My heavy steps quicken into a jog, until I come upon a figure huddled under an enormous pine tree.
The poor thing is shivering. Soaked to the bone. When I reach her, her face tips up with a soft smile. "Are you one of those ranger guys? I'm fine. Really. I can make it back to my bike. I just thought I'd wait until the worst of the rain passes.”
My breath freezes in my chest.
Holy shit, she's beautiful.
No.Beautifuldoesn't cut it. It's not graceful and precious and serious enough a word to convey the way the fading light curves around her delicate, angelic face.
She blinks through long, wet lashes. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Are you okay?”
I duck under the tree to join her. “I'm the one who should be asking you that."
The way she smiles sends a strange fluttering sensation through my entire chest. "All right, mister. If you want to rescue me, go ahead." She looks at my empty hands. "Do you have an umbrella?"
"N…no." The tree is saturated by now, and heavy drops of rain are slipping through.
"Some knight in shining armor," she quips, wiping a soggy tendril of hair off her face. “No umbrella…no horse to get us back to town…”
No woman has ever been so sassy with me before. Then it dawns on me.
She doesn't know who I am.
The number of times I've met a woman who didn't already know everything about my family and my grouchy demeanor…well, I could count them on one hand.
The wind picks up and a deep shiver runs through her. In a flash, I whip off my heavy jacket and wrap her in it. Then I pick up her backpack. "We need to get you warm and dry. Now."
She follows me a few steps back to the trail, her sneakers already sliding on the leaves and mud. I reach down to pick her up, then stop. I don’t know what it’s like to be a young woman, but if an unfamiliar six-foot-four mountain man grabbed me, I might freak out.
"May I carry you? This rain will make the leaves slippery as ice. I don’t want you to break an ankle."
She pushes another soggy strand of brown hair out of her face, her stunning, deep blue eyes smiling up at me. "Sure. Thank you."
I scoop her up, holding her tight to my chest. At this angle, I can tuck her face into my shoulder to protect her better from the rain.
Another surge of warmth flows through my heart. Holding this young woman feels incredible. No, more than that. It feels…preordained. Like she was always supposed to be here. Like every single time I've swung an axe or lifted weights was all so I could carry her safely right now.
This intense wave of desire is distracting, making it difficult to focus. She shifts slightly in my arms, leaving my hand grasping her lower back close to her butt. Her legs drape over my forearm as her arm wraps around my shoulder. My God, what would it feel like to have those delicate fingers running through my hair?
My long strides get us to the parking lot quickly, and I wrap her in a blanket, give her a towel to dry her hair, and crank the heat in my truck.
"Th-thank you," she says through chattering teeth. "Oh! I’m Joy, by the way."
Joy. Of course that’s her name.
“Emerick. But everyone calls me Bear.”
Her bottom lip begins to quiver, and I’m starting to worry that something is wrong when her giggle explodes like a sneeze. "Women are supposed to decide if they’d rather meet a man or a bear in the woods…and I find both in one?!" Then Joy starts laughing so hard I don’t know if she’ll ever stop.
And to my complete and utter amazement…
I join her.
2
JOY
Iknow I should be nervous. Alarm bells should be ringing in the back of my mind, announcing that I’m in a dangerous situation. Yet this man simply doesn’t have a single drop of aggression about him.
