Page 6 of Cowboy Bear's Hope

As fucking if.

Rosie might not have a dad, but even if I were in the market for a father figure for her, it sure as fuck would not be that pencil dick asshat.

The image of one particular man came to mind when I thought of prospective dads for my Rosie, but I quickly pushed it away.

Dante Bianco was not mine.

Whatever shenanigans went on out at the Motley Crewd Ranch, that man was none of my business.

Sure, my BFF had married and mated—which after she’d come out to me as a newly made Jersey Devil Shifter, I assumed was referring to some claiming ritual and not just the badoink-a-doinking that was going on out there—a Shifter, but that didn’t mean everyone else was that lucky.

It took me like a day to understand what the heck Penny had been talking about, but after she transformed into a very red and very furry creature with wings, I’d just accepted it as fact.

Supernaturals were real.

And they lived really fucking close to me.

I had no idea if the rest of the staff at Motley Crewd shared Max and Penny’s gifts, but I was sure they were more than human.

Especially Dante.

He was just so big and powerful. I mean, all the guys were handsome, but he took the cake as far as I was concerned.

Those velvet brown eyes and plump lips. Impossibly wide shoulders and thick, juicy thighs of his could only be the result of some supernatural force.

In other words, the man was too damn hot for words. Definitely too hot for a single mom with wide hips and stretch marks on her belly and boobs.

Don’t judge. Having a baby was hard on a body, fuck you very much.

I wasn’t self-conscious, just self-aware. Anyway, Dante and I had our chance to see if we were compatible, but we missed that opportunity by a mile.

He didn’t want a single mom as a girlfriend or possible mate, if that was his thing.

I’d heard him talking to his friends after the tumultuous kiss we’d shared at Emmet and Jezebel’s wedding and what it all boiled down to was bad timing.

I was the girl who carried too much reality to the party. The one with excess baggage.

Oh well. Story of my life.

Chapter Two-Avery

The memory replayed itself in my head and I wished like hell it wouldn’t, but there it was. Plain as day.

I laid Rosie down on a makeshift bed of a couple of hay bales and a thick, cozy blanket. Having a wedding in a barn had its advantages, I supposed, and I grinned as I smiled at my baby girl.

Ever since I knew she existed, she’d stolen my heart. I’d do anything for her. Anything at all.

But just lately I’d been feeling restless. A longing for something else in my life. And of course, that made me feel guilty.

“She looks like an angel,” a deep voice said beside me, and my whole body shivered in response.

“Thanks. I mean, I like to think so,” I said, agreeing with Dante.

His big body always felt so warm when he stood next to me, and I turned slightly so I could see his handsome face.

He always had just a smattering of scruff lining his cheeks and defining that strong jaw of his and my fingers itched to touch it.

I’d been denying it, but I had it bad for the man.

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