by Sable Sylvan
Goldie could smell the scotch on Cliff’s breath but instead of being repulsed, like she would be towards any other men at a bar, she felt...aroused. The same tingling she’d felt when near Brian and Glen returned. “And if I am your mate, then what?” asked Goldie.
“Then we leave Port Jameson for the last time, together, for good,” said Cliff, clasping her hand in his. “We never see this town again, and we say good riddance to the people in it. You can travel the world with me.”
Goldie took Cliff’s hand in hers and turned it over. Pale from the months spent in Antarctica, the paw marks on Cliff’s hands were pale, even against his already pale white skin, but opaque like calluses, so she couldn’t see the veins that ran beneath his skin on the spots where he had his polar bear shifter marks. The paws had changed since their senior year of high school, when they’d first appeared, growing thicker as his hands became broader. Of all the men, Cliff had changed the most physically since leaving high school: he was the tallest, the strongest, but also the fluffiest, a layer of squishiness covering his body to keep him warm. While he’d be a typical bear shifter up in Canada, down in America, he stood out.
“Do you still have the same mate mark?” asked Goldie.
“Of course I do,” said Cliff. “Not that I want it: I’d do anything to have another mate mark. I’d do whatever it took to get matched up with anyone but you, Goldie.”
“Are you intentionally trying to get me to cry or something?” asked Goldilocks with a glare.
“No, but I’d rather my mate be someone who actually wanted me, Goldie, and not somebody who thinks that this mate mark is meaningless.”
“I don’t think it’s meaningless,” said Goldie.
“Then see the meaning in it,” said Cliff. “And realize that things for bear shifters might be a bit more complicated than they are for humans...but also, more simple.”
“Why do you always have to talk in riddles?” asked Goldie. “Can’t you say something that isn’t a riddle shrouded in an enigma, wrapped in a puzzle, just once? Just for tonight?”
“Trust me, you don’t want to hear what I want to say,” said Cliff, turning away from Goldie and leaning against one of the lockers that she’d been leaning against.”
“Oh, but I do,” said Goldie. “Because otherwise, I’m going to see you at the twenty-five year reunion, and we’ll do this whole thing again.”
“Including the part where you get railed by Brian and Glen?” asked Cliff.
“Is that what this about?” asked Goldie.
“No, because believe it or not, what I really want is to do you,” said Cliff. “I want you in my bed, Goldie, and it isn’t just a bear shifter thing, and it isn’t just about my mate mark. I’ve always wanted you, and if I’m going to be crude, and honest, I might as well put it all out there: you’re exactly my type, a curvy woman with blonde curls that I want to lose myself in. I also know that what you want is to do me.”
“What, in your hotel room?” asked Goldie.
“Believe it or not, I’m staying at my parent’s place,” said Cliff. “Well, one of their places. They moved out of town like your parents did, but they kept the house.”
“Are you frikkin’ serious?” said Goldie. “Glen, you didn’t think to come and maybe, I don’t know, knock on my door when you saw my car in the drive?”
“Hey, I didn’t know that was your car,” said Cliff. “I thought maybe your parents were renting the place out...but besides, even if I had known you were there, do I really strike you as the kind of guy who would want to miss out on making a grand entrance back into your life?”
“Of course not, you’re an ass,” said Goldie, sitting on the floor, back against the locker.
“Of course I’m an ass, I’ve always been one,” said Cliff, sitting down next to Goldie on the floor, their shoulders touching. “But that won’t change tonight and that doesn’t change what’ll happen tonight. If you don’t come back to my place right now, you’re going to wonder whether or not you should’ve all night, until either you leave your house and come over to mine – a plan, I might add, I personally recommend – or you leave here, go back to whatever life you have in Seattle, and wonder forever, ‘what if?’. But let me guess, you’ve been wondering that the entire time, and you came back to Port Jameson tonight because you are tired of wondering, ‘what if?’, and you’ve tried two bears out of three and realized that while two haven’t worked out, maybe the third will.”
“Cliff, how do you do that?” asked Goldie as she leaned her head against Cliff’s shoulder. It was his damn animal magnetism at work: she and Cliff had always had a semi-antagonistic relationship and had always given each other hell. Brian was the sweet, quiet one, Glen was brash and brave, and Cliff was the witty puppet master who found it more exciting to stir up drama than to solve it...which explained why there was no way in Hell he’d ever be able to become a licensed psychologist, given his ‘interesting’ morals and mannerisms.
“Do what?” asked Cliff, the smell of Goldie’s hair so close to his face intoxicating him and making him lose his thoughts.
“Do that thing where it’s like you can read my mind,” said Goldie. “It’s...disconcerting.”
“It’s normal, believe me,” said Cliff. “People who are similar, they find each other, and they find a way to be together, because they’re meant to be.” Cliff moved Goldie’s hand up to his chest where she could feel the mark on his chest, every line, every groove. “You were never meant for this place, and neither was I.”
“Then how come this is the closest thing that’s felt like home to me?” asked Goldie. “Then how come you and I are back here, tonight?”
“To find each other,” said Cliff. “I didn’t come back to this town for a high school reunion, to reconnect with people who I barely noticed in high school. I came back here because there was a one in hundred chance that I would find you again, Goldie, and that I could approach you in a way that wouldn’t be seen as weird, or creepy, or obsessive, even though to the average onlooker, it’s exactly that, because...”
“Because they don’t understand,” said Goldie softly. “They don’t get it, Cliff, that you and me and Brian and Glen...we all have something, something weird.”
“Because even we don’t understand it,” said Cliff. “So let’s blow this popsicle stand and go back to my place.”
“You think because I’ve shacked up with Brian and Glen, you’re next on my list?” asked Goldie warily. Cliff’s arm around her waist was arousing her and she couldn’t take things with him further in public.
“Think? Try, ‘know’,” said Cliff. “Because I know at heart, you’re a hopeless romantic who’s kissing frogs – or, I guess, bears – in the hopes she finds her prince.”
“And that makes me what, a princess?” said Goldilocks.
“To me and two other men who you can turn to jelly, yes,” said Cliff. “But right now, I have a feeling you’re the one who’s turned to jelly, who wants to have a bear in her honeypot.”
“Then why are we still here?” asked Goldie.
“Good question,” said Cliff, lifting Goldie up from the floor and turning around, walking her towards the exit that Glen had walked through mere minutes beforehand. She walked with him through the halls and out the double doors, still trying to figure out what Cliff’s game was. There was no way he could be that cool about her hooking up with the two men that he hated more than any other people in the world.
Cliff led her to the one car that stood out more than hers in the lot: a silver luxury sedan with doors that flipped up rather than out, and chrome details, it looked like it belonged at a car show in Japan, not in the middle of nowhere in Oregon.
“Never seen a car before?” asked Cliff, leading Goldie to the passenger side and opening the door for her, the inside of the car lit by blue lit buttons and sleek glowing trim.
“And what about my car?” asked Goldie, taking her coat and purse off and putting them at her feet.
“Leave it
, I’ll drive you back here in the morning,” said Cliff. “I’ll drive you home if you want.”
“I don’t need a ride, I can walk,” said Goldie, settling into Cliff’s car. “We’re technically neighbors, aren’t we?”
“Yeah, my parents never sold the house,” said Cliff as he started the car. “They kept it because they thought the property values would go up.”
“Who knows, you might need a place here sometime,” said Goldie sarcastically. “Port Jameson’s such a hot, hip neighborhood, perfect for the young doctor genius on the rise.
“Yeah, and it’s perfect for gorgeous blondes too,” said Cliff with a laugh. “Especially the kind who can’t see an obvious solution to their problems.”
“I don’t get it,” said Goldie.
“You, dummy,” teased Cliff.
“You keep talking about this solution,” said Goldie. “If you know what I should do, why don’t you just tell me?”
“I could tell you,” said Cliff. “Or, I could get a bit of revenge, wait a few hours before giving you the solution. To be fair, you’ve made me wait more than a few hours for this, Goldie.”
“For what, sex?” asked Goldie, disgusted.
“No, for a few hours of your time,” said Cliff. “I missed you, Goldie. A lot.”
A pang went through Goldie’s heart: it was the sweetest thing that Cliff had said that night, something true, innocent, and not covered in ten layers of sarcasm and snark, and it was the one thing he’d said that wasn’t intended to mask his pain or to make her feel guilty, but it was the one thing that made her feel guiltier than ever.
“I didn’t know what to do,” said Goldie in a hushed voice. “I still don’t.”
Cliff looked over to Goldie: a tear was traveling down her cheek. “Hey. Babe. Don’t cry, it’s nothing,” said Cliff, wiping the tear as he slowed the car to a crawl. “It’s whatever. Really. Let’s have fun tonight, okay?”
“Alright,” said Goldie, wiping her other tear and forcing a smile. “That sounds...fun.”
“That’s the spirit,” said Cliff. “I had a cleaning service fix up my parent’s place last week and it looks pretty good.”
“A cleaning service?” asked Goldie. “I’m so stupid: I’ve been driving down from Seattle every few months to clean up the house.”
“Yeah, well, it must be nice to leave Seattle ever so often,” said Cliff. “I can’t imagine being stuck in a city all the time.”
“And I can’t imagine being in Alaska,” said Goldie. “Or anywhere else that’s freezing cold.”
“Because the Pacific Northwest is so warm and dry, right?” teased Cliff.
As the pair joked, the layers of ice that had been formed between them were chipped away...and melted away, by the sexual tension that made the car seem warmer than it ought to have. Cliff had turned the heat on for Goldie, even though he preferred chilly air, but that wasn’t what was making the pair burn from the inside out.
“You remember this place, don’t you?” asked Cliff as they pulled up the long drive to his house. Goldie could see her house way in the distance. The trees that separated their yards in place of a fence had blocked her house from his and she hadn’t thought to look through the trees and see if any lights were on because she’d assumed that Cliff wouldn’t attend the reunion.
“Of course I remember it,” said Goldie. “I remember when this place was first sold: you moved in during elementary school and my parents made me come over with them to meet the new neighbors.”
“And my parents made me dress up to make a good impression, and you and I both got our nice outfits messy in less than any hour,” said Cliff with a smile. “I don’t remember having to dress up for any play dates with you after that.”
“And your parents met Brian’s and Glen’s parents and we all became fast friends,” said Goldie. “And everything was perfect.”
“Yeah,” said Cliff softly. “Yeah, it was.” Cliff turned the car off and got out and opened the door for Goldie, leading her to the front door.
He opened the front door and let her in first. “It’s just as I remembered,” said Goldie. “Your house was always cleaner than mine.”
“Well, your house was always cozier than mine,” said Cliff. “And it was nice to hang out at a house where someone didn’t have a million sisters hanging around.”
“Being an only child wasn’t that fun,” said Goldie. “Especially with helicopter parents like mine.”
“Yeah, well, you know how shifters are,” said Cliff, taking Goldie’s coat and hanging it with her purse and his own coat on a rack. “Having two sisters in my litter, and no brothers, wasn’t exactly super fun though. They were always more into girly shit, but you were one of the guys.”
“Were?” said Goldie, turning and raising a brow. “Are you forgetting about all the times I beat you in arm wrestling?”
“You really think you can take me now?” asked Cliff, flexing a bicep, practically ripping his shirt in the process. “Believe it or not, Goldie, I’m a man now...and you’re a woman. We’re not kids anymore.”
“I’m still stuck with this stupid name,” said Goldie. “And this stupid hair.”
“You could always cut it, you know,” said Cliff, walking Goldie into his kitchen where he started an electric kettle full of water before adding two teabags to two mugs.
“You don’t like my long hair?” asked Goldie.
“No, I love it. And I hate it,” said Cliff, turning and leaning against the counter. “It’s the one thing I hate the most about you: the way you can make me feel stupid and lose track of what I’m thinking, without even trying.”
“What does that have to do with my hair?” asked Goldie.
“Your hair is intoxicating,” said Cliff, pulling Goldie close, wrapping an arm around her curvy waist and placing his nose on her head. “It smells amazing...and when I smell it, I can’t think of anything but you.”
“You’re exaggerating,” said Goldie with a frown, but she didn’t pull away from Cliff and his strong arms, which kept her warm in his house, which Cliff had kept what he would call ‘pleasantly chill’ but what any sane person would call ‘frikkin’ freezing’.
“You know that on the top of your head, there’s a spot that always smells the same, no matter what, right?” asked Cliff. “No matter what shampoo you use, it smells the same.”
“No way,” said Goldilocks.
“Yeah, there is,” says Cliff, running his fingers through her hair and rubbing a spot on the top of Goldilocks’ head. “It’s right there.” He pulled his finger out of her hair and smelled it before putting the finger up to Goldilocks’ face.
Goldilocks inhaled. “I don’t smell it,” she said. “Nice prank, Cliff.”
“It’s not a prank,” said Cliff. “You just can’t smell it because you smell yourself all day.” Cliff let go of Goldilocks as the electric kettle beeped and he poured the hot water into their mugs.
Cliff lifted Goldilocks up onto the kitchen island. Cliff’s parents were from an old bear shifter family and old shifter families tended to be wealthy, so although Cliff’s and Goldilocks’ house were similar, Cliff’s parents had modified the house heavily, mostly to accommodate their larger family. The marble kitchen island was one such modification and even sitting atop the counter, Goldilocks was still shorter than Cliff. Cliff leaned down so his head was right in Goldilocks’ face. “Go on, smell me,” he ordered.
Goldie blushed: this entire thing was ridiculous. She pulled Cliff close, pulling his head up to her face. “Fine, but only because this is so stupid it can’t be real,” she said. She inhaled deeply: all at once, it hit her, a smell that could only be described as Cliff’s essence. The smell she smelled was a smell she’d always smelled around Cliff but never realized she’d smelled, a smell that no deodorant or body spray could hide. At first, Cliff’s essence smelled like cool ice, and then, like the earth after it rains, before it took on the attribute of snowy pines. The essence kept changing, each
layer revealing yet another layer beneath it as it faded away.
“You smell it?” asked Cliff.
Goldie inhaled again, Cliff’s shaggy blonde hair covering her face. “There’s no frikkin’ way this is real,” said Goldie. “Did you get a custom cologne made or something?”
“No, I just smell that good,” said Cliff. “It’s biology, baby, and at the end of the day, you and I are mammals, and mammals smell good.”
“Eww, that’s so gross,” said Goldie.
“Hey, you’ve held a puppy before, right? You know how puppies smell?” said Cliff. “People have a smell too, even shifters. Imagine how intoxicating your smell must be to me, as a shifter, with enhanced senses.” Cliff passed Goldie her tea: the tea was still hot but cooled enough to become drinkable. Goldie smelled at her tea and wondered what other things she hadn’t bothered to smell closely. The tea smelled slightly of bitter oranges, like a standard Earl Grey, and as she sipped at it., she looked up to find Cliff watching her while he sipped his own tea.
“What?” asked Goldie.
“Nothing,” said Cliff with a small smile. “It’s just...it’s been a while since you’ve been over here.”
“Whatever,” said Goldie, blushing and turning away after taking another sip from her tea. “It’s not like I missed this or anything.”
“Yeah?” asked Cliff, putting down his empty mug and walking back to the island, spreading Goldie’s legs with his own. “It’s not like you missed me or anything, right?”
Goldie looked up at the tall blonde between her legs and reached up to his collar, but he pushed her hand down. “Not here,” said Cliff. “Let’s get you cleaned up first.” Cliff pulled Goldie up so that her legs were wrapped around his waist, her arms wrapped around his shoulders like a halter top, and Cliff took her up the stairs, supporting her with his hands around her hips, cradling her butt while his shoulder cradled her head.
Chapter Six
Cliff opened the bathroom door deftly and placed Goldie down gently, sitting her on the toilet’s closed seat while he ran a warm bath. “Let’s get you out of those clothes,” said Cliff, pulling the kimono top off of Goldie and unlatching her bra for her before turning to check the water temperature as Goldie shimmied out of her pants quickly, hiding the fact she didn’t have any panties on. Cliff unbuttoned his own top and pulled it off, folding it and putting it on the bathroom counter.