Page 46 of Roads Behind Us
“Okay…” he said, twisting and reaching for the light on his bedside table.
As a warm yellow glow filled the room, I scooted down and laid my head on a pillow, tugging the edge of Bax’s blanket over my hip, and I tucked my hands beneath my cheek. “I’m sorry I woke you, but I’m pretty sure there’s at least one bear out by the cabins. I kept hearing a noise. I have no clue what it was, but it scared the crap out of me.”
“Uh, just for future reference, if you think you hear a bear, stay in your cabin! Are you nuts?” He shook his head. “Dammit, I should’ve given you bear spray. I can’t believe I forgot. I’ll get you some tomorrow.”
Rising up onto my elbow, I asked, “Is this not okay?” Shit. You’re a dick, Bea. Why didn’t it occur to you that maybe he’s not ready for another woman to be in his room?
But I really was freaked out by the noises I kept hearing outside my cabin. At first, I’d thought it was a person. In fact, my very first thought had been that maybe Bax had come back for round two, but then I swore I’d heard someone fumbling with the doorknob. Bax had another key, so I knew then it wasn’t him.
“No, it’s fine,” he said, lying back down and resting his head on his pillow. He turned to look at me. “But I almost had a heart attack just now when I imagined you tryin’ to run from a grizzly.”
“Oh, okay.” I closed my eyes and snuggled into his covers. “Well, that didn’t happen, so calm down. Go back to sleep.”
“I’m calm, but I’m not sure about the sleepin’ part.”
I yawned. “Turn out the light, and don’t make a big deal out of this.”
He snorted. “There’s a woman in my bed. It’s kind of a big deal.”
“You have a kid. It’s not like it’s the first time. Wait.” My eyes popped open again. “So should I not run if I come across a bear?”
Still looking at me, he arched a sexy brow. “You ever hear the sayin’, ‘if it’s brown, lay down. If it’s black, fight back, and if it’s white, say goodnight’?”
I snorted. “No.” Seriously? That’s the best bear advice you can give me?
“Words of wisdom.”
“You want me to lie down in the dirt and let the bear eat me?”
“You are delicious,” he said with a smirk, and I blushed from head to toe. “But he won’t. Bears don’t see us as food, but if you get in their personal space or for whatever reason they feel threatened, they will fuck you up proper. If you can walk away slowly, do that—you can’t outrun a bear—but if it’s too late for that, it’s best practice to stay as calm as you can. In other words, don’t go berserk, try not to make eye contact, and most likely, he’ll leave. But if the worst happens and he attacks, cover your head and play dead.
“And if it’s a mama with cubs, just pray.”
I rolled onto my back and stared up at the ceiling, trying hard not to imagine the worst happening. “I’m more freaked out than I was five minutes ago. I think I made the right decision to come to your house.”
“Didn’t you ever see a bear in North Carolina? Y’all have black bears, right?”
“Yeah, and yes, I have seen them, but from afar. We had one goin’ through our garbage cans once. My mama and daddy got up in arms, but he wasn’t there long and he never came back.” I shrugged. “I guess we were lucky considerin’ where we lived was pretty rural.”
When I turned my head to look at him, I caught him staring at my profile.
“We should go to sleep,” I said cautiously, as opposed to fucking each other’s brains out, which was what I really wanted to do as my eyes wandered down the wide expanse of his bare chest above the blanket tucked around his hips.
“There’s another bedroom or I can sleep on the couch,” he said. “I mean, if you want privacy.”
“Rye’s on the couch. At least, that’s who I think the big boulder was under a pink blanket with red hearts all over it. Whoever it is, they’re sawin’ some serious logs.”
Bax chuckled.
“But I thought for sure your dog would bark at me and wake the whole house.”
“He’s Rye’s dog, really, but Fig stays out with the herd most of the time.”
“Oh. Good to know,” I said. “But the third bedroom is the room next to yours, right?”
“Yeah.”
“The door’s locked.” I really had tried to find somewhere to sleep that wasn’t occupied by the one person I couldn’t seem to stay away from but absolutely should have.
