Millie drove up to Brody’s house at the top of the mountain. He’d texted her his address so she could meet him there. He’d promised to show her the hives.

She’d worn a pretty blue dress with navy leggings and ankle boots. The Montana air had gone cold as fall moved in and she’d paired her dress with a long sweater in a burnt orange pattern.

Brody stood on his porch, wearing a red flannel shirt and dark blue jeans. He smiled when he saw her and met her at the door of her car with a big kiss on the cheek.

“Hi,” she said with a smile, feeling a bit shy. Having a shifter tell her she was his mate was a little intimidating. She didn’t quite know what to think about it.

“Come on inside. I’ll show you the house.”

He led her up the front porch of his log cabin house and went inside. She’d been expecting a typical messy bachelor pad with maybe some dead animal trophies on the walls, but instead she found a gleaming, modern, log home.

“This place is gorgeous,” she said, turning around in the living room.

“It was my parents’ house. I’ll show you around,” he said, walking toward the kitchen. The kitchen was all stainless steel appliances, dark wood, and white marble countertops veined with gold.

“Wow, Brody. I didn’t expect to find you had such a nice house.”

“Thanks.” He stood behind the counter with an amber jar of honey and scooped a small ladle full into a bowl. Then he pinched a piece of honeycomb from a different jar and added it to the bowl.

“This is from my bees. I harvested it yesterday.”

“Ooh. I love honey.” He handed her a spoon as she sat down on the stool on the other side of the counter. She scooped a spoonful of thick honey and sucked it into her mouth. “Oh my God! I didn’t know honey could taste so good!”

“Best in the state. Have to get the bees ready for winter.” He picked up a piece of honeycomb from the bowl and offered it to her. She took it into her mouth, licking his fingertips in the process. He growled low in his throat.

“Let’s go see the bees before I bend you over this counter.”

“Brody!”

“Sorry. It’s my bear. He’s an animal.”

She laughed brightly as he led her out the back door to the porch and into the yard, away from the house, where the bees were kept. Several hives swarmed with activity.

“They feed off the clover patch I keep over there. See?” he said, pointing to a big green expanse of red clover, the purple flowers growing dry in the fall chill.

“What do you do to keep them over winter?”

“They hibernate, like bears.” He chuckled. “I just have to keep the hives warm and insulated. They do the rest.”

He led her out of the yard around the house and opened the passenger door of his truck for her, helping her inside. Millie took his hand, smiling.

“We’re going to dinner in town, then for drinks if you’re up for it.”

“That would be fantastic.”

He drove her down the mountain and parked in front of the only sit-down restaurant in town.

“Hope you don’t mind diner-style eating.”

“No. I love it. Freddie’s is good. Great burgers.”

He helped her down from the truck and held the door of the restaurant for her to walk inside. Millie could get used to this kind of thing.

Back in the city, working seventy hours a week, the high-pressure life of a head surgeon had been everything to her. In that moment, walking into the small town diner with a man who wanted nothing more than to love her forever, Millie started to feel grateful she’d been fired for the first time.

Not that she’d been grateful to begin with. No. Leaving that life behind had been one of the most difficult things she’d ever had to do. Coming out to the country had been her way of starting over. Doing something totally different and new, at least for a while. She hadn’t known how long she would stay. She’d considered doing Doctors Without Borders in Africa after a year or two in Montana.

Now, looking at Brody as the waitress showed them to their seat, she was thinking something totally different. Maybe she could stay here. Maybe this thing with this bear man could work.

She slid into the booth across from Brody and smiled as she looked down at the menu.

“Our special tonight is chicken-fried steak and potatoes. Can I get you all anything to drink?”

They both ordered a soda and water and the waitress left them to look over the menu.

“I think I’ll have the special,” Brody said.

“I’m still thinking burger.”

The waitress returned to take their order and took the menus.

“Did you learn anything yesterday?” she asked him, sucking soda up through her straw.

“Mathews admitted to having a Quatre ATV, but that isn’t enough to arrest him.”

“Is he your only suspect?”

“Right now he is, but he asked for a lawyer halfway through our interview. I’m going to have to go up to his place again and look around.”

The waitress came with their food and they dug in, eating the delicious diner food until they were both full.

“That was delicious,” Millie said, rubbing her belly. Brody smiled.

“I like to see a woman eat,” he said.

“Really. Most men hate seeing women eat.” She laughed.

“Most men are stupid. Plus, I’m not a man. I’m a bear.”

“Right. That explains it.”

“I like the curves on a woman with a good appetite,” he said, grabbing her ass as they walked out of the diner.

“Brody. You’re incorrigible!” She giggled and slapped his chest. The truth was, she liked it. She liked being desired for all the things Brody liked about her. He liked that she was a curvy woman. He saw the femininity behind the multiple degrees and sharp intellect. It made her tingle with desire.

“Ready for that drink, gorgeous?” he asked her, pulling her into a hug outside the diner. The twilight air was cool but Brody’s body was warm and cozy against her. She took a deep breath of his scent and was almost launched into heaven.

“I’d love to.”

They walked arm-in-arm down the sidewalk to the bar across the street from the hospital where she went after work. She was comfortable there and it was a good place to dance and relax after a long day.

Country music lilted from the jukebox in the dimly lit room. Millie smiled as Brody pulled her out onto the dance floor. She’d never done a two-step before in her life, but he taught her how to do it without a word, with only the motion of his body and the smiling look in his eyes.

After a song or two, she was a natural, and they seemed to float over the floor on a cloud of fun and passion. Three sweaty, fast songs later, the tempo slowed and they were pressed together, chest to chest. Brody’s cheek rested on her head and she could feel his heart beating through his damp shirt.

When the song was over, he led her to the bar where they ordered beers and caught their breaths.

“That was so much fun, Brody. I don’t know the last time I had that much fun.”

“Stick with me, sugar. The fun’s just started,” he said, popping some peanuts in his mouth. She giggled, believing every word.

Millie sipped her beer, her face almost aching from the big goofy smile plastered on her lips. But Brody frowned and got up from his stool.

“What’s wrong?”

“That’s Natalie Charles. Chris’s fiancée.”

“Oh. What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to go talk to her. Come on.”

He took her hand and led her across the darkened bar to where Natalie sat alone, nursing a beer. She didn’t look up when Brody and Millie sat on either side of her.

“Natalie, how are you?” he asked her. She blinked her heavy eyes, finally glancing in his direction. A deep frown tugged at the corners of her mouth, making her look older than she was. Dark bags hung under her eyes and her hair was a mess.

“How do you think?” she snapped at him.

“Honey, what are you doing here?”

“I’m getting drunk, Brody. No law against it.” She rapped her knuckles on the bar for another of whatever she was drinking. The bartender poured her a shot and she threw it back quickly, sucking in a sharp breath when she’d finished.

“Sweetheart, maybe you should go home.”

“No. Mind your own business, Brody.”

“Let her be, Brody. She has a right to drink her pain,” Millie said, patting the woman’s hand. Natalie looked over at Millie with a dark expression and then a tear rolled down the mourning woman’s face.

“I just miss him so much,” she wailed. “You have to find who did this so I can kill him.”

“I miss him too, Nat. I can’t even imagine how you feel. It was right before the wedding.”

“He was my mate. My one and only. Now he’s gone.” Tears started to flow and a big droplet splashed on the bar.

Brody wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a half hug.

“Is there anything you remember about the night he died, Nat? Anything at all?”

She sniffed and wiped her face, pulling away. Sobering, she stopped and looked into the racks of bottles across the bar.

“Yes,” she said. “The night he died, he received a phone call and then he said he had to go. That was the last time I ever saw him.”

“That wasn’t in the police report,” he said, frowning.

“I told my dad. He must have forgot to include it.”

“We didn’t find a phone with the body,” Millie said. “Did he leave it at home?”

“No. But I called it, and it went straight to voicemail.”

“Interesting. We need to find that phone.”