Chapter One
She should get a cat.
A woman in a lawn chair held a crate of mewling kittens, smartly sitting near the park entrance where spring festival goers passed by.
“Five dollars each, or two for eight!”
Little poof balls of white fur with brilliant blue eyes, stood on their back legs and meowed louder as Olive Kent peered into the crate. Their little pink noses and fuzzy ears made her heart ache from the cuteness. As if sensing her longing, the kittens clamored to climb from their box. They were so sweet! So small, so… dependent. She’d always wanted a cat, but the timing was never right.
Having a pet was a responsibility that demanded stability. She moved around too much and though she’d been in Estes Park for over a year now, she didn’t have the best track record in putting down roots. Maybe one day things would be different, and she’dfill her home with cats and plants and all the other things she wasn’t sure she could commit to right now.
Stepping into the flow of pedestrians heading into the park, Olive brushed off a pang of disappointment at not leaving with a kitten and pulled in a breath of clean, warm air. Spring had finally come to Colorado. It was very welcome after a harsh winter had dealt a record amount of snow and freezing temperatures, so she’d overheard during morning coffee at Sticky Sweet Bakery, where the long-time residents gathered around a plate of sticky buns to complain about their arthritis and the weather.
She’d managed winter just fine. Living in a small apartment above the CARA ONE boutique where she worked meant she didn’t have to commute or deal with the elements. She simply walked down the stairs to her job in the morning and walked right back up at the end of the day.
It was the perfect arrangement, and she loved her job and living here, bad winters and all.
You have a fancy new life now, huh? Don’t forget where you came from.
Curling her upper lip, Olive shoved the intrusive memory of her sister’s words away. She never should have visited Megan last month. What a disaster that had been. Fiddling with the citrine crystal pendant on her necklace, Olive increased her pace and reminded herself that everything would be fine if she kept her past to herself.
The scent of mini donuts and cotton candy wafted her way from the massive white tent just ahead. A long line of people waited to get in. The spring carnival was a tribute to the town’s Wild West days and marked the end of winter. It looked like the entire town had come for the festivities.
“Olive!” Her friend Lulu Orlando-Mitchell waved her hands from the front of the tent, eyes sparkling and cheeks flushed. “I’m so glad you’re here! I have a job for you.”
There were bits of wood and bark clinging to her friend’s oversized sweatshirt and leggings.
“Why are you so dirty?”
Lulu looked down at herself. “Fox and I were in a log-chopping contest. We lost.”
“You were chopping logs?”
“Ha. No. I just stood there and cheered him on. It turns out that you need arm strength to swing an ax.” She curled an arm and pointed to her bicep. “I was zero help, but Fox has enough muscle for both of us and then some.”
So does his brother.
Stop it, Olive! Not again.
“Come on.”
Lulu was a born and bred city girl and a fashion vlogger with a massive following who looked to her for advice on the latest in everything beauty and style. There was a time when a speck of dirt on her clothes would make her panic. But since Lulu had come to Estes Park to chase down grizzly shifter and wilderness survivalist Fox Mitchell for a work assignment, and ended up falling in love with him, she’d completely changed.
It seemed Estes Park was good for everyone.
Lulu gestured to a table set with plates, water glasses, and a stack of red and white checkered bibs. “Here we go.”
“What’s this?”
Lulu squeezed Olive’s arm gently. “Just hear me out before you say no.”
“Oh, no. What did you sign me up for—”
Her voice trailed off when she spotted him. Well, them. The Mitchells.
Dax, Jett, Desi, Fox, Ryker, and the patriarch Rowan. The family of grizzly shifters was hard to miss with their impressive height, powerful bodies, and kind, beautiful smiles that knocked the breath out of your chest.
Especially Ryker’s.
