Free Bear Meets Girl by Catherine Vale Page A

you
know.”
                She
crossed her arms. “Didn’t want to make any sudden moves. You know, in case you
thought I was trying to attack you or something.”
                Scowling,
he pushed the bag toward her, then plucked a second cup of coffee from the
counter and placed it up on the bar countertop. “I went out and grabbed some
breakfast while you were snoring away in there. Figured we should fuel up
before we head out.”
                “How
thoughtful of you,” she said flatly, hopping up onto one of the cherry red
barstools. She gulped down the entire cup of coffee in ten seconds flat, then
pulled out an apple fritter and an egg and cheese croissant and went to town. Holy
Jesus, thank God, her body seemed to cry out as the food hit her stomach.
She was starved, and because of the sleep deprivation, she was going to need a
hell of a lot more fuel.
                She
worked her way through two croissants and four apple fritters, and tried to
ignore the fact that Cole’s eyes were on her the whole time. Unfortunately her
subconscious had better ideas. Is he staring at the rat’s nest on my head?
Do I have apple filling on my cheek? Is this his way of apologizing for last
night?
    The last one made her blood
heat again. A couple of pastries were not going to make her forgive him,
especially since he’d made her feel like a total fool for having sex with him.
And she was not going to compromise her integrity by bringing up the
incident from last night in order to get him to apologize. He was either going
to do it himself, or he wasn’t. She refused to beg.
    “You got the directions to the
race track?” she asked as she slipped off the bar stool, wiping croissant
flakes from her cheeks and feeling marginally normal again.
    “Already programmed it into
the GPS.”
    “Great. I’m grabbing a shower.
Be ready to leave in fifteen.” She turned away.
    “Aye, aye, Captain,” he said
sarcastically, and she rolled her eyes, annoyed at herself for having to fight
the smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
     
    * * *
                Cole tried to focus on the GPS’s
directions as he drove the Camaro through mildly hellish San Francisco traffic,
but the guilt he’d been carrying since last night was still burning a hole
through his chest, and it was making it much more difficult to concentrate than
expected. He’d lain on the blow up mattress all night, staring up at the
ceiling and wondering why the fuck he hadn’t been able to just keep his mouth
shut instead of letting all the negativity inside of him spew out.
                Really,
what was wrong with him that he felt compelled to call the first shifter female
who’d ever slept with him a fool, for giving him the very thing he’d craved his
entire life?
                Your
self-destructive tendencies will be your undoing someday. Master Enoch’s
voice echoed in his ears, the one mage who had been kind enough to take him in,
and teach him some rudimentary skills to provide a foundation for him. Cole
clenched his jaw, his knuckles whitening as his hands tightened on the wheel.
The past was a very, very bad place to go, especially when he needed to
concentrate on the mission ahead.
                “Hey!
Turn right!” Angela rapped him on the arm.
                Cole
swore as he realized he was in the wrong lane and jerked the steering wheel,
cutting off a white Escalade and earning himself a barrage of one-fingered
salutes and a cacophony of blaring horns. Ignoring it all, he turned the corner
and floored the gas, effectively putting some distance between him and the
Escalade for at least three feet before he was forced to switch lanes again or
rear-end a grandma driving a beat up Corolla.
                “Jesus
fucking Christ,” Angela hissed. “What the hell just happened back there? Do you
need me to drive?”
                “ No ,”
Cole