Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love

by Ariana Hawkes

  “Yeah, he looks familiar.”

  “And guess what? We’re a 97% match!”

  “Cool! Send him a message.” Caitlyn dropped the phone on the bed.

  “I don’t know. I’m old-fashioned, and I like the guy to make the first move. I think I’ll just keep checking out the eye candy for now.”

  Raven went back to the mirror and finished applying black eyeliner and a slick of rose-colored lipstick.

  “Ok, I’m ready, and Timo is due – right about now. Gosh, I wish I could have a drink to steady my nerves,” she said, as a swarm of butterflies came to life in her stomach.

  “Relax, girl. You look amazing. You’re really good company. And this guy likes you so much that he’s traveled over half the US looking for you.” Raven laughed.

  “That’s bit of an exaggeration, but thanks for the confidence boost anyway!” She walked over to the door of the cabin. “Come and join me outside while I wait for him?”

  “Sure.” Caitlyn bounced off the bed and sat with her on the porch.

  “He’s late,” Raven said, a few minutes later.

  “Only by ten minutes.”

  “Hmm.”

  Another ten minutes passed and Raven’s stomach was in a knot.

  “Maybe he got held up fighting a fire or something?”

  “Wait. Let me check the app, in case he’s messaged me.” Raven tapped on the paw print icon. “Yup. He messaged me last night, asking if we could have the date at 9.30pm because he’s just found out that the bears are having their final show in Hope Valley tonight. But if I don’t want to eat so late, he says he’ll very happily not take part in the show and meet me as arranged. Damnit. Why didn’t I check my messages earlier, in case something like this came up?”

  “Never mind. At least there’s a good reason why he’s not here. And you still get to see him tonight.”

  “I guess. I’ll message him back to say it’s fine and I’ll meet him in the restaurant at 9.30.” While Raven was typing, Caitlyn was quiet, thinking.

  “You know, I really wouldn’t mind seeing that show again,” she said, with a lazy smirk. Raven raised an eyebrow.

  “You wouldn’t, huh?”

  “Well you might be about to hook up with one of the sexiest men on the planet tonight, but all I’ve got is my Shiftr eye candy.” Raven got to her feet.

  “Let’s go. We’d better get moving if we’re going to be in time to see the start of it.” With no hesitation, they rushed to Caitlyn’s car and jumped in.

  The traffic was heavier than usual, and when they arrived at the town hall, the pounding music told them that the show had already started.

  “Shit!” Caitlyn exclaimed. They rushed to the cash booth and paid their money. As they entered the hall, a waiter met them and showed them to seats. One of them was right on the end of the second row, and the other one was behind it. Raven took her seat and eagerly scanned the dancers. There he is. Her heart beat double time. Not that she could have missed him. To her eyes, he was the hottest of all the strippers, his muscles ripping and his hair flopping adorably onto his forehead.

  They were performing the same routine as the time before, and she watched the familiar moves with increasing anticipation. By the time Timo had stripped down to his underwear, she became aware that her panties were a little damp, and that there was an ache blossoming deep inside her, that could only be eased by one thing. She stared at him transfixed, imaging that taut body on top of her, his chocolate brown eyes, like pools of lust, gazing right into hers.

  She was so deep in her daydream that the intermission took her by surprise.

  “Go find him!” Caitlyn hissed, turning around in her seat to face her.

  “No! He’s probably busy having a pep talk or something. But I have got a better idea,” she said with a grin.

  “What?”

  “Let me see if it works out first.”

  “Ok,” Caitlyn replied, disappointed, but the sight of a gorgeous waiter carrying a tray of margaritas soon distracted her.

  Raven and Caitlyn enjoyed watching all the other women in the hall discussing the strippers, as they recalled how stunned they’d been the first time they’d seen the show. Little did the audience know that the men were about to reveal even more of themselves.

  The curtains opened for the second half and all ten strippers leapt onto the stage dressed in firefighter uniforms. Raven couldn’t take her eyes off Timo, drinking in every move, every flex of his muscles. The strippers pulled their overalls down, and then off completely, leaving them in their white underpants. The audience cheered loudly. Four of the guys withdrew to the back of the stage, while the others came forward, balancing right on the edge, looking out at the crowd. Raven was pretty sure that Timo couldn’t see her; the lights focused on the stage were incredibly bright, and must’ve made it hard to see anything beyond them.

  As the guys leapt off the stage and landed on the ground, the audience whooped and shrieked. Raven kept her eyes on Timo. He seemed to be heading toward the right hand side of the seats. No, left, she willed. He stopped, tilted his square, masculine jaw, and seemed to sniff. And then he looked right at her, and an incredible smile broke across his face. As he strode toward her, she stood up. In a second, he was on her, wrapping his arms around her and drawing her into a kiss that left her breathless.

  “Raven,” he said in his growly voice, drawing back and gazing at her tenderly. He stroked her cheek with a callused fingertip, sending shivers down her spine. “You’re here! I’m so sorry. I got your message just as I was going on stage. I thought you didn’t reply earlier because you were pissed at me.”

  “I didn’t see it, silly – at least, not until you stood me up and I decided to check to see if there was some issue.”

  “You don’t get Shiftr alerts?” She shrugged.

  “I guess not. I’m pretty new to the app, and I haven’t got it all figured out yet.”

  “Damn. I’m such a flaky bear sometimes.” He said, eyes full of sorrow.

  “You’re forgiven,” she said. “As long as you do one thing for me.”

  “Anything you desire. What is it?”

  “Take me up on stage again, and show everyone that I’m yours.” He gave a grin of pure delight.

  “With pleasure,” he said, and he swept her up in his arms and carried her onto the stage, like a princess. Whistles and whispers followed in their wake. “Who’s that girl?” the girls in the audience were saying. No-one else was being carried like that. Timo took her right to the middle of the stage and set her down. And then he began to dance around her. Raven forgot all about the audience. All she was aware of was his body, of the strength contained within his muscles; of the way his velvety skin brushed hers from time to time. His hands lightly resting on her hips. She was becoming more and more heated, and she was sure that her cheeks were glowing. At last, he whispered the words she’d been waiting to hear.

  “I’m going to tip you back now. Just relax and let yourself fall.” She looped her hands around his neck and gazed into his eyes as he took her weight in his arms and leaned her way back, until the ends of her hair brushed the stage. And then he kissed her again, deeply, passionately, his mouth warm and sensuous. It felt like a kiss that would never end. She reached up and stroked the light stubble covering his jaw, inhaled his outdoorsy, masculine smell, and she felt heady with desire for him. The audience erupted into clapping and cheering. When Timo finally let her go, and she stood up again, there were whoops and whistles.

  Timo led her off the stage. Her legs were like Jell-O, and she had to take care not to stumble. He took her back to her seat and returned to the stage. Caitlyn flashed her a quick grin over her shoulder.

  The final scene came. The guys stood poised at the front of the stage, bent down and pulled their underwear off. But when they stood up again, Raven was startled to see that Timo was still wearing his. And, as she watched his face, he gave an exaggerated wink right in her direction, and blew her a kiss. She caugh
t it and held her closed fist against her chest. I’m yours, and only yours, he seemed to be saying.

  As the show ended and the guys bowed to the audience, the noise was deafening. Raven leaned forward and squeezed Caitlyn’s shoulders, bursting with excitement.

  “That was even better than the first show,” Caitlyn hollered above the yelling and clapping.

  “You’re telling me!” Raven hollered back. Just then, Timo appeared. He’d pulled on a pair of jeans and he was still buttoning up a blue denim shirt. The women in the seats nearby gawked at him openly. The volume of noise fell as the Hope Valley mayor came on stage and greeted everybody. Timo took Raven’s hand and pulled her to her feet, then he stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. Wow. All her life, she’d dreamed of feeling protected like that.

  The mayor thanked everyone for attending, and explained that the strippers had been on tour in the neighboring states for the past couple of weeks, working hard to earn as much money for Hope Valley as possible.

  “It hasn’t been easy to raise the money we needed to fight off the corporations wanting to turn our lovely little community into yet another faceless development. But, I’m delighted to say that we’ve managed it. Thanks to these boys, we’ve not only hit our target, but earned some extra money, which we’ll set aside to help people to renovate their businesses and start new endeavors. Please put your hands together and thank the incredible, generous and so-very-talented, Bear Heat Strippers!” The crowd went wild again, and Raven glowed with pride for Timo.

  “Shall we get out of here?” he rumbled in her ear, his breath hot on her neck. She tipped her head back so she could see him.

  “Yes, let’s. I’ll just check that Caitlyn’s okay.”

  “Of course I am. I’ll drive home, as I’m guessing that Timo will give you a ride later. Go have fun!” she said.

  “Thanks!” Raven said, planting a kiss on her cheek, then Timo took her hand and they hurried out of the hall.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Dancing on the stage sure gives me an appetite,” Timo said, as he and Raven snuggled into a booth at Loretta’s Grill House.

  “That’s a coincidence, because watching you dance gives me an appetite too,” Raven said and giggled. Timo flashed her a half-shy, half-dirty look that made the tiny hairs on her arms stand up. She didn’t know how she was going to get through the dinner, when all she really wanted right now was for him to take her to bed. Abruptly, he reached across the table and took her hand.

  “Raven, I can’t believe that we’re really together right now,” he said, his eyes full of emotion.

  “Me neither. For a while it felt like fate was keeping us apart.”

  “I think it was just giving us a run-around, testing us out to make sure we wanted to be together badly enough,” he said with a grin. “Although, it was so lucky that you were on Shiftr. I would’ve had a much harder time finding you otherwise. I’d probably be lost in the middle of some small town in Arizona now.” Raven laughed. She’d actually forgotten about the events leading up to them finally meeting.

  “Lauren kind of tricked me into signing up to it, so I’m not sure how much luck had to do with it!” Timo nodded.

  “She’s a smart lady. She must’ve heard that I was looking for you, and put two and two together.”

  “Yes!” Raven said, eyes sparkling. “I guess she was taking an educated bet on us being a perfect match as well. Imagine if you’d been nowhere near the top of the list.” Timo looked at her seriously, and she wondered if she’d said something wrong.

  “That wouldn’t have happened, Raven. I knew you were the one for me, from the moment I first saw you.” Little starbursts of happiness lit up inside her.

  “But how could you be so sure?” she asked.

  “We bear – we have a very strong feeling about these things.” Did he say bears or something?

  “What were you going to say?”

  “Oh, nothing. Just that the guys and I trust our instincts more than the average person. Our ancestors were the same, and it’s a tradition that’s been passed on through the generations.”

  “That’s cool,” Raven said. She wasn’t exactly sure what he meant, but she decided she’d ask him more once they’d ordered some food.

  She opened her menu and scanned it fast.

  “I think I’ll have the chicken breast with mushroom sauce,” she said. “How about you?”

  “Steak all the way,” he said. “Kinda boring I guess, but it’s the one thing I always crave.”

  “Mmm, now you’ve said that, I’m craving it too. Maybe I’ll rethink the chicken.” She scanned the steak menu and picked out a filet.

  “Shall we have some wine?”

  “Uh, I’m not drinking right now,” she said. He frowned.

  “Are you sick or something?” he said in a concerned tone.

  “Oh, no. I’m just not in the mood –”

  The server came to take their order. While Timo was speaking to him, Raven watched him through her eyelashes. She had to tell him the truth.

  “Timo, I have something to tell you,” she said, as soon as the server walked away with the menus.

  “I have something to tell you too. But you go first.” She bit her lip, tongue-tied. She was so nervous of his reaction. She took a deep breath, opened her mouth to speak. And nothing came out. It was too soon. She needed to spend a little more time with him first, to understand if they had a bond.

  “Actually, would you mind if we talk about this later? There’s no real rush.”

  “Okay,” he said, his intelligent eyes running all over her features.

  “You can tell me your thing though, if you want?” He grinned.

  “No, it’s ok. I’ll put it on ice too.”

  Their food arrived, and they both tucked in.

  “You’ve got to keep your strength up,” Timo said, attacking his own steak with gusto. She opened her mouth to make some comment about her weight, then closed it again. He’s attracted to you. And he’s right – you need to make sure you eat right while you’re pregnant. Although, who knows why he came out with that comment.

  While they ate, he asked her all about her decision to move to Hope Valley.

  “I just kind of fell in love with it when I came here for the party,” she said. “It’s so different from my hometown.”

  “I know,” he said, with a kind smile.

  “Oh, you probably know it as well as I do by now.”

  “You must have been like a desert rose in that place. So different from everything around you.” She blushed.

  “I don’t know about that, but I never felt like I belonged there. And when I went back after that weekend, I just couldn’t forget Hope Valley. It was as if I’d left a piece of my heart there.”

  “I think Hope Valley has that effect on people. The only way I could tear myself away from it was to raise money to save it, and to look for you.” He said the words in such a tender way that she tingled all over. Damn. The food was so good but she wished they weren’t eating now, because all she could think about was feeling his lips on hers again, his strong arms around her waist.

  “You were born here, right?” she said, to distract herself while she finished up the last few morsels of her food.

  “Yes. Nearly all of us who live out in the park have been here for generations. There are also plenty of waifs and strays though. Anyone who shares our way of life is welcome here.”

  “It’s so great what you guys did, giving up all your time to save the town.” He shrugged.

  “It wouldn’t have happened without Lauren’s input. Apparently women like our physiques, and she had the bright idea of trying to make some money out of it. None of us guys thought it would work. We practiced the dances night after night, but we totally believed that we’d be performing to an empty hall on our opening night. To tell you the truth, when I took a peek through the curtain and saw all those women waiting for us, I had an attack of stage fright, and almost di
dn’t make it at all!” Raven laughed.

  “No way! But you looked so confident.”

  “I think I knew the routine so well that I kind of clicked into it. And I kept thinking that if I didn’t do my absolute best, then the hall would probably get bulldozed, and there would end up being a Walmart there instead.”

  “That would’ve been so sad. Did all you guys find it hard to go on stage?”

  “Yeah, I mean, we’re not natural show-offs. Getting naked was the easy bit, but being out there performing was way harder.” At his reference to being naked, the ache between her thighs that had been there all night, turned into a throb.

  Mercifully, they’d finished eating and the server swept their plates away.

  “Do you want dessert?” he asked.

  “No, I’m good. You?” He shook his head, and took her hand, playing with her fingers, as if he wanted to get to know them intimately.

  “Shall we go?” she said.

  “Yes.”

  He paid the check, despite Raven’s protestations, and they walked out of the restaurant, hand in hand.

  On the sidewalk, they stood facing each other, the tension between them seeming to crackle in the air.

  “Would you like to come back to my cabin?” he said.

  “Yes,” she said simply, and his mouth was on hers, kissing her hungrily.

  “Let’s go,” he whispered, and he led her around the corner, where his truck was parked.

  *

  The drive felt excruciatingly long, but at last, they pulled up in front of a large cabin that looked similar to Lauren’s.

  “How far away do I live?” she said, not yet knowing the lay of the land.

  “About ten minutes that way,” he indicated right.

  He opened the door and she stepped into a rustic but very cozy space.

  He started to lead her over to a sitting area, where a couple of vintage leather couches were arranged, but she saw the fire in his eyes, and knew it matched her own.