Garrett did his very best to not gawk at Dawn as she finished her sandwich. But she was looking so cute tonight, wearing a fitted pair of blue jeans and gray sweater that matched her eyes and showed off ample cleavage. Her hair was loose, brushing her shoulders, and the subtle makeup she wore accentuated her gray eyes and pert lips.

Lips he wanted to taste more than he’d wanted anything in his life.

But she was a human, not a shifter, so he knew he was going to need to take it slow.

Dawn looked over at Hunter and Grayson, who were waiting to be dealt in on the next round of poker. “They can join us if they want. There’s room.”

“They’re fine doing their own thing,” Garrett said, trying to mirror her cordiality. In reality, the bear inside him was growling possessively at the thought of it. Even Hunter and Grayson, who were practically family to him now, could make him jealous if they took too much of her attention.

Hell, he’d practically been ready to beat the hell out of the douchebag who’d dared put a hand on Dawn when the advance was clearly unwanted. Then he’d have carried Dawn out of the bar and made her—

“Hey, what’s on your mind?” Dawn’s fingers prodding his shoulder snapped Garrett back to reality. She was touching him.

Get it together, man. This was just casual drinks. It wasn’t even a date. He was fifty steps too far ahead in this whole process.

“Ah, nothing much. Just planning out tomorrow’s schedule.” It was a lie. Even a sliver of the truth of what he was, what he was thinking, would probably make Dawn run for the hills. And for good reason, too.

“Yeah, it’s really coming along fast. You guys are something else,” she exclaimed, smiling enough to show pretty white teeth framed by her luscious, red lips.

“I’m glad you’re happy so far. We aim to please,” he said, choking on “we” when he really wanted to say “I” instead. “So here’s to you and your home.” He raised his glass a little.

Dawn smiled up at him. Just the sight of her happy melted his heart. “To new beginnings.” She raised her glass, clinking it into his and spilling a few drops of beer on the floor in her eagerness.

“To new beginnings,” he repeated, and they both took a long swig. The taste of fermentation and something fruity went down smoothly, and before he knew it, half the mug was gone. When he put it back down, Dawn was gaping up at him.

“Whoa, impressive.”

Did he look like an alcoholic? The last thing he wanted to look like was someone who couldn’t keep control.

Of course, he couldn’t tell her he was in fact a bear shifter, and he’d have to clear a whole keg of something as light as beer before he finally started to feel it.

“That’s, uh, good beer,” he exclaimed, trying to play off the fact it looked like he was trying to get drunk by human standards. “Besides, it takes a lot to affect me. Don’t worry.”

She nodded, and he noticed her quick glance down then up his body. “Makes sense. Big guy like you.” She picked up her glass and took a long sip before plopping it back down.

Behind them, there was a short bout of raucous laughter as Garrett could hear Hunter regaling his card mates with some story from one of his many short-lived careers. Garrett had already heard them all, but they never got old.

“So…” Garrett tapped his fingers on the bar, trying to somehow segue into the next topic without sticking his foot in his mouth. “You’re a graphic artist, right? How’s business going?”

“Pretty good. I mean, slow, since I’m between houses right now, but my clients understand. It’s good work.”

In the back of his mind, he wrestled with the grizzly inside him. His human part wanted to be casual, take it slow, build a connection one brick at a time. The grizzly would rip his own throat out for being so damn wishy-washy if it could. It wanted to just say something Cro-Magnon like, “You’re hot. Be my mate. Now.”

Probably followed by a roar or two, which obviously wouldn’t fly in the middle of a bar on a weeknight like this.

“Sounds like you can work your own schedule. That’s nice,” he said awkwardly.

“It is. Quiet but nice.” She nodded to herself, looking past the rows of stacked alcohol bottles on the shelves behind the bar as she spoke. “It’s probably why I can manage doing something like this. Most of the people I know couldn’t just pick up stakes and live here.”

“Do you have a lot of friends or family back in the city?”

She grimaced for a microsecond, the barest hint of expression before looking normal again. “Family, technically, yes. None that I’ll miss, though. And friends, well, most of them are online. It’s hard to make connections when you don’t have co-workers.”

She finished her drink, and he waved at Mina to bring them another round. Dawn got started on hers directly.

“I get that,” Garrett said.

She looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. Her heart-shaped face was so expressive. He loved being able to know exactly how she was feeling at any time.

He clarified. “Sure, I work with a lot of guys on bigger projects, but aside from those two over there,” he said, throwing a thumb over his shoulder at Grayson and Hunter, “everyone else is always coming or going. Each job is a new place, a new set of subcontractors to work with usually. And even with the occasional familiar face, it’s all about the project at hand.”

“That’s not at all what I would have imagined.”

“Yeah, well, maybe I’m more comfortable with that anyways. I never really fit in with the typical crowd you meet in construction work.”

She appraised him for a moment, then picked up her glass, nursing it, and Garrett noticed it was already more than half empty. That was quick. Perhaps he should keep an eye on her consumption for the rest of the night.

“Well now, you can’t leave me in suspense. What’s your story, exactly?” she asked, sounding much less tense than she had at the beginning of the night.

“I warn you. It’s boring!” Hunter’s voice carried over the low murmur of the bar crowd.

Dawn almost spit out a tiny swig of beer, then choked it down. “Well, that’s not fair,” she exclaimed.

“No, he’s right. I grew up out west in the Rocky Mountains. Just me and my parents. They were thankfully pretty decent people. I came out here to the Midwest to get a degree. Then, after I worked a few jobs, figured I’d be better off working for myself and founded BCW when I met Hunter and Grayson.”

Exaggerated snore sounds came from the table behind them, and Garrett pondered launching his now-empty glass mug at the irritating cougar. But he thought twice about it.

“Do you keep in touch with them? Your parents, I mean,” Dawn asked, thankfully knowing when to ignore Hunter.

“I see them from time to time. They’ve met the guys. But they’re still obsessed with making each other happy, so they mostly keep to themselves.”

“That sounds nice.” Her eyes were shuttered, looking away from his as she spoke.

“Why’s that?”

Her expression was blank for a moment, and as the bartender walked past, she waved a hand, asking for another round, which Mina cheerily produced for her before Garrett could say anything.

He was a little worried about the amount of alcohol going into this tiny human, but then again, she’d had a stressful move, and he was here to watch out for her, so he supposed nothing could happen.

The bar, which smelled of aged wood and old smoke and spilled drinks, droned on around them.

Dawn took another swig before talking. “You know, just having an example of two loving parents. Having someone to look up to, even if you know they’re not perfect. That would have been nice, I think.”

“What’s your family like? We don’t have to talk about that if you don’t want to. Just curious.”

“Not much to say. So much of it feels like ancient history.” Her look was far-off again, beyond the bar and into the past. “My parents were practically just kids when they had me. My mom was a meth addict, and my dad was in prison before I was even born. My mom tried to keep it together as long as she could, but things fell apart quickly. Thankfully, my granddad intervened and took me in when I was four. He practically raised me.” She put a hand to her forehead. “Oh God, I must be getting drunk if I’m telling you all of this.”

“What was your grandpa like?” Garrett asked, hearing fondness in her tone as she mentioned him.

“Grandpa? The best person I ever knew. Kind of a strange guy, marched to the beat of his own drum, for sure. Loved fishing. Always told bad jokes. I mean, really bad jokes. The kind that make you grimace. But even when he could have been enjoying his retirement, he was taking care of me instead. Paying for my education. Doing his best even though Grandma passed away a long time ago.” She smiled to herself as she spoke, and Garrett listened intently.

“Sounds like a great guy.”

“Yeah.” She looked down at the bar for a moment, and he didn’t even have to ask if he was still alive or not.

“Well, here’s to your grandpa,” he offered, raising his glass.

A smile that didn’t reach her eyes came on Dawn’s face, and she raised her glass to meet his once more and they drank. A round of applause sounded again from the casual card game as they did, filling the bar with momentary noise that died down by the time their glasses were back on the bar.

“So why the house? If you don’t mind me asking.” Garrett diverted.

“My grandpa bought the land a long time ago from a friend. Thought he’d retire out here, build himself a cabin. Apparently, he and my great-grandfather used to come out to Silver Lake when he was a kid. He’d always tell me stories about how pretty it was out here. How it was so quiet you could hear the sound of a fish biting from a mile away in the morning. He made it sound like the most perfect place in the whole world.”

“And how has it been so far?”

“Stressful, but—” Dawn’s eyes were starting to look a little glazed, and she glanced over at him, making his nerves stand at attention as she took an awkwardly long perusal of him that Garrett was certain she wasn’t even aware of. “I like what I see so far.”

“Ha-ha.” He laughed, trying to ignore the fact that he could see the arousal in her gaze. “I’m glad to hear that.” He tossed the rest of his drink back.

Frankly, with the kind of upbringing Dawn had, Garrett was amazed she had gotten as far as she had. It really spoke to a person’s resilience how they reacted when their own parents abandoned them.

Garrett wished he could meet her grandfather in person and thank him. Thank him for showing Dawn enough love to give her a shot at having a normal life. But he supposed building his granddaughter’s new home with every ounce of strength at his disposal would have to do instead.

“Is it hot in here? It’s hot in here. Why is it hot in here?” Dawn was talking half to him, half to herself as she pulled at the top of her sweater and fanned herself, creamy cleavage showing. It took everything he had to not stare at how beautiful she was.

He glanced around, not wanting anyone else to stare as well.

Garrett was glad he didn’t have anything to finish up back at the work site. Right now, he had to keep an eye on his mate.

Wow, she really is my mate, isn’t she? Garrett thought to himself as Dawn scooted her stool closer to him, a booze-induced blush showing on her cheeks as she looked at him appreciatively.

Then stark reality reminded him that he was, in fact, a shape-shifting bear. And she was a human that had no clue of the existence of such an anomaly as him in a world blind to the existence of shifters.

It was going to be an interesting courtship, for sure.