Authors: Lainey Reese
“That’s not a cougar.” Ashley stated, obviously shocked. Jake chuckled. Poncho grinned at her and adjusted the sling on his arm. Ashley was still dumbfounded. “That’s a bear. That’s supposed to be a cougar.” She looked from Jake to Poncho, truly baffled. “Why is there a bear in there?” She looked back at the mammoth brown hulk about to burst the tiny cage he was trapped in. “It’s the dead of winter. Isn’t he supposed to be asleep?” Her hands fisted on her hips, and she glared at the bear like he’d done this to her just to mess with her mind.
Jake laughed outright at her expression and rubbed a soothing hand on her arm. “This is not just any bear, Slim. It’s a grizzly. And they don’t necessarily hibernate. Especially if the food is plentiful and easily accessed. Which thanks to our cougar, it has been.”
Ashley inhaled with enough force Jake was surprised she didn’t choke. “You knew.” She pointed an accusatory finger at him. “You knew already. That’s why you guys aren’t freaked out right now.” She looked back at the cage in exasperation. “Like I am.”
“We’ve suspected this for a while,” Jake said, taking out his camera to get some shots while Poncho prepared the tranq.
“Ever since the elk,” Poncho added. “A cougar doesn’t leave her kill out in the open like that. Cougars always drag their kill off to eat in private. They hide it in the bushes, or in their den. It just didn’t make sense that she left it out there.” Dose measured and loaded, he faced the bear, just barely contained in the cage. “Only one thing in these mountains bigger and scarier than a cougar. And that’s it right there.”
The cage gave a metallic shriek as Jake got too close and the grizzly took a lunge toward him. Jake only chuckled and said, “Yes! Got that,” when he caught the action on film. “See,” Jake said, still snapping away at every possible angle. “Grizzlies are pretty lazy hunters. They’ll eat anything, and they will always follow the path of least resistance. If it’s a meal they don’t have to hunt down and kill themselves, that’s their favorite kind.”
Ashley thought of all the documentaries she’d watched on bears and how in every one of them it’d showed them stealing food. Either from people’s homes and campsites or from other, smaller animals.
“Your cougar has been forced to come closer and closer to your campers and cabin because this big bruiser has been stealing all her kills. We figured it had to be a grizzly to get her to give up on that elk.” He lowered the camera and looked at Ashley. “She’s a smart one. She’s scared of him, but she knows the only thing he’s scared of is us.” He looked back at the morose-looking bear that, though immense, looked pitiable in his cramped quarters. “She was getting desperate and hunting farther and farther out of her comfort zone in hopes that he wouldn’t follow.”
Poncho walked up from behind, the tranq at the ready. It was loaded into a ten-foot pole, but to Ashley’s eyes, it looked way too short. Gave a whole new meaning to the old adage of wouldn’t touch it with a ten-foot pole, and Ashley thought she wouldn’t use that term lightly ever again. Poncho jabbed, short, fast and hard, hitting him in the meaty part of his hindquarter. The bear let out a roar that drained all the color from Ashley’s face and infused her with awe at the same time.
It took thirty minutes and one more dose before the men deemed him under and started to work. Ashley helped in fascinated wonder as they measured, tagged, took samples and more pictures. It was a long, backbreaking day. And another one that she could chalk up as one of the best she’d ever had.
“Now what are we going to do?” That night over the crock-pot stew that had simmered for them while they worked, Ashley wondered about the rest of the winter. “I mean, this is it, right?” she asked. “We wanted to know why she was so big. Answer? Freaking moose. Sheesh.” The men chuckled as she shook her head. “Why she was acting against her nature by coming into populated areas? Answer? Big, giant freaking bear.” More chuckles. “So, now what?”
“Well,” Jake answered. “We’ll continue to monitor them throughout the winter. Watch their patterns and make sure there aren’t more in this territory. I doubt it, but we have to be sure.” He stopped to take a drink of his tea before continuing, “We still have to catch and tag her.”
Ashley nodded at that, after the grizzly, tagging the cougar seemed like a piece of cake now.
“Then in the spring we relocate them both. They’ve gotten too used to humans, and it’s safer all around to get them far, far away from any chance of them running into people ever again.”
“In the meantime,” Poncho added, “we keep taking samples. Of the cougar and the grizz.”
Ashley set down her spoon with a snap, leveling him with an accusatory look. “More poop? Bear poop?” Poncho laughed while Ashley steamed. Jake reached over and rubbed a comforting hand along her back.
It was going to be a long satisfying winter. The dogs were sprawled in lazy abandon around them. Somewhere out in the snow-covered beauty of the Cascade Mountains, the grizzly bear that had brought this all to pass was sleeping off the meds and the cougar, finally, was getting her fill to eat.
About the Author
Lainey lives in Lake Stevens, Washington with her husband, daughter, four cats, a dog and a bird. Lainey has dreamed of being a writer as far back as she can remember and every step of the way she feels grateful to be living that dream.
To learn more about Lainey, please visit
www.laineyreese.com
. Send an email to Lainey at
[email protected]
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Look for these titles by Lainey Reese
Now Available:
Table for Three
Coming Soon:
She’s taking two bites out of the Big Apple.
A Table for Three
© 2010 Lainey Reese
New York, Book 1
Riley Ramirez knew that moving to New York would change her life. She just didn’t expect it to start on her very first night in town. Her attraction to nightclub owner Kincade Marshall is instant, mind-blowing—and mutual. When she finds he is a Dom who requires her complete surrender, even when it comes to submitting to his best friend, Trevor Wellington, she finds herself willing and eager to embrace the sexual adventure.
From their earliest days, Cade and Trevor have shared everything, including women. Yet it only takes one night with Riley to know she is their forever lady. Convincing her that this is more than a temporary fling, though, will take every tool in their sensual arsenal.
As Cade and Trevor set their sights on Riley, however, they’re unaware—until it’s almost too late—that someone is targeting their fragile relationship. Someone who’s taking deadly aim at Riley. Suddenly their struggle to keep their forever woman is a fight to keep her alive…
Enjoy the following excerpt for
A Table for Three:
“C’mon on, sleepyhead, let Trev see those gorgeous eyes of yours.”
Riley stretched and sighed, not ready to give up yet on sleep. Then Cade’s words sank in, and her eyes flew open in shock while her whole body jolted. Sure enough, there was someone in the room with them. Moreover, it was a man.
“Shhh,” Cade soothed. “It’s okay. This is my best friend, Trevor Wellington.” Cade turned her face until she looked at him so she would not mistake what he said next. “You are going to obey him the way you do me.”
Cade watched her to make sure this wasn’t going to have her screaming spinach. He’d let her go if she did, nothing about this worked without her trust, but he was going to do everything he could to make sure she didn’t. Her mouth started opening and shutting like a landed fish, and Cade kissed her, thrusting his tongue deep and using all the skill he had at his disposal to light enough fires in her to keep her open to the possibilities in front of her. It worked. Her legs started to slide against his and a soft moan purred up from her throat. He broke the kiss and with his chin motioned toward Trevor. “Say hello to Trevor.”
Fear and trepidation came back in her eyes. It wasn’t the panic that it had been at first, now it was manageable. “It’s all right. Nothing is going to happen to you that you can’t stop with one word. All I’m asking is for you to say hi and see what happens from there.”
Riley slowly looked at Trevor, who watched every move they made with an intense stare. When her gaze met his, he smiled and said, “Hi. Nice to meet you.” His chin rested on the mattress mere inches from her face, and she felt his breath feather across her lips seconds before he moved and kissed her. His kiss was different from Cade’s, his lips not as full but just as potent. Where Cade’s kiss was thrust and plunge, Trevor’s kiss was soft biting nips and brief tingling strokes of his tongue. She purred into his mouth and followed his lead, nipping and stroking back. He brought one hand up to brush her hair from her face then slipped it under the covers to close over her right breast then he slid onto the bed with them.
Riley stopped trying to think, or reason, or question what was right or wrong. She believed Cade, she didn’t know how or why, but she truly believed that she would be able to walk away at any time. If she wanted to. Right now, right or wrong, walking away was the last thing she wanted to do.
Trevor’s grip and kiss quickly went from light and teasing to serious. His hand tugged and pulled at her nipples with a strong grip while his tongue, teeth and lips kissed her like she’d never been kissed before. Cade pulled the covers away and slid his hand up her thigh before gripping her knee and draping her leg over his hip.
Her first instinct was to pull her legs closed and cover that part of herself from being so exposed, but both men simultaneously reacted. Cade’s teeth bit into her shoulder and Trevor pulled on her nipple, hard. Trevor’s eyes opened and stared straight into hers as he slowly slid his hand down her body to her waiting, exposed flesh. His lips brushed against hers with every word, as he said, “You don’t make one move without our permission and you’ll never have our permission to keep this from us.”
His fingers combed thru the soft, sex-dampened hair, over the swollen lips, and then delved deep into her hot, wet channel. A cry broke from her throat, and her back arched against Cade. Her hips started to sway and thrust of their own accord, and it became impossible to keep quiet or still, no matter that she was supposed to try. Cade growled behind her, hooked an arm under her knee and lifted her leg high to give Trevor even better access. Trevor took advantage of it. He changed his angle, added another finger and started rubbing her clit with his thumb.
“Damn,” he said, speaking to Cade without taking his gaze from her thrashing and twisting body. “She’s so hot and tight. That’s it, sugar, that’s it. Fuck my hand. Come for us, Riley, let me see what you look like when you come.” He pumped faster into her, made sure that his thumb never left her clit and with a low guttural cry she came, her body bucking and twisting in Cade’s vise-like grip.
Trevor could not believe how responsive she was, and her sweet little pussy was pulsing on his fingers as if it was trying to milk them. The sweet perfume of her orgasm was making him lightheaded. “Fuck yeah. Cade, we are going to have to get rid of this though,” he said and tugged on a lock of her pubic hair. He looked at Riley’s face and sent her a mischievous wink. “We don’t like anything interfering with our meals when we eat out.”
“Don’t mind him, baby.” Cade’s voice was filled with warm affection as he spoke in her ear. “He’s a smart ass who thinks he’s clever.” He nuzzled her cheek and ear as he continued, “But he’s right about that hair. We want you as smooth and silky on the outside as you are on the inside.”
“Cade, care to do the honors?” Trevor asked as he shifted to bring his face in line with her pussy.
“My pleasure,” Cade replied and slid her leg back over his hips. Then his hand made a bold firm stroke over her mound and his fingers spread her lips wide, leaving her clit exposed. He shifted his body until his shaft was nestled between the luscious globes of her ass and held her in place while he started sliding between the supple cheeks. Trevor’s fingers returned to her tight channel as his mouth descended to the throbbing nub that Cade presented like an offering for him. Cade’s other arm was under Riley’s head, and he turned her face for a kiss that filled her mouth with a thrusting rhythm that matched the slide of his cock along the cleft of her ass.
Revenge can be sweet…and oh so sexy.
Foreign Affair
© 2012 Shelli Stevens
Lena Richards’s whirlwind vacation to Europe with a friend is a welcome chance to shake her pre-wedding jitters—until she learns her high-school sweetheart is cheating on her, Hawaiian-style. Figuring all’s fair, she indulges in a fling of her own with a sexy New Yorker she meets in Amsterdam whose kiss blows her mind—and the lid off her hormones.
Tyler Bentz is wary that the petite bombshell, who only a short time ago insisted their one kiss must never happen again, has done a complete 180. His questions only make it clear she’s interested in probing of the sexual kind. Who is he to turn her down?
As they burn their way across Europe, something shifts, and it’s not just the earth moving with their exploding passion. Lena begins to realize what it really means to fall in love. And Tyler finds himself tumbling hard and fast.