with the sun still in the sky.
    “Wow, I haven’t been outside for so long that I didn’t even know it was raining,” I laughed.
    “You must be a friend of Christian’s then. Sometimes he barely leaves,” she responded. “Especially during this time of year.”
    “Oh?”
    “It’s a sad time for him.”
    “Why is that?”
    “You should probably ask him about it,” she smiled. “As you may know, he’s a private man.”
    “Yeah, I barely even see him. If I do, he rushes into his office.”
    She laughed, leading me inside. “I think he’s just nervous around you. He said you’re not like other girls.”
    “We’ve barely interacted.”
    “Well, I guess you’ve left your mark.”
    I didn’t know what to say, so I scrambled to think of something (anything) to change the subject. “You’re sure bringing a lot of food.”
    “Yeah, I’m not going to be around for a while. My husband’s not well.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that.”
    “Don’t worry about it, sweetie,” she patted my arm. “Hopefully you can give him some cooking lessons if he runs out of food.”
    “I’ll try.”
    “Aunt Gina, you’ve finally come,” Christian’s voice came from upstairs.
    She and I looked up together as he descended the stairs quickly. He wore a tight wifebeater and dress pants. I froze again, struck by his muscles shown so clearly against the tight cotton fabric. I hadn’t noticed his impeccable abs or the caliber of his “guns” (as Kevin liked to say when he’d flex to make me laugh.)
    Christian slipped on a sweatshirt as he came down and somehow didn’t fall all the way down. His finesse in mastering those treacherous stairs while also putting on a sweatshirt (though unfortunately covering up his very nice muscles) made my blush spread from my face to my chest.
    I felt like like all my skin must be completely red. I grabbed some of the tupperware quickly and rushed to the freezer to put them in. The cold has to make the red go down. Please, please let it go down.
    “I figured I should finally bring you some food,” Gina grinned. “Especially since you have a guest.”
    “It’s greatly appreciated,” he answered, sounding nicer than usual. “We are almost out of food.”
    “You are going to have to learn how to cook eventually. You’re almost thirty now.”
    I closed the freezer to face them. His face looked slightly red, but he