With the evening getting cooler, I’m untying my flannel from my waist and putting it on when Avery comes over to join me on the log I’m sitting on.

  “Are you doing okay?” she asks, tucking her hands into the sleeves of her sweatshirt.

  “Yeah, just tired. Are you doing all right?”

  “I just wish I could shower.” She grimaces. “Of everything I thought of when I agreed to take this trip with Grant, it never once crossed my mind that I wouldn’t be able to shower for a week.”

  “I didn’t think about that either.” I tuck my hands between my thighs to warm up my fingers.

  “At least we’ll all stink.”

  “True.” I laugh, and she giggles, then her back straightens and her eyes narrow across the fire. Lauren has taken a seat right next to Avery’s husband and starts talking to him with a flirtatious smile.

  “That girl,” she mumbles, shaking her head. “Oliver seems so nice; I don’t know what he’s doing with her.”

  “I don’t either,” I agree, spotting Oliver sitting with Parker and Jacob, playing a game with a deck of cards and not paying attention to Lauren. Then again, maybe that’s her problem; maybe she’s trying to find a way to get his attention. “Maybe we just don’t know her.”

  “I’ve known women like her my whole life. They are never happy unless every man in their orbit is circling around them.” She turns to face me. “She’s barking up the wrong tree with Grant, and judging by the way Tanner reacted to her touching him earlier, he’s cut from the same cloth.”

  She touched Tanner? My stomach twists at the thought.

  “Some men get off on women being aggressive, but then there are those who like to do the chasing. My husband is the latter, and I’m guessing Tanner is the same way.”

  Unsure what to say to that, I don’t say anything. Jade always said how lucky I was not to be out in the dating pool, and now I know she was probably right, because it all seems like a very confusing game of cat and mouse that I don’t know how to play.

  “Who’s ready to eat?” Blake calls out, and on cue, my stomach rumbles.

  As we eat, the conversation is light, mostly centering around tomorrow. We’re scheduled to hike down the mountain, where Maverick will meet us with a raft that we’ll take downriver to where we’re going to have lunch. As I eat, I’m happily surprised with my meal of vegetable shish kebabs, bean soup, and buttered rolls, and everyone else seems just as pleased with their meat options.

  When we finish, we help Blake load up the dishes before he takes off on the four-wheeler, leaving all of us to enjoy s’mores and warm cider or cocoa before getting ready for bed. Which isn’t much fun, since it includes using the bathroom in the middle of the woods—something I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to.

  After I brush my teeth and change into a pair of sleep pants and a long-sleeved top, I climb into my sleeping bag and chew the inside of my cheek as I listen to Tanner talk to Parker and Jacob. I know logically that I shouldn’t be nervous about sleeping in the same space as him, especially since we have separate sleeping bags and enough space between us for another two people. But I feel anxious and on edge as I wait for him to come to bed. After tossing and turning a dozen times, I grab my book and headlamp from my bag, hoping that reading will take my mind off everything and relax me enough that I’ll be able to fall asleep.

  Feeling my head being lifted, I blink my eyes open, then hold my breath when I find Tanner leaning over me. “Hey,” he says quietly as he takes my book from my grasp. “You fell asleep. I didn’t think you’d want to sleep with your headlamp on all night.”

  “Thanks.” My voice sounds sleepy, and I catch his grin right before he turns the light off, and I hear the sound of it hitting the ground at my hip.

  “So did the king get his prize?” he asks, and I hear the smile in his voice right before a thud, then another, that I’m guessing are his boots hitting the ground.

  “Not yet. Katharine is being difficult.”

  “Women.” He chuckles, and my breath catches as I hear the whoosh of clothing and then the sound of a zipper.

  Oh my goodness, he’s getting undressed.

  “Maybe it’s him,” I say, needing to fill the silence as I squeeze my eyes closed, which is ridiculous, because it’s completely dark. “He can’t just expect her to be okay after he came into her life and flipped it upside down.”

  “Maybe she needs to trust him.”

  “Well, Mr. Couples Retreat Expert, haven’t you been preaching all day long that trust is earned?”

  I hear him still completely and wait for him to reply like I’m waiting for my next breath.

  “You’re right, sunshine,” he says quietly as I hear him get into his sleeping bag. “Trust is earned. But sometimes, you need to be open to trusting someone else in order for things to work.”

  “True.” I roll to my side, placing my back to him, then add softly, “Hopefully, she can do that, because she deserves to be happy.” I close my eyes while scooting down deeper into my sleeping bag and wrapping my arms around my middle. “Night, Tanner.”

  “Night, sunshine,” he says gruffly, and I swallow over the lump that has suddenly formed in my throat.

  As I lie there in the dark, listening to the sound of his breathing even out, I wonder if he feels even a little of what I do . . . and what it all means. Galvin never made me feel the way Tanner does, and we were together for years. I want to say I was in love with him, but did I love him more as a friend? Was I going to marry him because it was kind of always the plan? With those thoughts rolling around in my head, it takes me forever to find sleep, even though I’m exhausted.

  Chapter 6

  CYBIL

  I slowly start to wake when the light of the rising sun begins to beat against my closed eyelids, and I shiver when the chilly morning air brushes against my face. Seeking out the warmth of my sleeping bag, I try to burrow into it, but my legs and waist are stuck under a heavy solid object. I start to force myself free, then freeze when I hear a grunt, and my heart starts to pound.

  Tanner.

  Without even opening my eyes, I know it’s him who has me trapped. I roll in my sleeping bag in an attempt to get away, not sure how I got across the space between us in the first place, then stop suddenly when I run into the canvas wall of the tent, causing it to shake. Stilling completely, I hold my breath and wait to see if I hear any sign that I’ve woken him up, but nothing but the sound of birds chirping and his steady breaths greets my ears.

  Peeking my head out of my sleeping bag, I look across the brightly lit space and see him lying on his side, his eyes closed, and his chest rising and falling rhythmically. I carefully roll to my stomach, trying not to make any noise, and every muscle in my body protests as I crawl out of my sleeping bag. Once I’m free, I crawl my way to the opening and just as quietly unzip the tent before I head into the woods to take care of business. When I make it back to camp, Oliver is coming out of his and Lauren’s tent, looking just as sleepy as I feel.

  “Morning, Oliver.” I give him a small wave.

  “Good morning, Cybil. Did you sleep okay?”

  “Yes, did you?”

  “I’ve slept better.” He stretches his arms over his head. “See you in a bit.” He heads to the woods, and I dive back into my tent, zipping it closed.

  Crawling on my hands and knees toward my sleeping bag with dreams of snoozing for a little while longer, I become paralyzed when Tanner’s gruff “Morning, sunshine” stops me in my tracks. I swing my head in his direction. “Did you sleep okay?” The question is innocent enough, but there’s a knowing glint in his eyes that causes heat to rise up my neck to my cheeks.

  “Um, great. D-did you?” I stutter out.

  “Better than I normally do.” He sits up, and I swallow when I see he doesn’t have a shirt on, which means I’m able to see exactly how perfect he is. My eyes roam over his thick arms, landing on his broad chest that has a scattering of dark hair between his pecs and then traveling down the middle of his abs—and I’m sure farther, but I can’t see past the sleeping bag that’s gathered around his waist. “Cybil?”

  Licking my lips, I meet his gaze, and my stomach flutters when I see his smirk. “Yeah?”

  “I asked if you’re hungry?”

  Oh my God, I didn’t hear him ask me anything. I didn’t even hear him speak until he said my name. “Yes, sorry, I think I’m still half-asleep,” I lie, and he grins as he unzips his bag and then stands. I quickly scramble up on my knees and tip my head back to keep my eyes on his so I don’t get caught checking him out again—something that is really hard not to do.

  “It’s still early.” He bends to grab his shirt, then gathers it up before pulling it over his head. “I’m going to start coffee.” He glances at his watch, then drops his eyes back to mine. “Blake will be here in about twenty minutes with breakfast. The tent is all yours until then.”

  “Thanks.” I glance longingly at my sleeping bag, wanting nothing more than to crawl back into it and sleep for the rest of the day, or maybe even the rest of the week.

  “You can go to sleep early tonight,” he tells me softly, and I glance at him before I fall to my bottom and pull my pack toward me. “When you’re ready, we’ll take down the tent.”

  “Okay, thanks,” I mutter to my lap as I search for the package of wet wipes I brought with me, just so I can do something to keep from staring at him like I want to. When the zipper sounds, I lift my head and watch him step outside, then fall to my back and stare at the top of the tent. I have no idea how the hell I’m going to survive the next few days without doing something stupid, like asking him to kiss me.

  With my heart seeming to want to escape my chest, I watch everyone as they climb into the raft that will take us downriver. I originally wasn’t nervous about this part of the trip, because I knew the rapids weren’t going to be rough, but after listening to Maverick and Tanner go over all the instructions—and there were a lot of them—I don’t know if I’m ready for this. And worse, I’m Tanner’s partner, so I’ve been placed in charge of helping him, which seems a whole lot ridiculous, since I have no idea what I’m doing. I’ve never even been in a boat before.

  “Sunshine, you doing okay?” Tanner asks, coming to stand at my side, and I peek up at him and shake my head. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m afraid that I’m going to mess up and send everyone into the water,” I admit, and he chuckles. “It’s not funny.” I narrow my eyes on his.

  “It won’t happen, Cybil. The water is going to be calm the entire way downstream. You have nothing to worry about.” He takes my hand, and I jolt at the contact. “Easy, sweetheart. I promise I got you,” he says quietly. “I’ll be with you the entire time.”

  “Have you ever had a boat tip over?” I ask, refusing to budge from my spot on the bank.

  “Rafting in class-six rapids, yes, but this area of the river we’re going down is a class one at best.” He gives my fingers a squeeze, then releases my hand and turns me to face him, quickly making sure that all the buckles on my life jacket are where they should be and tightening the ones that are loose. When he’s finished, he locks his gaze with mine and touches the end of my nose with his fingertip. “I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.” He takes my hand and helps me into the raft. Once I’m settled on my seat, he takes his place next to me and hands me my paddle, and I copy the hold he has on his.

  “Ready?” Maverick asks, and everyone yells in the affirmative while my hands tremble. “See you at the bottom.” He wades out into the river, pushing the raft out to send us on our way.

  As we slowly float downstream, with Tanner giving us instructions on what we should do with our paddles, my heartbeat starts to return to normal, and I begin to relax enough to lift the camera hanging around my neck and snap a few photos. It’s beautiful out here, and with tall tree-covered mountains on each side of the river and the bright-blue sky above us, a sense of peace settles over me. Like everything that has happened to bring me to this moment doesn’t really matter.

  “Are you doing okay, sunshine?” Tanner asks quietly, and I turn to focus on his handsome face, which looks even better with the thick stubble covering his cheeks.

  “Yeah.” I drag in a breath of fresh air, and his expression gentles.

  “Good.” He reaches over to give my thigh a squeeze, which causes tingles to shoot through my system like little fireworks. When he turns around to check on everyone, I focus on the water ahead as memories of all the times Galvin touched me just like that roll through my mind. I have no feelings of loss or sadness connected to those memories, but there is a whole lot of confusion.

  Being with Galvin was easy. He was my friend. Like Jade, I could tell him anything, talk to him about everything, and just be with him without pressure. It’s odd to realize now that the one thing missing in our relationship was chemistry. He didn’t cause my pulse to race with a simple touch and he didn’t make my stomach dance when he looked at me, and because it was something I never had, I never knew I was missing it.

  Chewing the inside of my cheek, I wonder if that’s why he ended things. I wonder if he found that with someone else and realized he wanted more. If that’s what happened, I can’t fault him, because now that Tanner has brought these feelings out in me, I know what I was missing. I also wonder if I would feel the same with anyone else or if this is just a result of the connection I feel to the man at my side.

  “Oh my God, there’s a bear!” Lauren shouts, bringing me out of my thoughts, and I scan the shoreline until my eyes land on the huge brown bear near the edge of the river.

  “That’s a grizzly.” I hear the confusion in Tanner’s voice. “What’s he doing here?”

  “What do you mean?” I ask as I study the bear sweeping his paw through the water.

  “They aren’t common in this area.”

  “They aren’t?” I turn to look at him, and he shakes his head.

  “I’ve heard there’ve been sightings, but I thought they were just rumors.”

  “Apparently, they aren’t.” I turn back just in time to watch the large bear stand on his hind legs and lift his snout in our direction, making a huffing sound. “He’s huge.” I swallow, intimidated and awed by his size. He’s much bigger than the black bear I saw at my house in Oregon, probably three times bigger. “I hope I never run into him.”

  “You and me both,” Parker says, and the rest of the boat breaks into quiet murmurs of agreement.

  “I doubt we’ll see him again; we’re going to be a ways away from here,” Tanner says, looking at me. “Take a couple photos of him for me, sunshine.”

  “Sure,” I agree, realizing that I was so caught up in the moment I didn’t even think about my camera. As we drift past the bear that’s now back to pawing at the water, probably searching for fish to eat, I snap a few pictures.

  “When we reach shore, I’ll pass your camera off to Maverick so he can stop at the ranger station and let them know there’s a grizzly in the area. Hopefully, they’ll be able to use the pictures to narrow down the location and put out an alert for people who might be hiking,” he says, looking over my shoulder at the screen on my camera as I slide through the photos.

  “So Cybil is going to have to give up her camera?” Oliver asks, sounding annoyed on my behalf. “For how long?”

  “It’s fine. I don’t mind.” I wave off his concern.

  “But it’s your camera, Cybil. You’re always taking pictures and—”

  “She said she doesn’t mind, Oli. Just let it go,” Lauren snaps, cutting him off, and I sigh as the two of them start to bicker, something they’ve been doing since breakfast, when Lauren found out she couldn’t get some fancy coffee creamer she always uses.

  When Tanner rests his hand on my thigh and squeezes to get my attention, I turn to focus on him. “I’ll make sure Mav knows to give your camera to Blake so he can bring it back to you when he drives up dinner tonight.”

  “It’s really not a big deal,” I groan.

  “Hush, we don’t want to upset Oli.” He winks, and I drop my eyes to his mouth, catching his grin before he returns his focus to passing out orders. With a smile, I place my paddle back into the water and help him get us downriver, and I have to admit—we make a darn good team.

  Chapter 7

  TANNER

  “All right, come gather around,” I call out when I hear Blake coming up the mountain on his four-wheeler, and everyone stops what they’re doing to join me. “I have some good news and some bad news. Once Blake gets here, we’ll pass out tents just like yesterday, but unlike yesterday, you will not be allowed to use the instructions that were given to you in your pamphlet. You’ll have to work together with your partner to set your tent up. The good news is, you get to leave it up in the morning, since we’ll be camping in this location for two nights.”

  “What do you mean we can’t use the instructions to set up our tents?” Lauren asks as Blake pulls up and parks behind me. Looking at her, I’m not surprised she’s the only one with a sour look on her face.

  “It’s fine, Lauren. We’ll figure it out,” Oliver says, trying to assure her.

  “Do you remember the steps to set up the tent?” She turns to face him, placing her hands on her hips. “Because I do not, and I have no desire to sleep outside.”

  “We’re not going to be sleeping outside,” he says, sounding exasperated.

  “I’m just saying this isn’t fair.” She tosses her arms in the air. “Especially when Cybil gets to have Tanner’s help, and the rest of us have to just figure it out.”

  “Then Tanner won’t help me,” Cybil says, and I look to where she’s standing and find her with her arms wrapped around her middle.

  “Cybil.” My jaw starts to tic as she shakes her head.

  “You won’t help me.” Anger wars with pride when I see the determination in her gaze. I have no doubt she’ll be able to set the tent up on her own, but she shouldn’t have to. I also have a gut feeling that if I try to step in right now, she won’t be happy.