Out of the Woods

by Sophie Stern

  Out of the Woods

  By Sophie Stern

  Copyright © 2020 by Sophie Stern

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover design by Jacqueline Sweet

  Also by Sophie Stern

  Alien Chaos

  Destroyed

  Guarded

  Saved

  Alien Chaos: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance Bundle

  Anchored

  Starboard

  Battleship

  All Aboard

  Abandon Ship

  Below Deck

  Crossing the Line

  Anchored: Books 1-3

  Anchored: Books 4-6

  Club Kitten Dancers

  Move

  Pose

  Climb

  Dragon Isle

  My Lord and Dragon

  The Dragon Fighter

  A Dragon's Bite

  Lost to the Dragon

  Beware of Dragons

  Cowboy Dragon

  Dark Heart of the Dragon

  Once Upon a Dragon

  Catching the Dragon

  Dragon Isle (Collection: Books 1-3)

  Dragon Isle (Collection: Books 4-6)

  Dragon Isle (Collection: Books 7-9)

  Good Boys and Millionaires

  Good Boys and Millionaires 1

  Good Boys and Millionaires 2

  Honeypot Babies

  The Polar Bear's Baby

  The Jaguar's Baby

  The Tiger's Baby

  Honeypot Darlings

  The Bear's Virgin Darling

  The Bear's Virgin Mate

  The Bear's Virgin Bride

  Office Gentlemen

  Ben From Accounting

  Polar Bears of the Air Force

  Staff Sergeant Polar Bear

  Master Sergeant Polar Bear

  Airman Polar Bear

  Senior Airman Polar Bear

  Red

  Red: Into the Dark

  Red: Through the Dark

  Red: Beyond the Dark

  Return to Dragon Isle

  Dragons Are Forever (Coming Soon)

  Shifters at Law

  Wolf Case

  Bearly Legal

  Tiger Clause

  Sergeant Bear

  Dragon Law

  The Fablestone Clan

  Dragon's Oath

  Dragon's Breath

  Dragon's Darling

  Dragon's Whisper

  Dragon's Magic

  The Hidden Planet

  Vanquished

  Outlaw

  Conquered

  The Wolfe City Pack

  The Wolf's Darling

  The Wolf's Mate

  The Wolf's Bride

  Standalone

  Saucy Devil

  Billionaire on Top

  Jurassic Submissive

  The Editor

  Alien Beast

  Snow White and the Wolves

  Kissing the Billionaire

  Wild

  Alien Dragon

  The Royal Her

  Be My Tiger

  Alien Monster

  The Paralegal

  Roses in the Dark

  Honeypot Babies Omnibus Edition

  Honeypot Darlings: Omnibus Edition

  Red: The Complete Trilogy

  First Shift

  The Swan's Mate

  Eternity: A Vampire Romance

  The Feisty Librarian

  Polar Bears of the Air Force

  Wild Goose Chase

  Star Princess

  The Virgin and the Lumberjacks

  Resting Bear Face

  Shifters at Law

  Seized by the Dragon

  The Fablestone Clan: A Paranormal Dragon-Shifter Romance Collection

  Star Kissed

  Club Kitten Omnibus

  Okami

  Savored

  Out of the Woods

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Also By Sophie Stern

  Out of the Woods

  Prologue

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  Epilogue

  Author

  Books

  Sign up for Sophie Stern's Mailing List

  Further Reading: No Fox Given

  Also By Sophie Stern

  One night. One chance encounter. One baby.

  Dale

  I've been out of the military for two years and living the life of my dreams. Spending time up in the mountains is what's always felt right to me. It's where I've always belonged. Then a surprise package shows up on my doorstep, and everything changes. Who the hell is Ruby Rogers? And why does her letter say that she has my child?

  Ruby

  It was a long time ago, and it was a mistake, but sleeping with the military man had felt right at the time. It had felt perfect. When I found out I was pregnant, I didn't bother trying to contact him again. We hadn't exchanged a lot of contact information, and besides, he had probably moved on. People who had one-night-stands weren't exactly the type of people who would make good fathers. Then my kid turned into a shapeshifting bear, and I realized that I needed to hunt this guy down.

  There's just one problem: when I reach out to the bear-shifting, former-military hottie, he doesn't remember me.

  Like, at all.

  What the hell am I supposed to do now?

  For my readers:

  Thank you for all that you do.

  Keep dreaming!

  Prologue

  Five Years Ago

  Ruby

  “LIVE A LITTLE.”

  That was the great advice my best friend Jake gave me earlier in the evening. Live. I’d never been one to turn down great life advice, so that was how I found myself cuddled up to a hot military guy in a bar just off base.

  I was trying to live a little, and this guy walked in like a damn hurricane. He was sexy and tall, and he had a face I wanted to lick. There was something seriously wrong with me if the first thing that popped into my head when I met a new guy was, “I’d like to lick you.”

  I tried to tamp down my desire.

  If my vagina could just chill the fuck out, that would be great. Like, seriously. I didn’t need a relationship. I probably didn’t need to be jumping into bed. I certainly didn’t need to be getting all worked up just because a guy looked twice at me, even if this guy was tall, dark, and dangerously gorgeous.

  “What’s your name?”

  It was a simple question.

  He wanted to know my name.

  Was I going to share it?

  Sharing my name wasn’t such a bad thing, was it? Only, I was just out of a shitty relationship, and I wanted something fun and relaxing. I had a bad habit of getting into relationships one after the other, and Jake had encouraged me to slow down.

  Cuddling up to the airman wasn’t exactly slowing down, but I could make sure that we didn’t become obsessed with each other. Tonight was just that: a night. It was supposed to be one wonderful night of steamy fun, and then we’d say our goodbyes the next day.

  Only, I knew that if I told this guy my real name, I’d
give him my number. I’d tell him to follow me on social media. I’d try to connect with him.

  “Elizabeth,” I lied easily. Elizabeth was my sister’s name. People confused us for twins all of the time. It was pretty weird to tell him that was my name, but it was the first one that popped into my head. “What about you?”

  “Dale.”

  Somehow, I didn’t think he was lying. Oh, maybe he was. Maybe this guy was doing the exact same thing that I was. Perhaps he was trying his best not to overthink our feelings because tonight was going to be a good night, but there was something about the way he spoke that just seemed to ring true.

  Yeah, this guy was definitely sharing his real name with me.

  I felt like kind of a dick for lying about who I was, but it was too late to backtrack, and besides, lots of people used fake names with strangers. It wasn’t like I was the first girl to ever fudge the truth a little bit.

  “That’s a nice name,” I told him.

  Everything about him was nice.

  His chiseled jaw, his sexy smile, and his piercing eyes all combined into one deadly combination that threatened to destroy my heart and my pussy.

  If things got that far.

  I wanted them to get that far.

  “It’s the one my mama chose,” he chuckled, looking down at me like I was the funniest thing he’d ever seen.

  “So, how long have you been stationed here?” I gestured to the room. Even though we were off-base, he knew what I meant. I meant “here” as in “Colorado.” I didn’t mean “here” as in The Lonely Shot.

  “Long enough,” he said vaguely. “What about you?”

  “I’m not in the military.”

  “I figured,” he smiled.

  “How could you tell?”

  “I don’t know,” he laughed. “There’s just something about you that screams local girl, I guess.”

  I wondered whether it was the Colorado Native stickers on my purse or the t-shirt I was wearing with the mountains on it. I probably should have dressed sexier before coming out to a bar, but Jake had dragged me out at the last second. He was meeting a guy and he didn’t want to go alone. Who was I to refuse him an accompanying buddy? I knew that Jake would do the same for me.

  “I’ll take that as a complement,” I said, reaching for my beer.

  “So, did you grow up here?”

  “Born and bred,” I nodded. “My dad was in the military about a million years ago. He and my mom settled here after he retired.”

  It was a standard story. “Military brat turned local girl” didn’t have a nice ring to it, but that was who I was. It just made sense, I supposed.

  “It’s a nice place to live,” Dale pointed out. “Are your folks still here?”

  “It’s just me. My parents passed away.”

  I hoped he didn’t ask me about that. I wasn’t even really sure why I was telling him. Losing them in a car accident had been rough and unexpected, but it was in the past. It was behind me. I didn’t exactly want to tell them that I’d been a total mess after they’d died or that Elizabeth and I had struggled to cope with the loss. It had been years, but the pain still felt fresh.

  “Rough,” he said, sipping his drink. “And it’s hard dealing with something like that all on your own. You don’t have any siblings?”

  “A sister,” I nodded, hoping he didn’t ask me her name. What was I supposed to say? Ruby? That would be fucked up. I’d already shared a lot more than I had planned to. When Jake told me to live a little, he hadn’t told me to overshare.

  I turned the conversation around, wanting to get to know him a little more instead. We had all night, after all. At least, I hoped that we would. Hopefully my stupid comments about my family hadn’t been enough to scare this guy off. Something told me he didn’t scare easily, though.

  “What about you?”

  “I’m not from Colorado, and I don’t have a sister.”

  “Funny,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. His eyes dropped to my breasts. It didn’t matter that they were securely tucked away beneath my shirt. The shirt was too small, and it hugged my curves.

  Apparently, Dale liked that.

  “Do you have a girlfriend?”

  “Do you think I’d be cozied up with you if I did?” Dale chuckled but shook his head. “I’m not that kind of guy, sweetheart.”

  “What kind of guy are you?” I asked before I thought too long or hard about it.

  It was a dangerous question, and it was one I wasn’t sure I really wanted an answer to. What if Dale was a bad boy? Was I ready for that? This guy practically oozed sexuality. He wasn’t the kind of guy you took home to meet your Grandmother. He was the kind of guy who bent you over the kitchen counter and fucked you from behind until you couldn’t feel your toes anymore.

  “The kind who likes spending an evening chatting up girls from Colorado,” he said with a shrug. He kept his answer simple and safe. That was probably for the best.

  Calm down, I thought to myself. I needed my entire body to just chill out. I was getting all worked up and excited about the idea of touching this guy, and the truth was that we’d only been hanging out for a very, very short while.

  Still, there was this strange, incredible connection between us. It was like this invisible thread pulling us together. When I looked at Dale, I couldn’t help but wonder what if?

  What if we had fun together tonight?

  What if I made a move?

  What if he did?

  What would I do?

  Jake always thought I played things too safe. He thought I wasn’t much of a risk-taker, and he was right. I’d much rather read about brave women than be one myself, but maybe that was going to change.

  We heard laughter, and we both turned to see Jake and his date doubled over with laughter. Apparently, one of them had made a really funny joke while they were playing darts. Jake looked happier than I’d seen him in a long time.

  “Friend of yours?” Dale asked.

  “My best friend,” I nodded. “That’s Jake.”

  “He seems fun.”

  “Yeah, he’s a riot,” I said, looking at them. The guy Jake had met up with was just as handsome as Dale: tall, rugged. He was exactly Jake’s type, and judging by the way he was eyeing my friend, I’d say Jake was his type, too.

  “He’s here with my friend,” Dale said.

  “Is he?”

  “Yep. That’s Matt.”

  Matt was tall, like Dale was. He had short, curly blonde hair, a strong jaw, and a cleft chin. His eyes weren’t leaving Jake’s for a second, and he was standing close enough to Jake that everyone in the damn bar could tell they were together. Yeah, it was clear that Matt liked Jake.

  A lot.

  “He also seems fun,” I pointed out, and Dale chuckled, reaching for his own drink.

  “He’s a riot.”

  “So, are you two roommates?”

  “Yeah, we share an apartment off base.”

  “That’s not too bad,” I said. “So, you have a little bit of separation from work.”

  That had to be nice. A lot of people who worked on base lived there, too. I knew that must get really old, really fast. My dad had always hated that. He used to joke that one of the reasons he married my mom was so that they could get their own place together and he could escape the dorms. My mom used to laugh about that a lot.

  “That’s the idea. Matt has people over a lot, so it’s not quite the separation I would have hoped for, but it works.”

  I knew what it was like to have a roommate who was more social than you. Jake was fantastic, and I loved rooming together, but sometimes being alone could be nice.

  “You don’t like being around people that much?”

  “I’m kind of a loner,” he chuckled.

  “Is that so?” I found it hard to believe. Dale seemed so confident and sure of himself. I always kind of pictured guys who were loners as being shy and timid.

  “Sometimes,” he nodded. “What about yo
u?”

  “Jake’s my roommate,” I explained. “We have a similar situation as you and Matt. He loves having people over, and I kind of keep to myself.”

  I didn’t tell him that I was perfectly happy throwing myself into a book. He didn’t need to know that I was a total and complete nerd.

  “You keep to yourself? Does that mean you don’t have a boyfriend?”

  “Darling, so I seem like that kind of girl?” I winked, throwing his own words back at him from earlier. I wanted to know what he’d do with that information.

  Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait long.

  Dale looked at me carefully, as though he was considering what I was saying. Then he nodded, set his drink down, and leaned toward me. He kissed me before I knew what was happening. He kissed me before I could convince myself to stop.

  And oh, I was glad I didn’t convince him to stop.

  His touch was fierce and wild, and he kissed me like he was fucking hungry. I was already wildly turned on by this guy’s voice and the way he seemed to turn me into a pile of goo, but this was something else entirely.

  “Wow,” I pulled back and looked at him. His eyes had turned almost completely black, giving him an almost villainous appearance, but I didn’t care.

  “Wow, indeed,” he murmured. He grabbed my hair, pulled me close to him, and kept kissing me.

  Dale

  I’D NEVER MET ANYONE like Elizabeth before.

  She was soft and sweet, and she seemed to practically melt under my hands. Oh, she was perfect, wasn’t she? I wanted her, craving her with an intensity I’d never felt before.

  Mine.

  My inner-bear seemed to like her, too. He’d never seemed to growl when I’d been with a woman before, but he liked this one.

  Easy, boy, I silently told him. The last thing I needed was for the bear to come out to play. If I shifted in this bar, people would talk, and that wasn’t good for anyone.

  As a bear shifter, I’d gotten pretty damn good at keeping my shifting abilities quiet. I didn’t need anything to jeopardize that.

  Not even a sweet, sexy human like the one I was currently making out with.

  Fuck.

  I hadn’t planned to come out tonight. I certainly hadn’t planned on meeting someone so wild and wonderful and sexy. This girl was completely on fire, and I wanted her. No, I craved her. There was a deep need inside of me to claim her as my own.