Once Upon a Shifter (9 page)

His breath caught in his throat when he saw the driver of the car. She was perfect. She had bouncy brown hair that stopped just before her shoulders, as if her body was too intimidating to touch. Connor’s stomach tightened as he imagined what it smelled like. Her lips were thick and full, curled up in a delicious smile. She had a trail of freckles along her upper cheeks, just under her light brown eyes.

She stepped out of the car and looked up at the tall trees and smiled. Connor grabbed the windowsill to brace himself. His knees weren’t strong enough to hold him up all of a sudden.

The two other girls exited the vehicle but he couldn’t take his eyes off the driver. She was wearing shorts that showed off her thick legs. They were nice and full, just the way he liked them. Her breasts were small and perky under her light blue tank top.
Go out there. Introduce yourself.
But he couldn’t move. His feet were frozen to the floor.

“Look at that redhead,” Sidney gasped over his shoulder. Connor finally pried his eyes off the driver and looked at the other two girls. A cute redhead stepped out of the passenger’s side and stretched out her arms. She was short and petite with a thin, pretty face. She was holding a thick textbook under her arm.

“I’m going to mate with that blond,” Edwin said, creeping up behind Connor’s other shoulder.

Connor was still too taken in with the driver to correct him. A tall, skinny, blond girl with a tight gold dress on climbed out of the back seat. She was covered in gold and diamonds. Her face was beautifully set up with makeup and her hair looked like she just got out of the salon.

Connor stared as the girls popped the trunk. The girls were laughing as they tried to pull out a heavy suitcase from the old car.

All of the three, strong werebears could have lifted that suitcase with two fingers but they just stood there in shock instead of going out and helping.

Loud popping and snapping sounds followed by a crash jerked Connor out of his daze. He whipped his head around and there was a brown bear behind him in the cabin. Edwin’s clothes laid on the floor in ripped shreds next to the potted plant that he just knocked over.

“You just promised!” Connor yelled, his hands flying to the top of his head.

“Boss they’re coming in,” Sidney said, staring out the window. “She’s beautiful,” he muttered.

Connor ran over to the docile bear and slapped him hard across the face. The bear looked at him with sad, confused eyes.

Connor grabbed the bear’s ear in his fist and yelled into his ear canal. “Phase back right now!”

The ear pulled away from his fingers as it shrank back into his head and the bear curled in on itself. Connor ran to the window and glanced out in a panic as Edwin phased into a human behind him.

“Shit,” he cursed as the girls walked in.

This place is perfect.
Rebecca smiled as she turned down the windy forest road and the cute, little log cabins appeared in front of her. There were small guest houses on the right where she guessed they would be staying and she could hear the babbling river somewhere off to the left. This was just what she needed. Peace and serenity in the middle of the mountains.

“That’s the cabin?” Grace asked from the back.

“Oh it’s cute,” Angie said. “Good job Becca. This is going to be fun.”

“Easy for you to say,” Grace said to Angie. “You’ll have your nose in a book the entire time. You don’t care where we go.”

Angie held up her thick book for Grace to see. “I’ll let you borrow it after I’m done.”

Grace squinted her eyes and read the title. “Advanced string theory and particle physics. Ugh. Thanks, I can use it as a doorstop.”

Angie was a leading theoretical physicist who specialized in quantum electrochemistry. She had been nominated for the Nobel prize last year, and almost won, for some work that she did on an experiment that Rebecca still had no idea what it was, even after Angie tried to explain it to her several times. She was by far the smartest person that Rebecca had ever known. But she wasn’t too smart in the relationship department. She had always been attracted to really smart men, which usually meant nerds with no muscle definition, who put their studies and work before her needs. Her last boyfriend was a one hundred and twenty pound teacher of particle physics. His glasses weighed more than he did. Angie complained about sexual frustration for the whole year that they dated.

They stepped out of the car and Rebecca looked up at the tall trees and breathed in the pine tree scented, fresh air. She had always tried to get Mark to take her out of the city while they were dating but he always refused, preferring to go out drinking at a pub or to drag her to a Yankees game instead of to the forest and mountains which her body had craved so much. Well Mark was gone for now. She would enjoy the time while she could. She was still hoping that he’d come back.

“Where is Alfred when you need him?” Grace joked as she struggled to pull her massive suitcase out of the trunk.

“You didn’t pack him in here?” Rebecca asked, pulling on the handle with all of her strength. “It feels like it by the weight of this thing.”

The three girls managed to pull out the heavy suitcase and it fell to the ground with a thud. Rebecca’s car sprung back up to its regular height.

Grace frowned at her Louis Vuitton bag sitting in the dirt. “I’ll let the bell boy come and bring it to my suite.”

Angie laughed. “The bell boy?” she asked with her eyebrow raised.

Rebecca walked towards the entrance with a jump in her step. This weekend was going to be amazing. Just her girls, some kayaks and mother nature.

Her hand flew up to her mouth and she gasped as she walked through the door. There was a naked man in the lobby with a floral patterned curtain wrapped around his waist. His perfect, muscular chest was bare.

“Oh my God,” Grace said behind her.

Angie broke out in giggles.

“I’m so sorry,” a guy to his right said. “He was just in the shower.”

Rebecca looked at the guy who just spoke and her pulse sped up. She was not expecting to see three hot, muscular, sexy guys in the middle of the woods.

Their eyes met and Rebecca swallowed hard. He gazed at her, his green eyes dazzling and bright. He had short, cropped brown hair that was perfectly messy, like he just got out of bed. His shoulders were large and broad and his army green shirt clung to his tight, fit body. The tip of a tattoo peeked out under his sleeve on his right arm. Rebecca wondered what the rest of his tattoo looked like. She wondered what the rest of his body looked like.
You’re not here for that. I just want to go kayaking.
The last thing she needed was another guy in her life complicating the confused feelings and emotions that she already had.

This guy was way out of her league anyways. He wouldn’t go out with a girl like her. Grace could have him.

But Grace was staring at the naked guy wearing the curtain. She couldn’t take her eyes off him.

“I’m Connor,” green eyes finally said after a moment of tension. “I’m the owner and operator of Brooke Excursions. Are you Rebecca?”

Rebecca tried to answer but a cough came out instead. “Yes,” she said, clearing her throat, her eyes starting to water. “Yes. I am.”

He smiled wide, flashing flawless white teeth and dimples.
Why does he have to have dimples?
She was a sucker for dimples. He stepped forward and stuck out his hand. “We spoke on the phone.” Rebecca remembered. He had a deep, soothing voice that vibrated down to her core.

She took his hand in hers and a warm feeling crawled up her arm. A low, primal growl filled the room and he snapped his hand back.

“What was that?” Angie asked, looking around the room.

Connor shook his head and smiled nervously. “We get a lot of animals around here. Nothing to worry about.” He stepped towards the big guy in the room. “This is Sidney,” he said quickly, trying to change the subject. There was something weird about that noise though. It sounded like it was coming from him. Rebecca watched him curiously.

“Sidney is one of our instructors,” Connor explained. “He’ll be coming with us on our excursion.”

Sidney nodded his massive head. He had an enormous chest with thick, black hair creeping out the top of his shirt. His biceps were the size of watermelons. He had blond spiky hair and a soft smile that was shocking to see on a such a large, threatening giant.

He turned towards Angie with a grin. “Hi little lady,” he said. Angie glanced at Rebecca with red cheeks.

“Do you like football players?” Sidney asked. Connor groaned beside him.

“I think it’s a barbaric sport,” Angie said. “Do you know that brain trauma affects forty three percent of football players? And that is only the reported cases. Actual levels may be as high as ninety two percent!”

“Yeah but the average player’s brain damage will heal itself after a few days,” Sidney said with his chin in the air.

Angie looked at him with a look of disbelief. “That is…not even remotely correct.”

Sidney was about to retort when Connor stepped in and interrupted. “And this here is Edwin. He was just on his way to get some clothes.”

Edwin was staring at Grace like she was an art exhibit. He stepped towards her and smiled. “Hi,” he said, extending his hand. He let go of the curtain and it fell to the floor giving everyone a show. Grace’s cheeks turned as red as scarlet lingerie.

Connor snatched the curtain off the ground and wrapped it back around Edwin’s waist.

“You are so sexy,” Edwin said. Grace’s mouth dropped open. She was always surrounded by the most prestigious groups at the city’s highest social functions and was not used to men being so blunt with her. So rude.

“This is so improper,” she said, raising her hand to her mouth. She was blushing and clearly uncomfortable but she also couldn’t seem to take her eyes off of him. And Rebecca could have sworn that she saw a smile on her lips hidden under her hand.

“Sorry about that,” Connor said, motioning for the girls to go out the front door. Angie and Grace exited and he placed his hand on Rebecca’s lower back. Her body went tight as he touched her.

He followed her out onto the porch and swung the door closed behind him. Edwin and Sidney watched them from the window.

“I love that redhead,” Sidney said.

“Does the yellow haired one want to mate with me?” Edwin asked.

Connor grimaced and turned towards the window. “It’s open you idiots.”

Rebecca looked Connor over while his head was turned away. He had stubble on his cheeks at just the perfect length where it wasn’t quite a beard but still tickled when he snuggled up beside you. His muscular back formed a V that protruded out through his t-shirt. Rebecca casually stepped to the side and checked out his ass. It wasn’t lost on Angie who was smirking at her.

Connor turned back with a forced, nervous smile. “Sorry again about that. Let’s just start over.” He shifted on his feet. Rebecca noticed that he was looking at her way more than her hot friends. “Welcome to Brooke Excursions. That is your cabin,” he said, pointing to the largest one on the end. “We’ll cook up a nice dinner for you ladies and then tomorrow we’ll get up nice and early, kayak down the Saco River for the day. We’ll stop at a campsite where we’ll spend the night and then kayak for another day. Someone will pick us up and drive us back here. How does that sound?”

Grace raised her hand. “I have a question. What do you think my father, Senator Briggs, will do if he finds out that you murdered his daughter in the woods?”

Connor’s face dropped. He crossed then uncrossed his arms and then slid his hands into his pockets. “Um.”

Rebecca felt bad for him. He looked so uncomfortable. “She’s just kidding,” she said. “It’s sounds like it will be a blast.” She took a step towards the cabin and turned back to Connor. “As long as your staff keep their clothes on of course.”

“See this is so cute,” Rebecca said, when the three girls were settled in the cabin with their bags. There were three single beds with some antique wooden furniture and a tiny fridge. It wasn’t much but it was rustic and just what she had been hoping for. She laid down on the bed and looked up at the high ceiling with the large logs interconnecting into a peak and smiled. The image of Connor bouncing around nervously popped into her head and she smiled.