Shifters of Grrr 1 (100 page)

“Great, so I’ve managed to kidnap the one person not loyal to the cause.”

“You know I’m loyal to your bear sanctuaries—”

“I’m teasing, Ada.”

“Well trust me, I’m not teasing now when I tell you that there is no way in hell I’m appearing on television dressed like a bear.”

“Would it help if I shifted? We could go as a bear pair.”

“You’re as infuriating as ever, Ranger. Please, take me back to my office, and I’ll promise to stay out of your life.”

“Now, sugar, that’s the last thing I’d ever want you to promise.”

If only he knew how many nights she’d had to reaffirm that promise, reminding herself why she couldn’t tap his number on her phone because he’d be at her side in an instant. Then the next morning she’d have to start all over again, learning how to forget about him.

Moe faked a cough. “Don’t get mushy, you two, we’re here.”

At the television studio, they were seated in a reception area and promptly greeted by a producer’s assistant who introduced herself as Carly.

“Good morning, Mr. Sachs-Severin.” She cast a surprised glance at Ada.

“Hello, Carly. This is Ada.”

Carly nodded and blinked a couple of times, as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. From that moment on, she focused completely on Ranger. “Come through to make-up. When you’re done, Alexia will want a quick word before you go on air.”

Alexia was the gorgeous, blonde breakfast television host.
 

Ranger stood to follow Carly, and Ada sank deeper into the chair, hoping she was forgotten.
 

Carly stopped at a set of double-doors and cast a glance over her shoulder. “Oh, you might as well bring your bear.”

“Come on, bear,” Ranger mouthed at her.

“You’re in trouble,” she mouthed back and followed him to the door. “If only she knew,” she said, giving him a nudge in the ribs. She heard him gasp.

Damn him, he was injured.

She’d been determined to remain good-humoured whilst at the television studio, because she’d never do anything to sabotage Ranger’s work. But seeing him stop short to pull in a few shallow breaths summoned all the insecurity she had to the forefront of her mind.
 

“Dammit, Ranger, you’re hurt.”

“Just a bruise…”

“Bullshit. You see? This is why I can’t be with you.”

“Not here, please, Ada. We need to talk, but not here.”

At the end of the corridor, Carly stood holding a door half-open waiting for them to catch up.

“Make-up’s in here.” She pushed the door fully open and called out to a woman. “Mandy, this is Mr. Sachs-Severin…and his bear.”

Obviously I don’t warrant a proper introduction, Ada thought, following Ranger into the brightly lit room. In the reflection of the enormous mirror, she caught Carly wrinkling her nose as she passed.

“You’ll have to do something about the bear. It stinks,” she announced, then spun on her efficient heels and left the room.

It! Charming.

Mandy gave Ada a sympathetic look. “Sorry about Carly; she’s sort of dynamic, but tactless, and doesn’t waste time on niceties. Angie will be through in a second to do you, and she’ll hopefully have some ideas about masking the smell.”

Angie was marvellous, first fixing Ada’s makeup, then producing a fabric deodoriser that she said should keep the smell at bay for a couple of hours.

“How do you feel in there?” she asked once she’d finished.

“To be honest, hot, and a bit grumpy.”

“She’s like a bear with a sore thumb,” Ranger called from the other side of the room.

Ada was about to respond when Carly reappeared at the door tapping a finger on her wristwatch. “Time,” was all she said, but Ranger and Ada sprang to her side. The woman’s wrangling skills were beyond compare.

Thirty minutes later, they were leaving the studio. The segment had gone well, with lots of viewers texting instant donations to a special number that rolled across the bottom of their television screens. Ranger’s charm would have had a lot to do with that. Alexia’s shameless flirting with him had Ada wishing she was capable of shifting. She’d have taken the host out in a flash.

“Where to now, boss?” Moe asked.

“Why don’t we—”

Ada butted in. “Seriously, Ranger, I have to go to work, or I’ll be fired.”

“Nonsense. Call in sick.”

She shook her head. “I can’t do that. I’m getting the ratty jobs as it is. I think Barry wants me out of there.”

“What? You’re kidding.”

“I’m not. There was a situation, and now Barry seems to have it in for me.”

“Situation…meaning?”

She really didn’t want to tell him. Already she could see the concern on his face, and if he knew what Barry had asked her to do, he’d probably unleash his bear.

Worse than that—because to be honest, part of her would love the bear to rock into Barry’s office and scare the shit out of him—was the fact that Ranger would make all sorts of trouble once he knew he hadn’t been able to protect her. Not that she wasn’t capable of standing up for herself, but short experience told her Ranger was protective. Very protective.

“Ada?”

She sighed. “It’s simple, really; he propositioned me, and I turned him down. Dude’s ego took a hit, and now he’s taking it out on me by giving me shitty jobs and cutting my by-line.”

The grumble emanating from him was loud and angry. Ranger looked furious.

“Come on, cut the bear stuff. It’s all okay. You see, I knew I shouldn’t have told you. Can you just take me to the office, please?”

“Sure. Moe, take us to Ada’s office.”

“Oh, no, no, no. You’re not coming too.”

Ranger shuffled closer to her, took hold of her chin and turned her face towards him. “Barry and I need to talk. He needs to learn about behaving appropriately in the workplace.”

Ada couldn’t take her eyes off his mouth, the perfectly bowed top lip, the fullness of the lower. If he leaned in right now and kissed her, she’d have melted. But he’d never know that, because she wrenched her chin from his grip.

“You, Ranger Sachs-Severin, also need to learn about behaving appropriately around your
ex
-girlfriend. I am quite capable of handling Barry, so I’m asking you to respect that, and stay away from my workplace.”

“You’re not my ex-girlfriend. You’re my mate.”

“I can send in Master Pavel to have a chat with Barry,” Moe suggested.

“Will you two stop it?”

Moe parked in a spot directly outside Ada’s office, which was a complete miracle, because Ada had never found a parking spot close to work in the eighteen months she’d been there. Then Moe threw open her door. “I’m going to see a man about a dog. Back in ten.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

~RANGER~

Sitting beside Ada, unable to touch her, was excruciating, and in seconds she’d be gone.
Fuck that.

“Don’t follow me into the office, Ranger,” she said, reaching for the door handle.

He hated being a grabby shit, but he needed a moment more with his mate, so he was forced to snatch her hand, taking it off the door and pulling it against him.

“Give me a couple of minutes, and then you can go. What’s more, I promise to leave that bastard Barry alone, for now, anyway.”

He watched her carefully, and, hell, since when was resignation the emotion he drew out of his beautiful mate? “Ada, meeting up this morning was fate—”

“Oh, Ranger, you and your ‘fate’; it was a coincidence.”

He put a finger to her lips. “Shush. I’ve only got a few minutes, so let me speak. Call it fate or coincidence, but I don’t think we should ignore the fact that we’ve been brought back together. Give me one chance. Have dinner with me tonight.”

Her face wasn’t giving him the signals he wanted, and his unhappy bear was making him very uncomfortable.

“I can’t. Not when you’re still with Bear Force vanishing on dangerous missions. I can’t live like that. Look at you; you’re injured right now, and I hate that. Your ribs, I suspect. Where did that happen?”

“Vietnam.”

“See what I mean? You go off doing covert stuff, and I admire you for that, but I can’t sit at home and worry about you.”

“Ada, settle, sweetheart. I was in Vietnam to sign off on the final work at the new sanctuary before it opens.” He glanced out the window to where Moe stood some way up the street. She’d never hear. “I hurt my ribs falling off a …motorbike.”

“You idiot, you know how much I hate those dangerous things. What size was it?”

“Not too big.”

“How big, Ranger? Eight-fifty cc? A thousand?”

He cast a glance at her tight-lipped mouth and narrowed eyes. Now he wasn’t sure whether to save face with a lie and suffer her wrath, or tell the truth and go straight for the humiliation. If he wanted to save their relationship, it would have to be the humiliation. “It was pretty small.”

Her face brightened. “How small?”

“Come on, Ada, it’s not important. We’ve got more pressing stuff to talk about, and my couple of minutes are running out.”

He tried to disguise a gasp when she nudged him again in the ribs.

“How small, tough guy?”

“It was a scooter,” he mumbled.

Ada cocked her head. “Louder, please, I didn’t quite hear you.”

“I was riding a scooter, and I hit a tree root and got the wobbles and went over a bank. Just do me a favour, and don’t tell Moe that’s what happened.”
 

Ada snorted. “Ranger fell off a scooter; that’s priceless.”

He seized on the moment of her mood change. “Have dinner with me. It’s been a hellish six months, but things have changed. Let me prove that to you.”

Shit, that stopped her laughing.

She frowned at him. “Just dinner?”

“Sure, if that’s what you want, just dinner.”

When she agreed he kissed her, lightly, but enough to hopefully remind her of what they’d had together.
 

“Moe will pick you up at seven-thirty. Dress casual, apart from your underwear; go as sexy as you want with that.” He stole one more kiss, a bit harder this time. If it was possible, she tasted better than he remembered. “Get on up to your office, and give Barry a swift kick in the balls for me.”

Ranger’s heart soared when she stopped at the entrance of her building and blew him a kiss.

~o0o~

He had a lot of work to do, but first off he had to announce the decision he’d made when they’d driven to the television studio that morning. His team would be annoyed, but the time had come. Like a fool, he’d stayed with Bear Force in a combat role to fill in his spare time when he no longer had Ada in his life. In reality, if he’d left the Force, he’d have had Ada back with him in a flash.
 

He sent Moe off to the market with a grocery list, then called his PA to inform her he would be working from home for the rest of the day. In fact, he’d be spending the afternoon preparing dinner so that when Ada arrived they could get straight to the business of repairing their relationship.

These past months of punishment and pining were something he never wanted to live through again, and he believed that their time apart had been just as harrowing for Ada, too.

He’d contacted everyone by five, and Ranger was pleased that although the other guys were disappointed with his decision, they completely understood why he had to move away from the hands-on stuff. Most of them had an idea of what Ada meant to him and admitted that, if she’d been their girl, they’d never have let her go.

Right on time, Ada knocked on his door.

When he swung it open, he had to pause and look. Just to see her there, standing in his entranceway when he thought he’d never see her again, almost had him undone.

“Come here, beautiful.”

She hesitated, as if she hadn’t yet fully committed to being at his apartment tonight. Finally, she moved into his embrace, and when he claimed her mouth, she met him with equal hunger. The bear was happy, but agitating to skip dinner altogether and take her straight to bed. His cock was hard with want and desire, and he felt Ada give a test wiggle against him.

“I hope that’s not a gun,” she said

He thrust against her. “If only you knew.”

Then he heard her stomach rumble.

He broke the kiss. “Come on, I can hear your stomach muttering from here. You’re hungry.”

“I couldn’t eat today, I’ve been so nervous…of us, of tonight.”

Ranger hadn’t eaten, either, and he took her through to the formal dining room, where the table had been laid for the two of them, with his family’s antique silverware stamped with the Sachs-Severin crest, the same bear-and-shield noble crest embossed on the china. Enormous candles lit every nook of the room.

Ada sighed. “This is beautiful. You remembered how much I love candles. Thank you.”

“And I remember how beautiful you look in their light. Champagne to start, I think.”