Chapter Two
Mack was exhausted. For some reason the day had been long and draining.
The bar was hella busy which was a good thing and it’d been happening a lot more the last few weeks.
It definitely kept her on her toes all night.
While she hadn’t planned on hiring a bouncer, surprisingly, she felt relief at knowing he was watching over things.
She never knew she’d put so much time into focusing her attention on the general crowd until she didn’t have to do it.
A small thought crossed her mind and gave her a moment of concern…
she didn’t know anything about the guy she’d hired, right off the street.
Was it the smartest thing to do? Maybe. She liked to think her bear instincts were keen when it came to judging people though.
He didn’t give off a threat vibe. Probably the other reason she was comfortable with him was that she knew he was a bear just like her.
Mack didn’t know if he realized it about her, but she could tell. It was in his scent.
She locked up the front doors, wedged the steel rods in place and turned off the illuminated Bears Den letters on the front of the building.
Next Mack switched off the open sign and pulled the blinds down over the front windows.
She tried to take every precaution and give thieves no reason to want to break in.
Some people said that giving them the ability not to see inside only made them more curious but she didn’t care.
She believed what she wanted. Besides, everyone in town knew her so why would they want to break in?
With everything in the bar off, she opened the door to her office and let out a scream then turned her back quickly.
“Damon, I am so sorry, I totally forgot you would be back here.”
Shit, walking in on the man she just hired to find him naked was a site she didn’t mind seeing but at the same time shouldn’t have seen at all.
“Mack it’s okay, you can turn around.”
She was afraid to. If she did and he was still void of clothes, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from getting another glimpse of his well-hung package. As his employer, that was not a wise choice. Too bad too, because she really wanted badly to look, and not stop looking.
She jumped when his hand touched her on the shoulder.
“Mack, it’s safe to look, I promise.”
Now she was just embarrassed. She turned around, trying like hell to avert her eyes with no success. When her glare connected, his package was indeed covered.
Oh, thank you Lord.
“I really am sorry Damon. I have a nightly routine of turning everything off and locking the bar down then doing paperwork in my office and not once did I think before just walking in here.”
First day on the job and she’d already betrayed his privacy.
“I get it, this is your place, I’m not mad so give yourself a break.”
She moved over to her desk in the corner of the room and turned on the desktop.
Tomorrow was payday so she would likely spend a few hours in front of the monitor going over figures.
Maybe she could print out the hours and take everything to her apartment to work on. Damon probably wanted to go to bed.
“Hey there’s a t.v. in the wardrobe over there and I do have streaming hooked up to it just in case you wanted to watch. I promise I won’t be in your hair long. I’ll take my work up to my apartment.”
“Not necessary, I’m just gonna hit the pillow and crash. You can keep working there, it won’t bother me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Totally. Today was a long day. I won’t have any trouble falling asleep.”
“Well if you’re sure.”
She pulled the chair from her desk and sat down.
True to his word, Damon crawled into the twin bed that was clearly too small for him, covered up with a blanket but left a leg hang out and was asleep the next time she looked at him.
At least it made her feel better about having to work and invade his space.
It was too hard to transport the computer upstairs.
She left it down in the office for a reason.
She needed to have a life, even if only a few hours of it, away from the bar.
She’d made a deal with him for his services in exchange for room and board but she still didn’t feel right about not giving him actual monetary compensation.
They’d had a profitable night and no catastrophes, mainly thanks to him so she reserved fifty dollars in an envelope that she hid in her desk drawer in case she ever had the chance to pay him cash.
With her work done, desk light off, and the computer shut down, Mack quietly pushed in her chair under the desk.
She passed the bed on the way to the private stairway that lead to her apartment, and couldn’t help but fix the blanket he’d shed when he shifted on the small mattress.
The room really was big enough for a full-size bed, she’d only kept the twin because it was free.
Resisting the urge to run her fingers along his hair covered arm, she made a fist and turned away when his hand reached out to grab her wrist. She gasped, ready to react when he pulled her to sit on the side of the bed.
“Thank you.”
“For what.”
“Everything. The job and a place to sleep.”
“It’s not a big deal. You did great tonight and it was a relief to focus my attention elsewhere.”
Her wrist felt like it would go up in flames where he’d been holding on to it. His hands were hot and she could see a light sheen of beaded sweat all over his chest as he sat up bringing him into her personal space.
“Glad I could help. I’ve worked in a few bars in my time.”
“So, Damon, what’s your story?”
***
He didn’t like to talk about himself or his life. His family was a menace and he had been one of those typical teenagers that wanted to get the hell out of dodge right after graduation and that’s exactly what he’d done.
“Not much to tell.”
“There’s got to be something. What brought you here?”
“Just traveling, doing my living on the road. I did run across a really nice older couple by the name of Barbara and Tristan at a town not far from here, Blue Creek, and they suggested I come here next. She said the Bear’s Den was a great atmosphere for meeting people.”
“Hmm, interesting. Their names sound familiar but either way, that was nice of them. Must be they’ve been here before. Maybe they knew my parents. I guess anything is possible. So don’t you ever stay in one place?”
“Haven’t yet but I might, just depends on whether I like the place or not.”
“So, you like it here alright?”
“Yeah it’s fine so far.”
Jesus, she was full of questions. If he let her ask and he answered, she would either decide to go upstairs to her own bed or he was going to pull her into his.
“Great, just let me know if you decide you want a night off but otherwise, I’d love to have you work every day.”
“That sounds good to me. Do you serve breakfast in the mornings too?”
He smirked because he didn’t really expect her to but it didn’t hurt to ask. There was probably a diner somewhere in town that had good coffee.
“You can come up to my apartment if you want. I don’t have a lot but there’s always coffee.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, if I don’t have my coffee in the mornings, I can’t function. So, I have one more question for you if you don’t mind?”
“Shoot.”
What was he going to say, no? He wanted her to stay in his bed while trying not to piss her off.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were a grizzly?”
How did she know? Was it that obvious? He’d worked overtime to hide his traits when he was among humans because one time he let it slip and there was a lynch mob after him for days. Should he expect to be fired now?
“How did you know?”
“I know because I’m a bear as well.”
Whoa, he didn’t see that coming at all.
“Woman you are full of surprises.”
“I like to keep things interesting, that’s for sure. I am curious though, why didn’t you detect me?”
“Well my senses have kind of fallen off over the last few years. Is that how you knew about me?”
“I could practically taste it on you. That and you smelled distinctively like the woods.”
I’ll give her something to taste.
“I haven’t been in the woods at all lately. I would love to go out for a run though.”
“Yeah, I don’t really do that around here. Too many normal people.”
Now this was the kind of conversation he could dig dipper into. He sat up in bed a little straighter, which also brought him further into her personal bubble from where she was sitting on his bed. It was hotter than hell in that office, so he let the blanket fall around his waist.
“Are they not accepting of our kind?”
He noticed her eyes had trouble staying focused on his. That was a good sign.
“Well, I can’t really say one way or the other about that.
There are some people that know about me, but I don’t really publish it around town.
I try extremely hard to keep my bear under control but sometimes my strength shows its ugly head.
It’s one of the reasons I didn’t really need a bouncer, but not having to focus on what the drinking crowd is doing 24/7 makes doing the other parts of my job go a lot more smoothly. ”
“So, is there anywhere around here that might be safe to let off a little steam? A small patch of trees or someone’s woods that aren’t guarded by no trespassing signs and rifles would be ideal.”
“There might be a place outside of town that I could take you to. I know the owners and they know who, or I guess I should say, what I am. It’s an older couple and occasionally I bake a few pies for them in exchange for them letting me ‘hunt’ on their property.
It’s been a while since I was there last and I don’t catch any animals, I just go out to run and play around. ”
The more she talked to him, the more comfortable and relaxed her body became. She started to slouch a little, leaning in closer to him. A couple times, he caught her eyes drifting toward his chest and he fought not to smile because if she knew she’d been caught, she would retreat.
Her eyes were also getting a bit more fatigued.
Damon fought the urge to kiss her. He didn’t want to look like a tool by making a move on her right after she’d given him a job, food, and a place to stay but the more he laid eyes on her, the more of a connection he felt.
It had been a long time since he’d run into a female of his own kind.
While he was roaming around the bar after dinner, making his presence known to the patrons, he couldn’t help but watch her.
She had a serious presence that anyone should take serious, and most of the people didn’t know she was a grizzly.
A few strands of hair fell from behind her ear and he reached out to move it without even thinking.
The skin on the side of her cheek was silky smooth and his touch elicited visible goose bumps.
He couldn’t move his hands away as he fingered along the side of her long-tanned neck and dug into the locks on the back of her neck.
With her hair for leverage Damon angled her head back to reveal a very lick-able neck.
When his lips made contact, he felt a vibrating growl ripple in her throat. He trailed his way to her mouth, where her lips were waiting, luscious and sweet and she kissed him with a depth he’d never felt before.
When her hands touched the bare skin on his chest he wanted to growl out loud for everyone to hear.
He threw the blanket to the floor and pulled her closer, searching for the bottom of her shirt.
She grabbed his hands and pushed them away and while looking intensely into his eyes, she removed her shirt slowly over her head revealing sexy black lace.
She raised herself above him and worked the jeans off her legs and settled above him, straddling his thighs. When she worked his boxers off his hips she adjusted herself for a ride that was sure to last through the night.