The more time Chance spent with his mate, the more he liked her. Even the way she got angry about silly little things excited him. He could tell the woman was a handful, in more ways than one. Her luscious curves certainly were. He imagined gripping those full hips and plump breasts as she rode in the passenger seat of his truck.

He glanced over and watched her breasts bounce as they bumped down the rocky road toward where they’d found Balor’s body. He sucked his lip into his mouth and held back a moan of pleasure. He had to get his hands on this woman somehow, but he was pretty sure she didn’t like him.

Chance was a guy who liked a challenge, and Summer Madison certainly was that. He was determined to figure her out and find what made her tick. She’d been interested in his gardening. He hadn’t expected to start trying to get close to her so soon. They had work to do on the case, and it probably wasn’t the best idea to get distracted by Summer’s luscious curves until it was solved.

He pulled off the road into a turn-about and cut the engine. Summer looked around with a determined expression on her pretty face, her dark, full lips puckered and her brow furrowed. He could see the honey-colored curve of her breasts under the tank top she wore. His bear rumbled inside his mind. Mate! Mate! Summer gripped her testing kit and jumped out of the truck, marching up the hill before he even had the door open.

He hurried to catch up with her, watching her full behind sway as she charged up the hill. Goddamn, that woman is sexy. He shook his head, and his bear roared. He’d never dated a woman like Summer in his life. Go figure his mate would be as determined and strong-willed as he was.

He caught up with her and reached out to take her testing kit, which seemed pretty heavy. It dug into her shoulder, making it look red and sore. She pulled it away from him with a shocked expression on her face.

“It looks heavy.”

“Fine, here. It is heavy.” She pulled it off her shoulder and thrust it into his arms. He smiled at her offering to let him help, but she just charged off. A moment later, she turned back to him and stopped. “Thanks,” she said softly, her barriers coming down. She was even prettier when she softened a bit, the sight of gratitude and humility in her eyes made Chance’s heart melt. This might be easier than he’d thought.

They made their way into the clearing where they’d found Balor’s body.

“This is where he died. Do you want to take samples here?”

“Yes,” Summer said, opening the kit. She pulled out her equipment and started taking samples from the trees and soil. Chance sniffed the air, opening his bear senses to take in the scents around the scene. He couldn’t make out anything but the scent of the people he already knew had been there. Most likely, Balor had been alone in the forest when he’d died.

She set up her test tubes in a stand on the forest floor and dropped testing solution into the samples she’d taken. “This will take a few minutes,” she explained.

“So what made you want to become a scientist?” Chance asked, watching her kneeling on the forest floor. She was bent over the test tubes, her ass in the air. He wondered if she knew how unbelievably hot she looked like that. Chance could barely keep himself from gripping her hips and taking her right then and there. She smelled of strawberry lemonade and the forest after it rained. The scent of her almost undid him. Grrr…

She looked back at him and blinked at his question. Standing, she brushed off her knees and sighed. “I always wanted to understand how things work. I’ve been fascinated with scientific principles and the natural world since I was a child. It was only natural for me to become an environmental biologist. I want to protect nature. As a scientist, I have the tools to do it.”

“That’s very noble,” he said, tipping his head toward her.

“Thanks.” She looked away and inspected her vials again. Looking back at him she said, “So why did you become a game warden?”

“I wanted to protect nature, too. As a game warden, I oversee hunting and fishing in my district. I protect wildlife from criminal hunters. Without licensing and oversight, hunters would shoot everything until there was nothing left. Like the buffalo or the California grizzly.”

“I never thought of it that way,” she said, glancing back at her test tubes. “Look,” she said. “There’s no arsenic in any of these samples. That’s strange. I would expect some to have contaminated the forest around the pool.”

“Let’s go check the water,” he said.

She got another syringe and they moved through the forest to the edge of the fishing pool. A few fish had washed up dead on the side of the river and a crow lay feet up beside them. Summer cringed and knelt to get her sample. “They were clearly poisoned by the water,” she said, pulling a sample into the syringe.

She dropped it into a testing vial and mixed it with testing solution before they headed back to where her kit sat. She labeled the vial and put it in the holder next to the rest of the samples.

“You mentioned that you fought in Iraq,” she said, not looking up from her work.

“Two tours. Special Forces. After the war, I came home and took up gardening.”

She giggled a little and continued her work.

“What’s so funny?”

“A Special Forces military guy becomes a gardener. It’s cute.” She stood and faced him, her face bright with mirth.

“I don’t get it.”

“Never mind. What are you growing this year?” she asked, crossing her arms and popping out her hip as she gazed up at him.

His heart fluttered as her arms pressed her full breasts together and upward. His bear pranced around inside his head, roaring to claim her on the forest floor. Chance gulped.

“Tomatoes, zucchinis, lettuces, eggplant. I’m going to harvest my garlic soon, and the pumpkins are ripening. I’ll have a nice batch by Halloween. And of course my huckleberry patch is unrivaled.”

“How do you grow wild huckleberries? I didn’t realize that was a thing.”

“Sure it is. I started with a few wild bushes. I took cuttings and now I have a whole patch. They give me all the sweetest fruit because I give them what they need.”

“I see,” Summer said, flushing.

Chance could smell the heavy scent of arousal wafting off his little, curvy mate. He was going to have to do something soon because keeping his distance would make him lose his mind.

His bear was not a patient animal.

Summer turned away and picked up the water she’d just tested. Frowning, she looked up at him. “I don’t understand. There's barely any arsenic in the water today. It’s basically at safe levels. How is that possible?”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” he asked, confused.

“We need to go up to the copper mine and look around. At the levels I got yesterday, they’d have to be dumping tons of arsenic waste into the water every day, but maybe they only do it on certain days of the week.”

“I’m still not convinced it’s the mine,” Chance said.

“What other explanation is there?” Summer asked haughtily.

“That’s what I intend to find out.”