Don't Moose With Her (Bearbank Book 1) by Ariana McGregor Page B

the story. As with most silences in her family, it didn’t last for long.
    The front door opened again and her remaining brother, Adam, strolled in carrying several pizza boxes. Great, her whole family was here.
    “Right, squirt?” Adam asked as he took the food to the kitchen. Kyle and Frankie immediately followed. Dammit. With her sore leg, she’d never make it through fast enough to eat before her brothers ate everything. They really were that fast.
    “Fine,” Dana answered, struggling to get up.
    “Don’t even think about it.” Ethan had finally found his voice. He stalked over to her and lifted her.
    “Ooh, he’s a keeper,” her mother cooed, flashing a brilliant smile on the wolf and patting once of his biceps.
    Ethan carried her into the kitchen and sat himself on a chair, pulling Dana onto his knee. She opened her mouth to complain but he merely smiled and said, “You’re out of chairs.”
    Looking around, she noticed that he was right. She only had six chairs and they were all taken. She glared at him and snagged herself some pizza.
    “What’s with the wolf?” Adam asked, smacking Kyle’s hand away from his pizza.
    “Mate,” Frankie shrugged, stealing some of Kyle’s pizza while he was busy trying to steal Adam’s.
    Adam winced. “Good luck, mate.”
    Dana growled. Ethan was going to think that she was some kind of shrew. She was sweet-natured, dammit. It was just that a person had to be somewhat assertive with her family. It also helped to be just a little crazy.
    “It’s not happening,” she gritted out, slapping away Frankie’s hand from Ethan’s pizza. “We decided it’s a bad idea.”
    “Actually I think it’s a great idea,” Ethan chimed in, leaning over and reclaiming her pizza slice from Adam and handing it back to her. “So I rather think it will be happening.”
    “You’re deluded,” she snorted. Then again maybe she was the deluded one. Being so close to him, she was painfully aware of the effect he had on her. He was attractive, he smelled good and, now that he was no longer being a jerk, his behaviour towards her was protective and teasing. She liked him. Even though she was determined not to. She felt a little hot and bothered by his nearness. Determined not to suffer alone, she wiggled a little, smirking when his hand tightened around her waist, holding her still. She could feel the hard length of him against her.
    His breath tickled her ear when he leaned in to murmur into it. “You’re awfully brave when your family are here, sweetheart. Will you still be so courageous when they go home?”
    Dana shivered at the thought and fought to control her blush. Part of her longed to give in but she wasn’t ready yet. He had hurt her and she wasn’t sure that he really meant to stay with her, that she could trust the bond between them. What if he changed his mind again?
    Ethan handed her the pizza slice he had recovered from Frankie as she handed him his slice which had found itself on Kyle’s plate.
    “Why don’t they just eat their own pizza?” Ethan asked her, watching as Kyle and Adam got into a girlie looking slap fight over another slice of pizza, while Frankie liberated a slice from each of them.
    Dana shrugged. “Apparently it’s not as much fun. It’s sort of like a contest to see who gets to eat the most. You should have seen the Great Pizza Battle of 2012. You get used to it.”
    “I guess I will,” Ethan said, looking at her pointedly.

Chapter 22
     
     
    Ethan sighed. Dana’s family had finally gone home. After the pizza, there had been the cookies which had made the pizza swapping look almost normal. The cookies had involved a good deal more snarling. Since when did moose snarl anyway?
    At first, her family had bewildered Ethan. He had never had much of a family so he had little to compare it to. Dana’s family were a little overwhelming but Ethan found that he liked them. They had quietly included him, not making a big deal out of his presence,