Free Bunny Bear - Wild Bear 02 by Ruby Shae Page A

been going on dates at least twice a week. He couldn’t help it if he wasn’t attracted to her, a lot of men didn’t like curvy, plus-sized women, but he was wearing a costume, and the outright lie fanned her bubbling anger into a heated rage.
    She knew she should keep her mouth shut, but something inside her snapped.
    “Why the hell are you dressed up like that?” she asked. “It’s not even Easter.”
    “I’m doing it as a favor for this girl I met last week,” he shrugged. “It’s her little sister’s birthday, and the girl apparently loves bunnies. Their original rabbit-man backed out at the last minute, so I agreed to help out.”
    “You’re willing to dress up as a giant rabbit for a woman you just met, but you sent me home to change last Halloween because you supposedly hate costumes?”
    “That was different and you know it,” he said. “Dressing up at work is a lot different than dressing up for fun.”
    “There was nothing wrong with my costume,” she accused.
    Except that he didn’t like her in it.
    She’d dressed as a bunny, too, but her outfit had showed a lot more skin than his.
    She thought back to the clothes she’d worn that night and cringed. It had been the one and only time she’d replaced her normal jeans with a black, short frilly skirt. She’d still worn her Wild Bear t-shirt, with the name of the bar stretched across her chest in blue, but she’d added a round, white bunny tail to her skirt, and a pair of bunny ears to her head.
    The men had seemed to enjoy her effort, and she’d made a killing in tips until Gabe had walked out of his office. He’d escorted her off the floor, scolded her, and sent her home to change.
    His obvious distaste for her looks had wounded her pride, and the only reason she’d returned that night was because she’d needed the money.
    “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “This is my business and I’ll run it how I see fit.”
    His harsh words cut through her anger and reminded her how much she needed her job.
    She’d lived in Liberty her whole life and grew up waitressing in her parent’s diner. When they’d both died in a freak accident last year, she’d been forced to sell the business to pay off their debts and funeral expenses. Selling the business had been their choice, but it had nearly killed her to execute their plans. When it was all over, she’d placed the meager remains of their estate into her savings account, and started looking for a new job.
    After months with no leads, Tanya, the other waitress, had given her an inside tip. She’d approached Gabe before he’d had time to list the opening, and he’d hired her immediately.
    “You’re right, of course,” she said. “You can keep the basket. Please excuse me.”
    She walked past him, rushed down the hallway and pushed open the metal door leading out to the parking lot. She was able to keep the tears at bay until she reached her apartment, but as soon as she stepped into the private dwelling, all bets were off.
    She crawled into bed and sobbed into her pillow.
    There was no way she could go on living like this. As much as she loved Gabe, she had to let him go and cut all ties.
    She needed to start looking for a new job as soon as possible.
     
    ***
     
    Gabriel Turner looked at himself in the mirror and growled. He had no idea what had provoked him to rent the bunny suit, but the fact that he had proved how desperate he was to find a woman, any woman, who made him feel the way Michelle did.
    He’d always been told fated mates didn’t exist, but one look at the curvy beauty and no other woman mattered. She was his mate, the one woman created specifically for him, and he couldn’t be with her.
    Before she’d walked into his office a little over a year ago, he was content with work and building his business. The Wild Bear was a shifter bar frequented by both shifters and humans, and he’d strived to make it a comfortable place for everyone. With two similar businesses