Read Temptation: Reckless Desires (Blue Moon Saloon Book 2) for Free Online Page A

scratch.
    Without a scratch…
    Her mind stuck on that thought as she stared at the wall he’d been thrown against.
    All bark and no bite…
    “Janna!” Jess called, pulling her onward.
    “Have fun.” Simon smiled as they crossed paths outside.
    Bark…bite…scratch… Her stomach tightened as she thought it through.
    “Try this.” Jess held out a muffin as she entered the café through the rear door. “Blueberry supreme. Simon’s new favorite.”
    Janna nibbled but barely registered the taste. She helped her sister in the kitchen, because opening day for the new café was only two weeks away, and Jessica was working on some new recipes. It took two hours for Janna to work up the nerve to bring up what was on her mind.
    “Jess…” she asked, gulping it down. “Have you noticed anything about…well, about Cole?”
    Her sister chuckled. “You mean other than the fact that half the women in the saloon bat their eyes every time he walks in?”
    “I mean… Well, anything else?”
    “You mean, other than the fact that he looks at you like the sun might fade forever if you step out of the room? Other than the fact that he’s like a love-struck puppy around you?”
    Janna faked a laugh to match her sister’s.
    Love-struck puppy or love-struck wolf?
    “He has been moody lately,” Jess added in a more serious afterthought. “But then, that man’s always had something eating at him.”
    Cole had been awfully moody for the past few weeks. Mercurial, like spring weather back in Montana. He’d go from a dreamy kind of calm to sheer volcanic rumble in two seconds flat, and his gray eyes would go from darting restlessly around to calm as a fair weather cloud, drifting easily in a breeze.
    On a razor’s edge, in other words.
    Shit, shit, shit.
    Jess shrugged and went back to washing a bowl. “Poor man’s probably going through withdrawal, now that you’ve gotten him to quit the hard drinking.”
    Part of her wanted to swell with pride, because it was partially true. She’d been steadily working down his alcohol intake, and it had worked.
    But a sinking feeling in her gut told her that wasn’t the reason for his mood swings. The real reason could be something else. Something terrible.
    Of course, she’d checked him for wounds after the rogue fight, but she hadn’t been that thorough. Even a tiny scratch could be enough to turn a human.
    Or kill him.
    As if on cue, a shadow flickered in the front windows, and there was Cole.
    Mate!
Her wolf practically jumped to attention and wagged its tail. Plopped its butt on the ground and arranged its front paws just so, so that if he turned his head and used X-ray vision, he’d see a perfectly friendly, tame wolf.
    And he did turn his head. Stopped dead in his tracks and peered in the windows as if he’d sensed her there.
    “Hi, Cole!” Jessica waved cheerily.
    He waved back and flashed his perfect smile.
    Mate!
her wolf cried.
Mate!
    She rushed out onto the sidewalk then screeched to a halt in front of him, panting. Searching his eyes for the telltale sparks of a Changeling.
    “Heya, Janna.”
    “Hi, Cole,” she mumbled, running her hands up his arms. She hung on tight in relief, because his eyes were normal. Well, normal for Cole, which meant dark and stormy, with shafts of silverish sunlight cutting through the clouds. But no stray sparks, no fireworks, thank God.
    She reeled him into a huge hug of relief and laughed into his ear.
    “What?” He looked at her with a grin.
    She shook her head. “Just happy to see you.”
Happy to see you human. Happy to see you okay.
    Which had its own set of issues, she realized as she led him through the café for a muffin, then into the saloon. He was human. She was shifter. Getting involved with Cole could draw the wrath of the Blue Bloods.
    You will pay with your lives…
    She hid her shiver in a bouncy step and led him over to his favorite spot at the bar.
    Getting involved with Cole meant putting her sister and the bear