Bearly Breathing (10 page)

Angie rolled her eyes. Even in an emergency situation like this he still couldn’t keep his ego in check.

They floated down the river, passing around bends and barely missing jutting rocks. Sidney was holding onto the broken kayak with white knuckles. Eventually, the rain began to let up and the current began to slow down. “I think we can swim to the shore now,” she said.

“Okay,” he replied with wide eyes.

She let go and headed for the shore using her perfect front crawl. When she sat down on the river bank she was breathing heavily and wiping the water out of her eyes. Sidney was still half way out swimming a doggy paddle towards her.

He finally arrived on the shore, panting for breath. “I was holding back, making sure that you got out safely.”

Angie rolled her eyes. “How noble of you.”

Angie glanced up at the sun. It was already starting to dim. They would have to spend the night in the forest. There was no way that they could hike back before the sun set.

“Tomorrow we’ll follow the river back up to the cabins.” She looked around the dense trees. “I don’t know where we are.”

Sidney stood up with his chest sticking out like a dominant gorilla. His wet shirt was plastered to his muscular chest, displaying the round shape of his pecs right in front of her nose. She tried not to look.

He glanced up at the sun. “Mmmhmmm,” he said nodding his head. He ripped a leaf off of a nearby tree and placed it in his mouth, nibbling on it. “I see…” he said thinking, well, pretending to think. “I know the coordinates of where we are. Roughly eighty three degrees east by one hundred and forty two degrees south.”

“That would be in Antartica,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Let’s just go find somewhere to sleep Walker, Texas Ranger.”

She thought she had seen a tree chopped down a little ways up the river as they were drifting by. If they were cut down maybe there was a logger in the area, maybe a cottage. It was their best hope for having a dry night.

“I think we should head that way,” he said, pointing in the opposite direction.

“Great,” she said waving her hand up and walking back up the river. “Bring a snowsuit. And send me a postcard with a penguin on it.”

She walked up the river cursing. She had to be stuck with him? Connor was a gentleman and even the naked guy would at least have kept his mouth shut. She had to be stuck with this know-it-all-except-the-correct-answer.

She could hear his footsteps on the rocks following her. She made an effort not too turn around. But that didn’t stop her imagination. His massive chest thrust itself back into her mind.

She continued the walk, repeating a new mantra in her head.

I like my guys nerdy.

I like my guys nerdy.

I like my guys nerdy.

There was no way that she would be attracted to a dumb jock. She heard a slapping sound behind her which could only be him taking off his shirt, and gulped.

I like my guys nerdy.

I like my guys nerdy.

Sidney had been enjoying the view of Angie walking ahead of him. Those little shoulders held up and out in a defiant way, her wet, red hair bouncing around, slapping her back, and that ass. God that ass was perfect.

Every time that he increased his pace to walk beside her she increased hers.
Fine, I’ll just enjoy the view from back here.

The sky was starting to get dark and his stomach was rumbling. He wanted to change into his bear form and go hunt but he didn’t want to scare this beauty in front of him. It wasn’t every day that he got such eye candy around him.

Back when he was a famous football player it was different. He went to all of the parties with the biggest celebrities. The girls were hot and plentiful and willing.

Well, it was only two games, and there was only one party, with the only celebrity being the local weather girl, and she slapped him when he hit on her. But still. It was the glory days. And it was awesome.

“Good idea,” he said, when he approached her. Angie was leaning over a tree trunk staring at it. “Let’s take a break.”

“No this tree has been cut by humans,” she said.

Sidney held his chin and shook his head. “No. That was done by beavers.”

She rolled her eyes. “That one too?” she asked pointing at another stump in the forest. “And that one?”

“Yup.”

She bent over and picked up an empty beer can. “Do beavers drink beer too?”

“You’ve never been partying with beavers?” he asked with a sly smile. “They’re wild.”

She tossed the beer can at him and headed into the woods.

“Where are you going?” He rushed to catch up with her.

“If these trees were cut then there might be shelter around here.”

He snorted. “This is the middle of the wilderness. There’s nobody living around here.” He held his belly and laughed as he caught a glimpse of a cabin through the trees.

Crap.

“We should head back to the river,” he said. He’d rather sleep on the cold dirt than be proved wrong. “We can get lost out here and-”

“Right there,” she said, pointing to the cabin. She squealed in delight. “I knew it!”

Sidney held his tongue and they headed over. It was a little log cabin that hadn’t been used for some time. The roof was made out of sheets of corrugated metal and the sides were constructed with logs. Sidney could smell a family of raccoons living under the small front porch.

The windows were smudged with dirt and covered in spiderwebs. There was a metal chimney popping out of the roof, which meant there was a stove or a cast iron fireplace inside. Old, dried up fox skins hung from hooks over the porch.

“What was it?” she asked.

Sidney pointed to the skins. “An old trapper’s cabin most likely.”

She pushed open the door. “Let’s see if there’s any food inside. I’m starving.”

The cabin was cute. Abandoned and falling apart, but cute. It had a tiny kitchen with a rusted pan hanging on the cracked tiles, a sofa with hand crocheted pillows like her grandma used to have and a small cot in the corner. It was just like the kind of place that Angie wanted to get one day to escape the city for the weekend. No electricity. No Wi-Fi. Just her, alone with her thoughts.

Sidney burst through the tiny door and smacked his head on the low doorway. Well, she was almost alone with her thoughts.

He bent down and fiddled with the fireplace as she searched the kitchen cupboards for food. There were a couple of cans with faded labels behind a spider’s web. She checked the expiry date on a can of soup.
2001.

“I can get this working,” Sidney said. “It will be nice and cozy in here.”

She looked around. “Only one bed,” she said.

He grinned at her. “Perfect.”

“Perfect you’ll sleep outside?”

He rolled up his sleeve over his huge bicep. “I’ll arm wrestle you for it.”

She glanced at his arm and then looked away with her heart rate increasing.

“There’s nothing to eat,” she said. She was getting hungry. He must’ve been starving as big as he was.

He snorted. “We’re in the wilderness. There’s food everywhere.”

“Okay Chef Ramsay go make me something.” She crossed her arms as he left the cabin.

He stumbled around looking at the ground with an eyebrow raised. “Here,” he said, pulling out a green plant from the ground. “These are edible leaves.” He plucked a leaf off of the stalk and handed one to her.

“That looks like poison ivy,” she said, stepping back and keeping her arms crossed.

He snorted a laugh and stuffed five leaves into his mouth. “See? Delicious.” Angie looked away from his food-filled open mouth. He pulled up another plant and ate it too. “This is the Coniferson Atlantis plant. Highly nutritious.”

Sidney handed her a leaf and she reluctantly took it. She tasted the tip of it and spit it out. “It’s so bitter,” she said.

“That’s the best part,” he said, shoving some more into his bathing suit pocket. “What else?”

He walked up to a maple tree and pulled off a strip of bark. “You can eat this too,” he said, putting it into his mouth. He gagged and choked as he struggled to chew it down.

Angie walked around to the back of the cabin and squealed in delight when she saw an overgrown vegetable garden covered in weeds. She stepped over the small fence and knelt down. There were still some veggies growing among the weeds and she began collecting them. A cucumber, some green peppers, rhubarb, zucchinis, and even some kale.

She had more than enough veggies by the time that she was finished. She walked back around the cabin and Sidney was biting the bark right off of the tree. “When you’re done chopping down that tree there will be a salad inside waiting for you.”

Sidney spit out a mouthful of bark and stared at her arms full of food. He lowered his head and followed her in.

Sidney ate the last veggie on his plate and leaned back in his chair. It groaned under his weight. Angie had made two huge salads, well one huger than the other, while he got a fire going in the old, cast iron stove. There was an old nest inside, probably a possum nest, that was long ago abandoned. The dried up straw made perfect kindling.

“That was good,” he said, rubbing his stomach. It was better than the leaves he found and the bark on the tree. He could barely eat them but forced himself. He didn’t want to look stupid in front of Angie.

Angie had told him all about her work as a Quantum Electrochemist over dinner. Normally Sidney understood everything but most of that went over his head. He must’ve been tired or she probably just wasn’t explaining it properly. It was okay. He loved the way her lips moved and how her eyes lit up with excitement when she talked.

“There’s some games on that shelf over there,” she said, pointing to the small bureau beside the bed. “Want to play something?”

Sidney went over to investigate, keeping his head bent against the low ceiling. There were a stack of dusty boxes. Monopoly, Life, Clue.

He pulled out a box and showed her with a grin. Twister. She shook her head no.

“Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit?” he asked.

“I’d say Trivial Pursuit but it wouldn’t be fair.”

He frowned. “Why do you say that?”

She chuckled. “Do I really have to…” she trailed off. “It would be like you playing Serena Williams in a round of tennis.” He glared at her. “And you only have one arm.” He puffed out his chest. “Okay no arms.”

“We’re playing this,” he said. He brought the Trivial Pursuit box to the table and they set up the game.

“Your funeral,” she said, choosing the green pie.

Sidney sprung up and headed to the kitchen. He opened a cupboard for something that he had seen earlier when he was searching for matches. This would level the playing field a little bit.

“Since you’re such a genius,” he said, “let’s play this my way.” He pulled out an old bottle of Scotch and slammed it on the table. “Every time you get an answer wrong you take a sip.”

She rubbed her small hands together and glared at him. “You’re on.”