Page 9 of Wild in the Woods
Still, maybe if he pretended to be interested, it would get his brother and cousins off his damn back.
“She’s looking your way again, brother.”
Ryker wagged his eyebrows and took a shot. He sunk his solid seven ball into the side pocket, then the nine.
“I know,” he said mildly.
“Why not capitalize on it? What are you waiting for?”
She smells bad, he thought. Not bad. Just, not right. None of them were right.
“We’re playing here, aren’t we?”
Ryker smiled knowingly, shook his head, and took another shot. Damn, if he kept this up, his kid brother was going to wipe the table clean. Fox had already lost to him twice. Pool wasn’t his strong suit. It was the one area of his life he felt lacking, especially since every other man in this family seemed to be great at it. Including Dax, who was more than a little drunk.
“Take her home,” Dax said over Fox’s shoulder. “Have some fun. For the love of God, man, you need to loosen up.”
He promptly took the beer out of Dax’s hand and replaced it with a glass of water from their table. It’s not like he hadn’t considered hooking up now and then. He had, but the idea always died out. He’d been there done that, and, honestly, the thrill of it had worn off recently. Which was ridiculous. He was young and in his prime. He should have a steady stream of women keeping his urges happy. But when he lies awake in the middle of the night, staring at the dark ceiling, he thought about how it would feel to look over and find a stranger in his bed— woman he’d used and secretly wanted out of his house. The concept of a one-nighter didn’t sit well with him anymore. Even when his bear and human both longed for someone to keep up all night, tangled in the sheets, he didn’t do it.
To invite a female into his bed to stay meant something. That was the place for a true mate. By his side, wrapped up in his arms, safe and protected. Their bodies connected, breathing in tandem. And yet, the whole idea of committing to one woman for the rest of his life terrified him. Committing to anyone like that was a vulnerable risk. It put you in a position to be weak and reliant on someone else. Sort of like a child needing parents to love and support them.
What happens when only one person invests like that and the other does everything imaginable to cause pain and fear and desperation?
He could never be vulnerable like that, ever again.
Ryker finished the game by once again handing Fox’s ass to him. Desi and Jett looked for pool sticks to take their turn, but the rack on the wall was empty.
“These are the last two,” Fox handed his over. “Five pool tables in this place and two pool sticks. Makes sense.”
“Someone ran off with an armful of pool sticks and a pocketful of balls.”
Which explained why the only full roster of pool cues was on their table.
Ryker handed his stick to Jett. “It was probably the same asshole who started the fires in Cedar Ridge campground last week. Nothing better to do than destroy stuff.”
It was the end of the summer tourist season when the massive flood of visitors to the Rocky Mountains spilled over into Estes Park, but soon the wave of winter tourism would start as the mountains became coated in white and brought all the snow bunnies out to play. Each year, the in between season enticed people who hoped to miss the large summer crowds and overflowing campgrounds. Crime tended to go up during the lull, probably because there were less people around in general to deter it. Not only did vandalism and petty crime increase in the area, so did the amount of search and rescue and emergency calls for missing hikers, usually inexperienced want-to-bees who tackled difficult and more technical trails without enough experience or common sense to be successful.
Trying to prevent these types of emergencies was one of the reasons he taught a basic outdoor survival skills class in addition to advanced courses. Everyone needed to know how to be prepared on the trail and how to survive in case something catastrophic happened out there.
He’d just schooled a twenty-four member Kids on the Trail group, including two troupe leaders, and had another coming in at the end of the month. Fox loved getting kids out there and teaching them what they needed to know to have fun and be safe in the woods. Adults, too, because they were usually less responsible than the kids.
“Hey.” A soft voice pulled his attention.
The blonde was next to him, holding her drink close to her chest as she eyed him sheepishly.
Damnit, he was hoping she’d gotten the hint and left. “Hey.”
She was tall with an athletic build, if the brace of abs showing beneath her crop top was an indication. Her heart-shaped face was pretty, heavily made up with thick lashes that looked like spider’s legs. A stain of lipstick colored her lips. A thick lip imprint clung to the rim of her glass as if she’d repeatedly drank from that exact same spot. Low jeans showed just enough hip to make him do a double take. Pink toenails peeked from the strap of her leopard print high heels.
“Want to take me up on a game?”
The tip of her tongue ticked her lower lip before she pulled it between her teeth.
He should be interested. She was hot. Probably looking to make a bet with him on a game in pool that would result in her taking him home.
He cleared his throat, suddenly flustered. But… it wasn’t her. Something nagged at him. Something new that he hadn’t detected before. There was a weak scent in the air misting above the crowd.
“I’m sure you saw that I play a terrible game.”
