around in the sun too long. Feel free to go on in. Nathan's back there somewhere. He's kind of a grouch, but his growl is worse than his bite." He grinned sympathetically at her uncertain look into the poorly lit interior of the hangar. "It's okay, he's not going to eat you. If he gets snappy, just tell him Lee sent you in."
"Will do," April said. She slipped into the interior of the hangar.
It was cool and dim in here, and crowded with so much random junk that she could see why they parked the plane outside. She stepped over a kayak that was in the middle of getting a patch job, and around a half-disassembled radial airplane engine. The space was lit mostly by light filtering through high windows. She peeked into the little office, which seemed to be empty except for a mess of paperwork everywhere, heaped all over the desk and even on the chairs. Messy as a bear's den, she thought.
"Hello?" she called. "Lee let me in. Is anyone here?"
A sudden bang of metal on metal made her jump. The noise reverberated all around the inside of the hangar. Another clang followed, and this time she was able to pinpoint it as coming from somewhere in the back of the hangar. She also heard a man's voice curse, followed by another loud clang. Oh great, probably some kind of rural redneck type, she thought with a sigh. But she needed a pilot. She picked her way over and around more junk, and looked behind a makeshift partition made of unpainted plywood—and straight into a scene out of her wildest dreams.
The area was lit brightly by halogen shop lights. A large piece of metal that looked like a panel section from an airplane was clamped between two anvils up on concrete blocks. And the most gorgeous man she'd ever seen was swinging a hammer at it.
He was stripped to the waist, wearing nothing but tight jeans and heavy work boots. His light bronze skin gleamed with sweat, and muscles rippled and bunched in his powerful shoulders as he raised the hammer for another blow. Unlike a lot of big guys, his enormous body was perfectly proportioned, broad shoulders tapering to a trim waist with rippling abs.
April had to stop herself from stuffing her fist into her mouth. Oh. My. God. She never realized men came looking like that.
He brought the hammer up and then down in a long, perfectly controlled stroke, grunting when it struck the metal. The muscles rippled all up and down his back. April was pretty sure she didn't make a lot of noise, just kind of a mouselike squeak, but he froze and then turned with that same slow grace to look at her.
High cheekbones. Masculine yet gorgeous features. His dark hair, a little longer than his ears, glistened with sweat. There was a little wing of silver at each temple, even though he looked young.
"Can I help you?" he asked, in a low, rumbling voice that went right past her brain and straight to points much lower down.
2. Nathan
Nathan liked to go to work early. Technically, it wasn't even a matter of driving to work, more like walking across the yard. He slept in a camper trailer parked behind the hangar. But he liked to get work done while there weren't a lot of people around. There was another airport on the other side of town with a runway that could accommodate commercial-sized jets, but even this little airstrip could be busy in the summer, crowded with fishermen, tourists, and workers from one or another of the mining and oil-drilling companies that operated in the area. But this early, it was nearly always quiet. He liked things that way. People were busy and bustling, and sometimes got his bear instincts stirred up uncomfortably.
He'd been hiding his polar bear shifter nature for a lot of years now, to the point where it had become second nature. Some people knew about it—his partner in the business, Lee, for one—and he wasn't the only polar bear in town, either. But when he wasn't around fellow shifters or the tiny handful of people who knew the truth, he was always on edge, afraid he was
"Will do," April said. She slipped into the interior of the hangar.
It was cool and dim in here, and crowded with so much random junk that she could see why they parked the plane outside. She stepped over a kayak that was in the middle of getting a patch job, and around a half-disassembled radial airplane engine. The space was lit mostly by light filtering through high windows. She peeked into the little office, which seemed to be empty except for a mess of paperwork everywhere, heaped all over the desk and even on the chairs. Messy as a bear's den, she thought.
"Hello?" she called. "Lee let me in. Is anyone here?"
A sudden bang of metal on metal made her jump. The noise reverberated all around the inside of the hangar. Another clang followed, and this time she was able to pinpoint it as coming from somewhere in the back of the hangar. She also heard a man's voice curse, followed by another loud clang. Oh great, probably some kind of rural redneck type, she thought with a sigh. But she needed a pilot. She picked her way over and around more junk, and looked behind a makeshift partition made of unpainted plywood—and straight into a scene out of her wildest dreams.
The area was lit brightly by halogen shop lights. A large piece of metal that looked like a panel section from an airplane was clamped between two anvils up on concrete blocks. And the most gorgeous man she'd ever seen was swinging a hammer at it.
He was stripped to the waist, wearing nothing but tight jeans and heavy work boots. His light bronze skin gleamed with sweat, and muscles rippled and bunched in his powerful shoulders as he raised the hammer for another blow. Unlike a lot of big guys, his enormous body was perfectly proportioned, broad shoulders tapering to a trim waist with rippling abs.
April had to stop herself from stuffing her fist into her mouth. Oh. My. God. She never realized men came looking like that.
He brought the hammer up and then down in a long, perfectly controlled stroke, grunting when it struck the metal. The muscles rippled all up and down his back. April was pretty sure she didn't make a lot of noise, just kind of a mouselike squeak, but he froze and then turned with that same slow grace to look at her.
High cheekbones. Masculine yet gorgeous features. His dark hair, a little longer than his ears, glistened with sweat. There was a little wing of silver at each temple, even though he looked young.
"Can I help you?" he asked, in a low, rumbling voice that went right past her brain and straight to points much lower down.
2. Nathan
Nathan liked to go to work early. Technically, it wasn't even a matter of driving to work, more like walking across the yard. He slept in a camper trailer parked behind the hangar. But he liked to get work done while there weren't a lot of people around. There was another airport on the other side of town with a runway that could accommodate commercial-sized jets, but even this little airstrip could be busy in the summer, crowded with fishermen, tourists, and workers from one or another of the mining and oil-drilling companies that operated in the area. But this early, it was nearly always quiet. He liked things that way. People were busy and bustling, and sometimes got his bear instincts stirred up uncomfortably.
He'd been hiding his polar bear shifter nature for a lot of years now, to the point where it had become second nature. Some people knew about it—his partner in the business, Lee, for one—and he wasn't the only polar bear in town, either. But when he wasn't around fellow shifters or the tiny handful of people who knew the truth, he was always on edge, afraid he was
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