Bearly Breathing (5 page)

A force kicked Connor in the chest and the world started to black out around him. Only Rebecca was in focus. She was a bright light against the dark surrounding. His whole body tightened and he couldn’t breathe. An unstoppable force was pulling him to her, melding him to her, bonding him to her.

His bear had bonded to her.

In a flash the force let go of its grasp on him and he flew backwards. The world came back into focus as he flipped over his kayak and plunged under water. He opened his eyes as he sank to the bottom of the riverbed and watched the shimmering, shaking reflection of his mate looking over her kayak with the sun behind her. He was in love.

But it wasn’t just love. He had bonded to her. When a werebear bonded to a mate, they bonded to their core. They became one. And life would never be the same.

Now all he had to do was get her to feel the same way.

He swam back to the surface and popped his head out of the water. Everyone was laughing their heads off.

“Are you okay?” Rebecca asked between laughs. It was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. She was an angel.

“So that is what not to do,” Connor said, flipping his kayak over and hopping back in. He shook the water out of his hair.

Rebecca winked at him. “This is going to be fun.” She paddled to catch up to her friends.

His bear purred inside him making his whole body vibrate.

This is going to be interesting.

Rebecca was lying down on the warm sand beside Grace and Angie. They had stopped for lunch and were tanning on a beach, watching the three guys across the river swinging from a rope swing into the water.

“Angie! Angie!” Sidney yelled from on top of the rock. He was holding the rope in his hands. “Watch this!”

Angie shook her head and smiled. “What is with this guy?”

“Don’t pretend that you don’t like it,” Grace said.

“I don’t.”

Grace snorted. “Please. You’ve always been with the guy who organizes the fantasy football drafts. You’re telling me you’ve never fantasized about being with the football player?”

Angie shook her head but never took her eyes off him. “I like smart guys.”

“Sure, to date,” Grace said. “But to fuck…that’s different.”

Angie didn’t answer. She just stared as Sidney held onto the rope swing with his jacked muscles. He let go of the rope in the air, did a flip and landed on his back in the water with a loud smack. He popped up in the water with a look of pain on his face.

“Well done!” Angie said. “A natural Michael Flops.”

Sidney grimaced and doggy paddled back to the rock.

Edwin grabbed the rope to jump next. Grace slid off her t-shirt and leaned back on the sand in her bikini.

The rope vibrated in Edwin’s hand as he stared at Grace from across the river. He wouldn’t take his eyes off her.

“Is he having a seizure?” Rebecca asked, lowering her sunglasses, trying to see better. His body was curling in on itself and his arms were shaking. Connor slapped him on the back of the head and was saying something in his ear.

“What?” Rebecca gasped under her breath as she swear she saw a flash of brown fur spring out of his skin. It was gone as fast as it came. It must’ve been a trick of the light.

The seizure stopped and Edwin pulled back on the rope. He jumped off the rock and did a perfect dive into the water.

Rebecca’s heart beat faster as Connor grabbed the rope. He reached up to get a high grip and his abs flexed. His stomach was perfect with deep ridges and zero body fat. His triceps were big and full and he had a perfect line down the middle of his pecs. It sure wasn’t like Mark’s body.

He glanced at her with a shy smile before jumping off the rock. He flew up higher than the others, tucked his body in and did a flip and landed in a splash-less dive. It could’ve won him a gold medal in the Olympics.

Rebecca tried to hide her smile but she couldn’t. She grinned. She could feel Grace and Angie’s eyes on her.

This was ridiculous. She had a life back in New York City. What was she thinking that she was going to date some guy in the middle of nowhere and see him once a month if she was lucky? She was better off trying to repair things with Mark. That was the safe thing to do.

Sidney and Edwin swam over to the kayaks and began pulling the food and stove out to make lunch.

Rebecca gasped as Connor swam towards their beach. He stepped out of the water and Rebecca felt every nerve ending in her body tingle. The lucky water cascaded down every inch of his hard body. His hair stuck to his head, except for one clump that stuck straight out. His bathing suit was plastered against his body showing the ridges of his muscular legs and the impressive size of his package.

“Are hamburgers okay for lunch?” he asked.

The three girls nodded. For the first time this trip they were all speechless.

He smiled, flashing his dimples, and Rebecca felt flooded with warmth. And it wasn’t from the sun.

“It won’t be long,” he said.

“Thanks Connor,” Grace said. “Becca really likes you.”

Rebecca could’ve slapped her. “What is this high school?” she asked, feeling her cheeks on fire. “I have a boyfriend.”

Connor’s face looked like he just found out that his puppy died.

“No she doesn’t,” Grace said.

“She definitely doesn’t,” Angie added.

Connor nodded with a sullen expression on his face. He looked to Rebecca for confirmation. “It’s complicated,” Rebecca said, shifting on her towel.

“No it’s not,” Grace said.

“It’s definitely not,” Angie added.

“Okay then,” Connor said, turning towards the grill. “I’ll get those burgers.”

He walked away with his shoulders slumped. His step lacked the skip that it had a minute ago.

“What is wrong with you?” Angie asked.

“He is so hot,” Grace said. “You’re an idiot.”

Angie was shaking her head. “Well you can force a horse to water but you can’t make her fuck the hot waterboy.”

“What’s the point?” Rebecca said, feeling cornered. “What if I get back together with Mark and then I have to tell him about this. How would that make him feel?”

“Probably the way that he made you feel when he cheated on you,” Angie said.

“Mark is a piece of shit, Becca,” Grace said. “Do us all a favor and forget that he ever existed.”

Maybe they were right but she still didn’t want to close the door on the possibility of getting back together with him.

“Forget him,” Angie added. “And go fuck the waterboy.”

She glanced over at Connor. He was making three glasses of Sangria garnished with little umbrellas and fruit cut into the shape of flowers.

Maybe her friends were right.

six

Connor let his kayak drift back among the group. He watched the five others ahead of him and exhaled. It felt like he got kicked in the stomach when Rebecca said that she had a boyfriend. Why would his bear bond with someone who was taken?

It wasn’t fair.

Rebecca turned her head back and Connor looked up at the sky. It was hard to look at her now. It hurt too much.

The dark clouds were creeping in overhead. It looked like rain.
Who cares now?
The weather had been a perfect reflection of his mood today. Sunny and bright this morning and now dark and depressing.

Connor had seen bitter old bears who had been separated from their bonded mates. It wasn’t pretty. They lived with inner bears in a state of constant agitation. Never at rest, never at peace. It was a dark life. And not one that Connor wished to live.

Little waves erupted as his paddle cut through the smoothness of the water. Tomorrow she would be gone, back to the city and Connor would be stuck here. In a deep state of depression.

His paddle jerked forward under a large wave that came from behind. He glanced at the water level against a passing rock. It was raising.

Thunder erupted like a cannon overhead. Little waves smashed into the side of his kayak as the speed of the current picked up.
Shit
, he thought as the Park Ranger’s warnings of flash floods replayed in his head.

He turned backwards and saw a wave coming at them. A bigger one followed it and a bigger one followed that one.

“Get the girls!” he yelled, as he began frantically paddling to catch up with Rebecca. The dark cloud moved over their head and the sky opened up with rain. Another bolt of thunder hit as the sky turned dark. The light blue water was now a dark gray. Stinging rain pelted into Connor’s face as he paddled.

Rebecca was struggling to control her kayak when the first wave hit her. Her body jerked forward and the paddle went flying out of her hands.

Connor paddled as hard as he could. He reached her kayak just in time and grabbed it as it was about to flip over.

He glanced up the river. Sidney was in the water clutching onto Angie’s kayak. The tail of his kayak was sticking out of the water and sinking, along with all of the supplies. It looked like they’d be sleeping in the rain tonight.

Grace screamed as her kayak flipped over and she plunged under the water. Edwin flew over to her and reached under the water. He pulled Grace out with one hand and pulled her onto his kayak. He held her up with his arm around her. She was coughing and drenched but she was okay.

Connor’s pulse raced as he turned and saw bigger waves coming around the bend. They smashed into the kayakers with force. The wind and rain slashed into them and the current was speeding up and getting out of control. Angie’s kayak disappeared down the river traveling at an incredible speed.

Connor held onto Rebecca’s kayak so hard that his knuckles burned and then went numb. There was a fork in the river up ahead. Edwin struggled to keep his kayak left but couldn’t steer properly with Grace on his lap. Their kayak veered right and disappeared out of view.

Connor tried to follow them but it was hard steering two kayaks with only one hand. A large wave smashed into them and they both flipped over. Connor released the kayaks and swam to the surface. He looked around frantically for Rebecca. He couldn’t find her. The rain was pelting into his face, making it hard to see. He was flying down the fast current.

He started to panic when she still didn’t surface. “Rebecca!” he screamed. Their kayaks were far down the river, way out of reach.

He whipped his head around looking for a sign of her when he saw a flash of pink rise to the surface of the water. He swam as fast as he could, cutting into the water with frantic strokes. She was being held down by the strong current.

He grabbed her under the arms and yanked her above the water. She desperately gasped for air. Her eyes were wide open and she breathed in quick, violent breaths. Her chest was heaving. She wrapped her arms around Connor’s neck as a flash of lightning lit up the sky, quickly followed by deafening thunder.

The current was taking them down the river fast. Connor held onto Rebecca tight and kicked towards the river bank. They had traveled another hundred yards by the time that he reached the land. They stumbled out of the water and both collapsed on the wet grass.

They took in deep, heavy breaths and stared at the dark cloud moving away overhead. The late evening sun peeked out as the river calmed back down.

“What the hell was that?” Rebecca asked, sitting up.

“Flash flood,” Connor said. The clouds were passing and the sky was clearing up again. “That was so weird. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

Rebecca looked down the river. “I hope the others are okay.”

“I’m sure they are,” Connor said. “Sidney and Edwin are experts.” He bit his lip.

Rebecca looked at him and smiled. Her sunglasses were long gone somewhere at the bottom of the river. He could see her stunning brown eyes. “I guess it’s just us for the night.”

Connor looked up. The sun was beginning to set. Light streaks of pink painted the sky. The universe had given him a chance.

He had one night.

CONNOR AND REBECCA

seven

Rebecca wrung out her wet tank top on the ground and glanced back at the river. That was close. She was held under the water a little too long.

Her throat was on fire. Her lungs desperate for breath. She could see the surface of the river and was kicking with all her might but the current kept holding her down. Her reflex was just about to kick in and she was about to inhale a lungful of water when strong arms wrapped around her and lifted her up.

Nothing had been so glorious as that breath of air.

Connor was beside her on the river bank in his bathing suit, bare chested, wringing out his shirt. His hard arms flexed and tightened as he twisted on the fabric.

Well almost nothing as glorious.

“Can we walk back?” Rebecca asked him.

“No,” he said, running his hand through his wavy hair. “It’s going to be dark in about half an hour. We’ll have to camp here for the night.”

“We have no stuff.” The thought of sleeping on the ground covered in ants and spiders wasn’t too appealing.