BEARed to You(17)

While buckling her seatbelt, she turned to him. “Do you think Joe’s still alive?”

“Don’t know. Don’t want to know.” He shifted the vehicle into reverse and punched the gas, backing out of the parking spot, then jammed it into first and popped the clutch, setting the truck lurching forward, wheels squealing.

Hands on the dashboard, arms locked, she looked over her shoulder several times. Would a big white van pull out of some hidden parking spot somewhere?

Didn’t happen.

“Whose name is the cabin rented under?” Tarik asked as he pulled the truck out onto the two-lane road that headed north, out of Anchorage.

“Katie’s. Why?”

“Good. We’ll head back there. For now. Until I can figure out what our next move will be. It’s not likely they’ll find us, as long as we keep the truck hidden—”

“Uh. I’m no pro at this running from bad guys stuff, but I think that might be a bad move. They tried to kidnap me. So they know we were together. Reallllly together, if you get my drift.”

“Good point. Man, my mind is not working tonight. Think, think, think. We need somewhere safe. And some supplies. I think it might be worth it to swing by there and grab a few things. If we’re careful. They’re probably assuming that would be the last place we’d go now.”

“I hope you’re right.” A part of her put up a silent cheer at the thought of going back to the isolated cabin with Tarik. The other part, the one that was heartbreak-phobic didn’t care for the idea. Yes, she supposed that part was the one she should be listening to.

But it was so darn difficult! There were so many things going on there—men trying to kidnap her, a severe case of like melting her brain…how was she ever going to make an intelligent decision with those kinds of pressures piling on her shoulders? Sloping and weak, they lacked the required weight-bearing capacity. Normally they buckled under stresses a whole lot lighter than this.

The like thing was particularly weighty. Despite Tarik’s bizarre problem, or maybe because of it, she genuinely liked him. He was different from any man she’d ever met before. He was complicated. Intriguing. The kind of guy who had a lot going on under the surface. She had a feeling it would take her a long time to figure him out. A part of her wanted to take up that challenge, to discover all his secrets. His wants. His fears.

She spent the entire trip out to the cabin telling herself why that was such a bad idea even considering starting a relationship with Tarik. There was no way she’d ever live out in the boonies. If it took longer than ten minutes to reach the nearest mall, it was too rural.

Not to mention the cold!

Living in Michigan, she’d seen her share of snow. There were some years when the state didn’t dig its way out of the dreaded white stuff until the end of April. Spring was cold and soggy at best. Fall was a mixed bag of hot, humid weather and frigid cold. Her energy levels dipped in the winter when daylight was brief.

She needed sunlight. Living in a place where three months of the year it was dark was out of the question. No way.

Which made the possibility of a long-term thing with Tarik all but impossible. He lived in Alaska. He worked in Alaska. And she assumed there was no way he’d leave Alaska.

Sooner or later he’d get this thing with Omega straightened out and he’d go back to whatever he was doing before he’d found out he was a part-time grizzly bear. Besides, it wasn’t like he could roam around her subdivision in bear-mode without calling attention to himself. Wasn’t every day there were bears trotting around suburbia. Some moron would probably shoot him or have him hauled to the zoo. And then she’d have to go there to visit him.

Not much of a life, no matter how she looked at it. Poor guy.

When she was a kid, she loved watching The Incredible Hulk. But she always felt sorry for Bill Bixby at the end. He usually made friends with someone but had to leave them behind and move on. Even at eight years old, she could see how terribly lonely his life must have been.

“No welcoming party. Better hurry, though. I have an idea.” Tarik parked the truck behind the cabin, out of sight of what little traffic made it down the rutted, barely passable dirt road leading from the main road at least a half-mile back. When he shut off the engine, he turned to look at her. “You’ve been quiet. Are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you?”

“I’m fine. Just thinking. There’s a lot to think about, you know.”

He nodded. “Let’s get inside. Then we can talk about some things.” He shut the door after she climbed to the ground—those trucks were not made for short, curvy girls with legs the length of your average junior high-school student.