By the time I came back out with the paper plates and salads, I knew a change had been made.

Gone were the heated looks and flirty smile, instead, Bane looked serious and more like the man who’d picked me up at the airport than the one I’d gotten to know over the course of the day.

We ate dinner outside, enjoyed the beautiful night, and then cleaned up in relative silence.

I went to bed soon after, exhausted from the long day, and eager for some alone time to collect my thoughts, process the day, and try to figure out how I felt about it all. I was attracted to Bane, there was no doubt about that, and I was excited and hopeful to meet Sloane.

I hoped I’d make it that far, but we’d see.

I opened the windows and slept peacefully to the sound of crickets chirping in the night, and the cool breeze coming into my room.

I woke early, which was normal for me, and threw on clothes and running shoes. I fit my hair back into a small pony tail and headed downstairs to go outside and get some exercise. When I hit the landing, I was surprised to see Bane was already up and starting the coffee pot.

“Hey, you’re up early,” he said, looking up, face still sleepy.

“Yeah, I like to run in the mornings,” I replied as I started to stretch.

“Oh, that’s cool, but maybe you can wait a minute and I’ll go with you. Since you’ve never been running here before, I could show you a good route, so you don’t get lost. I’d feel better if you at least went once with me, before going out on your own.”

I wasn’t one to like it when other people told me what to do, but his suggestion made sense, and I wasn’t an idiot, so I nodded in agreement.

“Great, I’ll only take a minute.”

I finished stretching out while Bane went to go get ready.

A few minutes later, we were in his driveway and taking off toward the street.

“If you go down to the road, there’s a trail that most of us in the neighborhood have carved out. There are quite a few runners around here, and we look out for each other by making sure there’s no debris on the trail.”

“You run a lot?” I asked as I hit my stride.

“Not every day, but I get out when I can,” he said, breathing evenly.

I tried not to notice how good his legs looked in his running shorts, but it was pretty hard when legs as good as his right next to you. Muscular, tanned, without an ounce of fat. Yeah, it was a struggle to keep my eyes straight ahead.

The trail was in the grass a couple feet off the side of the road. The grass was depressed from use, and easy to follow.

“How far does it go?” I asked, loving the burn.

“It’s a five k one way, but there’s a place where you can turn off at the one mile and two-mile points, depending on how far you want to run. I’ve tracked them with GPS,” Bane replied, not even breathing hard.

The man was in great shape.

Although, I was sure being a wolf had something to do with his ability to run and stay in that shape.

“Ten k works for me,” I said with a smile.

“All righty then,” Bane replied, then kicked his pace up a notch.

I met his stride easily, although he was quite a bit taller than me, and knew he was taking it easy on me.

Hoping he wouldn’t think me rude, I took my wireless headphones out of my pocket and put them in my ears. I didn’t mind running with someone, but I couldn’t spend the time conversing or running in silence, especially if I was doing ten k. I needed the music to help me zone out and lose myself in the running.

Once I had Pitbull playing in my ears, I concentrated on my breathing, and kept my eyes trained on the trail ahead.

About an hour later, we were turning back down Bane’s driveway. We slowed to a stop, then walked around and stretched to cool down.

“I’m gonna grab a shower, then make some breakfast. We’ll leave in about an hour for the hike, so pack your backpack if you have one. If you don’t I’ll get you one of mine. Make sure you have what you need to camp out and bring a bathing suit if you have one. We’ll head back tomorrow.”

Oh God, I thought as I stretched out my legs. I’d totally spaced on the hike. Maybe running a ten k before completing a hike wasn’t the best idea.

I went inside, took a shower, then started to pack. Knowing my legs would probably be screaming later, I threw some ointment in my toiletry bag.

Once I was done, I put on my hiking boots, grabbed my stuff, and headed downstairs. Bane had scrambled eggs, bacon, and fresh fruit prepared and laid out on the counter, his hair still damp.

“Wow, this all looks great,” I said, my stomach grumbling as the scent of bacon hit me.

“We need to fuel up,” he said, crossing to the pantry and taking out some power bars, jerky, and trail mix. “I’ve already got food packed for lunch, dinner, and breakfast tomorrow, but we may need some of these to tide us over as well. I shouldn’t have pushed you this morning.”

“You didn’t,” I assured him, taking a piece of bacon off the plate. “If anything, I’m the one who said we should do the ten k.”

Bane tilted his head in acknowledgement, then handed me a plate and said, “Let’s dig in.”