Free Chance Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire 6) by T. S. Joyce Page B

startled gaze to him. “Exactly. It’ll be poison.”
    He inhaled a long breath, inflating his chest completely. He didn’t like the thought of her being so hard on herself every time she looked at that scorch mark, but if she needed this to deal with letting her past go, then more power to her. The more he got to know Em, the more he liked her and the more his wolf quieted. Dalton said this was how it would be. The animal would go quiet and pliable around his mate. Oh, sure, his protective instincts were up to Level Ridiculous, but right here, when there was no danger, looking at Em’s pretty blush, he could enjoy clear thoughts.
    “I’ll go on a walk with you,” he said low, then chugged the last few sips of the coffee she’d made him. He hadn’t even sniffed it for poison before he drank, and if that didn’t say something about his growing trust for the woman, he didn’t know what did.
    The late afternoon shadows stretched across the porch, so he grabbed Em’s jacket off the hook by the door and helped her into it. Did she need his help? Hell no. Likely, Em didn’t need anything from anyone, but he liked that she let him dote on her in his own way. She’d done that at the bar last night, too—let him lead her inside, let him buy her a drink, let him help her down off the bar. Emily Vega was one sexy, little boner-maker.
    As she pulled on her rubber boots by the door, he could tell Em was excited. Her eyes were a clear blue, dancing just above her smile, and she didn’t even zip her jacket before she strode out onto the porch and bounced down the stairs with a graceful step. From the wood pile, she grabbed a long walking stick as Chance practically floated behind her, drunk on her scent. He had to get his crap together. If Em figured out how hard he was falling, she would run like prey.
    Chance cast one last glance back at the cabin before he broke the tree line. Emanuel Vega had bought himself a right fancy home with a roof that pitched all the way to the ground. On the second story was the front door surrounded by a sprawling deck, accessible by a set of steep porch stairs. The wood on the house was stained a rich chocolate brown, while Alaska usually bullied every other wood into a beat-up gray color. Even the roof shingles looked fancy. The mortgage on this place must be crazy.
    “What do you do for work? I mean besides killing evil creatures of the night.”
    “Don’t tease.” She pouted. “I never took a life.”
    Wrong. She was stealing his right now without even knowing it. His heart thumped erratically as she slipped her hand into his. So small, but with a grip strength that said she was a calm exterior with weapons on the inside. She had perfect little callouses on the meat of her palm, probably from knife training, and she was a study in opposites that had him hooked, wanting to know everything about her. Every secret, every wish, every memory.
    “I can’t pay on this place much longer. It only has about five years left on the bank note, but it’s kind of extravagant. I was fine when I was living in my apartment in Anchorage, but I’m blowing through my savings here. And I’m a—” She stopped and glared up at him. “Swear not to laugh.”
    “I would never laugh,” he lied through a grin.
    Em narrowed her eyes and pursed her sexy lips into a thin line. “My dad was a doctor, and I really looked up to him when I was a kid,” she said, continuing her hike beside him down a worn ATV path.
    “Before you knew he was evil,” Chance joked.
    “Yeah, before that,” she said, shoving him gently. “I was raised by my mom, but I came here to visit my dad for weeks at a time. Not often, mind you, but it was something I looked forward to. Being Galena’s only doctor, he couldn’t take that much time off work, so he would take me to the med clinic when I got older, and I would watch him take care of people. I thought he was the greatest. Just…a hero. I mean, looking back he wasn’t