Chapter One

 

Present day…

 

Natalie Renquist sat across the table from Chad. Or was it Thad? She’d long since forgotten his name. Which was a remarkable feat in and of itself considering he hadn’t stopped talking about himself or his many attributes for the entire dinner.

Five minutes into the evening with her cantankerous date and she’d already known it had been a mistake. Despite what her matchmaker, Gerri at Paranormal Dating Agency had told her, the man chewing with his mouth open while telling stories that the whole restaurant could hear was anything but polite. He had the manners of a caveman and the personality of a wet mop. Not that she was surprised really. He was a Kodiak shifter after all. She’d heard that many bear shifters could be jerks, but Kodiak bears seemed to be pegged as the biggest jackasses of the lot. They had a reputation for being obnoxious, arrogant and all around asshats. They were traits that he not only seemed aware of, but oddly proud of as well.

For weeks she had considered ending her agreement with the dating agency. Gerri had come highly recommended but, it seemed for as much as she had a reputation for being the best, she had been the absolute worst in her dealings with Natalie’s love life.

She went over the conversation in her head a few dozen times while her date continued on about some conquest he was bragging about.  A part of her wanted to ask Gerri if she was completely delusional. The thought wasn’t completely out of line considering the monumental pricks that she’d been setting Natalie up with in the previous months. Still on the flip side she tried to remember that not only was Gerri known as the best in the business, but she was intimidating as all hell. The actual odds that Natalie would ever stand up to Gerri were slim to none. Still, it was an interesting scenario to detract her from the current pain she was being forced to endure by the constant droning on of her date.

And just what the hell was his name anyway? Was it Chad? Was it Thad? Oh! Brad! That’s right.

“Excuse me,” the waitress looked hesitant when interrupting their conversation. “Is there anything else I can get you?”

Natalie smiled through clenched teeth. “Just the check, please.”

“What? You don’t want any desert?” he gave her a once over. “You look like you have a sweet tooth?”

If it hadn’t been for gravity, Natalie was sure the waitress’ eyes would’ve fallen out of her head from the shock of his rudeness.

She neither cared what her crude date thought, anymore than she cared what the numbers on the scale in her bathroom said. She knew she was overweight and could stand to lose a good fifteen, or more pounds. It’s not like she was oblivious to the fact she had a figure shaped like a pear. Every woman in her family had been blessed with the same traits, big boobs, tiny waist, big ass and giant thighs. She’d learned to live with it and had no illusions or insecurities about her body. So she hardly needed a man in her life that looked down on her as though she was anything less than fat and fabulous.

“Hey, I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Glaring at him she replied. “By what exactly?”

She refused to acknowledge his asshole remark, just like she’d ignored many of his other rude comments throughout the night. The only real compliments he seemed capable of granting were ones to himself. It was a wonder to her that he was dating at all, seeing as how his one true love seemed to be himself.

“You’re different. I can’t put my finger on it, but I’ve not met many women like you before.”

You mean women with a backbone who don’t subscribe to your cocky pigheadedness?

“Oh?” she asked. “Tell me, what is a woman like me exactly?”

“You know… you don’t care what people think.”

No. I don’t care what you think.

Despite wanting desperately to utter the words, she kept quiet and reached for the check as soon as it hit the table.

“Whoa. You’re paying too?” he asked in surprise.

“Yeah, just another one of the qualities of being a woman like me.”

While sarcasm dripped off of every word, she doubted he recognized any of it. 

“You know, since you’re buying… you might just get lucky tonight.”

She tossed a fifty dollar bill on the table and cringed at the thought.

Don’t hit him, Natalie. Don’t do it.

Nodding her head down at the money she replied, “This should cover it.”

“Hey,” he reached across the table and grabbed her hand. “Don’t rush off yet. I haven’t had a chance to get to know you.”

Pulling her hand away she cocked her eyebrow up. She was surprised he even noticed she was there at all. He might as well have been sitting across from a mirror for as much as he seemed to love himself.

“Maybe that’s because you haven’t shut up for longer than five seconds this entire dinner.”

“Aww, come on, babe. Don’t be like that.” He stood up and placed a hand on her waist. “Maybe we could go back to my place and finish the conversation over a glass of wine.”

Surely he didn’t just suggest that. There was no way even he could be that ignorant to my obvious disinterest.

“Are you insane?”

It wasn’t a rhetorical question. She was beginning to think he may actually be suffering from some sort of narcissistic disorder. It was the only way to explain away his complete asshole tendencies.

“Insane? No. Horny? Yes.”

Pushing his hand away she moved past him and began to walk away from the table.

“You’re really leaving?”

She turned, eyeing the six foot something dickhead who’d she’d wasted the last two hours of her evening on.

“Well geez, I don’t know. Does a bear shit in the woods?”