Bear to the Rescue (Bear Claw Security Book 3) Page 7

  She’d even trusted him, in a way, by telling him about not wanting a mate or commitment. Hopefully, being together would make her continue to trust him even more.

  He had to hope.

  Hope was a funny thing. It did uncomfortable things to his chest and made him willing to put himself out in ways he knew were dangerous. But it also made him look forward to the future in a way he hadn’t for a long while.

  Regan, with her jade eyes and sassy mouth, was his mate. He just had to make her see it.

  * * *

  Regan worked at the front desk for the rest of the day, listening to Carrie talk to clients over the phone or with Hercules during downtime. Bear Claw Security had only been around a few years and hadn’t been actively marketing in that time. They operated largely by word of mouth, and since they were most useful to those in the shifter community, that made sense.

  That’s how Regan had heard of them, before Limes offered her a job there.

  As it neared closing time, she looked up at the clock to see they’d been working since past five. She yawned and stretched and shut down what she was working on just as Bronson and Cage walked out from the back offices, locking up behind them.

  “Get lots of work done?” Carrie asked Cage, walking up to hug her mate. They were so cute together, like they were caught in a permanent honeymoon phase.

  A tiny part of Regan pricked up in jealousy. The same part that had imagined a life with Bronson when she’d seen his wonderful, homey house.

  But that wasn’t the Regan she was now. The one who worked all the time and wouldn’t let a man hurt her again. The one who was never going to be left in a lurch because she was never going to allow a man to put her there.

  Even if he had devastating blue eyes and a movie star smile. Bronson put out an arm for her, expecting her to take it. She wanted to. A part of her did. But the other part…

  “You don’t honestly think I’m going to walk out like that, do you?” she asked sardonically.

  Bronson laughed and dropped his arm as Hercules looked nervously between them. “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

  Hercules sighed. “You guys get anything done while I was out here?”

  “Yup,” Bronson said. “You?”

  “Nope,” Hercules said. “Not that I mind hanging with the ladies, but when are you going to send me out on a real job?”

  “Hey, I’m offended,” Carrie said.

  “I’m not,” Regan said with a smile. “With all those muscles, he really should be out crushing something.”

  She saw Bronson prickle in jealousy and kind of liked the feeling. “But we did enjoy spending time with him today.”

  A slight blush spread over Hercules’s face, and he stood abruptly. “I’m going to pack up for the day… if we’re done.”

  “We are,” Bronson said. “And, Herc, we’ll have something for you soon, okay?”

  Hercules nodded and disappeared into the back to get his stuff.

  “I’m taking Regan down,” Bronson said. “You two wait and go out with Hercules. No one else should be in any danger, but just in case, strength in numbers.”

  Cage nodded. “Just in case.”

  “So you two still think it’s the revenge porn dudes?” Regan asked.

  Bronson nodded. “Could be. Or could be someone trying to sabotage the Salazar project you’re working on. Regardless, right now, they’ve been operating too far in the shadows to really know. I mean, we can’t track them from just hiding in the garage or tearing up some clothing.”

  “I know,” she said.

  “I’m sending Hercules over after work to look for fingerprints. I’m already pretty sure they’re aren’t any, but just in case. Is that all right?” Bronson asked.

  “Yeah,” she said, hating the whole situation. She didn’t want someone going through her things, but at the same time, they weren’t her things anymore. Just piles of trash. “It’s fine.”

  “Okay,” Bronson said, pulling out a Post-it note and writing her address on it. “Give this to Herc.” He handed it to Cage. “Tell him it’s his first real job.”

  “Okay,” Cage said. “If he finds anything, should I have him give you a call?”

  “Of course,” Bronson said. “And if I don’t answer, I’ll get back to him.”

  “Great,” Cage said. “And, Bronson?”

  “Yeah?”

  “If you two want to come over and spend time with me and Carrie, you are welcome anytime.”

  Bronson flashed his friend a smile. “Thanks, buddy.”

  Regan could just picture that, too. Her and Bronson over at Cage and Carrie’s, playing a game together or just talking or just eating. In the image, she was sitting next to Bronson and it was warm and her hand was on his large knee…

  She shook her head and walked in front of Bronson, reaching for the door. She was crazy. Her head was doing funny things. Her bear was just too into the sex that Bronson could give her.

  She could see why her mom had been so easily tricked by a bear shifter. They had an animal magnetism that was impossible to resist.

  But resist she would.

  “Come on,” she said to Bronson. “I’m hungry.”

  Bronson followed, but not before a wink at his friends that had her tightening her hands into fists. Not because she was angry about it, but because she didn’t know how she was going to deal with his playful nature once they were alone again.

  But she knew she wasn’t safe on her own.

  “Thanks for working at the front desk with Carrie,” Bronson said. “I feel better knowing you two are with Herc.”

  She shrugged. “As long as I have a computer, I can work anywhere.”

  They got into the elevator and were silent as it went down. When it dinged and opened at the garage level, she took a step forward and then stopped. She could still remember the last time she’d come out here after work and how someone had been waiting.

  What would she have done if Bronson hadn’t been there?

  And what if this person kept hiding in shadows, not giving them any chance to make headway on catching them?

  She couldn’t just stay with Bronson forever.

  She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, warming her and calming her pounding heartbeat.

  “Hey, I’m here. It’s okay. I won’t let anything happen.” She looked up to see Bronson watching her with a gentle expression. He really was the handsomest man she’d ever seen.

  All the more reason to be careful.

  His blond hair was tousled, like he’d been running his hands through it, and she noticed little stress lines at the sides of his eyes. She reached up to brush his hair back, ignoring the elevator doors that kept trying to close on them.

  “You okay?” she asked, thinking about him rather than herself for the first time. It was an uncomfortable feeling. “You seem stressed.”

  “I am,” he said. “I’m used to fighting the worst men in the world. But that’s out in the field. I’m not used to the type of men that hide behind screens, that attack when no one’s around. I don’t know what to do against cowards.”

  She sighed, pulling his arm to tug him forward. “It’s okay. Hopefully, at some point, they’ll come out.”

  “Well, I don’t want them to threaten you,” he said. “I don’t know how else to make them go away.”

  She threaded her arm through his, linking them at the elbow, and he looked down at her with a surprised look. He was wearing a blue dress shirt under a black jacket and had black slacks on. She liked the way he dressed for work every day but sort of looked forward to seeing him get into jeans and a tee shirt again.

  “It’s not your job to make them go away,” she said. “And if they’re the kind of assholes I think they are, hopefully they’ll go away on their own. When they see they can’t scare me.”

  He nodded but didn’t look convinced. “What do you want for dinner tonight? Want me to cook?”

  “I’d rather get takeout,” she said. “I mea
n, I don’t want to cause you more work.”

  “I love cooking,” he said. “Come on. Let me cook. As a thanks for last night.”

  She flushed and pushed back to look at him. “Excuse me? A thank you?”

  He blinked and bit his full lower lip, as if realizing he’d said something wrong. “I just meant… I had a wonderful time. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

  She swallowed. This whole thing between them was so weird. “I guess so. I guess you can cook. But don’t get weird ideas.”

  “Like sex?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows. “Is that a weird idea?”

  She punched his arm lightly. “No, a weird idea would be thinking we’re going to play house forever. Sex is a totally normal idea. I already said that was fine.”

  He shrugged. “Can’t blame a guy for trying.” He reached out and tucked one of her curls behind her ear, making her shudder. She almost wished she didn’t have such unruly curls so he wouldn’t always have an excuse to do that. “You’re the type a man wants to lock down.”

  “Right,” she said. “A surly computer genius with stalkers. Sure.”

  He laughed. “No. A sassy computer genius who stands up for what’s right, is great in the bedroom, and doesn’t take crap from anyone.”

  She exhaled and finally smiled with him. “All right, big guy, you can cook.”

  He reached out and grabbed her hand, keeping it in his and threading their fingers together. She thought about pulling back but just left it there.

  He had a way of making even intimate things she usually would have shied away from feel comfortable, even casual.

  “Okay,” he said, pulling her toward his black car. “I’m going to blow your mind.”

  She sighed and let him drag her along, knowing what he said was probably going to be true in more ways than one.

  The bear in her was already growling.

  She was hungry but for more than just dinner.

  And if Bronson cooked something amazing, it would probably be that much harder to keep her hands off him.

  Chapter 8

  Bronson got to work cooking dinner as soon as they were home. Regan settled at the counter with a laptop while Bronson busied himself pulling pans out of the cupboards and setting up ingredients all around him.

  “Whatcha making?” Regan asked, leaning forward to peek.

  He kept his wide back between her and his mixing bowl. “Nope, no peeking. It’s a surprise.”

  She had to admit he looked gorgeous in his apron, with his shirtsleeves rolled up to bare giant, muscled forearms. Bronson truly made a formidable bodyguard, one worth any amount of pay most likely.

  But as he hummed to himself and cracked eggs, she loved that she was seeing this other side of him.

  Here, in his home, being happily domestic, he was the opposite of the playboy she’d thought him when they met. When she’d first walked into Bear Claw Security, he’d given her his classic Hollywood grin that probably melted all other women to a puddle of lust.

  But for her, it had just been blaring warning signals. Warning: this man could make you lose your heart. Warning: he’s not the type to keep.

  Not that she was the type to keep either. She was a workaholic with a small apartment and a penchant for taking jobs that didn’t pay well. She couldn’t cook boxed macaroni if her life depended on it, and she didn’t know how to keep house either.

  She’d make a mess of the perfect life he was living.

  Then again, looking around the beautiful house, she guessed any life this lonely might not be perfect. It clearly wasn’t the type of place you brought women to play around. It was pristine and everything about it screamed family.

  Perhaps because Bronson had left his, he was looking to start another.

  “So when are you going to tell me why you ran away from your family?”

  He looked over his shoulder with a smirk. “When are you going to tell me why you don’t want a mate?”

  She sighed. “I guess I’ll tell you that if you tell me about your family.”

  He was quiet for a moment, and she heard the sizzling of something in a pan. “I don’t know. I don’t know why you want to know.”

  She shrugged and took a cookie off the plate he’d set out for her while she was waiting. “I don’t know why you want to know why I don’t want a mate.”

  He set down his spatula with a clang and turned to her, blond hair falling over his face, handsome features twisted in frustration. “Yes, you do. You know damn well why.”

  She looked at him innocently. “I do?”

  “Yes,” he said, pinning her with an intense glare that looked similar to the way he’d looked at her during sex. The thought of it filled her with warm anticipation.

  Mine, the bear in her said.

  “I just… I don’t know,” she stuttered. “I guess it’s just the kind of family I would have killed for. I had to do a lot on my own and it didn’t go so well.”

  “I thought as much,” he said, turning back to the food with hunched shoulders. “I thought the only reason she wouldn’t want a bear for a mate is if she saw one do a bad job of it.” He looked back at her. “Was it your dad?”

  She nodded, her stomach beginning to twist uncomfortably at the memory of it. “All right. But if I’m going to talk about this, then we’re going to discuss your family right after.”

  He was quiet for a moment and then nodded. “Fine. We can talk about it after.”

  “Yeah,” she said as he went back to cooking. “So I had two bear shifters for parents. I was young when they were together, but even then, I could see things weren’t working. They were from different worlds. He was from this rich family, and she was from the mountains. When it was hot, it was hot, but when they were cold…” She shuddered as she remembered the clanging of thrown pots and pans. “Anyway, I believe Mom wanted to work things out. But Dad left her. Left both of us. I guess at first, I was relieved because there was no more fighting.”

  Bronson turned the stove to low and turned back to her with folded arms, listening intently. It did something to her to see him watching her with such caring. No one had ever seemed so interested in her life, and she didn’t know quite how to deal with it. A part of her wanted to just grab him and run into the bedroom, but she knew what was happening right now might be even more important than that.

  She also knew she used sex to get away from emotion.

  “So what did your mom do then?” he asked.

  “She went back to school,” Regan said. “Well, she tried. Dad was supposed to pay alimony and child support.” She shrugged. “But he stopped. Mom took him to court. He won.” She tapped her fingers on the granite of Bronson’s counter. “He had more money. Apparently, even the house we lived in was his. We were evicted.”

  Bronson swore under his breath, and his blue eyes flashed angrily. “You’ve got to be kidding. You mean he left your mom and took your house?”

  “I didn’t know people could just stop caring like that,” Regan said quietly. “I guess at first, I thought it was a fluke. But as my mom moved on, the pattern kept happening. My mom liked bears, always picked another shifter. I kept hoping, with every man she found, this time we’d have a home. But, no. They were never reliable. They cheated, found other women.” She shrugged. “Plus, as I got older, some of them started to notice me. Well, one in particular.”

  Bronson went quiet and still, his handsome face frozen. “What do you mean? You were a child.”

  “Well, I mean when I was like fourteen.”

  His mouth grew even sterner. “That is a child.”

  She shrugged. “Not to some people. Anyway, I had to get out. I asked Mom to leave, but she wouldn’t. She was almost… addicted I guess. To these men. Around then is when I started getting really into computers. It was a way of escaping.”

  “Did he ever…?”

  “Not successfully,” Regan said. “But I saw it in his eyes some nights, and when he’d come over and take my arm, I’d run aw
ay. Back to my computers.” She looked up at him. “You know, there are so many things you can learn all on your own. Before I was even a sophomore in high school, I was already a programmer. It was just a practice sport.”

  “So when did you leave?”

  “I was emancipated at fifteen,” she said. “Not that I needed to have bothered. My mother wasn’t what you would call maternal.” She sighed. “Maybe I’d be the same. Maybe it’s just bear shifters. You’ve seen them in the wild…”

  “Or maybe bear shifters are half people, and the people part of them determines just how much of an ass they are. Because people have a choice to be good, Regan. A lot of them just don’t bother.”

  “You sound like you’re speaking from experience,” she said quietly, exhausted from having to talk about her past.

  “I worked in Special Forces,” he said. “With a lot of guys that had a rough go of it. I mean, as a leader, it was my job to understand them. To figure out what they needed from me emotionally and why. With battle-hardened men, that wasn’t exactly easy.” He did something on the stove and then turned back to her. “Anyway, between that and working at Bear Claw, yeah, I guess you could say I’ve been exposed to some of the worst elements of humanity. But so have you. Like those revenge porn guys you upset. Men like that make me insanely angry.”

  She saw red moving up his neck and the tight way he was holding his body and realized she had somehow made him angry.

  “What’s wrong?” she said. “Did I say something?”

  He shook his head and turned away from her, leaning on the rail of the oven. “No. I just… can’t stand hearing that you’ve been treated so much worse than you deserve. Your family… should have treasured you. I don’t understand a man that wouldn’t take care of his kids, let alone throw them out on the street. And more than that, I don’t understand a man who would come on to a preteen. Or a woman who wouldn’t care about her daughter.” He sighed hoarsely. “I mean, I guess I’m used to hearing about the worst of humanity, but it’s different when it’s someone you care about.”