Read Online Dare to Bear (Book 1 Trail Guardians Series) by Christine Julian - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Christine Julian
Tags: paranormal romance
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him going down on her, she squeezed her inner thighs. Moisture gathered there, and tingles danced on the nerve endings he’d pleasured so thoroughly.
Yet the gentle look he cast her set her at ease. She smiled. “This is the best wakeup call ever.”
The well-hewn muscles of his chest and arms rippled as his hand continued to sift through her curls. “You look beautiful today.”
“Thank you.” She wanted to tell him he always looked scrumptious, but she didn’t want to invite confusion. Better they remain friendly companions than stray into the complicated territory of lovers.
“I brought you breakfast from the forest.”
She sat up in her sleeping bag. “Really?”
With a broad smile, he handed her a metal cup of ripe raspberries. She popped a few into her mouth and savored the tart juice trickling down her throat. They tasted like little bursts of joy on her tongue. After eating only dried beef and trail mix for days, she couldn’t get enough of their off-the-branch freshness.
“I’ll stand at the cave entrance while you get dressed,” he said after she’d finished the last berry.
Embarrassment crept up her neck, turning her skin the same pink color as the berry stains on her palm. “Thanks.”
She appreciated the gentlemanly gesture, but she wondered if they should talk about what had happened the night before. Then again, what was there to say? She had made her position pretty clear. She wasn’t interested in a fling, even with a guy who put all her ex-boyfriends to shame with his skills and gorgeousness. She didn’t want anything romantic with Mason to turn into another regret. She’d racked up enough of those for one year. She had come on this trip for closure, not to create new loose ends, leaving her to wonder… what if .
Naked except for her sports bra and panties, she dragged her backpack to her side and found fresh clothes for the day. For years as a child she’d slept fully dressed, even wearing shoes to bed, using clothes and blankets as a shield against the fears and uncertainties that had hounded her in the dark. Until her sixth foster family, she’d shuffled from home to home, school to school, alone and afraid all the time. Waiting for the next time her social worker, Greta, showed up to transfer her yet again.
With a heavy sigh, Stephanie approached the pool at the heart of the cave to splash cool water onto her face. The memories of those years weren’t painful, exactly, but she’d carried the sense of abandonment with her for a long time.
The foster family transfers were never caused by behavioral problems or temperament issues on her part. In fact, she’d displayed perfect manners, kept to herself, and hardly spoke to anyone. Still, no matter how perfect she was, something always came up in the family she stayed with—a move for a job, older caretakers who retired, a change in the family’s dynamics—forcing her keep moving. The first five families she’d stayed with had treated her all right, but she knew never to grow close to anyone.
Then the Hendricks had entered her life and changed her world. The moment she’d walked through the white fence around their green lawn, entering the red door with the gleaming brass knocker, she’d known she was home . That first night, they’d introduced her a pretty pink bedroom with a canopy bed, and she’d half believed she’d stumbled into a Disney movie where she got to be a princess for a night. They’d given her sheets that felt like soft clouds, set a glass of warm milk on the bedside table, and read books to her until she’d fallen asleep knowing her first taste of real peace.
Since that night, three days before her eleventh birthday, she never wore clothes or shoes to bed again. Not even during the cool nights on the Appalachian Trail, burrowed into the subpar sleeping bag she’d brought with her on this trip, because Kyle had kept all their good camping equipment.
But the focus of this experience wasn’t Kyle,
Yet the gentle look he cast her set her at ease. She smiled. “This is the best wakeup call ever.”
The well-hewn muscles of his chest and arms rippled as his hand continued to sift through her curls. “You look beautiful today.”
“Thank you.” She wanted to tell him he always looked scrumptious, but she didn’t want to invite confusion. Better they remain friendly companions than stray into the complicated territory of lovers.
“I brought you breakfast from the forest.”
She sat up in her sleeping bag. “Really?”
With a broad smile, he handed her a metal cup of ripe raspberries. She popped a few into her mouth and savored the tart juice trickling down her throat. They tasted like little bursts of joy on her tongue. After eating only dried beef and trail mix for days, she couldn’t get enough of their off-the-branch freshness.
“I’ll stand at the cave entrance while you get dressed,” he said after she’d finished the last berry.
Embarrassment crept up her neck, turning her skin the same pink color as the berry stains on her palm. “Thanks.”
She appreciated the gentlemanly gesture, but she wondered if they should talk about what had happened the night before. Then again, what was there to say? She had made her position pretty clear. She wasn’t interested in a fling, even with a guy who put all her ex-boyfriends to shame with his skills and gorgeousness. She didn’t want anything romantic with Mason to turn into another regret. She’d racked up enough of those for one year. She had come on this trip for closure, not to create new loose ends, leaving her to wonder… what if .
Naked except for her sports bra and panties, she dragged her backpack to her side and found fresh clothes for the day. For years as a child she’d slept fully dressed, even wearing shoes to bed, using clothes and blankets as a shield against the fears and uncertainties that had hounded her in the dark. Until her sixth foster family, she’d shuffled from home to home, school to school, alone and afraid all the time. Waiting for the next time her social worker, Greta, showed up to transfer her yet again.
With a heavy sigh, Stephanie approached the pool at the heart of the cave to splash cool water onto her face. The memories of those years weren’t painful, exactly, but she’d carried the sense of abandonment with her for a long time.
The foster family transfers were never caused by behavioral problems or temperament issues on her part. In fact, she’d displayed perfect manners, kept to herself, and hardly spoke to anyone. Still, no matter how perfect she was, something always came up in the family she stayed with—a move for a job, older caretakers who retired, a change in the family’s dynamics—forcing her keep moving. The first five families she’d stayed with had treated her all right, but she knew never to grow close to anyone.
Then the Hendricks had entered her life and changed her world. The moment she’d walked through the white fence around their green lawn, entering the red door with the gleaming brass knocker, she’d known she was home . That first night, they’d introduced her a pretty pink bedroom with a canopy bed, and she’d half believed she’d stumbled into a Disney movie where she got to be a princess for a night. They’d given her sheets that felt like soft clouds, set a glass of warm milk on the bedside table, and read books to her until she’d fallen asleep knowing her first taste of real peace.
Since that night, three days before her eleventh birthday, she never wore clothes or shoes to bed again. Not even during the cool nights on the Appalachian Trail, burrowed into the subpar sleeping bag she’d brought with her on this trip, because Kyle had kept all their good camping equipment.
But the focus of this experience wasn’t Kyle,
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