Free Bearliest Catch by Bianca D'Arc

special.
    Mate special.
    He drew back, and she let him go with a last
lingering caress on his cheek. Her touch was like satin, her skin
the softest he’d ever known. She was all things good in the world,
and his thoughts were quickly racing into very serious
territory.
    “You’d better turn the steaks,” she
whispered, her smile inviting at the same time she pushed him
away.
    But it didn’t feel like she was pushing him
very far. He just had to rescue dinner, and she’d still be here,
waiting for him. Possibly to pick up where they’d left off? He
could only hope.
    “Yeah.” Drew slapped his hands on his thighs
in order to keep them off her. She was in charge here, and he had
to make that clear. He wasn’t some cave bear that couldn’t behave
himself.
    He got up and worked on the steaks until they
were done. They both liked their meat cooked medium well, so
serving up dinner was an easy thing. She moved over to the table
and chairs set up near the grill and took her seat while he served,
then took his own chair.
    They ate and drank the wine, enjoying each
other’s company. She talked about the town, asking questions about
things and people she hadn’t yet discovered, and he enjoyed filling
her in on the details. She revealed a bit more about her former
life in LA. She’d been a high school teacher and yoga instructor on
the side, he was fascinated to learn.
    “If we ever set up a school here, you’d have
a job, no problem. Big John has plans for this town that are
far-reaching. If we get enough families to settle here, he’s
already discussed looking for teachers who are shifters.”
    “He’s quite the strategist.”
    “You have no idea.”
    When they finished eating, Drew tidied things
away, refilling Jetty’s wine glass as she sat on the big chaise
once more, looking out over the beach. The sun was setting on a
gray evening, clouds rolling in, as they so often did in this part
of the country.
    “Looks like rain tonight,” Drew observed as
he finished clearing things away and came back out to sit with
her.
    She smiled. “I love water in all its
forms.”
    “So it’s not like in that old movie where if
the mermaid gets wet, she shifts no matter what?” he challenged,
grinning at her over the rim of his glass from much too far away.
He was seated on the foot of the chaise, facing her.
    She laughed outright. “No. It’s not like that
at all. I control the shift. Water isn’t necessary to shift, but it is necessary to move around once I’ve got a tail, so it’s
wiser to wait until I’m in the water to change.”
    “A wise precaution,” he agreed, enjoying the
intimate moment as the sun’s last rays began to fade.
    He scooted a few inches closer to her. When
she made no objection, he moved closer still.
    She didn’t move away or make any other
gesture that he could interpret as discomfort. In fact, her eyes
had gone soft, her pulse increasing. She seemed as aware of him as
he was of her.
    “I’ve never met anyone like you,” he
whispered, raising one hand to brush a stray lock of hair off her
brow. It was so soft. So sensual.
    “You’ve met Grace,” she argued with a little
grin that told him she was teasing him, and enjoying it.
    “You’re not like Grace. Not in the important
ways. You might both be mer, but you’re vastly different women.
Grace is a sweetheart, but she doesn’t call to me—to my bear—the
way you do. The way you have since I first laid eyes on you.”
    “Your bear likes me?” She swayed forward,
coming closer, sliding her arms around his neck.
    “Oh, yeah.” Drew moved into the embrace,
drawing her close. “He likes everything about you. And so does my
human side.”
    “That’s really good,” she said breathlessly,
her mouth only centimeters from his. “Because both sides of my
nature have been stuck on you for months now.”
    Months? He would have pursued that
thought, but she closed the gap between them, touching her lips to
his.
    Like spark to tinder,