Page 4 of The Bear's Forever Mat
Or, Amber thought, maybe that was her damn obsession with the man shining through.
“Amber was kind enough to pick me up after I missed the first van.” Kim tilted her head toward Amber and offered a grateful smile. Then she turned back to Cooper. “Would you know where Bruce is? I have a surprise for him.”
“He and the rest of the company just stepped around the corner to get more comfortable.”
Kim fluttered her fingers at Amber then took off eagerly to rejoin her group.
And then it was the two of them. Amber and Cooper, standing beside the warming hut with a stunning display of nature shimmering overhead and their own private viewing station.
She twisted until she could stare into his face and offer her best smile. “Looks like a spectacular night.”
Cooper clasped his hands behind his back, gaze tilted upward. The dancing lights reflected in his eyes, turning them into living kaleidoscopes. “There’s never a bad evening while watching the northern lights.”
“True.” She stepped a little nearer, tucking her coat around herself more firmly, as if blaming the move toward him on the icy November wind curling around them. “Everything’s better with the right people, though.”
For a second she thought this was it. The moment she’d been longing for. His breathing quickened, and he leaned closer—maybe because he was going to admit that he and she, together, wereright people?
Because she could’ve sworn that over the past two years she wasn’t the only one who had become interested in exploring a deeper relationship. Yes, she’d worked for him, laughing at his droll humour and admiring his work ethic. But it was the way he cared for his family with stubborn good intentions that had been the kicker. Two years meant she’d learned enough about the man that she admired him through and through. He was someone she could grow to feel very affectionate toward…
Screw being diplomatic. Cooper wasexactlythe kind of man she wanted to fall in love with. Even blunter—she was halfway there, or more, already.
She was certain he’d grown equally interested in her, but getting the big growly bear to admit anything was like teaching someone how to fasten snowshoes in the dark.
Beyond awkward and not very successful.
“The right people? Definitely.” He lifted his arm and examined his watch for a moment before tapping a short message then resuming his statue-like position. “We have good friends and good family here in the north. And I know our guests certainly enjoy getting to share the experience with each other.”
She was tempted to growl at him. That wasn’t what she meant at all.
A spectacular roll of light went off overhead, and they both grew silent. No matter how important her agenda, there were some moments no one should interrupt.
Five minutes passed as they stood in comfortable silence. Amber had just decided it was time to try a different tack, when around the side of the building came the strangest apparition. It took a second to figure out what, or more specificallywho, was there. It was Kim. The long-legged blonde dashed across the snowy expanse in her bare feet, her long hair trailing her like a banner.
She wasn’t naked—that would’ve been less startling. Instead, the woman wore a bikini that somehow reflected the lights as they appeared overhead in the northern sky. Blues and greens floated across her boobs, and a flash of neon purple slid across her hip and between her legs, as if the aurora borealis overhead had wrapped itself around Kim’s torso in an embrace.
“What on earth…?” Cooper began, before his words faded into nothing.
The woman ran, laughter lilting in the air even as she glanced over her shoulder. A large bear was hot on her heels. Not as if it were intent on fighting for territory. No, this was most definitely a shifter thing. The big bear’s gait was more prance-y than menacing, and he bounced a few times like a kangaroo before changing direction and herding Kim toward the trees.
Amber shivered. Not reacting was impossible. She knew very well what was going to happen when Bruce caught her. Shifters were lusty creatures, and between mates there was no need for holding back.
Not to mention thathumansoften took off to semiprivate places to enjoy sex under the shimmering aurora borealis—rumours of the magic offered by the lights were a part of many northern cultures. The stories had been shared around the world until they were somewhere between legend and truth, and impossible to ignore.
The magical good fortune supposedly waiting for couples who partook inintimateactivities was enough to make even the most reserved consider a little outdoor entertainment.
Amber’s heart rate jumped a notch. Sex. Outdoors. With Cooper.
Yes. Yes,yes.
Her pulse kicked up even faster when Cooper’s hand landed on her shoulder, and he pulled her against his side. Oh my goodness, was he finally going to—
He patted her gently as if soothing a frightened child.
“It’s okay,” he assured her. “They’re shifters. She’s not cold. And Bruce isn’t going to hurt her.”
“I know that.” She leaned against his side and looked up. Please, let him read in her expression what she found so difficult to put into words.I would very much like to be rolling around under the northern lights with you.
He examined her face, his gaze pausing for a second on her mouth, and in that instant, her dreams trembled on the verge of coming true…
