Page 47 of Coveted By the Bear

“Flattery will get you everywhere with me.”

He tilted his head, laughter still playing at his lips. “Come on. I want to show you something.”

Tossing Sadey and Opal a wide-eyed glance, I followed Caleb down the stairs. The parade had come to an end, so I opened the store and flipped the sign. Opal had assured me I could keep my day off, and she could handle the post-parade crowd, but I still felt a little guilty leaving. Up until the point when she hung over the balcony, catcalling like a maniac and waggling her eyebrows from above. Opal would be just fine without me today.

Caleb wrapped his strong hand around mine, like it was the most natural thing in the world, and led me through the crowds. If anyone gave us dirty looks, I didn’t notice. I was too enamored by his hand holding mine and the feeling of utter freefall that made flip-flops in my stomach. It was scary to admit how much I liked him—how much I needed him already.

Caleb didn’t slow until we reached the back of Bealls where he had parked the truck. Most of the parade goers seemed to be hanging around Main Street. The smell of food carts and popcorn filled the breeze. When we were away from the masses, he pulled me up against his side and draped his arm over my shoulders. I’d never been drunk before, but this must be what it felt like. Caleb looked down at me with such adoration, my heart jumped, and my throat filled with all of the things I wanted to say to him.

At the door of his truck, he pressed his back against it and drew me in. Slowly, he lowered his lips to mine and drank me in. I melted into him, pressing and pushing until I was molded to the strong curves of his taut chest and stomach. This time wasn’t so scary. It wasn’t for show, and it wasn’t my first, and if I was honest with myself, Caleb’s lips already felt familiar. And I trusted him. He was strong and had obviously had practice doing this, so I let him teach me in that gentle way of his. I ached for more, for everything.

But when he pulled away, breath ragged, he looked at me like I was the one who’d taught him something, which baffled me. “In the truck, woman, before I lose my mind.”

He pulled the door open and helped me up with an offered hand. And when I was settled, he reached across and buckled me in. Now, I could’ve done it myself easily, but he seemed to need to be close to me, to take care of me, and I understood. I felt it, too.

The belt clicked into place. He stood, searching my eyes for some answer I hadn’t a guess at before his gaze dipped to my lips again. I laughed. Caleb was just as hungry for my touch as I was for his. The truth of it was written in the raw look in his eyes. The one that made my insides tremble to touch him again.

He pulled away with a grin, then shut the door. The truck rocked as he slid behind the wheel. As he pulled onto a dirt road behind Beall’s, he slid a hand over my thigh and rested it there. His hand belonged there. How could a man who’d denied me his touch for so long feel so comfortable now? I looped my hand around his wrist and stroked comforting little circles to keep him in place, and he slid me a smoldering look before his eyes found the road again.

On and on we drove until we hit the winding road to his dad’s house. I buckled against revisiting a place that had been so hard on us. Someday I would go back, but I didn’t want to today.

“Caleb?”

“Don’t worry. I’m not taking you to the house. I want to show you someplace I’ve never shown anyone before. My family will never know we’ve been here.”

Caleb was letting me in. I didn’t know how I knew it, but I felt it in my bones that he hadn’t ever let anyone in like he was doing with me right now.

He pulled onto a dirt road that didn’t look like it had been used in a long time. It was overgrown, and briars scratched against the undercarriage and sides of the truck, like Mother Nature didn’t want humans in her secret garden. The truck rolled on, bouncing and jouncing until we reached a ravine.

I slid out of the truck and was awestruck. Cicadas sang, birds chirped, and bullfrogs croaked. The thick trees made a canopy that doused everything in shadows with the occasional sunray peeking through to the forest floor.

A river slashed through the land, winding this way and that, and the bubbling currents could be heard over the sound of the animals and insects.

“This way,” Caleb said from beside me. He held onto my hand again, like he needed the connection to me, and led me up a small path. Under his other arm was tucked a folded blanket.

We climbed higher until we looked over the ravine, and at the top of the hill, under the shade of a giant oak tree, he smoothed the blanket onto the leafy ground. From here, I could see the river below and the town in the distance. The forest surrounding us was breathtaking.

My woods were home, but Caleb’s woods were magic.

He sat and leaned against the trunk of the old tree, then held out a hand for me. I sat between his legs and relaxed against his chest.

“I used to come here when I was a kid,” Caleb said low, like he didn’t want to interrupt the bird song from the branches above. “Evan used to drive me mad, and I’d tear off for this place to get away from him. None of my family ever discovered it, as far as I know, but this was where I found peace. I didn’t visit here at all after I moved out, but when I met you, I started thinking about it again. I’ve come out here a few times since the attack, just to clear my head, you know?”

I inhaled slow and tilted my head up. “I do that in my woods, too.” I understood it more than he could ever guess.

“I was wrong, Mira. I’m sorry for hurting you and for making you feel unimportant. I thought if I could fight my feelings for you, that you’d be better off, but I can see how much I’ve hurt you.”

“No more running.”

He shook his head, eyes never leaving mine. “I’m in it now.”

“No more secret trysts with Becca by the bathroom,” I said with a mock frown.

“That,” he said with a chuckle, “was just a really unfortunate case of bad timing. We weren’t doing whatever it looked like. We were arguing.”

“Mmm,” I murmured, tracing the edge of the scar on his neck. “I want to argue like that.”

His gaze dropped to the river. “You scare me.”