Avenge the Bear Read Online Free Page B

speaking to her, and the fact that he glossed right over the arousal observation, she pressed her back into the seat and added inches between them. “I haven’t been with one since Trent died.”
    “Was he your mate?”
    “No.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because he didn’t want to be.”
    “But you wanted to be his?”
    The damned tears were back, threatening to expose how weak she really was, and she drew a shaky breath to calm the anger that Ethan caused with his painful questions. “Yes.”
    “Trent Cress died six months ago.”
    She clenched her hands and gritted her teeth. Desperate for a way to unseat his battering of observations, she asked, “Did you kill him?”
    His eyebrows shot to his hairline. “Did I kill Trent Cress? Why would I?”
    “You didn’t answer the question.”
    His gaze dipped to her lips. “I didn’t kill your man. I’ve never killed anyone who didn’t deserve it, and Trent didn’t deserve his end.”
    With that, he pulled away and slammed the door beside her. He sauntered around the front of his Bronco with long, graceful strides. Her stomach did uncomfortable flip-flops just watching him.
    He might not be Trent’s murderer, but he was still trouble.

Chapter Three
    Ethan pulled his radio to his lips and jammed the button. “Rieland?”
    Static. “What?”
    “If Muriel comes out of Marsden’s house before we get back, tell her I’ve taken Reese up to the campground. We’ll be back in an hour.”
    A long pause filled the cab of the truck and Reese tucked her knees to her chest and focused on not smashing her face on the window. The Bronco rocked back and forth over the rough terrain and Ethan rested the radio on his thigh.
    “Fine.”
    “Rieland,” Ethan said, warning lacing his tone. “Check your attitude and don’t talk to me like that anymore. I wasn’t asking you a favor. I was giving an order.”
    “You give a lot of those lately,” Rieland said, then the static went dead.
    A low growl left his throat as Ethan glared at the uneven road ahead of him.
    “You slept with her, didn’t you?” Reese asked.
    He pulled an annoyed look her way and muttered, “That’s none of your business.”
    “Yet you asked me ten personal questions, all of which you expected me to answer.”
    He inhaled slowly and gripped the steering wheel with one hand so hard his knuckles turned white. The other, he rested out the open window.
    “Yes, I slept with her.”
    “She’s so mean though. Mean girls are your type?”
    “I like sex, Reese,” he said in an exasperated tone. “And there aren’t a lot of women to choose from up here, in case you haven’t noticed. Rieland is actually one of the nicest of the bunch.”
    Laughter bubbled up from her chest and tapered into a peel of giggles. “That does suck. I bet she manhandles you in the bedroom, doesn’t she?”
    “Again, none of your business.” But the corner of his mouth was beginning to tilt up and she really wanted to see the man smile.
    “Oh, come on. Who am I going to tell? I don’t know any of your people. Spill it, Brenner. Did she choke you? She wanted you to call her Katerina the cavewoman warrior, didn’t she?” Reese lowered her voice. “Did she make you cry?”
    A small grin cracked his face and she couldn’t take her eyes from it. God, he was stunning. “Nothing like that. She just liked things…rough.”
    “Do you like it rough?” She wished she could swallow the words back down as soon as they left her lips. She’d become too comfortable with this conversation. His smile had emboldened her and now she’d crossed a line.
    “I like pleasing the woman I’m with,” he said in a serious tone.
    The smile had disappeared from his face, and a little ache slashed through her at its absence. She’d gone too far.
    “I’m sorry. You don’t know me and that really is none of my business.”
    The Bronco slowed as he pressed the brake, and he turned an intense gaze on her. “One inappropriate question for an