the mysterious girl. He was speechless when he opened the door and saw her stooped in front of the makeshift larder. She was barefoot and her toes were craned as she squatted, peering into their supply of canned fruit. She had a spoon in her mouth. Her eyes widened, like a deer caught in the headlights, and he realized she was only half-dressed. The black thong she had had on last night did little to cover the smooth pale length of her thighs, or the seductive angle of her buttocks, which folded out from her tight back. She had on a short green undershirt but it was loose enough that as she stretched he could see the rippling expanse of her stomach, flat and muscled. The hem of the thong was low below her navel and he could distinctly make out the divot of her labia standing out against the fabric.
“Oh!” she gasped, and then seemed to realize what she looked like and stood up quickly in a show of false modesty, the spoon still in her mouth. The buds of both nipples corkscrewed against the green T-shirt.
“Uh,” Dylan said, quickly turning his eyes toward the stove and scratching his head, more as a distraction for himself. “Glad… glad to see you’re up.”
“Yeah, I was, uh…” she removed the spoon from her mouth and he saw her wince in embarrassment, “just still really hungry from last night. I mean, with changing… I mean, back and forth, bear to human. I always get… hungry.”
The awkwardness was palpable and Dylan knew that if Chris were up and awake he’d probably be bristling with laughter. As it was, there was only the two of them and he cleared his throat and made a b-line for the stove.
“Well, I’ll get some breakfast started, then. Chris usually makes dinner… but he loves to sleep late, so that usually means I have to do breakfasts. I was thinking… I mean, if you’re not still sick of salmon… a salmon egg’s Benedict, yeah?”
“That, that sounds great,” Sarah said more softly, and hugged her chest. “Just let me… get some pants on, first.” She bolted back to her bedroom and slammed the door – almost loud enough to wake Chris. Dylan couldn’t help but sneak a look at her as she passed. Her buttocks bounced with careless abandon as she skirted toward the door and he felt something akin to desire strike a nerve.
She returned several minutes later in a pair of raggedy jeans with holes in the knees and he blushed, as if it were a delayed after-effect of having seen her in her underwear.
“Very grunge,” he observed comically, trying to act normal. As if a half-naked girl in my kitchen were a normal thing, he thought with some bemusement.
She didn’t seem to understand, until he motioned to her jeans she blushed. “Oh, heh… they’re actually from a friend. Kind of a good luck charm.”
He went to work but was acutely aware of her standing off to one side as if he’d walked in on her doing something indecent. He spoke over his shoulder as he broke the eggs, asking her to make some milk from the powder. She obeyed almost instantly but there was still something… distant about her.
Dylan frowned, even as the eggs began to sizzle in the heavy cast iron pan. Not five minutes earlier he had been excited to see her, eager to work on the rapport they had seemed to excel at only the night before. On the beach she had been open, laughing. Now she seemed withdrawn. Did I do something wrong, he wondered.
As though sensing his discomfort she broke the silence. “Listen, about last night…” she began.
“It’s okay,” he interrupted, and then didn’t really know why he’d been so quick to cut her off. “It’s uhm… I mean, I know we’re supposed to be engaged,” the word sounded alien in his mouth, “but I didn’t… I didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable. I’ve been changing back and forth, bear to human, so much on the island, I didn’t stop to consider your feelings… I know it’s sort of…”
“Intimate,” she filled in.
“Yeah,” he said, “other than Chris, Lilah’s the only one I’ve changed in front of.”
“Lilah?” she asked, her voice was mostly curious, but there was something of an edge to it as well.
Jealousy, Dylan wondered.
He laughed quickly. “My kid sister. She’s an adept shifter. Kind of a prodigy.”
She opened her mouth and mimed an ahh sound. “It’s not that…