One Bear and a Baby: BBW Bear Shifter Baby Paranormal Romance (Who's the Daddy? Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

Leona’s family.”
    “Leona…?” Her pen poised over the paper.
    “Leona Pender. And Maisie was born in St. Hilda’s Hospital.”
    “Thank you, now that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Smiling, trying to keep herself together, when all she wanted to do was drag him into bed. The same bed that was only three feet away from them. So close, so out of reach.
    There was no way she could do anything about their relationship while he was lying to her, and she had no doubt he was lying to her. However, she needed to buy herself some time.
    “Not hard at all.” He adjusted his clothing and she could not stop herself glancing down and seeing he was hard, in a completely different way.
    “Well, thank you, Cade. I will be in touch.” She headed out of the door, needing fresh, cool air on her face before she swooned, or did something equally as weak, in his presence. As she walked past him, she could not stop herself taking a long, deep breath, his scent filling her nostrils, and she closed her eyes. Irresistible.
    “Don’t leave town,” she told him, her voice breathy, not the stern sheriff she needed to be.
    Down the stairs she went, trying not to run away, and trying not to run back into his arms. As she opened the front door, she called, “Thanks for your help” to Jesse, and then got out of there as if he really had been an axe-wielding serial killer. The experience couldn’t have been more unsettling if he was.

Chapter Five – Cade
    It took him a moment to steady himself after she had gone. If the situation wasn’t bad enough before, this had made it so much worse. He could probably have lied convincingly to the sheriff, if she was not his mate .
    “Cade, are you all right? You look pale.” His mom came out of the kitchen with Maisie, who smiled at him, happy to see him, the person who had given her stability and love.
    “I have to leave,” he said quickly. “The sheriff has gone to check on the details surrounding Maisie’s birth and when she finds out I’ve lied, she’ll be back.”
    “Cade. Slow down, I thought you had it figured out, I thought you were going to convince her that Maisie was yours.”
    “I couldn’t. Now she’s going to dig and I don’t know what she’ll stir up. I don’t know what I’m up against. And without that knowledge, I can’t keep Maisie safe.” He began packing everything, going from room to room collecting the baby paraphernalia, which had already spread through the house.
    “Why not?” His mom took hold of his arm. “Why not?”
    He stopped, slumping down against the arm of the sofa. “She’s my mate, she knows it as well as I do. She won’t just walk away. She won’t just take it that I’m Maisie’s father.”
    “You can’t go.”
    “I have to.”
    “Where to? Where are you going to go to next? Children need stability, they need family, you cannot just move from place to place.”
    “I have to.”
    “No, you don’t.” His mom implored him. “Stay here, talk to her, explain it to her.”
    “She’s the sheriff.”
    “She’s your mate first. You know that.”
    “I can’t risk it.” He turned back to his mom. “As soon as she checks the name I gave her she’ll know I’ve lied. Then she’ll begin digging around in my background, flags will be raised, and I don’t know who is looking for those tell-tale flags. I’m in the dark over all this. If only I could have found Jenni, it might have made things different. But I couldn’t. So I need to leave; it was a mistake coming back here.”
    “No, it wasn’t. Your instincts were right. This is where you belong.”
    Cade shook his head. “There was a setup. She got framed, which means someone in the force was in on it.”
    “Are you sure?”
    He stopped and looked at his mom, frowning at her concerned face. “Yes.”
    “Let’s sit down and think about this. She could have been guilty. She might have lied to you, and it was easier to keep running without a child.”
    “No, she was scared.”