Read Online The Playboy Bear's Baby: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance by Marlie Monroe - Free Book Online Page A

his arms.
    Halfway
through the movie, he gave into the innate urge to nuzzle her hair. She smelled
so good, like wildflowers, pure sensuous woman, and home. He’d never caught
wind of anything more perfect. Her hair was thick and soft against his face.
    Mara
tilted her head up and back. Their gazes locked and sparks ignited between
them. Gray lowered his head, closing the scant distance between them, and
covered her lips with his own. He groaned at the taste of her soft lips and
instantly tilted his head and dove back in for more. He licked over the seam
between her lips and beyond the instant she parted and let him in. The tip of
her tongue met his, touched, and retreated. He gave chase, exploring her mouth
and caressing the hidden depths, and then pulled back to allow her a chance to
pursue him.
    They
parried back and forth, the kiss growing deeper, hotter with every second. Heat
flashed through Gray’s body, tightening his muscles and stiffening his member.
Every touch made his desire for her grow by leaps and bounds. The glide over
her palms over his neck and shoulders inflamed him with the longing for more.
He wanted to feel her touch everywhere, moving over his bare skin, scent
marking him as her intended mate as surely as he yearned to return the favor.
    Someone
banged on the front door with a hard fist.
    Mara
jerked away from him and stared up at him with wide eyes. Her cheeks were
flushed and her lips were red. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her
senseless all over again. “Are you expecting someone?”
    “No.”
She glanced at the door. “I guess I should see who that is.” She stood,
straightened her clothes, and headed toward the door.
    Gray
sat up straight and readjusted his jeans, which were more than a little
uncomfortable at the moment. He hoped whoever was at the door didn’t stay long.
    Mara
yanked open the door and gasped. “Mom?”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter Seven
     
    “Mom?”
Mara blinked and the woman in front of her didn’t vanish. It really was her
mother standing there. She was older, with a lined face heavily coated in
makeup, stringy bleached blond hair, and a figure closer to the likeness of a
scarecrow rather than the plus sized woman who’d dumped Mara on her grandma’s
doorstep thirteen years earlier, but there was no doubt about her identify. The
eyes were exactly the same. Mara looked into a pair just like them every time
she glanced in a mirror.
    “Mara
baby?” Nancy Adamsen rushed forward and threw her arms around Mara. “Oh my
goodness. You’re so big.”
    Mara
stood still as a statue, in shock. She inhaled and sucked in a lungful of air
redolent with the scent of cigarettes, cheap perfume, and sweat. Here was her
mother, the woman she’d worried over, missed, and hated in equal turns after
being abandoned, and she could only think of one thing to say. “Oh course I’m
bigger. I’m not the frightened ten-year-old you left behind.”
    “Well,
you’ve got that right.” Nancy pulled back and regarded Mara with shrewd eyes.
“You’ve grown into a fine looking young woman. I always knew you would,
although you take after your granny more than I expected. I was just
heartbroken when I heard about her passing.”
    “You
missed the service.” A warm presence moved in close behind her. She looked over
her shoulder and made eye contact with Gray. The man moved like a ghost. She
hadn’t even heard him get up.
    “I
only just learned of her passing last week. The grapevine doesn’t seem to
travel as fast as it used to.” Nancy looked beyond Mara and the switch from
sympathetic relative to cold, hard calculating woman happened so fast it was
scary. “And just who might this be?”
    “This
is Gray. Gray, this is my mother, Nancy. Gray and I were just watching a
movie.”
    “Is
that what they’re calling it these days?” Nancy laughed at her own joke.
    Mara
frowned. She shifted her weight from one foot to the