Bear the Heat (Fire Bears Book 3) Read Online Free

but I enjoy all positions.” He frowned and amended, “Most positions.”
    “I bet you do. You have quite the reputation around town, Boone Keller.”
    “Do I?”
    “Oh, yes.” She cocked an eyebrow seriously, but her smile gave her away. “I read a picket sign about you. Riddled with animal STDs and fleas, it hinted.”
    A snort blasted up his throat as he tried not to laugh. “No to fleas, and we don’t get STDs, so clearly, the picketer was another sadly misinformed human. Now that you know, you can call bullshit on them next time you pass by.”
    She giggled, and the easy sound cast away the chill and warmed him from his guts out.
    “You said taint-weevil,” she said, pink, glossy lips shining in the morning light. He wanted to suck them to see if they tasted as good as they looked.
    “And I meant it.”
    “I don’t even know what that means.”
    “I’ll draw you a picture someday.”
    “He never bought me flowers,” she said suddenly, her lips pursing as if she tasted something sour in those words. “I should’ve known that was a bad sign. And I get it. Some girls don’t want flowers, but I asked for them. Often. He didn’t like saying the L word, so I thought if he bought me flowers, it would be proof he cared. He just wouldn’t buy me any. Not even cheap ones, not ever.”
    Her back brushed the inside of his elbow he had draped behind her, and his heartbeat stuttered in his chest. “You want me to eat him?”
    There it was, that beautiful smile. “Do you actually do that to people you don’t like?”
    No, he shot them with sniper rifles or sicced dragons on them. Cora was good to the bone and didn’t need to hear about what he’d done to keep the Breck Crew safe, though. “I don’t have a taste for human flesh.”
    “I’m glad you didn’t catch those kids who taped you,” she said softly. “It would’ve brought you more trouble.”
    Unease slithered through his middle, and he dragged his gaze back to the red brick wall in front of them. He’d gone through hell since that tape had released a few days ago. From Cody and from some of the shifter-opposed in town. That little gem probably would’ve overturned the vote for them to go back to work as firefighters if it had come out a week earlier. “Out of all the people who have watched that video,” he murmured low, “I wish you hadn’t seen it.”
    “What were you dreaming of?”
    Nope, he definitely wasn’t telling Cora he’d been dreaming of her death. “Fishing and raspberry patches and jars of half-eaten honey.”
    She scrunched up her adorable nose and huffed a soft laugh, then shook her head. “I imagine it’s hard to open up to people when you’ve had to hide for so long.”
    “Not really.” More lies. “I just don’t have any nut-clenching stories to share with virtual strangers.”
    Cora swatted him and laughed. “You think you’re traumatized by that visual? I saw it with my own poor eyeballs. I’ll never get that vision out of my head. Hey,” she said, pulling her sunglasses from her face and swinging her open gaze to him. Her eyes were blue around the edges and brown in the middle, making them look gold in the saturated sunlight. “Thank you for this. You didn’t have to take the time to talk to me, but I actually feel a lot better.”
    “Sure. Anytime you have horrifying, mind-damaging stories to tell, you know who to come to.”
    Cora grabbed her middle and giggled until her eyes crinkled at the corners. “I am kind of sorry.”
    “Kind of? I’m going to have nightmares and uncontrollable shifts for weeks.”
    “Please. Half-eaten jars of honey sound much more terrifying.” She popped a chocolate-covered cherry into her mouth and her eyes went wide. “These are orgasmic.”
    Boone huffed a laugh and stood. “All right, stranger friend. I have to go find my crew and get back to work. Gage has probably bought out the entire candy shop by now. He has a ridiculous sweet tooth.”
    “See,” she