Riley frowned and walked up to the rocky shore of the river while Hunter dunked in and out of the water. She tried to tell herself again to just enjoy the easy friendship they had out here in the woods. Take the time for what it was worth, and don’t try to push things, she told herself.
When she reached the shore, she stripped off her shirt and shorts, leaving her in just a bra and underwear. She wanted to really wash out her clothes and get as much of the dirt and grime out of them as possible, and the best way to do that was to take them off completely and scrub them with her hands. She knew that stripping down to her underwear would probably catch Hunter’s attention, but she tried to tell herself that she wasn’t doing it to show off her toned body to him. She just wanted to get her clothes clean.
Yeah, right. She knew that, despite her determination that he needed to be the one to make the first move without her helping him along, she’d be disappointed if he didn’t react to her curves.
And he did react. But not quite the way she had hoped. His eyes flitted over her body, filling with desire, and then he turned his back to her abruptly.
“Good idea,” he said, and started pulling off his own shirt. Riley sighed. For some reason, Hunter was determined not to give in to the craving he obviously had for her. Maybe he had a girlfriend waiting for him. That must be it. What an idiot she was, sitting out here thinking that a guy as sexy and sweet as Hunter was actually single. She looked up from rinsing out her own clothes to see him leaning over in the water to step out of his pants as well. He was left wearing nothing but a black pair of boxer briefs.
When he stood up straight again, with his bare back facing her, Riley gasped. Hunter swung around to face her, thinking that something was amiss.
“What is it?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Your back,” she said. “It’s the same one from my dreams.”
His face turned serious, and he directed his piercing green eyes at her like a pair of lasers. “What do you mean, the same one from your dreams?”
Riley suddenly felt embarrassed, but she had already said something, so she had to explain. “I have this recurring dream, where I’m chasing this guy through a field. I want to catch him, but I’m never quite fast enough. I always wake up right before it feels like I’m about to reach him. And his back looks just like yours. It has that same weird scar that you have across the back of your left ribcage.”
Hunter’s eyes widened and he looked at Riley with the most intense expression she had ever seen. “It’s true, then,” he said softly.
“What’s true?”
“We’re fated to be together. I kept trying to push away everything as a coincidence, even though my b—… I mean, even though I felt strongly within me that you and I were meant for each other. But if you feel it, too, even as a human, then there’s no way I’m imagining this. We’re fated for each other.
Riley furrowed her brow. It sounded like he was trying to tell her that he liked her, although he was choosing some weird expressions to do so. And as much as she was attracted to him, his spiritual wishy-washy vibes were a bit much. Attraction was all chemistry and hormones, not some pie in the sky spiritual force.
“I don’t really believe in fate,” Riley said.
“Well, fate believes in you,” he said.
Riley blinked, and stared at him in silence for several moments. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to roll her eyes at him or splash through the river toward him and jump into his arms. Honestly, she kind of wanted to do both. He was acting a little strange, but, damn, he was still so hot, and his eyes were still so sweet. It was becoming nearly impossible to hold back the feelings of passion for him that bubbled up every time she let her eyes graze over his body.
Hunter balled up the shirt and pants he was still holding, and chucked them onto the shore. Then he motioned to her.
“Come here,” he said. His voice was filled with a mixture of tenderness and urgency. Riley felt her heart starting to pound as she began walking slowly out to the middle of the river. He held out his hand to her when she got closer, and she took it as she closed the last few feet between them. He pulled her in close to him and wrapped his arms around her, stroking her tangled hair with his hands. Every time he hit a knot, he would gently wriggle it out with his fingers.
Riley felt her stomach filling with butterflies at the softness of his touch. The cool river water flowed over them as the sun above them faded from the intense heat of the day into the gentle warmth of the late afternoon. She hadn’t realized until this moment just how much she had wanted to be here, in Hunter’s arms. With her head against his chest, she could hear his heart beating. Every thump sent little waves of desire through her. The intensity of the feeling overwhelmed her, and even scared her a bit.
When Hunter looked down at her and started leaning in, presumably for a kiss, she tilted her head away from him a bit and tried to defuse her strong feelings a little bit by making a joke.
“This isn’t exactly fair,” she said lightly. “You saved my life. It’s not like I can just say no to you.”
Hunter’s eyes turned serious. “Don’t say that,” he said. “You can say no any time you want to. If you don’t want this, then tell me now and we can go back to being completely platonic friends, no hard feelings.”
Riley turned her face back toward him, taking a deep breath. She studied his eyes for a few moments, then took a leap of faith.
“I don’t want to be just platonic friends,” she said. “I want you to kiss me.”
He didn’t need to be told twice. He leaned his head down, and put his lips on hers. The warmth and softness of his kiss surprised her. She would have expected a man as big and muscular as Hunter to feel rough, but the only thing remotely rough about him was the two-day-old stubble on his chin. It tickled her face in a delightful way, sending happy little tingles up and down her spine. He slipped his tongue into her mouth, and let it run over her tongue with a smooth, rhythmic motion. Riley’s heart raced with excitement as he slid his hands down her back and rested them against her lower back, pressing his groin against her. She could feel his erection pushing against her, large and solid.
She felt herself melting into him as the charred forest around them disappeared. She could only see him. He took his time kissing her, and she enjoyed the moment as the water gently flowed around them. Nothing mattered in that moment except being with him. She forgot about all of her worries back home. She forgot about looking for a new job, or about how she would pay her bills when her savings ran out. She definitely forgot about her ex-boyfriend. She even forgot about the fact that just yesterday she had almost burned alive. She could only focus on Hunter’s skin against her skin, and his tongue against her tongue. She felt her whole body tingling at the immense pleasure of his hands running over her.
But just when she thought he was going to take it to the next level, and start removing their last layer of clothes, he pulled back.
“Let’s not rush things, huh? These things are always better when you take your time,” he said. “Besides, the sun’s almost gone down, and it’s going to get pretty cool once it does. We should get out and dry off.”
Riley tried to hide her disappointment. She hadn’t wanted to stop. Her feelings for him were quickly deepening, and she gladly would have taken their fledgling relationship all the way. But she didn’t want to seem desperate, and she certainly wasn’t going to beg for him to sleep with her. So she agreed with him and started wading back to the riverbank, where they sat on some large rocks and dried off while they soaked up the last rays of sunlight.
When the light had faded to where Riley could hardly see Hunter anymore, he went to find his lantern and turn it on. Then he offered her the long sleeved flame retardant clothing again, and she gladly accepted the warmer clothes. His eyes looked sad, and she couldn’t understand why. If taking things slowly was going to cause him such anguish, why didn’t he just move ahead? She certainly hadn’t given him any hints that she
wasn’t enjoying herself.
But she got the strange feeling that whatever was bothering him ran deeper than just denying himself carnal pleasure, and so she let things be. They had yet another Spam and Gatorade dinner, and then they went to sleep early. Riley had been hoping for another late night of talking under the stars, but Hunter didn’t seem to be in a particularly talkative mood.
He did agree to share the sleeping bag with her tonight. They opened it up so it would be wider, and they spread it like a blanket over both of them. Riley snuggled up to Hunter as he drifted off to sleep. She watched his chest rising and falling peacefully for a long time before she finally closed her eyes and joined him in dream world.
This time, when she dreamed she was chasing the tall, muscular man across the field, she caught him. And when the man turned around, she clearly saw Hunter’s deep green eyes staring back at her.
Maybe Hunter was right. He was her destiny.
Chapter Six
The next day, Hunter opened his eyes before the sun had risen above the horizon. In the gray light of early dawn, he glanced over at Riley, who was still sleeping soundly beside him. He studied the outline of her face, marveling at how unguarded and peaceful it looked while she slept.
He reached for her hand under the sleeping bag that they were using as a blanket. She stirred slightly when he laced his fingers with hers, but quickly settled back into the steady breathing of sleep. He furrowed his brow, trying to decide how, exactly, he was going to break the news to her that he was a bear shifter.
She had wanted to mate with him last night. He had seen the passion in her eyes, and smelled the desire seeping from her pores. He had been so close to giving in to the craving that had flooded through him. He wanted her, too. But he couldn’t mate with her until he told her who he was. He had seen his alpha, Ian, struggle with the frustration of sleeping with a woman before revealing his shifter secret. Things had worked out between Ian and Charlotte in the end, but not before Charlotte had nearly given up on Ian, angry that he hadn’t come clean with her from the beginning. After seeing how that relationship played out, Hunter had vowed never to sleep with a woman he loved until she knew he was a shifter.
And he was pretty sure he loved Riley.
Everything about her captivated him. Her smile, her laugh, the easy way a conversation with her flowed. She fit him. And no wonder, since he was surer than ever that she was destined to be his lifemate. He had suspected as much, when he smelled her in danger on the day he rescued her from the wildfire. But he knew with certainty after she shared her dream with him. Humans’ dreaming of their lifemates was a rare occurrence. It only happened when the human was unusually tuned in to the supernatural elements around them, or when the lifemate bond was exceptionally strong. Hunter didn’t think Riley was the particularly spiritual type, and so he suspected that they had a rare, extra strong bond. He knew that the moment he mated with her, his soul would be permanently bonded with her.
She stirred again, and he looked over at her. He had to tell her today, even though he was terrified that she wouldn’t want anything to do with him once she knew he hid a bear within him. She deserved to know the truth, before she decided whether to invest any more of her heart into him.
Hunter sat up and slid out from under the blanket, tucking it around Riley as he left. He started packing up his gear, pulling out two protein bars to serve as breakfast. His food supply was getting a little low, but he wasn’t worried about it. Sometime tomorrow they should make it to the visitor center, where a truck would pick them up and carry them out of this burnt up wilderness.
After wolfing down one of the protein bars, Hunter grabbed his radio and wandered a little ways away to contact Ian.
“Ian, this is Hunter, are you there?”
“I’m here. How are you progressing?”
“We’re making okay time. We didn’t make too much progress yesterday afternoon, because the heat up here borders on unbearable. But we’re just about ready to get going, now. I’m going to try to take advantage of the cool morning hours as much as I can. I’m estimating we’ll be at the visitor center a little before noon tomorrow.”
“Roger that. How are your supplies?”
“Food is low, but we have enough to last us through breakfast tomorrow. So, barring any emergencies, that should be fine. And I found the river, so we have plenty of water. I’d say we’re in good shape.”
“Good. Did you mate with her yet?” Ian asked, his voice sounding bitter.
“Ian!”
“I’m just asking. I sure hope rescuing her has been worth it for you, since you risked your life to do it. You’ve also put me in an awkward situation. Boise wants to give you an award for bravery. They want to use your story to publicize all of the wildfire firefighters, and get the word out about how awesome we all are, or whatever. I should have just thrown your ass under the bus and told them the truth—that you jumped off that helicopter on purpose, against orders. Now we’re going to have a bunch of media spotlights on the clan.”
“I’m sorry, boss,” Hunter said meekly. “You know I’m not defiant by nature. But I couldn’t stop myself. My bear felt like it was going to tear right out of me if I didn’t do go after her. I’m sure she’s my lifemate. It would have torn me up inside if I had let her die out here.”
“If she’s your lifemate, then why haven’t you mated with her yet? Is she not as into you as you are into her?”
“It’s not that. She seems very willing. It’s just…I don’t want to lose her trust.”
Ian immediately knew what Hunter meant. “I understand that, Hunter, and I’m not going to tell you to try to hide who you really are from her. But be careful if you tell her. Make sure you can trust her. We don’t want to risk the clan being outed. Especially when Boise already has the media circus lined up and waiting to talk to you.”
“I know. I’ll be careful. And I’m sorry about the media. I’ll find a way to make this better, I promise.”
“Just worry about getting yourself home for now. I’m pissed as hell at you, but we’ll talk about that later. Take care of yourself and the girl, okay?”
“Alright, Ian. I’ll check in later tonight with our progress.”
Hunter signed off and turned off the radio, then went back to where he had left Riley sleeping. He was surprised to see that she had woken up already.
“Was I too loud? Did I wake you up?” he asked. He hoped that she hadn’t heard his discussion with Ian, but she gave no indication that anything was out of the ordinary.
“Nah, I think I just got cold when the warm body next to me left the bed,” Riley said, winking at him. Hunter smiled, and then tossed her the protein bar he had pulled out for her.
“Here. Breakfast. I know it’s not very delicious, but it will at least give you some energy.
Riley munched on the protein bar while Hunter put on all of his gear, and then they took off hiking down the river. Riley seemed to be in a very talkative mood, and Hunter let her talk. He interjected just enough comments to keep her from suspecting that he was in a bad mood. Her mood seemed better than ever, which he suspected had something to do with the fact that he had kissed her yesterday. He worried that she might not feel so chipper once he told her why he hadn’t mated with her yesterday.
He decided that he would tell her when they set up camp for the night. This gave him all day to think about what to say—and all day to dread what her reaction would be. The hours seemed to drag by, but when the shadows had started to grow long again, Hunter picked a spot to set up camp. As soon as Hunter had taken off his gear and jumpsuit, Riley stripped down to her bra and underwear again with lighting speed.
“Last one in is the rotten egg!” she taunted, evidently pleased with herself for beating him at his own game. She splashed out into the water, laughing and shrieking as the cool stream hit her body. Hunter smiled, and then sighed heavily as he stripped down to his underwear as well. He waded out to her, dunking his head underwater for a
moment to let the river’s refreshing coolness run over him. When he came back above the surface, he was met with a huge splash. Riley was running her fist across the top of the river to send a wall of water in his direction.
“Oooooh, I got you!” she said, splashing around in delight like a little kid. Hunter chuckled. Her smile was infectious, and it only added to her beauty as the sun made her wet skin glisten. But when she realized he wasn’t trying to splash her back, her smile faded.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Listen, Riley, we need to talk,” Hunter said. Her face fell at his words, and the look of anguish she gave him made his heart tighten up.
“Really?” she asked, her voice sounding distressed. “Are you about to break up with me? Because it’s been less than twenty-four hours since you first kissed me. Are you tired of me already?”
“No, no. It’s not what you think. I don’t want to break up with you. Far from it. But, I’m falling hard for you Riley, and, if I’m not mistaken, you’re falling hard for me, too.”
A look of confusion registered on her face. “I’m not seeing the problem with both of us liking each other. That’s pretty much the ideal way for a relationship to work, you know? Both parties sharing mutual affection for each other.”
Hunter took a deep breath. “I know. But before we take this any further, there’s something about me I have to tell you. And it’s kind of a big deal. A really big deal. I’m going to trust you with a very, very personal secret. And if you don’t want to be with me anymore after that, I understand. God, I hope that’s not the case. I hope you can accept this part of me. But if you can’t, I’m pleading with you, begging you, to keep this secret for me.”
Fire Bear Shifters: The Complete Series Page 13