Colby (BBW Western Bear Shifter Romance) (Rodeo Bears Book 3) (110 page)

“Yes, yes.” She laughed. “More than okay.” She rubbed her nose against his and beamed. “I have to tell you. I haven’t known you long, but I think I am falling in love with you.”

He moaned softly and kissed her. “Good, because I’m falling for you, too. I was thinking about something.” He paused to brush a stray hair from her face. “I hate the thought of you going back to that shelter. Move in here, with me.”

“Really? Are you sure?” She hated living in the shelter and even though she made good money now, the thought of having her own place all alone was daunting and gave her anxiety. If she moved in with him, she would feel safe all the time.

“I’m very sure.”

“But what about the others?”

“Already talked to them.”

“You did?” So, this wasn’t a new idea.

“Right after I found out you were staying there.”

She smiled again and felt tears that were tears of joy. “I would love to.”

“Perfect. Then you’ll never be far from me again.”

Amir

120 Proof Honey III

by

Becca Fanning

Kora Lane sat at her desk, reading over her latest article. This wasn’t the speed of her favorite stories to cover. She loved the ones with some sort of intrigue, some possibility of something illegal or a deeper, hidden story. Something secret to uncover and shock the reader with. This current article was basically a human interest piece, which she found boring, though she thought she had managed to spice up the part about the shop owner having a side romance with his supplier.
 

Her boss, Davis, knocked on her door and walked in. “Got something for you.”

“Oh?” She slid aside the article, marked in red where she wanted changes in the layout, and let her pen hover over the top blank sheet of her notepad.

“Ozark,” he said. “Up in the mountains. We got a report that there’s a house of men living there.”

“I like where this is going so far.” She smirked and looked back up at him after making a quick note. “Continue.”

“It’s suspected that there’s some illegal moonshine activity happening there. They have a business. Bear Natural Honey, and that might be their cover.”

“Moonshine and honey. I like that. What else?”

“That’s it. This one is all on you. The witness left an anonymous tip over the voicemail, so I can’t even give you his info. I don’t have any to give.”

“Okay.” She tapped her pen against her lip. “This is definitely something I’ll check out. I’ll find out what’s going on up there in the mountains and bring it all into the light. I wonder if there’s any gay activity going on… House full of men, all living together?”

“I don’t want to know how you’ll find out, but I know you’ll find something.” Davis rapped his knuckles twice on her desk and walked out.

Kora started making notes immediately. She’d go to this house and find out what the real story was. Then she’d find a way to make it interesting to sell more papers.
 

She drove up to the location listed on the web site for Bear Natural Honey. Unless they had separate business offices and processing facilities—unlikely for such a small operation—then this would be the place. She saw several big buildings, the bees buzzing around hives off to one side, and knew she had the place.
 

With her notepad and digital recorder in hand, she maneuvered her heeled shoes over the gravel to the front door. She smoothed down the skirt of her business suit and knocked, her friendliest smile in place on her face.

A large man opened the door. She took note of his features to write them down for later. Short black hair, dark skin, very good looking, very muscular. He cared about his appearance and his body. What could that mean for their cover up? Or was this a sign of the activities taking place with the other men? Well, she could certainly handle flirting with this fine specimen to see if he responded to her, a female.

“Can I help you?”

Mmm, and a slight middle eastern accent as well. Nice. “Yes, hello, my name is Kora Lane, and I’m with the Ozark Daily News. I’d like to talk to you about your business.”

“Oh, umm.” He looked behind him into the house. “Usually Slade takes care of this sort of thing.”

“Great. Is Slade here? Is he the CEO of the company?”

“He’s not here right now. He’s, umm, I guess the CEO. We think of him as our leader.”

How cute. This man seemed like the type that would talk. Just uncertain enough that she could convince him to spill everything. “Well, if this Slade isn’t here, I guess you’re my man.” She winked at him.

His eyes widened slightly for an instant, then a slow smile crept over his face. He looked her over, but he was subtle about it. No blatant gawking at her chest. He was classier than that, she could see that now. He was downright sexy, too. Normally, she would never think about sleeping with a source for info, especially if he was the intended target for the story, but him? She wouldn’t mind taking him to bed to pump him for info.

“Well, come on in.” He stepped aside and gestured toward a living room.
 

She noticed immediately that the place was much cleaner than she expected. “Five men live here?”

He chuckled. “We have a very good live-in housekeeper.”

“That explains it then.” She took a seat on the edge of the couch, turning to face him.

“You should have seen what it used to look like. Jasmine is a godsend.”

“And she lives here, too?’ Kora made a note of this.

“She’s Knox’s girlfriend.”

Girlfriend. Got it. “Do all your girlfriends live here with you?”

“Just her. Though Blair is here so much she might as well.”

“Is Blair your girlfriend?”

He shook his head. “Not mine. She’s Daxton’s.”

“Got it. First things first.” She had her pen ready. “I do like to record my interviews in case I miss something important.” She patted her suit pocket. “I use a digital recorder. Just wanted to tell you for full disclosure. What’s your full name?”

“Amir Thorne.”

“Good name.” She gave him a half smile. “You could be a movie star with a name like that. Or a porn star by the looks of you.” She winked at him and he smiled to himself. “And the name of your company?”

“Bear Natural Honey.” He patted his jeans and brought out a business card. “I usually keep a few of these on me.”

He handed it to her and she looked it over. Professionally made, well designed. Impressive. There was his name and his title, quality control.

“Quality control?” she asked.

“I make sure all our products are the highest quality possible through testing and industry standards.”

She nodded. “And can you tell me what it is you do here on the grounds?”

“We make honey. We have the bee hives and a processing center. Recently, we’ve started branching out to soaps and other skin care products. We pack it and ship it from here, too. Our offices are here. What’s this story about, exactly?”

She leaned in closer. “Well, I’ll tell you because you seem like such a decent guy. My boss thinks there’s illegal things happening up here. Now, I personally don’t believe him. But, I think this story is a good way to get out the truth and clear your name.”

He nodded slowly. “Well, there’s certainly nothing illegal going on. We have lots of employees that make the honey. Slade does the paperwork and Dax helps him and does sales. Our products are sold in local markets all over the Ozark area.”

“Great. Do you have any samples? I’d love to include a review in my story. You know, to help you out.” She winked at him again.

“Sure. How about a tour? That way you can see for yourself that everything is on the up and up.”

Her eyes widened. She hadn’t even had to talk him into it. “That would be lovely.”If they were making moonshine, it would be in big stills. Not so easy to hide. She’d look for any room that might contain such equipment. Maybe it was stored in part of the warehouse. Could those stills blow up like meth labs did? She’d have to check on that. If that was the case, they’d put them in the warehouse and probably not in the house.

She stood, glanced down to make sure the little green light was still on on her digital recorder, and followed him out of the room.

They didn’t spend much time in the kitchen or bathroom. These were basic rooms and she saw nothing much of interest there. In the office, though, he took her in and started explaining.

“This is where Slade and Daxton mostly work.” He gestured to the two desks. “They do all the paperwork here. Inventory, ordering of supplies, payroll, taxes.” He indicated several thick binders as he spoke.
 

There was one labeled “taxes,” but what did that mean? Its existence wasn’t proof. Was there anyway she could explore this room without him around?
 

“No reason to think anything illegal is happening. We have all the paperwork right here.”

She nodded. “I see that.”

He took her out through the back door and into the large processing facility. She looked around carefully. Never knew when you might discover a health code violation or some employee situation run amok. She kept her eyes peeled for anything that would make a good story.
 

As they walked, though, nothing seemed to be out of place. Maybe they were all straight and legal. Well, that wouldn’t make a great story. What angle could she take? Lonely men find love in the Ozarks? Honey attracts local ladies? Ugg. Those headlines bored even her. And if only two had girlfriends between them, was it even true?

Maybe there was a hardship story she hadn’t explored. Local men team up to make their dreams come true? Unlikely businessmen turn bees into fortunes? Maybe. It was unusual to find a group of five men living together and running a business.

“That’s basically it,” Amir said, gesturing to the grounds around him.

“Could we maybe go back inside to talk more?”

“Umm, sure, I guess. Did you still have questions?”

“I have nothing but questions.”

They went back inside and returned to the living room.

“I want to find the best angle for this story,” she said. “Can you tell me about how you got started?”

“Okay. I guess it started with Slade. He wanted to have a business, and he was always intrigued by bees and honey, so he and Beck—he’s one of our primary beekeepers, him and his brother, Knox—they researched bees and honey production. Seemed like a good fit. They brought on Knox and then found me and Daxton. We’d been friends for a long time, so it seemed natural to go into business together. Then, we started making money and it became a bigger production. We added the facility and started spreading out.”

“Wow, that’s fascinating.” She scribbled notes quickly. Lifelong friends, went into business together and found success. That could be a good story. “What made you want to live together?”

He shrugged. “Convenience. When we started looking for land for the facility, we found this place. It had been some sort of farm and the building housed chickens I think. The house was here and it was big enough. None of us were tied down with families or anything and we were pretty young. We figured, since we were working together and had to be here so much anyway, it made sense.”

“But you’re not related? Not even fraternity brothers or something like that?”

“I think Slade was in a frat. Dax, maybe, but I don’t know because we didn’t go to school together. Beck and Knox didn’t go at all, but they’re related. Brothers, like I said.”

“Right.” She nodded. “And none of you are… lovers?”

He pulled his eyebrows down and leaned back an inch. “No.”

“Never know.” She winked. “All these men, living together. Nothing wrong with a little action after work.”

He took in a deep breath. “Well, no. We’re all straight.”

She nodded and jotted this down. So it was a bachelor house. “None of you are married now?”

“No. A few serious relationships, maybe. Like I said, Knox’s girlfriend Jasmine lives here. But Beck just broke up with someone and Slade and I are single.”

“The eternal bachelors?”

“I sure hope not. I’d like to have a family one day.”

She caught his eye and gave him a genuine smile. He’d make some beautiful babies, that was for sure. And a smart businessman, too? He was a good catch. Maybe she’d even consider casting her own line out. Her earlier idea of sleeping with him to get closer and get insider information wasn’t out of the question. Or maybe she’d just sleep with him for fun. Either way. She couldn’t go wrong.

She decided it was worth a shot. “Would you maybe want to go out for coffee sometime?” She smiled at him again, her heart fluttering slightly as he considered.

Then he broke into a smile. “Are you going to write about that, too?”

“Not unless the coffee suddenly explodes and you jump in to save me and put out the flames.”

He chuckled. “Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. Coffee. When?”

“When are you free? Later this week?”

“Sure. You have my card. Let’s make it Friday. Call me with a time.”