Chapter Nine – Cath

Goodness, the heat between her thighs was intense. Really intense. A raw ache that needed easing, and she sure wished they could strip off their clothes and do what nature intended here on the mountain.

She cleared her throat, and her mind. Not yet. Not today. They’d only just met.

Not according to Julius, she reminded herself. According to Julius, they had known each other for thirty years. How she wished she’d spent some of those years with him.

“This is where my bear wanted to bring you,” Julius said as he put his hands over her eyes and guided her closer to where she could hear the thunderous sound of water crashing into a deep pool below. “Ready,” he whispered in her ear, his breath a gentle, warm caress across her skin.

“Yes,” she forced out, the nearness of him stealing her voice.

Julius lifted his hands and she gasped at the beauty of the place. A wide grassy bank ran along one side of the pool, where the sun shone down through a gap in the rock face above. The other side was fringed with trees. The pool itself was half hidden by a million droplets that rose up like a fine mist, from where the water high above them fell down.

“Incredible.” Catherine walked toward the pool, her hand outstretched to catch the droplets, which soon soaked her hair. She was past worrying about it getting frizzy. By the way Julius looked at her, it wouldn’t matter if she was dressed in rags with a bird’s nest for hair, he would still want her.

“You are…” he said dreamily, “incredible.”

Catherine couldn’t decide what was more impressive, the handsome smooth-talking man who appeared to be close to a drooling wreck, or the rainbow that appeared over the pool as the sun’s rays shone through the droplets.

“What about this bear of yours?” Catherine asked, deciding she should give her full attention to the reason they’d come here. “Isn’t he hungry for anchovies?”

Julius set down the picnic basket and opened it up. “Here.” He passed her a Tupperware container filled with the small fish. “I apologize for his behavior in advance. I don’t know which is going to make him more excited, you or the fish.”

“Let’s see!” She took the lid off, and scrunched up her face. “I’m ready.”

Catherine had watched her sons shift countless times. But this was different. This was a bear. She stood back and gave Julius some room, but didn’t take her eyes off him as the air shimmered and filled with static electricity. The man she’d walked up the mountain with disappeared from view, leaving only a shimmering in the air like a heat haze on a hot summer’s day. Then just as the air was about to clear, a big, hulking shape appeared.

She stepped back in shock; she hadn’t expected him to be so big. He was massive, much bigger than a real grizzly, not that she’d been close up to one, but she’d seen them close enough to know their size in relation to a grown man. His paws were massive, big enough to kill a person with one swipe. But this bear wasn’t a killer; he was Julius, a gentleman.

Catherine took a step closer, reaching out her hand and forgetting all about the anchovies. The bear stepped toward her, and his short snout lifted as he took in her scent. He huffed and came closer. Catherine stroked his snout and then plunged her fingers into his thick pelt. Dark chestnut fur, the tips tinged with a silvery gray: he was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. She wanted to bury her face in his fur and cry at the awesome beauty of this magnificent animal.

The bear just wanted fish.

His large tongue lolled out of his mouth and licked her hand as it snaked toward the anchovies. “Sorry, I forget all about these.” She took one out and held it between her finger and thumb, unsure as to how you were supposed to hand-feed a bear. Maybe on the palm of her hand, like you fed an apple to a horse?

Julius’s bear was gentle as he carefully took the fish from her hand, his tongue licking her palm, which sent shivers up her spine. This bear was Julius, there was no mistaking it. They were one and the same. The bear might have a big, hulking body and thick fur, but when she looked into his eyes, she saw Julius looking back at her, the amber flecks bright as he laughed at her feeding fish to a bear.

“You like those, don’t you, boy?” she asked, rubbing his chest as if he were a dog. Then she patted him on the head and threw one up in the air. The bear opened his giant jaws and snapped them shut, swallowing the fish whole. “Clever boy.”

The bear shook his head, perhaps not appreciating being talked to as if he were a big puppy. Tough. This was too much fun.

After half an hour, they’d exhausted the fish supply and the amount of different ways you could get a bear to eat a fish. The bear licked the container clean, and then headed to the pool, where he slipped into the ice-cold water for a wash. Using his front paws, he cleaned his face, and then dove underwater, before emerging on the other side of the pool. Swimming back toward her, he found a place where the bank was lower and hauled himself out.

Catherine shrieked as he shook himself like a dog, showering her with ice-cold water droplets. “I guess that makes us even?”

The bear nodded his head and then Julius shifted back into his human form. “He thought the whole big puppy routine was funny.”

“Good, I’d hate to offend him.” Catherine watched Julius as he came toward her, the air of a predatory creature surrounding him. “I’m starving.”

“Me too.” He picked her up, his mouth claiming hers in a kiss that excited her to her very core, and scared the hell out of her at the same time.

He released her, and she slid down his body. “That was…”

“Unexpected?” Julius asked, releasing her. She wobbled on unsteady legs as she nodded. “I needed to get it out of my system.”

“Good to know.” Cath put her fingers to her lips, they still vibrated from the stinging assault. If Julius could kiss like that, what else could he do with his mouth and tongue?

“We have beef sandwiches. Leftover chicken, which is incredible. And wine.” He placed the picnic blanket down on the ground, and laid out the food. Catherine stumbled forward, taking a moment to recover before she helped him with the food.

As they sat and ate, she sorted through her feelings. And came to the conclusion she was ready for their relationship to go further. If only she could find the courage to tell Julius.