Page 75 of Mountain Boss

Please think of me as your cub.

I’m no threat to you.

Her nearness has fear clogging my throat, trapping the words, so I hope shefeels them.

She stops, tilting her head the other way, then she turns back toward the woods and takes off.

I slump in relief.

Then I stiffen.

What scared the bear?

“Courtney!” Sterling shouts my name just as I see the beam of a flashlight fanning across the driveway.

My adrenaline crashes, and I drop onto my back.

“Courtney!” He sounds more frantic than I’ve ever heard him.

I lift a hand. “Here.”

Instead of settling him down, I listen to his footsteps quicken until I’m sure he’s running.

“Courtney, what the fuck happened?” He drops to his knees next to me with a thud. “Are you okay? Where are you hurt? What happened?” He places his hands on the ground next to my shoulders, leaning over me.

I blink up at him.

He shifts his weight and brings one of his hands to my cheek. “Tell me.” His calloused fingers are so warm against my chilled skin.

“She wasright there.”

“Who was?”

I inhale Sterling’s masculine scent and relax just a bit more. “The bear.”

Sterling sits back on his haunches and looks left, then right.

“She’s gone,” I tell him.

He heaves out a breath. “I heard you scream.”

I grimace. “Sorry.”

He shakes his head as he looks back down at me. “You’re not supposed to play dead for black bears. You’re supposed to fight.”

I widen my eyes at him. “I’m not fighting a fucking bear. Duh. Plus.” I start to push myself back up to sitting, but then he distracts me by helping me with a hand on my back.

“Plus?”

“Plus, I think she liked me.”

Sterling shakes his head but grabs my hands and pulls me up to standing. “Of course the bear would fucking like you.”

Before I can ask him what he means, he grips my shoulders and turns me around.

I think I hear him grumble something aboutrolling around in the dirt,then his big hands brush down my back.

Standing still, I look down and see the clothes I dropped.

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