"I’m starving," she said with a laugh. “Talking to lunatics does that to me.”
"How about we stop off at the Fate Valley Café and Bakery?"
"Sounds lovely.”
Sunshine had told him about how the ex-girlfriend had showed up at the reception and Harrison was determined to question her about it. Going for a bite to eat at her place of work seemed like a perfect excuse.
Harrison and Sunshine walked into the café and the smell of roasting coffee and pastries wafted into his nose and made his stomach rumble. His inner grizzly got excited at the smell of blueberry muffins, and he licked his lips in anticipation. They stood in line waiting behind two other customers and Sunshine nudged him in the elbow. He looked down at her and leaned in for her to whisper in his ear.
"That's her," she said, cocking her chin toward the girl making coffee behind the espresso machine.
The overly skinny girl had long bleach blonde hair and too much makeup. As he observed her, he could tell she was snotty and rude. She rolled her eyes and snapped at the woman at the till. When he and Sunshine made it to the front of the line, he ordered a large mocha with whipped cream, a blueberry muffin and a turkey sandwich. Sunshine ordered a caramel macchiato, ham sandwich, and a cheese pastry.
He paid for their lunch and they hurried off to find a table in the corner near the window. Paintings by local artists hung on the brick walls and music played low behind the chatter of lively conversation. A few people sat at their tables, working on laptops. A young man sat in an armchair in the corner, wearing a fedora and reading a copy of Bukowski. Two young moms chatted over coffee while they rocked their strollers back and forth.
A moment later, the barista at the till called their names, and Harrison stood to grab their tray. He brought it over to the table and they began to dig into their lunch. The taste of the special sauce on his turkey sandwich was delicious. It was cream cheese with olives and some other kind of seasoning he couldn't quite place.
"This is so good," Sunshine said with her mouth full, "What's in this sandwich spread?"
"It's a secret," he said. “Baker Bear keeps all his secrets hidden from the public.”
"Baker Bear?" Sunshine asked.
"Grayson Baxter is the owner of Fate Valley Café and Bakery," Harrison said. “We call him Baker Bear. He hasn't found himself a mate yet either," Harrison said.
"He'll have to join Mate.com.”
"I think he already has.”
A moment later the burly baker with a full sleeve of tattoos and a dark beard walked out from behind the counter and slapped Harrison on the back.
"Harrison Cole," Grayson said. "I didn't know you found your mate."
"Grayson," Harrison started. "Let me introduce you to Sunshine Blackthorn. She came all the way from Fate Mountain for her best friend’s wedding. We just happened to find out that we were fated."
"Well, congratulations you two. Your meal is on the house. Here's a gift card. Come back anytime," he said, handing the gift card to Sunshine.
"Thank you, Grayson."
"It's good to see two shifters in love. It gives me hope for myself."
Grayson walked back behind the counter and Sunshine smiled down into the fifty-dollar gift card.
"Well that was nice," she said.
"Grayson's a good guy. He served in the military around the same time I did. He used his shifter veterans’ benefits to open the café when he moved to Fate Valley. I know him from the Shifter Community Association. There's a lot of guys who are still single. Believe it or not."
"I know it can take time, but fate always works out in the end, like it did for us," Sunshine said, reaching across the table to take his hand.
He took hers in his own, and the spark of connection vibrated between them. His heart nearly burst with joy. Having the congratulations from his friend only made it better. Harrison wanted to ask her to marry him, but he decided it would have to wait until after the mystery of the fire was solved. As they finished their lunch, he noticed that the ex-girlfriend was taking a break.
"Now’s our chance to talk to her," he said, cocking his head toward the girl.
He watched her take off her apron and walk out the back door. Sunshine nodded in agreement. They took their dishes to the bus bin and threw away their trash before exiting the café. Hurrying through the snow-covered parking lot around the back of the brick building, they found the girl smoking a cigarette, leaning against the wall.
"You two must be lost," she said.
"We wanted to ask you a few questions about the day of the Fate Rock Chapel fire." Harrison said.
"I didn't have anything to do with that," she snapped.
"We didn't say you did," Harrison said.
"Why were you at the reception?" Sunshine asked.
"Look, I already told Kirk I was there because I was delivering coffee for the reception. The caterers ran out and they called the café. I was the only one available to drive it up there. I wasn't stalking him, and I don't care that he married his shifter whore," she bit out.
Harrison was taken aback by the woman's bitter words. She took another drag of her cigarette, her fingers smudged with black residue. He couldn’t tell if the smudges were from coffee grounds or her cigarette. She threw her butt on the ground without stomping out the flame and headed back toward the café door.
"Wait a minute," Harrison said.
"What?" she snapped, spinning back around to face them.
Her face was red, and her eyes were angry and burning with indignation.
"Are you angry that Kirk married a shifter or are you angry that he married someone besides you?" he asked.
Her mouth dropped at his question, and her eyes narrowed as her fists clenched by her side.
"Kirk and I were meant for each other. He’s my soulmate. Just because he joined some scam dating website and was matched with that shifter girl doesn't mean that we don't belong together. Soon he's going to figure it out, and he's going to come crawling back to me. Mark my words. He’ll get tired of her at any minute, and then we'll be together like it's meant to be."
"And what if he doesn't leave her?" Sunshine asked.
"That's not going to happen," the girl said.
"Why not?" Harrison continued.
"Because I know that deep down he loves me."
"And you would do anything to ensure that he didn't marry his fiancée, right?" Harrison tried.
"If you're insinuating I had something to do with that fire, just stop it. Everybody knows that the arsonist, Ted Baily, is the one who set it. Go ask him your stupid questions. I’m just a heartbroken woman, and you’re rubbing salt in my wounds. If you don't leave right now, I'm going to complain to Grayson, and he'll ban you forever,” she whined, stomping off and slamming the back door behind her.
Chapter 12
Harrison Googled Ted Baily and found a list of his previous addresses. The most recent one was an apartment in Fate Valley not far from the café.
"I'm not sure this is a good idea," Sunshine said to Harrison as he drove toward the apartment building.
"Why not?" he asked.
"He could be dangerous," she said.
"I won't let anything happen to you," he promised. "You can stay in the truck, or I can take you back to the resort first.”
"Not a chance," she said bravely. “I need to find out who tried to ruin my friend's wedding. I came here to support her, and I intend to keep doing that.”
"That's my girl," he said with a smile.
"I think my friend Liam Nash from the Shifter Association owns this apartment building,” Harrison said. “We call him Holiday Bear because he loves the holidays so much. He owns a lot of real estate in Fate Valley, including the Event Center where the Holiday Market is held every year."
Harrison pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and put it on speaker as he drove down the highway.
"Harrison?" Liam asked over the speaker phone.
"Hi Liam, how are you?" he aske
d.
"Doing well. Just putting the finishing touches on the organization for the Holiday Market. Everyone in town is excited for the event, as usual."
"You own Fate Valley Apartments on Third Street, right?"
"Yes, I do. It's a good investment for me,” Liam said.
"We have a question about one of your tenants."
"Who is we?" Liam asked.
"Me and my mate Sunshine Blackthorn.”
"You found your mate?" Liam asked, shock in his voice.
"Indeed, I did."
"You old dog. And you didn't even want a mate last time we talked at the Association meeting."
"I've seen the error of my ways," Harrison said, smiling and winking at Sunshine. She giggled and beamed at him from the passenger seat.
"So, what tenant of mine do you have a question about?”
“His name is Ted Baily," Harrison said. “From what I understand he was a convicted arsonist."
"Ah yes, the police already asked me about him. He's been a good tenant. His conviction happened when he was only eighteen years old. He was a troubled kid and had a hard home life. You know the story. He served his time. But that was fifteen years ago. I wouldn't hold that type of thing against a man for that long."
"I see," Harrison said. "Everyone in Fate Valley seems to believe that it was him."
"You know how rumors spread in small towns," Liam said. "I haven't had any problems with him. He pays his rent on time every month. He's polite to his neighbors, and I've never had a single complaint."
“We're going to go ask him a few questions just to put our minds at ease. Sunshine was the maid of honor at the wedding. I was there to put out the fire in the old Fate Rock Chapel. We want to find out who set it."
“Understandable.” Liam said. “You’re coming to the Holiday Market, right?”
"We'll be there with bells on," Harrison said.
Liam chuckled on the other end of the line. As they hung up and said goodbye, he let out a sigh and smiled at Sunshine.
"Well?" he asked. "What do you think?"
"It sounds like your friend Liam believes that Ted is innocent," Sunshine reasoned. "But everyone else seems to suspect him."
"Let's go talk to him."
Harrison headed over to Fate Valley Apartments, and they climbed out of the truck. Holding hands, they walked toward his door. Harrison let out a deep breath and rapped his knuckles against the wood. The door cracked open.
A short, skinny man, showing signs of early male pattern baldness, and wearing thick, round glasses peered out from the apartment door. He looked confused as he regarded them, but smiled when he saw Sunshine's pretty face.
"Can I help you?" Ted asked.
"We had a few questions about the Fate Rock Chapel fire," Harrison started. Ted waved his hand in the air and frowned.
"I already told the police. I was nowhere near the Fate Rock Chapel the day of the fire."
"Where were you?" Sunshine asked.
"I was out fishing on my boat on the lake."
"You have anyone to corroborate your whereabouts?" Harrison asked.
"I go fishing alone. I'm a grown man. Don't need to tell anybody where I'm going," he said angrily.
Sunshine and Harrison looked at each other and then back at Ted.
"Do you have any connection to the bride or groom or to the Fate Rock Chapel?" Harrison asked.
"Not at all."
"The fire you started when you were eighteen was at a historic landmark wasn't it?" Sunshine asked.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"It shows a pattern of behavior," Harrison said.
"I don't need to stand here and take this kind of abuse," Ted snapped, slamming the door in their faces.
They turned away and walked down the stairs to the truck.
"That didn't go very well," Harrison said as he opened the door for Sunshine.
"Do you think he's hiding something?"
"He seems to have an alibi for the day of the fire, but like you said the one he set when he was a kid was also at a historic landmark."
Harrison climbed behind the wheel of the car and turned on the engine. It was getting late in the day and he didn't want to stress Sunshine with this wild goose chase any longer. He knew that she was just as determined as he was to find out who had tried to burn down the chapel.
"We still haven't really questioned Kirk's mother," Sunshine said. “She’s staying in the resort a few more days. Melody told me the woman insisted Kirk pay for her to stay there, even though she lives in Fate Valley. It was a big hoopla before the wedding. It took me a week to talk Melody down from that one. I knew the mom was a problem. I just didn’t realize how much she didn’t want Melody and Kirk to get married.”
"I think we should wait until morning for that," Harrison said, driving toward the Fate Valley Resort. "I'm going to take you home."
"To your home?" she teased.
"Do you want to see my house?" he asked hopefully.
"I would love to."
"Let’s go,” he said, taking the next turnoff toward his home.
A few moments later he pulled up in front of his quaint ranch-style home, and parked in the driveway. He helped her out of the truck and they walked to the covered porch where two matching rocking chairs sat cold and silent in the twilight.
"This is cute," she said looking around.
He opened the door, and they walked inside. He’d left the heater on low, so it wasn't freezing cold. Harrison glanced to the side and found his one houseplant had died from neglect. He quickly hid it behind a chiar. She walked inside and assessed the surroundings.
Wood-paneled walls with paintings of Fate Valley, his prized fish catch mounted on the wall above the fireplace. His dining room table that was covered in clean laundry but was made of thick hardwood. He showed her the kitchen that he'd had remodeled when he'd bought the place. She ran her hands over the dark granite countertops and assessed the cedar cabinets. She shook her head in appreciation as he took her hand and guided her down the hallway.
“This is the hall bathroom,” he said as they passed.
It was tidy because he didn't use that one very often. He showed her the two guest rooms. One was furnished as a bedroom and the other as a workout room. And then he took her into the master where his big king-size bed lay rumpled but cozy in the middle of the room. He kicked his dirty laundry into the corner and hid it behind him as she looked around.
"It's nice," she said. "It could use a woman's touch and a little bit of dusting. But I like it. I like it a lot."
"Does that mean that you could live here?" he asked, turning to her and grasping her shoulders with his big hands.
"I think, definitely," she said with a smile.
He leaned in and kissed her lips, pulling her close as he felt a surge of happiness rise in his chest. His inner bear growled with contentment and they held each other in the dim light of his bedroom. His grizzly roared with desire for his mate. She shrieked when he picked her up and tossed her playfully onto the bed.
"You naughty bear," she said, wagging her finger at him to join her.
Chapter 13
Sunshine giggled as she pulled Harrison's shirt up over his head and threw it on the floor. He growled and bared his sharp teeth as he helped her out of her clothes. They were both completely naked within a few moments, rolling around on the bed together as their bears growled inside their minds.
He grazed his sharp teeth over her neck, and she flipped over on top of him, licking his chest hungrily. She slid down his body, inch by inch, her tongue leaving a trail between his pecs, down the center of his abs, around the curly dark hair on his groin. She licked the slit in the head of his cock, lapping up the tiny bead of pre-cum that had formed there. Sunshine grinned at him and opened her mouth wider. He growled and cupped the back of her head as she playfully sucked the tip of his dick, slowly caressing the soft smooth skin of his shaft with her hand.
"You're going
to drive me crazy girl," he growled as she teased him with her touch and her tongue.
He leaned back and stared at the ceiling as she dipped her mouth down over his manhood sucking him deep into her mouth. She sucked him as she moved up and down at a frantic pace, drawing out his desire until he was ferocious with need. She giggled as he flipped her on her back and pinned her down under his huge-muscled weight.
"I’ve got you now," he said holding her wrists tight to the bed.
"What are you going to do with me, big bad bear?" she teased in a baby voice.
"I'm going to devour you," he growled in her ear, nipping at the lobe.
He kissed down her body, holding her still as he sucked her nipples into his mouth, nibbling at the sensitive flesh. Her bear was so close to the surface. She felt she might shift if he teased her any more. He dipped his head between her thighs, letting go of her hands as he pushed her legs wide. He devoured her wet pussy with his hungry mouth.
Sunshine gasped and sucked air through her teeth as he kissed and sucked and licked the most sensitive parts of her being. She looked up at him with surprise in her eyes as he drove her close to the brink of release. She ran her fingers through his hair as he looked up at her and grinned. She smiled at him and pulled him toward her.
Harrison kissed her hard on the lips, slipping his tongue into her mouth. Their mouths danced in a greedy embrace as he pointed the tip of his dick at her opening. Her mouth dropped open as they looked into each other's eyes. He sank slowly inside, inching his length into her core. Their eyes were locked as he sank to the base of his shaft, his balls resting against her flesh. She closed her eyes and arched her head back, groaning from the sheer pleasure of his mass inside her. He began to move in slow languid waves, kissing her gently and looking deep into her eyes.
"Oh Harrison, I love you so much," she said.
In her mind, she felt their bears playing together in more dimensions than one. In the forest, in the snow, dancing through the stars like ethereal lovers. The wild heat of their love-making built in her belly as he slammed his rod into her soft flesh over and over. Sunshine growled as she came, slashing her nails down his back as he bit her neck right under her ear. The pleasure and pain mingled as her pussy throbbed and clenched on his swollen dick.