Bear The Heat (Mating Call Dating Agency Book 3) by Lynn Red Read Free Book Online Page A

that ain’t there, Breaker.”
    “Breaker,” the big bear repeated. “Breaker... breaker...”
    “Oh good, he’s going nuts. I’ll go get my white coat and butterfly net and—”
    “Where were the breakers? Did anyone actually check the fuse box? Were they old breakers or new ones? If they were GFI and BEAR THE HEAT

39
    halfway recent, they wouldn’t have gone up like that. At the worst, you’d have one of them go and a real slow fire would start at one outlet, but that place went up . We got there... eight minutes? Nine minutes? After Angie called us from dispatch?”
    “Sweet girl,” Daniels said. “Nice figure too.”
    “Watch it, I know her mate,” Breaker said out the side of his mouth. “He might play the piano but he’s also about three times your size.”
    The old Captain cracked a smile. “Yeah, yeah. I guess about eight, nine minutes. But that house was really going by then.”
    “Right,” Breaker said. “If it was electrical, they had to have old breakers in the fuse box. Otherwise, it couldn’t have been.”
    “Ah damn,” Daniels growled. “Why do you have to have a point? Wait, where the hell are you going?”
    “To check the breaker. And anyway, I got off eight minutes ago. I’m not on department time.”
    “Yeah, but you’re about to break the law. Hell below, Breaker, what am I gonna do if you get arrested and suddenly I’m out of bears to break down doors? No pun intended. Or maybe it was.
    It’s hard not to pun your name.”
    “I won’t,” he replied. “I’ll just say I lost something out there if anyone asks.”
    “You really think that’ll work?” Daniels asked, curling the left corner of his lip up into a smile. “Like, really? Why not just take the thirty minutes to file a request and get an escort out there so you don’t get up to any drama?”
    “Thirty minutes to file, maybe, a day more to get it back. I just have a hunch that needs checking. It won’t be any trouble anyway. With how few cops there are walking the White Creek beat?”
    “Yeah, probably. Well, be careful either way.”
    “I will boss,” Breaker said. “I’ll let you know if I find anything.”
    “Yeah, tell me if you get laid.”
    40

Lynn Red
    Breaker grabbed the old, brass door handle and froze for a second, then turned around. “I will, boss,” he said with such intense gravitas that it could have sunk Atlantis. “I promise.”
    “Hello? Who is this?” Rory prodded the screen of her phone.
    “Shit. Hello? Oh Goddam thing. Shit!” She swiped furiously at the phone. “Answer you stupid son of a bitch, answer!”
    “You kiss your mother with that mouth?” It was a familiar voice, but the owner of it didn’t immediately spring to mind.
    “Well, no, she and I have been on the outs for a pretty long time. Wait, you’re there?”
    “Nothing gets past this one.”
    “Eve?” she realized. “Is that you? Please tell me it’s you and not my aunt Vera or someone who is going to lecture me first about swearing and then my lapse in church-going. Right now I just can’t take that.”
    Eve snorted, which gave her away. There are only so many owls in White Creek anyway, and that particular sort of inward laughing snort combination was particular to the species. Rory didn’t know any other owls, so that sort of narrowed it down.
    “I’m just worried you might need to go to some sort of anger management class before I feel safe matching you with someone.
    If you get that angry over a phone being a dick, I can’t imagine what you’re like if you get into it with a boyfriend.”
    “You’re laughing, right?” Rory asked. “Please tell me you’re laughing. You’ve never had your phone’s touch screen just not respond when you were trying your best to answer a call?”
    Eve stayed quiet.
    “Come on,” Rory said. “Seriously, don’t leave me hanging like this. Please!”
    She heard what she thought was a snicker, but couldn’t be sure. “You’re killing me!”
    BEAR THE