Bear Your Teeth (Alpha Werebear Paranormal Shifter Romance) by Lynn Red Page A

Petunia told her about started kissing him with an urgency, and an amount of drool, that most people saved for late, drunk nights at motels far from home.
    “I am sorry about all that, I’m Jenga. If you need a bleeding, or any kind of heart surgery let me know, though I suppose neither of those will be an issue for your sort. And I don’t do teeth anymore, so... anyway, just so’s you know.”
    West, and the witch doctor both left, and for a moment, the parade seemed to stop. “What the fuck just happened? And what does he mean “like you”? Why do people keep saying things like that?”
    “Honestly, sis, it’s like you’re an alien. And before you ask, no there aren’t any of those here. At least not that I know of.” She shook her head, slowly and mockingly. “Have you never read Twilight ?”
    “Well, no, I saw the movie, but,” Rika trailed off as she turned one of her forearms back and forth under the dangling Coors Light lamp. The sparkles caught her eye and she finally made the connection.
    “I need a shower,” she said with a smirk. “I need a shower to get rid of this cologne smelling drool, and I need about nineteen hours of sleep. When I get that, I might be able to process all this.”
    “You’ve sure been a trooper so far,” Petunia said, pushing back from the table and dropping a twenty on the fake mosaic tile.
    “Is that gonna cover it?” Rika asked. “I mean, it’s not like I can toss in any, but—“
    “We have a deal,” Petunia said, tilting her head toward the bar tender, who was of course just about too large to be real. She winked. He, unbelievably, winked back.
    All the way to the car, Paprika couldn’t do much anything but just shake her head, and try to keep herself from drooling out of her wide open mouth.
    *
    T he shower did the trick. Petunia, for some reason, had invested in a huge, beautifully-tiled offset shower with two heads – one rain and one massager – with a frameless glass door. Upon seeing it, the only thing Paprika could think to call it was a “love-makin’ box,” which amused her sister to no end. Stepping into it, the notion that she could have shared it with Thor, assuming that he hadn’t... well, whatever had happened that made him bolt, put a squiggle through her that was half sad, half excruciatingly exciting.
    She’d find him. She knew it. He was coming here to take that dentist job, and nothing in the world was going to stop her from finding her bear. Hell, once he got his wits about him, he’d probably come looking for her, if the past was any indication.
    At some point during the hour that Paprika was allowing herself to scald and massage and soak in the shower before the water started going cold, someone rang the doorbell, and was chatting it up with her sister. She’d mentioned a roommate, so Rika didn’t give a second thought.
    Even if she’d wanted to dwell on the visitor, the completely ridiculous decadence of being massaged on the back, then the butt, and then the top of her thighs, all while warm, luxurious rain drenched her from head to toe? Suddenly, the point of this ridiculous renovation became wonderfully, achingly, amazingly clear. She might have to make her move permanent just for this thing. Although, she realized if she did, she’d probably need four jobs to cover the water bill.
    At some point, the pair in the living room apparently broke out some drinks, because they were getting louder and louder, laughing more and more. But Rika was off in her own world, floating around on a cloud of steam. It took fairly significant effort to pry herself off the built-in bench when the hot water finally started to peter out, and when she stepped out, Rika was shocked to find that it was almost seven o’clock.
    She’d never spent that long in the shower, mostly because wasting water was bad, and her mother liked to lecture about it, but then again, she’d never had a guy run away from her, and then gone on a cross country