Page 32 of Israel

“Right,” she said. “A perfect representation. Except, I’m not a bunny. And you’re not a bear. Other than that, though, it’s right on the money. Good work.”

“Most of me is wolf,” he conceded. “But according to you, the best part of me is all grizzly.”

He didn’t smile often, but when he did—like now—it was wildly sexy. Those really were some of the most kissable lips she’d ever seen. And that look in his eyes had gotten even more intense—not to mention way, way hotter. Or maybe that was just her hoohah talking.

Not that he needed to know that.

“Sooo, you’re planning on protecting me with your hairy monster dick?” she asked blandly.

He raised one eyebrow. “If it would make you feel safer, I’d be completely willing to use my monster dick on your behalf.”

Ohmygod. She’d really better change the subject, before she found herself begging him to whip out the monster dick right the hell now.

She shook her head, examining the stuffed animal again. She said, “You know this bunny has horns, right? Which is completely wrong.”

“They’re antlers,” he said. “And of course I know. I put them on myself.”

He did? “Get out of town,” she said, staring at him. “You can sew?”

“I have all kinds of talents you have yet to find out about,” he said, with one of those slow, hot-as-fuck smiles. “And before you ask, no, I don’t do costume repairs. So don’t even think about it.”

That was definitely not what she was thinking about.

“Okay, I’ll bite,” she said. Oops. More sexual innuendo. Bad, bad Ashley. “Why did you put horns on the bunny?”

He gave her a mock frown. “I put antlers on the bunny because I figured out what kind of shifter you are. You’re a jackalope.”

“A jackawhat? Is that even a thing?”

He settled back in the seat, his hands resting on the table. “A jackalope, you poor undereducated girl, is a cross between a jackrabbit and an antelope. They live on the American plains. When cowboys used to gather around their campfires at night and sing to pass the time, the jackalopes would be drawn out of their burrows to sing along.” His eyes grew faraway. “They were said to have voices so plaintive and beautiful it could bring a hardened cowboy to tears.”

He returned his gaze to her, his voice softening. “So of course I thought of you.”

For some odd reason, that brought a faint prickle of tears to her own eyes. Her voice could really bring him to tears?

Something in her chest expanded, feeling warm. He didn’t just think she was hot or fuckable. He’d seen inside her and felt her music in his heart.

She blinked hard. She couldn’t cry. And she couldn’t fall for him, even a little bit. “Really,” she said. “You actually think I’m a singing bunny with antlers?”

“Jackalopes are said to have a mean kick, too.” He grinned at her and massaged the center of his chest. “So, the description fits perfectly.”

She stroked the bear’s soft fur, and examined the bunny’s antlers. He’d sewed them on with stitches so tiny as to be almost invisible.

It was a lot of trouble to go to just to make her smile. She held the animal out in front of her and admired at it. The bear’s mouth was open in a snarl.

Wait a minute.

She frowned. “Are you sure this bear is a protector? Because he looks to me like he’s about to eat the bunny.”

Israel went back to his notes. “Maybe,” he said. “That could work too.”

It took her a second. Oh, fuck.

Wolves definitely do eat bunnies.

Another hot flash in the hoohah, damn him.

Israel shuffled his notes, looking casual. Too bad for him she could see under the table from where she was standing. At least she wasn’t the only one whose mind was in the gutter.

“You’re getting a boner again, Grizzly Dick.”

Israel didn’t look up, just pressed his lips together and nodded. “Yep.”

Ashley went back to her bunk, smiling to herself, and set the jackalope-eating bear carefully in the corner next to her pillow.