Read The Fox and her Bear (Mating Call Dating Agency, #2) for Free Online Page B

of bumps, bruises and scrapes she couldn’t remember getting.
    “I hear that, last night we had about seventy calls. At least half of them were actually emergencies that didn’t involve non-shifting cats and trees. So, you found someone? Really? Is it some sort of whiny rhino?”
    Eve repeated that phrase – whiny rhino – several times, laughing under her breath. “That really sounds funny, huh?” Eve asked. “Whiny rhino, whiny rhino, uh... sorry. My head is in about fourteen thousand different places today. I’ll tell you this though, he’s no whiny rhino. Not a rhino at all. A bear. A bar bear,” she giggled again and then sighed at herself.
    “Are you okay?” Angie asked. “You seem like you’ve got some gas leaking into the office.”
    “It’s a long story. A real long one,” Eve said. “You ever hear of Tenner’s Bar?”
    Angie nodded her head before remembering she was on the phone. “Sure, it’s one of four bars in town and I’m a dispatcher. Fights aren’t exactly rare. I can’t do the late nights anymore. Well I mean, I can but I don’t get out of work until most people are just showing up at their offices. I have to do my drinking at one of the places near the hospital where all the graveyard shift nurses and cops whet their whistles. But I like pancakes better anyway.”
    Falling silent for a moment, Angie thought of syrup, whipped cream, a short-stack of buttermilk pancakes and some kind of fruit topping. Strawberries, maybe? “God I love pancakes,” she said without realizing she was speaking out loud. “Er, sorry, so who is this guy?”
    Eve clicked her teeth together, and flipped audibly through papers. “Dawson Lex. He’s a bear, a very nice one, and he also sings like an angel. Just don’t ask him about Billy Joel. He’s the piano bear at Tenner’s Bar, and is slightly reclusive.”
    “Well he’s a bear,” Angie said, her voice getting a little bit higher and just a touch more excited. “They don’t tend to be the most social. I’ve never even thought of dating a bear. I’m kinda... well I won’t say small, because of the pancake thing partly, but I’m not anywhere near as big as a bear.”
    “Oh don’t worry, honey,” Eve said with a tinge of mischief in her voice. “We might all be different shapes and sizes, but that’s what makes life interesting. And I do mean interesting . If you catch—”
    “Uh yeah I think I get it,” Angie laughed under her breath. “But... I don’t know. I mean, is he sure he can handle my baggage?”
    “He’s got his own,” Eve said. “Look, I’ve got to get back to nursing this headache, but I promise this is going to be good. He’s got a smile that could kill a snail,” she paused, but decided not to pursue that train of thought. “Beautiful eyes, and a big, round laugh. And he’s got a hell of a good heart. But, like I said, he’s got his own baggage, so I wouldn’t worry about that too much.”
    For a moment, the two sat silently, wondering who was going to say something first. “Well,” Angie finally said, “I’m so tired of sitting around by myself that I’ll give it a shot, even if I’m not convinced he’s going to have any interest in me at all. He sounds like a dream, to be honest,” she trailed off, remembering the dream she’d been having before her ill-fated and plenty painful jaunt around her room. Her toes throbbed, but that didn’t stop her imagination from flying high and wide.
    The guy in her dream had been tall, slightly muscular, but not like a freak show bodybuilder. He had these burning green eyes and some shaggy, dark blond hair. He also had these ears that stuck out just a little more than they would to be perfect, but somehow that little imperfection made him even more beautiful to her. It was sort of like him having some trait that made him look more real than a calendar model made him... well, real. She could imagine him actually existing, actually having anything to do with