Bearly Breathing (4 page)

“Oh look,” Grace said. “He has clothes on. Isn’t that nice?”

Edwin’s face started to twitch and his fingers were curling up.

Connor gave him a look that would freeze the grim reaper. Edwin got a hold of himself and shook out his body. He stopped phasing.

For now.

Sidney walked over to him and whispered in Edwin’s ear. Connor could hear with his enhanced shifter hearing. “Remember what I told you,” Sidney said.

Connor gulped.

Edwin cleared his throat and stared at Grace. “I want to see you naked,” he said.

“Wow,” Grace said, with her hands on her hips. “You really know how to talk to a woman.”

Edwin looked around the room, confused. “Should I not have said that?”

Rebecca groaned beside him. “Maybe Ibiza is a better idea.”

Angie inched towards the exit. “Maybe a restaurant is a better idea.”

Sidney followed her to the door. “Great! Which restaurant are we eating at?”

Angie giggled. “It’s thirty miles down the road that way. We’ll meet you there.”

Sidney nodded. “I know that place. The owner is a big fan of mine.”

The three girls backed out of the door.

The guys tried to follow them out. Connor placed a hand on Sidney’s chest and a hand on Edwin’s. “Stay here,” he snapped. He exhaled. “Just, go in the kitchen and finish dinner. And don’t fuck anything up.”

Connor ran out the door. The girls were heading to the car. “Wait,” he called out.

He ran up to them. Grace was watching him with her arms crossed; Angie with her hands on her hips. Rebecca was the only one that seemed approachable.

“I’m so sorry,” Connor apologized, for what felt like the hundredth time. “They’re harmless guys. They just don’t meet a lot of women.” He motioned to the trees with his hand. “We don’t have a lot of pretty ladies coming through here.”

Angie dropped her hands. “They’re not that bad. If you forget about the fact that Edwin showed us his junk and the big guy smelled me like a dog.”

Grace and Rebecca chuckled. Connor sighed in relief. Perhaps he could save them yet.

Rebecca looked back towards the kitchen. “It does smell good in there,” she said. Connor stole a glance at her lips as she spoke and his stomach fluttered.

She turned towards the girls. “What do you think?”

Grace rolled her eyes. “Let’s just go eat. I’m starving.” She pushed past them back into the guest house.

Rebecca sat at the table with Grace on her left and Angie on her right. Edwin was sitting in front of Grace staring at her with an intense stare and Sidney was in front of Angie watching her eat with a big, dumb, grin on his face.

Connor was running in and out of the kitchen every two minutes and kept asking if everything was okay. Every time she smiled and nodded at him his shoulders would slump down in relief. It was really cute the way he was trying to make everything perfect for them and failing miserably.

“More wine?” he asked, raising the bottle and his eyebrows at her.

This wasn’t as bad as they let on. Rebecca could tell that Grace was into Edwin, even if she would never admit to it and she noticed that Angie kept glancing at Sidney’s arms.

“Sure,” Rebecca answered and Connor’s face lit up in a heartwarming smile. And this guy sitting across from her was definitely not hard to look at. She was excited for the nice scenery up here but this was way better than what she had in mind.

He leaned over and filled her glass. His face was focused and concentrated and Rebecca couldn’t help but smirk. His eyebrows were furrowed and his lips were tight as he was careful not to let a drop of wine fall on the tablecloth. She always liked a man that paid attention to the little details. That was the opposite of Mark who had two different color candles that were different lengths, the one time that he had candles at dinner. He would serve dessert forks for dinner and dinner forks for dessert. He would just shrug whenever she pointed it out. And it drove her nuts that he would always serve himself first. It wasn’t a big deal but she always found it sexy when a man had the little details taken care of. But still. She would take Mark back even after what he did to her.

“You have beautiful teeth,” Edwin said to Grace.

He might have had the little details taken care of but the big details, like his employees, needed some work.

Grace stared at him with her fork frozen in the air. A piece of asparagus was sliding off. “Thank you,” she said with a hint of sarcasm.

It was lost on Edwin. “Are you happy with them?”

“They’re great,” she said, rolling her eyes. “They help me chew my food.”

Edwin smiled, showing his own perfect teeth. “Well they’re beautiful.” He sat up in his chair, looking encouraged by his perceived successful interaction.

Where did this guy come from?

Edwin glanced down at Grace’s breasts. “You’re breasts are-”

“Edwin!” Connor snapped.

“Did you know that teeth are the hardest bones in a human body?” Sidney asked, nodding his head.

“Teeth aren’t bones,” Angie said, wiping the side of her mouth with her napkin.

“Yes they are,” Sidney said. “I read it in a book.” He looked from face to face nodding his head.

“Well your book was wrong,” Angie said. “Teeth are made up of four types of tissue. Teeth are teeth and bones are bones.”

“Exactly,” Sidney said. “That’s what I said. They’re the same thing.”

Angie lowered her fork. “They’re not the same thing.” Angie always knew the answer to everything and she always had to prove it.

“Are there any other instructors that can take us?” Grace asked. “Like maybe a former convict or a serial killer?”

Connor laughed nervously.

“Who is touching my leg?” Angie asked.

Sidney was grinning.

“Maybe we’ll have our dessert in the cabin,” Rebecca said. Connor nodded. “I think we need some girl time.”

“I’ll bring it over,” Connor said.

The three of them left the dining room. Rebecca glanced back before she walked through the door. Edwin and Sidney were staring at their asses and Connor had his hands on his slumped over head staring at the untouched duck and asparagus on his plate.

“I can’t believe he just complimented my breasts like that?” Grace said giggling. “He’s lucky he is so hot or I would’ve thrown my wine in his face.”

Rebecca watched her friend. She was grinning as she replayed the incident. Rebecca knew that Grace had always been sensitive about her small breasts. She must have been secretly thrilled with the compliment.

“That guy is so frustrating!” Angie said smacking the pillow on the bed before sitting down and leaning on it. “Teeth are bones.” She snorted.

“I thought they were,” Grace said.

“I hate it when someone won’t admit when they’re wrong,” Angie said.

Rebecca let out a laugh. “Like you?”

Angie snapped her head back. “What?”

“You’ll refuse to admit when you’re wrong.”

Angie shook her head. “But I never am,” she muttered.

Grace pulled her blond hair out of her bun and shook her long hair down. “You’re the only one with a half decent guy.”

Rebecca felt her cheeks redden. Was Connor really her guy? He was the hottest one and Rebecca always had last pick when she was with these two girls. They were much prettier than her.

There was a knock at the door and Rebecca’s pulse quickened.

“That’s Prince Charming now,” Grace said.

Angie sat up. “Hopefully with chocolate.”

Rebecca ran her hand through her hair and fixed her top. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

Connor was standing in the doorway with his head lowered and a worried look on his face. He handed her a brown bag.

“Cheesecake, chocolate mousse and apple pie. A peace offering,” he said. “I’m sorry about dinner.”

Rebecca took the bag and opened it. She breathed in an orgy of sugary scents and her blood sugar index spiked. She smiled and closed the bag. “Peace offering accepted.”

He smiled a gorgeous smile and looked relieved.

“Let’s just hope that you guys know how to kayak better than you know how to talk to women.”

five

Connor was doing one last check on the kayaks when Sidney walked down to the water carrying the cooler with all of the food. Edwin followed behind him with the rest of the equipment; the tents, lanterns, sleeping bags and the small, portable stove.

“Put everything in my kayak,” Connor said, checking the last kayak for any spiders, a smudge, anything.

“No way boss,” Sidney said, walking past him. “That’s what you pay us for.”

“You get paid?” Edwin asked.

“Please,” Connor said. “Strap everything to mine.” Sidney was horrible at kayaking and Connor really didn’t want to lose all of the supplies.

Sidney just ignored him and began stuffing the food and supplies into the storage section of his kayak. “I got it boss. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the pretty ladies.”

Connor gritted his jaw. “Remember what I said about respect? The women are here to kayak, not to be ogled and harassed by you guys.”

“It’s not harassment when you’re in love,” Sidney said.

“He gets paid?” Edwin asked again.

They all stopped and stared down the path when the sound of female voices hit their ears. Connor glanced around quickly. Everyone was in their human forms. No one was naked. So far so good.

Rebecca walked down first in red shorts that hugged her curvy thighs. Connor’s breath caught in his throat. She had a tank top on, showing off her delicious arms, with the outline of a bright pink bikini showing through. The pink string teasingly came out her tank top and was tied around her neck. Her hair was up in a pony tail and she had dark sunglasses hiding her bright brown eyes. There was a small dot of suntan lotion on her right cheek, over her light brown freckles. He felt lightheaded all of a sudden. He grabbed Sidney’s thick forearm to steady himself.

“Let’s get this over with,” Grace said. Connor didn’t even notice her and Angie behind Rebecca.

“Hi Angie,” Sidney called out.

Angie hid behind Grace.

“We can ride tandem in the kayak,” he said.

Angie looked at the row of single person kayaks. “There aren’t any tandem kayaks.”

Sidney grinned. “You can sit on my lap.”

Grace hid her friend. “I think she’d rather swim.”

Angie popped out. “I’d rather drown.”

All three girls were wearing bikinis under their shorts and shirts. Connor shuddered at what the guys would do if they took them off. What would he do?

They each picked a kayak and Connor helped them push off into the water. The weather was nice for now. Sunny and hot but there were dark clouds in the distance. They looked like storm clouds. Connor was hoping they were headed the other way.

The river was warm and the sun was sparkling like diamonds off of the water. The trees were swaying in the light breeze and the birds were singing all around them. Hopefully the weather would hold up. He didn’t need another thing for the girls to complain about.

The girls were laughing and making fun of each other as their kayaks drifted around in the opposite direction of where they were trying to go.

Sidney’s kayak was barely over the water line. It was being dragged down by his tremendous weight, with the weight of the food and equipment not helping. Connor cursed under his breath. He should have taken the supplies.

Sidney was holding his paddle backwards. “Ladies, like this. Use your hips to move the kayak forward.” He was making a humping motion and his kayak was jerking back and forth unsteadily. He wasn’t moving anywhere.

Rebecca’s paddle slipped out of her hands and it drifted down the river. “No!” she cried out while laughing.

“I knew Becca would be the first one to lose her paddle,” Angie laughed.

Connor sprinted down the river in his kayak like a rocket. He snatched her paddle up and paddled back to her.

She was sitting in her kayak, helplessly floating away in the current. “My savior,” she said when he handed her the paddle. She took off her sunglasses and smiled at him, her eyes squinting in the bright sun.