Gray Back Bad Bear(6)

He lowered his gaze to her, his piercing blue eyes gone to a blazing silver color that should’ve terrified her, but she was too inebriated.

“It unsettles people, and I didn’t want to frighten you.”

“I’m not scared of anything,” she sang out, stretching out one leg and tossing her arm back over her head.

“Clearly.” He settled her into the front seat of his jacked-up Chevy and pulled the seatbelt over her lap.

“Safety first!” she crowed. “Oh, by the way.” She leveled him a scowl. “I have a Taser. Don’t try anything untowa…untoward… Don’t try anything sexy with me, Griz.”

“I definitely won’t. You drank all my drinks, though, and now I’m completely and annoyingly sober. And I don’t want you riding with your idiot friends, who refuse to take a cab.”

“What time do you have to work?” she slurred, feeling dizzy again.

“I have to be on the landing at six in the morning.” He looked at his watch and frowned. “So in four hours.”

“Bad decisions all night long,” she said sympathetically.

“You and me both, Nerd. You’re going to be feeling this tomorrow.”

“What’s the landing?”

Matt shut the door and jogged around the front of his truck, then slid in behind the wheel and jammed the key in the ignition. The engine roared to life. “The landing is where I work. I’m a lumberjack.”

“Gasp! You’re a lumberjack werebear? That’s so cute!”

Matt rolled his eyes heavenward and pulled out of the parking lot, but the smile on his face said he didn’t hate her yet.

She stared at him to stop the truck from spinning around her. He had the body of a linebacker. Thick neck, baseball cap over his honey-colored hair, and eyes so blue they rivaled the sky. Well, before they’d gone silver. His nose was straight and handsome, and his cheekbones were sharp as glass. Across his strong jaw, he sported that designer scruff that looked like he didn’t care, but the cleanly trimmed lines said he actually spent time looking this damn good. His tricep flexed as he turned off the main road toward a sign that announced the state park was five miles away. Unable to help herself, she touched his bulging muscle there.

“Do you work out?”

“Yeah. Some. Mostly my job requires a lot of physical labor so it keeps me in shape. Now, stop poking me and sit back.”

“Right, touching is bad. I forgot.”

He cast her a troubled look, then returned his attention to the dark road, illuminated by the headlights ahead of them. “It’s not bad, per say…”

“Good, then feel my muscles.” She flexed her miniature bicep as hard as she could and waited. “Come on. Touch it.”

“Fuck, woman. Stop it.” He adjusted his dick and draped his arm back over the wheel.

“Did my bicep just give you a boner?” She swallowed down the squeal in her throat.

“No.” Matt rolled his head against the headrest like he was getting annoyed. “All the talk about touching did. Now cut it out. Just relax. I almost have you to the campground.”

“You can’t get boners over friends. It’s against the rules.”

“Tell that to my dick,” he muttered so low she almost didn’t hear him.

“Thanks for sticking up for me back there,” she said, sobering a little. “That was nice of you.”

“Willa, I’m not nice. Let’s get that out in the open right now.”

“Okay,” she groused, crossing her arms over her chest. “You know, you don’t have to take me to the Bear Crap Falls tomorrow. It’s late, and you were drinking when you made the offer, and I know it was out of pity, and you will be tired from lumberjacking on no sleep tomorrow, so there it is.”

“It’s Bear Trap Falls, and there what is?”

“Your out.” She wiped her hands together and flicked her fingers away. “You are free from your friend-zone obligations.”

Matt swung his gaze to her, a deep frown marring his sexy face. “I’m still taking you, so I don’t need that out.”

“Oh. Okay. I did wax my hoohah so I could look banging in my swim suit. Wait until you see it. I bought a sexy two-piece tankini with matching board shorts that cover as much as possible,” she said in a phone-sex-operator tone. “It’s polka dotted, like my granny panties, and baggy around the boobs. Does that give you a boner?” She was snickering on the last words and Matt’s grin came back. Thank goodness. He looked downright dapper when he smiled.

“Thank you,” he said.

“For what?”