Bear Meets Bride (R) - Amy Star Page 0,9

is fine, you can get used to that.”

“What, you’ve never had a boyfriend?” he asked. It wasn’t uncommon for shifters to engage in the kind of playful antics that youth was privy to, even if there was an understanding that one day they would need to find a permanent mate. But the idea that she had never participated in those sorts of harmless activities was surprising. She gave him a hurt expression, and he gulped. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way.”

“It’s okay,” she lied. “I don’t mind telling you… this whole rendezvous, marriage… it scares the hell out of me. That’s why I wanted to know… why… you chose me, of all people.”

Dylan stepped closer, his bare feet hissing on the cool sand. He desperately wanted to sound genuine. “I chose you ‘cause you were the last profile… at the end of the booklet,” he said, his voice grave and steady, almost solemn.

She gaped at him, held his stare a full three long seconds and then burst into laughter. “Hahaha! I was the last picture!?” she gripped her sides and hunched over, laughing even harder, as Dylan gazed on, confused at her reaction. “Ah! Oh man…”

“No, no,” he said hurriedly, realizing how it had sounded. “I mean… I mean, you stood out. You weren’t like the other profiles. To be honest, it looked like you were the one that was least enthused about the whole thing…”

She stopped laughing and titled her head at him. “So I looked like I wasn’t thrilled to be married… and that’s why you chose me?” she asked. “That’s even worse!”

Sarah was taking it all in stride and seemed eagerly amused, but Dylan made a groaning sound and tried again. “You looked like you didn’t care what other people thought… or what they were asking you to do. I guess… I guess when I heard about it, and Chris told me I had to choose someone, I was attracted to your picture because you looked like you knew how I felt. Like you felt the same way.”

She nodded and took a step back. “That’s a much better answer,” she said softly, and turned back toward the ocean. “Thank you for choosing me. No one’s done that before.” Her voice was barely discernible as she pulled her tank-top over her head in one fluid motion and he saw the moonlight strike the flesh of her back, eerily blue. Two small dimples glowered above the rim of her pants, above her lower back, and she looked over her shoulder as if wondering if he was going to follow.

He let out a huff and rubbed his face. “Alright, I’m coming,” he said.

She didn’t answer, she just dropped the tank-top on the sand beside her and undid the button on the top of her pants. He heard a zip as she carefully drew the zipper down and looked again shyly over her shoulder as she lowered them over her waist and they dropped to her ankles. His heart thumped again, louder, as he admired the ample curves of her long thighs that seemed to frame her buttocks.

She had on a black thong and let out a timid sigh as she shuffled out of them as well, and he saw moonlight glint just barely on the underside of her sex as she bent over and laid her clothes neatly next to a piece of driftwood. From the side of her profile, he glimpsed the parabola of her breasts, small and pert, the nipple sharply turned upward. Even though it was dark, he saw her blush in spite of herself.

“Don’t stare,” she admonished, but her voice was almost too quiet to hear. She stayed stooped over, hugging her chest as if to hide her obvious nakedness.

He looked at his feet and began to undress as well. The night air was cooler than he expected, and he shivered as he placed his clothes on another piece of driftwood opposite her. He had never really been naked in front of a girl before, save for Lilah when they’d had to take baths together as children. His movements seemed awkward, too measured, as he walked down the sand toward her, and she stood up timidly, still giving her side profile to him.

“Sorry,” she murmured.

He shook his head. “It’s funny… I’ve done this so many times, I mean… come here, to change, that I never even really thought about it. The idea of being naked in front of another person...”

Sarah merely nodded, and he