Read Online Lumberjack Werebear (Saw Bears Book 1) by T. S. Joyce - Free Book Online Page A

through his eyes in the moonlight before he composed his face again.
    “Listen,” she said, feeling like grit. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t know. I don’t remember much about my dad, either.” God, she was rambling, and she definitely hadn’t meant to let that little jewel slip out. “I mean, he isn’t dead or anything. He’s just a prick.” She scrunched her nose up. “But at least I got to know him well enough when I was younger to know he’s a prick. What I’m trying to say is I was raised by my step-dad. My mom married a nice man, who took me in when my mom decided to make like my real dad and bail on parenting. I’m going to stop talking now.”
    “I think it’s cute when you get all chatty like this. I learn a lot about you. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry your real parents were pricks. Where does your step-dad live?”
    “In Denver where I grew up, but sometimes when I have a show, he drives to boulder to see it.”
    “He sounds like a good man. A good dad.”
    “He’s the best.” Just thinking about him spiked Brooke’s emotions. If he hadn’t taken her in, she didn’t know where she would’ve ended up. Probably nowhere good. “Dad was working full-time, trying to make a life for us, and he still found time to take me to art classes after school. It’s all I wanted to do was paint. He even paid my tuition to get a fine arts degree in college, even though he didn’t have two pennies to rub together. And never once did he tell me I should be a doctor or lawyer or anything. He always told me I was good enough to make a career in painting if I put my heart into it. Why did Connor call you Second?” She sat on a giant, gnarled pine tree root and waited.
    “Because that’s what I am to our crew. Second in command.”
    “Who’s first?”
    “Jedediah Mosley. You’ll meet him. We all call him Jed.”
    “And Connor wants to challenge you for second in the crew. What do you have to do to win?”
    “Beat the shit out of him. Sorry, Brooke, but you don’t want to hear about that part. Best you stay far away from that chaos when it goes down.”
    “What did he mean, you can’t touch me?”
    Tagan sat down and leaned up against the towering pine beside her. “You ask a lot of questions.”
    “I’ve been saving them up.”
    “Neither Connor nor I can touch you until the challenge is through. And that challenge can’t happen without Jed present.”
    “And what if I touched you?” Her mouth had gone off on its own and gotten entirely too bold. The lingering buzz from the boxed wine was probably to blame, but tonight, she wanted to be reckless and break stupid rules made up by silly boys.
    He drew his gaze slowly to her. He looked troubled and inhaled a long breath. “If you touch me, the rules go out the window for me. Know that before you start teasing, woman.” His voice had gone gruff and gravelly, and she closed her eyes to fully enjoy the sound of him.
    She scooted closer and poked his leg with an extended finger. “Touch.” Sliding a little closer, she bumped the side of his arm with hers and said again, “Touch.”
    A deep chuckle rattled from his throat as he leaned his head back against the tree and stared at the starry sky above them. “Come here.” He lifted his arm over his head and drew her against his side.
    Brooke hadn’t realized how cold she was until his warmth blanketed her. Reveling in the feeling of utter safety, she snuggled in close.
    “Touch,” he whispered, looking down at her. His smile faded from his face as he watched her.
    A low, vibrating sound rattled from his chest as she wrapped her arms around his taut waist. She pressed the palm of her hand against his breastbone. The sound stopped, and she frowned. “Why do you do that?”
    He looked at her for a long time, as if he was debating telling her everything he’d ever known. He was right there, on the edge of admitting something important—she could feel it.
    When he drew away from her