Free Romance: A Virgin For The Tiger: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (BBW Shifter Romance) by Ashley Hunter

 
    Chapter 1
     
    Bernadette walked to the end of the bar to take a man’s drink order.
     
    “Coming up,” she said, and he quipped something about him already being “up.” Like any other bad joke made about a dick, she smiled, gave a polite titter, and poured him his cocktail.
     
    They all thought they were so clever. They always did. Of all things, Bernadette had gotten used to being hit on.
     
    She grew up in this tiny logging town, most of these men having watched her grow up. Now that she was of age, 26, and still a virgin, it was a constant game with them to try and get her to sleep with them.
     
    Bernadette knew there was something different about her, something wild inside, but she respected herself too much to waste it on these types.
     
    The logging town was set under the shadow of a mysterious mountain, the history riddled with rumors and tall tales. Great beasts with the minds of men, unsolved murders or animal attacks, it was all a bunch of crap. Bernadette didn’t believe a word of it, but it didn’t change the people from talking.
     
    As she served the man his drink, a newcomer came strolling in. She’d come to know all of the folk coming and going in this town, but this one was different. His long, oily hair covered most of his face, his denim jacket faded and filthy. He sat at the bar in the seat closest to the door and sniffed at the air with a hungry look in his eye as if he smelled barbeque.
     
    “Hey there stranger,” she said, wiping up a spot with a rag and then tossing it to the side. “Get you a drink?”
     
    The man’s head twitched when she spoke, and he looked her dead on. That hungry look in his eye intensified as he scanned up and down her body.
     
    “Yes,” he said, his voice low and eerie. “I believe I know exactly what I want.”
     
    “Which is?”
     
    The side of his mouth curled up, exposing an unnaturally long incisor. “Rum. Coke. Don’t go easy on the pour, huh?”
     
    Bernadette glanced over to the liquor wall where the rum sat just above her head. When she reached up to grab the bottle, the stranger produced a nearly inaudible moan. This man’s eyes made her feel as though he’d just puked all over her.
     
    There was an unnatural, intangible sense about him that grated against the grain of her sensibilities. Bernadette was used to every man in town trying to take her virginity, but this one was downright revolting.
     
    Rushing to get away from him, she poured the man his drink, took his money, then went back into the kitchen.
     
    “Larry,” she said to the cook, “I’m stepping out back for a smoke.”
     
    “You don’t smoke,” Larry called back.
     
    She knew that just as well as he did, but she just had to get away from that man. She’d wait out back for as long as it took until he left, and she didn’t care if every person in that bar got fed up with the lack of service and left as well. The whole damn bar could burn to the ground for all she cared.
     
    Once outside, she shook and did the “gross guy dance” in an attempt to get the stench off of her.
     
    Footsteps crunched over gravel in a rush toward her.
     
    Bernadette turned to see who it was, and saw the gross man charging her. She barely had time to throw up her arms before he threw himself through the air, tackling her. The second she opened her mouth to scream, his hand clamped down on her throat to silence her.
     
    “Shh, shh, shh,” he said, spittle flying from his teeth as he shushed her. “Quiet now. I love you, but I’ll snap your neck if you make another sound.”
     
    Bernadette’s mouth was open wide but she couldn’t pull in any air passed his hand.
     
    “Quiet?” he asked in a whisper, and she nodded quickly. His grip loosened, but didn’t leave entirely.
     
    Deep gasping breaths filled her lungs, and she immediately started crying. “What do you want?” she asked, her voice hoarse from the strangulation.
     
    “Oh, baby, all I want is you. You’re