Bridge Hollow Shifters: The Complete Collection

by Samantha Leal

  How could she get around it without having to tell Gwen that she was going to meet Dean?

  Where would they even meet? And would there be a chance that Gwen would see them?

  She didn’t know anything about what he wanted or where he wanted her to go… but she knew that she didn’t want to tell Gwen just yet, because she feared it could all come to an end.

  After being so unlucky in love, Amanda never thought she would find herself in this position again. She felt like a schoolgirl, one giddy on desire and attraction, longing for a man who she knew could be trouble, but one that she was also drawn to like nothing she had ever known before.

  She sighed as she rolled over and reached for her cell phone.

  Since she had woken, she must have checked it ten times already, wishing the hours away so she could finally deem it a sensible time to get up and head down for breakfast.

  The clock told her it was still only 6am, and she knew that the hotel restaurant didn’t open until 8am, so she felt stuck.

  She opened her messages and looked back to the picture she had sent to Dean the day before. Just seeing his name there in a message box made her heart jig in her chest and a smile creep across her face.

  She pressed into the text box at the bottom and bit her lower lip.

  Did she dare send him a message?

  She traced her thumb over the keyboard and wrote out the word hi, but then quickly deleted it. She brought it up to her mouth and exhaled, before she pulled it back and looked at the message again.

  When she saw the screen, her heart almost fell to the floor.

  Sat there, right underneath the picture, sent only a split second before, was a message from Dean…

  D: Good morning…

  Her heart thumped away wildly in her chest and her mouth went dry. Had he seen that she was typing? Or did he just sense that she was there and wanting to speak to him?

  Their connection was so fierce, either possibility could be true. In any event, she knew that he must have been thinking about her at exactly the same time as she was thinking about him, because why else had he got in touch...

  She faltered for a moment, unsure of how to respond, but then she decided there was no point in trying to play games…

  A: Good morning, what a surprise… I was just looking at this thread.

  D: I know ??

  A: Please elaborate…

  D: I was thinking about you and I saw you were typing…

  A: I thought as much. However, that was an accident…

  Question answered, she thought, and then she felt herself blush. Now she was going to have to try and pull it back.

  D: An accident? How?

  A: My finger slipped… :P

  D: Naughty.

  A: Haha.

  D: It’s nice to chat with you anyway…

  A: I haven’t stopped thinking about you since we saw each other in the bar…

  D: Me neither.

  A: You’re going to have to explain a few things to me…

  D: And I will.

  A: When?

  D: Tonight… when you come over for dinner…

  A: I’m coming for dinner?

  D: I’d be honored if you would.

  A: Well then…

  D: And so would Lilith. She’s talked about you nonstop since you came into the office yesterday.

  A: Really? ??

  D: Really… I think you have a serious fan on your hands.

  A: That is so sweet. She is adorable.

  D: So you’re coming then?

  A: I have no idea where I would be going to, but yes, that sounds lovely.

  D: I’ll pick you up outside your hotel at 6pm.

  A: Okay…

  D: Have a good day Amanda, I’ll see you tonight.

  A: See you tonight… x

  As she put the phone down gently and breathed out, she looked to her side with excitement and wished that Gwen was awake so that she could tell her what had just happened.

  One moment she wanted to keep it a secret, and the next she wanted to shout it from the roof tops.

  She rolled over and pulled the cover right up and over her head so she could grin like a crazy person. Her whole body felt electric and she had never known excitement quite like it.

  Dean had invited her over to his house for dinner.

  This was bigger than big.

  This was huge.

  This was the first date she had been on in almost six years.

  But was it even a date? She was getting so many mixed messages she didn’t even know what to class it as.

  He was hot one moment and then cold the next. One second he was pushing her away, and the next he was pushing her up against a wall and kissing the hell out of her.

  She groaned and covered her mouth with the quilt.

  This was torture.

  She heard Gwen move to her right and she closed her eyes and tried to be still and calm.

  She didn’t want to keep something like this from Gwen, she was her best friend after all, but at the same time she was so nervous and so confused, she felt as if she needed this to just be about her and Dean for the time being.

  She wanted to take things slow, she needed to not rush into anything and that included voicing her feelings. Past experience had taught her that when you talked too much about what was happening in your life, you put the energy out there for someone else to trample all over it.

  She knew that Gwen wouldn’t trample anything for her, but she didn’t quite trust the universe just yet. And with her feeling so strongly about Dean, and what could potentially happen, she didn’t want to jinx anything.

  She made the decision to stay quiet, to tell Gwen when the moment felt right. Whether that was later that day, or well after the dinner had even happened.

  She closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep. Her mind was still alive with thoughts, and now a ton of other conundrums were swirling around as well. Would she enjoy herself with him? Would Lilith still be as gentle and sweet? Would she be nervous and make a fool of herself? Or would she dress totally inappropriately and just wish she could disappear…?

  As her inner voiced raged inside her she eventually had to cover her ears and block it out.

  “This is ridiculous,” she whispered. “The man has invited you for dinner. You need to go and stop being so childish and silly.”

  She lay there silently and finally her mind started to quieten down.

  As it approached 6:45am and the birds were already singing, as cars and noise started to work its way along Main Street, Amanda finally fell back to sleep.

  It was the rest she needed more than anything in the world. She had exhausted herself so much, it was good to finally have some silence.

  11.

  The day passed by excruciatingly slow, and Amanda was sure that Gwen could sense that something wasn’t quite right. She tried her best to stay chipper and present, and to not retreat into her own thoughts too much, but it was difficult when she knew that she was going to be seeing Dean in a matter of hours.

  As it began to approach 5pm, she knew that it was going to be impossible to keep quiet any longer. Gwen was watching her suspiciously as she looked through the closet at her outfits, and Amanda could sense that she was about to ask what she wanted to do that evening.

  “You’re acting weird,” Gwen said finally. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on or what?”

  Amanda turned and looked at her, she smiled sheepishly and watched as Gwen folded her arms over her chest with an A-ha! I knew it! expression etched across her face.

  “Oh man…” Amanda sighed as she closed the closet door silently behind her. “I hope you’re not going to be mad at me…”

  Gwen sat up straight and the look of smugness faded and morphed into one of concern.

  “What’s going on?” she asked, her mouth hanging open.

  “Oh,” Amanda half laughed. “Nothing to worry about…”

  “But…?”

 
; “But… I kind of have plans tonight and I don’t know why I haven’t told you already. I’m just feeling nervous and weird about it.”

  Gwen cocked her head to the side.

  “I think I have a date,” Amanda said quietly.

  Gwen’s eyes went wide and almost popped out of her skull.

  “A date!?” she grinned as she clapped her hands together.

  Amanda nodded.

  “Who the hell with?” Gwen jumped up and balanced on her knees, leaning back on her heels like an excited child. “God, I leave you alone for a few hours and everything starts to go crazy!”

  Amanda smiled and laughed, she wandered to sit on the edge of the bed and sighed as she sat down.

  “Well, I guess it kind of has something to do with when you went missing.”

  Gwen stared at her, urging her to continue.

  “The ranger…” she said nervously. “When I went to find him to ask for his help to find you, it turned out it was the guy that we nearly hit with the car when we came into town.”

  Gwen’s grin spread across her entire face and her eyes twinkled.

  “Oh my god,” she whispered as she clasped her hands together under her chin. “The seriously hot guy from Main Street… The one who also made a beeline for you in the bar the other night… the one who dived in and saved you!”

  Amanda nodded.

  “And so you spent yesterday with him trying to find me?”

  “Yeah,” Amanda replied. “We went up the mountain and to a popular party spot in the national park.”

  “And then what?” Gwen asked her with excitement.

  “And then I don’t know… nothing happened as such, but we have this weird… connection…”

  Amanda realized how crazy this was going to sound and she knew that Gwen was going to think that the altitude and mountain air was sending her insane.

  “What do you mean a connection?” Gwen moved a little closer.

  “I honestly can’t explain it, Gwen,” she sighed. “It’s just when I look at him, I can’t look away. He makes me nervous, but he also grounds me at the same time. When I’m with him, I feel something that all I can describe it as is complete. It’s like I don’t want anything else. All I can think about is him, he is invading my dreams and my thoughts all day. When he moved me out of the way at the bar on that first night in town, he touched me on the shoulders, and I’ve been able to feel him there ever since… Like he’s been printed onto me…”

  Gwen’s eyes were bugging out of her skull, but Amanda was starting to feel emotional. She was welling up to the point of tears and had to stop and look away.

  “Wow,” Gwen breathed. “This does sound intense.”

  “It’s more than intense,” Amanda admitted. “And now I’m terrified. I’m terrified that I’m going to do something to mess this up, or I’m going to get my heart broken. I don’t even know how to handle feelings like this, I’ve never felt them before.”

  “Jeez, neither have I by the sounds of things…” Gwen snorted.

  “And now I’m going to see him tonight and I can’t wait, but I’m also so fucking scared… Help me Gwen!”

  Amanda lay down on the bed and covered her eyes with her palms.

  “Okay, you’re being totally irrational.” Gwen said as she knelt beside her and got down to business. “This is just some guy in a mountain town who may be ridiculously hot, but at the same time he’s probably just as nervous as you…”

  Amanda peeked out from behind her hands and shook her head.

  “He isn’t scared or nervous of anything, Gwen… trust me, the man is like a god.”

  Gwen smirked and thought for a moment.

  “Look, I love you but you’re just overthinking because it’s been so long since you dated anyone.”

  Amanda wanted to believe that deep down this was the issue, but she couldn’t help but feel that what her and Dean were experiencing with each other was something much bigger.

  “You’re going to go and meet him and have a great time, maybe even a little smooch if you’re lucky…”

  Amanda felt a heat crawling up her neck and chest. She didn’t want to tell Gwen about the kiss they had already had at the bar, it would send her into overdrive and Amanda didn’t think she had the energy to cope with it.

  She felt depleted. As if every moment she had spent away from Dean was draining her of her energy.

  She needed to be back with him again. She needed to slip her hand into his, to let him hold her close and get to know the real him.

  She knew he was hiding something, she just couldn’t imagine what it may be. Maybe that was why she was so nervous…

  Was it her fear of the unknown coming back to haunt her?

  “You’ve led a sheltered life,” Gwen said as if she had read her mind. “And you haven’t exactly put yourself out of your comfort zone much in the past.”

  Amanda listened intently.

  “All I’m saying is,” Gwen continued. “I think you’re just panicking because you are so used to the ordinary. What is ordinary for you, anyhow. As we have already established, you need to be open to new ideas, and here we are, you’ve done the hard bit… you got yourself out of the rut of a summer at home in our dead end town and you’ve come here with me and we are starting to have the time of our lives.”

  “Is it all too good to be true though?” Amanda cut in, her eyes wide. “Why does it feel like something bad is going to happen?”

  Gwen looked back at her and then slowly shrugged.

  “I don’t know,” she whispered. “But I think you’re going to have to let yourself off the hook or you’re going to drive yourself mad.”

  Amanda could see the sincerity in Gwen, and she heard it in her words too. She sighed and sagged down onto the bed.

  “You’re right,” Amanda nodded. “You’re totally right. I’m doing what I always do, panic and try and avoid something before it’s even happened. I am far too used to the ordinary… and nothing about Dean is ordinary.”

  Gwen rose to her feet and stepped towards the closet.

  “Dean…” she smiled. “Even the way you say his name sounds like you’re in lurrrrrve already.”

  Amanda rolled her eyes and threw the pillow towards Gwen, it hit her lightly on the thighs and fell to the floor.

  “Come on,” Gwen smiled as she opened the closet doors and started to root through the racks. “What time is this mountain man coming to collect you?”

  “Six o’clock,” Amanda replied.

  Gwen’s eyes went over to the digital clock radio on the nightstand and clapped her hands together.

  “Well, come on then,” she grinned. “We haven’t got much time. Let’s get you looking your most amazing self.”

  Gwen reached out and took hold of Amanda’s arm and pulled her in for a hug, and Amanda was so glad that she was there with her. She knew she could always count on her for support, and she didn’t know now why she had doubted telling her in the first place.

  Gwen was a solid friend, and Amanda wanted to be there for her too. It was time for the girls to go out into the world of Bridge Hollow and make their mark…

  And Amanda had never been more excited for it.

  She looked at herself in the mirror and could barely believe what she was seeing. She had blow-dried her hair into big bouncing curls, slicked on some dark lipstick to match her dark hair, and she was wearing skinny black jeans and a white tight sweater. She looked like Amanda, but the new Amanda. The Amanda that could disappear into the mountains for the summer, hook up with a hot ranger and have the time of her life. Not the scared little schoolteacher who had barely dared look twice at a man for almost a decade.

  She turned to face Gwen and Gwen gave her the cheesiest grin and the biggest thumbs up.

  “It suits you,” she said. “It’s certainly better than the granny skirts and blouses anyway.”

  “Hey!” Amanda pouted. “That’s just my work clothes.”

  Gwen laughed and leaned
back out onto the balcony, overlooking the mountains.

  “I wonder where he’s taking you…” she sighed as she looked wistfully up towards the ski lifts that had now come to a stop.

  “Who knows,” Amanda said as she bent down and picked up her purse. She slipped in her lipstick, cellphone and some gum. And then she turned and shook her hair out over her shoulders again. “I look okay, don’t I?”

  “You look amazing,” Gwen said with a wry smile. “Now get down there and see him before I push you out the way and go and get him myself.”

  “What are you going to do tonight?” Amanda asked.

  “I don’t know… Maybe I’ll head down to the bar again, have a couple of beers with Ryder… or maybe I’ll get an early night and get up early for a hike.”

  Amanda looked at her out of the corner of her eye and both girls laughed.

  “Have fun in the bar then,” Amanda winked.

  She moved over and gave Gwen a hug, and then she slipped on her cropped jacket and fur scarf.

  “I’ll text you the address,” she smiled.

  “Yes,” Gwen saluted. “Safety first, girl code et cetera et cetera.”

  “Indeed,” Amanda blew her a kiss and then she headed out the door.

  As it closed behind her she breathed in deeply and took a moment to compose herself, before she smiled and carried on towards the staircase.

  She was on her way out for a date for the first time in forever, and the future had never felt more open.

  12.

  Dean was waiting outside the main door of the hotel, leaning against his big, black truck, when Amanda emerged into the lobby.

  She saw him the moment she looked towards the entrance, and her world flipped all over again. The second their eyes met they were the only two people alive for miles around. Her pulse began to quicken and her skin tingled.

  “Are you heading out for the night?” the little old lady on the desk called to her as Amanda passed her by in a daze.

  “Yeah…” she replied dreamily, not turning to look back.

  The automatic doors slid open and Dean was waiting there, smiling at her and piercing her soul with his intense eyes. She felt his heat from where she was standing a few feet away. And when his mouth cracked into a smile she felt as if the heat had nestled deep within her heart.