Read Online Gray Back Bad Bear (Gray Back Bears Book 1) by T. S. Joyce - Free Book Online

you want. We have room for everything where I live. Worm farms, gardens, space to play your instruments…whatever would make you happy. I had all these plans.”
    She tried to stifle her smile as the flutters in her stomach picked up again. “What sort of plans?”
    His tone dipped low to a seductive purr. “I’m going to show you my deluxe singlewide mobile home in the heart of Grayland Mobile Park.”
    “Mmm hmm, I like it.”
    He gave her a crooked, sexy smile and took a step closer, pinning her against the truck. Running his hands through her damp hair, he continued. “Then I was going to cook you some seafood and show off my culinary skills.”
    “Mmm hmm.”
    “And then I was going to take you on a date in town and maybe let you give me a hand job.”
    Willa snorted a laugh and smacked his arm. “Stop it, and be serious. My resolve is wavering.”
    The smile dipped from his face, and he leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “And then I was going to take you to meet my sister because I really like you, and I want Cassie to meet the woman who settles my bear.”
    Choked up, Willa cleared the thickness from her throat and tried to look severe. “No more girls.”
    “Only you.”
    “No more chasing tail and throwing attention at controlling skanks like Brittney.”
    He kissed her forehead again and whispered, “You have my word.”
    Hmm, the word of a playboy. “Matt, this is your warning. The second you mess up with another woman, you know I’m gone, right? That’s not me, sticking around for a man who doesn’t deserve my affection.”
    He smiled against her hairline and pulled her against him, more gently this time. “I wouldn’t expect you to stick around for that bullshit. I won’t mess this up.”
    She softened against him and wrapped her arms around his waist. With her head against his chest, she murmured, “Good. Now show me your trailer park.”

Chapter Six
     
    “Whoa,” Willa murmured, staring at the four trailers in a semi-circle just beyond the Grayland Mobile Park sign that stretched over the white gravel road. “This is not what I expected.”
    “What did you expect?” Matt asked from the passenger’s seat. He had his elbow resting on the open window, and his eyes were lightened to that unsettling silver color as he watched her reaction. In his other hand was clutched the hideous salmon mug she’d gifted him.
    “Trash in the yard and old ratty trailers and old cars with parts strewn everywhere.” Instead, each trailer was uniform, covered in dark wood shingles like little mobile cabins. The roof on each looked new, and the white trim around the windows was crisp. The trailers each had a stone walkway that led to a huge communal fire pit in the middle. The grass around the community was neatly clipped, and each trailer had flowering landscaping on either side of the front door. The mountain scenery in the background was breathtaking. “Are these new homes?”
    “Nah, they’re thirty-five years old, but me and Creed cleaned them up when the Gray Backs first started recruiting new members.”
    She parked her truck behind Matt’s Chevy that sat in front of the trailer at the end. A single pink, plastic flamingo had been stabbed into the immaculate side lawn. Nice.
    “So you and Creed started this crew?”
    “We did. We had to start our own because our bears…well, they’re different and don’t mesh that well with other shifters. We have to be picky about who we allow into the crew. Jason was next, then Clinton, then Easton. We stopped with him, though. Too many problem bears in one crew, and Creed couldn’t handle any more dominant animals under him until we worked the kinks out. Which we never did. Five bears is all we can handle.”
    Five bears, and no room for mates. How was this supposed to work if they continued to date or mate or whatever it was bear shifters called what they were doing?
    “The kids I grew up with were all different. Their animals weren’t