Romance: Menage Romance: The French Quarter Hostages (Paranormal Action Shapeshifter MFM Bear Shifter Romance) (Fantasy BBW Taboo Interracial Love Triangle Werebear Mates Short Stories) Read Free Page A

live in Canada for—the nature?”
    Elizabeth could not believe this cocky, jock-type was into nature.
    “See? I did the same thing to you when you said you wanted to save the bears, but yes I love nature so I live in a cabin outside of Ottawa with Chris.”
    “Oh.”
    Elizabeth felt a pang of disappointment wondering if he was secretly gay.
    “It’s platonic. Just two childhood friends.”
    “Oh yea? How do your girlfriends feel about that arrangement? You seem a little old to still have a roommate.”
    “I’m thirty, thank you very much. So is he and we are both recently single. Chris a lot longer. His wife died about a year ago. Me it’s a bit more recent. She left me about a month ago. Not a lot of women can hang in the woods or watch bears without getting a little stir crazy.”
    Elizabeth felt her cheeks get redder like he was hinting at something.
    “Like I said this isn’t a date, but I hope you find someone to ‘hang in the woods’ with,” Elizabeth said, pushing the saccharine tea off to the side.
    Before Jake could reply the waitress returned with what looked like an open faced fried shrimp sandwich. Elizabeth’s mouth was watering and her stomach churning loudly.
    “I think me and your stomach are going to get along just fine—even though this is not a date,” Jake said, picking up his sandwich.
    Elizabeth rolled her eyes, wolfing down her fries. They ate in silence, but when Elizabeth looked up from her plate, after a few bites, Jake was already done and sipping on her sweet tea. It was the fastest she had ever seen anyone eat.
    “Hungry, huh?” she asked.
    He nodded, draining her tea, and looking at his phone.
    “So, I’m meeting my friend Chris in the state park for a hike. Want to come?”
    “Now?”
    “Yep. This meal is like four thousand calories and unless you want to go into a food coma, I would walk it off. Don’t worry you don’t have to call it a date—unless your into having two guys?”
    Elizabeth narrowed her eyes and her lips curled up in disgust.
    “Ha! I’m kidding. I’ll text Chris to meet us. You down? If it helps, I grew up in these woods. I know where all of the bears are.”
    Elizabeth’s ears perked up. She’d had slim luck finding bears so far. She found the evidence of bears: tracks, scat, scratches, bones, but very little actual bear up close.
    “Yes! Let’s go. I’m down,” Elizabeth said, extending her hand.
    Jake took her hand, shook it and a wicked grin spread across his face.

Chapter 4
     
    The deluge of rain had finally stopped and Elizabeth pulled her hood back to take in the evergreen beauty of the woods. She and Jake had walked about a mile with Elizabeth scribbling notes in her day planner and taking photos of the terrain with her cellphone. To her surprise, Jake was keeping his snarky comments to a minimum. He seemed just as entranced by the deep green, sun-streaked forest as she was.
    “Wow, you must really like the woods. I haven’t caught you staring at my ass once in the past five minutes,” Elizabeth said, smirking at Jake.
    He laughed and looked down at her. Elizabeth thought it was really unfair for him to be this effortlessly good-looking and be such a bad match.
    “Well, you are working so I figured I would look once every twenty minutes. I still have fifteen minutes to go.”
    Elizabeth shoved him playfully and looked around. His friend Chris was supposed to be meeting them but so far the only things that joined them were squirrels and a lot of birds.
    “Where’s your friend?” Elizabeth asked.
    Jake paused and she could have sworn he sniffed the air.
    “Jake?”
    “Shh.”
    She looked at him like he had three heads.
    “Come here,” Jake said, waving her over to a tree.
    She obeyed and stood beside Jake under an enormous bald cypress tree. He kept a finger to his lips and pointed with his free hand. Elizabeth looked in the direction that he pointed and saw two black bear cubs wrestling in the underbrush. She gasped and