She raised the bottle to her lips and took another sip before she yawned and looked at her watch. It was only 9:30pm, but she knew she had a busy day ahead of her, and she didn’t want to risk any kind of hangover by sitting in Shifter’s Bliss for too long, drinking the night away with the locals.
She thought back to the way Ryder had spoken to her. How she felt something when she looked into his eyes, and even now, as she sat there, she could feel him watching her. It was as if she could sense him when he was near, and they couldn’t help but be drawn to each other, but she also knew she had drank three beers and hoped that it was just a mild buzz washing over her and making her feel more carefree.
She opened her purse and pulled out twenty dollars and set it under one of the empty bottles. She picked up her things and gave Wendy a little wave as she turned and headed toward the door.
I don’t need anyone’s charity or a man to buy me drinks, she thought to herself as she walked past the table of rowdy men and felt Ryder’s eyes still on her. Pulling her in and watching her every move.
When she reached the door, she finally looked up, and their eyes instantly met. Around her, the noise seemed to fall away, and for a split second, it was as if they were the only two people in the room.
Her heart raged in her chest and all she could hear was it beating, the pulse rushing through her veins getting faster as she looked into his eyes, wishing she could move closer.
She broke their connection and stepped out the door and into the night, and she had to take a moment to find her breath.
She had no idea who Ryder was, or what hold he had over her, but just being near him was sending her lust and mind into overdrive, and it was unnerving.
She composed herself before she rushed away from the door of the bar and as far away from him as she could. She glanced back over her shoulder and the door to Shifter’s Bliss was empty, but she could still feel him, as if he were watching her from the shadows.
Back in the hotel room, she locked the door behind her and sighed, sitting on the bed. The curtains were still open to the doors to the balcony, and she could see the twinkling lights scattering up the mountain, and the sound of singing and laughter coming from one of the taverns down below. She breathed in and out deeply and stared up at the ceiling. It had been a crazy day, and now she was overthinking even more about Bridge Hollow and what this place meant.
She thought of Ryder, her mind swimming with possibilities. It had been the first time ever that a guy had even caught her attention, let alone made her heart race and her head spin the way it was doing now. She had always managed to avoid being drawn to someone, but this felt different.
She remembered the intensity of his eyes, the way they had glistened with gold and seemed out of this world. She could have kept looking into them all night and gotten lost. She could have dived right into their depths and stayed forever, but there was something about him that was cool and aloof, and she didn’t know what it meant.
She rolled onto her side and rubbed her forehead. She didn’t even know what she was thinking getting herself all worked up like that.
“You’re here to work,” she whispered to herself, as if she was scolding a child. “You don’t need a complication, or anything to make you look bad at the agency…”
She clamped her mouth shut as if she couldn’t even believe she was saying the words out loud.
This is ridiculous, she thought. You don’t want a man, and you certainly don’t want someone taking advantage of you and throwing you off you’re A-game while you’re here starting out your career.
She could only imagine what her mother would be saying to her if she were there at that very moment. She would be furious with her, and she would be telling her, Pamela hadn’t come this far just to give it all up at the last moment for a quick fling with a hot mountain man.
But god, was he hot…
He was nothing like the guys she had been warned about in her city back home. The kind of well-groomed city boys that she had known to avoid like the plague. She had only focused on her career, and she had always managed to stay well out of the dating game.
But Ryder, he seemed different.
Rugged and raw, and there was more to him, she could tell.
She shook the thoughts away and got to her feet, wandering over to the bathroom.
She ran the faucet and splashed water on her face, taking off the small amount of make-up still left from that morning and then moisturizing her face. She peeled off her clothes and got into her PJ’s, before she climbed into bed and snuggled down for the night.
It had been one hell of a first night in town, but she was looking forward to shutting off the exterior distractions and getting thrown into her work.
Her first day on the job was going to be a good one, and she closed her eyes to drift off into a peaceful sleep.
5.
Sean was waiting outside the front of the hotel not long after 8am, his jeans were tight on his hips and he had a rucksack slung over his shoulder. He reminded Pamela of something straight out of an 80’s high school movie, his hair was tall with a bouffant and a streak of gel, and his sunglasses were big and shiny.
“Morning,” she said, trying not to smirk.
“Finally,” Sean said, tapping his wrist, and it made Pamela want to roll her eyes. She wasn’t anywhere near late, and she could tell that he was going to be busting her ass from this moment on.
“Okay, so I’m going to drop you up on the mountain close to where the hunters went missing,” he said as he slipped his cellphone into his back pocket and hitched the bag up onto his shoulder. I’m going to hike up further and see what I can find closer to the summit. I’ll have a radio on me, and this one is for you…” He passed her a walkie-talkie and it crackled with static in her hand.
“No problem,” she said.
She hadn’t thought much about being up on the mountain alone, but now that it was coming to the point where they were going to head out, she was getting kind of nervous that she would be left in a place where two grown men had just vanished without a trace and animals had been dying in vast quantities.
“Have you spoken to the rangers?” she asked as she clipped the radio to her belt. “This is a national park; we probably need permission.”
Sean rolled his eyes and sighed. Clearly, he hadn’t thought of everything.
“Seriously?” he said with irritation.
“Of course,” she nodded. “I thought you would have known that.”
“You’re the environmental expert,” he said flatly. “I’m the investigative brain.”
Pamela shrugged and tried not to laugh. It was fun seeing him so ruffled.
“Fine,” he sighed. “Hang on.”
He marched back through the glass doors at the front of The Hollow Hotel and they closed slowly behind him.
When Pamela turned and looked around, she was greeted by the most perfect morning out on Main Street. The flowers in the hanging baskets were bright red and lush, the trees were thick and full, and the sun was shining brightly. The air was clear and crisp, and the breeze was still cool, but it was welcomed, as people of the town wandered up and down, doing their morning routines, buying coffee and newspapers, dashing out to get a carton of milk, and walking their dogs. Pamela found herself caught up in the people watching and almost forgot that she was going to have to tear herself away and start working.
When she had been observing them in a dreamlike state for a while, she was suddenly aware of Sean’s footsteps coming up from behind and she turned to greet him.
“Okay,” he said, a little flustered. “I’ve spoken to the old broad on the front desk and she confirms what you thought, we do need permission.”
Pamela had to resist the urge to gloat, but she just smiled sweetly and let him continue.
“She knows the ranger personally and called his cell, and he said he’s going to send us the paperwork over as soon as possible, along with two chaperones.”
“Chaperones?” Pamela raised her eyebrow.
“Umm hmm,” Sean rolled his eyes. “These small-town folks are so goddamn precious. What do they think we’re honestly going to do? We’re here to help them, for Christ’s sake.”
Sean was getting angrier by the minute and Pamela found herself smiling nervously and turning back to watch the crowd. He had such a bad temper when it came to things like this, and it was clear that he hated to be wrong. She, on the other hand, was glad of the fact she would have someone alongside her on the mountain. It would be good to have a person beside her who knew the area, who could show her exactly where the phenomena had started to occur, and more than anything, someone to, hopefully, make sure she didn’t vanish like the two hunters had weeks before.
They stood together outside the hotel for at least thirty minutes, and Pamela tried to not notice as Sean became more and more impatient. She opened her notebook and started to make some notes of where she wanted to look first and what tests she wanted to do. And then, when she couldn’t think of anything more, she opened her backpack and pulled out her bottle of water and took a long, drawn out sip.
Even though she hadn’t drunk a whole lot the previous evening at the bar, she could still tell that she’d had alcohol in her system, and her mouth was dry. It was one of the reasons she didn’t like to drink a whole lot. She hated the feeling, the next day, of being so sleepy and depleted of energy when there was literally no reason for it.
“Oh, here we go,” Sean said with a drawl as he caught sight of the ranger coming into view. “Great.” His voice dipped and the way he sounded nervous made Pamela’s heart jump a little too.
She didn’t know how she knew, but before she even looked up to see who the ranger was walking with, she had the feeling it would be him.
Her skin was tingling like fire, and her heart was racing, and the familiar pull twisting inside her stomach was working its way out and forward, almost propelling her toward him.
She finally got the nerve to put herself out of her misery, and she wasn’t at all surprised when their eyes met.
Ryder was the chaperone heading toward them with the ranger.
She smiled and so did he, but neither of them said a word.
“Hey,” the ranger said, adjusting his hat and holding out his hand to Sean. “I’m Dean, the Bridge Hollow Ranger.”
“Hi,” Sean said. “I’m Sean and this is Pamela.”
Dean turned to Pam and smiled, holding out his hand, and she shook it before she let her gaze drift back to Ryder.
“I’ve got some paperwork for you folks to fill out, just to confirm you’re not going to be doing anything dangerous up in our national park or going to be making anything worse. We’ve had a rough couple of months, and we don’t need any more controversy.”
Ryder smiled and held Pamela’s gaze. She looked down at the ground as her heart raged in her chest. What were the chances of this happening? She hadn’t even been in town for twenty-four hours and already, she had accidentally met Ryder three times. She felt nervous around him, but also, there was something radiating from him that screamed protection. Maybe it was because he was so big and burly, or maybe it was because he had a way of holding himself that made it clear he could handle just about anything; the way he looked at Pamela made her feel safe.
She bit her bottom lip and finally plucked up the courage to meet his eyes again. The glint of gold shone bright, and she felt a pulse of heat under her skin and between her legs.
“Do you have transportation?” Ranger Dean asked Sean.
“Yes, sir,” Sean confirmed as he pointed to the rental car parked behind him.
“And are you both heading up to the same point?” he asked.
“No,” Pamela found herself speaking before she was even aware the words were flying out of her mouth. “Sean is heading up closer to the summit and I need to be where the hunters went missing and the animals have been found.”
She felt Sean’s eyes on her as if she had just blown their cover. It was clear Sean didn’t want the people of the town following them around, but she knew that if they had said they were going to the same place, then she would be the one left alone halfway up the mountain and without any help should she encounter any danger.
“Okay,” Dean said. “I’ll head with you,” he pointed to Sean. “And Ryder, can you escort Pamela up to the clearing?”
Ryder nodded, and Pamela’s heart thudded.
Just her and Ryder, stuck on a dangerous mountain…
Oh my…
She swallowed and twisted the toe of her walking boot into the ground. She was nervous to be alone with him, but she would have been even more nervous to be up there alone… or even worse… with Sean watching her every move and criticizing her.
“Okay, let’s roll out,” Dean said, and Pamela was sure she caught a glance pass between him and Ryder, as if they were in on something that she and Sean were not.
She looked to Sean, who was completely oblivious, and then she waved goodbye as he gave her a mock salute and wandered back to the rental car with the ranger.
She turned and looked at Ryder, who was standing there with his huge arms crossed over his chest, the dark hair on them wiry and so manly it made her heart flutter even more.
“So,” he said with a smirk. “I guess it’s just me and you.”
Pamela felt herself blush, but she tried to hide it by turning to the side and smiling.
“Yep,” she said confidently as she strode past him. “Come on then, we better get to it.”
Ryder laughed and followed behind her, and Pamela kept her head high and breathed in and out a few times to calm herself down. It must have been the mountain air making her so nervous and ditsy. Either that or it was because she had a raging crush on Ryder and was trying her utmost to hide it and remain professional.
“We can take my truck,” Ryder said as she slowed her pace and turned to catch his eye. “It’s parked just a block down, do you need anything from any of the stores before we head up the mountain?”
Pamela couldn’t think of anything but her work, even though she knew she would likely be hungry as soon as it hit noon, but she didn’t want to delay anything any longer.
“No,” she smiled. “I’m fine.”
Ryder nodded his head and strode ahead of her, and she followed slowly behind. She watched his shoulders and how broad they were. Even though he was wearing a leather jacket, she could see the muscles flexing away beneath, and it made her pussy throb.
As he slowed his pace and reached into the back pocket of his jeans to pull out his keys, Pamela took a deep breath and told herself internally to stop acting like such a giddy schoolgirl. She had no interest in ruining her career by being distracted at this moment in time. She had come to Bridge Hollow for a reason and it was just her dumb luck that she had stumbled upon someone she found attractive for the first time in her entire life and had now been around him for the third time in less than a day.
Ryder opened the passenger door for her, and she climbed inside. She pulled her backpack off her shoulders and let it fall into the footwell, and then she tucked her loose hair behind her ears and adjusted the bandana she had tied like a band.
When he slid in beside her and she felt the truck bow with his weight, she knew he was looking at her, but she didn’t dare turn to look at him. His big hand gripped the steering wheel and he started the engine. As he put the truck into drive, the skin on his arm brushed against her and it felt like pure heat and electric.
An exquisite shiver rolled over her. From the point where he had touched her, all up her arm and along her back and right down her spine and into her legs. She had to stop herself from gasping. Her pussy was aching and getting wet, and she wanted him to explore her whole body, her nipples hardening at the thought.
She swallowed and looked away. She didn’t want him to see that she was flustered, but at the same time, surely, he had felt that too…?
She waited for a few moments and c
omposed herself, as he pulled the truck out into the traffic of Main Street, and they headed toward the roads that led up to the mountain.
Pamela had no clue what was happening to her. But she did know one thing. Ryder was doing dangerous things to her… and she didn’t know how much longer she was going to be able to resist.
She stood and looked out at the forest in front of her in awe. The trees were tall and so very, very green. It was clear that they were hundreds, if not thousands, of years old, and the thought of them dying off was too horrific to comprehend.
Ryder was leaning back against his truck watching her. She could feel his eyes all over her body, burning into the back of her head, and she wondered what he was thinking. She had the feeling that he didn’t like her much. There was a clear tension between them. Every time she stared into his eyes, she became flustered, but he also had a calming presence about him, and she wanted to know more about how and why he was having this effect on her.
She looked over her shoulder and he had his cellphone out and was tapping away at the keys. She turned back and set her backpack down, opened it and reached in to collect two glass vials.
She twisted off the top and scooped up two samples of soil from different locations, put the caps back on and placed them in labeled clear baggies.
“What do you think you’re going to find?” Ryder asked with a tinge of hostility in his voice.
“I don’t know,” she said genuinely. “I just hope it’s something we can fix.”
Ryder kept watching her as she moved around and collected samples from the trees−cuttings of bark and leaves−a piece of shrub from close to the ground and one of the rocks that was small enough and light enough for her to carry.
“The place where it all happened is about a five minutes’ walk west,” Ryder said. “A few of us have been out here since it all started and been looking for the hunters. Not that I care they’re gone, but it’s never nice for the town to be in uncertainty like this.”
“Why don’t you care they’re gone?” she asked as she slipped more bagged samples into her backpack.
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