Promising Peter (Bad Boy Alphas) (Shrew & Company Book 6) by Holley Trent Read Free Book Online Page B

chore of continuing the Ridge line would fall to Andrea.
    That may have been a petty consideration for some people, but lineage was important to Peter because he was a Bear and he knew Bear history. The clan wasn’t just called the Ridge Bears because of their location in the Blue Ridge Mountains, but because of the bloodline that had started their group. The Ridges had once been one of the largest peacekeeping families in the States. Many peacekeepers remained, but few were dominant. Only Bryan had the right balance of strength and magic needed to revitalize the clan.
    Peter and Soren may not have been very upfront about their hopes, but though they were outsiders, they wanted to see the clan succeed.
    More strong Bear clans meant a more diverse gene pool, and that was certainly something the Bears in Europe were suffering a lack of at the moment.
    He was pleased the goddess had sent Tamara to Bryan, and that her brothers had gone to check out this new “threat” to their little sister’s life. For the first time since childhood, Peter had found a place he’d wanted to stay in for a while, and the fact the alpha’s sister was wide open and in need of rescue was simply greater incentive to stick around.
    Shaking his head slightly, he chuckled to himself.
    “What?” came Andrea’s voice from beneath the blanket.
    “Thinking silly things.”
    “What things?”
    “You don’t want to know. Just sleep.”
    “It’s warm in here.”
    “You should pull the cover back.”
    “I’m not complaining. I’m always so cold.”
    “You could—”
    “Don’t even tell me what you’re thinking,” she interjected. “You’re going to tell me I wouldn’t be so cold if I put on a few pounds. You think I don’t know that? I’m trying .”
    “Okay. I’m sorry.”
    “Tamara keeps pushing milkshakes under my nose whenever she’s at the office, and they always taste weird.”
    “Probably that weight-gain powder crap lifters use.”
    “I figured she’d slipped in something like that. Sarah’s tactic is leftovers. Whenever her mother is visiting to help with the baby, she cooks a lot. All that really good Puerto Rican stuff. Sarah brings food to the office saying her mother made too much, but the plates will still be hot when she gets there.”
    “Not leftovers.”
    “Nope. First dibs. Astrid’s a little more discreet, but I know her tricks. I keep finding granola bars and beef jerky in my desk drawer. The only reason I know they’re there is because someone keeps taking the pens off my desk, and I have to go rooting around for them.”
    “How do you know Astrid’s the one who leaves them?”
    “Because that’s the way her mind works. She thinks in reverse order sometimes and decides what she wants an outcome to be, and then she imagines the steps that need to happen first. I’ve never called her out on what she does, because then that would lead to her asking if I ate the stuff.”
    “She would know from checking the drawer.”
    “Yeah, and I keep my desk unlocked so she can check.”
    “What does Maria do, offer you pot?”
    Andrea shook against him, her body shuddering from a low and restrained laugh. “I don’t think she actually smokes. She’s not that kind of hippie. She’s more likely to bring me coffee that’s half cream and sugar.”
    He smoothed down a cowlick at the top of Andrea’s head and watched the untamed hair spring up again and again. “What about Dana?”
    “Well, Dana has an arrangement with the staff at Paddy’s, seeing as how her husband owns the pub. I’m supposed to call for lunch whenever I’m working and whoever’s in the kitchen will send over a delivery.”
    “Do you call?”
    “Most days I forget to.”
    “You need to do better. Set a reminder on your phone that’ll beep every day at eleven-thirty.”
    “I’ll do that whenever you give me my phone back.”
    He closed his eyes again and let out a ragged breath.
    “I…don’t mean now,” she said. “I don’t