25. Roni

Diego slowly put his hands in front of him in a gesture I was sure he meant to be reassuring, but it only made me feel like there was a bomb strapped to my back and he was a hostage showing me his hands. "I need you to remain calm. There's still a fair bit of distance between us and the bear. She's not moving. She's just watching us."

That was easy for him to say. What was the saying? "You don't have to be faster than the bear, just faster than your friend." I would bet a lot of fucking money that Diego was a faster runner than me.

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" I whispered back incredulously.

"You're supposed to stay calm. Let her do her thing while we very slowly leave the area. If she shows interest, I'll try to scare her away with some yelling. Bears don't like loud noises. And if she charges, don't worry about our stuff. Just run."

I nodded because I could do that. "The cabin?"

He nodded back nice and slow. "The cabin."

I very slowly turned my head to look over my shoulder. The brown bear was massive, and she stood at the water's edge. She was several football fields away, far enough that I felt I could breathe—but not far enough away that kept me off her dinner plate possibilities.

She waded into the water, her attention caught by something that splashed in front of her. Her head went under water, and I used the opportunity to turn my body more, while I was out of her sight. My heart was pounding as her head suddenly resurfaced, and she stared right at us again.

Two cubs suddenly came crashing out of the bushes, and Diego cursed softly. I wasn't Davy Crockett, but even I knew that things escalated with momma bears and their cubs. It was like the intensity was cranked to ten, and she'd start a chase just for looking at the babies wrong.

"Let's get out of here, slowly. Yelling at her won't work anymore." Diego sounded calmer than I felt. I was sure the bear could hear my panicked heart about to beat out of my chest.

I very slowly backed up, gliding my legs through the water as silently as I could. I didn't lift my feet fully from the bottom until I was at the riverbank. I slowly bent for our clean clothes and hygiene kits and shoved Diego's at him.

"Naked retreat?" I asked.

"Naked retreat. It will be just like Hell Week for me all over again." The statement drew up a mental image I'd be saving for later. When we were safe, I wanted to hear the full story.

We slowly started to retreat toward the path to the cabin when we heard another loud roar. This one sounded closer; it was upriver instead of down.

"Fucking fuck fuck. Roni, get a move on." Diego's hand met the center of my back and started applying pressure.

"Run?" I asked.

"Yeah, fucking run."

I took off in the direction of the path and didn't bother to look back. I knew that Diego would keep up. He was in the Special Forces, after all. If it weren't for me, he'd probably already been halfway up the path by now.

I heard a loud thumping from behind us and the sound of tree branches cracking and crashing to the ground. The dirt seemed to vibrate under my feet.

Oh God, oh God. This is how I'm going to die? A bear?

I guessed at least it wasn't at the hands of a Geneva Project asshole. At least the bear would make it quick.

The rocks on the path sliced through the skin of my feet as I made my desperate dash to the uphill path to the cabin. The sounds of the rushing bear only continued to get louder.

I spared a glance behind me and saw that the bear wasn't even a hundred feet behind Diego—and he was gaining ground quickly. My foot hit a rock, and I stumbled forward, falling to the ground. A shooting pain traveled up my knee. I didn't even have a second to cry out before Diego's hand was under my arm, lifting me to my feet and urging me forward.

"Don't look back again. No matter what."

I nodded because I was too out of breath to utter a single syllable, and my knee and feet hurt so bad I was focused on pushing through the pain. When I got to the steepest part of the path, I was audibly wheezing, and Diego continued to silently urge me up the hill with his hand on my back. It was the constant pressure that reassured me the bear hadn't gotten him.

It seemed like the climb took hours, even though it only took a couple of minutes, but we made it to the top of the path. Despite Diego's warning, I looked behind us anyway. The bear had stopped halfway up the path and stared us down as it let out a deafening roar. We took a few steps backward, and it roared again and then swung its head to look behind it. The distance between the momma bear and her cubs was substantial, and maybe the massive predator realized it. He slowly turned his massive body around on the path, as if he decided we were no longer worth it, and lazily wandered back down it.

I continued to wheeze as I watched my certain death walk away from us, as if we were parting as old friends. I wasn't sure what was more terrifying, the bear or the Geneva Project.

Diego stood next to me as we watched to make sure the bear was truly going to leave us alone. "Are you okay?" When I didn't answer, he turned to give me a once-over. I saw the moment he noticed how bad my injured leg and feet were.

I nodded, not convinced my voice wouldn't say the alternative. He placed an arm under my arm and helped me hobble into the cabin. I'd stopped moving for long enough that the adrenaline rush was starting to fade, and with that, my ability to move quickly and bear weight on my right foot.

Diego deposited me into a chair once we made it back in the cabin and placed our stuff on the table. He scoffed as he shook his head. "We went for a bath and walked away more dirty and more injured than when we arrived."

I bit back a smile because that just seemed to fit my luck these days. I couldn't help it, though, and soon my smile turned into uncontrollable laughter. I wasn't sure what the fuck was wrong with me, but I couldn't stop. Maybe I was in shock? It was like the laughter breached a dam, and I couldn't shove it back in. Diego began to laugh, too, and before I knew it, he was wiping away tears of laughter as he began cleaning the abrasion on my knee.

"I can't believe that happened. Never in my life did I think I'd ever be chased butt naked through the woods by a bear. If I ever share this story, people are going to think I'm lying," I commented once I finally put a lid on the laughter.

"Just do us both a favor and don't mention it to my friends if you meet them. Neither of us will live it down, and I'd really prefer not to relive that moment every day for the rest of my life. Well, except for staring at your bare ass as you ran, that part was enjoyable." His charming smile encouraged me to only playfully slap him instead of something worse.

I bit my lip as the sting in my knee told me the cut was clean, and Diego bandaged it up. He then took care of my foot. "You're lucky it doesn't need stitches. It should scab up shortly. We'll take care not to reopen them. Anything else hurt?" he asked. His concern came back as his charming smile was gone and his mouth was set in a straight line.

"I'll be okay. What do we need to do today? And don't tell me that I'm sitting anything out. That's not acceptable if I'm going to survive out here."

He stared at me for a moment, likely assessing the situation. After what felt like a long time, he gave me a single nod, and I sighed in relief.

"First things first, I'm going to show you how to shoot my gun."

I was pleased by that. I was terrified something bad—okay, worse than almost being blown up and almost becoming bear food—might happen to Diego, and it would be my fault. If the worst happened, I needed to be able to make it on my own.

I leaned forward and put my lips on his. It was a soft and slow kiss. Neither of us fought for control; we just let it happen—pillowy soft and light. Perfect.

"If I show you how to do something else—do I earn something more than a kiss?" His following wink made me smile.

"Sure, but let's start with the gun."

We got dressed into some warm clothes, looked outside to make sure the coast was clear, and then Diego took his time as he stood behind me and showed me everything I needed to know about holding and shooting a gun.