Big Bear Problems: BBW Werebear Shapeshifter Romance by Anya Nowlan, Rory Dale Read Free Book Online Page B

though she’d always thought the smell better than the taste. Still, she’d picked up a thing or two about the drink and knew what bottle to get when presented with the opportunity.
    The two made their way to the living room, where Jen snuggled up on the couch and Ethan took a seat in a big armchair. He took a sip of his whiskey and Jen twirled the wine around in the long-stemmed glass before taking a mouthful. It went down easy, giving her a tiny bit of needed courage and flushing the images of the wolf further and further from her active thoughts.
    “So, what brings a city girl like you to a backwater place like this?” he asked, indulging in another taste of his drink.
    Somehow, they’d managed to talk about every manner of obscure things by now, but the one thing they hadn’t covered yet was what the hell Jen was actually doing in Sweetwater. The memories of her last day at the office and the way she left still played uncomfortably in her mind and she would rather have skipped the topic. But there was something to be said about meeting the unfortunate sides of life head on.
    “The company I was working at got dissolved, but I managed to walk away with a settlement that, in the end, got me this house. And the heat – sometimes it’s really too much. Don’t get me wrong, I like the sun as much as the next woman, but being scorched by it day in day out wasn’t my thing.”
    Jen took a large swill of her wine, clearly enjoying herself.
    “And the people! Everyone’s so on edge in a big city. Nothing at all like Sweetwater. Figured I’d get away somewhere where people aren’t on each other’s backs all the time.” She scrunched her nose, adding, “But I guess that can happen anywhere.”
    Ethan nodded sagely.
    “I reckon so.”
    “For a place in the desert, you’d think there’d be plenty of space for everyone, but it can get so cramped in Phoenix. Here I have this house, which cost me a fraction of what I’d pay for it and the land it stands on in Arizona. And there are actual tall trees here, and shade. And nature! I can’t tell you how much I missed grass! It’s lovely. I’m from Georgia originally, so it was tough getting used to the fact that all we had for nature in Arizona was tumbleweeds and faux greenery.”
    Ethan’s face brightened. She got the feeling she definitely said something right and it made her beam like a proud school kid coming home with her first A.
    You’re ridiculous, Jen. Reel it in!
    “I know what you mean. But don’t you think you’d miss it?” He paused for a moment and she held her breath as he got around to the next question. “Wouldn’t you miss… someone?”
    She smiled, catching the drift of his question. That familiar warmth she’d been battling with the whole time he’d been around the house was flooding her again mercilessly, making her head buzz and her body hum for him. She could pretend it was just the wine, but she knew better.
    “I have a mother and a sister back in Georgia, they’re family and I love them, but we’ve all got… too much character for our own good. I guess we get along better the more time we spend apart. And I can always visit. So that’s why I didn’t go back there. But in Arizona? The people I thought I cared about didn’t care about me. I figured if that’s the way it has to be, I don’t have anything in that state for me,” Jen responded.
    “Aside from that, there really isn’t anyone else.” Jen gave him a playful smirk, “And I guess I’d prefer that someone to be from around here anyway.”
    She thought she heard him growl a little, though that could have just been the wine getting in her head. He managed a mischievous smile and it damn near made her heart melt.
    “I guess we’ll have to wait and see, now won’t we?”
    He stood up and took his glass to the kitchen for a refill. She hated to see him go but that ass of his made for pleasant viewing, even if she did say so herself. She half-expected the big,