Hare Today Bear Tomorrow (Mating Call Dating Agency, #1)

by Lynn Red

  Garnet sat, Stacy sat, and the two of them weren’t quite sure how to take the waiter placing their napkins and pouring their water. They watched like they were observing a different world unfolding around them. “Do we have menus?” Stacy asked when Maurice went to leave.

  “Oh, no, sir,” he said with a smile that stretched his thin moustache taut. “We’ve already got your orders. The chef d’cuisine will shortly be coming to meet with you and discuss the selections. What sort of wine would you like to start?”

  “Uh, a lot?” Garnet said with a nervous laugh. “I mean, I—”

  “I usually drink Coors,” Stacy said. “I know about as much about wine as most normal people know about… I dunno, cracking safes.”

  Maurice smiled. “I’ll send our sommelier over too, then. Don’t worry – you’re in good hands. Your friends have made sure you’re going to have the time of your lives.”

  “I get the feeling that with this girl? I’d have the time of my life at a McDonalds,” Stacy said, taking Garnet’s hand and smiling to beat the stars.

  “Yeah, and I’m pretty sure you could melt a glacier with that tongue of yours.”

  “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” Stacy said, giving a wink to Maurice, who departed somehow without cracking up.

  Two courses, the first buttered bread so fresh from the oven that the butter just sort of slid down it, and the second an escargot plate that both of them happily devoured, was all it took before things started heating up in a way that had nothing to do with garlic or with butter.

  “Where do you want to go?” Stacy asked, mouth half-full of bread, although he was polite enough to cover his maw with a napkin. “If you could go anywhere, where would it be? And you can’t say anything about going back in time, that doesn’t count.”

  “New York City, circa 1978,” Garnet said with a grin. She swallowed and then helped her food down with a healthy gulp of wine. When Stacy gave her a sharp glance, she relented. “Okay, okay fine. Honestly I don’t know. I’ve never been much of anywhere. Coming up as poor as we were, vacations weren’t much of a thing in my house. I’ve gone around most of these here United States, but I’ve always wanted to see all the rest of the stuff everyone wants to see. Egypt, Transylvania, you know.”

  “I hear that castle is pretty crazy,” Stacy said. “That’s a pretty wild divergence though; pyramids followed by some tyrant’s abode?”

  “Always been a fan,” she said. “Well I mean not a fan in the sense of liking the whole impaling people for fun thing, more the ambiance, you know?”

  “Makes sense,” he said, and took another bite of bread. “Like biting?”

  Garnet snorted so hard she almost horked the wine out of her nose. “What can I say? Sometimes it’s nice to get a little nip here or there.”

  It was Stacy’s turn to laugh, but at least he had the presence of mind to clear his mouth before booming. The two sat in silence, just enjoying the slightly cool breeze that slid through the balcony, around the two of them. Without any notice, Stacy grabbed Garnet’s hand and held it tight on top of the table. “If I asked you, right now, to be my mate, what would you say?”

  “I’d say that we’ve known each other less than a week, and that it seems absolutely insane to do anything like that with such short notice,” she said, staring at the gentle waves his fingers were making intertwined with hers. “And I’d also say that I’d be lying if I hadn’t thought of exactly the same thing. But we can’t, not now. We’ve got—you’ve got—your career, I’ve got my reporting, I don’t know, I just can’t…”

  She chewed her lip and breathed a sigh of relief when a plate of coq au vin appeared and gave her a moment’s respite from the awkwardness.

  “Mine’s almost over,” Stacy said.

  “How?” Garnet took a bite and chewed much more slowly than she normally did, but he just waited. “I mean, you’re not even… see? I don’t know how old you are!”

  “Thirty five,” he said. “My knees are kinda getting worn out. My shoulders ain’t what they used to be. And anyway, I’ve never been one on extravagant spending. I don’t want to end up like what’s-his-name in The Wrestler.”

  “Mickey Rourke. I’m thirty three,” Garnet said all in one syllable. She felt the heat in her cheeks flushing her skin heavily, and wished that she wasn’t as into this guy as she knew she was. It’d be a lot easier to laugh all this off and just never call him again if she didn’t want to give in to exactly the same things he was talking about. “Thirty three and I can’t remember the last time I actually trusted anyone.”

  With that, she stuffed a big fork load of chicken into her mouth.

  Stacy, when she looked back up, was nodding slowly. “For me it’s a thing where I always figure the gain from trusting someone isn’t ever going to outweigh the pain when they invariably fu—screw me over.” After a moment he continued, “Sorry, uh, pro wrestlers aren’t really known for their genteel language.”

  “My brain keeps telling me this is crazy, but I don’t want to listen to it. My heart is telling me something very different.” Garnet put down her fork. “I know exactly what you mean with the not trusting people, but for me it’s a little different. I do that thing where I do trust people. Too much. I let them take me on rides because I want to see what the end of the road looks like. And then when I end up hurt, I blame myself.”

  “And then you can’t bring yourself to see that it wasn’t you after all,” Stacy said. Garnet felt the warmth of his rough hand around her own. She didn’t bother trying to pull it away, because there wasn’t anything in the world that felt better right then, than to have him comfort her. “You can’t let yourself believe that you’re the good one, and other people just aren’t worth your time—”

  “Or my pain,” Garnet said, before squeezing his hand. She laughed nervously. “Look at me, I’m sitting here in the fanciest restaurant of my entire life and I’m moping about bad ex-boyfriends or… or whatever it is I’m moping about.”

  With one of those smiles that could melt an entire iceberg, Stacy studied her face. “Look,” he said softly, “I’m sorry. I’m the one who brought it up. If you want, we can just pretend this whole thing never happened. We can have our fancy dinner, maybe go watch a Judd Apatow movie, and then I’ll sleep on the couch, you take the bed and tomorrow we say our goodbyes.”

  He was watching her face so closely that Garnet knew he saw the slight tic in her left eye lid that always seemed to happen when she was trying her damndest to make a decision her head thought was right but her heart knew was all wrong. She chewed her lip hard enough to hurt. At some point during this exchange, another course—beouf bourguignon—appeared although neither of them took any notice.

  “I just don’t know how I get myself into these situations,” Garnet finally said with a forced smile. “I think I know what I want, and then when the best thing in the world is sitting right in front of me, I fuck it up. Sorry,” she added quickly, “journalists aren’t known for our genteel language either.”

  That brought another smile to Stacy’s face, and as soon as he grinned, so did Garnet. There was a raw honesty, even vulnerability, in the way he’d opened himself up to her, and she knew that. “I’m guessing you don’t give your feelings away very easily most times?” she asked. “I’m about as open as the Great Wall of China.”

  “It’s kinda funny how similar our worlds are,” Stacy offered. He leaned back in his chair, but didn’t let go of Garnet’s hand, and for that she was grateful. “I’m supposed to dutifully take all kinds of pain and injuries and never bat an eye, never complain. You’re supposed to take in all the world’s shit and then just tell everyone about it without getting emotional or anything. It strikes me that neither of these are particularly healthy ways to approach living.”

  “But it’s what we do,” Garnet said. “If we didn’t, someone would.”

  Stacy nodded, again slowly. “You’re on to something kid, I think you’ll make it big in the papers,” he s
aid with a comically overdone Brooklyn accent, straight out of Newsies. “Ya got moxie, I tell ya what.”

  “Do you,” Garnet squeezed his hand a little harder, and then reached under the table and gave one of his massive knees the same treatment, “like moxie?”

  She’d never seen a bear blush. At least, not from something she was doing. The feeling was pretty incredible, truth be told, and it gave her almost as much of a charge as bringing down some corrupt crocodile-shifting robber baron.

  “I think I do,” he said with a chuckle. “Although I didn’t know I did until just now. So I’m guessing you’re not going to jump up and run away any time soon?”

  “I’m holding onto your knee,” Garnet said. “If I did that I’d knock the table over and ruin all this food and end up breaking a bunch of dishes that I can’t possibly afford to replace.”

  Drawing his face into a very grim, serious look, Stacy nodded. “I could probably afford it, but then I’d be doing elbow drops until my body just collapsed. While that sounds sort of fun in theory, I’m pretty sure I don’t want any part of it. Sad guy from The Wrestler, remember?”

  Garnet laughed and then smiled the most honest, cheek-aching smile she remembered. Her entire body felt like it was glowing. “I think I’d probably say yes,” she said. “I realize that was a non-sequitur but it’s up to you to figure out what I’m talking about.”

  “Moxie, huh?”

  He took a heaping spoonful of the tantalizing stew, and held it out in front of him. “You first, gotta make sure it isn’t poisoned.”

  With a twinkle of mischief in her eyes, Garnet opened her mouth, curled her tongue around the base of the spoon and let out a moan that would have made Meg Ryan happy. She didn’t let up. The moaning turned into a soft, whispered groan, and then before she really knew what she was doing, she wrapped her leg around Stacy’s, pulling him closer to the table. His eyes grew to blazing blue irises surrounded by a sea of white.

  She arched her back, pressing her breasts against the slightly tight fabric on her top, and started breathing harder as she chewed and savored.

  Stacy constricted his leg around hers, pulling her closer as she continued the show. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her, and sat forward involuntarily. He leaned nearer her, and reached out, putting a hand behind her head and pulled her in for a kiss.

  The taste of wine and chicken still fresh on his lips, Garnet sucked his bottom lip between her teeth, swallowed her stew, and slid her tongue against his. Hands found cheeks, teeth clashed, and tongues swirled together for what seemed like an eternity. When he finally pulled back, and they both deftly avoided dipping any clothes into the big bowl of stew between them, Garnet sat back and let out a long sigh.

  “That’s really good stew,” she said with a smirk. “Thanks for letting me have the first bite.”

  Opening his mouth wide, Stacy looked like he was about to fall over in his chair.

  “Oh yeah,” she added. “The kiss wasn’t too bad either. I want to throw you over this table and work you over,” as soon as Stacy started gaping again, she giggled. “But I imagine you’ve had plenty of people throw you over tables, so that might not be too exciting.”

  “They usually break,” he said, in a breathless half-laugh. “And I’ve never had anyone throw me over a table like that.”

  Garnet slid a foot up Stacy’s leg and along the inner seam of his jeans. “Oh my,” she said, blushing even though she was the one doing the taunting. “Looks like you really do want to get out of here.”

  Cocking a half-smile that snaked an electrical surge, and then a crackle of excitement along the nerves in Garnet’s belly, and between her legs, the big bear reached over, slid a thumb from Garnet’s lips to her chin, and then down to the hollow of her throat. He curled a finger behind her ear. “I’ll tell you this much,” he said in a soft, almost dangerous, rumbling voice. “Once I get you down, you’re not getting up for a long, long time.”

  It was Garnet’s turn to blush and then quail softly. “You have a way, don’t you?” she asked softly, curling the left corner of her mouth into a smile.

  “Not usually,” he admitted. “Honestly, almost never. Then again, I’ve never had anyone make me want to act like this. And I think I figured out what that ‘yes’ was for earlier. Can I take a guess?”

  Garnet smiled and shrugged. “If you want.” She curled her foot along the inner part of Stacy’s jeans once again. “I don’t think you’ll get it right though.”

  He took a moment, scratching his chin. Stacy let his finger trail along the dimple in the center of it, and then he thumped himself with a couple of quick flicks. “You’re saying ‘yes’ to the dessert tray?”

  Garnet laughed, loud and sweetly, and when she finished, she prodded him where it counted with her toe. “Guess again.”

  He got very serious. “If I asked you to be my mate, you’d say yes?”

  His voice went very low and soft, in a way that caressed Garnet’s ears as she listened to him. She shrugged. “Maybe so,” she said. “But you’re gonna have to ask before you know.”

  “This is pretty serious,” he said. “You’re really willing to take a chance on me, on a guy you hardly know, based on two dates and the fact that I took my first day off in sixteen years to come and see you?”

  “I might not be good at trust, but I can read people,” Garnet said. She was serious too, from the tone in her voice. “I spend every second I’m awake analyzing, questioning and thinking and never letting my guard down. I’ve been on plenty of dates, although admittedly not in the past few years. If I couldn’t figure someone out in the first ten seconds of meeting them I’d probably be dead by now.”

  “I don’t pick my clothes up when I take them off. I just throw them on the floor,” Stacy said.

  “Sometimes I forget to brush my teeth until I eat a banana and it tastes awful,” Garnet countered.

  “Once, I let my trash stack up so much that the maid I hired refused to clean unless I hired someone else to help her,” Stacy upped the poor lifestyle decision ante.

  “For two weeks last year I forgot to wash my hair. It was like a bunch of candles hanging off my head. In fairness, I was also in rural Tennessee, but still.”

  “I went a month without washing my gym gear.”

  “I’d rather do pretty much anything but cook. Even if ‘anything’ means ‘eating Taco Bell for a week.’”

  “That’s gross,” Stacy said flatly, completely unable to hide his huge grin. “But I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been there. I can’t believe I’m about to say this. Hell, I can’t believe I feel like this. Part of my mind thinks I’m completely insane and going against everything reasonable.”

  “Ancient Egyptians thought that the stomach and the heart controlled the body. You know, you get butterflies when you fall in love, and when you think you’re about to get pulled over and get a ticket, your heart races?” Her hands seemed to find his without her even thinking about it. “That’s my long-winded way of saying you’re not the only crazy person here.”

  “I really hate to waste this stew. I feel sorta guilty about Eve paying for it and us not eating it,” Stacy said, glancing down at the still-steaming bowl for only a second before he went right back to staring straight into Garnet’s soul. “But at the same time, I just can’t make myself care.”

  “Say whatever you want to say,” Garnet said. “Right now you could tell me I had spinach in my teeth and it wouldn’t change the way I feel.”

  “Even if I think I’m nuts?” he asked.

  “Especially if you think you’re nuts. I have this theory that when we think we’re craziest is when we’re the most honest. And besides, the hair on your arms is growing thicker. If I know anything about bears, that means you’re about to say something you know you can’t take back.”

  “Either that, or we’re about to get in a fight, or someone’s playing a fiddle with our heart. Although bears don’t usually admit that sort of thing,” he smile
d. “Your nose is twitching. I’m guessing that’s the same tell for rabbits?”

  “Exactly the same one, but I’m not going to tell you why my nose is twitching until you tell me why your arms are getting hairier. I’m hoping it’s not because you’re actually a New Jersey Mafia boss. I don’t see a big gold chain on your wrist, so…”

  He laughed loud and hard and heavy. “I’ve never felt like this, not once in my life,” he said.

  “You’re deflecting. If you don’t say what you want to say, I’m gonna order dessert.”

  “That’s moxie,” he said with a smile. “But… I think I’m falling in love with you and I don’t want to miss this chance to be happy in the way that I’ve always wanted but never thought I ever would.”

  The air left Garnet’s lungs in a hiss between her clenched teeth. Her mouth fell open involuntarily, and she couldn’t help but grin when she was finished exhaling. “I,” she started and then shook her head. “I don’t know what the hell is wrong with me, but I think the same thing.”

  “Are we stupid?” she asked a moment later. “Are we just two lonely shifters who found the first thing that came along and jumped at it?”

  Stacy was shaking his head. “If there’s one thing I know, it’s that I don’t jump unless I see something special. And you? You make me laugh. I could look at your eyes forever and never be bored. I’ve never, not once in my life, known anyone who made me relax and made me realize that no matter what, I was okay. You make my heart calm down, Garnet, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let this go without a fight.”