Chaos Theory (Nerds of Paradise #2)(40)

But the farther they backed up, the less the bear seemed interested in them.

“Easy, easy,” Will said, louder than his first command. It dawned on Melody that he was probably talking to the bear, but she felt calmer all the same. “Go about your business.”

As if it heard and understood Will, the bear snorted and looked away from them, continuing down to the stream’s edge for a drink. Melody let out a breath and clapped her hand to her chest. Her heart was racing faster than she’d ever felt it.

“Oh my gosh, that was—”

“Wait.” Will cut her off. He stopped backtracking and quickly searched the area.

Melody started out trying to look for whatever he was looking for, but it was far more interesting to watch the keen flicker of his glance, the strong set of his shoulders, and the ready set of his stance. Damn, the man was hot, nerdiness, repression and all.

“Okay,” he said at last. “I don’t see any cubs, and I don’t see or smell any dead prey. It must just be thirsty.”

“Right,” Melody whispered. “So how do we get around it?”

Again, Will searched. He looked long and lingeringly up the slope, then across the stream to the opposite bank. “We should probably cross the stream and continue on that way. I doubt the bear will want to follow us, but if it does, the water will be one more deterrent.”

“Whatever you say.” Melody nodded.

They turned to head back up the stream in search of a narrow place to cross, but stopped. They were holding hands. Melody blinked, absolutely no recollection of having grabbed Will’s hand in the first place. Her hand felt cozy in his, safe. She smiled and gave his hand a squeeze before letting go and walking on. Will avoided her eyes, a flush creeping up his neck.

“Oh, come on,” she teased him once they got far enough from the bear that her legs stopped being wobbly and her heart slowed down.

“What?” He frowned at her.

“You’ve gone all pink and squirrely again. All we were doing was holding hands.”

His frown deepened. “You think I’m, what, embarrassed to be holding hands with you?”

“Will Darling, I think you’d get embarrassed over holding hands with anybody,” she laughed.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” It wasn’t the first time he’d thrown that question at her after she made some teasing observation, but the emotion behind the question was subtly different now. He wasn’t offended so much as…disappointed.

“It means that you have a problem with physical closeness,” she barged on. Leftover adrenaline from facing the bear was making her more than a little reckless, not just in words, but as she hopped out into the rushing stream without looking to see if there were any unstable rocks beneath the surface. Lucky for her, she splashed into shallow, pebble-strewn water.

“I don’t have a problem with it,” Will argued, jumping out into the stream after her.

“Oh yeah? Prove it.” She searched the clear water for the next good place to put her foot. The stream wasn’t that deep—at least not where she was standing—but in no time the icy water seeped through her boots and up to her ankles, chilling and soaking her feet.

“Fine, I will prove it.” Will swept up behind her, grabbed her hand, and dragged her on through the water.

Melody burst into laughter. “What are you doing?”

“I’m holding your hand to prove that I don’t have a problem holding your hand,” he said, overly grumpy. “Satisfied?”

“Sure, I’m—” She let out a shriek as they slipped into knee-deep, icy water in the center of the stream.

For the next few minutes, every ounce of Melody’s concentration went into not freezing to death as they waded through the middle of the stream. They were lucky that it was only thigh-deep at best, and only a couple dozen yards across. The stream must have been a minor tributary of a much larger creek. That was little comfort as they made it to the other side, soaked and shivering.

“Do you think there’s a secret compartment in these things where they packed extra boots?” Melody asked, teeth chattering, as they searched their backpacks for dry pants and socks.

“Nope,” Will said. “And we’ll be wasting too much time drying the boots we have out, so we’ll have to make do.”

She hated that he was right, but he was. They were in a competition, not on a family camping trip.

Family camping trip. The image of her and Will and two or three nerdy, glasses-wearing, curly-haired kids out in the wilderness grabbed hold of her, bringing a grin to her face.

“You’re grinning over hiking in wet boots?” Will asked her, shaking out a dry pair of pants.

She glanced up at him from where she was sitting with her backpack open beside her. He hadn’t shaved that morning. The scruffy look was a good one for him. It made him look less uptight, even with the glasses. His clothes were rumpled too. She could almost believe that he didn’t have a stick up his butt when he looked like that.

“Yeah,” she said, her grin widening. He would make an excellent father. Guys who were damaged by their own fathers either made the best or the worst dads, and Will didn’t have it in him to be the kind of jerk she assumed his dad was.

He looked at her like she was losing her mind, then draped his dry pants over his arm and started off toward some trees. “Okay, well, you enjoy your wet boots. I’m just going to go over here to change and take advantage of a friendly tree.”