Free Mountain Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Romance (Bear Haven Book 1) by Terry Bolryder Page A

our Ruby here got some grade-A nookie.”
    “Oh, come on,” Ruby said, spinning to face her friend, a bright-red incriminating blush on her face. “We don’t need to talk about it like this. We’re adults.”
    “I don’t want to be adults,” Harmony said, leaning back on her hands. “I want to talk about it like teens at a slumber party. So how far did he get? Home base? Did you go all the way?”
    Ruby’s eyes sparkled as she stifled a laugh at her friend’s eagerness. And Bonnie seemed just as curious, even if she was politely trying to hide it.
    “Okay,” Ruby said, sitting on a bed across from them and folding her hands in her lap. “It was amazing, like something from a movie. Hot, passionate. He seemed to know every part of me, what I wanted without asking.”
    “Hot,” Harmony breathed.
    “And… he wants me to stay here with him.”
    “Whoa,” Harmony said, blinking and shaking her head and putting her hand out in a stopping motion. “Hold up. No one said anything about moving here. What does he expect you to do? We spent time in town. You didn’t. Girl, there’s only one barber shop, and I’m pretty sure he’d never hire a girl.”
    Ruby shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m still working it out. It just feels right.”
    Harmony folded her arms. “I keep hearing you say that, and I just don’t want to see you get hurt. You love your career, and you already had to take a hit on it because of Bill. I don’t want another guy making you put your dreams aside without any commitment on his end.”
    “I think he definitely wants to commit. That’s what he said.”
    “Oh, he's proposing marriage already?” Harmony asked. “Because that’s what I’d expect when the backwoods men out here talk commitment.”
    “No,” Ruby said, doubt sinking through her. Was that what she wanted? What she expected? All he talked about was being a mate, which sounded so old-fashioned. Did he expect her to just stay out here in the mountains and literally "mate" with him? Was that what he meant? She hoped not.
    “I don’t know,” Harmony said. “I’ve known too many men who are happy to say all the right words until shit hits the fan. Then they have what they want and they leave.”
    Ruby reached out and put a hand on Harmony’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, girl. Not everyone is like Niles.”
    Harmony shrugged away. “It’s not only Niles. It’s men in general. Between my exes and my dad, and Bill, I’m not sure if there are any of them who know how to stick around.”
    “Seth has stuck around,” Bonnie said quietly, and the other two went quiet. Seth had been Bonnie’s long-term fiancé, and neither Ruby nor Harmony had ever had the heart to tell her they both suspected he was a closeted gay using her to cover up for his conservative family who would disinherit him if they knew.
    “Yeah… Seth’s loyal…” Harmony said. “But you know, Bonnie—”
    “And he lets me do what I want,” Bonnie said, folding her arms. “And didn’t have any problem with me coming out here alone.”
    Ruby pressed her lips together. In her opinion, Seth’s complete lack of protectiveness wasn’t a good thing. They’d been engaged for years without any sign of moving forward, and half the time, she had to remind herself that Bonnie wasn’t single and a free agent.
    Again, not a good thing in her mind. Maybe someone like Maverick, who came onto women like a hurricane, was a little much. Or Shane, with his possessive insistence that she was his. But she did know she preferred that kind of attention over a complete lack of it.
    “Anyway, I’m thinking we should go into town together, during the day, you know?” Bonnie said. “We should show you exactly what you’d be signing up for.”
    “I don’t know if Shane would like that,” Ruby replied. “I think he wants me to stay around here.”
    “Are you really going to do whatever he wants? Don’t you want to still be your own woman?” Harmony asked,