Alpha Lion: BBW Lion Shifter Paranormal Romance Read Free Page B

The way her dark hair fell softly around her shoulders, the curves he could see under her guard’s uniform, the tilt of her nose under her large, chocolate-brown eyes…
    “Is there anything you need?” he asked, instead of saying any of that out loud. “Did…something happen that you need help with?”
    She was obviously smart and capable—more capable than “a warm body in a uniform.” Maybe there’d been some crisis that had forced her to take this job—theft, fire, medical bills?
    She shrugged. “Nothing more than has happened to anyone. I was laid off, I applied to every job that was open, and this was the only place that hired me. I lived on savings for a couple of months and that pretty much used up all my money.” She gave him another rueful, unhappy smile. “That’s life sometimes.”
    Dale was simultaneously impressed by her calm, determined courage and furious that she’d been put in a situation where she needed it. He’d never experienced anything like what she’d been through—he’d always had the pride behind him if he needed them.
    He wanted to ask where her family was, why they weren’t helping her, but he’d already bombarded her with too many personal questions for one night. Especially a night like this.
    “I’m sorry,” he said softly, instead. “I promise that we can work things out with the class.”
    He wanted to promise her much more. You just met this woman, Dale! he told himself. His lion stirred unhappily at that, and he made himself take another deep breath. Calm down . He wasn’t normally a spontaneous person—Lynn would already be looking sideways at him about the last-minute addition to the class. He didn’t know why he suddenly wanted to hand Sam the moon if she said she needed it.
    She’s a human , he reminded himself. He didn’t ask out human women. It was a bad idea all around, even if they knew he was a lion.
    “I really appreciate it,” Sam was saying. She glanced at her phone. “It’s time for me to go in and fill out my paperwork. I’m done standing outside…”
    “May I walk you home?” he asked immediately.
    “Thanks,” she said, and he relaxed as she walked over to the door and punched in a long code—too long, he noted, for it to be an easy escape route if she were attacked again.
    Which she could be any time.
    She was going to go right back to this job tomorrow night, he knew, even though it was dangerous. He didn’t want to let her—he didn’t want to let her out of his sight at all, and that bothered him.
    Dale had always believed in serious relationships, not quick attractions. He’d never had this strong a reaction to a woman he hardly knew before.
    There were a lot of shifters who still believed in destined mates and love at first sight, but in Dale’s view, that was often just an excuse to jump in bed with someone they thought was attractive. Just because Sam was beautiful—
    —and smart, and determined, and brave—
    —didn’t mean that she was his mate or his true love. She was just a person he’d helped out of a tough spot, and who’d impressed him in the process. That was all.
    And she was human, so even if he did want to get to know her better, it was a bad, bad idea.
    Sam came out the same door after only a few minutes, careful to make sure it locked behind her. “Okay,” she said. “I wrote down what happened on the paperwork and I told Jerry—the guy who watches the cameras—but I don’t know how much he cared.”
    “He didn’t care that you were attacked?” Dale asked, disbelieving.
    Sam shrugged a little. “I think he thought I was exaggerating because I was scared. And it’s true that there’s no way they would have gotten in the building. They’d need the code for that.”
    And you never would have told them what it was . That was something Dale was sure of, even though he’d only known her for less than an hour.
    “Shall we?” he said, instead of dwelling on that further. Sam’s integrity