Bear Pause (BBW / Bear Shifter Romance): A Billionaire Oil Bearons Romance (Bear Fursuits Book 6) Read Online Free PDF Page A

spreading cornfields with liquid gold. That stuff smelled worse than this by some margin. In the Army, there had been digging and cleaning field latrines. Revolting, but better than putting your buddies into body bags. And once you found your rhythm, this wasn’t even hard work. And when your nose got used to the stench, it shut up.
    The April sun was strong, even though there was still winter in the air. Steve stripped off first his leather jacket, and then his fleece vest. His plaid flannel shirt followed shortly. Soon he was working bare-chested. Even so, he was sweating hard as he heaved forkful after forkful of manure over the four foot dividing wall. There was a comfortable peacefulness to this physical activity that he had been missing at his desk job in Chicago.
    He didn’t fault Sarkany for kicking him upstairs. Hugo Sarkany was just a shade suspicious of Steve’s friendship with his mate Leah. A totally irrational jealousy, for neither Steve nor Leah was romantically interested in the other. Even if Steve had been the kind of hound who poached other men’s women, he damned well wouldn’t have tried it on a dragon’s mate. But Sarkany had wanted Leah and Steve to have less contact. He had pushed Steve into the Sarkan Security Systems head office which was located half a world away from Switzerland.
    Steve had found Chicago exciting, and he had enjoyed the challenge of revitalizing Sarkan Security. What he missed was his team. As Sarkany’s personal bodyguard and head of his personal security force, he had handpicked his fellow operatives. Even though they knew he was in charge, they had also been buddies. It helped that every man Jack of them was ex-military and at Sarkany’s insistence, a shifter. Those common bonds had made them tight. They were comfortable with each other’s silences and kept each other’s secrets.
    As Chief of Operations for Sarkan Security he now occupied a corner office and was the boss. His direct reports were a great bunch of guys, but they couldn’t truly be his pals. But he hadn’t found himself any others. It seemed all he had done for the last four months was work. When he got back, he had to find himself some buddies before he turned into a workaholic recluse.
    Maybe he could find a bar where ex-service bear shifters hung out. Start to look around for a proper home to replace that slick hotel suite he had been living in. Someplace where a bear could stretch out without bumping his ass on something sharp and shiny. He made a good salary. Most of it he just salted away since he had no rent or mortgage to pay. He could afford to buy property even if he turned down old Clive’s money.
    Chicago had some decent suburbs. He should find himself a nice big house with a large backyard and make a nest for his mate. He was thirty-six, it was time he settled down and started another generation of Holdens. When he got back to Chicago, he’d put finding a wife at the top of his agenda.

CHAPTER FOUR
    Laura came out of the stables, heading back to the paperwork waiting in her office. The dazzling April sunshine bounced off the snow and made her blink. She slipped her shades back on just as she caught unexpected movement out of the corner of her eye. She detoured to check it out. A shirtless stranger was slinging horse dung from bay two to bay three. She had no idea why he was using a pitchfork instead of the little bobcat that they had bought for just such tasks.
    She blinked at the sight. Her feet refused to move. The stranger’s broad, brown shoulders glistened as if he had been oiled. Every movement spoke of effortless strength. The tattoos around his biceps bulged as he lifted and threw. The seams of his blue jeans strained at buttock and thigh.
    The breeze brought her his potent scent. Masculine. Sexy. Testosterone city. Lust seized her lungs and she fought to draw a breath. She could feel her nipples puckering and her pussy growing soft and wet. She swallowed hard. This was