Read Online Mending the Bear by Vanessa Devereaux - Free Book Online

that shifters hated about human partners.
    “You have to wear them,” Liam said.
    Guess he’d be buying some on his way to
pick up Eve just in case things progressed to that stage.
    “Anything else?”
    “I think you need to experience it without
me giving you any preconceived notions,” Liam said.
    ****
    Eve had tried not to think about her
dinner date with Ian, but it was impossible. As the hands of the clock made
their way close to the number six, butterflies made their appearance in her
stomach. She’d worked later than she’d planned and had asked Ian to pick her up
at the practice so she didn’t have to go all the way home.
    She’d changed out of her dog hair laden
pants and put on a black skirt and red blouse. Her cell phone rang just as she
was applying her lip gloss.
    “Hello,” Eve said.
    “Are you ready for our second date?”
    She wasn’t going to argue with him about
this not being yet another date.
    “I will be in about five minutes.”
    “I’m outside and my motorbike awaits,” Ian
said.
    “Then it will wait there a long time.”
    “Hey, this is a proper date tonight and it
would seem weird for us to take separate transportation,” Ian said.
    “Okay, then how about you leave your bike
here and I’ll drive us to the café and then drop you back here after we’ve
eaten?”
    “Is that the way it has to be?” Eve asked.
    “Afraid so.”
    “Okay, I guess you win, but I am going to
get you on that bike one way or another.”
    “In your dreams.”
    Next thing she knew he’d gone off the line
and was knocking on the glass pane at the front door. She walked toward it and
let him in.
    She almost wanted to whistle when he
stepped inside. Tonight his sexy body was adorned with jeans, a white t-shirt,
and a blue denim jacket. His sunglasses rested up on his head and that bear
earring dangling from his left ear twinkled, and he smelled like…
    I guess how she hoped heaven would.
    “You ready?” he asked.
    “Nope.”
    “But you said five minutes and that’s up.”
    “I would have been if some guy hadn’t
called and insisted I ride on his bike.”
    He smiled, flashing those pearly whites at
her. “You look ready to me.”
    “I have to get my purse and jacket.”
    “I’ll be looking at the photos of your
patients while I wait.”
    ****
    Ian couldn’t take his eyes off of Eve’s
thighs as she drove them toward the Starlight Café. Good thing it was less than
ten minutes away or he might have done something stupid like reach across to
her side of the car and caress them.
    She glanced at him as if she could read
what was going on in his head.
    “You look like you’re up to no good,” she
said.
    “Mind reader, are you?”
    “Sometimes, yes. It stops me from getting
bitten in my line of work.”
    He wondered if her sixth sense around animals
included bears. What would she do if she saw his bear half come out? Being a
vet, she probably wouldn’t be scared.
    Eve pulled into the parking lot at the
Starlight Café. As was always on a Monday night, the parking lot was packed. Ian
hadn’t missed one of these evenings since Hannah had started them shortly after
she’d married Bear.
    He placed his hand on the small of Eve’s
back and guided her toward the door. He stepped ahead and opened it to the
sound of constant chit-chat and the delightful smell of salmon roasting out
back.
    Ian had called ahead and reserved a table
by the window, his favorite spot where he could chat with his fellow bear
shifters and catch up on the news.
    Hannah waved to him as he guided Eve over
to the table. He sat and then spotted something he hadn’t counted on. Joanne
was dinning with Max. Why hadn’t they started a no cougar policy at Starlight?
    She looked over at him and gave him a half
smile. Max turned around and glared at him.
    “Going to throw some more furniture?” he
said.
    “Not tonight, maybe tomorrow.”
    Eve looked around and then back at Ian.
    “What was that about?”
    “That’s the