“I caught Daddy,” Toby said.

  Everyone laughed.

  Kate noticed everyone was keeping their distance from Toby.

  Aidan and Holly kissed.

  Kate glanced at Derek. He smiled at her. “I was waiting for you to arrive so I would have better luck.”

  After several of them eventually caught enough black bass and bullhead, they headed back to the campsite, and Kate loved it that the guys cleaned the fish, filleted them, and grilled them in foil packets with potatoes, carrots, and white-wine-and-garlic sauce over the fire. They had apple pie and blueberry pie for dessert, courtesy of Maddie.

  After lunch, Holly said, “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m taking a nap.”

  Kate couldn’t imagine being out here, carrying twins so late in her pregnancy. Holly had to be exhausted, though she looked great.

  In the meantime, Rafe was setting up Toby’s play tent so he could take a nap too.

  “It’s daytime,” Toby said. “The sun’s still out.”

  “You don’t have to close your eyes, but you have to lie down and rest,” Jade said. “Come on. Mommy will lie down with you.”

  “But we don’t go to bed until it’s dark out.”

  “I’ll race you to the tent.” Jade started to move in that direction, and Toby ran for the tent.

  Everyone else watched the interaction, learning what they would have to do with a young one to get him or her to nap for a while when they had their own or they had to take care of Toby. Then Toby ducked inside the tent, and Jade joined him.

  Kate thought Jade would leave the tent after a while, but she must have fallen asleep.

  Kate and the others took a short walk away from the campsite so they could let Holly, Jade, and Toby sleep without disturbing them while Aidan and Holly’s bodyguards remained with them to keep them safe.

  Later, they sat around the campfire telling stories, real and imagined.

  They had Dutch oven mac and cheese for dinner.

  Once they finished eating and cleaning up, they ditched their clothes in their tents, shifted, and then bolted out of their tents to run as wolves. The wolves ran mostly in groups of four, so Derek and his bodyguards went off-trail with Kate again. Holly and her mate and bodyguards would only go as far as she felt comfortable running as a wolf, and Rafe and Jade would return when Toby ran out of steam.

  Not long after that, the rain started, and Kate lifted her head and caught the rainwater on her tongue. Derek was beside her in the next instant, brushing up against her as the light rain intensified.

  Rain clouds filled the night sky, way up above the giant redwoods. Between the shelter of the trees and their double-fur coats, they were staying relatively dry. Running through the thick coastal fog made it more intriguing too. Being with Derek was enjoyable, better than running with Mike on this journey and serving as bodyguard backup. She enjoyed being with Mike, but he was like a brother to her, not a mate prospect.

  She and Derek bumped against each other in playful fun, but then they saw the fluorescent glow of eyes in the woods off to the north. A tawny-colored cougar. When the cougar saw all the wolves, it turned and bounded off.

  Wow, first a bear and now a cougar? She’d remembered reading that one hiker had sighted a bear every day for the five days he and his friends were hiking. Yet luckily they hadn’t had any face-to-face encounters with them.

  After about a half hour of running, they headed back to the campsite. Kate was happily tired and ready to call it a night. It had been a really great day.

  ***

  Derek was having a blast running with Kate. She was cute, licking at the rain as it fell through the trees, shaking water on him during a heavier downpour. He could have laughed. It was such an automatic reaction as he shook off his excess water back on her and she nipped at him in playful fun.

  Again, he wished they could share a tent, his or hers, but he assumed she wasn’t ready for that. Certainly not with all her friends here. Now if he’d just come out with her camping alone, then it most likely would have been a different story.

  They finally reached their campsite, shifted outside their tents, and then ducked inside before they got too wet. They wouldn’t be having hot cocoa with wine at the campfire tonight.

  “Night, Kate,” Derek said from his tent next to hers.

  “Night, Derek.”

  As if this were the end of one of the episodes of the television series The Waltons, everyone began saying good night to the rest of their friends in the different tents, and that had everyone laughing.

  Finally, everyone settled down to sleep, but all Derek could think about was what he could come up with to do with Kate for future dates. His life had become more interesting with her in it by leaps and bounds.

  The rain was really letting loose now, and he was glad they had erected tarps to help keep the tents dry from the deluge.

  He brought out his phone and checked the weather again. It looked like they would be socked in all night, but tomorrow morning it was clearing. Maybe they could go for a swim before sunrise as wolves and then return to their tents to make breakfast when the rain quit.

  He got a text from Brenda then: Hey, I’ve got a luncheon to go to on Monday and we can bring someone with us. Would you like to come with me? I had planned for you to go with me until…well, you know.

  Derek: Sorry. I have other plans.

  Derek wanted to ask Brenda why she didn’t take the guy she had been with at the gala with her, but he didn’t want to have any more dialogue with her than what he’d already had. He turned off his phone, set it next to his sleeping bag, and thought about walking Foxy and Red on the beach with Kate; about her taking down the teen who was trying to steal the guy’s beach bag; about Kate knocking Derek to the dance floor when she was protecting him from the supposed gunman at the gala. He still couldn’t believe she’d been carrying a gun under that beautiful gown the whole time he’d been dancing with her. It was a good thing she wasn’t dangerous to be around. Taking pictures of the two of them while feeding the giraffe and the kisses and more that they had shared came to mind. He even wanted to give her a decent foot massage again. Several! Then her arriving as a wolf at the river, ready to tackle the bear on her own. Yeah, Kate was definitely fun to be with.

  The rain continued to come down, and he closed his eyes. This was the best camping trip ever. He was so glad she had invited him to come.

  ***

  Rainwater continued to pour down during the night, and a stream of it had formed a gully right beneath Kate’s tent. She only realized it when the bottom of her tent filled up with water, soaking her sleeping bag and backpack inside the tent. Oh, wet, cold, awful! When they’d set up the tents, they had made sure to watch for drainage, but they hadn’t been prepared for the rain to be this severe or to last this long. She stripped off her soaking-wet pajamas, unzipped her tent, and shifted into her wolf to keep dry, her fur coat warming her. Then she left the tent to see what she had to deal with. Like moving her tent in the dead of the night in the pouring rain. But she couldn’t do it in her wolf coat. The next best thing was to find someone else’s tent to slip into. The other tents were farther away, and no one was stirring, so she assumed they were dry. The closest tent was Derek’s. She noted he’d picked a better spot and the stream of water was only hitting her tent!

  She was sure he would let her sleep with him, though her outer coat would be wet, and she would try not to instinctively shake it off once she got inside his tent. Mike’s tent was off on the other side of the campsite. What the hell. You only live once.

  She realized, as she approached Derek’s tent, that the flap was zipped closed. She didn’t want to disturb anyone else, and she knew if she woofed, even as lightly as she could, she would probably wake most of her friends. She pawed at Derek’s tent instead, but she was afraid he might think it was the bear that had come calling. Or a raccoon. Or maybe with the roaring rain, he didn’t hear her as he slept.

  Her outer guard hairs were getting wetter, and she didn’t want to just shift and unzip his tent and barge in, but she had to be a little more aggressive in her approach. Whining and whimpering weren’t her style. Even a little woof could be too loud. She opted for a low, soft growl.

  She heard stirring and saw a flashlight go on, and then Derek moved around in his tent, his light directed at his tent flap. She waited. He paused. She growled softly again in the event he had only thought he had heard something at his tent. He wouldn’t recognize her growl since she’d never growled around him before. But he would know she was a wolf by her growl. Oh, wait, she’d growled at the raccoon, and he’d heard it.

  She did have the fleeting concern that he might be a grouch when she woke him, so it would be a test to see how he would react too!

  He unzipped the tent flap…finally, shining the darn flashlight in her eyes. “Kate?”

  She barged into his tent without invitation and fought shaking off her wet fur. He quickly closed his tent and handed her his towel. She shifted and wrapped it around herself, shivering. “Sorry. Your tent was closest. Mine is full of water.”

  He quickly pulled on a pair of boxer briefs. “Oh, no. Okay. You can have the sleeping bag.”

  He was trying to be a gentleman about this when she was just cold and wet and wanted his arms around her. “Your sleeping bag is big enough for two. We can share. It’s too cold to sleep without a sleeping bag.”

  “I could shift into my wolf and let you sleep in the sleeping bag by yourself if you would like.”

  “No way.”

  “Okay, did you want to wear a pair of my sweats?”

  “I think you could warm me up faster if we’re skin to skin.”

  He smiled, rather wolfishly. Yeah, he had her number. “Sure, come on. Get in.”

  She had never expected to be sharing a tent and a sleeping bag with Derek with all her friends here. “I thought from the lay of the land our tents were safe, should it rain.” She dropped the damp towel and slipped into the bag with him, feeling warmer right away.

  “You’re shivering.” He wrapped his arms around her as she rested her back against him. “I thought the same or I would have suggested locating yours somewhere else. Then again, the rains weren’t supposed to come until tomorrow night, well after we were gone. I wasn’t expecting this much rainfall.”

  “Well, every campout can be an adventure. I hope that my tent is the only one that is submerged. Thanks for sharing your tent and sleeping bag with me.” She was really grateful he’d let her inside and was willing to share his sleeping bag with her. Especially since she’d let him know she wanted to keep some sense of distance between them.

  “That’s what friends are for.”

  She knew without a doubt she wanted to be more than friends. She turned in his arms and kissed him.

  He kissed her back.

  “You know what they say about imminent danger,” she whispered, not wanting to wake anyone up.

  “What do they say?” he asked, smiling at her, kissing her temple.

  “It’s an aphrodisiac.”

  He chuckled. “I don’t know about that, but being with you like this is certainly an aphrodisiac for me.”

  “Hmm.” She kissed him again, and he cupped her face and kissed her back, his tongue slipping into her mouth and stroking hers with long, deliberate strokes. Now she was really heating up.

  His hands moved to her breasts, and he caressed them with a light touch as if waiting for her response; then she kissed him back, hotly, passionately. Oh, yeah, the adrenaline was flowing now. She would never think of camping out in the same way again.

  She sighed and gentled her kisses, not wanting to take this too far because she could just imagine the sticky mess in his sleeping bag if they pleasured each other while having unconsummated sex when she was just getting warm and dry. Now if they were mated and could have consummated sex? That was a whole other story.

  She settled against him, her head on his chest, her arm draped over his stomach, feeling wonderful like this. In fact, better than if she’d been alone in her tent, if her sleeping bag had been dry and she could have slept there. There was something comforting about him, more than just his offer to keep her warm and dry. Something deeper—a personal connection between wolves that was undeniable. An intimacy that she wanted to share. Just with him, no one else. In a way, she wished he didn’t need bodyguards, that they could be alone, that he didn’t have so much money, that they could just follow their instincts, wolf and otherwise. But when she was with him at social functions, she felt like she had to play a role, and she didn’t want that. She wanted to feel totally natural with him. Like she felt right now. She sighed and nuzzled her cheek against his chest. Beautiful. He was beautiful.

  He stroked her shoulder and back in a comforting way, and she loved how tender he was with her. She wanted the contact as much as she loved kissing him, but kissing would have led to too much. This was so nice.

  Then they got quiet, needing to sleep so they would be ready for the rest of their camping adventure, though tomorrow she would have to try to dry out her tent and sleeping bag before they took them home. She could imagine getting everybody else’s stuff wet with her things piled on top of them in the Land Rover otherwise. At least they were leaving tomorrow afternoon after lunch so she wouldn’t need to sleep in the tent again this weekend. Though now she didn’t want to sleep anywhere else but with Derek, she decided.

  She might be warmer, snuggling with Derek like this, but being with him truly wasn’t conducive to sleep. He felt good wrapped around her in a loving embrace, and she couldn’t quit thinking about where she wanted this to go with him.

  Kate was proud of having come this far on her very own. Her parents had drummed into her when she was growing up to be financially independent of men so she never had to feel she had to mate one to survive. And she’d done that.

  So why was she wanting something more with Derek? Something like this… God, this was nice. So what if he had money, bodyguards, a body like this, and his tender moves… She sighed. This couldn’t have been more perfect.

  The rain kept pounding the tarp above his tent, and she couldn’t help but worry that the stream that had taken over her tent would widen and encompass his too. That had her on high alert, waiting for the rain to begin to fill his tent, soak his sleeping bag—and them.

  But it never did.

  Chapter 19

  Derek couldn’t believe Kate would come to him in her hour of need. He guessed she didn’t want to bother Mike, and his tent was a lot farther away. She couldn’t have joined Lexi because she was comfortably sleeping with her mate unless Ryder had given up their tent to the two women and joined Mike. Derek was glad Kate felt comfortable enough to join him in his sleeping bag.

  This was so nice—smelling her she-wolf scent, feeling her warm body against his. She’d finally stopped shivering, thankfully. The kissing, he thought, had really heated them both up. He hadn’t expected her to kiss him like that, after the cooldown, and he’d wanted a whole hell of a lot more, just like they’d had before. He was glad when she tapered off on her kisses, signaling she wanted to end this before they let things get out of hand. Not that he wouldn’t have been ready for it too. He was glad that she hadn’t pulled away from him though and continued to snuggle with him. He’d never shared his sleeping bag with anyone before, and this felt just right.

  Who wouldn’t want the seductive she-wolf wrapped in his arms like this on a cold and rainy night? He didn’t even want to sleep. He just wanted to enjoy the closeness with her the rest of the night through. He did have the fleeting thought that he should wake her early if she wanted to get up before everyone else did, grab some of her clothes from her tent, and dress in his tent. But then he figured her clothes were wet too and she might not have anything dry to wear.

  Between her warmth and the sleeping bag and the lulling rain, he finally fell asleep only to wake when he heard the sounds of others waking—low conversation, tent zippers unzipping, some gathering firewood. He realized then that the rain had stopped.

  Derek wanted to get up, dress, and try to figure out what to do about Kate’s clothes, but she was still sleeping soundly in his arms, and he didn’t want to disturb her for anything.

  He took a deep breath and let it out. He was courting the wolf for sure—if she was really agreeable to it this time. After a while, he smelled the smoke of the campfire going. His tent was light enough now that he knew it wasn’t dusk any longer. He figured the others had decided not to go for a wolf run earlier this morning in the rain.

  Since both Derek and Kate were absent, he assumed they all thought he and Kate were sleeping but still in their own tents, so everyone kept their voices low as they talked about the wild rainy night they’d had.

  Finally, Kate stirred and lightly groaned. “I dreamed I’d ended up in your sleeping bag with you. I didn’t think it had happened for real,” she said softly.

  “I hope it was a good dream, not a nightmare.” He lightly kissed her forehead. Hadn’t she remembered kissing him?

  “As cold and wet as I was in my sleeping bag last night until I joined you and got warm and dry, it turned out to be a good dream.” She didn’t say anything more as they both listened to the conversation over the fire. “Ugh,” she finally whispered. “It sounds like everyone is already up except for us.”

  “Yeah, sorry, Kate. I meant to get up early before everyone was awake and see if I could salvage any of your clothes.”

  “Everyone is going to know I slept in your tent.” She sighed.

  “I guess that means it’s time to officially court each other.”

  “Yeah, I agree.”

  He was thrilled. He kissed her then, to seal the bargain, and she kissed him back.