Page 7 of Chosen By The Grizzly

She blinks, and takes two wandering steps toward me again. She’s behind the fire, and its glow illuminates her features. My girl is more beautiful than I could’ve imagined.

Desire pours through me like lava.

I’m a second away from doing something I’ll regret.

3

Callie

Ihear them before I even open my eyes. Gossiping like a swarm of buzzing bees. Plotting something. I listen hard. That name again—Jason Trentino. Wait—Lindsay is speaking, too. Which means she’s no longer snoring beside me. I open my eyes. Her sleeping bag is indeed unoccupied. Weird. My big sister is not usually an early bird.

Also weird that I didn’t notice her leaving. I had a hell of a night, tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable on the hard ground. Worrying about bear attacks. And,wooh, those dreams.

They flood back to me on a tide of heat. I was dreaming about some incredibly handsome man undressing me. Calling me beautiful. Touching me all over. He was naked, too. I’ve never seen a naked man before, but I wasn’t embarrassed, I was incredibly aroused—

Umm, like I am right now. There’s an ache between my thighs, and if I shuffle around a little, I’m pretty sure my panties are wet. Oh, god, did I, like, have a wet dream?

I swear I’ve never seen this guy in real life before, but the image of him is so vivid in my mind. A rugged, hyper-masculine face; all hard jaw and slicing cheekbones. Big brown eyes that soften the hard angles a little. The kind of longish, messy dark hair that you just want to run your hands through. And that body. One dreamy, rippling muscle after another. Incredible washboard abs. Thick, tree trunk-like thighs. And as for the firehose located between them—

“No,I’llgo first—”

The voices are getting louder. They’re bickering about something.

I try to tune them out. Maybe I’ll slide my hand into my panties. I’ve never touched myself before, but right now I feel like a volcano that’s gonna blow if I don’t get some relief.

“—when we get to the cabin—”

The cabin?

I jerk bolt upright. When I got back from seeing it, I didn’t mention it to the others, because I thought there was no point freaking them out. But it’s been playing on my mind ever since. Part of me knows we should get the hell away from it. Whoever lives there is obviously hella keen to guard their privacy, and might be hostile to intruders.

But the other part of me is kinda curious. There was something real cozy about it. When I saw it, I thoughthome. For no reason at all.

But now, these airheads are talking about it, too? Something is definitely not right.

Okay, time to get up and find out what they’re up to. I zip open my tent. The others are facing away from me, so I grab my washbag and water bottle and creep out. Crouching on the far side of the tent, I brush my teeth, wash my face, and try to tame my hair a little.

When I re-emerge, they’re starting to walk out of the camp.

“Hey, girls,” I call. “What’s going on?”

Lindsay spins around fast. The other three curl their lips at me.

“Oh, hey, Callie. We’re just gonna go make some TikTok videos,” Lindsay says offhandedly.

“Cool, I’ll come, too.” I make my voice upbeat.

“Oh, it’s nothing you’d be interested in, little sis.” She steps over and ruffles my hair. Yes, she actuallyruffles my hair, like I’m five years old.

“It’d be a big help if you could watch over our stuff though, hun.” Brittany flashes me her whitened teeth and fake lips.

“Okay,” I agree, shrugging my shoulders.

I stand and watch as they leave the clearing together.

Then I count to twenty and follow after them.

* * *

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