Free A Grizzly Kind Of Love (The Mating Game Book 3) by Georgette St. Clair

crisply pressed suit. He had an impatient look on his face. Before he could speak, Sprinkles looked up from his dog bed by Gillian’s desk and growled at him, fur rising in an angry ridge down his back.
    “I’m sorry, sir, we’re not accepting new clients at this time,” Wynona informed him.
    “Well, not all clients, just specifically you,” Gillian explained helpfully. “Since Sprinkles doesn’t like you.”
    “Gillian. Do you remember how we talked about the fact that honesty isn’t always the best policy?” Wynona said through clenched teeth.
    “Of course.” Gillian stared at her in puzzlement, her eyes huge behind those owlish glasses. “It was less than a week ago. You know I have an excellent memory. Why do you ask?”
    “Forget it,” Wynona sighed.
    “Hey!” the man snapped. “You can’t turn me down just because some rat of a dog doesn’t like me.”
    “Get out!” Wynona and Gillian said at the exact same time, both pointing at the doorway, and he glared at them and walked out the door, muttering, “Crazy bitches.” That only reinforced Sprinkles’ original assessment of him. Men who called women bitches did not get to sign up with Wynona.
    She spent the rest of the day interviewing prospective clients, talking with current clients, and running errands. Throughout the day, she felt an odd, hollow feeling, as if she were missing something.
    Finally she figured out what it was. Zane. She didn’t have anything scheduled with Zane that day. It felt weird to go all day without him. She wouldn’t be seeing him until tomorrow at lunch, when they practiced eating at a restaurant in public. Then the next day, he’d have lunch with Tiffany.
    The realization that spending an entire day without Zane could cause these feelings filled Wynona with dismay. Whoever he ended up mating with, whether it was Tiffany or someone else, it wouldn’t be her. She found herself wishing that she could tell him why she was really doing this, but she’d given her word and signed that non-disclosure agreement.
    The rest of the day felt dull and heavy, and she went home right at five, which was unusual for her. She usually worked until seven or eight. Not that she had no social life.
    Oh, who was she kidding? She had absolutely no social life.
    She put a few hamburgers in the frying pan, but she was so distracted that she forgot about them and accidentally set them on fire.
    She put out the fire, set the frying pan in the sink, then opened the window to let out the smoke. Then she went into the living room and plopped down on the couch and tried to think of what to do with herself. Sprinkles was spending the night at Gillian’s; Wynona wished she had him with her instead. She could use a little company.
    Suddenly she heard a bang coming from the kitchen, and leaped to her feet.
    At the same moment, she smelled Zane. She ran into the kitchen. The back door was open, practically hanging off the hinges, and Zane was standing by her refrigerator.
    “What are you doing here?’ she demanded.
    “I thought your house was burning down. Kicked open the back door.” He glanced at it, then walked over and set it back in place as much as possible. “I’ll fix that for you tomorrow. Needs new hinges. And a stronger lock. And a better door. I’ll get you a steel door.”
    She stared at him in bewilderment. “I mean why are you at my house at all? Why were you close enough to smell my burned dinner?”
    “That shooting’s got me worried for you. I’m here to keep an eye out.” He began rifling through the fridge and pulling out ingredients.
    “What are you doing now?”
    “Cooking dinner for us. I’m hungry.”
    “Oh.” She didn’t have an answer for that.
    “You go relax,” he said. “I’ll have something whipped up in half an hour.”
    “You know how to cook?” she asked skeptically. “I mean, in a real kitchen, not on a grill?”
    He glanced at the frying pan sitting in the sink. The remains of her