Bear The Heat (Mating Call Dating Agency Book 3) (15 page)

She nodded. “How’re you and Dora doing? She wear you out yet?”

At that, Monte just laughed for a moment. “Ah well,” he said with a smile, “a gentleman never talks about that sort of thing.

He keeps his bedroom conquests and legendary sexual prowess under wraps.”

“Right,” Rory said, drawing the word out into about fifteen syllables. “Well whatever, I’m gonna miss you this month.”

“No you won’t,” Monte said. “You’ll be plenty busy.”

The two of them stared at each other for a second, and then fell into a spontaneously agreed hug. “I’m just glad you found
104

someone,” Monte said when they pulled apart. “Well, and that he’s not an asshole. You two
do
fit together.”

“You and Dora do too,” Rory said. “Even if she is
way
out of your league.” She laughed softly.

“That should tell you something about my prowess, shouldn’t it?” He smiled, but turned his attention back to the report folder.

“Rake Lipscomb, huh? I figured I’d seen the last of you twenty years ago.”

“What’s that?” Rory asked. “Oh, you said you knew him?”

“Did,” Monte said. “He was born here, then he left. Dated Eve for a while. Anyway, I’ll run some more tests, and see if I can’t track him down. I doubt I’ll manage, but you never know.”

“He dated Eve?” Rory’s interest was piqued, along with the hairs on the back of her neck. “I wish this didn’t come in just now. I’d love to ask her about it. Or him, I mean. Or... what are you looking at me like that for?”

“Because you’ve got other things to think about. Anyway, I’ll talk to Eve, we’ll get it figured out.”

“Promise?” Rory asked.

“Promise,” he said. “Here’s my car keys.” He tossed them over to her.

“What’s this for?”

“Your trip. You forgot to pack shampoo, razors, and socks.

You’re gonna take my car to Walt’s and pick up the things you didn’t pack. Can’t have you wandering around sockless and covered in leg stubble.”

“B...but, how did you...?” Rory stared at Monte, who was grinning. “Breaker sent me a text. He also knows you left your phone on the dresser back at the house. So, that should answer the next question, too. Now go on, get out of here. I’ve got work to do.”

Rory took the keys and turned to leave, but paused just long enough to hug her old friend tight. “Someday really soon, you’re gonna be the one leaving,” she said.

BEAR THE HEAT

“I think you’re right,” Monte said. “But for now it’s you.”

“Yeah,” she said with a smile. “It is, isn’t it?”

“Well I think we did it again,” Eve said, lifting a chicken wing and taking a bite.

It was half past ten, and Dora, Monte, Chief Daniels of the fire department, were all sitting around a table at Tenner’s Bar.

Eve and Dora had made a habit of doing this with the friends of all their matches, if for no other reason than it made them both really happy to see the results of their work.

“Guess they’re halfway to Minnesota by now, huh?” Monte had already enjoyed three beers, and was very obviously not the sort to do so regularly, from the slight hint of a slur in his voice.

“Or wait, were they going the other way? I hope I bought the right deodorant.”

Daniels was laughing too. “You know, I never thought that giant bear would find anyone like her. Someone to... you know, keep him under control.”

“Oh please,” Monte said. “He’s not the one needing control,”

he laughed. “I’m surprised
she
found someone like him! A person that can keep up with Lorelei? That’s a rare thing.”

For along moment, the four of them sat quietly. Eve was chewing her chicken wing, looking around the table and Dora sat staring at Monte, who was staring back.

“What the hell are we going to do about this, Daniels?” she asked. “I think we’re about to be left behind as these two float off to the rapture.”

The old fire chief laughed heavily and loudly before taking a long drink from his mug. “Yeah, well... I heard one of your old flames was coming back to town. Seems to me that
I’ll
be the fifth wheel before long.” Eve stared at him blankly, wondering what the hell he was talking about. Daniels picked up on it about
106

a half second later. “You don’t know? You remember Rake Lipscomb, right?”

The
gulp
in Eve’s throat was audible, even over the rousing version of
Thriller
that Dawson, the piano player, was banging out. “I... well yeah, I mean we were engaged. But that was a long, long time ago. And what the hell do you mean he’s back in town?

I didn’t hear anything about it.”

Monte heard her, and stuck his hand up in the air like he was about to make a point. A moment later, he forgot what he was going to say and let it fall to the table. “Wait! I remember!” he announced. “I called him to ask after some police business. He explained why he left a bunch of claw marks on the side of a building we were looking at for a possible arson. But then he asked about you, and we got to talking and I ended up telling him about Dora.”

“Oh God,” Eve said, cradling her head in her hand. “I’m about to be set up on a blast from my past, aren’t I?”

She looked over at Dora, who was wearing an expression full of mischief and just a little bit of twinkling in her eyes.

“Talk, girly,” Eve said. “You better not have set me up with—”

“Set up?” Dora asked. “No, no, nothing like that. You know that’s not our business. All we do is get people together in the first place, and then just see what happens. Although, I guess if you don’t want to see him again, even after what you said about slightly regretting not giving him another chance... I can just call him back and tell him not to come.”

Eve and Dora exchanged a long glare, like something out of a Sergio Leone western. After a few moments of the dead stare, Eve broke into a smile.

“I guess I should thank, you,” she said. “Even if at the same time I want to coldcock you with this bowl of wings. Rake was forever ago. I haven’t even talked to him in a decade... maybe fifteen years. What the hell am I—”

BEAR THE HEAT

“Tell you what,” Dora said, leaning her head on Monte’s shoulder. “Just talk to him. Just see if you still have the same tugging in your chest, the same twangs in your heart. Hell, just catch up with him. Just give it a chance—a real chance—and if nothing happens, then nothing happens. But if you do feel something?”

“Make her tell you when she gets laid!” Monte cut in.

Laughter ripped through the group at the table. Eve scribbled something on a napkin and passed it to Dora. She pointed down, telling her friend to read the note.

“Deal,”
it read.
“But you’re going to have to get me drunk to do
any sex talk. Also, thanks, it means the world that you care this
much.”

Dora didn’t reply. She didn’t need to. Each knew what the other thought, and all it took to get the point across was a nod, a smile, and grabbing Eve’s hand. Dora squeezed hard, and her friend gripped right back.

“You’re worth it,” Dora said a moment later. “But I think you know that, even if you won’t admit it.”

Before either of them could say anything else, or Monte could add another joke, or Daniels could give his two cents, the piano rendition of
Thriller
gave way to the opening chords of
Brown
Eyed Girl
, and before long, they were all singing.

Because, after all, what else is there to do when words won’t ever suffice? At times like those, Dora figured, you may as well just stop trying to think and just start feeling. And singing van Morrison is just about the best way to do that she could figure on.

It was a very, very good thing that everyone else in the bar seemed to think the same thing.

Sometimes, life explodes all around you like a pinpoint supernova centered on your forehead. And sometimes, two decades after
that
, everything turns back to the way it’s supposed to be.

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Eve looked around the bar, watching everyone sing, and let herself think that maybe—just maybe—this was her time.

Keep reading for a bunch of great excerpts from
more steamy, sexy, hilarious Lynn Red romances!

When fox-shifting Angie Holton goes to work, she’s all business.

Being all work, all the time, is starting to wear her down. Angie is lonely, though she’d never admit it. She goes from one thing to the next, more surviving than living, and has more or less given up on the whole love thing – who has time for all that anyway?

That is, until she meets Dawson Lex – a piano playing, hamburger cooking, sexy-as-hell werebear.

Dawson’s not just a pretty face and... really, really muscular arms. This bear has a dark, violent past and a present that barely keeps him from exploding again. But once he lays eyes on Angie, he knows he won’t—can’t—let this one go.

These two will have to scratch, bite, and hold on as tight as they can. Even if they have to survive gunshots, claw fights, and some REALLY obnoxious 911 calls, they’re never going to give up on this weird, beautiful love.

***The Mating Call Dating Agency is a series of standalone paranormal romances that can be enjoyed in any order. Each pair finds their own HEA – these books are perfect for a quick getaway in the middle of a hectic day!***

Hare Today, Bear Tomorrow

Mating Call Dating Agency

When you’re a shifter who don’t have the first clue where to find the love you need, WHO YOU GONNA CALL? Mating Call Dating Agency!

Fate is nice and all, but in the busy worlds of journalism and professional wrestling, sometimes a rabbit needs a hand, and a bear needs a place to grab.

Garnet Pendleton is a freelance journalist, and moonlighting as a librarian gets the bills paid, but barely. It’s a busy life, but it’s hers. Lately though, she’s felt like something was...lacking. With her life absorbed in pounding pavement and wrestling with the Dewey decimal system, Garnet hasn’t had time for something she’s starting to get REALLY edgy over – finding a mate.

Stacy Graves’s entire life has been lived in a ring. He’s big, muscled up, and can bodyslam and headlock with the best of ‘em.

But he’s also not getting any younger. Stacy’s mind is starting to drift in the middle of matches. Instead of being worried about pinning his opponent, he can’t stop thinking about settling down and finding himself a mate.

Will Garnet’s journalistic drive for truth and Stacy’s life on the road be too much of an obstacle for them to overcome in the name of love? With mating experts Yvette and Dora on the case, Garnet and Stacy just might stand a chance.

Can’t Bear to Run

The Kendal Creek Bears

Raine Matthews used to be quirky, fun and slightly goofy. She’s not allowed to be any of those things while she is firmly under her husband’s thumb. Her only reprieve comes from distant memories of a man she saw only once six years ago. In that instant, Raine knew there was something special about him. The memory of that twinkle in his eyes, of his careless smile, gives her a shot of hope at her darkest moments.

She knows the only way to survive is getting away from her husband, no matter what. And in the back of her mind, she can’t shake the feeling that somewhere, somehow, she’s going to see that mysterious stranger again.

Daxon Mark is the frustrated, irritated, sexy-as-hell alpha bear of the Kendal clan. Trapped between shuffling truces with other bear clans, and the meddling of an overbearing shifter council, he can’t shake the feeling that the woman he saw six years before is what he needs to stay sane. He's teetering on the edge and when a bear as big as Dax goes nuts? THAT ain’t something anybody wants.

With Raine on the lam and Dax trying to escape the confines of small town politics, the two of them finally meet again – in the most romantic of places – in the toilet line at a concert.

With a glance, he steals her heart, and with a word she sets a fire in his soul. But with trouble brewing back in Kendal Creek and Raine constantly looking over her shoulder, will these two fated mates find their peace? Or will fear, loss, and murder rip the pair apart before love is allowed to bloom?

Cassiopeia is lanky, quick-witted, and spent most of her life running from one thing or another. She escaped an overbearing family, and a series of dangerous misadventures, but then landed square in the midst of a traveling carnival. In the gritty, grimy dirt circus, love is the furthest thing from Cass’s mind – she’s much more occupied with avoiding her boss Lyle’s slimy fingers.

Just about the only things Cass has left are her mind, a few books, and impossibly vivid dreams of a man she’s never met, but who she knows – somehow – is going to find her. And when he does? Well, who knows? But it’s gotta be better than the circus.

Oh, and then there’s the lion who sleeps in her trailer.

At first, Lex was impossible to control. He clawed, he snapped, he roared and raged like any lion would, but somehow never hurt anyone, like there was something more to him than caged animal ferocity. He lashed out at everyone except for a certain woman with curly brown hair and a thing for khaki cargo pants.