But I wasn’t sure that counted as a horny prank. Ravik was a very neat and orderly person in general, but I noticed he did a lot of dishes that June and July. Sometimes, I’d find him washing a single saucer and whistling at the counter.
So, yeah, it felt natural to fully do away with the no-touching rule.
And then, in one particularly intense Sunday morning session with Zion, the “no lying on top of me” one as well.
“I want to feel you,” I explained to Zion. We were lying face-to-face on my bed, plastered to each other as our hips rolled in tandem, but it still wasn’t enough. “I want your weight on top of me, blanketing me, making me feel…”
I didn’t know what, exactly, but I exploded beneath him moments after he put me on my back and drove into me with a couple of sure strokes.
This was the opposite of Dennis using me like a repository.
I felt elated… grounded… safe.
Claimed in the best possible way.
I still didn’t know where this was all leading with the three of them, but the next time we had our weekly group date, afterwards, all three of the bears took turns, reveling in getting to do simple missionary with me.
I was figuring it out.
Monday through Thursday belonged to Boone and Ravik, but Zion got me on Saturdays and Sundays.
On Fridays, we all went out on a group date.
Which was essentially going down to the lakeshore with Zion’s CD boom box and dancing underneath the starry sky.
Boone danced like a tank on party drugs. And Zion quickly reverted back to his island roots, pulling me into his chest for a slow, sexy grind whenever anything by an R&B singer from the ‘80s or ‘90s came on. But Ravik surprised me by having a strong sense of rhythm and the willingness to use it to dance wildly with me.
Even bears couldn’t see or hear all the way down to the people standing on the shores of the Outer Limits lake at night. But if they could, they would have caught us yelling out all the lyrics to dance classics like “It Takes Two” by Rob Base every Friday night.
I’d never been on a proper date, but somehow I knew those Friday night outings were the best ones even if I had.
We were just so…
The word “happy” hovered in my chest, but the bubble we had made in the Outer Limits felt too tentative. I never said the word, even to myself, for fear that it would pop.
But then one Friday evening, Ravik came to fetch me early from the widow’s cottage.
“Just give me one moment. I’m so close to being done with the last detail work on Holly’s black bear cub.” Even though I was still having minor panic attacks at the thought of giving it to her. “I need a few more minutes—sixty-five minutes, tops.”
Usually, this was when Ravik would intone, “How much time?” Then set a timer for the exact amount I asked for, remind me of the care mandate I agreed to uphold, then sit in the metal chair with the warning that he’d drag me away if I tried to keep working after it went off. Which was why I always asked for sixty-five minutes, even if I thought I only needed five.
But that night he answered, “Nope, can’t do. It’s a full moon.”
A full moon. Had it really been a month already? The last one was during the week I spent sulking and trying to adult. Zion had left a note, warning that neither he nor Boone would be on sentry duty that night, but it was very important that I stay indoors.
Crazy how much things had changed in only a month.
“Okay,” I said quickly, putting all my supplies back in the house.
Then I walked back to Ravik’s to find Zion already home, despite pageant rehearsals being in full throttle with the Christmas in July festival only a few days away.
After a quick dinner, I found myself in the very weird position of escorting three naked bears to the door.
They all seemed more focused on my security than the fact that they were about to be forced into a transformation all night.
“Stay the fuck inside,” Boone warned before giving me a gruff kiss.
“I’ve stocked the kitchen with everything you might need,” Ravik told me after brushing his lips across mine. “Do not come out for any reason.”
