A Bear In the Honey (BBW Unintentional Mail-Order-Bride Paranormal Shifter Romance) by Viola Notte Page B

Thank you very much for returning my call, and yes, I’m still in need of assistance. Whenever you get a chance, please give me a call back at…”
     
    I scribbled down Sebastian’s number then took a seat at my kitchen table. I wasn’t usually quite so giddy, but whatever it was about his voice turned me on!  
     
    I stared at my phone and took a deep breath. Should I call him? Was it too late? I hated to admit it to myself, but I was nervous. I felt like I was 16 years old all over again.
     
    It was 8:35 pm. It was a bit too late. But I made the call anyway. Maybe, I told myself, he had to work early in the morning and wouldn’t be available to talk then. I hoped I wouldn’t bother him, or his family, if he had one.
     
    ****
     
    Sebastian
     
    I couldn’t believe my good fortune--a professional beekeeper answered my ad. We talked for quite some time about my bee issues, and even though we didn’t come to any hard conclusions as to what my problem might be, we had some ideas.
     
    We agreed to meet at my place at 11:00 the following morning. I could only hope that the other bears wouldn’t get a whiff of her. If she looked and smelled as delicious as she sounded, there could be trouble. I didn’t know what it was about her voice, but something in it made my bear come out something fierce! It would be a disaster if she found out my true nature—I was truly afraid that the beast inside me wouldn’t be able to handle itself around her.
     
    ****
     
    Sara
     
    As I drove to Sebastian’s my mind went over all the previous night’s discussion. He seemed intelligent and well-spoken. And he clearly did his homework; he wasn’t like so many other novice beekeepers who purchase bees and expensive equipment without doing any research and just expect to make honey their first year. He was able to answer most of the technical questions I had for him, and even though that wouldn’t necessarily guarantee a competent beekeeper, he couldn’t possibly be a complete disaster—and believe me, I’ve seen some complete disasters.
     
    Whatever his problem was I hadn’t the slightest clue—all I could glean from talking to him was that his bees didn’t like to stick around. I didn’t know if it was something in the way he handled them, or maybe something about the area he lived, but I was determined to get to the bottom of it. He really seemed like an attentive, conscientious beekeeper, and I genuinely wanted to do my best to help solve the mystery of his missing bees.
     
    The first thing I noticed as I drove up to his home, apart from the fact that he was clearly wealthy and well-to-do, was that he didn’t have a bear fence around his bee yard. This was quite puzzling, to say the least, because in Western North Carolina, where the black bear population is particularly high, if one doesn’t have an electric bear fence, one doesn’t have bees, plain and simple. Bears love honey and brood, and they will put up with a blistering amount of stings to get into beehives, destroying the hives in the process. I recalled the old joke Jim likes to share with new beekeepers: “There are two kinds of beekeepers: those who HAVE a bear fence, and those who WILL have a bear fence.” It was remarkable that Sebastian even had standing hives.
     
    I didn’t have much time to look over his bee yard, however, because as soon as I came to a stop on the gravel driveway, the most handsomely rugged man I had ever seen stepped through the stately French doors of the luxury cabin and descended the stairs. 
     
    “Good morning, Sara. I hope my place wasn’t too hard to find.”
     
    “No, it was no problem at all,” I smiled as warmly and comfortably as I could, even though I was already feeling nervous in the presence of this hunk who moved and talked like liquid sex. Anytime I’m attracted to a man I get nervous and sweaty.
     
    “Thank you so very much again for coming out here, I really appreciate it. If you require any