Free Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love (Jessica) BBW Bear Shifter Menage Romance (Hope Valley BBW Dating App Romance Book 8) by Ariana Hawkes

gone.
    “What’s up with him?” she said with a frown.
    “I don’t know. He was okay last time we spoke. Maybe he’s busy with work.”
    “I guess. It’s not like him to be so abrupt though. Or is it?” she said, as a shock of realization hit her that perhaps she didn’t know the adult Lucas as well as she thought she did.
    “No, it’s not,” Christian said his tone equally questioning. “We’ll get it out of him later. Anyway, you’ve signed up to Shiftr! That’s great. Did we help you to see what you were missing out on?” Jessica giggled.
    “Maybe.”
    “So tell me – what other matches have you found, apart from your two best friends?”
    “That was as far as I got. I saw you guys right at the top of my list and thought it was so funny that I had to call you right away. How about you?”
    “I haven’t really had time to look at it, beyond setting up my profile. It’s been a long day,” he replied, yawning. “Anyway, take a look now – what’s your next best match?” Jessica put her phone on speaker and went back to the app. She scrolled past Christian and Lucas’ thumbnails and clicked on the third one. As a photo of a well-built, handsome guy filled the screen, recognition sparked in her brain. But who is he?
    “Some guy,” she said.
    “No shit?” She giggled.
    “Wait. He’s also a bear. A really big bear. He seems cool. Easy-going and fun. And we’re 84% compatible! He sounds like he could be a match for me.”
    “Yeah he does,” Christian said, but there was something almost mocking in his tone which she didn’t understand. “You should hit him up.”
    “Oh. I thought I’d wait for him to contact me. Aren’t the guys supposed to do all the work?”
    “I never saw you as a girl who needed to be wooed, Jessica Schmidt,” Christian said with a rumbling laugh.
    “Maybe you don’t know me as well as you thought you did,” she said, no less archly.
    “I’m just teasing. But seriously, while we bears are very protective and caring, we can also be a little shy when it comes to approaching women. So if you see a guy you like, just drop him a message. If he’s worth it, he’ll do all the work after that. Sometimes we just need the initial encouragement to take that first step though.” Warmth bloomed in Jessica’s stomach at his words. she sensed that he was speaking personally, and she felt a rush of tenderness for her big, fearless, yet soft-hearted friend.
    “I’ll do that,” she said. “So, who’s your top match after me?”
    “Some girl,” he said, with laughter in his voice. “She’s cute. Long, dark hair. Nice eyes. Funny. Works as a gallery manager. Sounds like we could be compatible. And Shiftr matches us at 90%.” Jessica’s stomach flipped and clenched.
    “Send her a message. Step out of your comfort zone. Okay, I’ve got to go. But let’s all catch up soon,” she said, speaking fast.
    “Have a good evening, Jess, and good luck.”
    Jessica ended the call, her head spinning. She was jealous of Christian’s 90% match. Insanely so. When she thought about him exchanging messages with a girl, flirting, arranging to meet up, her stomach got all knotted up. I didn’t used to be like this at school, she thought. But did we ever talk about girls, or guys? She cast her mind back to those days, all those intense conversations they used to have. No, they hadn’t. That three-way friendship had been so intense that there was no space to think about dating. She tried to re-inhabit her 15-year-old self. Would she had been eaten up with jealousy in those days if the guys had gone off with girlfriends? She sighed. She didn’t know the answer to that question. All she knew was that she had to stop being inappropriately possessive of her best friends. She returned to the Shiftr app and looked at her third-best match. He’s the bartender at Rusty’s! she realized. She flicked through his photos; he had quite a few. He was a really big, solidly built guy with