53. Courtney
Chapter 53
Courtney
I’m so tired when I pull the shower curtain back that I half regret taking the time to shower rather than just falling into bed. But I spent all day prepping the cabins for the guests who arrive tomorrow, and I felt too grimy to not shower.
And no way was I going to dirty my brand-new, incredibly comfortable memory-foam mattress.
As I brush out my wet hair in front of the mirror, I think about those damn mattresses for the hundredth time.
I crossed paths with Sterling multiple times as Fisher and I carried mattresses back and forth across the property, but I never got the nerve to ask Sterling about them.
Especially after the way he shut me down in the Food Hall the other day.
But it doesn’t make sense—Sterling buying all those new mattresses.
It seemed too coincidental that he bought brand-new ones just days after giving me that other one. But him buying them because of me seems even more unlikely.
I set down my brush and twist my hair into two braids.
I don’t have much experience with men. But I swear Sterling has to be the most complicated one I’ve ever met. He’s been hot, cold, and scorching since I started.
He’s avoided me. Ignored me. Insulted me.
He’s forced me to sleep on a board.
He’s gone through my things.
He’s folded my damn clothes.
He’s hauled me off a ladder.
He’s whispered in my ear.
He’s pressed his big, hard body against mine.
Heat builds in my stomach as I think about him, and I know I’m going to end tonight the same way I ended last night, with my hand in my pajama pants, thinking of him .
I put face lotion on my fingertips and rub it into my cheeks. Then I repeat the process with my jasmine-scented body lotion. I found it on a sales rack months ago and have been using it sparingly since. I’m already dreading the day I run out and have to go back to the cheap stuff still tucked away in a box under my bunk.
When all my items are squared away in the corner of the long counter, I bundle up my dirty clothes and hold them against my chest.
I don’t know if any of the guests coming in are women, but even if the entire group is women, I don’t think they’d mind my things here.
The shower stall I’ve commandeered might be another thing, but I can move my stuff out of there if it’s necessary.
Since I still won’t get paid for weeks, I haven’t been able to buy a carrier to haul my things around. But one day…
Daydreaming about a big paycheck, I turn off the lights and push the bathroom door open.
I hesitate.
It’s dark out. Like dark out .
There’s just a sliver of a moon, and even though I feel like I can see a billion stars, they do little to light my way.
I left my phone charging in my cabin, and as I start down the path back home, I vow to never do that again.
The flashlight on my phone might not be that powerful, but it’s better than nothing .
The evening chill seeps through my cotton pants, and even though I pulled a sweatshirt on over my sleep top, I have to fight a shiver.
Winter comes early this high up in the mountains.
As my foot lowers on my next step, I hear a branch break.
I stop, looking down.
There is no stick beneath my foot.
I hold my breath.
The silence is deafening as I listen for movement, making my heartbeat feel like a drumline.
I lift my foot.
Another crunch.
My chest starts to burn.
I suck in air.
A large form lumbers into view a dozen feet in front of me.
My feet pedal backward.
I exhale my breath in a scream.
And my heel catches on something.
I drop my clothes.
My body tips backward.
And the big-as-hell bear turns her head to look at me.
My butt hits the hard earth, knocking the rest of the oxygen out of my lungs.
She takes a step toward me.
Looking at me.
Fear twists around me like a wire.
“H-hi,” I whisper, the word cracking.
She tilts her head.
“You’re a pretty girl, aren’t you?”
I don’t know how I know she’s a she. But I can feel it. The mama bear energy.
She takes another step toward me. Her eyes glinting in the dark.
Please think of me as your cub.
I’m no threat to you.
Her nearness has fear clogging my throat, trapping the words, so I hope she feels them.
She stops, tilting her head the other way, then she turns back toward the woods and takes off.
I slump in relief.
Then I stiffen.
What scared the bear?
“Courtney!” Sterling shouts my name just as I see the beam of a flashlight fanning across the driveway.
My adrenaline crashes, and I drop onto my back.
“Courtney!” He sounds more frantic than I’ve ever heard him.
I lift a hand. “Here.”
Instead of settling him down, I listen to his footsteps quicken until I’m sure he’s running.
“Courtney, what the fuck happened?” He drops to his knees next to me with a thud. “Are you okay? Where are you hurt? What happened?” He places his hands on the ground next to my shoulders, leaning over me.
I blink up at him.
He shifts his weight and brings one of his hands to my cheek. “Tell me.” His calloused fingers are so warm against my chilled skin.
“She was right there .”
“Who was?”
I inhale Sterling’s masculine scent and relax just a bit more. “The bear.”
Sterling sits back on his haunches and looks left, then right.
“She’s gone,” I tell him.
He heaves out a breath. “I heard you scream.”
I grimace. “Sorry.”
He shakes his head as he looks back down at me. “You’re not supposed to play dead for black bears. You’re supposed to fight.”
I widen my eyes at him. “I’m not fighting a fucking bear. Duh. Plus.” I start to push myself back up to sitting, but then he distracts me by helping me with a hand on my back.
“Plus?”
“Plus, I think she liked me.”
Sterling shakes his head but grabs my hands and pulls me up to standing. “Of course the bear would fucking like you. ”
Before I can ask him what he means, he grips my shoulders and turns me around.
I think I hear him grumble something about rolling around in the dirt , then his big hands brush down my back.
Standing still, I look down and see the clothes I dropped.
Oh right.
Without thinking, I bend over and grab my clothes.
Those big hands leave my back and grip my hips. “Christ, woman. Do you have no survival instincts?”