Free Detective Bear (Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance) (Bear Patrol Book 2) by Scarlett Grove Page A

where he kissed the sensitive flesh between her fingers. Lola's eyes fluttered closed, and she let out a soft moan.
    "What happens now?" she asked, opening her eyes again to see Gauge’s eyes shining back at her.
    "We should probably get to know each other better since we're mates," he said reluctantly.
    "That is probably a good first step," she agreed.
    "For one thing, I'm actually blonde," he said.
    "You are?" she asked surprised.
    "This is temporary hair dye. My beard is blonde too."
    She giggled and then covered her mouth with her other hand
    "I have to see that.”
    "I have blue eyes too," he said, pointing at his eyes. "These are just contact lenses. I was in disguise for my undercover mission."
    "Now I have to see what you really look like," she said.
    "I'll be right back. Get ready to see the man you’ve been mated with."
    She nodded at him with a smile as he stood from the couch. She watched his delicious behind as he walked down the hallway towards the stairs.
    Lola waited for Gauge to get cleaned up and shaved while she sat downstairs on his comfortable couch. She found the remote control sitting on his coffee table and tried to figure out how to turn on the television.
    It had been so long since she had been in a household with any kind of modern technology so it took her fifteen minutes to figure out how to turn on the TV. By the time she found something entertaining to watch, she heard Gauge walking down the stairs. He turned the corner and stood before her, clean shaven, shirtless, with his blue eyes shining at her. She gasped. He was stunning. She covered her mouth and her eyes went wide.
    "That bad, huh?" he asked.
    "No, that good," she said, standing.
    She walked across the room and wrapped her arms around him. He kissed the top of her head as she leaned into him and rested her cheek against his chest. Gauge wrapped her in his big strong arms and held her close. His embrace drowned out all of the pain of the past in that moment. She loved being with him in his home and the revelation of how he really looked was just another piece of the puzzle.
    "Gauge," she whispered as he held her close to his bare chest, rippled with hard muscle. "I don't know how to be in the world anymore."
    A tear slid out of her eye and dripped on his bulging pectoral muscle. She stifled a sob, but her body shuddered in Gauge’s arms.
    "You're going to be just fine, babe. I'll be right here beside you. I'm going to give you everything that you've been missing all this time. You don't have to jump back in all at once."
    "I don't even know where to start."
    "Well," he said leaning back to inspect her. "Most ladies like pretty things. I think you look hot as hell in anything you wear, I imagine that you would like something a little more feminine than those gray sweatpants."
    She looked down at her clothes and then looked back up at Gauge. "I haven't had new clothes in so long. Most of what I've been wearing was small men's clothes bulk purchased for Justin's gang."
    "We need to do something about that. I'm going to take you shopping in Portland at the best boutiques in town. You can buy anything you want."
    "I couldn't," she objected.
    "Of course you can. After you've rested, I'm going to take you into the city to go shopping. But for now, I want you to just hang out around the house, watch TV, and eat as much food as you can fit in your belly."
    She rested against his chest and let out a deep sigh. "What did I do to deserve such a wonderful man?"
    "The real question is, what did I do to deserve you."
    He squeezed her and then let her go, telling her to relax on the couch while he made something for lunch. She happily obeyed and flipped through the channels to find something mindless on TV that Justin would've absolutely hated.
    It gave her a little thrill just to know that she was doing something that her stepbrother would've never allowed her to do in a million years. The women on the reality TV show were dressed in fabulous clothes