Page 25 of Hunny and the Bear

But she didn’t want to leave. Her internal alarms weren’t warning her there was something off with Tank, not like they had with Jason. Even when she believed Jason would mate with her, she’d still questioned, at least to herself, why he only visited at night. Or why he never wanted to introduce her to his pack. Why he kept her a secret.

It had all felt wrong. In hindsight, she should have listened to her instincts, trusted the warning signs, and gotten the hell out of there.

Hunny bit her lower lip, barely registering the cool breeze on her face as Tank unlocked the garage door, silently ushering her inside.

If she’d been blinded by Jason before, she definitely felt alert and wary of any potential dangers now. So what were her instincts telling her this time?

That Tank was safe. That Tank was a good, compassionate male. That he’d never hurt her. She just wished she could understand why she felt that way so completely. And that she could stop worrying that it was all going to end too soon.

“You’re quiet,” Tank commented as he closed the door behind him, his gravelly voice causing a pleasant shiver to work down her spine.

“Today’s been a lot,” Hunny admitted. “I’m just trying to process it all.”

“My family has that effect on people.”

Hunny burst out laughing, shaking her head as she looked around the large garage. A couple of four-wheelers, a riding lawn mower, and a large pickup truck sat in the garage, taking up most of the interior, along with several tools hung along the walls.

“Your mom is awesome, and Jasper is kind of funny,” Hunny informed him.

“Good. I worried they overwhelmed you.”

Did he mean his mom? She shook her head. “Not at all. Your mom actually offered to do a checkup for me, and I think that’s a great idea.”

Besides that, meeting Tank’s family was eye-opening. They were all so different from one another. Murphy seemed every bit the strict, stoic Alpha, while Tabitha was a sweet, affectionate mother. Jasper was clearly a clown who enjoyed teasing his family for a few laughs. And Tank … he didn’t seem to know what to do with it all.

He’d been snarly with everyone.

Except me, Hunny thought cheerfully, her lips curving up into a small smile as Tank escorted her to the passenger side of the pickup truck. It looked far newer than the four-wheelers. Opening the door, he helped her inside, and her smile spread into a full-blown grin.

“You carry me everywhere and now you’re opening doors, too, Henry? Quite the gentleman,” she teased.

His eyes shot to hers, and his face heated beneath his unruly beard. He grumbled a noncommital response and thenclosed the door gently between them, moving around the front of the vehicle and to the driver’s side door. His blush made her wonder; was he embarrassed to be helping her, or just embarrassed by the praise?

Hunny would bet her life on the latter, and it made her want to compliment him as much as possible, just to rile him up. Okay, maybe she just wanted to compliment him because he was a sweetheart and deserved to hear it as often as possible.

She had a feeling Tank didn’t spend his time with many people, not outside his family, at least. That meant it was up to her to let him know he was awesome.

Tank shuffled into the driver’s seat, closing his door before starting the truck. The engine roared to life, filling the silence of the small cab.

“How far away is town?” Hunny asked, watching as he pressed a button on his rearview mirror. The large garage door opened a second later.

“About an hour.”

She bit her lower lip, putting on her seatbelt before turning to face him. “What are the odds we run into someone from Jason’s pack?”

“Slim. His territory is about thirty miles from this place.”

Oh. So was the cabin he’d kept her in even technically on his territory? Probably not, the douchebag.

“Do you think there will be any job openings?”

Tank’s brow furrowed as they pulled out of the garage and onto the driveway. Once they were clear of it, he took off down a dirt road. “Why?”

Hunny rolled her eyes. “So that I can make money to support myself? I can’t live off of your generosity forever.” Or for even more than a few weeks. She’d been independent for so long, it would drive her crazy to be reliant on anyone else for even the most mundane things.

She needed some fail-safe savings, at the very least.

You had one, she thought bitterly.Hidden under the front seat of your truck.

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