Bear To The Bone (Bear Claw Security 1) Read Online Free Page A

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    Their first kiss had been just before he’d left town to join the army. That kiss had been a promise that he would come back someday and take care of her.
    And now it almost seemed to be too late, because she was bitter, angry with him. For staying away too long or for coming back as a gangster? He wasn’t exactly sure.
    And he wasn’t positive if he told her the truth, she wouldn’t use it to blow his cover.
    He pulled back from the kiss and put a hand in her soft hair. How many times had he dreamed of this while deployed on missions overseas? How many times had he thought of her sweet eyes, her gorgeous skin just before he dropped out of a plane into hostile territory?
    Countless times. As innumerable as the freckles on her body.
    She looked at him, lips parted, eyes slightly glazed, and he stroked a thumb over her cheek, wondering that someone like him could have such an effect on this wonderful woman.
    For now, he just wanted to get to know her again and hope she could trust him that everything would work out in the end.
    “Why now?” she asked. “Why are you back now?”
    Because you’re in danger , he thought. But he couldn’t say that. He simply tucked her thick, wavy hair behind her small ear, wishing he could bend and place a kiss there. But he needed to go slow for now.
    “It was the right time,” he said. “I wasn’t busy.”
    Her face tightened as she started to turn away. He caught her gently by the shoulders, being cautious because she was so soft, so small compared to him. Though, she had an inner strength that far surpassed his. “Wait, Carrie. Can you just trust me? Please?”
    She blinked up at him, pursing her pink lips. “I don’t know.”
    “You know me,” he said, lifting her chin, making her look at him. “You know I won’t let anything happen to you.”
    She pushed away from him with a bitter laugh. “Nothing is going to happen to me. I’ve been fine so far.”
    His expression darkened as he folded his arms and leaned against the wall. “Oh, so you don’t mind being harassed by the Aces and having someone like Harv coming on to you?”
    She gave him a mean glare. “Maybe not? Maybe I should be his old lady. He’s persistent at least.”
    Cage’s jaw twitched and his teeth clenched together, hard, but he tried to play it cool. She was trying to bait him after all. “Interesting. Maybe I should just back off, then.”
    Her eyes widened in surprise, but she tamped it down quickly. Was this how it was going to be? Them running circles around each other?
    She finally walked to the couch and slumped onto it, hand over her eyes as she let out a harsh, broken breath. “I don’t know, Cage. I don’t know what’s going on with me. You being back here… it’s doing something to me.” She dropped her hand and wearily looked him over. “I never thought you’d be wearing that leather.”
    “They aren’t that bad,” he said, feeling bile rise in his throat as he said it. Why was he defending them when he wasn’t even really a part of them?
    He guessed the problem was he’d been born to that life, it was in his blood, and deep down, he’d always felt unworthy of her as the dirty son of the head of a biker gang.
    No matter where he went or what he did, he never felt like he washed that stink away, like he’d ever be good enough for her. Perhaps that was why he hadn’t come back sooner. Because he was waiting to be good enough.
    But if her safety were in jeopardy, and his sources said it was, then he had to come regardless of whether she was ready for him.
    “I just wanted to see you,” he said. “I’ve been waiting so long. When I was deployed, and after, you were all I thought about.”
    She folded her arms, pushing up her generous breasts. “Apparently not, because you haven’t spoken to me in years.”
    “I know,” he said. “I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know when to come back.”
    “But why the gang?” she asked.
    He bit his lower