Bear Essentials 2
coming March 28th 2019George Carver's life changed forever in the span of 24-hours. He won a billion dollar lottery, but more importantly, the man sent to protect him turns out to be his mate. His very human mate. Luckily, Leon seems to know about shifters. He just doesn't know anything about mates.
Leon de Oro spent several years as an Army Ranger before retiring to work for a friend in his security company. He never dreamed that he'd be sent on an assignment to protect the man of his dreams or that the bear shifter would claimed they were fated to be together.
People will do stupid things for money. They'll do
really stupid things for a lot of money, and George had a lot of money. A
billion dollar lottery win brings people—old and new—out of the woodwork. Leon
has a hard enough time keeping George and his billions safe. Trying to decide
if he's ready to settle down with a mate might be impossible.
https://www.bookstrand.com/his-to-bear-mmSTORY EXCERPT
9-27-42-43-58-6
George Carver swallowed tightly then glanced between
the lottery ticket in his hand and the numbers displayed on the TV screen.
It wasn't possible.
It just wasn't possible.
He got up and walked over to his desk. He leaned the
ticket against the screen then booted up his ancient laptop. His hands shook as
he typed in the website for the Mega Money Lottery contest. The website seemed
to take forever to load.
It was probably just a few seconds.
He had good internet.
Once again, he glanced at the numbers on the ticket
he'd purchased on a whim down at the local corner grocery store and double
checked them with the ones on his screen.
They were the same.
All of them.
He'd gotten all six numbers.
Holy fuck!
George just sat there and stared. It really had been a
whim. He'd been standing in line at the grocery store when he saw the flashing
numbers on the lottery machine. One point six billion dollars.
He couldn't even conceive of that amount of money.
After paying for his purchases, he'd had two dollars
left. He briefly thought about grabbing a coke, but then decided, why the hell
not? He knew he'd never win, but it was nice to dream, so he'd bought a lottery
ticket. He'd hit the random number generator, not wanting to try and choose
numbers himself.
9-27-42-43-58-6
The winning lottery numbers.
Holy fuck!
George clicked the button directing lottery winners on
what to do next. It took him a moment to figure out exactly what he was
reading. The direction weren't that user friendly. He grabbed the ticket and
signed his name across the back of it then picked up his cell phone and took a
picture of the signed ticket.
Now, he just needed a place to hide it until he could
figure out what to do.
George started looking around his room. He spotted
several different placed he could put the ticket, but none of them seemed that
secure. It wasn't likely that his house was suddenly going to be robbed, but he
wasn't taking any chances.
He also didn't want to hold onto the ticket until he
was ready to go to the lottery headquarters and claim his prize. He was too
afraid he'd be mugged on his way down to the office. Or kidnapped. Hit by a
bus. Crushed by a falling meteor. Abducted by aliens.
The list was endless.
According to the lottery website, he needed to make
several copies of the signed ticket then place it in a safety deposit box for
safe keeping. He then needed to get a lawyer, a financial planner, and an
accountant.
That list was endless as well.
What was a trust or limited
liability company?
Family limited partnership?
George squinted as he stared
at the screen. He was supposed to check the records for attorneys, accountants,
and financial planners to see whether there had been any complaints filed with
state disciplinary authorities.
That couldn't be that hard,
could it?
George reached over and
grabbed his phone, dialing a number he knew by heart. "Hey, Ford, can you
come over? I need a little help with something."
"Yeah, I'll be right
there."
Sure enough, five minutes
later my front door banged open and Ford walked in. It kind of helped that he
lived in an apartment two floors down.
"What's up?"
"Lock the door."
Ford raised an eyebrow, but
did as George asked.
George got up and walked over
to the radio, turning it on loud enough to muffle our words, but not so loud
that they couldn't hear each other talk.
Ford's forehead furrowed as
he walked closer. "What's going on? Are you okay? You're acting all
weird."
Ford would know. Not only was
he George's best friend, but he was also his cousin. They'd been born a week
apart. Being so close in age, they'd always been lumped together. The good part
was that they'd become best friends.
"Come here." George
waved Ford over to his laptop, then pointed to the screen. "Look at those
numbers."
Ford squinted down at the
screen. "9-27-42-43-58-6. Okay. Why am I looking at them?"
George held out the lottery ticket. "Now look at
these numbers."
"9-27-42-43—" Ford gasped. His hand started
to shake. "George."
"I know, right?"
"9-27-42-43-58-6. Jesus, George. You have all the
numbers right, every damn one of them."
"Yeah." George swallowed tightly as he pushed
his glasses up his face. "That's a lot of money, Ford."
One point six billion dollars.
He couldn't even say it.
"Shit." Ford's eyes grew huge. "You need
to talk to Dad before you do anything."
"You think he could help me with this stuff?"
"Uh, yeah. Dad's a CPA. This kind of stuff is
right up his alley."
George chuckled nervously.
"Fancy a trip to Paris? Or a new car?"
He could afford it now.
"I wouldn't turn down a
cup of coffee," Ford said.
And that was why Ford was his
best friend. Even with a billion dollars on the line, Ford wouldn't take
advantage of him.
"Come on." George
tucked the lottery ticket into his pocket then grabbed his jacket. "I'll
buy you a cup of coffee after I stop at the bank."
Ford lifted an eyebrow.
"Dude, I can pay for my own coffee."
"No, it's not that. I
have money. I need a safety deposit box. I don't want anything to happen to
this ticket before I have a chance to turn it in."
"You should take a
picture of it."
"I already did."
"Make a copy of it so
you have it on you."
George hadn't thought of
that. He pulled the ticket back out of his pocket and walked over to his
printer. He made two copies, one for him and one for Ford, making sure he got
both sides of the lottery ticket on the print out.
He folded his up and stuck it
into his wallet then handed the other one to Ford. "Here, hold on to this
for me. Put it in your wallet or something."
Ford shrugged as he took the
print out, folded it up, then slid it into his pocket. "Why do you want me
to have a copy?"
"In case I lose
mine."
"Better hope you
don't."
George chuckled nervously.
"Right?"
He slid the original ticket
back into his pocket. "Okay, let's do this."
He needed to make sure his
future was somewhere safe before he started planning it.
