On his first night renting a cottage on the Cornish coast, widower John Tennant comes face to face with, of all things, a grizzly bear. Fearing for his life, John tries to convince the animal he isn't worth eating, and is relieved when the bear ambles away. Maintenance man Mitch Benjamin is two hundred years old but doesn’t look a day over forty. As a werebear, he needs to stay under the radar. The new renter is making that difficult. Not only is John attractive, but his vulnerability triggers all of Mitch’s protective instincts. If that wasn’t trouble enough, Mitch is struggling with his inner bear’s desire to befriend John. He knows what his bear is up to, but Mitch doesn’t want another mate. His last one was murdered ninety years ago, and he’s still grieving. John is confused by Mitch’s mixed signals. Physically, Mitch -- with his bulging muscles and hulking frame -- is a gay man’s wet dream come true. But emotionally, he keeps closing down. John discovers more comfort with the magnificent grizzly bear he occasionally meets on his evening walks along the beach. In an effort to help, Morwenna, the owner of the cottages, uses her psychic gifts to give John a message from his dead lover, George. Far from helping, it adds another layer of strangeness to what’s already turning out to be the strangest summer John can remember. Can a well-meaning medium and a determined grizzly bring John and Mitch together? Will Mitch come clean about his werebear nature? If he does, can John accept that a man and bear exist in the same body?

Summer's Lease

“Morwenna!” Mitch shouted, pushing open the door.


Morwenna and John were sitting at the kitchen table, cups of tea and plates of what looked like chocolate cake in front of them.


Morwenna got to her feet. “I’ve told you before about bursting in here.”


Mitch wasn’t listening; his gaze was firmly locked on John. From the man’s red eyes it was obvious he’d been crying. Mitch rushed forward and in one movement pulled the chair back and picked John up in his arms, the guy weighing surprisingly little.


“I’m sorry,” Mitch said, crushing the man to his chest. “So sorry. Can you forgive me?”


Mitch’s heart raced as he stared at the man’s full, glossy lips. He wanted to claim this man, consume him, but his more rational side urged him to go slowly.


Their mouths moved closer. Mitch could feel John’s short, excited breaths ghosting across his beard.


Mitch jerked awake, his heart pounding and his cock so hard it tented the damp sheets.


Chapter 33