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    Bear's Delight: Baking Bears, #2
    Bear's Delight: Baking Bears, #2
    Bear's Delight: Baking Bears, #2
    Ebook164 pages2 hours

    Bear's Delight: Baking Bears, #2

    By Hollis Shiloh

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    About this ebook

    Corin is a big, insecure baker with an amazing gift in the kitchen—and a big secret. He's a bear shifter. Extremely shy even on a good day, he doesn't have many friends, and would do almost anything to avoid human interaction…at least until he runs across a sweet, prickly homeless man named Mike, a man about his age, with enchanting eyes. One thing leads to another, and a tentative friendship becomes more. Corin's falling fast and hard for this man, but there's still that secret between them. Can they make a life together, or will his shifter nature be too much for Mike to bear? 

    40,000 words 

    The Baking Bears series: sweet stories focus on bear shifters finding their forever mates in this gentle series of standalone shifter romances.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSpare Words Press
    Release dateMay 21, 2016
    ISBN9781533792457
    Bear's Delight: Baking Bears, #2

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      Book preview

      Bear's Delight - Hollis Shiloh

      About the story:

      Corin is a big, insecure baker with an amazing gift in the kitchen — and a big secret.  He's a bear shifter.  Extremely shy even on a good day, he doesn't have many friends, and would do almost anything to avoid human interaction . . . at least until he runs across a sweet, prickly homeless man named Mike, a man about his age, with enchanting eyes.  One thing leads to another, and a tentative friendship becomes more.  Corin's falling fast and hard for this man, but there's still that secret between them.  Can they make a life together, or will his shifter nature be too much for Mike to bear?

      40,000 words

      The Baking Bears series: sweet stories focus on bear shifters finding their forever mates in this gentle series of standalone shifter romances.

      Bear's Delight

      by Hollis Shiloh

      CORIN LOVINGLY FOLDED the bread under itself so the round, smooth, soft top of the loaf would bake up perfect.  He knew it was silly, but somehow he always felt like if he could take his time with this part — forming the loaves — they would taste better.

      Whether it was the handcrafted nature of his loaves, the careful ingredients, the oven, or some other aspect of the bread Corin made, customers seemed to agree.  He never talked to them himself — he stayed in the back — but he'd overheard them raving about the baked goods he made, and that always made him smile and feel glad. 

      Corin!  Two more orders of cakes for tomorrow! called Jericho. 

      Okay, said Corin, marking a note on the little tablet he kept close at hand for remembering the extra special orders, the ones for special occasions.  He'd have to get here early to make them, and then Jericho or one of the other employees would deliver them. 

      What flavor and size?

      Chocolate Death and the biggest size.  Two of 'em.  Jericho walked over, dusting his hands on his apron, looking satisfied and almost smug.  You're really killing it with the cakes lately.

      Corin ducked his head, trying not to blush.  It was embarrassing to be praised for his work — but worth it.  He didn't like being taken for granted, either.

      Corin worked at the bakery, owned by his boss and friend, Jericho Moore.  Jericho knew Corin's secret, and kept it for him.  He'd also given him his job and a place to stay when he didn't have one.

      Jericho laughed softly, clapped him on the back, and strutted off.  He had work to do.

      So did Corin.  He slipped the fresh loaves, now finished and lovingly formed, into an oven. 

      He pulled some fresh corn muffins out of one of the other ovens, then began to pour blueberry muffin batter into pans.  This was a popular item, and even though he thought he'd estimated how many they could sell today, he was considering making an extra batch just in case. 

      His mouth watered at the smell of the raw dough and all the delicious baked goods around them.

      Though he looked like an ordinary person, Corin was a bear shifter.  He had an amazing sense of smell and could taste things with an exquisiteness that the most sensitive human palate could only envy.  It helped him when working with ingredients and recipes.  He always knew what tasted good.

      When he wasn't working, Corin liked to go roaming in the woods behind his home.  In his animal form, he was a shy, small or medium sized bear that liked to run around in the woods.  He enjoyed blackberries, nibbling at greenery, and fresh fish.  He also liked acorns a great deal. 

      Even though he had such strong senses of taste and smell, it didn't make him picky.  Far from it: he could find something delicious in anything he tasted, especially in his bear form.  In his bear form, he was always hungry.

      He'd smelled other bears sometimes, but was always too afraid to get close to them, and so far they'd left him alone in his territory of the woods.

      If there were other bear shifters nearby, he'd never met them.  He was on his own — and he preferred it that way.  Jericho kept his secret safe and gave him a job.  Corin was glad he'd been able to make a name for the bakery.

      Before he was hired, The Corner Box had been struggling.  Now, with the long hours Corin devoted and his deft touch with baked sweet things and loaves of bread, the reputation of the bakery had grown and grown.  Jericho had been able to hire some extra helpers out front.  Corin still did most of the baking himself.  He was good at it, and like he imagined most bears must feel, he wasn't always sure he liked company. 

      People could be confusing; he got shy, and sometimes annoyed.  He definitely didn't want to lose his temper and growl at anyone.

      Now, he whistled softly as he worked.  It was a good day, with extra orders of cake and Jericho pleased with him.  Everything smelled pleasant, nothing had burned, and he hadn't lost his temper at all so far.

      Humming, he did what he did best.  Being a bear shifter, he could become a bit grumpy, but he was also a very hard worker. 

      In the winter, he sometimes struggled with wanting to just sleep all the time, but if he stayed where it was warm and bright, he was less likely to actually go into hibernation mode. 

      Right now, though, it was his favorite time of year.  Spring!  Things felt lively, green, gorgeous.  It made him happy, the way the air smelled, the grass blowing, the birds returning, everything coming alive and beautiful.  He loved to take long, rambling walks and sniff the air.  It made him happy.  Plus, the cool weather was nice.  Not cold enough that he wanted to hibernate, but cool enough so he was comfortable, in either form. 

      The bakery was not far from the seashore.  It was a tourist attraction in the summer, when people were having their vacations and willing to eat some delicious pastries or breads.  (The rest of the year, it was mostly locals.)  He was so busy in the summer with the baking he barely had time to breathe, much less enjoy the beach.  It got very hot, too, in the bakery. 

      In the springtime, it was less hectic, and he had time to enjoy the world more.  He liked to ramble the beach.  Although he wasn't much for swimming, he'd take the occasional dip.  Mostly, he liked staying covered up and wandering around in flip-flops or bare feet.  Like a lot of bears, he could put on weight really easily.  For an animal, that was great: it kept bears alive during long winter hibernations.  But as he didn't actually hibernate and spent most of his time as a human, it wasn't always fun.

      Even though he worked hard and had a very fast metabolism, Corin wasn't a thin guy.  Dark-haired, with blue eyes and a shy nature and slightly pudgy build, he never took his shirt off in public.  He was shy about his round middle.  Even in the hot summer, when everyone else seemed to be stripped down to almost nothing on the beach, he'd go walking in board shorts and a t-shirt — sometimes even a hoodie.  He'd rather sweat than be laughed at about his weight.  But no matter how self-conscious he was, he couldn't give up the beach, and nature.  It was just easier and more comfortable on the cool, spring days when fewer people were around.

      There were always the surfers, of course, but they didn't bother him.  They were focused on their own thing, like slim dark seals balancing precariously on waves, defying the laws of gravity in their sleek bodysuits.

      Sometimes he liked to watch them; they were strangely magical from a distance.  Sometimes the guys themselves seemed pretty stuck up and rude, so he did keep his distance.  Sometimes pretty things were nicer from a distance.

      Corin wasn't pretty.  He wasn't hot, handsome, or broodingly mysterious.  He was a slightly overweight guy, no taller than average, with body hair, a round face, and a shy disposition. 

      He'd never fit the great stereotypes of gay men — good at grooming, ripped musculature, great fashion sense, and not too shy.  He felt he had all the worst aspects of a gay man and a straight man: zero fashion sense, extraordinarily shy, and not very attractive to anybody. 

      He tried not to let it weigh on him, especially since his shifter heritage was a secret.  He didn't expect he could hide it from someone he was in a relationship with — nor would he want to — but he did think that would be pretty hard to accept for someone who wasn't a bear themselves.  And it would be hard to trust someone with his secret.

      Shifters weren't openly acknowledged or accepted in society.  He knew he couldn't be the only one, but people seemed to believe in the Loch Ness Monster at the same levels as they did shifters.

      Even if they had been known and accepted, he didn't expect bears would be extremely popular.  Bears were scary enough when they couldn't walk among people.  Sometimes, Corin was even a little scared of his own shifter side.  He could admit he had a temper.  It was rarely a huge problem, but he worked hard to keep it under control.

      Sometimes, when he felt himself building up a good bit of rage or resentment or anger, he knew what he had to do.  Take some time off, and go for something like a walkabout.  It might be in his human form — walking for hours and hours along the beach — or it might be in his bear form, rambling and grumbling through the woods nearer his home.

      Corin lived about fifteen minutes from work, which was pretty good.  He lived in a small home right next to the woods.  It was thick woods, and he felt comfortable there in his bear form — more or less safe to be himself.

      After a day or two of exercising, eating, and not focusing on his problems and stresses, he felt better — cleansed, relaxed, clearer-eyed.  Of course, he couldn't always get the time off, but Jericho was pretty good about giving it to him.  Even when it meant scrambling to cover for all the work he did, Jericho understood that Corin's stress needed to be at a lower level to stay healthy.

      Today after work, he gathered a bunch of stale buns.  It was a shame they hadn't sold.  He'd overestimated the honey buns needed two days ago, and underestimated the cinnamon raisin bread and apple crumble cakes.  By the end of the day, they'd put the price down on the honey buns, but it still hadn't been enough to move all of them.  People had kept asking for the other things, the things he hadn't made enough of.

      Making unexpectedly popular items was flattering, but it was also frustrating.  He wished he could always estimate the right amount so there would be no waste.  Jericho usually drove their leftovers down to the nearest shelter and donated them to the cooks there.  It was a good thing to do.  This time, he hadn't gotten around to it, and they'd gone hard and stale.

      He took a big bag of them with him after work and walked down to the beach.  It wasn't a far walk from the bakery; he could leave his truck there and come back to drive home.  Easier than driving to the beach and parking.

      Besides, right now he just wanted to feed the seagulls and get rid of the evidence of his poor planning skills.  Part of him thought he really wouldn't have overestimated the amount of honey buns they needed if he wasn't a bear shifter.  He really had a weakness for honey, and couldn't believe everyone didn't feel the same.

      Corin remembered when he was a kid, watching Winnie the Pooh cartoons and feeling so connected to that bear and his honey obsessions.  He loved everything sweet; foods of all kinds, actually,

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