Mending the Bear

by Vanessa Devereaux

  She knew that wasn’t what he really meant, but kudos to him for coming up with that line. “Maybe you should open your eyes a bit more when you’re on the road.”

  “And maybe…” He stopped and clenched both his fists. If she was guessing correctly, he wasn’t here of his own accord and the apologizing bit wasn’t his idea either.

  “The second reason I’m here is from now on I’ll be your security guard.”

  “My … wait a minute, I can’t afford private security.”

  He raised his hands. “You don’t have to because someone else is picking up the tab.”

  “Who?” Eve asked. She hoped this wasn’t one of those extortion rings she’d heard about. Pay for them to look after her, or her business gets trashed.

  “Brady Walsh. He’s a prominent businessman and friends with lots of people who own businesses in this area.”

  “I can vouch for Brady,” Chloe said. “He’s Sophie’s Spirit Guardian.”

  She guessed that was something like a godparent, but didn’t ask any questions. As long as someone else was picking up the tab, having someone looking after the place wasn’t that bad.

  “I thought I’d introduce myself and to let you know you’ll be seeing me often. And if you need any help or think someone’s lurking around, just give me a call.” He pulled out a business card from his back jean pocket and handed it to her.

  Ian Mallory, Security Analyst Expert.

  His card bore the same bear emblem as his jacket. She noticed that his earring was a bear, too.

  “I will do that,” Eve said.

  “If it’s okay with you, tomorrow I’d like to look over the building and see if there’s anything that needs upgrading or changing for better security.”

  “Sure, no problem.”

  “Around five thirty p.m. good for you?”

  “Fine with me.”

  He nodded. “Nice to meet you and I’ll see you tomorrow. And once again sorry about the fish and the mud.”

  Standing there so long and admiring him, she’d almost forgotten about the incident. Eve stood and watched as he turned and left. His pants were on the tight side, but his cute butt filled them out so well.

  “Dr. Barclay.”

  Eve hadn’t realized she was still staring until she heard Chloe saying her name.

  “Would you please call me Eve? And who exactly was that?”

  “He’s a member of our … reading group,” Chloe said.

  “Really? He doesn’t look the book type.”

  “He’s just broken up with his girlfriend. Or I should say she broke up with him. He found her with another guy and that’s the reason he went a little crazy.”

  “So he’s single? I mean not that I’m interested or anything like that,” Eve said.

  “Oh yeah, very single, but in my opinion he’d be a tough one to catch.”

  “I’ve always been up for a challenge.”

  Shit, she’d said that out loud.

  “I mean if I was thinking about dating, which I’m not.”

  “Well, my advice if you change your mind, forget all about Ian and have me and Ash set you up with one of the more reliable, shif—book club members.”

  Eve was trying to work out what Chloe was intending to say. In fact, she’d said something beginning with ‘shif’ twice now, but then the bell over the door sounded and in walked a lady with two Dobermans and she forgot all about it.

  “I think these are Bo and Wes, your next two patients,” Chloe said.

  Well, these two should take her mind off that very gorgeous man.

  ****

  Wow, she was one hot, curvy lady with shoulder-length, dark hair. She also had blue eyes and the tiniest of moles just above the right side of her mouth. The mouth that had the fullest, most kissable lips it had ever been his pleasure to see.

  Ian smacked himself on the side of the head before he had to resort to throw a bucket of ice cold water over his head. He’d just been dumped, kicked up the ass so to speak, by the love of his life, and here he was noticing everything about this woman he’d just met.

  Eve Barclay was the exact opposite of Joanne, so why he’d found her so appealing was beyond him.

  Ian got on his bike, started it up, and headed home. She’d said he’d covered her in mud the day he’d gone on his rampage. How had he missed someone who looked like her? He’d almost said ‘I would have noticed someone smoking hot like you’, but had managed to come up with the more politically correct, ‘someone as well dressed as you’.

  Ian whistled as he flew along on his bike. He often did that when he was trying to focus on something besides what was rattling around in his head, which at the moment were images of the lady vet. The black skirt, the red sweater, black leggings, boots, all worn under the sterile white lab coat. Who would have thought something so clinical looking as that could be so damn sexy?

  His cock suddenly rubbed against the seat of the bike. He had the mother of all erections. He couldn’t remember a time when he’d been hard while riding. Not even images of Joanne’s naked body had caused this sort of reaction that was borderline painful.

  He whistled louder, but it wasn’t doing him much good. In fact, in a situation like this there was only one thing to do. He’d stop, shift, and go for a run. That should get things back into prospective.

  Ian pushed down on the accelerator, turning the corner until he came to his favorite spot to go for a nice long run. It was out of the way, so there was little chance of humans being around and a place a bear could do serious thinking.

  He got off his bike, headed into the thickest part of woods, and took off his jacket, then his sweater. Next he slipped off his jeans and boxers. He set them down on the ground in a neat pile. Ian tried to just think of running with the wind grazing his fur. He began to relax and slowly, inch by inch, his body transformed into his Kodiak bear form.

  He raised his nose in the air. This was not only a popular place for bear shifters, but bears, too. He guessed a few had passed this way in the last few hours. They’d gone to his left which meant he’d go to the right. Real bears still didn’t quite know what to do when they encountered one of their shifter counterparts. Their odor was somehow different and it could lead to some strange situations that Ian always tried to avoid. He picked up his pace as he made his way through the thicker part of the wooded area. The sun was warm on his back. So much different to all the rain they’d had during the previous couple of weeks. During his last run, he’d gotten muddy, his coat weighed down with the rain and dirt, but not today. He ran faster, knowing what was up ahead, but somehow he was unable to turn around. It was almost as if he needed to feel the pain.

  Their tree, his and Joanne’s was up ahead. The one they’d chased one another around while in their bear form. He stopped to look at it. They’d found it when they were nine or ten. When they were fifteen, and it seemed obvious they were destined to be mates, they come here and shifted back into human form and carved their initials into its trunk, declaring their love for one another that would last an eternity.

  When they were eighteen, they’d come here to make love for the first time and it had been the most beautiful thing that had ever happened to him.

  Ian walked to the tree. Nothing had changed as far as the tree was concerned. Their initials, now somewhat faded were nevertheless still there. He rubbed his head against them. Evidence of what they’d once had, what they’d once meant to one another.

  A tear dropped from his right eye. First time he’d ever cried in bear form. Maybe she’d see reason, common sense would take over, and she’d come back to him.

  But now that she’d betrayed him and been with another shifter, would he want her back?

  Ian stood on his hind legs and rubbed himself high on the tree. If she and Max ever came out here, they’d know Ian had been here, too. The dirty cougar would smell his scent and hopefully he’d feel guilt and remorse for stealing another shifter’s woman.

  He rubbed as high up
on the bark his body would allow, and then went back on all fours before taking off at lightning speed now thinking once again of the lady vet.

  Maybe, just maybe he could make Joanne jealous, make her realize he wasn’t going to be hanging around moping. Send her a message, that while he’d been as angry as hell finding her doing the wild thing with Mad Max, he’d moved on. Moved on with a sexy human.

  Joanne had always had a jealous side to her. Once she’d almost ripped off the head of another shifter who’d asked him to dance with her. So she’d definitely take the bait.

  He turned and ran back to where he’d left his clothes.

  While the thought of cozying up to a human wasn’t exactly what he’d had in mind, being the lady vet was easy on the eyes and got his cock excited, it wouldn’t be too much of a hardship for him. He was going to woo her, be seen around town with her. Joanne would see what she was missing. She’d come begging back to him and then be putty in his hands.

  Goodbye Mr. Cougar.

  Chapter Six

  Eve wished she was a couple of inches taller. The latch on the damn window was so high, it was just out of her reach and it had begun raining again. The water splashed on the outside ledge, sending splashes onto her books.

  She climbed up onto the table and stretched out her arm, knowing the latch to close it was within reach of her fingers. She grabbed it and slammed it shut, and only then sensed someone was behind her. Everyone had gone home for the evening.

  Crapola. She hoped no one had broken in. Surely lightening couldn’t strike twice.

  “You need a hand with closing that?”

  It was a deep voice, that sexy velvet one she’d heard just yesterday.

  She turned around to see if she’d been right. She sure had. She’d lost track of the time and remembered he’d told her he’d drop by to check out the building.

  Today, in the more subdued lighting of the back offices, his face looked more chiseled and the jawline stronger. The dimples in his cheeks cuter, almost bad boy naughty. Really not my type.

  “I needed to shut the window and I couldn’t do it without standing on this table,” she said.

  “Here, let me give you a hand to get down from there. I’d hate you to hurt your ankle again.”

  Was there a snippet of sarcasm in his voice, or was he just being nice? Hard to tell at this point.

  He lifted his hand toward her. She wasn’t going to be rude and not take it. She slipped hers into his. He got a firm grip as she stepped down, wobbled on her still slightly sore ankle, and fell into his chest.

  She hoped he didn’t think she’d done that on purpose because she hadn’t. Well, not consciously. But who knew how a lusty woman’s unconscious worked?

  He wrapped both arms around her, allowing her to get a whiff of his aftershave and something she thought smelled animal like. Maybe he had a dog and that was the odor she was detecting.

  She didn’t want to step back, step away from the comfort of his arms, but she knew she had to or it would look like she’d done this intentionally and she didn’t want him getting the wrong idea.

  “By the way, how did you get in here?” she asked, bringing both her mind and conversation back to the real world. “I’m pretty sure I locked all the doors.”

  “You did, but I wanted to show you what can happen if someone knows how to pick them. Just a few flicks here and there and a bad guy could be standing here right now.”

  “You mean like you?” She didn’t know why she said that because she didn’t think he was bad, well, not unless being sexy was suddenly a crime.

  “You think I’m bad?”

  “No, it sort of slipped out.”

  “But I could be and that’s the point I’m trying to make. What would you do if a man broke in here and was standing right here looking you straight in the eye with the intention of harming you?”

  He made it sound so sinister and she began to tremble, but strangely it wasn’t from fear, but anticipation of what he was going to do. He took another step toward her.

  “What if he wanted to…” He stopped mid-sentence. “Kiss you.”

  Before she could ask him why would man want to break in her vet practice and kiss her, his lips were already on hers. Should she push him away? Did she want to push him away? Right now the answer was a definite no. This felt too damn good, his minty breath tickling her lower lip, his muscular arms wrapped around her like he was going to keep her safe and warm.

  She ran her fingers through his hair. His gorgeous, thick locks. Was there nothing about this man that wasn’t pretty amazing?

  Her stomach flipped, her pussy pulled, and it made her remember her new rule. No falling for another good-looking guy who would break her heart. Her husband had certainly done that.

  She pulled away with him looking her in the eye.

  “I don’t think I could say there was anything criminal about a guy who wanted to break his way in here and kiss you,” he said.

  She tidied her hair with her hands and bit her lip, hoping the kiss hadn’t smeared her pink lip gloss all around her mouth.

  “You’re saying that I should get better security?” she asked.

  “You should, but don’t worry too much because I’m going to be around a lot watching all the businesses and making sure everyone’s okay, including you.”

  The thought they’d she be seeing more of him scared and excited her. Would she be able to control herself? She’d let him kiss her. She would never have believed she’d give in so easily and to a man less than forty-eight hours ago she was ready to kill for ruining her day.

  “Did you relock the front door? Because I’m parked out back and that’s the way I go out.”

  “I sure did, but if you want to continue parking out there, then I suggest more lighting so no one can lurk in the bushes. Or I can lock up with you each night and escort you to your car.”

  “I’ll call an electrician and have more lights installed, and maybe get the bush by the window removed.”

  “I can do that for you and I have a buddy who does electrical work. I’ll give him a call in the morning. Now, if you want to grab your stuff, I’ll see you to your car.”

  She had to get one thing clear.

  “About that kiss,” she began.

  “What about it? Don’t tell me you want a goodnight kiss, too.”

  ****

  Ian armed the security system and then put his hand on the small of Eve’s back as they headed out into the parking lot. He never thought he’d say this about a human, but she was fun to tease, and a pleasure to kiss. He almost couldn’t stop a grin from breaking out on his face when he’d asked if she wanted him to kiss her again.

  “I was about to say that I don’t usually do that sort of thing,” she said, finally responding to his remark about wanting a goodnight kiss.

  “You don’t kiss men?”

  “That’s not what I meant and I think you know it.”

  Yeah, lots of fun to tease and he liked it.

  “How about women?” he asked, loving every minute he was spending with her.

  “And I didn’t mean that, either. Yes, I kiss men, but not ones I don’t know.”

  “I introduced myself to you the other day.”

  “Are you like this with everyone? Wait, on second thoughts, I shouldn’t be asking you questions because you ask questions back and we’re going around in circles.”

  “Guilty,” he said, raising his palm. “Guess it’s part of my charm.”

  “You really think a lot of yourself, don’t you?”

  Ian grinned, knowing she’d fallen into her own trap “Oops, another question. How about I ask you one?”

  “Sure, go ahead,” Eve said.

  “How about grabbing something to eat with me at the Starlight Café?”

  Since he and Joanne had broken up, one thing he’d hated the most was eating by himself.

  “Hannah’s restaurant?” Eve asked.

  “That’s the one.”

&nbs
p; Eve looked at her watch. He was expecting her to say no, but she didn’t.

  “I am hungry and actually feel too tired to cook when I get home, so yes, I’d love to try out Hannah’s place.”

  “My motorbike awaits you,” he said, stepping aside to show her the second love of his life. Well now that Joanne was gone, it had inched up a notch.

  “Me get on a bike, no, no way,” Eve said.

  “You don’t like motorcycles?”

  “I can’t stand them. Danger traps. Had a buddy at school who lost her leg when she rode on the back of her boyfriend’s cycle. He flipped it on its side while showing off.”

  “I can assure you I never show off while I’m on my bike. Well, at least not while I have a passenger.”

  “No, you just cover people with mud.”

  “Okay, the other day I was a little reckless, but I can assure you I’ll be the best biker in the world when you’re on the back of it.”

  Eve shook her head. “I’d rather walk there naked.”

  The image of her doing just that, made his cock twitch. She didn’t like bikes and that was a major problem. How would he ride by Joanne with Eve clinging to him, without her getting onto the bike?

  He’d have to slowly sweet talk her into taking a spin with him.

  “How about I follow you there in my car?” Eve asked.

  That was better than nothing. “Okay, I’ll see you at Hannah’s.”

  Ian zipped up his jacket and climbed on his bike while watching Eve get into her car and start the ignition. He started his own, gave a few revs, and the pulled out of the lot.

  He checked his mirror and could see her behind him. He’d get her on the bike and soon. He could imagine her arms wrapped tightly around him, her head resting on his back as they rode along together.

  Just for making Joanne jealous, of course. There was no way he was getting back into the dating game.

  The strip mall housing the Starlight Café along with the craft store, run by the two cougar shifters came into view. What was it with cougars wanting to run stores with their siblings?

  He pulled into the lot, turned off the bike, got off, and knocked out the kick stand just as Eve turned into the spot behind him.