Free Chief Bear (Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance) (Rescue Bears Book 1) by Scarlett Grove Page A

hips around in front of her face. The dancer was so physically fit, his oiled muscles glistened in the lights of the dining room. As the song came to the last verse, the dancer reached down and lifted Charlotte over his broad shoulder as if she were weightless.
    “I’ll get you off this mountain!” the stripper said, carrying Charlotte across the room.
    He reached up and smacked her ass, making her scream with excitement and good humor. Just as Rock Hard was about to set Charlotte down, Levi walked into the room.
    “What the hell are you doing with the bride, Zach?” Levi bellowed as the stripper set Charlotte down in her chair.
    Charlotte laughed breathlessly as Quinn helped untie the prop from around Charlotte’s body. The dancer looked up at Levi and gave him a good-natured grin.
    “The name’s Rock Hard,” the dancer said.
    Juliet walked across the room to take Levi’s arm in her hand. She leaned into him and spoke into his ear.
    “Is this stripper one of your crew?” Juliet asked.
    “Yes. I can see you ladies are having a good time so I’m not going to lecture him about having ‘Rescue Bears’ written across his crotch.”
    Zach continued dancing for the other ladies, getting one dollar bills shoved in his speedo.
    “The men have a dancer over on their side too. I just didn’t expect to see my ski instructor down here half naked,” Levi said.
    “I can understand how that would be a shock,” Juliet said to him. “Especially if you didn’t know he was a stripper on the side.”
    Juliet couldn’t help giggling as the dancer continued to grind his hips in front of her friends. Zach was really good looking with his rippling muscles, blue eyes, and bleach blonde hair. He was hot, but way too energetic for her taste.
    It made her happy she’d been matched with Levi. Levi was exactly Juliet’s type. Green eyes, dark blonde hair, a quiet sense of responsibility that kept him grounded. She liked everything about him. She loved his unassuming charm and his loyal leadership of his crew. Contrasting him to a man like Zach just made Juliet want him that much more.
    She wrapped both her arms around his elbow and snuggled closer to him as she giggled at Zach’s antics with the other women in the room. Zach jumped up on the bar and did a handstand to the vocal approval of his audience. Juliet and Levi stood in the open doorway and couldn’t help but notice when Duke entered the room again.
    “Duke?” Levi said. “Didn’t you already deliver your keg to this party?”
    “Yes,” said the man with a sparkle in his eye. He had a hand-crocheted beanie hat pushed back over his brown hair. The sleeves of his flannel shirt were rolled back to reveal his tattoos. “But that’s not why I’m here.”
    Juliet watched Quinn look up from the entertainment. Her eyes met Duke’s and she stood from her chair, walking directly to him where he stood in the doorway.
    “Do you want to get out of here?” Duke said to Quinn.
    “Yes,” Quinn said, wrapping her arm through his.
    “Where are you going?” Juliet asked.
    “I’m going to show Quinn the brewery,” Duke said with a wink to Juliet and Levi.
    Juliet and Levi looked at each other as if they were a couple of parents watching their children misbehave.
    “What’s that all about?” Levi asked.
    “They met on Mate.com,” Juliet informed him.
    “I had no idea they’d been matched.”
    “Quinn was messing around with it on the way up in the car. I don’t think she’s taking it very seriously, to tell you the truth.”
    “Duke can take care of himself. Believe me. That guy has no trouble with the ladies, if you know what I mean.”
    “Why did he sign up for the dating site? Does he want to find his fated mate?”
    “I don’t know. I can’t tell you why Duke does half of what he does. He was probably just supporting our friend Corey who developed the thing.”
    “Well, it sounds like Duke and Quinn have a lot in common. That means we don’t have to