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Summer's Lease

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.<br><br>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.<br><br>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.<br><br>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.<br><br>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?

Drew Hunt · LGBT+
Zu wenig Bewertungen
90 Chs

Chapter 16

Turning to Mitch, John said, “You’re really lucky to live here.” Why did he say that? He loved London and all the possibilities it offered.

Seeing a shop partway up the street that had various pieces of bric-a-brac outside it, John decided to go have a look. He’d always been interested in antiques and curiosities, although their…his flat in London wasn’t big enough to allow him to become much of a collector.

Two overweight American women were examining a collection of jewellery boxes covered with various shells, loudly exclaiming how cute they all were. Mitch, who had walked up the street next to John, started to grind his teeth. John turned to Mitch and laid a hand on his arm. Mitch’s face softened and showed a hint of a smile.

Finally the women moved into the shop and relative peace was established. So much so, John’s attention was drawn to a collection of bamboo wind-chimes that hung on either side of the shop’s entrance.