Free Jade Crew: Captive Bear (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Ridgeback Bears Book 4) by Amelia Jade

warm and peaceful comforts of the Tongue & Flame.
    It was Kierra.
    Frowning, he turned back to face the bar, but not before he got another eyeful of her gorgeous facial features as she doffed the hat and scarf that had covered her up. The smooth angles of her cheeks and the gorgeous pools of hazel set above her little button nose all but called to him. Fire surged to life within him as bright and fiery as the flames crackling in the hearth nearby.
    Part of him wanted to surge to his feet and go to her, to pick her up and lay her back onto the pool table, ripping off her clothes while he pressed his lips to hers. All of his instincts screamed at him to take her without delay.
    All of his animal instincts.
    The human side of Darren knew the folly of listening to his bear when it became riled up. There were limits to what he could get away with, and most of what it was trying to tell him to do was definitely not on the list of acceptable actions. Not yet at least. His fingers tightened around the glass as he heard the telltale sound of high heels approaching behind him.
    “Evening Kierra,” Ferro said politely, with a little more jovialness to his voice than Darren was used to. He glared at the bartender. Ferro was clearly trying to tell him to stop sulking and talk to the beautiful woman who had come all the way out here to talk to him. How Ferro knew that, Darren didn’t know, but he did. Perhaps he had seen them talking the night before and realized what was going on. Either way, it didn’t matter, because his intent was as clear as a lighthouse blazing away on the shore in the dead of night.
    “Hello Ferro. Can I have a house one tonight?” she said, tossing her jacket on the back of the bar chair next to Darren.
    That piqued his interest. Not only was she having a drink tonight, which meant she wasn’t here on business, but she was having a beer. One of Ferro’s house brews as well, which meant that she actually knew a little something about beer. Any woman willing to sit down and have a beer was instantly raised a few notches in Darren’s books.
    “Of course. Bottle or glass?” the dragon shifter asked as he cracked the bottle open for her.
    “You know, I think I’m feeling fancy today,” she said, and he could all but imagine the twinkle in her eyes as she joked. “Can I have it in a glass?”
    Ferro nodded and expertly poured the beer, setting it and a coaster down in front of her.
    Kierra sat, snatching up the beer and taking a long draft. She sat back into the chair, smacking her lips lightly as the wonderful full-bodied taste of his house ale touched her taste buds. Darren could understand that, for it was truly some of the best beer he’d ever had. Part of him wondered if Ferro put something with addictive properties in it, though he knew the shifter would never actually do so. The taste was likely a result of brewing expertise that stretched back to when the Egyptians had invented the brewing process. Ferro had had a long time to perfect the taste.
    His bear growled and pawed at him, urging him to say something, anything to Kierra. But Darren was still hurting from her earlier dismissal of him. It seemed so silly, he thought. Or at least, silly in the way he had been brought up, which was to never show emotion or hurt. But the truth was it had hurt, and more than just a little. Apparently he had opened himself up to her more than he realized, which was why the slamming shut of the door had caught him so off guard.
    So instead of speaking up, he waited for her to break the silence. It may have been petty, but right then and there he didn’t care.
    “Darren,” came the soft, velvety smooth voice with just a hint of an accent that made her so exciting. He wanted to know her story. Badly.
    “Kierra,” he returned, turning slowly in his chair to face her.
    She was looking directly at him with an intensity that surprised him. Sitting up straighter, he gave the beautiful, full-figured woman sitting no