Bearliest Catch (5 page)

Drew headed out the back door of his house.
It was a small place, close to the water. The best feature of the
land he’d chosen to purchase and build on was the dock. He had
built it himself, and it was in a part of the cove deep enough that
he could easily keep his boat there, ready and waiting for him
whenever he wanted to go out. The setup was ideal.

Fog wisped around his ankles as he walked out
onto the dock. He was about to toss his stuff onto the deck when he
realized he wasn’t alone.

“Hey, sailor, come here often?”

A mermaid was sitting in the mist at the end
of the dock. Not just any mermaid. Jetty. Lovely Jetty with the
dark hair and pretty eyes.

“Often enough.” He changed direction, walking
the length of his boat, out to the end of the dock. When she didn’t
move, he sat down beside her, his toes dipping into the water
below. “I’m glad to see you again. To what do I owe the pleasure of
this visit?”

“I told you I’d find you.” Her tone was
flirtatious, her scales glimmering faintly in the misty fog. It was
still dark out. An hour or more left until dawn. “I’ve been
checking out what you told me the other day, and I’m cautiously
optimistic that we can take it to the next level.”

Whoa, momma. What, exactly, was she talking
about? Did she mean…?

He wasn’t sure what she meant, but his mind
went immediately to the sex place. How could it not when he’d
relived that kiss over and over since it had happened?

Maybe he ought to slow down a bit and find
out what she meant before he went off half-cocked. And there he
went, to the sex place again.

“Next level?” he asked, barely able to form
those two words. She smiled at him as if she knew exactly what was
going through his mind.

Little minx. She probably did. He found
himself torn between frustration and admiration. He liked that she
was comfortable enough with him now to tease him.

“The part where I come ashore and you show me
around, maybe introduce me to some of your friends. Of course, I’ll
want to see Grace first, if possible. And depending how that goes,
I’d like to talk to your Alpha, if he has time for me.” She smiled
at him in the darkness, and he was enchanted. This woman had a
magic all her own. “The thing is, I don’t have any clothes here.
Would you be willing to find something for me to wear?”

She wanted to see the town. Well. That was
progress. Suddenly, his plans for the day took an unexpected turn.
He’d postpone the boat excursion. Ushering Jetty around town was a
much better prospect. There was something about her that just… He
just liked being near her. He wouldn’t examine it much closer than
that right now.

“I believe I can arrange something. I have
some things that might fit, but if you want more…uh…feminine stuff,
we could ask Grace. Jack mentioned that she’d had her stuff shipped
up here.” A thought occurred to him. “I can see now that, if we’re
going to host your people in the cove, we should probably make some
allowances for this kind of thing. We can talk about it with Big
John, the Alpha. I’m sure he’ll make time to meet you, and he’s
great at strategy and logistics.”

“Sounds good,” she agreed, her scales
sparkling faintly. “Now, if you’ll just get me something to put on,
I’ll shift, and we can move this discussion to dry land.”

Not wanting to go back to the house, lest she
somehow change her mind and swim away, Drew jogged over to his boat
and jumped aboard. His robe was still where he’d left it, and when
he hopped back onto the dock, Jetty was already standing on the
end, on two luscious legs. She had her back to him, her skin
glistening with water in the dark before dawn. He walked up to her
slowly, admiring the sight she made standing there, on his dock. He
held the robe open and came up behind her, wrapping her in it. She
put her arms into the big sleeves and tied the belt around her trim
waist, smiling up at him over her shoulder.

He wanted to kiss her right then and there,
but she began walking up the dock, her feet finding a natural
rhythm with the slowly moving wood under them. He watched from only
a few steps behind her as she approached the spot where the
floating dock met the shore, and he saw her hesitation.

“Is everything okay?” he asked quietly, not
wanting to spook her.

“I haven’t been on land in years,” she
replied, pausing before taking that final step.

She said nothing further as she made the
transition from the floating wooden platform to the beach. When she
tried to walk, she faltered a bit, but Drew was there to steady
her, putting one arm around her waist and taking one of her hands
in his as he came up beside her.

“Lean on me, if you have to,” he told her.
“Until you get your land legs.” He chuckled, and she followed
suit.

“Crazy, huh?” she asked rhetorically as they
moved slowly up the beach toward the house. “I get so used to the
motion of the ocean after a while that it’s disorienting to be on
solid ground that doesn’t move.”

“Oh, it moves occasionally. We had a small
tremor just the other day, in fact,” he corrected her with humor.
“But generally speaking, earthquakes are a bad thing. They make my
bear side want to run.”

“Smart bear,” she observed, steadily gaining
her footing as they went along. “So where are you taking me? Is
that your house?”

“Home sweet shack,” he confirmed in a
self-deprecating way as he ushered her along the path he’d put in
that connected the beach to his back door.

She paused, looking up at the two-story
structure. “This isn’t a shack, Drew. It’s lovely.” Her admiration
of his handiwork made him feel warm all over. “The view from
upstairs must be phenomenal.”

“Yeah. That’s my bedroom window,” he told
her. “You’re welcome to check it out. Anytime.”

He couldn’t help himself. His voice dropped
to a low rumble, thinking about her in his bedroom. Oh, yeah. He
wanted her there. In his bed.

If she wasn’t much mistaken, the werebear had
just issued a naughty invitation in that growly voice of his. Jetty
had to suppress a shiver of delight just hearing him speak in those
low, sexy tones.

He opened the door for her, and she walked
into an unexpected delight. The house was like something out of a
designer’s showcase. It had a nautical feel. Everything was light
and airy. White dominated, but polished wood and brass accents were
thrown in here and there, adding to the appeal of the place.

“This is really gorgeous.” She couldn’t keep
from voicing her approval. The place was perfect. And clean, which
she hadn’t expected of what she assumed was a bachelor pad. The
thought made her stop just inside the door. “You’re not mated, are
you?”

He actually laughed. Just one short bark of
disbelieving laughter as he closed the door behind them and walked
past her, into his home.

“No. I’m not mated. Why do you ask?”

He led the way farther into the house, and
she followed, impressed with each new revelation. The kitchen at
the back of the house was immaculate and state of the art. There
was a small dining room, and the front room was decorated in
leather and wood. Very manly, yet elegant and inviting.

“It’s just…so clean. And gorgeous.”

“And men are slobs, is that it?” He paused to
look back at her, a sparkle of humor in his deep brown eyes.

“Well, I didn’t mean to insult your entire
gender, but the men I’ve known haven’t exactly been neatnicks.” Her
gaze swept the room, taking in the beautiful furniture, comfortable
design and personal touches here and there that told her this was
his space. “My ex was a disaster. If I wasn’t there to pick up
after him, his apartment would’ve been condemned.”

Did he just growl? She couldn’t be sure. It
was almost a sub-vocal sound, but she could’ve sworn…

“I’ll go up and get some clothing that might
fit. Unless you want to come up and get the full tour. There’s a
bathroom up there if you want to change in there.”

Something inside dared her to go upstairs and
see more of the bear’s private domain. She liked being with Andrew,
which was odd because it had taken her a lot of time to work up to
moving in with her ex-boyfriend—Dirk the Jerk. As a mer, she was
more than a bit of a loner, but she’d wanted to see if she could
find a mate on land. Unfortunately, she’d picked the wrong man. Oh,
boy
, had she picked the wrong man.

“I’ll come up,” she said softly, following
where he led. Andrew stepped back to allow her to precede him up
the stairs, and she wondered if he was trying to check out her ass
under the bulky terrycloth robe.

His bedroom was just as lovely as the rest of
the house. Done up in blues and greens that reminded her of her
ocean home, she could easily picture herself luxuriating in this
private oasis. If she had a house, she’d decorate her own place in
much the same style.

Andrew had gone straight to the dresser and
started opening drawers. He grabbed some things and turned toward
her, holding up a dark blue T-shirt that was probably snug on his
massive physique, but that might possibly not look too baggy on her
much smaller frame.

“How about this?” He waited for her to nod
before handing over the shirt. Then, he held up a pair of board
shorts that had a string at the waist. “And these? They’ll be a
little big, but you can pull up the slack on the string.”

She held out her hand again for the shorts.
“They’ll do. Beggars can’t be choosers, and all that. Actually,
this is better than I’d hoped for, but maybe we could make Grace
our first stop? She might be able to help me not look like a bag
lady if we go into town later.” She chuckled at her own observation
and was glad when he followed suit, not taking offense.

“It’s a bit early. How about I make you some
breakfast here, and then, we’ll give Jack and Grace a call to see
if they’re ready for some company?”

It sounded a reasonable plan to her, and she
told him so. He pointed her toward the bathroom, which was attached
to his bedroom, or gave her the option of just closing the door to
his bedroom, promising not to intrude. In fact, he headed for the
stairs, telling her he was going to start working on breakfast
while she changed.

That left her alone in his private space, and
she couldn’t help snooping just a bit after she hopped in his giant
shower for a quick rinse before putting on the fresh clothing. Once
in human form, she didn’t necessarily like the feel of the salty
ocean residue on her skin. It chafed. So the shower was a
necessity.

The clothes weren’t too bad of a fit, but her
nipples insisted on poking little points against the soft fabric of
the T-shirt. He’d notice. And there wasn’t a blessed thing she
could do to hide it without a bra. She’d hunch over as much as
possible and try to keep the baggy garment from showing him just
how much she liked his scent until she could get some decent under
things.

But holy seaweed, she liked the way the
werebear smelled. His T-shirt was freshly laundered, but under the
faint odor of the unscented detergent he favored, his scent still
clung to the porous fabric. It was subtle, but it was there, and
she reveled in wearing it next to her skin. Her inner beast got
feisty when it smelled him. It wanted to swim with him. It wanted
to lure him closer. It wanted to mate with him.
Bad
.

Her human side figured it would be so, so
good
.

Hold your seahorses, Jetty.
She had to
finish her mission here, on behalf of her people, before she could
entertain all those carnal thoughts inspired by the hunky
fisherbear.

The scent of bacon wafted up the staircase as
she looked around his room unashamedly. He had a few personal
mementoes decorating his space. A few photographs had been blown up
and framed to hang on his walls, the most prominent of which was a
group shot of a bunch of muscular men in soldier clothes.
Ooh-la-la, there wasn’t a clunker among them, but the most
handsome, by far, was tall, lean, brown-eyed, chestnut-haired
Andrew.

He’d been a soldier. And she’d bet most of
the men in this photo were also shifters, and probably residents of
this town. It was time to find Grace, and then, if all was well, go
out and meet some more of these werebears. Her people were leaving
it up to her judgment as to whether or not they’d accept the safe
harbor offered by the Alpha.

She’d have to meet with him too, once she’d
seen Grace and a bit more of the town. She would have to get a feel
for the man and whether or not he could be trusted. Grace’s opinion
would go a long way toward helping her decide as well, but Andrew
was right—it was too early to bother Grace and her new mate. They’d
have to wait until dawn, at least.

In the meantime, she was going to enjoy
eating cooked food for the first time in a long time. She’d really
missed bacon.

Following her nose down the stairs and back
to the kitchen, she found Andrew wielding a spatula in front of his
gourmet stove. He looked comfortable cooking, and he had the
tightest ass she’d seen in a long, long time. She stood in the
archway that led into the kitchen, just watching him for a
moment.

He really did have a world-class ass.
Certainly a lot better than Dirk the Jerk’s. They weren’t even in
the same universe. Dirk had been an actor. He was good looking, but
human. He’d kept himself in shape, working out with his personal
trainer every day, but his sculpted looks were designed to please.
Andrew was a man at his peak—designed by Mother Nature, as the
Goddess intended.

In his case, the Goddess had outdone
Herself.

Drew fried eggs and made toast. He wasn’t
sure what she might like, so he made a little bit of everything.
His inner bear wanted to feed her. To take care of her.