Mr. March

By Bailey Bradford

Curiosity didn't kill this cat...

Jason Eddings is a foreman for a construction company by day and a mountain lion at night. He got suckered into doing a calendar shoot. Little did he know that his sisters, Cindy and Anne, were hoping to set him up with Gregg, another man on the calendar shoot. That never happened, because Gregg met Albert.

Jason's posing for Mr. March, working and running from some memories, and maybe even himself. One night, he runs right into a tranquilizer dart. When he wakes up at a wildlife refuge, he finds himself intrigued by the veterinarian who is watching him.

Casey's a newly graduated veterinarian. He thought there was something special about the mountain lion, but he didn't have a clue how much his life was about to change.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pride Publishing
• Release date: Mar 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781786516510

Bailey Bradford

A native Texan, Bailey spends her days spinning stories around in her head, which has contributed to more than one incident of tripping over her own feet. Evenings are reserved for pounding away at the keyboard, as are early morning hours. Sleep? Doesn't happen much. Writing is too much fun, and there are too many characters bouncing about, tapping on Bailey's brain demanding to be let out. Caffeine and chocolate are permanent fixtures in Bailey's office and are never far from hand at any given time. Removing either of those necessities from Bailey's presence can result in what is known as A Very, Very Scary Bailey and is not advised under any circumstances.

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Mr. March

ISBN # 978-1-78651-651-0

©Copyright Bailey Bradford 2018

Cover Art by Erin Dameron-Hill ©Copyright March 2018

Edited by Rebecca Scott

Pride Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Pride Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Pride Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2018 by Pride Publishing, UK

Pride Publishing is a subsidiary of Totally Entwined Group Limited.

Calendar Men

MR. MARCH

Bailey Bradford

Book three in the Calendar Men series

Curiosity didn’t kill this cat…

Jason Eddings is a foreman for a construction company by day and a mountain lion at night. He got suckered into doing a calendar shoot. Little did he know that his sisters, Cindy and Anne, were hoping to set him up with Gregg, another man on the calendar shoot. That never happened, because Gregg met Albert.

Jason’s posing for Mr. March, working and running from some memories, and maybe even himself. One night, he runs right into a tranquilizer dart. When he wakes up at a wildlife refuge, he finds himself intrigued by the veterinarian who is watching him.

Casey’s a newly graduated veterinarian. He thought there was something special about the mountain lion, but he didn’t have a clue how much his life was about to change.

Dedication

Live life, cherish love.

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Warwick Rowers: The Warwick Rowers

Mr. Coffee: Newell Brands Inc.

Uber: Uber Technologies Inc.

South Park Mall: Jones Lang LaSalle

Kryptonite: DC Comics

IHOP: DineEquity, Inc.

UTSA: University of Texas at San Antonio

Excedrin: GSK/Novartis

Wal-Mart: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Skype: Skype Technologies

Chapter One

That’s a wrap for the day! Thanks to Arturo letting us use his pretty property, we just might finish this calendar on time after all. Perry gave Jason Eddings a thumbs-up. You looked like the stud you are, Mr. March. Unless the shots I took of you aren’t as incredible as I think they’ll be, you’re done here.

Jason returned the gesture to Perry. Call me if you need me to pose again. For this calendar, I mean. Don’t think I’m made to be a model after this.

Perry came over and hugged him. You could be if you wanted to, so if you ever decide you don’t want to be a construction foreman anymore, let me know. Don’t be a stranger, Jay. You’re still going to come to our monthly bar crawls.

The last one almost killed me, Jason admitted. You outdrank me and everyone else there. I’ll never try keeping up with you again.

Perry released him and stepped back. Y’all are all light-weights. I bet Albert could keep up with me.

No way. I hate booze. Albert nudged Perry. It’s gross.

Jason murmured his goodbyes as Albert, his boyfriend Gregg, and Perry all started bantering over the pros and cons of alcohol. Jason was going to thank Arturo on the way out, but Arturo and Darin had their heads together, speaking to one another in low voices. Jason could scent the pheromones coming off the two of them. Ain’t love grand?

Jason was a tad jealous. Love seemed to be in the calendar shoot air, with Gregg and Albert falling for each other, then Darin and Arturo pairing up.

There wasn’t a chance of Jason finding a lover on the set—for one thing, he wouldn’t be back. Perry took amazing photos—he knew she’d love the ones of him. Not because he was a stud as she’d claimed, but because she was talented enough to make a gargoyle look like a sexy movie star.

As he walked around the side of the house, Jason ignored the mountain lion part of himself that had hoped to get to see the koi again. He knew his beast well. His cat wanted to play with the koi, and not in a way the koi would have enjoyed.

It was best that he hadn’t gone near the pond today. Controlling himself was a battle at times, and Jason had shifted when he shouldn’t have on more than one occasion.

Turning into a predatory feline with a propensity for fishing wasn’t something Jason wanted to do right then. His cat yowled at him, the sound an internal one that bounced around his skull for a few seconds. Behave, Jason murmured to himself. If you don’t, we’re not going for a run tonight.

That threat tamed his beast. There was nothing quite like the freedom of being his mountain lion and running down prey, hunting it in the night.

You should wear your tag, young man, or you’ll end up someone’s trophy! How many times has Mom told me that?

Every now and then he thought about putting on his tagged collar, which would be the sensible thing to do. It’d let anyone who saw him know he was a shifter, but Jason liked the thrill of running free, and he stayed on his folks’ property, so he shouldn’t be in any danger.

The drive from Arturo’s place to Jason’s took over an hour. The traffic between Comfort, Texas, and the town Jason lived in to the southeast of San Antonio sucked donkey balls. The sun had almost set when he parked in front of the cottage he called home. It was on the north edge of his family’s lands, a good distance from his sisters’ cabins on the west and east parts of the property.

With a little over two thousand acres of scrub, mesquite, cacti and grass—when there wasn’t a drought—Jason had a decent-sized hunting area.

There was also a pond, much bigger than Arturo’s. There weren’t any koi in it, though.

Jason sighed and got out of his truck. He jogged up to his cottage and opened the door. He never bothered locking it—no one would scale the ten-foot, barbed-wire-topped fence surrounding the property just to sneak into his place. If they did, he’d smell them before they saw him.

His scenting ability was enhanced due to him being a shifter, but other than that, he’d gotten the short end of the stick when it came to having all the amazing mountain lion senses. His night vision was okay, his hearing acute, but neither were as accurate as an actual mountain lion’s would have been.

Anne and Cindy got all the enhanced senses, and they don’t even want them. His sisters were more focused on living their human lives, not their feline ones. Jason didn’t judge them, but he did wish he had their gifts.

He supposed his sisters might use some of their shifter attributes on the job. Anne and Cindy were twins and six years older than him. Both were doctors at a hospital in San Antonio, which was how Jason had ended up getting recruited to pose for the calendar. His sisters worked with another doctor whose child had cancer, and since the calendar was raising money for one of the best treatment centers for pediatric cancer, Jason had let his sisters convince him to participate.

If he’d had any idea how drawn-out the photo shoot would be, he might have said no.

No, I wouldn’t have. Jason headed into the bathroom. He used a washcloth to remove the makeup he’d had to wear for the photos then took off his shirt and tossed it toward the hamper. He didn’t glance at himself in the mirror for any longer than it took him to make sure the makeup gone. The chemical scent of it had made his nose sting.

He’d started taking off his boots when he heard a car coming down the unpaved drive. Groaning, he kicked off the boot he’d been toeing at, then bent and pulled off the other one. He left his boots in the middle of the bathroom floor when he traipsed into the living room.

Car doors slammed and his sisters’ voices filtered through from outside. Jason decided he needed to rethink not locking his door, because he knew they were going to come in without waiting to see if it was okay with him. He’d argued with them about that before. If his sisters had been two minutes later, they’d have barged in on him naked.

He reached the door right as it was shoved open. The doorknob whacked his knuckles and he yelped, yanking his hand back.

Cindy stuck her head inside. What was that? she asked, blinking at him.

Anne must have pushed Cindy, who squeaked like a mouse and darted into the cottage.

What was what? Anne shut the door and looked at Jason. Why’re you cradling your hand? Did you hit your thumb with a hammer again?

Jason bit back a groan. Anne, that was six years ago. Can you forget about it already? I wasn’t a foreman then and I was still learning on the job—

So what’d you do to your hand then? Anne cut in. She never was very patient—unless it came to bringing up accidents from Jason’s past.

"What did I do? Jason shook out his hand and looked at his knuckles. The skin was scraped on a couple of them but he wasn’t injured. Y’all barged in here without so much as knocking, as usual. I was reaching for the doorknob when Cindy shoved her way in."

I stuck my head in! Cindy protested. And we pop in all the time!

Anne huffed. That doesn’t mean you didn’t open the door and hit Jay.

Jason tapped his bare foot. "Um, excuse me. You both came in without knocking. We’ve had this discussion before. I could have been naked—"

Anne waved his concern off. We’ve seen you naked lots of times. I changed your diaper, we’ve shifted together—

Not in years—either of those things, Jason added. I could have been having sex—

Cindy and Anne laughed and Jason was debating whether or not he could toss