Detective Bear (Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance) (Bear Patrol Book 2) by Scarlett Grove Read Free Book Online

needles. She looked up into the sky, the blue expanse rose through the green canopy of the forest. It was so bright and open. It was as if she could be anything in the face of that magnificence.
    She closed her eyes, feeling her body merge with the cool damp ground below her. She wanted to let herself go, to be absorbed into the planet. She wanted to be absolved from all that she had done and contributed to. She wanted to forget her fear and cowardice. She just wanted to be whole again.
    "Are you okay?" a male voice said above her.
    She snapped her eyes open and saw the new guy blocking out her view of the sky. She scrambled to her feet, fearing the worst for both of them.
    "What are you doing here? I told you, you're not allowed to talk to me."
    "I saw you walk off into the forest. When you laid down on the ground, I got worried. I'm sorry. I should leave you alone."
    Lola felt some kind of attachment to him that she never would have expected. She’d never felt anything like that with any of Justin's other henchmen.
    She reached out to him and caught his arm before he walked away. It felt solid and strong, not the arm of a man who took drugs habitually. He turned back to her, his brown eyes blazing with inner truth and goodness. She looked up into his face, seeing only pure intentions.
    She let go of his arm, not knowing what had gotten into her. She folded her arms over her chest and glanced down at the ground, breaking her eye contact with the new guy.
    "What's your name anyway?" she asked him.
    "You can call me Cody," he said.
    She looked up at him again. She didn't know how she knew it, but something about the way he'd said his name told her that it wasn't really who he was. Maybe it was a middle name or a nickname for something. That's what she told herself. He was one of Justin's men and therefore someone she had to stay away from.
    She couldn’t ignore the magnetic draw she felt toward him. It was as if all she wanted to do was fall in his arms and weep out all her sorrows. She somehow knew he could absorb them. Maybe even help her.
    It was an irresistible feeling; one she could barely contain. He looked at her again, those soulful eyes gazing into hers with so much concern and empathy it made her heart weep for everything she had been missing.
    "Cody," she breathed. "There's something about you."
    "You probably hear this all the time, but…you are irresistible."
    His words came out as if he was trying to hold them back with every bit of strength in his being.
    "I better go,” she said.
    Instead of running away, she took a step toward him and leaned up into his arms, wrapping her arms around his waist. Cody wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. Before either of them could think, their lips were touching. His warm, sweet breath blew against her lips, ever so gently as she pushed harder against him.
    She needed to feel him. She needed his strength to carry her through. This one moment. This one kiss. All of her lust and longing erupted within her. The passion between them broke free like a river that had been dammed for thousands of years. She groaned, flicking her tongue between his lips.
    He met her passion with his own, returning her kiss and taking it to new depths. Their tongues danced and their breaths mingled.
    It was as if the stars had come out in the daytime, bursting around them like fireworks. This was everything. This was it. She would give her life to feel this for just one more moment. And she did.
    But then she pushed away.
    "That can never happen again," she said. She ran away from him so fast, she completely forgot her huckleberry bucket.

9
    G auge looked down at Lola's berry bucket, wondering again what the hell he was doing. He couldn't keep his bear from growling inside his mind. Every instinct in him told him that the most and only important thing was protecting Lola. He'd had enough. This investigation was over. Now all that was left to do was make sure that she was out of the line