“Zach. You’re much more than a dumb jock. You’re a hero who served your country. And I don’t know anyone who’s more dedicated to helping people learn to enjoy the outdoors than you are. You’re a natural with kids. Any woman would be lucky to have you.”
“Thanks, Levi. So do you think I should go down to the bakery to talk to her?”
“It’s opening day down there, Zach. That probably isn’t what she needs right now.”
“But…I’ve been waiting so long. I have to meet her.”
“Just wait. Let things develop naturally. The last thing you want to do is scare her away.”
“I see your point. Drew and Quinn’s story is a fair warning to us all.”
“I promised Juliet I’d go down there to get her some sweets. And Shane wants to talk to her about doing a special order of bread and croissants. He isn’t happy with our current supplier.”
“Will you ask her if she’ll have dinner with me?”
“That, I won’t do, but I’ll tell you what I think of the shop and what kind of mood she’s in. I’m sure she’s very busy this morning.”
“Fine. I’ll wait,” Zach said, feeling more impatient than ever.
The last thing he wanted to do was wait to meet Maisie now that he knew she was here. He’d already been waiting so long. He couldn’t wait a second longer. Trying to be the new, mature Zach was taking a toll, and he was about ready to chuck the whole idea.
But Levi had a point. Human women could be skittish and unpredictable when they came into contact with their shifter fated mates. He had to play it cool.
Zach had gone on his fair share of dates and he’d never been this eager to meet anyone in his entire life. Compared to all the other women before her, his reaction to Maisie was off the charts.
He hadn’t even gotten a good scent on her the day before, but from what little he’d been able to make out, he was sure she was the one.
He grumbled and stood up from the table. If he hadn’t talked to Levi, he would have just followed his impulses and gone down to the bakery. That might have been a disaster. She might have rejected him outright for acting like a stalker. That was the last thing he wanted.
He wanted to wine and dine her and make her feel like a princess. He wanted to show her the mountain and share the thrill of the outdoors with his fated mate. More than anything, he wanted to mark her as his own and plant the seed of a child inside her.
Seeing Quinn and Juliet grow heavy with their cubs had made Zach long for a child of his own. He wanted to watch Maisie’s belly round and ripen with his fertile seed.
Just the thought of it made him hard as he walked back to his cabin with his paper cup of coffee. He let out a deep growl into the crisp winter air, and it puffed out in front of him as his coffee steamed in his hand.
Inside his cabin, he drank the rest of his coffee while finding out everything he could about Maisie Green on the internet.
If he couldn’t stalk her in real life, he’d internet stalk her. It wasn’t one of Zach’s proudest moments, but it was the only way he could convince himself to stay away until she agreed to meet him.
He learned that she’d grown up in Fate Mountain and graduated with honors from Fate Mountain High. After that, she’d gone on to Seattle to culinary school and then went over to France to continue her education as an apprentice baker. For the last several years, she’d been managing Paris’s number one ranked bakery and had won an award for excellence that came with a cash prize. Apparently, it was quite the honor in the baking industry.
Zach was definitely impressed. But the more he learned about her, the less confident he felt that she would like him. Fated mate or not, he and Maisie didn’t have a lot in common on the surface. He was an X-Games athlete and she was a French pastry chef. She’d think he was some silly buffoon and wouldn’t take him seriously for one second, let alone agree to be his woman and have his cubs.
He clenched his fist and smashed it into the desk top. Zach wasn’t the kind of bear that got angry very often, but he couldn’t help his feelings of frustration. He’d waited so long for a mate and now he didn’t know if he deserved her. Fate was cruel. He’d never believed it until now. But now he was sure of it.
She probably spoke French and knew all about fine wine and art and stuff. All Zach knew about was stuff like what angle to lean when doing a backflip off a half pipe.
He stood from his desk, seeing it was time to go meet his first clients for their ski lessons that morning. He loved his job more than anything, but this was the first day in his time at the lodge that he felt like a failure. Most of the other bears had their own businesses, but Zach was content to work for Levi. He didn’t need the headache of working for himself. It wasn’t like it would make the job any more enjoyable. In fact, it would just make it harder.
Zach still had most of his VA benefits and was going to use his money to buy a house. The decision to become a homeowner had been a big one for Zach. A turning point of sorts; until then, he’d been content to just live at the lodge and work for Levi.
What else could he possibly want? But over the last few months, he’d realized that he would have to learn to be more responsible if he wanted to be ready for a mate and cubs.
Maisie seemed like a lady who had it all together. That was the most intimidating thing of all. She’d probably think he was an immature kid like the rest of the crew, even though Zach was already thirty.
He just wanted to be understood. There was a benefit to not taking things too seriously, a benefit not many people knew about. Zach always believed if other people understood what he did about life, they’d be as happy as he was. He was determined not to lose his sunny disposition, even if he was determined to become more mature.
Zach went through the day even more distracted than he’d been the day before. He tried to focus on his lessons but was only half there. Most of the day was spent fantasizing about what their lives would be like when he and Maisie got together. The other half of the time he imagined what it would be like if he rejected him.
When he made it back to his cabin at the end of the day, he was a nervous wreck. All he wanted was to settle down and start a family. A lot of women wanted the same thing. So why did he feel like he was an obnoxious loser?
When he was sitting down for dinner, his phone pinged in his pocket. He yanked it out and flicked his finger across the screen. It was a message from Maisie on Mate.com saying she’d go out to dinner with him.
Yes!
“I’ll pick you up at eight,” he typed out.
With the date settled, he sank back in his seat, his heart pounding. An excited flush ran down his face and over his shoulders. His arms pricked with goosebumps.
This was it. He was really going to meet her.
Chapter 6
Maisie’s hands shook as she put on her earrings, looking at herself in the mirror. She and Zach had been texting back and forth most of the day. It being only her second day in business, it was a major distraction.
A distraction she couldn’t help allowing herself, however. With each text she liked Zach more. He was affable and kind. Two qualities she admired. Not only that, there was a subtle sexiness to him that was tempered by his cool honesty about wanting a family. It was so cute coming from a guy who was a SoCal skater type dude. It was clear he wanted her, but he wasn’t creepy about it.
That was part of what had Maisie all out of sorts. She knew she wasn’t ready for a love match right now. Sure, she was willing to go out on a date and get to know the guy. He seemed great, but she just didn’t have room in her life for anything too serious.
This was a time when she needed to be focused on starting her bakery. Everything else had to come second.
All her peers thought she was crazy for leaving Paris and going out on her own, in Oregon of all places. She had to prove that she could do it. She was from Oregon, after all, and she’d won the baking prize. Maisie had to believe that meant something.
Now she wa
s beside herself about some man she’d met on the internet who was supposedly her fated mate. She didn’t have time for it, but she couldn’t stop herself. She wanted to meet him. She wanted to see what he was all about and let him give her the romantic experience he was so intent on creating for her.
She’d worn a form-fitting blue dress with a flirty flared skirt and a pair of red pumps. For a first date, she’d decided to leave her hair down. She’d curled it in big waves that flowed around her shoulders and had put on a sexy shade of red lipstick that made her feel as hot as could be.
She needed all the help she could get for this date. Maisie had plenty of male admirers back in Paris, but she didn’t tend to date men like Zach. He was all muscle and charming good looks. That kind of man usually went out with swimsuit models. Maisie definitely wasn’t that.
She groaned at herself, reminding herself how eager this bear shifter was to meet her. He’d told her he’d know if she was his fated mate once he got a good sniff of her scent. The very thought of it sent a liquid thrill through her entire body.
He was picking her up at eight, and he’d be there any minute. She’d closed the shop two hours ago, and she felt hurried and nervous as she waited for him to arrive.
Why had she agreed to this? She kept asking herself that question. It just wasn’t a good time.
Zach’s truck pulled up in front of her apartment. She looked down through the upstairs windows out at the street and watched him walk out of his truck and up to the door to the stairs to her apartment.
The buzzer rang by the door, and Maisie hurried down to meet him on the street. She opened the door, and he stood in front of her under the glow of the streetlamp. His white blond hair seemed to shimmer around his face. Maisie made an involuntary but embarrassingly audible sigh of pleasure at the sight of him.
He smiled down at her with a boyish grin, his ice blue eyes twinkling. Maisie’s heart fluttered, and she reached out to shake his hand. He grasped her hand and leaned in to kiss her cheeks as they did in France.
“Hello, Maisie,” he said between kisses.
She kissed his cheeks back, accustomed to greeting this way. It was totally unexpected, but totally perfect. Each kiss felt like he’d ignited a fire inside her that would be raging out of control before she knew it.
“Nice to meet you Zach,” she said, her voice sounding softer than normal.
“You smell like a dream come true,” he said.
“What does that smell like?” she asked, a little taken aback and charmed at the same time.
“It smells like you. My fated mate.”
Her mouth dropped open as she stood staring at him. He just came out and said it. She was his fated mate. Or so he claimed. How could he know? Her scent? It was all too strange. But she wanted to go with it. Zach was a dream come true himself.
“So, I’m it?” she asked, gulping.
“Yes. But don’t feel pressured or anything. Dang. I shouldn’t have brought it up yet. Levi told me to take things slow.”
He looked really distraught. She couldn’t help but want to comfort him.
“I don’t know anything about shifter culture.”
“Really? Didn’t you grow up on Fate Mountain?”
“Yes, but things were different back then.”
They started out to the truck, and Zach opened the door for her and helped her inside. When he got inside the cab, he asked her more about growing up on Fate Mountain.
“It was great, except shifters and humans tended to stick to their own back then. And you know, shifters didn’t really talk a lot about their culture. I went to culinary school, so I never learned anything about shifter history in college either.”
“Just not interested?” he asked as he started down the street toward the lodge.
“It wasn’t that. Cooking is an all-consuming passion.”
“What do you think of shifters now?”
“I supported the Shifter Equality Act. I believe in full integration.”
“And shifter/human relationships?”
“Well, I never would have signed up to Mate.com if I didn’t believe in the possibility.”
“Great,” he said, as if he’d won a prize.
She looked over at him, a little perplexed, but it only made her laugh.
“You’re very cute,” she said.
“You’re not so bad yourself, Maisie Green.”
They pulled up in front of the lodge, and Zach helped her out of the truck in her designer heels. They walked up the paved path to the front of the lodge. Zach opened the front door of the lobby and they walked inside.
Her mom was off shift tonight, and Maisie was glad she didn’t have to see her while on her first date with Zach. Only date? She didn’t know yet. As adorable as he might be, getting involved was not on her to-do list.
They walked into the dining room and were seated by the wait staff at a table by the window. She could see the lake below under the glow of moonlight. Lake Fate was too big to freeze, but snowy wonderland around the edges sparkled in the full moon’s light.
She’d forgotten how beautiful Lake Fate was in winter. She looked back over at Zach and smiled; this date was already proving to be romantic. The waiter set their menus in front of them, and Maisie looked down at the offerings.
“Shane’s working tonight. I bet you’d like him. He’s a chef like you.”
“I’m a huge fan of Shane Keenan. You have no idea. I used to watch his show every week back when he was on the Food Channel. I even have several of his cookbooks.”
“Do you want to meet him?”
“I’d love to, but I’m even more excited to eat his food.”
“It looks like king crab is the special tonight. Sounds good to me.”
“I’d love some fresh crab,” Maisie said.
It sounded delicious. When the waiter came back, he handed them a wine menu. Zach gave her a brief panicked look and she told the waiter what wine to bring.
“Good choice,” the waiter said.
She saw Zach let out a long breath.
“Do you like wine?” she asked.
“Sure,” he said. “Do you know a lot about wine?”
“As much as any pastry chef, I suppose,” she said. “We studied wine in culinary school.”
“Oh,” he said, looking relieved. “What was it like to live in France?”
“Spectacular.”
“Why’d you come back here?”
“Why did you come here? Didn’t you see the world while you were in the Navy? Fate Mountain is a good place to live.”
“You’ve got a point. It’s just not as cultured as Paris.”
“Few places are, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t wonderful places to live and start businesses. Besides, Paris is crowded and expensive. And most of the buildings are very, very old.”
“I see your point,” he said thoughtfully.
“Why the concern?” she asked.
“No reason.”
He gave her that charming boyish smile of his. How was she going to keep herself focused on what she needed to do with a man like Zach wanting to date her?
The waiter brought their meals, and Maisie was excited to take the first bite. She dug into the buttery crab and took a taste. It was divine, melting over her tongue with rich, decadent flavor.
“This is really good,” Zach said, shoving another forkful into his mouth.
“It’s amazing,” Maisie said, so impressed with Shane’s cooking.
“Shane’s the best,” he said.
“Going off this dish, I’d have to agree.”
She smiled at him over the table and slipped her glass of Pinot Gris. Zach reached across the table and took her free hand in his. Maisie widened her eyes as she held her wine glass in the other hand.
“Maisie, you look gorgeous tonight,” he said. “There’s so much I want to share with you.”
“Like what?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.
“The moon, the stars
,” he said, laughing. “Places on Fate Mountain where it’s beautiful this time of year. You can only get there by skiing,” he said. “Do you like skiing?”
“I’ve never been.”
“You grew up on Fate Mountain and you’ve never been skiing?”
“Not once. Is that bad?” She laughed.
“I’ve been called a good teacher,” he told her. “I could teach you.”
She hesitated for a moment. Just the idea of skiing made her feel exhausted. But she liked Zach and she wanted him to like her too.
“I’d love that. I’m just so busy right now.”
“Cross country is pretty easy for a beginner, and I have something special to show you.”
“Really? What is it?”
“I can’t tell you until we’re there.”
“Now I have to find out,” she said, chuckling. “I close the shop early on Sundays. Maybe we could go then.”
“Sounds perfect.”
She took another sip of wine and continued savoring her meal. Zach gave her a brief rundown on how basic skiing worked. The way he explained it, it all made sense.
Maisie had come to Fate Mountain to start a new life. She was starting out on her own and had come home in an effort to find her true calling. Maybe learning to ski was part of becoming her better self.
The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to go. Zach made it sound easy. She wanted to see him again and find out what he had to show her. He made her feel carefree, like she could do anything. The world was full of possibilities when she looked into his bright blue eyes.
That’s when master chef Shane Keenan walked up to the table. Maisie had met a lot of master chefs during her education and career, but Shane was a celebrity. Her eyes widened, and she knew she had a fan girl grin on her face.
“Shane,” Zach said, fist bumping his crew mate. “This is Maisie Green.”
“How was everything tonight?” he asked Maisie.
“Delicious. Absolutely perfect.”
“I’m glad to hear it. I wanted to greet you myself and let you know I love your bread. It’s perfect for the lodge.”