Free Can't Bear To Run (Kendal Creek Bears, #1) by Lynn Red Page B

I guess so,” he said. “Although I’m not really playing, and I wasn’t lying earlier. You have eyes that I could stare at for days.”
    “Huh?” My head swam, either from the chemical vat, or more likely, from the way this giant had somehow managed to make me forget – at least for the moment – my awful situation and also the fact that I’d been in a car so long my legs were cramped painfully.
    He squinted. “I’m... not playing. I’m Daxon...”
    “Oh!” I shouted, shaking his hand. “I swear I’m not normally this dumb. I just drove in from Boston in two days, and my head is kinda wobbly.”
    “Nice to meet you, Raine Matthews, from Boston,” Daxon said. “I knew I’d find you again.”
    “Yeah, good to... wait, what? Do I know you?” It was all I could do not to flop on the ground and start gyrating like a lunatic. Of course I know you , I wanted to shout. When I’m in the worst way, I keep remembering your face . To not sound like a loon, I kept my mouth shut.
    “I’ve got a strange way with remembering names. And you’ve got a certain way with comically bad 80s power ballads.”
    “You... remembered?”
    “Yes.” He grew very serious. “There have been about eighteen hundred days since the last time I saw you, and I never forgot, not one single time, the way your eyes glittered on that stage. I knew I’d find you, and I didn’t stop until I did.”
    I was shaking my head. “You’re good at this game, aren’t you?” I dropped his hand and narrowed my eyes. “I can’t believe this.”
    “Game? Nah. I just act like a playboy when I get nervous. Honestly I like to play Dungeons & Dragons and read comics. But I do owe you something.”
    “You... do?”
    “A beer,” he said with a grin that made my knees a little unstable as he stared into my eyes. “Remember?”

-9-
Serious as a Bear Attack
    ––––––––
    “P retty good, huh?” Dax was pretending to watch the band, but was very obviously watching me. Every time I looked away from him, he’d steal a glance. It’s funny; here’s this huge guy who can very obviously take care of himself, and yet at the same time, there’s a kind of innocence about him.
    No, no, innocence is the wrong word. Maybe... inexperience? It’s hard to pin down. Eagerness? He certainly had that, for sure.
    “Yeah,” I said. “Never heard of these guys before.”
    Truth was, I hadn’t heard of any of the bands playing. The longer I was there – we were getting to the end of day one – the more I started wondering why the hell, exactly, I went. Then again, the more I questioned my motives, the more I realized they didn’t need any questioning.
    The day was fading slowly into evening, and with it, orange rays seemed to spray out from behind the mountains framing the fairground. “What brought you all the way out here, Raine Matthews?” that familiar, husky voice asked.
    On stage, the band quit playing, packed up their stuff and departed. In the lull between acts, the massive crowd dispersed a little – though we were so far back from the stage that the place wasn’t particularly crowded anyway.
    I shrugged, still watching the stage. “Just seemed like a good time, I guess. Also, ever since that night at karaoke when I saw you, I haven’t been able to get you out of my head. You’re like a bad dream that turned into a really good one.”
    “I know,” he said with a smile. “Funny thing about love, huh?”
    “Kinda forward, huh?”
    “I would say... straight forward rather than just forward.” The way he kinda growled when he spoke got my belly twisting just a smidge. I didn’t know if I was just heavily on the rebound, but I have the feeling I’d been over Dan for a pretty long time at that point. This just felt... fun?
    I smirked with the left side of my mouth, but kept staring at the stage. I was afraid that if I looked over at my new friend, I’d betray my own emotions far more than I wanted. “How about you? I don’t