Savage Bear: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance by Ruby Shae Page B

for a hug.
    “Thank you,” the woman whispered.
    “See you tomorrow,” Leah said, as the couple raced toward the door.
    She checked the empty booth for any stray belongings, and then abandoned the table and maneuvered through the crowd toward the bathroom.
    Meg had been the last of her friends to leave, and for the first time in months, she was alone with the dark and dangerous bear shifter behind the counter. Well, as alone as she could be in the popular and semi-packed Wild Bear bar.
    Believe it or not, finding the courage to talk to him wasn’t as hard as finding the opportunity to approach him without her friends’ disapproval.
    Her longtime friends, Meg, Jessica, Tiffany and Ashley, didn’t like the brooding bartender. In fact, they were afraid of him. The big, tattooed, angry bear was the only man they’d ever tried to persuade her not to talk to, and usually it worked. Asking him out was a longshot, and she didn’t want an audience watching as she crashed and burned.
    But tonight was different.
    One by one, the four women had left until they’d left her alone.
    After one last glance in the mirror, she made her way to his side of the bar and waited for him to approach her.
    “What can I get you?”
    His dark, almost black eyes bored into her, but instead of being afraid, her whole body tingled with arousal. She wanted to lick the tribal skull tattoo on his forearm and rip off his t-shirt so she could see the full images of the others peeking out from under his sleeves.
    She longed to touch his short, brown hair, and smooth her hands over his hard, muscular body. He let out a low, impatient growl, and liquid heat dampened her panties. She closed her mouth to stop the tiny gasp that threatened to escape, and swallowed hard.
    Jared inhaled, narrowed his eyes and curled his lip as if he was annoyed and unaffected by her arousal, but she didn’t care. She and her friends visited the Wild Bear nearly every night, and she’d caught him watching her more times than not. If he wasn’t interested, he had a funny way of showing it.
    “Well?” he asked, irritably.
    “Water, please.”
    “Bottle or tap?”
    “Tap.”
    A few seconds later, he placed a small glass with a little red straw down on the cocktail napkin in front of her.
    “That all?”
    “Um, no,” she cleared her throat. “I was wondering if you’d like to go out with me sometime. Maybe Sunday? I don’t cook, but I’ll buy. You can choose the place.”
    If possible, his dark eyes seemed to darken even more, and his face hardened. He was clearly angry, but she didn’t know why. The minute of silence seemed more like an hour, and he didn’t turn away until one of the waitresses slammed her tray down on the counter.
    “Looking good, Michelle,” Jared said.
    “Thank you.”
    He didn’t smile at the waitress, but Leah understood his dismissal.
    She jumped off the barstool, weaved her way through the crowd, and exited the building without looking back.
     
    Leah glanced across the crowded room, located Jared behind the bar, and silently cursed. Why did she have to torture herself? Why couldn’t she stop looking?
    Several times during the evening, she’d looked up to find Jared watching her. She hated those moments because they gave her hope, and she had nothing to hope for. It had been a week since she’d asked him out, and she still hadn’t completely recovered.
    She hadn’t been certain he’d say yes, but she’d never envisioned him completely ignoring her. Had she been too confident? Confidence was supposed to be sexy, but maybe she’d come on too strong. Maybe an overconfident fat chick was just a huge joke.
    Thankfully, none of her friends knew about her short stint of temporary insanity, because if they found out, she’d never hear the end of it. Not only would they scold her for talking to the bad boy, they’d hate him for humiliating her, and she didn’t want to give them another reason not to like him.
    It didn’t make any