Bear Arms (Alpha Werebear Shapeshifter Romance) (Mating Call Dating Agency Book 4) (6 page)

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“C
ome in!” Lexie shouted, trying to keep herself from getting any more nervous than she already was.

Blake gripped the door handle and tried to pull, but was met with a thunk of metal on wood. “Oh sorry,” she said, laughing. He was chuckling too. “First time I ever remember to lock the damn thing when I’m home is immediately followed by the first time I tell someone to let themselves—”

The instant she turned the deadbolt and opened the door, Lexie Headly was, for possibly the first time in her life, rendered absolutely helpless and frozen in place.

“Hi,” the bear soldier said softly. His deep blue eyes twinkling, his cheekbones achingly cut, and his jaw almost unbelievable hard, he stared down at Lexie—he was a head taller or so—and smiled in a way that made her question her own sanity in one moment and made her want to rip her clothes off the next. “Nice to meet you, I’m—”

When she reached out to take his hand, the bear went speechless. He stared at her, mouth slightly agape, as though he was about to speak and then stopped himself short. “You,” he said finally, “you’re exactly like I imagined.”

The glasses slid slightly down Lexie’s nose, and she went to push them up with her other hand, but found him already doing it for her. “Oh,” she said. “Thanks.”

“Sorry,” he smiled in a way that could disarm a crazed yak. “Like I said, I’ve been in the desert for longer than I care to think about. My manners are a little sketchy these days.”

As he spoke, Lexie noticed that the big bear’s jaws moved softly, almost gently. For some reason, it made her wonder what his hands were like aside from shaking them, and what it would be like if he kissed her. He must’ve noticed the way she was watching him, because Blake smiled just a little, that easy, beautiful, undeniably sexy smile that Lexie thought she’d never seen anything quite like.

“Are you, er, ready to go?” she asked. She couldn’t take her eyes off him, and the fact that he couldn’t take his off her just made the whole thing both better and a thousand times more terrifying.

“Actually,” he said, “I kinda was serious about the sitting around and watching Star Trek thing. And now that I actually see you? Now that I’ve got your hand in mine,” he looked down and then lifted her hand to his lips, kissing the back like some gentleman from a Jane Austen novel. “I think I’m more serious than  I thought I was.”

“Oh my goodness, Mr. Darcy,” Lexie said with a grin. “You certainly know how to make a girl feel things she wouldn’t admit to her grandmother. Or her mom. Unless they were really close. And since you haven’t corrected me on the name, I’m guessing you know what I mean.”

“Well, I’m not a landed aristocrat. And I’m also not vaguely trying to sleep with your sister. I’m not sure you have one, although I promise if you do, I’m not trying to sleep with her as I’m not trying to sleep with anyone at the present moment. Well, I might try to sleep with you, and now I realize I’m veering into creepy territory and have said the phrase ‘sleep with’ at least five times in the past eight seconds.”

“Three,” Lexie said, taking a step closer. “And every time it sounds better and better, so don’t stop now.”

Before she really realized what was happening, Lexie had led her bear to the couch, and picked up a Playstation controller. “So,” she said, “original series or Next Generation?”

“Picard, baby,” Blake said in that core-shaking, gravelly voice. “I’d follow him on a mission into the middle of the sun.”

“I knew I liked you for some reason,” Lexie said, still not quite sure why she was saying all these things. “But now? Now I think it might be more than just liking.”

*

“W
ell, no, I guess I can’t be irritated,” Dora heard Eve say from where she’d gone into the bedroom moments before. “I should’ve told you earlier it was supposed to be a double. And—” she trailed off, obviously listening to whoever was on the other end for a moment.

Dora fiddled with one of the two ponytails trailing off the back of her head. With a mountain of kinky hair like she had, one just never had enough staying power, so she got two pom-poms instead of one pom. She’d not known that the singular was ‘pom’ until one afternoon when she heard it on a
Gilmore Girls
episode, and had been really excited ever since about telling everyone who would listen.

She giggled to herself, and fielded a sweet nothing text from Monte about how the twins had been asking after her. They were set for dinner that night, and probably a couple of shitty monster movies, which Dora adored and the rest of her patchwork family tolerated if not outright enjoyed.

“What was that?” she asked when Eve came back through the bedroom door, leaving it swinging closed in her wake. “Sounded like you just got stood up.”

“Worse than that,” Eve said. “My double just became a single.”

“Ugh, I’m sorry honey,” Dora said, sitting up on the couch and reaching for another swig of the malbec Eve poured before they started their pre-date ritual. “If I’d known that guy would—”

“Oh no, not Morales, he’s as excited as I’ve ever heard him,” Eve said. “Lexie and Blake seem to have hit things off better than expected.” A flash of pride crossed Eve’s face. “Well, not better than expected. I mean, who are you talking to? But I didn’t expect them to hit it off quite
this
fast.”

“Already hopped in the sack and called you during the post-coital cigarette?” Dora asked, chuckling. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“No, it wouldn’t,” Eve gave her a narrow-eyed look and turned her head in a way only an owl can do, to look out the window. “But it wasn’t that either. They’ve sailed straight past sexy-times and right into
Star Trek
territory.”

“Oh God,” Dora said with feigned horror. “Don’t tell me... they had The Argument?”

Eve chuckled. “They did, yes. They’re both on Team Picard. I always thought that was relationship poison, since
someone
needs to be adventurous and exciting, but I guess they managed to see past it. Anyway, we’re still meeting them around nine for mini-golf of all things. But it looks like the sergeant and I are on our lonesome for dinner. And... to be honest with you, I’m not sure I can handle that.”

“Want me and Monte to chaperone?” Dora saw that Eve was beginning to pull her inner cheek between her teeth; a sure sign of impending nerves. “Or just mysteriously show up at the same restaurant when you guys do and invite ourselves, rudely, to sit with you?”

“Oh lord, I’m not
that
paranoid,” Eve said.

“It’s been a long time, though,” Dora interjected. “Anybody would be nervous. I’m not judging by the way, if you want us to come hang out, hell, we could even bring the twins, although I’m not sure they’re really compatible with any place more fancy than Chili’s.”

“Gimme that,” Eve reached over and took Dora’s glass, then took a nice sized slug. She gulped, winced, and then smiled. “Nope,” she said. “Nope, I’m going to do this and I’m going to do it myself. I just have to keep reminding myself that it’s just a date.

Dora sneered, and Eve smiled, then a few seconds later the two of them laughed. “I’ll be fine,” Eve said when the joy trailed off. “I’m just acting ridiculous because I’m nervous. It reminds me of one of those 70s horror movies where the movie reminded the audience THIS IS JUST A MOVIE before the picture started because it was so shocking, so horrifying, that people were going insane in the theater.”

“Oh God, I know exactly what you mean. I know it’s not anywhere near the same thing, but when I was about to go on my first outing with Monte, do you remember what a mess I was? I managed to apply and reapply my lipstick so many times, in so many shades, that I looked like a multicolored extra from a David Bowie video.” Dora laughed again, and finished her wine, mostly so Eve wouldn’t steal it.

“No,” Eve said. “I don’t remember, because I was a gigantic mess myself.”

“You... were?” Dora asked. “I’ve never seen you a mess. Or well, I’ve never seen you admit to being one.”

Eve was suddenly thoughtful looking for a different reason altogether. “You remember Lorelei Roberts? The mink we hooked up with that scorching hot fireman?”

“Of course, and also I’m glad you punned that so hard. Monte and I go out with them every so often. Why do you ask?”

“Well, on that first date with Monte, she was in the office. Well, they both were. It’s a long story. Anyway, she told me something, and I kind of stuffed it into the back of my mind and never thought about it again.”

“Oh?” Dora poured herself another glass and then went back to the sofa, crossing her legs underneath herself as she sat. “Anything important?”

“At the time, I didn’t think so. Or, no, that’s not true.”

“What’s wrong?” Dora asked. “You’re getting very... un-Eve. Just out with it, woman, you know we don’t keep things from each other. That’s why you can tease me about my ass, and I can tease you for being older than the mummy.”

Eve let out a very un-Eve-like honking laugh. “Yeah, yeah. Anyway, she was there and I was a goddamn mess. I couldn’t find anything, couldn’t keep my head straight without you. I told her that I couldn’t ever let you know how much of a mess I was without you, and she asked me why I couldn’t.”

Dora felt a wave of chill bumps slide up her arms. She didn’t say anything, instead just listened and waited. Emotional revelations weren’t something that Yvette Lorraine did very often, so she didn’t like to rush them when they did come.

“I realized that I didn’t know
why
it mattered that I told you. It was almost like I was just guarding myself against something no one else on earth cared about. I put up these totally pointless walls to make myself believe that I’m unflappable and all this. And,” she took a deep breath, and once again swiped Dora’s wine to take a drink. “I know it’s all bullshit. All I do is push people away and that’s not what I want. Anyway, she told me that I should tell you how much you mean to me and how you keep me sane and all that.”

She took another deep breath, and Dora felt a little mist gathering in the corner of her eye. Another thing about Eve’s emotional revelations is that they were nearly always Oscar level impact when they came.

Eve settled down on the sofa beside her friend and put an arm around her shoulder. “So what I’m getting at is that I couldn’t do any of this without you. You keep me sane, but you also... well, you’re the best friend I could ever ask for. No one else would do something like hunting down Rake to try and give me a shot at being happy. And...yeah, well, you deserve to know how much you mean to me.”

Instead of reacting with words, which couldn’t possibly suffice, Dora just leaned over and wrapped her arms around Eve, holding her tight. She opened her mouth when something to say occurred, but decided better of it. For a few moments, they just sat there in one another’s arms.

When they finally parted, there was a decided wetness on both of their shirts, where the other one’s head had been. They each looked at the spot on the other one’s shirt and then laughed, then hugged again. It seemed a little ridiculous, even at the time, but it also seemed perfect, so they both decided just to go with it. It felt good to say things, but it felt even better to just give in to them.

“Thank you,” Dora said when Eve finally got up off the couch. “I mean... I know you think those things, but hearing them is nice, you know?”

Eve nodded. “I know. I like hearing them too, so I don’t know why I keep my hand so close to my chest.”

For a moment, Dora thought that something was strange about this, and then realized what it was – it was the first time in memory that Eve didn’t say
get back to work
as soon as things got emotional. On the one hand she missed the familiar comfort of the standard comedy line, but on the other, she appreciated even more the raw emotional vulnerability the two of them were sharing right then.

Still, there wasn’t anything else to say, and Dora knew it. The moment was a good one – hell, it was one of the best – but it was gone. No reason to drag it out. “I think
you
have a bear to get ready for, don’t you?” she asked Eve. “And you know that if you need me, just go to the bathroom, call me and I’ll do some serious wing-woman magic and get you out of there, right?”

“Oh hell,” Eve said. “I don’t want to ruin your night with Monte and the twins. I’m a big girl, I’ve got my grown up underwear on. I’ll survive.”

“Well, if nothing else, all you have to do is live through the dinner part, and then you get to enjoy the wonders of mini-golf at Ralph’s Fun Pit, right?” Dora had a grin on her face, but she knew it was actually true. No matter how weird, bad, or tense dinner was, doing something stupid afterward with other people, regardless of how much strangers they may or may not be, was a relief. She’d been there plenty of times herself.

“It’s true,” Eve said, managing a smile. “But no, seriously, I’m sure I’m just building this up to be something it’s not.” That time when she smiled it was deeper. “Yeah, I’m gonna be fine.”

Dora first patted, then squeezed, Eve’s shoulder. “I know you just said this, but you’re going to be fine. I’m gonna guess you’re even gonna have fun catching up, and hey, if things work out and take a romantic turn, then all the better, right? You’re Eve-Fucking-Lorraine, right? No one can get under your skin unless you let them.”

Then, Eve’s smile started to glitter a little. She lowered one eyelid in a semi-wink. “I’m not sure I’d put it quite that way, but... point well taken. And Dora?”

The two short, spunky shifter women were holding on to one another and looking into each other’s eyes. “Yeah?”

“No matter what happens, we’ve got each other, right?”

“Damn right,” Dora said. “So damn right I can’t even tell you how right you are. No matter what happens at all, you’re gonna tell me about it, good or bad. But remember...”

“Remember what?” Eve asked.

“Remember you owe me one hell of a sex story, and I expect to hear it sooner than later.” She said this with such impressive gravity that it came out like the heavy-handed monologue at the end of a Greek tragedy. “It needs to be hot, and I need details. Lots, and lots, and lots of details.”