Taming The Lion: BBW Paranormal Lion Shifter Romance (Gray Bears Book 5) by Natalie Kristen Page A

as
she got in and slammed the door. She had to turn the ignition thrice
before the engine finally spluttered to life.
    Kaylee glanced in the rear
view mirror as she drove away. She saw Beckett running down the
front steps in his sweatpants. But that was as far as he got.
    He didn't run down the street
after her. He didn't run hard after her car. Beckett didn't chase
her at all.
    He simply stood in front of
his house and watched her go.

CHAPTER
TWO

    Kaylee forced herself to
relax her grip on the steering wheel. Strangling the steering wheel
wasn't going to make her feel better.
    As she drove on, she found
herself growing angrier and angrier. But her anger at Beckett didn't
last all that long. Her anger kept growing, but the person she was
really angry at was herself.
    She had made some bad choices
and he was just the last douchebag in a long string of bad
boyfriends.
    How could she be so stupid
and blind? And why did she keeping getting into relationships which
were bad for her heart, her sanity and her self-esteem? Her parents
would be so ashamed of her.
    Her parents had passed away
when she was eighteen. They were loving and kind, and they sheltered
and indulged her perhaps a little too much. She missed them so much.
    After they died, she just
lost her focus and direction. She flitted from job to job, and from
one disastrous relationship to another.
    Just what the hell was she
doing with her life?
    She was twenty-nine years
old, jobless, currently homeless and driving aimlessly along the
highway of her life.
    Kaylee choked out a mirthless
laugh.
    Yeah, this highway did remind
her of her life. It was lonely and deserted, with unwieldy weeds
growing along the sides. She was just zooming purposelessly down the
road, with no specific destination in mind. She just wanted to get
away, but she had no idea where she was going.
    Kaylee blew out a breath.
She shouldn't have allowed herself to drift after her parents died.
She was lonely and depressed, and she just kept jumping into
pointless, unfulfilling relationships. She had to break out of this
vicious circle. No more bad relationships for her. She seemed to
attract bad boys and cheaters into her life.
    No more, Kaylee told herself.
She wasn't a sucker for heartbreak and pain.
    “I wish I could meet a
good man and live happily ever after with him,” Kaylee said to
her reflection. She laughed out loud. Her wish sounded silly and
ridiculous even to her own ears.
    She was too old to believe in
fairy tales. She was no princess and she sure wasn't riding into the
sunset with her white knight.
    Kaylee squinted at the road
sign at the side of the highway. The next town that was coming up
was Shadow Point.
    She gasped. Just how far had
she driven?
    Gulping, she eased her foot
off the pedal and slowed down.
    Shadow Point. The name of
the town sounded familiar.
    Was this where her grandaunt
Neveah lived?
    She had lost touch with her
grandaunt over the years. She had moved so much, so often, never
staying in a place, a job or a relationship for more than a year.
She'd thought that she and Beckett were going to make it. They had
just made it past the one year mark, but she realized now that he had
probably been cheating on her for the past six months. The signs had
been there, but she just didn't want to see the truth.
    Kaylee shook her head and
tried to focus.
    The last time she saw her
grandaunt was at her parents' funeral. Grandaunt Neveah had wanted
Kaylee to come live with her, but Kaylee had refused. At that time,
she was living with someone, someone she thought she would eventually
marry and have kids with. But that relationship had gone up in
smoke. So had all the others that came after that.
    Gradually she'd lost touch
with her grandaunt.
    Kaylee winced and released a
long, slow sigh.
    The truth was, she had lost
touch with herself. She felt so empty and sad after her parents
died, and she kept looking for something, someone to fill the void in
her heart.
    She was looking for