Beck (BBW Bear Shifter Moonshiner Romance) (120 Proof Honey Book 4) by Becca Fanning

little.

    “Sauerkraut,” she mouthed, mocking a grimace.

    It was then that the larger bears began to become human again. Jane watched for a moment, fascinated by their retracting claws and shrinking heads, until she realized that she was about to be in the presence of five burly, naked men. She looked away at that, admiring a landscape of Fairhaven on the lounge wall instead as the sounds of grunting and growling turned more human behind her.

    Then, a warm hand took hold of her elbow. Jane turned just a little, relieved to see that Hart had already put his robe back on. His touch sent waves of heat into her body, relaxing her usually-tense arm where he held her. She could feel the warmth of his breath as he spoke in a close, low tone.

    “Jane, I was wondering if you’d help me out tomorrow?” he asked. “I want to find these drug dealers and get rid of them quietly. I haven’t told Gram anything. I don’t want to spoil the good atmosphere here.”

    She admired him for that, and she nodded quickly, if a little reserved.

    “Sure,” she answered, “though I’m not sure what help I’ll be.”

    “You think you’d recognize that woman again, if we tracked her together?” Hart enquired.  

    “Yeah,” Jane replied with a nod, “I’m great with faces.”

    “Good,” Hart said, “because I’m not sure approaching her as a bear again is going to do me any favors.”

    Jane chuckled at that, and Hart laughed too. He hadn’t let go of her elbow, his fingertips a little rough where they grazed her skin. Over his shoulder, Jane saw Elise giving her that look again. She had Isaak back in her arms in his human form, and Dietrich was robed-up and beaming at them both. They were a perfect family, everything that Jane wanted to have someday. And she was right there with Hart, standing close and watching him smile down at her.

    That was when her cellphone rang, the urgent call shattering the peace.

    “I… I really have to get this,” she said apologetically. “Save me some dinner?”

    She felt genuinely awful as she left to answer the call.

It was the next day that Jane met up with the bear with the bag again. She had offered to carry the uniform for Hart, but he had given a shake of his massive, shaggy head to tell her no. It was tricky to really understand the emotions of a bear, but Jane felt as though he was quite merry whilst he plodded along among the trees. She watched him smelling the branches and the ground as they walked together, until her phone began buzzing in her pocket once again.

    “Sorry, do you mind?” Jane asked as she recovered the phone again.

    Hart gave a low grumble, which could have meant yes or no really. Unsure, Jane answered her phone anyway.

    “Hi Luc,” she said, addressing her assistant. “What do you need?”

    What Luc needed was firing, Jane decided eventually. The call took over an hour, diminished sometimes by the fall and rise of the signal depending on which parts of the wood they were walking though. By its end, Jane was sweating from the trek and from the stress of having to relay every single instruction as though she was talking to a child. What she wanted a family for, Jane had no idea, because clearly she was already mother to a company of infants who couldn’t do a thing for themselves. When she finally hung up the phone, sighing heavily, she found that Hart had stopped at the edge of a clearing.

    Just beyond the next row of trees, there was a gathering of people who were laughing and joking to themselves. They had not noticed the bear and the woman looming upon them from the depths of the trees, and Hart took the opportunity to sink into the foliage and transform back into a human. Jane tried not to look, but these bushes were not as thick as the ones he’d hidden in before, and she caught the curves of his perfect buttocks before he slipped his ranger’s pants on. The sight of him flushed her with heat, despite the warmth of the day.

    “Well?”