Bear Naked Truth (Southern Shifters Book 7) Read Free

think I’m hot too?” he asked.
    She slapped him in the chest with her work rag. “Such an ego you have. Are all bears like this?”
    His mood instantly darkened, making him think of the family he left far behind. There were moments, such as now, that he missed being with his clan. The shifters here in the neutral zone still weren’t used to his bear. Not that he blamed them. Grizzlies in bear form make for a very unpredictable animal. He certainly had enough blood on his hands to prove it.
    He shook thoughts of the past free from his head and turned back toward the window, still thinking about the woman who fled. “Bears are confident,” he said. “We generally get or take what we want with little resistance.”
    “And you want the woman who was just here?”
    He swung around and faced Sienna. “I did not say that.”
    “You didn’t have to. It’s written all over you.” Her smile softened, more serious and less mocking this time. “Why not go up to Jake’s place and check on her? Bhric will want to know for sure if there’s a human living so close and why.”
    He nodded. Bhric would need to know about her.
    “But Calder,” she hesitated. “Don’t scare her okay? Be yourself, but be the nicer you. The one who coddles Niki and her baby. That’s the Calder a human will appreciate.”
    He started to protest and stopped. Did he treat Niki different than others? She never feared him and became his friend from the first moment they met. And her cub was precious to all shifters. He only wanted to protect her.
    “You need extra donuts for the road?” Sienna had that mischievous look about her again.
    He looked down at the more than half eaten box clutched in his hand. “Don’t tempt me.”
    “Well, you know where I am if you need more.” With that, she disappeared through the swinging doors and left him alone. Alone with his donuts and his thoughts of a particular woman swirling through his mind. Dark, silky hair with equally dark eyes that he couldn’t stop imagining how sexy they’d be looking up at him from underneath him as he made love to her.
    His bear pushed at his skin, urging him to go after her. He had a hunch doing so might not be the smartest move he ever made, but there were times when he had to go with his gut and his bear.
    Find the girl.

3
    J essa pulled on the wrench as hard as she could trying to tighten the pipefitting. She’d arrived back home to find out the plumbing under her sink she just fixed that morning had sprung another leak and flooded her kitchen floor.
    She now had an inch of water under her feet, and she couldn’t get the main water valve shut off. With every passing minute the mess grew to the point everything would be ruined if she didn’t get this to work.
    “Jesus Christ!” she yelled, tempted to throw the stupid wrench across the room. Instead, she gave it one more hard yank and the pipe finally gave just enough for her to tighten it down and stop the leaky spray.
    No sooner did her shoulders hit the bottom of the cabinet floor in relief and a knock sounded at her door.
    Great. Just what she needed. She climbed out of the cupboard and dropped the wrench on the counter. Water sloshed between her feet as she wiped her hands on her jeans. The knocking sounded again, this time coming more insistent. “Coming,” she yelled as she trudged out of the kitchen and to the entry.
    Who was at the door seem inconsequential compared to the fact anyone was there at all. She was far enough away from neighbors that a drop by was unexpected. But of course, par for the course it happens on the day her new home flooded, and she looked a hot and wet mess from the ordeal.
    She flung the door open without peeking out the window and froze before she could get a word out.
    The shifter. Oh God.
    The big one from the bakery stood in front of her. On her porch, making the doorway look tiny with his mile wide shoulders and beefier than normal build. Calder, the woman at the bakery called