Free Bear the Burn (Fire Bears Book 2) by T. S. Joyce

joke at a time like this. “Just say, Dade Leland Keller, you, sir, are being a dumbass.”
    “Leland?”
    “It’s a family name. All the Keller brothers’ middle names are Leland.”
    “Oh,” she mused. “Okay. Dade Leland Keller, you were a super dumbass the other day when you threw gravel on me while I was walking home with a flat tire.”
    “But not when I bit you?”
    Quinn brushed her auburn waves behind her ears and studied him. “No. I understand why you did. I don’t like it, but I get why you made that choice. Saving me isn’t something I have to forgive you for. The rocks in my face though…”
    A smile stretched Dade’s face. “I’m sorry I did that. And I really liked the bacon you made me. Bears love bacon.”
    Quinn giggled a tinkling sound that filled his middle with warmth. It was the first time he’d heard her laugh, and it drew him back. He stroked a lock of her deep red hair that had fallen across her shoulder. “I like that.”
    “What?”
    “I like that you can laugh even when the shit is hitting the fan.”
    “Well, I like that your muscles are big, and that you got all protective back there when those reporters got too rough.”
    “Mmm,” he rumbled. “I like this game. Okay, I like the way your eyes have green in the middle of the gray, and I also like to think I’m the only one who’s noticed that before.”
    “I like your scars. I think they make you look like a badass.”
    “I like your scars because they make you a badass.”
    Quinn was trying to hide a smile now, and her expression was so freaking cute he sat down and surrounded her with his long legs just to be closer to her.
    “I like in the video when you took a bullet to guard my body when I was turning into…you know.”
    “Say it.”
    She pursed her lips and lifted her chin. “A bear.”
    “I like that your bear has the same color fur as your hair.”
    “Oooh, you like redheads, do you?”
    “And freckles.”
    “Oh, geez,” she said, blushing from her neck to her hairline. “Okay, I feel better now, and we should probably get back to the car. We can continue this game when there isn’t someone taking pictures from a few trees away.” She waved to the paparazzi.
    He’d heard him approach, but they weren’t doing anything that would make Cody freak out if he saw it on the evening news tonight. Plus, he’d been having too much fun telling her the things he liked about her to care overly much. He had the distinct feeling this was going to be a part of life until the humans got used to the existence of shifters.
    “Okay, I’m not supposed to coddle you, right?”
    “Right.”
    Standing, he dusted the seat of his jeans until he’d loosed all the dried pine needles. “Fine, I won’t even help you up.”
    “Dade!”
    “Just kidding. Here.”
    She grinned, slid her palms against his, and warm tendrils reached up his arms where she touched him. He pulled gently, and then helped her back down the wooded hill toward the SUV.
    Still pale and shaky, she followed slowly, but her determination to be strong and do it on her own only made him like her more.
    Ten minutes alone with her, and he’d already learned so much. No more imagining what she was like. She was a bear shifter now, and even though she had no clue what it meant, she was his claim. Quinn didn’t know it yet, and he was determined to take this slow and give her time, but she was it for him.
    No matter what came their way now, he was going to make sure she was safe, and that Quinn knew she was cared for.

Chapter Eight
     
    Quinn couldn’t quit sneaking little glances at Dade as he drove them away from her house. Was she scared of what was happening? Heck yeah. But everything seemed less overwhelming when he was around.
    The man spoke with such confidence and seemed to know exactly how to handle every situation that came their way. He could’ve told her to buck up in the car earlier and pipe down until they got somewhere far away from the