The Fox and her Bear (Mating Call Dating Agency, #2) Read Online Free Page B

I don’t remember the last time you bought lunch for the office.”
    “Oh it’s not for us,” Eve said, before turning back to making notes on a small pad. “We’ve got a bear coming in later, he’ll be hungry. And yes, it’s a pig. I got Boris from that meat market down the street to roast me a suckling pig.”
    Dora crinkled her forehead so that her eyes went narrow. She clicked her teeth together and rubbed her puffy cheeks. “Uh, so you got a new bear client and you bought him a damn pig? Do we even have enough petty cash for that? And good lord, can I have some? That thing smells heavenly. I had no idea Boris could cook.”
    Eve shrugged. “You know I like to take care of the men who trust me. Makes life easier. Full bellies make happy bears. That, and I haven’t had a bear in my Rolodex for weeks, so I’m pretty happy to have him.” She flipped through her notecards. “I’ve got just the girl for him, I think. Angie Holton? The fox who lives on Pine.”
    Her voice was distant and thoughtful.
    “If you had an opium habit, I’d think you were Sherlock Holmes,” Dora said. “What the hell would you do with yourself if you never found this job?” She took a folding chair from the wood paneled wall and unfolded it before flopping down. “And why aren’t you in your office?”
    Eve made another note. “What time is it?” she asked, completely ignoring her closest friend cum assistant. “Not ten yet, is it?”
    “Uh,” Dora checked her phone, “half past twelve. How can you not know the time? You’re sitting in front of a computer with a clock displayed as the screen saver.”
    “I hate computers,” Eve said with a sneer. “I don’t trust what they tell me.”
    “Even if it’s just a clock?”
    “ Especially if it’s a clock. The thing about computers is they’re going to trick us, make us reliant on them, and then when we least expect it, become sentient and wipe us out.”
    Dora rubbed her forehead. “So you watched Terminator 2 again last night? I thought we talked about this, Eve. It makes you paranoid.”
    “No, I went out and got drunk at Tenner’s piano bear.”
    “You mean bar? And since when do you get drunk? That sounds more like me.”
    “Oh right, piano bar with a piano bear.” She pushed her glasses up again. “That’s our new bear.”
    “He plays the piano at a bar? That’s what you got excited enough about to buy a suckling pig? Really?” Dora let out a long, trailing sigh. “And I can’t have any.” She was pouting comically.
    “I said you could if he didn’t want it all. Anyway, you’ve never heard a piano sing like this bear managed. It was like he was tickling a baby that kept gurgling and laughing. Er, wait, that doesn’t sound right. It was like he was petting a cat that just purred and purred.”
    “You’re hungover aren’t you?” Dora grinned. “Want some Alka-Seltzer?”
    “More like menudo ,” Eve countered. “That’s good for hangovers, right? And I’m out here because the pig is in my office in one of those stay-warm bags, and the smell of food is making me nauseous. How the hell do you do this every week?”
    “Have you ever smelled menudo? You can’t sit in a room with a delicious roasted pig, but you’re thinking about eating stomach and tongue soup?” Dora asked, slyly aware of how evil she was.
    “Ohmygod,” Eve gulped, and held her hand over her mouth. “Enough, enough!”
    “Seriously though, first of all I don’t stay at a bar until closing time picking up clients. Also, I chug a couple pints of water right before bed. And take some Advil when I wake up. Wait, did you say menudo ?”
    Eve narrowed her huge, round eyes. “I saw on one of those shows where a clown shoe host eats bugs and yak tongues or whatever that it cures hangovers.”
    Dora couldn’t help but laugh. She kept it quiet though, out of respect for her friend’s condition. “Tell you what. You bring the pig out here—I promise I won’t eat it