Bear The Burn (Firebear Brides 1) by Anya Nowlan Page A

took everything Royce had not to tell his little brother to fuck off and leave him alone with his mate.
    Jealousy was something that came far too easily to bears.
    “Oh, I’m sorry! I—” Tiana stuttered as Royce slipped his arm around her and pulled her tight to him.
    “Tiana, this is my little brother, Redmond. He’s a rapid deployment firefighter in Los Angeles,” Royce said as Redmond extended his hand and Tiana took it, shaking it firmly despite her surprise.
    “Pleasure, ma’am,” Redmond said, though the look in his eyes spoke of mischief and all sorts of smart-mouthed comments that Royce was sure to hear the moment they were alone together.
    “All mine. A rapid deployment firefighter?” she asked, cocking a brow curiously.
    “Yeah. We’re the first guys in during big fires,” Redmond said, standing up a bit prouder.
    That might have been Redmond’s brief stint in the Army talking, forcing him to push those wide shoulders back and puff up his chest. Royce shook his head, a half-amused smirk on his lips.
    “Wow. Are all of you firefighters?” Tiana asked.
    “Yes, ma’am. Every single one of us,” Redmond said, grinning.
    “That has to be some kind of a coincidence,” Tiana mused loudly, but neither Royce nor Redmond jumped in to comment.
    Instead, an uncomfortable look passed between the two of them and Royce took it upon himself to diffuse the situation.
    “I think we should grab some breakfast. Redmond, you probably need to pick up your truck, right? How far is it?”
    “A few miles down the road, I think,” he laughed. “I was in that forest for a heck of a long time.”
    “You two go get it. I’ll start up breakfast. Pancakes sound good?” Tiana asked, her high spirits returning to her as easily as they’d dissipated.
    “As long as there’s honey,” Royce said, winking at Tiana.
    She grinned and Royce kissed her on the forehead before he and Redmond peeled off, heading toward the front door again.
    Things were all falling into place. He had a gorgeous, wonderful woman staying with him who was most certainly The One, and the first of his brothers had returned and was obviously just as entranced with Hamilton House and the surrounding areas as he was. Suddenly, his crazy, half-baked plan to get his family lands back didn’t seem so nutty after all.
    Just have to keep this train on the tracks, he thought as he went for his truck, Redmond walking with long steps behind him.
    But of course, nothing could ever be that easy.
 

CHAPTER EIGHT
    Tiana
     
    It was sort of odd to find out that when you stopped running around, the world didn’t stop revolving.
    For some reason, Tiana had been entirely sure that the moment she stepped away from the bakery, it would completely crumble to dust. She called Kaylee twice a day at first, trying to micromanage the hell out of both her and the bakery. Soon enough, though, it turned out that her enthusiasm and worry was completely unwarranted. Instead of failing miserably, like Tiana had assumed, Kaylee was doing a bang-up job of whipping her staff into shape and making profits stay consistent.
    Tiana wasn’t too keen on admitting it, but perhaps taking a step back was the best thing she could have done for the bakery. In retrospect, she could admit that she’d been too nice to the people who worked with her. While being their friend had its place, sometimes she really should have been their boss first and friend later. Kaylee seemed to have that down a lot better than Tiana had. Because of the training Tiana had given her, the management of the bakery was going smoother than ever.
    At first, that had sort of bummed Tiana out. It sucked to feel like she wasn’t as irreplaceable as she’d thought. But as soon as she started baking for herself and Royce in Hamilton House, all of that seemed to fall on the back burner too. For the first time in a long time, she could actually enjoy the process of baking and thinking up new and fun recipes without