Free A Lion Shame (Bear Creek Grizzlies Book 3) by Layla Nash, Callista Ball

SJ's hips settled a little closer. She blushed but didn't flee, enjoying the sensation of a calm man holding her close and not immediately pulling her pants off to get to business. But SJ pushed away the thought of how Tate might be different in bed. She needed to focus. "Chuck seemed more on edge. Well, a lot on edge. He could be nice, sometimes, but the last couple of weeks he was a total asshole. He yelled more and ... hit me a couple of times, and got angry at Dakota."
    Tate made a strange rumbling noise in his chest, something like a growl, and his arms tightened around her. As if wanting to protect her from the ex-boyfriend. Tate patted her butt again in encouragement. "What else?"
    "There were more guys around the apartment. Strangers, mostly, and they didn't get along with the guys Chuck usually worked with." She frowned, some of the tension returning. It had felt like a pressure cooker the last few weeks, as the new guys eyed the old guys and once a fight broke out. Motorcycles roaring in and out of the parking garage at all hours, and random strangers knocking on the door and scaring the hell out of her. "I overheard some of them talking about a delivery, but they stopped whenever I was around."
    A big delivery. All the whispers and arguments she remembered started to make more sense, and SJ had a hard time believing she'd actually been able to ignore that much. Of course they'd been gearing up for some big deal. Something huge and dangerous and involving a bunch of rowdy strangers who showed up in the middle of the night. Her stomach tied in knots again and SJ started to sit up. "I need to get out of here. I have to get rid of that car, or call Chuck and tell him where it is, or something. I don't know. But I can't just wait for him to find me. He'll kill me. I know he'll kill me, and even if he doesn't... The guys he works for sure as hell will. I just stole a million dollars from them. I stole from them and I know what happens to people who do that kind of thing. It doesn't end well. It won't —"
    "Calm down," Tate said, watching her as SJ slid to the floor. "We can figure out —"
    "It's nice that you want to help," SJ said, staring around the apartment and trying to figure out what to do next. She couldn't just run. She had to think of Dakota. She had to be smart, for once. Maybe she could just call Chuck and tell him where to pick up the car, hopefully far away from Bear Creek and Rosie and everything that SJ wanted in her future. "But this isn't your problem. I don't need to be dumping all of this on you, and I appreciate that you want to help, but you've already done more than I ever expected to —"
    She was on the verge of hyperventilating, the words flowing out of her mouth in a torrent she couldn't control as SJ struggled for composure. She wanted to get up and move, to physically start packing and doing something, and hoped her legs would hold her up. Except she looked at Tate and held her breath, mesmerized by the sudden flash of light in his eyes.
    He leaned forward and then his lips pressed warm and soft against hers, and he was kissing her. SJ drowned in the kiss, the gentle caress of his fingers along her cheek, and she melted. Tate's hand worked into her hair and held her closer as he deepened the kiss, and the room spun around her. He felt like the only steady spot in the entire universe. The only rock she could lean on. SJ closed her eyes and clung to him, hoping some of his confidence would inspire her.

Chapter 11
Tate
    T ate hadn't planned to kiss her. She was just coming out of a really unhealthy relationship, and he wasn't exactly the most stable guy to be around. He wasn't interested in a relationship after having his heart torn out and shredded when Monique changed her mind about forever. And he sure as hell couldn't handle all the chaos that Sarah Jane brought with her, or the mess of her past choices. He didn't want that. But Sarah Jane's breathing grew ragged and he heard the panic in