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

me.”
    “Swear that anything I say in this car doesn’t make it back to my brothers or their mates. Or Ma.”
    “Fine.” Easy promise. She didn’t even know his family other than Boone. She pulled her duffle bag of clothes tighter against her side and settled against the passenger seat cushion of his truck. Outside, it was late in the evening and the fireflies were just coming out, illuminating the piney woods with little blinks of light. It was beautiful, but not as alluring as watching Dade’s profile as he struggled to find words. Chiseled jaw adorned with the beginnings of that short, blond beard, as if he hadn’t bothered to shave since she’d been taken to the hospital. The thick chords of muscle in his throat moved when he swallowed, and when he ghosted her an are-you-sure-you’re-ready-for-this look, his aqua-colored eyes were worried. That he was concerned with what she thought of him was baffling.
    Him, a big, dominant bear shifter who’d survived God knows what, and he was worried about what she, a quiet, mildly clumsy widow, thought of him.
    “When I first saw you, my bear woke right up. It was this there-she-is moment, and you were sitting on the floor of the vet’s room, mourning something I didn’t understand, and all I wanted to do was make it better. But right before I’d gone in there, Shayna had stopped me on the side of the road, threatened a girl I used to hang out with, and I’d just got done swearing up and down that I’d never put a living soul in that woman’s path. And then there you were, not fifteen minutes later. And then when I heard the vet tell you to take the rest of the day off, I got this jumpy feeling inside. I stalled paying for Tank’s check-up so you’d have time to gather your stuff and head out, because even though I had just told myself I wouldn’t get involved with anyone, I was already planning to see you again. And you were so upset, and your tire was flat, and I wanted to put your bike in the back of my truck and ask you out. Take you to a movie or dinner or something. But Shayna was there tailing me, reminding me I couldn’t have anything that I wanted without it being ripped away from me, just like the agency she works for has always done to me and my crew.”
    “Is that why you ignored me for that whole week?”
    “Exactly why. And it wasn’t easy, woman. You’d already made your mark on me. I threw myself into work up at the firehouse, but I couldn’t keep you off my mind for long. I wanted to know you. Know what you were doing and if you were seeing anyone. I wanted to know what you liked to do outside of work.”
    She grinned and looked pointedly in the back seat where Daffodil and Beans were snuggled up together in the crate they shared. “Did you imagine you’d be shacking up with me and two frilly dogs by the end of the next week?”
    “Now, that I didn’t imagine. I pegged you for a cat person for some reason.”
    “Daffodil can’t handle cats. I fostered one once, and my dog got bullied relentlessly.”
    “Well, she’s three pounds of submissive. She didn’t stand a chance with a cat. What the hell is going on here?” he asked, leaning forward.
    Red and blue flashed across his face, and Quinn stretched her neck to look out the front window. A crowd was gathered at the mouth of a fork in the road. Some held signs, and some seemed to be trying to hold others back. A police barricade covered the entrance to a poorly fenced property.
    “The police around here have better things to do than babysit our land,” Dade muttered as he pulled through.
    He rolled down the window. “Hey, Monroe.” Something hit the back of the truck and Dade threw the crowd behind him a pissed off glare. “I thought they kept our names out of the press.”
    The dark-haired officer from the hospital nodded and gave him an empty smile. “This isn’t the national news’s doing, I’m afraid. A couple of bloggers in Breckenridge interviewed the witnesses from