Baby Protector Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Baby Paranormal Romance (Who's the Daddy? Book 4) (3 page)

It was OK, there would be time for that later. When she trusted him, he would get her to tell him all the details. He needed to know exactly what he was up against. This Krieg had a reach that went all too far, and all too deep, if there really was a mole. That idea didn’t sit easy with him. Loyalty was one of his strongest traits. It was a bear thing.

Although he hated the idea of Chrissie been in any danger, he was already beginning to hope the guy made a bid to capture the baby, just so that Joel could bite his head off.

His bear was influencing his thoughts again.
Damn it. No biting off heads
.

Unless it’s the last resort?

Unless it’s the last resort
, he conceded, knowing he would do whatever it took to protect Chrissie. And the most adorable baby, whom he had just set eyes on.

“Well, aren’t you the cutest?” he asked, and yes, he did put on a cooing voice, babies did that to him, it was involuntary.

“This is Sam,” Chrissie said softly, going to the carrier that Sam was strapped into, and lifting him out.

Joel’s throat contracted. There was his mate, holding a baby, and his whole world centered in on them. This was what he had longed for, had waited for. It didn’t matter that Sam wasn’t his: he would protect them with his life.

But he would be OK with it not coming down to that.

His reaction to Sam was not what she expected. He genuinely seemed to like the baby, which was a relief; she had dreaded being stuck with a man who was good at the protection side of this case, but who would moan every time he lost an hour of his beauty sleep to a crying baby.

“Want to hold him?” Chrissie asked, knowing this was the real test, anyone could say
coochie, coochie coo
convincingly, but a baby usually had some inbuilt sense of who genuinely liked them and who didn’t.

Sam had a knack for not liking people. For some reason, that included her boss, who had been babysitting Sam while Chrissie had been meeting her potential partners. When Sam had first been held by Mr. Anderson, he had burst into tears, something he repeated every time her boss tried to pick him up.

Sam must be the only person in the world who didn’t appreciate the man who had seen countless babies just like Sam have better, safer lives. So while Mr. Anderson had been looking after him in the cell, he had rocked him in the carrier, rather than picking him up and making him bawl his heart out. Chrissie blamed it on the trauma of the night his mom was killed, but in truth, Sam hadn’t liked Mr. Anderson even before that.

The theory it was because he didn’t like strange men—and Angela had been around a lot of strange men in Sam’s very short life—was about to be put to the test.

“Sure,” Joel said, holding out his strong, well-defined arms to Sam, who wriggled in delight. They liked each other. Chrissie didn’t let her eyes drift to Mr. Anderson, who was watching the whole exchange from his seat.

Sam giggled, and Joel blew a raspberry, which the baby appreciated immensely. Great, two kids. Seems like she was going to be outnumbered once they got settled, if these two boys made silly mischief together. Although, she liked that Joel made Sam happy, it was what he needed. Sam lifted his small, chubby hand to stroke Joel’s stubbly chin. Big blue baby eyes widened at the roughness of it, and then he sighed and tried again, this time breaking into a toothless smile.

“He likes you, Joel, seems you’ve missed your calling,” the chief said, looking around the room, satisfied his part in this was over.

Mr. Anderson stood up, and came to stand next to Chrissie. “It looks as if you are ready to leave,
Princess
.”

Chrissie let the names wash over her. She’d gotten used to Mr. Anderson having pet names for all his staff, since they were usually said with affection, but since he had started using the name
Princess
a couple of weeks ago, it had been said with a hint of sarcasm.

“Yes, I’d like to get Sam settled. He’s due a feed, and then he should sleep.”

“We can feed him at my place,” Joel said, casting Mr. Anderson a look that said he wasn’t too keen on the man either.

“A princess and a knight in shining armor, Sam shouldn’t want for anything more,” Mr. Anderson smiled. It looked genuine, but there was something off about him. Of course, he too was worried about what might happen to Sam; after all, Angela had been murdered on his watch.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Anderson, we’ll take good care of him.” Chrissie smiled and nodded at her boss.

“I’m sure you’ll try.” He edged towards the door. “All the release papers have been signed. I must get back to work.”

“Bye.” She tilted her head. He hadn’t been his usual self for a couple of weeks. She couldn’t blame him: his wife had been ill lately and there were rumors he was going to take early retirement next year, on an obscene pension.

“Goodbye.” He nodded to them all, and shook the police chief’s hand, before leaving the room.

Joel didn’t say a word; he simply bristled like some oversized version of a barbarian in modern clothing. Yes, she could just see Joel in a loincloth, running around the plains with a sword in his hand. The guy had something primitive, primal even, about him.

She’d also like to see what he had hiding under his loincloth. To see if it matched up to the impressive stature of the rest of him.

There was a small vulnerable child present, so her obsession with a naked Joel had to stop. She could only put it down to her biological clock going into overdrive since her sister had her first child. It had brought her own life into focus. Her heart ached for a baby of her own, but her life had no room for a man, let alone a child. The career she had chosen was so that she could protect the weak and vulnerable. So that she could stop others being victims, and never have to watch a loved one get hurt.

But lately, the wall she had built around her heart was being worn away by the need for all the things she had denied herself since she was six years old.

“OK, Chrissie, if you are ready, we should leave,” Joel said, bringing her back to the room. “Or do you want to stare at my chest for a few minutes longer.”

She stiffened, bristling outwardly as she tried to put on a scowl. “I was thinking… You just happened to be in the way.”

“Well, if you have finished thinking, do you want to leave?” He took a couple of steps towards the baby carrier, sat a still-smiling Sam in it, and began to do up the straps.

Trying to do her job, and wanting to make sure he knew how the harness worked, she moved closer to him, feeling the heat of his body though her clothes. Sexy as hell. And just as dangerous. She suspected Joel was a ladies’ man and if she wound up in his bed, it would be no more than a notch on his post. She had to keep her feelings under control. She might not have had sex for over a year, but that did not mean jumping into bed with a man like Joel was a good idea, or a good career choice. She intended to prove herself on this job, in the hope she would be sent on similar jobs in the future.

“Do you want to check I’ve done it right?” he asked.

At first she thought he was being sarcastic because she was hovering over his shoulder, but then he added, “It’s different to the one my niece has, and I do not want any harm to come to Sam if I’ve done it up wrong.”

She softened, and leaned in to check the straps. “Perfect.”

“Here are the keys. The address is on this cell phone. If you have any problems, use this to call in. We have your personal cell phone number too, Chrissie. One of you will phone in every day, make sure the entry is logged. In an emergency, this is the number we’ll use. Keep it with you at all times. Got it?” The chief handed everything to Chrissie and she put everything in her purse.

“Yes,” Joel nodded, confidently, and she was relieved she had such an old hand at going undercover with her.

“Good luck. The house was picked at random, by me. No one will know you are there.”

“Unless you have a mole?” Chrissie asked.

The chief shook his head. “I have taken more precautions on this one. That is why you only have Joel with you. Less people to be noticed, you’ll look like any other new family. If I sent two men with you, people might talk.” He winked at Chrissie, and she smiled.

He gave off a good vibe, and seemed like a nice guy, but even nice guys could be selling out to Krieg. Was he the mole? With his sincerity a cover for the truth? Since the murder of Angela, she had looked at the world differently, at other people differently. At first, she had even looked at Mr. Anderson as a suspect, but he had been distraught at Angela’s death, and she quickly realized she was being paranoid and her thoughts lacked the loyalty he deserved.

“Then let’s go for a ride, young Sam,” Joel said, lifting the baby carrier as if it were empty, not filled with a small, chubby baby. “See you on the other side, Chief.”

“Take care, all of you,” the chief said, a worried look in his eyes, which she chose to ignore; they had to deal in facts, not personal hunches, if they were going to stay safe.

“My car is outside,” she said.

“I thought we could take mine,” he answered easily as they walked down the corridor, Joel leading the way, while she followed, a nervousness building in her stomach. Once they were out of this door, it would be just the two of them against the world. Two people against the mob Krieg might send after them.

“I’m a highly trained emergency response driver.”

“And I’m a highly trained social worker.”

“Your point?” he asked, stopping to look at her. At least he wasn’t steamrolling over her.

“My point is that if anything happens, you would be free to fight someone off, while I drive.”

“Good point. But I still think my truck would be better.”

“Your truck?” she looked around the parking lot. “That one?” She pointed to a large pickup truck that was battered and bruised by too much wear. “Inconspicuous, isn’t it?”

“And your car?” he asked.

She pointed to her small, black Nissan. “There.”

“Blends in, all right.” He sighed, and she could almost read his thoughts. He would have to practically fold himself in two to get into her car. “Listen. You follow me back to my place, and then we’ll decide.”

“Sure,” she said, not wanting to draw attention to them in such an open place. She looked around, expecting someone to be watching them. Paranoia was her friend, she reminded herself.

“You OK?” he asked. He looked around too, but there was no one there.

“Yeah. Just a little paranoid.”

“Understandable, considering the circumstances.” He automatically put his hand on her upper arm, as if to comfort her, and then he jerked back as if she has shocked him. Had she? It was as if some kind of static electricity passed between them.

“We should go,” she said. He walked her to her car, and lifted Sam’s carrier into the back seat, and stepped back to allow her to fit it in place with the seat belt. “I’ll follow you, then?”

“Not as if I’m so inconspicuous you can lose me,” he teased, then his face darkened. “I’m going to be checking no one is following us. But I want you to put my address into your GPS.” He pointed at her GPS, which was set on the dashboard. “Which you should not leave in plain view like that.”

“I’m in a police parking lot,” she pointed out. “Shouldn’t this be a safe place?”

He inched closer to her and dropped his voice. “I’m not sure where is, and where isn’t safe for us anymore. But I want you to know, that being in my care is about as safe as you will ever be.”

“I’m not sure if that’s reassuring,” she said, looking into his dark, unfathomable eyes, and seeing that primal look again. If she stared at them long enough, she was sure he would brainwash her into thinking she was his, that he had the right to drag her off to his cave and do whatever he wanted with her body.

“Believe me, I am the one person you can depend on.” She went to slip into the car seat, but he took hold of her arm, stopping her, and then used his free hand to tuck under her chin and tilt her head back so he captured her eyes with his. “I swear, I will protect you with my life.”

“It’s Sam we’re both supposed to be protecting,” she said, her voice hoarse.

“I know. But please, you need to understand, that whatever happens, whether we simply get to play mommy and daddy until someone else finds this Krieg and arrests his ass, or whether all hell breaks loose around us, I’ll keep you safe.”

She pulled herself back out of the car, and stood facing him. Keeping her voice low, and aiming for sexy, which she never quite pulled off before, she said, “Is this some chat-up line you use on the women you usually pick up? You come over all big, and muscly and protective.” She placed her hand on his upper arm, squeezing his muscles.

“No.” He shook his head. “Only you.”

“Why? Because you think I can’t look after myself?” She stroked her hand up to his jaw line, feeling the stubble that Sam had been so amused with earlier. “You think the
liddle lady
can’t take care of herself?” She pouted, exaggerating her lip sticking out.

Joel’s eyes were dilated and he licked his lips, and she knew he was wondering what she would taste like if he bent his head and kissed her now. Instead, he pulled away from her, threw his head back and laughed. “You know, I think it’s me who should be protected. Come on. Let’s go.”

“I thought we were just getting started,” she said with a smile.

“We have plenty of time for this later. I think the one thing I can guarantee is that we are not going to be bored living together.” His long strides took him to his truck, and she stood and watched in appreciation as he opened the cab door, and pulled himself in. “You’re staring again,” he shot at her as he started his engine and dragged the door shut, ruining her view.

“
Thinking
.” Then she got in her car and reversed out of her parking space, and followed him home.

Driving home meant one eye on the road in front and one eye on the road behind. Or more specifically, one eye on Chrissie’s car. He had also taken the time to assess whether or not they were being followed. Taking his time to ensure their safety, he had headed down quiet back streets, winding his way home on a route that no one in their right mind would take. He hoped Chrissie realized this and didn’t think he was simply going the scenic route.