“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.
“Good,” Lauren snaps.
“That’s ridiculous.” Jacob glares at Lauren.
“I’ll help you,” Avery says, and Cybil shakes her head.