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

“Thanks,” the newcomer said, sparing them a brief glance before hustling over to a stall, closing and locking the door behind him.


Only then did Mitch realise the both of them still had their dicks out. It was awkward putting them away in their position, but no way was he letting John go until the man wanted to be let go.


The guy in the stall began to fart. This was soon followed by groans and sighs.


“Let’s get out of here,” Mitch said when his sensitive nose picked up the smell of the guy’s bowel movements.


“One last thing before we leave,” John said, kissing Mitch on the lips.


“Walk me over to that machine there.” John pointed, and Mitch obeyed. He tried to read the words on the front, but didn’t know any of them.


Chapter 69