Page 26 of A Bear's Secret

Just admit it, you’re jealous, he thought.

He was. He was jealous that Austin and Sloane got to spend time together, in broad daylight, with other people around. He was jealous that they’d already started teasing each other like that, friendly and flirty, and Trevor was on the outside.

“Toss me a cookie, will you?” Trevor asked.

Sloane handed him the whole bag. He took two. Why not?

“See, Trevor knows what life is all about,” Sloane said.

“How about you, Austin?” Trevor said, holding up the bag. “Feel like living on the edge for lunch today?”

“Are you daring me to eat a cookie?” Austin said, his voice a fake growl. “I’ll do it. I will.”

He snatched the baggie from Trevor, their fingertips just barely brushing.

You just flirted with him in front of someone, even if it’s her, Trevor thought. What the fuck are you doing?

It felt right.

Austin bit into the cookie, raising his eyebrows at Trevor and Sloane in a challenge.

“There,” he said. “See, I know how to have fun.”

Sloane laughed, her own mouth full of cookies, and Trevor couldn’t help but smile.

It could be like this, a tiny voice whispered in the back of his head.

No, it couldn’t, he thought.

“So, Sloane,” said Austin.

“So, Austin,” she said, perfectly mimicking his casual tone.

Austin frowned very slightly. Trevor couldn’t help but enjoy it.

“What’s the real reason you’re hiking the PCT?”

Her eyebrows went up, and she reached across the rock where they were sitting to snag the potato chips.

“I told you the real reason,” she said.

“I didn’t hear it,” Trevor said.

Sloane looked at the chips in her hands for a few moments. They were at elevation, and the bag was puffier than normal, and the girl looked like she might be thinking of just popping it.

Instead, she tore it open the normal way.

“I lost my job and broke up with my boyfriend,” she said, stuffing a chip into her mouth.

“All at once?” Trevor asked.

“More or less,” she said, around the chips in her mouth. “Derek broke up with me about two weeks before the startup I was working at failed pretty hard,” she said. “I came into our offices one day and some workers were already taking the front desk out.”

Trevor whistled low.

“They didn’t even tell you?” he said.

“Nope,” Sloane said.

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