Badgering the Bear: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (Mate in a Minute Speed Mating Agency Book 1) Read Free

stupid bell rang.” His fingers tingled at the memory of her warm flesh pressed against his and the spiral of fire that flickered and spread through his body. “Her eyes were so wide.”
    “Ugh. It was nerdy creepy. What did you do after the bell rang?”
    No part of him wanted to share what he’d done. “Just you know… alpha’d out like a serious asshole.”
    “Maybe sexy broody then,” Des said. “You aren’t usually that guy.”
    “Apparently I am with her.”
    She squinted her eyes tight and rubbed her temples. “Please tell me you didn’t do something stupid and over the top?”
    “Does taking her sheet and filling out ‘yes’ for me and ‘no’ for everyone else count?” Though she’d already circled all of them, he made sure he circled them all again. Just in case.
    The sigh that erupted out of his sister almost knocked him off his feet. “You are such an idiot. If you’re lucky, she turned it in like that and didn’t throw it away. Did you are least get her name?”
    “Jolie. Jolie Hamp…ster. No, that’s not right. Hamp…hamp…dammit. I don’t remember. I saw it on her form, but she never said.”
    “But definitely not a rodent?”
    “Definitely not a rodent.” He didn’t get that squeaky vibe off her. All he remembered was her sweet, musky scent and the need to fuck her hard and deep.
    “So, Jolie Hamp-something. Who you are totally smitten with and know absolutely nothing about.”
    “That’s not true! She’s tall and strong and beautiful. And she drinks beer. Everyone else was drinking wine. But she had a beer.” He grinned, liking that she wasn’t one of those ladies too good for a beer and pizza. At least, he assumed the pizza thing. Shit, what if she was a vegetarian?
    Des perked up with interest. “Well that’s something, lager? Porter? Stout? Ale?”
    Her verbal waterfall threatened to bury him and he mentally groaned. “It was empty, so I have no idea.”
    “Let’s hope she paid with a credit card and they let me root around in their receipts.”
    “What the hell are you talking about?” Gabe didn’t like the mischievous glint his sister’s eyes.
    “Okay, techno whiz, I’m talking about making sure I can get her name so you, big and struck stupid, can find her again even if she didn’t turn in her form.”
    “You mean stalk her. Like Matt is stalking you?” Gabe quirked a brow.
    She snorted and shook her head. “It’s nothing like that!” Des paused and scrunched her nose. “Except I see your point.”
    “Promise me you won’t create something crazy scheme or do anything stupid? I like her a lot, but I don’t know her. We both know that instant attraction generally leads to boiled bunnies than happily ever after.”
    “I promise I won’t do anything stupid or crazy or stalkery, okay?” He was pretty sure Des crossed her fingers.
    “I’m holding you to that.” He pointed at her, eyes narrowed.
    “I told you I won’t. It’s just, I haven’t seen you this animated in years. I wish I had hulked out and killed that witch instead of letting her walk away.”
    “Well, your inner lawyer hulked out and tore her apart in the way that would hurt her the most.”
    A wide grin almost cracked Des’s face in half. “Wallets are ever so delicate. All you wanted was a family and you haven’t looked at another woman since.”
    His eyebrow twitched upwards. “Well little sis, that isn’t entirely accurate. Do you really want the details?” He leaned towards her as he waggled his eyebrows.
    Her hands flailed as she backed away from her brother. “Oh ick. Please, never ever, and I do mean ever, tell me any specifics of your love life other than ‘I am happy and in love.’”
    “So you don’t want to hear about the crazy things ferrets can do with their tongues?”
    The splash of water on Gabe’s clothes was worth the horrified look on Des’s face as she pressed her hands over her ears and leapt into the pool to escape him.

4
    M orning dawned