Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love (Adaira) BBW Bear Shifter Romance (Hope Valley BBW online dating app romances Book 6) (6 page)

“So this would be an adventure for you?” he said doubtfully.

“You bet! I can’t wait to get going now. So, I’ll set off early, say 7am. What time can I expect to arrive?”

“About 5 or 6. Maybe a little earlier if you hike really fast.”

“And how do I find your place?”

“Head south from downtown Hope Valley, and stay south all the way. If you call me when you’re up in the alpine trees, I can come and meet you.”

“Sounds great. Now, are there any bears that I need to watch out for?” she said in a playful tone.

“Only one,” he said, and gave a rumbly laugh.
I just flirted with her? What’s happening to me?
This was a new side to him, but he kind of liked it.
She laughed too, joyfully.

“Ok, we have a date on Thursday, some time after 5, I guess. I’ll see you then.”

“See you soon, Adaira,” he said.

When Leigh put the phone down, he couldn’t stop smiling. He’d never spoken to a woman so much in his life. But he’d enjoyed it. And he liked her. She scared the crap out of him, but he sensed she had a good heart. And she’d agreed to give him another chance, after all that had happened. It was beyond amazing. He looked around his cabin, viewing it with new eyes. It was always cozy to him, but, objectively, it had seen better days. It was dusty and dingy. He leapt up, grabbed some buckets and headed down to the stream.

Over the next few days, he scrubbed the cabin as if his life depended on it. He washed all the blankets and beat the rugs. He fixed some issues with the bathroom pipes and cleaned the stove. He found some old varnish and touched up the floorboards and some of the wooden panels on the outside of the building. Most of them needed replacing, he acknowledged. They’d been heavily weathered by the freezing winters, while he hibernated, cozy in a bed of earth and leaves. He wished he’d had time to replace them before Adaira arrived, but it was a big job.

By Thursday morning, he’d finished. He stood back and surveyed his work. It looked much better than before. He badly hoped it wouldn’t scare Adaira off, make her think he was too animal to date. He shifted and went out hunting, coming back with several rabbits. Back in his human form, he skinned and prepared them, and then he dug up some potatoes and greens from his vegetable patch and washed them. He put everything in his underground cool store.

He sat down with a book and tried to read, but his mind was jumping everywhere, full of anticipation for the arrival of this strong, feisty girl.

Adaira prepared her backpack on Wednesday night. She needed to keep it very light, and packed only food for two days, a large water bottle, sunscreen, a first aid kit, waterproof clothing, a thermal sweatshirt and leggings, a whistle, and a torch. Some of the stuff she was unlikely to need, especially the clothes for bad weather, but she knew how quickly the weather could change in the mountains, and how the threat of heatstroke could change to the threat of hypothermia in minutes. She opened her tent and checked that she had all the necessary pieces, and she made sure her phone was fully charged.

All week, she’d been tingling with excitement. Leigh had made a big impression on her during the phone call. He was gruff, unaffected, and totally charming. And she’d forgiven him as soon as he’d explained what had made him late. It was the kind of thing that she could imagine happening to her, so she could hardly hold it against him. She was also very touched by the effort he’d made to go and meet her. And his voice – she shivered at the recollection – his voice had sent thrills through her body. It was so deep and sensual. She felt deeply drawn to him, in a way she couldn’t explain to herself. It was like talking to someone she’d known from a long time ago.
“He’s the one,”
she murmured after they’d finished the call, then started in surprise.
What am I talking about?
Maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t, but she had the hike to look forward to anyway. It was actually the perfect combination – a hike she knew she’d love, and a gorgeous man waiting for her at the top.

That night, Adaira went to bed early and slept deeply. She had a talent for being able to fall asleep any time and any place, even when she was as full of anticipation for the day ahead as she was right now.

She woke at 6am, had a breakfast of porridge, made from real Scottish oats, and set out. The sun was already up, but it hadn’t yet warmed the earth, and the air carried a little chill. With her pack, tent and sleeping bag on her back, she traversed the deserted streets of the sleeping town. When she saw the signs for the mountain trail, her pulse quickened.
This is it
, she told herself, sensing that the next days were going to have a significant effect on the course of her life.

It was a nice trail, if a little wild, and very narrow in places. It obviously didn’t get a lot of visitors. It was generally not too steep, but there were a couple of places where she had to scramble on all fours. By 10am the sun was overhead, blazing down on her fiercely. She took her shirt off and tied it around her waist, leaving her in a black tanktop, and she applied a good layer of factor 50 sunblock. There was no way she was going to meet Leigh today looking like a tomato, or even, worse, with a case of heatstroke. She filled her water bottle from a stream every now and then. It tasted delicious – fresh, pure and icy cold. After two hours of climbing, she noticed a very narrow track leading to a cave, far in the distance. She didn’t have time to stop and explore, but it seemed homely, inviting, somehow.

She discovered quickly that the trail loosely followed the path of the stream, and at lunchtime, she stopped at a spot where it had opened out and made an inviting little pool. She sat on a rock, in the shadow of a tree and ate her sandwiches, gazing at it wistfully.

When she’d finished, she made a snap decision. She stripped off her clothes, every single one of them, and plunged into the water. She yelled at the coldness, but after a minute, it felt amazing. The water was silky-soft on her skin, and deliciously cooling to her hot feet. She was just about hidden from the trail, but if someone decided to investigate the path of the stream here, they’d get a perfect view of her huge boobs and curvy belly, floating on top of the water. She didn’t care. The pleasure of being in the water outweighed any potential embarrassment.

She allowed herself to splash about for ten minutes, until she began to get cold. She jumped out, realizing that she didn’t have a single thing to dry herself with. Oh well! She thought, and laughed at her own impetuosity. She retreated to a spot a little further on, where she’d be able to see if anyone was coming, and drip-dried. Under the heat of the sun, she was completely dry in ten minutes. She dressed, applied another slick of sunblock, and pressed on with her hike.

The next part of the journey was in the shade – something she was very grateful for, and she made good progress. So far, she hadn’t seen another living soul. In a way, it was a little lonely, but at the same time, she enjoyed the feeling of being the only hiker on the mountain. It made her feel fearless and intrepid. She took advantage of being completely alone – a rare thing in her life – and sang all of her favorite songs in her strong, yet hopelessly tuneless voice.

As Adaira belted out her favorite Beyonce song, she was nothing like as alone as she’d thought. In fact, a bare two miles away was a huge black wolf, observing her intently from higher up the mountain. He’d been tracking her for the past couple of hours, never coming any closer than a mile, just staying ahead, a little to the side of the official trail. It was thanks to Shiftr’s proximity locator that he’d found her. Since he lived high up the mountain, he’d set it to alert him if anyone that he’d been in contact with came within ten miles of him. And this morning, as he’d been handing out the day’s roles and responsibilities to his pack’s enforcers, the Shiftr alert had gone off on his phone. When he saw who the woman was, he shivered with excitement. It was
her
. The one whose profile had set him on fire. There was just something about her. She looked so vibrant and alive, with hair the color of flames, and eyes that sparkled with vitality and fun. When she’d rejected him, he’d been totally crushed. But he was a proud wolf, and he wasn’t going to stoop to beg her. But now, seeing her hiking all alone, he began to think there might be another opportunity. He’d watched her bathing, of course. She’d been a little blurry in the distance, but he could make out the paleness of her body, and her delicious curves. A bolt of arousal had hit him, making him harden instantly, and it had taken all of his self-control not to race down the mountain and mate with her in the water.

Instead, he’d just follow her, try to figure out why she was walking all that way in the heat of the day, all by herself.

Around mid-afternoon, Adaira stopped and assessed her surroundings. The trees were becoming darker green and more sparse. She was now at high altitude. Her ears had been popping, and the air felt crisper. In around 20 minutes, she’d call Leigh and tell him to come find her. She paused by the stream and drank half a bottle of water and washed her hands and face. She probably looked a mess, but there wasn’t much she could do about that.
And he knows I’ve been hiking
, she reminded herself, with a shrug of her shoulder.
Maybe I’ll wash my pits though
. She pulled her tank top off and bent down low to the stream, splashing her underarms with the cold water.

She was just pulling her shirt over her head and rolling it over her torso, when a movement in the trees ahead startled her. She blinked and looked again. And then she stifled a scream, as a tall, dark man appeared in front of her. She squinted as he came into the light, noting cropped dark hair, brown eyes and an angular bone structure. He didn’t look quite as she’d expected in her mind’s eye, but people never looked exactly like their photos. He wasn’t worse looking – just different – and his body was leaner than she’d expected. He was tall and broad-shouldered, but she’d imagined him being more meaty – more the kind of body that she was into.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi?” she said a little uncertainly. “I didn’t expect to bump into you like this. I was going to wait for a few more minutes before I called you to come and pick me up.” He broke into a grin, revealing flashing white teeth.

“Well I guess I’ve saved you the effort,” he said. He stood staring at her, eyes bright with intensity.

“Are you going to show me where your cabin is?” she asked. His body jerked, as if being jolted out of his trance.

“Sure.” His gaze turned a little predatory, and she felt a little shiver of unease. He was different from what she’d expected from their fun, chatty phone call the other day.
He’s probably feeling shy. You’re likely the first woman he’s laid eyes on this week
, she told herself.

“Let me take your pack.”

“No, it’s fine,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “I’m used to carrying – ” But before she could finish her sentence, he’d snapped the clasp in the front and pulled it right off her back. She gasped. It had happened so quickly that she felt dizzy from the sudden rebalancing of her center of gravity. She rubbed her arms where the friction from the straps being yanked from her shoulders had chafed her skin.

“Thanks,” she muttered, a little annoyed. He swung the bag onto his back as if it weighed nothing.

“It’s this way,” he said, stepping off the track, and he began to plunge into the trees.

“I thought you lived right at the end of the track?” she called, following him hesitantly.

“Uh, no,” he said. “It’s this way.” He didn’t elaborate any further. The trees were dense away from the trail, and it took all of her concentration to clamber over rocks and squeeze in between branches and tree trunks. The spiky branches of shrubs scratched her legs as she raced to keep up with him, but he strode on, oblivious to her discomfort.
Is this a bear thing?
she wondered. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She wasn’t the kind of girl who needed looking after, but a little courtesy wouldn’t go amiss.

“Hey! Can you slow down a bit?” she yelled, after catching her foot on a rock and tripping into the undergrowth. He stopped immediately, turning with a frown on his handsome face.

“What’s that?” he said.
Damnit
. Now he couldn’t understand her either.
He hadn’t had any trouble on the phone.

“I said, could you slow down a bit? I don’t know this route, and it’s a bit hard going for me,” she said, speaking very slowly and clearly.

“Oh, sorry,” he said, with a grin, that carried barely a hint of apology. He dropped his pace and she caught him up. They’d been walking for at least fifteen minutes, and there was no sign of the cabin. This wasn’t exactly what she’d signed up for.

“How much further?” she called.

“Just another five minutes,” he replied, when she’d repeated the question.

At last, the trees opened up and a whole bunch of cabins came into view. She frowned. For some reason, she’d had the impression that he lived up on the mountain in isolation. She tried to recall what was in his profile.
No, he hadn’t actually said that. I’ve just been jumping to conclusions.

“There’s a few of you bears living here then?” she said. He turned to her, a curious expression on his face.

“Yes, there’s quite a few of us,” he replied. “This is my cabin.” He pointed to the largest one, set a little apart from the others.

“What did you do to deserve that?” she said.

“I’m the leader,” he said, his voice becoming a little hard.

“O-kay,” she muttered to herself. He brought her to the cabin, pushed the door open, and carried her bag inside.

“Come in. I’m sure you’ll want to rest,” he said. She followed him in. The cabin was rustic yet luxurious, with expensive-looking wooden furniture, tapestry hangings on the wall, and big fur rugs on the wooden floor. Two doors led off the main room. She could make out that one room was a bathroom and the other contained a bed with a heavy, wooden frame. The main room contained several couches and beanbags. She sat down on one of the couches and immediately took her boots off.
God, that feels good!

“Nice place,” she said. “Not quite what I expected.” He looked very curious.

“What were you expecting?” he said. She gazed around the room.

“Well, to be honest, I kind of imagined you lived in a shed!” she said. He smiled.

“And why was that?” She gave a nervous laugh. His tone was strangely probing, and it put her on edge.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you live so far away. I thought it must be hard to get building materials up here. But it looks like you’ve managed pretty well.” She gazed at his sound system, flat screen TV and bar fridge.
Hadn’t he said he didn’t have electricity?
She must’ve misunderstood. He laughed.

“I have family members who handle that for me.”

“Ah.” She looked at him, wanting to recapture the easy chat they’d had on the phone, but she was uncharacteristically stumped for things to say.

“Were you impressed by how fast I got up here?” she said at last. “I bet you didn’t expect to see me so soon, hey?”

“Yeah. What time did you set out?”

“A little after 6am.” He nodded.

“That’s very fast for a human.” She glanced out of the window, wondering what time it was. It had taken them quite a while to get here, and the sun had set already. Darkness wasn’t far off.

“So, I was thinking I’d camp nearby. Can you recommend a good spot for me? Maybe among all these cabins?”

“Of course, but I think you’d be more comfortable staying here.” Automatically, her eyes slid towards his bedroom. She gave a nervous laugh.
Maybe he meant on the sofa.
Either way, it suddenly felt way too intimate.

“If it’s all the same to you, I’m the kind of girl who needs her own space when she’s getting to know someone.”

“Ok, in that case you can pitch the tent anywhere you like, but if you keep it level with the right-hand side of the cabin, you should be protected from the winds,” he said.

She put her boots back on and went outside with her tent. She pitched it quickly, having done it so many times before, and laid out her sleeping bag. When she came back into the cabin, he was pacing around irritably.

“Everything ok?” she asked.

“Yes, fine. Only, I don’t have any food. I just asked for some dinner to be sent over, but they don’t have the right kind of meat, and most of them are still asleep. I’m going to have to get some myself.” She frowned.
But from where? I don’t think there’s a supermarket nearby.
She mentally shook herself.
He’s going to go hunting for it, stupid!

“Oh, don’t worry about me, I’ve got some snacks in my pack,” she said.

“No, I insist,” he said grandly.

“Ok then.” She was somewhat intrigued to see what he’d come back with.

“Will you be ok here by yourself?”

“Aye. I could do with a shower though, if you wouldn’t mind?”

“Of course.” He showed her through to a well-designed modern bathroom, complete with a cupboard full of clean towels. She stifled a laugh. She’d been preparing herself for him not even having plumbing, but this was a lot like staying in a nice hotel. Absolutely in the middle of nowhere. “Is there anything else you need?” Seeing he had shower gel and shampoo, she said, “no thanks.”

“I’ll be back soon,” he said, closing the door and shutting her in the bathroom.

Adaira turned the shower on and began to strip off her clothes. It felt a little odd to be having a shower in this stranger’s bathroom, but she felt so grimy after her hike that she didn’t care. Damn. She’d left her clean underwear in her bag. She fastened her shirt up again and listened at the bathroom door. There was no sound coming from the cabin. He must’ve left already. She opened the door and went back into the main room. The cabin door was a little open, and there was a long, bushy tail disappearing through it. She stood stock still until the door closed.
Huh? Bears don’t have tails like that.
There were no windows in the cabin, but she thought there had been one on the bathroom. She ran back in there. There was, but it was high up. She climbed up on the edge of the bathtub and peered through it. And then she drew in a breath at the sight of a huge, black wolf running across the grass and disappearing into the trees.
What the hell? I just saw a wolf. But Leigh is a bear
. This didn’t make any sense at all. She climbed down from the window and turned the shower off. Washing had suddenly become a low priority. Maybe she’d imagined the tail at the cabin door, and the wolf outside had been a coincidence. She’d go outside and wait for him, and see what species he was when he returned. She pulled at the cabin door to open it, but the handle didn’t turn.
Hmm, there must be a latch somewhere.
There was a keyhole, but nothing else. She shook the handle. The door gave a little, apart from at a certain point, as if there was a bolt on the other side.
No. That’s not possible.
She ran her hands all over it, as if she might discover a lock she hadn’t noticed before. Nothing. She shook the handle again, much harder this time, pulled it towards her, put all of her weight against the door and pushed. But it wouldn’t budge.
He’s locked me in. I’m locked in a stranger’s cabin, miles and miles from civilization.
She started knocking on the door, then yelling “let me out! Somebody! Anybody! Please!” But no-one came. The knocking turned to pounding, hard enough to bruise her knuckles. Her heart hammered in her chest and rage coursed through her body.

“Who on earth is this wolf? And what the hell does he think he’s doing?” she said aloud. “If he thinks he can trap me in here like this, he’s going to be a very sorry wolf, or bear, or whatever the hell he is!”