The Bull's Bride Hunt (Holiday Mail Order Mates Book 3) by Lola Kidd

Chapter One
    Jack Keller looked around the small storage room. He had already cleaned up the shelves and swept the floor, and there wasn’t much else for him to do. He kept the back room at his bar clean.
    He peered out and checked to see how the couple out front was getting along. Still kissing. Jack chuckled and ducked back into the storage room. Normally he wouldn’t let a couple have the whole bar to themselves, but this was a special case. His friend, lion shifter Aaron, had just gotten married to a great lady from out of town. He knew how hard a time Aaron had had finding his mate, and Jack didn’t begrudge him a few minutes alone with Emma. She still lived in Illinois, and they were in the process of finding a house together in Maple Creek.
    Aaron lived with gorilla shifter Wyatt, who also frequented the Brazen Bull. Wyatt was a good kid, but he could be a little strange. Jack understood why the couple ended up at his bar during the day when it was empty and the trailer wasn’t. They never did anything more than kiss, and Jack liked seeing Emma on the weekends. The curvy dancer was a hoot and always made him laugh. He didn’t get many women at the Bull, and the few who did come in were often intimidated by him.
    At 6’4” and wide as a house, he knew he cut an impressive figure. Human men also took a few visits to warm to him. His size did help when people came in looking for trouble. One look from Jack usually ended most contentious arguments before they went any further. He had been a bit of a wild man in his youth, but he had mellowed with age. Now all he wanted to do was serve drinks and end the night without any troubles.
    Having had enough of staring at the walls in the back, Jack came out behind the bar. “I think you two might want to come up for air. Or you can keep going and I’ll watch from a respectable distance.”
    “I don’t know what you’ve heard, Jack, but LK Brides don’t do that sort of thing,” Emma said primly.
    “Hm, really?” Jack said. “I could have sworn LK stood for ‘Lots of Kinky’ Brides. Oh, well, must have heard wrong.”
    Emma rolled her eyes. “If you had heard that, I’m sure you would have signed up by now.”
    “Half the state would have signed up if that was even a rumor,” Aaron joked. “Hell, I bet they’d get a lot more women that way, too.”
    “What?” Emma laughed. “That’s the opposite of how you get women signing up for your dating site. Besides, it’s a mail-order bride agency, not a dating site.”
    “I don’t know,” Aaron said. “That Fifty Shades was pretty popular. I think they need some kind of Fifty Shades dating site.”
    “Unless all the men who sign up are billionaires who look like Jamie Dornan, I don’t think it’s going to work,” Jack said with a laugh.
    “Seriously, though, have you signed up yet?” Emma asked.
    Jack got busy wiping down the gleaming bar top. “I’ll get to it this weekend.”
    “I can’t believe you haven’t signed up yet.” Aaron shook his head. “Cade and I both got matched, and still nobody wants to sign up.”
    “All you men say you want mates, but you won’t try this surefire way to meet someone,” Emma said. “What’s the holdup?”
    “I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m not too keen on having to hire someone to find my mate,” Jack said. “I can find her on my own. When we’re supposed to find each other, we will. There’s no rushing fate.”
    “What about Aaron and me?” Emma demanded. “We would never have met if it weren’t for LK Brides.”
    Aaron kissed her on the cheek. “And she is my mate. No tricks here.”
    “I don’t think we need any more shills for LK Brides,” Jack grumbled. “I’m going to have to make a new rule if you don’t stop talking about it.”
    “Okay, but will you at least think about doing it this weekend?” Emma asked.
    “If it doesn’t cost anything, maybe I’ll do it,” Jack said.
    “Well, then, you’re doing it,” Aaron