She chuckled, a low sound that rumbled down his spine straight to his groin. “After that? I’m so stuffed, my lungs don’t have room to breathe.”
Fat and slow, his bear thought. The perfect female. The man looked away rather than give in to the lust surging through him. “I made cookies.”
“In your sleep?”
“No. Before I went down to work. I keep a stash on hand for programming marathons.”
She titled her head. “Is that what you do? You’re a computer programmer?”
She didn’t know? That was refreshing. Everyone here knew what he’d created and why. “Um, yeah,” he answered. “I wrote a hunting game that’s become popular. The player can be the human hunter or the animal.” And if the player happened to be a shifter teenager, then the game helped keep some of the hunting urge at bay.
“You can play the animal? Like the one about to be shot?”
“Yeah, but in my world, the bear can win. Or the wolf, cougar, or moose.”
She blinked. “Moose?”
“Big hooved animal with dangerous antlers.”
“I know what a moose is,” she said with a laugh. “I just didn’t think people would want to pretend to be one.”
“Neither did I, but market research told me otherwise. So I programmed it and people have been buying.”
“Good for you,” she said.
“Thanks.” It was good for him and for most shifters who needed to take the edge off. Sometimes being human got to be too hard, but it wasn’t convenient to strip down and go animal. So he created a virtual forest for were-creatures to run wild. To hunt and kill digitally as a way to settle the instinctive need.
And it worked, especially for him.
Sadly, it hadn’t done jack shit lately. The need to go grizzly was too strong. But he comforted himself that it was helping others and would continue to do so long after he was put down.
If only he could create a virtual mating program. He’d populate it with her and have at it until she was completely out of his system. But some things couldn’t be done digitally, and this was one of them. Which meant for her own sake, he needed to get her out of here.
With that thought in mind, he passed her the teddy bear flash drive. He lingered too long with his fingers caressing hers until she drew back, a blush staining her cheeks. Stupid bear was still trying to claim her. “This has all your father’s journals on it.”
“Cute!” she said, but then she frowned as she saw the pinhole. Tonya had even managed to paint the puncture red somehow, but you had to look close to see it. Julie was and her face showed it. “Well, isn’t that gruesome?”
She didn’t know the half of it. Meanwhile, he tried to distract her.
“I don’t have your dad’s actual journals. If they’re not in your summer cabin, maybe they’re back in Ann Arbor. No offense to your father, but he’s not that neat a man.”
“Definitely not for most things, but he’s obsessive about his journals. And I already checked his regular home. That leaves the summer place.” She frowned at the teddy bear, obviously thinking hard.
“Did you find his tablet?”
She looked up. “Tablet? My dad’s old school. He’d still be using a rock and chisel if he could.”
Yes, that was definitely her father. “I set up a Surface Pro for him last year. Got it loaded with the right software and he loved the stylus. Find that and you’ll find all his stuff.”
She shook his head. “There wasn’t a tablet anywhere. Just his desktop.”
That old dinosaur? It was too heavy and too big to misplace. “I’m sure you’ll find it.”
She nodded slowly. “Yeah. I hope so.” Then she glanced out the window. It was only late afternoon, but it was already getting dark. Summer storm coming in fast. “I better find it soon or it’s going to be one sucky trip back to Saginaw.”
He looked at her sharply. “You’re going to drive back tonight? Why?” Damn it, his words came out as a growl.
“Because my father is waiting for his work, and he gets cranky if he doesn’t have it.”
