Wild Bear by Terry Bolryder Read Free Book Online Page B

button-up shirt. Their ties were loosened, probably from the flight. And they had that smug, sneery look she’d forgotten how much she hated in the time she’d been here.
    The look they gave when she was performing in her form-fitting dress and they thought she was good enough to leer at, but never good enough to ask out.
    One had reddish-brown hair, slightly thinning, and a handsome, if normal, face. The other was taller, with gaunt features that stopped just short of handsome and dark-black hair that contrasted his pale skin.
    That one stepped forward around Bonnie and Jesse to take Harmony’s hand. “Pleased to meet you,” he said. “Looks like this vacation’s going to be less boring after all.”
    His redheaded friend pulled him back. “I’m sorry for my friend. The company sent us on a retreat out here as a prize, and he’s not that happy about it.”
    The dark-haired one loosened his tie further and shrugged at the land around him. “What’s to be happy about? No bars or strip clubs for hours. This is going to suck.”
    Harmony shared a sympathetic look with his friend, who just shrugged.
    “I’m Arnie, by the way,” he said. “And that’s Rich.”
    Harmony nodded. “Good to meet you too.” She looked back to Bonnie with a telling gaze. “I guess I’m going to go take a quick nap.”
    “We’d better see our rooms,” Arnie said, putting an arm around Rich, who shook him off. “We have some kind of trail ride this evening with someone called Maverick.”
    “My brother,” Jesse said, keeping his arm around Bonnie’s waist as he led the way into the lodge. “One of the best horsemen around here. You’ll enjoy it for sure.”
    “If one of them doesn’t step on my head or something,” Richie muttered darkly. “Huge animals.”
    Harmony laughed out loud at that, and Richie shared a grin with her. Harmony could kind of relate to him, at least in the fear of horses thing.
    “You’re scheduled on that ride too,” Jesse quipped at Harmony casually. “Remember?”
    Harmony gaped. She didn’t remember signing up for any such thing.
    “I signed you up,” Bonnie said, winking. “As a gift.”
    Harmony gaped after her friend as she walked inside with her man and the two guests.
    A gift? Seriously? More time with Maverick?
    She shook her head and went back to her swing. She slumped there, wondering what the hell was going on with the world when Bonnie would send Harmony into the woods with a wild man and call it a gift.
    She checked the time on her phone. If she was going to go riding, she for damn sure was going to go take a nap first.

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    M averick checked himself out in the mirror, remembering the advice Wyatt had given him as he’d helped him pick out clothes.
    “Be a gentleman. Don’t be too pushy. Don’t be overly jealous. It looks insecure to human women. Women like confidence. Which means you have to look like you don’t mind, even if she’s paying attention to another man.”
    “So I’m not supposed to protect her?” Mav had asked. “Impossible.”
    “No, if she doesn’t like it, protect her. But if she’s interacting with a man and enjoying it, you need to stay back.”
    Maverick shook his head at his own reflection. That sounded impossible. But if that was how men courted out in the real world, the human world, he would try to follow the rules. He would have to show Harmony there was more to him than the animal lust he felt for her.
    He’d have to try to access his human side.
    “Human women don’t like to just be chased down and dominated. They like to be wooed, and they like a man who seems hard to get. In control of his own life, not theirs.”
    Maverick shook his head. Harmony had liked being dominated just fine.
    He was wearing a cotton button-up shirt in blue plaid, with a shirt underneath, and jeans that were stiff and fit oddly, too tight on the butt and thighs. Wyatt had given him some kind of fancy shoes, but he was going to wear good old riding boots