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“Could be.” She ran through more possibilities in her head. She was used to brainstorming, but not when it involved real events. “Or maybe he was in over his head and trying to limit the damage, not get you involved. Or maybe—”
He shushed her with a hand gesture, and they both went still. Holding a finger to his lips, he climbed out of his sleeping bag and padded to the entrance of their hideaway. There he paused, his head cocked, listening to something outside. She heard a faint rustling, but couldn’t identify the sound.
He turned and hurried back toward her.
“We need to get out of here.”
“Why?”
“There’s a large animal grazing out there and most likely it’s a bear. We don’t want to get trapped in here if he wanders inside.”
He was already pulling on his clothes, hiding that incredibly fit body underneath fleece and wool. She forced herself to leave her cozy sleeping bag nest and did the same. With lightning speed, he packed up all their gear and stowed it in their packs.
When they were all packed up and ready for the outside, he paused, then stepped close enough to her that he could speak in a low, nearly audible whisper. “We need to make as little noise as possible, see if we can sneak out before it spots us. But if it does see us, follow my lead. Just do what I do. Got it?”
She nodded, gazing up at him with wide eyes. He scanned her face, his eyes darkening. Then he bent down and brushed a kiss across her lips. A firestorm of tingles ignited, as if he’d made her skin sparkle.
Her lips parted and she answered his kiss as if it could be their last, and she wanted him to know how much she appreciated and wanted him.
When he drew away a moment later, his expression had gone full caveman. “All I want is to get down this mountain, take you to breakfast, dive into a shower and get into a real bed with you.” It all came out in a deep growl of pure lust.
Her breath stopped in her chest. Me too. She didn’t know if she said it out loud, but it must be written all over her face.
“Ready?” he whispered.
They moved in total silence, two ghosts drifting like mist from under the overhang. He pointed into the woods and there it was. About twenty yards away, a dark figure hunched over what was probably a blueberry bush. His thick fur was more black than brown.
“It’s a bear, all right,” he murmured. “If he sees us, make lots of noise and try to look bigger.”
“Look bigger?”
“Wave your arms, yell, that kind of thing. They’re don’t want any trouble. If worse comes to worst, I have a can of bear spray. I don’t like to use it, so I’ll try everything else first. I don’t see a cub, so that’s a stroke of luck.”
A moment later, the bear moved and revealed a much smaller figure behind her.
“Ooops.”
She wanted to giggle, in a hysterical kind of way, but managed not to.
“The wind’s in our favor, so we’ll have to count on that. Let’s go before it shifts.”
He didn’t have to say it twice. He gestured with his chin toward the trail, indicating that she should go first. He’d deal with any bear drama, in other words. As quietly as she could, she stepped toward the trail, keeping a sidelong eye on the oblivious ball of fur.
It was magical, in a way, encountering this wild creature in the dawning morning. If only she could hide behind a bush and admire it, take notes for a book. Was there a way she could work a homicidal black bear into a story? Maybe he’d been mistreated by humans and was out for revenge?
The bear’s head swung around, and its eyes met hers. There was something ancient about them, primitive, as if this bear knew things she could only imagine.
“Go,” said Galen urgently. “I’ll head her off.”
Brenda picked up the pace and got about forty yards down the trail when she heard Galen yelling toward the bear.
“Be a good bear, that’s right, go on, take that little cub of yours and keep him safe, I’m not going to hurt you, go on, be a good mama bear, like I know you are, look at that beautiful cub you raised, you’re both nice and fat and you don’t want to mess with a human, do you?”
She turned back to find him standing tall, hand waving like a windmill, the bear up on her hind legs.
If he was trying to intimidate the bear, wouldn’t it be better to have two people?
Plucking up every speck of courage she had, she hurried back up the trail to join him. Mimicking his movements, she jumped up and down and waved her arms, feeling her pack bounce on her back.
