Bear His Bond: Wylde Den Two (Alaskan Den Men Book 9) Read Online Free Page A

chocolate caramel, double-dipped dessert.” Emphasis on caramel. The man’s sweet tooth would be her downfall.
    Pepper bit back a gasp that threatened to be a deep groan as she imagined the sensation his fantasy whipped up. “Don’t let anyone ever accuse you of holding back.” She tsked and returned to her task. “Be good and let me get my work done and you might find out what chocolate tastes like on this caramel dessert.” She stroked her hands down either side of her body and winked.
    He was dangerously too easy on the eyes. If she did not watch it, it wouldn’t only be the brownies she missed when the summer fun ended and she returned to her life back in California. A shudder crossed the back of his shoulders before he slipped his gaze behind a pair of aviator glasses. What a shame.
    “So what’s the second thing?” She bit at the inside of her lower lip to rein in the grin wanting to spread across her face from the obvious way she affected him. He could try to hide it all he wanted.
    He offered her a hand and hauled her up. A deep crease formed between his brows in a way that almost had her convinced of something serious to come.
    “Second,” he leaned until their noses almost touched and slid those damn sexy glasses down a fraction to peg her with a look that said he was being one hundred percent honest, “I’m not the one that packed enough scarves to rescue Rapunzel from her tower or, as I fear, tie up a helpless werebear.” He rose to his full height, pushing his glasses back in place. “Wait.” He clasped both hands over his mouth. “I fell into your wicked trap, didn’t I? Admit it, woman. You’ve lured me here to where no one can hear my screams!”
    Everett barely got his last words out before Pepper gave him a stiff jab to the ribs. “Oh shut up, you big silly bear. Not that I’ve ever witnessed your shift. And everyone that knows you would never use helpless as a way to describe you.”
    “Oomph.” Rubbing at his side, he backed up with the biggest grin on his face. “Really, how would you describe me?”
    She gathered several vials from her kit, avoiding making any eye contact.
    It took everything she had not to tackle him to the ground and show him how damn irresistible she found him. Make him really scared of her and what she could do with the piece of rope she had in her satchel and her imagination. This deep in the woods, no one would hear either of their screams.
    Everett doubled over, his hands braced on his knees laughing.
    “You’re insufferable, that’s what I think. How do any of your family put up with you?” Pepper giggled, sidestepping his question for the most part.
    Waves of cool air swept up from the lake to ruffle the loose strands by her face. Everett reached between them and caught a long piece teasing the corner of her lip.
    He drank in the sight of her from rubber boots to her sloppy up-do bun and crop top. “And you are beautiful in full doctor mode.”
    He stood close now, so close the smell of Mother Nature mixed with everything that made Everett so damn tempting filled her lungs. Auburn glints of light caught in his dark hair and made him appear as if he belonged right where they were at, in the deep woods of Alaska and far from where the touch of humans had yet to tarnish. Hopefully.
    So far so good, anyway. That thought brought her back around to her purpose here. They’d tested three smaller natural ponds in the area late last evening and now she needed samples from this lake. In the last two months she’d taken several samples of the water from various sources as well with no luck in finding what was making the local wildlife, shifter and non-shifter alike, ill.
    He raised his sunglasses to rest on the top of his head. “You keep looking at me like that and no amount of begging and finger-wagging will keep me away. Those sad eyes kill my resolve.”
    “It’s just that we should have an answer by now, you know?”
    A sudden seriousness came over