Free Bear My Baby (Shifter Squad Six 1) by Anya Nowlan

was pretty sure he was a decent multitasker. He could do both.
    “Did you know I was going to be at that bar?” she asked tentatively, not sure if she wanted to know.
    Ultimately, she had to know. If there was any danger, then this time it wouldn’t only affect her, but Monroe as well. And she doubted she’d have an army of buff shifter commandos at her disposal every time something went weird.
    Connor shook his head and the bad boy cockiness left his expression, replaced by what she could only decipher as honest confusion. “No, I didn’t. I was there for no real reason when I saw you. I wasn’t going to let that fucker hurt you,” he said, his fist balling around the sheets.
    Cassie put her hand on his, frowning. “Temper, temper.”
    She would have been lying if she said that it wasn’t a turn-on, knowing that he was so immediately and violently affected by anything that happened to her. It made her wonder if things would have been different if she hadn’t been handed off to another team, if he’d stayed at her side the whole time. Maybe he’d be living there in San Fran with her, raising their baby boy together, loving each other…
    A lump formed in Cassie’s throat, one she fought to swallow down.
    “It’s a small world,” he said, shrugging. “I guess fate wanted me to come and find you tonight.”
    Cassie giggled but he remained somber in his reaction, his inviting lips pushed together tightly. Cassie quieted, staring at him in wonder.
    Did he mean it?
    God, that man was messing with her head so bad. He cleared his throat and rolled back to stare at the ceiling, putting his hands under his head. His shirt rode up just enough to expose a part of that tight, tucked V she remembered too vividly. It was hard to concentrate around him.
    “What else?”
    “Why did you look me up?”
    “I wanted to know who you were,” he said simply.
    Butterflies battled for dominance at the pit of her stomach. So many questions, so little time.
    ***
    Cassie was rudely awoken in the morning by the doorbell buzzing. At first, she rolled over from one side to the other, bumping her nose into Connor’s chest. Apparently he was holding onto her with both arms, as if he was worried that if he let go, she might sneak off on him in the middle of the night.
    For a fleeting moment, she allowed herself to inhale his strong, musky scent. Apparently he’d taken off his shirt and goddamn if he didn’t look like a marble sculpture come to life on her bed. She was spending a second too long admiring at him when the annoying doorbell went off again. It dug through the folds of sleep clouding her brain and dawned on her with the sudden and unwelcome understanding that no one ever rang her doorbell.
    Scooting out of the bed in a rush, she grabbed her dressing gown and threw it over her shoulders, hoping that it would hide the fact that she was still in last night’s dress. She practically ran down the corridor, hoping that whoever was at the door wouldn’t wake up Connor. While at the same time, a little voice was counting all of the people that could be on the other side of said door… and the count ended at two.
    She pulled the door open and sure enough, there stood Amanda, Monroe on her hip and reaching his little hands out for her.
    Shit.
    “Mama!” he called, and instinctively she picked him out of Amanda’s hands.
    “Morning, sleepyhead! I brought bagels and a baby! Adelaide told me you might have had some fun last night so I figured I would run over instead of having you do it! Sorry if I woke you up, I have a hair appointment in half an hour and I really, really need to make it. And Monroe missed his mommy, didn’t you big man?” she cooed, taking hold of one of Monroe’s hands while he was busy picking at the earrings Cassie was wearing.
    “Thank you, Amanda,” she said flatly.
    Cassie barely caught every second word that Amanda rattled off. Her mind worked frantically to figure out how she could possibly get