Saving Her Bear: A Second Chances Romance by Alana Hart, Michaela Wright Page A

road, the dark of the woods looming on either side. She moved to the front of the truck, standing in the headlights to let him see her. She unbuttoned her sweater, staring at the dark windshield, unable to see his face.
    Dear God, Catherine. What are you doing? She thought.
    Then she threw the sweater onto the hood of the truck and took off for the tree line. A moment later, she was crashing through the underbrush, running as fast as she could to put distance between her and the truck – and her hunter.
    She heard the truck door slam shut, then nothing more as the sound of branches breaking under her feet drowned out all other sound.
    Her heart was racing, pounding in her ears. What was she doing? What about him made her so willing to play this game? She’d never been with a man who wanted anything like this, yet John Fenn asked her to let him terrify her, and in an instant, she wasn’t just willing – she was eager.
    She barreled past a massive boulder, ducking down behind it as she listened for sounds coming from the dirt road, well over a hundred yards away.
    She heard the familiar crack of twigs from the tree line. She waited to hear the shuffle of feet. Instead there was a second crack, the sound of something breaking under heavy weight. She held her breath, glancing out from the edge of the boulder. The figure was no more than ten yards away, silhouetted by the light of the truck headlights.
    She gasped.
    The figure moved toward her another two yards and she bolted. Why did it frighten her so? She knew him, knew he would never cause her harm, but that silent figure, so close in the dark of the woods sent a panic through her so strong, she was careening deeper into the woods, blindly. John’s frame was tall and broad shouldered, and he was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, the hood up over his head. She stopped by a tree, glancing back to find him standing stock still by the boulder. He hadn’t given chase. She stared at him a moment, waiting for him to speak. Something about his posture, the ever so subtle sway to his stance unsettled her.
    “John. Say something?”
    She watched him as he turned toward her, his shoulders drawing up.
    He took another step toward her and she jumped back, instinctively. “Just say something, John? Please. You’re actually scaring me.”
    She swallowed as the figure clenched and unclenched his fists at his sides. Catherine stepped to the side, slowly, bracing herself against a nearby tree.
    The figure lunged forward and Catherine screamed, turning from him and bolting into the dark woods. She leapt over branches and fallen tree trunks, the sound of crashing underbrush betraying the man giving chase close behind now. She screamed wildly, unable to stop herself as her heart raced, pounding in her ears.
    A nettles branches tore at her bare ankles, but she barreled through the trees, the world growing darker with each step she took further from the road. She grabbed hold of a wide trunk, glancing over her shoulder to see how close he was. There was no figure to be seen. She pinned herself to the tree, digging her fingertips into the grooves of the ancient bark, and listened.
    The only sounds she could hear were the subtle movement of leaves overhead, tussled by an almost imperceptible breeze. She fought to catch her breath, to still the ragged sound of it. He couldn’t have just vanished. He was somewhere, nearby. She inhaled deeply.
    The notion of running deeper into the woods frightened her almost as much as John did. Catherine peeked her face around the trunk of the tree, gauging the distance between her and the tree line. She was well over hundreds of yards deep, but the brush was low, she could catch a good speed back toward the truck. If he wanted to hunt her, he should be prepared for exactly the kind of prey she would be – the kind that tries to get away.
    She took three long breaths, listening to every tiny sound of the woods, then with the same motivation as ripping a Band-Aid