by J. S. Scott
Problem was, I wasn’t so sure I’d be the one who wanted to break things off quickly once our itch was scratched.
So I’d avoided having sex with Jade, even though it was fucking killing me.
The longer it takes for us to have sex, the longer she’ll be around, right?
I’d made certain we were worn out every single day with planned activities: exploring Yellowstone, bike riding, horseback rides, white-water rafting, and some very long hikes.
By the time our day was over and we’d had a few drinks after dinner, Jade had conked out almost as soon as she hit the bed.
I wasn’t quite so lucky.
There was no way I was going to sleep in another bed. I liked feeling her warmth draped over me, or snuggled up to my side.
But every night was torture.
I couldn’t figure out what in the hell was wrong with me. I’d achieved my goal. Jade was willing, and we were both adults. Why the fuck was I putting off what I knew would be the most satisfying sex of my entire life?
She’s making me crazy.
There was no other explanation.
Our days had been an eye opener for me. Although I’d already known that Jade was gutsy, because of her survival expertise, I’d also discovered just how fearless she was when confronted with any kind of outdoor activity.
She jumped into every experience wholeheartedly and without any hesitation.
I wasn’t quite sure if that fascinated me even more, or if it terrified the hell out of me.
“Do you think we should head back?” Jade asked, jolting me out of my own thoughts.
I looked around, realizing we could either take the trail back to our camp, or we could hike farther away from our lodgings before circling back.
The moment I looked at Jade, my dick was hard. Not that it wasn’t constantly that way because of her, but it was difficult not to want to fuck her up against a nearby tree.
Her skin was still flushed with excitement, even after exploring for two days. And her joyous smile made me feel like somebody had bashed me in the chest.
Her happiness was becoming my damn obsession just because I wanted to keep looking at her smile.
We’d gotten lucky for the last few days. The weather had been good, but cold, so we were both bundled up for hiking.
I looked at the sun, and then my watch. “We probably should head back. I don’t want to get caught in the woods after dark.”
It was rutting season for the big-horned-mammal population like elk and moose, and I’d been ridiculously paranoid about Jade stepping on a rattlesnake since the minute we’d first started hiking. We’d seen plenty of the former, but hadn’t seen any kind of snake while we’d been out hiking. But it didn’t lessen my fear of it happening to her.
I turned to lead the way back to our luxury lodgings, but turned back around as I heard Charlie growling, a serious sound I’d never heard from him before.
“Don’t move,” Jade said in a calm voice. “And don’t run.”
I looked up the opposite trail just in time to see a huge grizzly bear rear up onto its hind legs.
I had to force myself to keep my hands at my side and not jump for Jade to get her out of harm’s way.
That bear would have to tear my ornery ass up before it ever got to Jade.
“Bear spray?” I asked in a quiet, monotone voice.
“Not close enough,” she answered. “And probably not necessary. He’s prehibernation, and is probably just looking for food of the nonhuman variety.”
As she spoke, I did see Jade slowly reach for her bear spray just in case. Since I wasn’t exactly a country boy, I’d let her talk me out of carrying it myself. I’d relented since she had way more experience with wildlife than I did. But I had never stopped to think about the possibility that she could be torn up if the weapon didn’t stop a bear.
The male was still on his hind legs, and it wasn’t sitting well with me that Jade was several steps closer to the bear than I was.
The beast was probably fifty feet from us, and not making any crazy moves that made me twitchy. Still, it was too damn close.
“Don’t make eye contact,” she instructed. “And no sudden moves.”
I hastily moved my eyes from the massive animal’s face, and motioned for Charlie to be quiet and get down beside me. I was relieved when he reluctantly obeyed.
I stayed frozen in place while Jade was talking nonsense in a calm voice to the bear.
Strangely, her vocal calmness appeared to be working.
“Start backing up slowly,” she instructed in the same tranquil tone she was using with the bear. “Let’s give him some space.”
I waited until Jade was beside me before I started my retreat.
If something was going to happen with the massive mammal, I was damn well going to be able to put my body between hers and the bear’s to keep her from getting mauled.
“When do we haul ass and get out of here?” I asked in a quiet voice as I motioned for Charlie to follow us.
“We don’t,” she said firmly as we kept giving the predator more and more space. “If we act like prey, his instinct is going to make him pursue. And a human will never be able to outrun a grizzly.”
With every step we took, the more distance we put between us and the bear. “Do we just keep moving like this?” I asked.
“Yes. You’re doing fine. We can’t turn our back on a bear until he can’t see us. Bad idea. Just keep walking until he moves on.”
Once I’d gotten over my immediate instinct to protect Jade by throwing her body to the ground and covering her—a move that would have probably gotten us both mauled—I respected her judgment. She was the expert. When we’d come across rutting moose and elk, she’d steered me away from them carefully, teaching me how to keep from getting hurt.
“He’s leaving,” she remarked.
I looked up to see the bear turn his back on us and lumber in the other direction. Obviously, it didn’t matter if the bear turned his back on us since it was an apex predator.
As the grizzly finally disappeared into the woods, Jade said, “We can move on.”
I grabbed her hand in an iron grip as she turned around and kept up a fairly fast walking pace toward our accommodations.
“Are you still concerned?” I asked her after we’d moved at a steady clip for a few moments, nodding my head at the bear spray she was still holding in her hand.
“No,” she answered in a normal voice. “He looks well fed, and I didn’t see any sign that he’s likely to be aggressive and stalk us. But bears can be unpredictable. No harm in being prepared.”
I sure as hell didn’t like the sound of that. “I’ve been here before, and I’ve hiked. I’ve never seen any bear, much less a grizzly. We take precautions. Usually, we only allow hiking in groups of three or more, and with an experienced guide. And in the three years the place has been operational, not a single guest or employee has seen a grizzly. Not this far away from the park.”
“Their numbers are recovering,” she informed me. “They’ve been protected to increase the population, and now they’re starting to spread out beyond the Yellowstone ecosystem. That’s been happening for a while now. But I don’t think they’re here very often. I didn’t see the usual signs. It was probably just an uncommon occurrence.”
I frowned. “Do you think it will cause any problems at the resort? Are the guests in danger?”
She shook her head. “No more than somebody staying in the park. A person has a better chance of getting struck by lightning than getting attacked by a bear. The large percentage of attacks are due to human error. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen without provocation, but it’s extremely rare.”
“Human error? Like running?”
“Sometimes. One of the biggest mistakes is getting too close to cubs. Females are incredibly protective.”
“You don’t sound the least bit nervous about coming face to face with a grizzly,” I grumbled.
“I’m not
,” she told me. “I’m excited. That wasn’t my first bear encounter, but it’s my first grizzly. Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t need to be that close. And I respect the fact that the bears are wild animals, and anything could happen. But I’ve always wanted to see one in their natural environment.”
Fuck! She was actually flushed with excitement and smiling.
“This has happened to you before?” I asked.
“Of course. I did all kinds of fieldwork, Eli. I’m a wildlife conservationist. Granted, I never got outside California, but we have plenty of bears.”
“I don’t like it,” I answered stubbornly. “It’s a dangerous job.”
She moved closer and slammed into my shoulder playfully. “Most of the time, I study data in a laboratory. Running into a bear is a rarity.”
“They can be aggressive.” Jesus! Didn’t she know that something bad could have happened?
“He was up and sniffing. That’s usually curiosity and not aggression. But I agree. He was a huge male. But we were invading his territory. That’s always a very small risk that you take when you hike. Especially in this area.”
“I was more worried about snakes,” I said, pissed off at myself because I’d hardly considered other risks.
“Human-and-bear encounters happen. But being mauled or killed by one is a rarity. For the most part, they’d rather avoid humans.”
“No more hiking,” I told her as we arrived at our tent.
I waited until she was inside, and then closed the door behind us. It was going to take a hell of a long time to forget the sight of her in front of me while we were having a confrontation with a damn grizzly.
Maybe she was able to handle it well, but I was probably going to have nightmares about what could have gone wrong.
I bent down to reassure my canine, who was clearly still confused by what had happened. “Good boy,” I told him as I stroked his head.
Charlie was easy. After a minute of affection, he was back to normal.
Jade took off her jacket and bent down to pet Charlie, too. “He was a good boy. If he wasn’t so well trained, we could have had trouble on our hands.”
As I straightened up, I asked, “So what do you do if a bear charges?”
She took off the belt around her waist, and dropped the hiking tools and bear spray on the kitchen counter.
“It depends,” she replied. “Sometimes they’ll do a fake charge to get you to move away. But if they’re really going to engage, you wait until they’re within twenty-five feet or closer and hit them with bear spray.” She looked up at me and added, “Hey, you really look worried. Are you okay?”
“Not completely,” I admitted. “I was afraid you’d get hurt.”
“You were worried about me?” she questioned softly, her expression slightly surprised.
“For God’s sake, I brought you here, Jade. And something could have happened to you because I picked the wrong damn place to go.”
I wasn’t afraid to admit I’d been pretty damn scared that the bear would go rogue and hurt her.
And it would have been my fault.
“I’m fine, Eli. I was nervous the first time I had a close encounter with a bear. But I guess I’ve learned that the worst thing a person can do is panic. I’ve had years of experience and research into animal behavior. You haven’t. I know it’s pretty terrifying.”
“I wasn’t afraid for me,” I rasped. “I was worried that something would happen to you. One mistake and you could have been dinner.”
She came forward and touched my arm. “We didn’t make a mistake, Eli.”
I had her in my arms before she could blink, and I held her so tightly she probably couldn’t breathe.
We stayed that way for a couple of minutes, and the feeling of her safe body against me eventually calmed my ass down.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
I released her slowly. “Yeah. I’m good.”
I was a damn liar. I still didn’t really want to let her out of my sight.
Lighten up, Stone! If she wasn’t scared before, I’m probably making her anxious with my behavior.
“I should make a few calls and let the local wildlife stations know that we had a grizzly encounter. They like to monitor when the bears begin moving away from the park.”
I took off my jacket and started to remove my boots. “No problem. We can go to dinner right after that.”
“Thanks for caring about my welfare,” she said softly.
I looked up at her from my stooped position. “Thanks for making sure we weren’t on the dinner menu for Smokey.”
She laughed as she rummaged for her cell phone.
I kicked off my boots, determined that I’d never see Jade in danger again.
My damn heart would never survive if I had to see her vulnerable and not be able to do anything about it a second time.
CHAPTER 15
JADE
Our last day at the mountain resort was bittersweet for me. I wished we could stay longer, but Eli had been true to his word, and we weren’t hiking at all today. Instead, he’d made me pick out an activity that would involve more people in one spot.
I knew he’d been scared about the bear encounter, and I also realized that he’d been terrified for my safety.
For some reason, his worry had touched me more than it really should have, considering we had been facing an enormous grizzly. But I had sensed his fear, and I could feel that he wasn’t worried about himself getting mauled.
His concern had all been for me, so I wasn’t about to complain about not hiking.
I’d chosen a beginner class to learn how to rappel down a rock face.
I’d done some easy free climbing, more out of necessity to view wildlife than as a hobby. As I glanced up at the rappel spot, I realized why Eli had chosen to sit this one out. I estimated the height to be no more than forty feet, and Eli was an experienced aided climber who had taken on some of the toughest rock faces in the world.
The relative ease of the task didn’t dampen my enthusiasm. I was elated to start learning to climb, and rappelling was a skill I needed to have if I was going to take on some bigger cliffs.
I looked over at Eli as he spoke with the instructor. They appeared to be deep in conversation, and I had to wonder again why he wasn’t very thrilled about this particular class.
Is it because he’s already an expert climber? Or is there something else bothering him?
He’d been reserved since we’d had our bear encounter yesterday, and he seemed even more distracted this morning.
Maybe he’s just anxious to get back to work.
I had no doubt that he’d fallen behind because of the time we’d spent together, but I was determined to be there to help him catch up when we returned to San Diego. I was learning so much during our morning sessions, and I was convinced I could keep learning while I was acting as Eli’s unofficial intern. My hope was that I could take the load off him just a little once I got up to speed on his businesses.
I looked at my classmates for the rappel. There were three others who were standing around finishing their morning coffee, and I smiled as two of them looked up and waved at me before resuming their conversation.
I zipped up my coat after I’d tossed my empty coffee cup into the trash. It was still early, and it was kind of frigid. The temperatures were starting to get colder, especially during the night. Not that I really noticed until I got outside. The lodgings were warm and toasty, and came complete with a wood-burning fireplace.
I put my hands in my pockets to warm them up as I glanced again at Eli and the instructor. They were still having a conversation, and neither one of them looked all that happy.
Eli had made some phone calls last night after I’d called the local wildlife biologists who kept track of the bears in the area. I didn’t remember him getting into bed because I’d drifted off before he’d even gotten to the bedroom.
But I did recall waking up sprawled on top of him. I was pretty sur
e my body was like a heat-seeking missile when it came to Eli. If he was close, I’d find him.
The biologist I’d talked to had pretty much confirmed that seeing a grizzly near our location was unusual, and they caught me up on what was happening with the bear population. Although the sighting was an isolated incident, the grizzlies were starting to get farther and farther away from the park. So biologists and conservationists had their work cut out for them with the local ranchers and farmers to prevent the conflict that would inevitably happen.
I let out a sigh. I didn’t envy the people working on the issue. While they were rejoicing about the possibility of the Yellowstone grizzlies possibly meeting with the Glacier National Park grizzlies someday to ensure better genetics, the fallout from the big bears expanding their territory was daunting.
I walked around the rock face and discovered a makeshift set of stairs behind the incline, obviously an easy way up for new climbers. My classmates were slowly making their way up the steps, but I scrambled up the rocks, needing some activity to keep my blood circulating.
Once on top, I viewed the area. I could see the cabins and so-called tents. We hadn’t wandered very far from the resort, a fact that I was certain Eli had planned.
There were maybe twenty dwellings, each one extravagantly furnished, I was certain. It was definitely a boutique-type place, a location that catered to people who could afford to vacation in the wilderness but retain all the conveniences of the city.
I’d nearly gagged when Eli had told me the price to rent one of his glam tents, and I’d been even more surprised when he shared that they were pretty much booked up year-round with an enormous waiting list.
The lodging we were using was generally kept open for the partners. When they knew nobody was going to be using it for a while, they’d rent it out for an enormous price.
Honestly, I was beginning to think that the resort was a pretty savvy investment. If it was so exclusive that Eli had a huge waiting list, it made people even more willing to drop a fortune for some relaxing time in the woods. Granted, the only people who could really afford to come here had some pretty deep pockets, but there were plenty of wealthy people across the country.
