Bear the Heat (Mating Call Dating Agency, #3) Page 11

  “You’re seriously the best,” she said as she swept her hair back into a ponytail and fetched the pen that somehow seemed to live there. “And I really can’t wait. A cross-country train ride. It’ll be just like we’re pioneers in the old west.”

  “Right,” Breaker said, “except we can use the air conditioner in our little cabin, and we’ve got Netflix to pass the time when we get bored of slowly trundling through a forest. Or mountains. Or whatever else. Of course, we also have other things we can do to—”

  Rory cut him off with a laugh, and shoved him bodily toward the door. Monte and the big bear both waved, and then he was gone, tromping down the hall to make final trip preparations.

  “So,” Monte said when the door clambered shut. “Don’t you have something to tell me?”

  Rory wrinkled her forehead in thought. “What are you talking about?”

  “Remember? When you and Breaker first met, you told me you’d say if—”

  “Ha!” she burst out. “Uh... laid. Yeah, I’d say so,” she said completely unabashed. “Though I guess that’s pretty easy to figure when my mate can’t stop putting his hands all over me, and also can’t keep himself from making lewd comments.”

  “Funny ones,” Monte said, sliding the large bifocal jeweler’s glasses from his forehead to his nose. “Lewd sure, but funny counts for a lot. You two are gonna have a blast.”

  She nodded. “How’re you and Dora doing? She wear you out yet?”

  At that, Monte just laughed for a moment. “Ah well,” he said with a smile, “a gentleman never talks about that sort of thing. He keeps his bedroom conquests and legendary sexual prowess under wraps.”

  “Right,” Rory said, drawing the word out into about fifteen syllables. “Well whatever, I’m gonna miss you this month.”

  “No you won’t,” Monte said. “You’ll be plenty busy.”

  The two of them stared at each other for a second, and then fell into a spontaneously agreed hug. “I’m just glad you found someone,” Monte said when they pulled apart. “Well, and that he’s not an asshole. You two do fit together.”

  “You and Dora do too,” Rory said. “Even if she is way out of your league.” She laughed softly.

  “That should tell you something about my prowess, shouldn’t it?” He smiled, but turned his attention back to the report folder. “Rake Lipscomb, huh? I figured I’d seen the last of you twenty years ago.”

  “What’s that?” Rory asked. “Oh, you said you knew him?”

  “Did,” Monte said. “He was born here, then he left. Dated Eve for a while. Anyway, I’ll run some more tests, and see if I can’t track him down. I doubt I’ll manage, but you never know.”

  “He dated Eve?” Rory’s interest was piqued, along with the hairs on the back of her neck. “I wish this didn’t come in just now. I’d love to ask her about it. Or him, I mean. Or... what are you looking at me like that for?”

  “Because you’ve got other things to think about. Anyway, I’ll talk to Eve, we’ll get it figured out.”

  “Promise?” Rory asked.

  “Promise,” he said. “Here’s my car keys.” He tossed them over to her.

  “What’s this for?”

  “Your trip. You forgot to pack shampoo, razors, and socks. You’re gonna take my car to Walt’s and pick up the things you didn’t pack. Can’t have you wandering around sockless and covered in leg stubble.”

  “B...but, how did you...?” Rory stared at Monte, who was grinning. “Breaker sent me a text. He also knows you left your phone on the dresser back at the house. So, that should answer the next question, too. Now go on, get out of here. I’ve got work to do.”

  Rory took the keys and turned to leave, but paused just long enough to hug her old friend tight. “Someday really soon, you’re gonna be the one leaving,” she said.

  “I think you’re right,” Monte said. “But for now it’s you.”

  “Yeah,” she said with a smile. “It is, isn’t it?”

  *

  “Well I think we did it again,” Eve said, lifting a chicken wing and taking a bite.

  It was half past ten, and Dora, Monte, Chief Daniels of the fire department, were all sitting around a table at Tenner’s Bar. Eve and Dora had made a habit of doing this with the friends of all their matches, if for no other reason than it made them both really happy to see the results of their work.

  “Guess they’re halfway to Minnesota by now, huh?” Monte had already enjoyed three beers, and was very obviously not the sort to do so regularly, from the slight hint of a slur in his voice. “Or wait, were they going the other way? I hope I bought the right deodorant.”

  Daniels was laughing too. “You know, I never thought that giant bear would find anyone like her. Someone to... you know, keep him under control.”

  “Oh please,” Monte said. “He’s not the one needing control,” he laughed. “I’m surprised she found someone like him! A person that can keep up with Lorelei? That’s a rare thing.”

  For along moment, the four of them sat quietly. Eve was chewing her chicken wing, looking around the table and Dora sat staring at Monte, who was staring back.

  “What the hell are we going to do about this, Daniels?” she asked. “I think we’re about to be left behind as these two float off to the rapture.”

  The old fire chief laughed heavily and loudly before taking a long drink from his mug. “Yeah, well... I heard one of your old flames was coming back to town. Seems to me that I’ll be the fifth wheel before long.” Eve stared at him blankly, wondering what the hell he was talking about. Daniels picked up on it about a half second later. “You don’t know? You remember Rake Lipscomb, right?”

  The gulp in Eve’s throat was audible, even over the rousing version of Thriller that Dawson, the piano player, was banging out. “I... well yeah, I mean we were engaged. But that was a long, long time ago. And what the hell do you mean he’s back in town? I didn’t hear anything about it.”

  Monte heard her, and stuck his hand up in the air like he was about to make a point. A moment later, he forgot what he was going to say and let it fall to the table. “Wait! I remember!” he announced. “I called him to ask after some police business. He explained why he left a bunch of claw marks on the side of a building we were looking at for a possible arson. But then he asked about you, and we got to talking and I ended up telling him about Dora.”

  “Oh God,” Eve said, cradling her head in her hand. “I’m about to be set up on a blast from my past, aren’t I?”

  She looked over at Dora, who was wearing an expression full of mischief and just a little bit of twinkling in her eyes.

  “Talk, girly,” Eve said. “You better not have set me up with—”

  “Set up?” Dora asked. “No, no, nothing like that. You know that’s not our business. All we do is get people together in the first place, and then just see what happens. Although, I guess if you don’t want to see him again, even after what you said about slightly regretting not giving him another chance... I can just call him back and tell him not to come.”

  Eve and Dora exchanged a long glare, like something out of a Sergio Leone western. After a few moments of the dead stare, Eve broke into a smile.

  “I guess I should thank, you,” she said. “Even if at the same time I want to coldcock you with this bowl of wings. Rake was forever ago. I haven’t even talked to him in a decade... maybe fifteen years. What the hell am I—”

  “Tell you what,” Dora said, leaning her head on Monte’s shoulder. “Just talk to him. Just see if you still have the same tugging in your chest, the same twangs in your heart. Hell, just catch up with him. Just give it a chance—a real chance—and if nothing happens, then nothing happens. But if you do feel something?”

  “Make her tell you when she gets laid!” Monte cut in.

  Laughter ripped through the group at the table. Eve scribbled something on a napkin and passed it to Dora. She pointed down, telling her friend to read the note.

  �
��Deal,” it read. “But you’re going to have to get me drunk to do any sex talk. Also, thanks, it means the world that you care this much.”

  Dora didn’t reply. She didn’t need to. Each knew what the other thought, and all it took to get the point across was a nod, a smile, and grabbing Eve’s hand. Dora squeezed hard, and her friend gripped right back.

  “You’re worth it,” Dora said a moment later. “But I think you know that, even if you won’t admit it.”

  Before either of them could say anything else, or Monte could add another joke, or Daniels could give his two cents, the piano rendition of Thriller gave way to the opening chords of Brown Eyed Girl, and before long, they were all singing.

  Because, after all, what else is there to do when words won’t ever suffice? At times like those, Dora figured, you may as well just stop trying to think and just start feeling. And singing van Morrison is just about the best way to do that she could figure on.

  It was a very, very good thing that everyone else in the bar seemed to think the same thing.

  Sometimes, life explodes all around you like a pin-point supernova centered on your forehead. And sometimes, two decades after that, everything turns back to the way it’s supposed to be.

  Eve looked around the bar, watching everyone sing, and let herself think that maybe—just maybe—this was her time.

  Keep reading for a bunch of great excerpts from more steamy, sexy, hilarious Lynn Red romances!

  The Fox and Her Bear

  Mating Call Dating Agency

  When fox-shifting Angie Holton goes to work, she’s all business. Being all work, all the time, is starting to wear her down. Angie is lonely, though she’d never admit it. She goes from one thing to the next, more surviving than living, and has more or less given up on the whole love thing – who has time for all that anyway?

  That is, until she meets Dawson Lex – a piano playing, hamburger cooking, sexy-as-hell werebear.

  Dawson’s not just a pretty face and... really, really muscular arms. This bear has a dark, violent past and a present that barely keeps him from exploding again. But once he lays eyes on Angie, he knows he won’t—can’t—let this one go.

  These two will have to scratch, bite, and hold on as tight as they can. Even if they have to survive gunshots, claw fights, and some REALLY obnoxious 911 calls, they’re never going to give up on this weird, beautiful love.

  ***The Mating Call Dating Agency is a series of standalone paranormal romances that can be enjoyed in any order. Each pair finds their own HEA – these books are perfect for a quick getaway in the middle of a hectic day!***

  Hare Today, Bear Tomorrow

  Mating Call Dating Agency

  When you’re a shifter who don’t have the first clue where to find the love you need, WHO YOU GONNA CALL? Mating Call Dating Agency!

  Fate is nice and all, but in the busy worlds of journalism and professional wrestling, sometimes a rabbit needs a hand, and a bear needs a place to grab.

  Garnet Pendleton is a freelance journalist, and moonlighting as a librarian gets the bills paid, but barely. It’s a busy life, but it’s hers. Lately though, she’s felt like something was...lacking. With her life absorbed in pounding pavement and wrestling with the Dewey decimal system, Garnet hasn’t had time for something she’s starting to get REALLY edgy over – finding a mate.

  Stacy Graves’s entire life has been lived in a ring. He’s big, muscled up, and can bodyslam and headlock with the best of ‘em. But he’s also not getting any younger. Stacy’s mind is starting to drift in the middle of matches. Instead of being worried about pinning his opponent, he can’t stop thinking about settling down and finding himself a mate.

  Will Garnet’s journalistic drive for truth and Stacy’s life on the road be too much of an obstacle for them to overcome in the name of love? With mating experts Yvette and Dora on the case, Garnet and Stacy just might stand a chance.

  Can’t Bear to Run

  The Kendal Creek Bears

  Raine Matthews used to be quirky, fun and slightly goofy. She’s not allowed to be any of those things while she is firmly under her husband’s thumb. Her only reprieve comes from distant memories of a man she saw only once six years ago. In that instant, Raine knew there was something special about him. The memory of that twinkle in his eyes, of his careless smile, gives her a shot of hope at her darkest moments.

  She knows the only way to survive is getting away from her husband, no matter what. And in the back of her mind, she can’t shake the feeling that somewhere, somehow, she’s going to see that mysterious stranger again.

  Daxon Mark is the frustrated, irritated, sexy-as-hell alpha bear of the Kendal clan. Trapped between shuffling truces with other bear clans, and the meddling of an overbearing shifter council, he can’t shake the feeling that the woman he saw six years before is what he needs to stay sane. He's teetering on the edge and when a bear as big as Dax goes nuts? THAT ain’t something anybody wants.

  With Raine on the lam and Dax trying to escape the confines of small town politics, the two of them finally meet again – in the most romantic of places – in the toilet line at a concert.

  With a glance, he steals her heart, and with a word she sets a fire in his soul. But with trouble brewing back in Kendal Creek and Raine constantly looking over her shoulder, will these two fated mates find their peace? Or will fear, loss, and murder rip the pair apart before love is allowed to bloom?

  Lion in Wait

  Alpha Lion Romance

  Cassiopeia is lanky, quick-witted, and spent most of her life running from one thing or another. She escaped an overbearing family, and a series of dangerous misadventures, but then landed square in the midst of a traveling carnival. In the gritty, grimy dirt circus, love is the furthest thing from Cass’s mind – she’s much more occupied with avoiding her boss Lyle’s slimy fingers.

  Just about the only things Cass has left are her mind, a few books, and impossibly vivid dreams of a man she’s never met, but who she knows – somehow – is going to find her. And when he does? Well, who knows? But it’s gotta be better than the circus.

  Oh, and then there’s the lion who sleeps in her trailer.

  At first, Lex was impossible to control. He clawed, he snapped, he roared and raged like any lion would, but somehow never hurt anyone, like there was something more to him than caged animal ferocity. He lashed out at everyone except for a certain woman with curly brown hair and a thing for khaki cargo pants.

  No one knew that the REAL Lex – the same man Cass dreamed of for so very long – was hiding beneath the fur and claws. When the lion-shifter lays eyes on the woman he knows he can’t live without, this king of the jungle can’t rest until he’s taken his queen. And when he first reveals the tall, dark and handsome underneath the tail and teeth? Cass isn’t too surprised that the man IN her dreams turned out to be the man OF her dreams.

  Bearly Hanging On

  A Jamesburg Shifters novel

  Jamie Ampton is a sharp-tongued, pointy-toothed, vampy shifter with a penchant for neatly done-up hair buns and a habit of attracting EXACTLY the wrong sort of guy. Guys with a dash of arrogance, a pinch of cocky swagger turn her head... but when her last one turned out to be more “self-important jackass” and less “gruff and strong and takes what he wants,” it left her cold.

  So to speak.

  Ryan Drake has a dark past and a mysterious present. When he shows up demanding the town alpha do his part to care for Jamesburg’s aging shifters, the first thing Jamie notices is that her heart starts beating a little quicker. The second is a knot in the pit of her stomach. And then, before she can catch her breath, he stares straight into her eyes.

  She’s never been one for the big, loud, muscled-up types, but in the space of two breaths, the elegantly detached Jamie finds herself falling for a bear.

  Little does Jamie know that before he stomped into that courtroom, Ryan decided that nothing was gonna stop him from getting what he wanted. But, once he saw Jamie?
Suddenly there were two things that this massive blue-eyed alpha bear were going to have, no matter what it took: help for his friends... and Jamie.

  And Ryan? Ryan is one bear who ALWAYS takes what he wants.

  To Catch a Wolf

  A Jamesburg Shifters novel

  AVAILABLE FOR FREE!

  Sometimes a wolf’s gotta fight and bark and bite.

  But other times, a wolf just needs a mate.

  Erik Danniken is the alpha of Jamesburg, a small town, hidden from the world, and full of all kinds of shifters, and secrets. But underneath it all, he’s just a big, rough, bad-boy of a werewolf with a tattoo that goes all the way up his chest. Oh, and don’t forget his massive, building-shaking motorcycle.

  He’s done his fighting, he’s done his carousing. Now he’s the mayor of Jamesburg, and he’s done looking for a mate... because he found her.

  Sometimes a girl needs romance and wine and sweet kisses.

  Other times, she just needs a job.

  Isabel Taylor was more than a little frustrated when she answered a very vague job ad and moved across the country. Curvy, tough and with more than a little bit of a naughty streak, Izzy couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw that first Jamesburg hedgehog stand up, turn into a man and order a drink.

  She’s found her place, found a life she thought she’d never have, and found the love she’d given up on... the problem is, she and Erik have to keep it a secret from everyone else in town.

  Erik wants to claim her forever, mark Izzy as his honest-to-goodness mate. Izzy wants him to quit being such a coward and just come out and do it, but will a good old-fashioned small town scandal make them keep their love a secret, and in the process, kill it before it can grow?

  Two Bears are Better than One

  A Broken Pine Bears Novel

  From USA TODAY and NEW YORK TIMES best-selling author Lynn Red comes a steamy, sexy, hilarious alpha werebear romance... with two times the bears!