Roar For More (Online Shifter Dating Agency Romance) by Sasha Winter Read Free Book Online Page B

warmer than they remembered even though they were on higher ground and climbing all the time.
    The reservoir was not far, though the track Jesse took her on zigzagged and caused Aubrey to feel that, for the first time, they weren’t making great distance. In front of her the other mountains loomed ever closer, and she now had to tilt her head back in order to look up at Mount Brown’s summit. If they’d been heading to the top an ascent would now have been imminent and she considered how far more imposing it all seemed now they were almost in its shadow. No wonder he doesn’t bring tourists up here, she thought. The thought of going up to the peak both terrified and excited her at the same time, but that would be an adventure for another day. For now their mission was for the reservoir, and Aubrey couldn’t help but worry that after having come all this way, there was a chance that no revelations might emerge.
    If she thought coming this far would put distance between her and her work she would be wrong, however. Meeting Jesse had brought home the importance of her role. She had tried to downplay it to him in order to make him worry less, but she strongly suspected he had a mild form of the disease. However, she really had no idea how to judge its differing behavior in him, and she couldn’t be confident that he was not due to be struck down one day soon. Such thinking was unbearable, though she hid her anxiety. Enhanced by having seen a sweeter side of him all day compared to the annoying braggart she’d first taken him for, it was no longer irritating that she found him attractive.
    And damn…he’s more than just ‘attractive’. He might actually be the sexiest man I’ve ever seen, she thought.
    They would need to use some of the climbing equipment for the last stage of the trek, though Jesse insisted it was only for the sake of professionalism—they could have easily made the climb freehand, but any clumsiness could have resulted in a broken ankle, and all good mountain climbers know that the risk is not worth taking.
    All the same, Aubrey was beginning to wonder how much farther the water was. She was beginning to think they weren’t getting anywhere quickly now, but she was underestimating the ability of a jagged landscape to deceive, as all of a sudden the ground before them gave way and she found herself looking out on a body of beautiful, bright-blue water.
    “Oh, wow! I’d expected to be able to see it from a distance,” Aubrey said, smiling while catching her breath.
    “It does sneak up on you,” Jesse replied. “I can never quite remember which part of the climb is the last, but I hope it was worth it.”
    “Oh, absolutely! It’s beautiful here. I imagined some boring manmade construction but this is terrific.”
    Almost as terrific as your biceps, she thought, glancing over at him and admiring his rippling muscular arms as he slid his jacket off and wiped his brow.
    “One of the secret places of nature,” Jesse agreed. “There’s plenty of them out there, but you don’t know about them if you don’t go looking.”
    For a few more moments they stood taking in the scenery, but Aubrey knew she could not hang around admiring Colorado for too long. She had work to do and had to make sure she searched the site thoroughly. Her suspicions had been that some kind of noxious chemical had been seeping into the water, but the site seemed so clean that she found no concerns when studying any of the grassed or rocky banks. There were no substances left behind by any engineers charged with maintaining the site; no litter or strange-looking vegetation. It wasn’t long before her thoughts naturally turned to the small building that sat on the grassy half of the bank, and she wondered if any secrets might be waiting within. Could something toxic have been kept in there and allowed to leak out into the water?
    Unfortunately, the door was locked and of a firm structure, and it would have been silly to