Bearing the Midnight Sun (Ice Bear Shifters Book 3)
Read Bearing the Midnight Sun (Ice Bear Shifters Book 3) Online
Authors: Sloane Meyers
Tags: #Paranormal, #Romance, #Bear, #Fiction, #Adult, #Erotic, #Werebear, #Shifter, #Alaska, #Father's Death, #Gym, #Mate, #Confusion, #Mourning, #Courage, #Midnight Sun
Bearing the Midnight Sun
Ice Bear Shifters, Book 3
By Sloane Meyers
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Similarities to actual people or events are entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Sloane Meyers. All rights reserved.
Katherine Peterson, better known to her friends as “Kat,” stepped through the front entrance of Glacier Point Gym, and almost turned around to walk right back out. From the doorway, she could see row after row of exercise machines, many of which looked like some sort of apparatus for lifting weights. Kat wasn’t quite sure. She hadn’t stepped in a gym since she’d been forced to take physical education classes as part of her freshman year of college. The only machines that looked familiar were the treadmills, lined up in a row to her far left. To her right, a large rack of dumbbells stood against the wall, and two shirtless men did bicep curls while admiring their bulging muscles in the floor-to-ceiling wall mirror. They must have spent most of their time in the gym, if the appearance of their arm muscles was any indication.
Feeling self-conscious, Kat walked up to the front counter, where a bored looking employee glanced up from the magazine she was reading. She had a nametag that read “Julie,” and she made no effort to hide the fact that Kat’s interruption annoyed her. Normally, Julie’s attitude would have ticked Kat off, and Kat would have marched back out the front door in a huff. But it had taken all morning to work up the motivation to come here and ask about personal training programs. Kat feared if she left now that she would never convince herself to come back. And she needed this. She needed to get her ass in shape.
“I was just wondering if you guys offer personal training,” Kat said. “I’m in town for the next four months and looking for someone to help me focus on getting in shape while I’m here.”
“Uh-huh. We have three personal trainers. They set their own hourly rates, and they all have a two hour minimum. Here’s the price list.” Julie pushed a sheet of gym rates across the counter and pointed to the bottom section, which listed personal trainer rates. Kat wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, pricewise, but two of the trainers charged one hundred dollars an hour, and the third was listed at seventy-five dollars an hour. She swallowed hard at the prices. She could afford to pay the rates right now, since she was sitting on a healthy chunk of change from an inheritance she just received after her father passed away. But she hated throwing around large amounts of money, and, to her, one hundred dollars an hour felt like a pretty big chunk of money for a personal trainer. Especially with the number of hours she would likely need. Kat’s idea of exercise for the last several years had been walking to and from her car in the parking lot at work. She had managed to eat reasonably healthy, so she wasn’t hopelessly overweight. But she wasn’t anywhere close to skinny, either. She had no real muscles to speak of, and her curves were definitely on the generous side. She had a lot of work to do if she seriously wanted to get fit. Kat didn’t want to act surprised at the cost though, so she just nodded like it had been exactly what she’d expected.
“Okay. These trainers are all guys, though. You don’t have any female trainers?” Kat asked, frowning. The sheet listed the trainers names as Steven, Greg, and Tyler. Kat wasn’t sure how she felt about getting sweaty and gross in front of a guy. She would have much preferred a woman. But Julie shook her head.
“No women. They’re all guys,” Julie said. Then, seeming to finally take an interest in something, Julie leaned across the counter and lowered her voice to a conspiratorial tone. “If I were you, though, I would go with Tyler Cox. He’s the cheapest rate, and the nicest out of all of them, by far. And he’s smoking hot.”
“Well, ‘nice’ sounds good,” Kat said, unwilling to comment further on how Tyler’s appearance would weigh into her decision. Even though it had been over a month since her ex-fiancé Ethan had broken up with her, and Kat was technically single, she still felt awkward thinking of other guys in any sort of sensual way. She had been in a relationship for so long that considering another guy “hot” automatically felt like cheating to her. She shook her head at her own ridiculousness. Ethan was back home in Nebraska, schmoozing on his new hot blonde. It didn’t make any difference to him who Kat chose as a personal trainer.
Kat sighed, and studied the paper, even though she had read the information on it three times already. Did she really want to do this? Maybe she should just get a regular membership first, and do the whole treadmill thing for a few weeks. Establish at least a baseline level of fitness before embarrassing herself in front of a personal trainer. Yes, that’s what she would do. Treadmills she could handle.
But just as she opened her mouth to inform Julie of her decision, Julie shouted out, “Hey, Tyler, come over here. This lady’s interested in personal training. Maybe you can help answer any questions she has.”
Kat turned to see a tall, muscular man stop and look over at the front desk. The man, presumably Tyler, gave Kat a warm smile and started walking over. Kat couldn’t help but stare at him. The closer he got, the more gorgeous he appeared. He was wearing black gym shorts and silver gray tennis shoes, but no shirt, leaving his magnificent upper body on display. His chest was strong and smooth, and his abdominal muscles were sculpted into a perfect six pack. The bottom row of muscles turned downward into a delightful “v,” pointing suggestively toward the area covered by Tyler’s shorts. Tyler’s arms and legs boasted well-shaped muscles as well, although nothing as obnoxiously oversized as the biceps of the men in front of the mirror, who were still doing reps with their weights.
Tyler’s hair was dirty blonde, and it was styled into a messy, spiky fashion. His skin was smooth and surprisingly tanned for someone who had just been through an Alaskan winter. And his eyes. Oh, his eyes. They sparkled with life, and were an incredible shade of deep violet. A very light ring of soft yellow seemed to glow around the diameters of his irises.
“Told you,” Julie said with a smirk, as she observed Kat’s openmouthed astonishment at Tyler’s physique.
“Those eyes!” Kat said, her voice low so Tyler couldn’t hear her. “I’ve never seen anything like them.”
“I know,” Julie swooned. “I haven’t either. They’re pretty spectacular. There’s another guy that comes in here and works out with Tyler sometimes that has the same color eyes. They must be brothers or cousins or something. They’re both drop-dead gorgeous.”
The two women fell silent as Tyler approached the counter.
“Hi, I’m Tyler,” he said, extending his hand out to Kat.
“I’m Kat. Kat Peterson. Nice to meet you.”
“So, you want to do some personal training?” he asked. “What do you want to do?”
“I… I’m not exactly sure. I’m not even sure if personal training is the best option for me. I was just thinking that maybe I should do a few weeks on the treadmill first. I’m so out of shape right now. And I’m actually just visiting here in Glacier Point. I’ll be here for four months, so I don’t know if it’s worth it to start up a new training program.” Kat let her voice trail off. She sounded wishy-washy and she knew it. Tyler was probably mentally rolling his eyes at her long list of excuses for not wanting to train.
Kat half-hoped that he would agree with her that personal training was a waste of time, so she could scurry out of the gym and not have to stand there anymore with her cheeks flushed pink from embarrassment. But she half-hoped he would insist that she stay and let him work with her. Kat had no interest in any sort of summer fling, but she had to admit that getting to see Tyler several times a week wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Looking forward to seeing his handsome face during her workouts would be motivation to keep exercising, even if it did mean she would have to be sweaty and gross in front of him. Tyler’s actual response was a sort of middle ground between Kat’s hopes.
“Don’t worry about being out of shape. We can start at whatever level you’re at. That’s the beauty of personal training. If you want to try it out and see if working with me is a good fit for you, I can give you your first session free. Most of the tourists haven’t arrived for the summer yet, so I’ve got plenty of slots open. No obligation, no pressure. What do you say?” Tyler asked, smiling kindly at Kat.
Kat hesitated for just a moment before agreeing. She couldn’t argue with free.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll try one session, at least. But you have to promise not to make fun of how out of shape I am.”
Tyler smiled kindly again. “Don’t worry. I’m here to help you, not poke fun at you. When’s a good time to schedule your session?” Tyler reached over the counter and grabbed a black three-ring binder, flipping to a tab that had his name on it. A calendar with one hour training slots was the first page in the section. Only about twenty-five percent of the slots were filled in at the moment. Tyler pushed the binder toward Kat.
“Take your pick,” he said, handing her a pen. “Any open slot.”
Before she could change her mind, Kat wrote her name in for a slot the next afternoon. She didn’t want to give herself time to mull over her decision for a few days and then cancel the training session. Tyler looked at her name written on the next day’s date and nodded with approval.
“Looks good,” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Do I need to bring anything special with me?” Kat asked.
“Nope. Just wear what you would normally wear to work out,” Tyler said, and glanced at his watch. “I’ve got to run to get ready for a training session, but I’m looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. Nice to meet you, Kat.”
“Nice to meet you, too,” Kat said, and then watched him as he jogged away, admiring his tight ass and muscular calves. Julie shook her head and smirked before going back to her magazine.
“Girl, you are in so much trouble,” Julie said. “So. much. trouble.”
A little less than two hours later, Tyler stepped into one of the tiny shower stalls at the gym to clean up. He loved his job, but today he couldn’t wait to get out of here. Ever since he had seen Kat standing by the front counter, he hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything besides her. She had looked radiant, with her sleek blonde hair pulled up into a messy bun, and her deep blue eyes shimmering against her porcelain skin. Her figure was slightly curvy, and his well-trained eye could tell from her lack of muscle definition that it had been a while since she’d seen the inside of a gym. But that was fine by him. It didn’t take away from her astounding beauty at all. He hoped that she wanted to get in the best shape of her life, only because he hoped that she would choose him to train her for all of the hours it would take to get there.
She was exquisite. The loveliest creature he had ever laid eyes on. His bear agreed. From the second he saw Kat, his inner bear had been clawing at him, filling him with raw, primal desire. Tyler knew he couldn’t act on those desires. He had to remain professional, for one thing. Kat had come into the gym looking for personal training, not for a boyfriend. And, for another thing, he definitely didn’t want to get involved with someone who only planned to be here for four months. If he started a relationship with a woman, it was going to be with the intention of something permanent. But, damn, he wouldn’t mind spending the summer getting to see Kat glisten and sweat under his tutelage. Tyler felt his bear growling within him, and his dick stiffened between his legs. He was sure that his eyes were glowing yellow with desire right now.
He squeezed a generous amount of shampoo onto his hands and furiously scrubbed it into his hair, trying to scrub away the lustful thoughts filling his mind.
“Get a grip, Tyler,” he said aloud to himself. “She’s a client. Stick to admiring her from afar. Nothing more.”
Tyler closed his eyes and let the warm water run over his head, washing away the shampoo. He willed himself to think about something besides Kat’s shapely body. If he didn’t get his mind off of her, he was going to be stuck in this shower for a while. His dick had become rock hard at the thought of her, and if he walked out into the locker room like this he was bound to raise a few eyebrows.
Tyler forced himself to turn his thoughts to dinner. He needed to go grocery shopping, but he didn’t feel like it at that moment. He decided to be lazy and head to Northwinds Pub for dinner. He would swing by his cabin and drop off his duffel bag, then head out to grab a bite to eat. Maybe he could even convince one of the guys to come out and join him. Tyler finished rinsing out his hair and killed the water. As he toweled off, he felt his mind drifting back to Kat, and his dick involuntarily stiffening again.
“Damn it, Tyler. Get it together,” he said forcing himself to turn his thoughts back to the menu at Northwinds.
* * *
An hour later, Tyler sat by himself at a barstool at Northwinds Pub, munching on beer battered fish and absentmindedly watching a baseball game playing on the tiny television above the bar. He had called up everyone in the clan, but none of them were free to come out tonight. Tyler briefly considered staying home and just eating a protein shake for dinner, but his hunger got the best of him and he decided eating a real meal was a better option.
A few minutes later, when the door to the pub opened and in walked Kat, Tyler couldn’t decide if the fact that he was here alone was a good thing or a bad thing. When he saw her glancing around, trying to decide where to sit, he didn’t waste any time in calling her over. He was just being nice to a client, after all. It was totally innocent, right?
As Tyler’s bear stirred inside of him again, and he felt blood rushing to his dick again, he knew this was anything but innocent. But there was no turning back now. Kat had already hung her coat on the coat rack at the entrance, and was making a beeline for him.
“Hey,” she said, sounding relieved. “I’m so glad to see a familiar face. I’ve eaten here alone for the last two nights. I can’t stomach how lonely it is to eat by myself in my apartment, so I’ve been grabbing dinner here. But I don’t know anyone and there doesn’t seem to be a big crowd here most nights.”
Tyler smiled at her. “Don’t worry, the crowds will pick up in about a month, when all the tourists start arriving. You’ll find plenty of people to hang out with.” Tyler forced himself to act casual, when he really wanted to invite her to hang out every night. He wasn’t usually the type to fall head over heels for a girl so quickly. But Kat’s beauty and sweet demeanor had him captivated. As he watched her study a sticky, laminated menu, she suddenly looked up and then gave him a nervous sideways glance.
“Am I going to get in trouble with you if I order something unhealthy?”
Tyler laughed. “No, why?”
Kat shrugged. “I dunno. You’re Mr. Personal Trainer.”
“Well, I’m not one to talk. I’m sitting here eating beer battered fish.”
“Yeah, but you probably burn off enough calories just doing your job to more than make up for it.”
It was Tyler’s turn to shrug. “Maybe. But don’t worry. I’m off the clock right now, so no judgment from me on anything.” Tyler raised his hands in a mock symbol of surrender, and Kat smiled.
“Well, in that case, I’m going to get the chicken nachos.”
“Excellent choice,” Tyler said, and grinned. The bartender came and took Kat’s food and drink order, then rushed off, leaving the pair alone.
“So,” Tyler said, tracing little circles in the condensation on his beer mug, “What brings you to Glacier Point for four months? Did you get a contract job here?”
“No, nothing like that. I’m actually here on vacation.”
“Vacation? For four months? In Glacier Point?” Tyler was genuinely surprised. Glacier Point was a hot spot for tourists for a short period of time each year, from about Mid-May to the beginning of August. During this time, Glacier Point experienced a midnight sun phenomenon, where the sun didn’t set at all for eighty days. Of course, the flip side of that was that during the winter the town was dark for sixty-seven days straight. But the tourists didn’t care about that. They came during the summer, drinking in the constant sunshine and abundant natural beauty. They wandered the streets and enjoyed the comfortable, above-freezing temperatures, and spent money freely on food, souvenirs, and local tours.
Glacier Point’s permanent residents all had a love-hate relationship with the summer tourists. They provided a much needed boost to the town’s economy every year, but they were also downright annoying. They were loud, they took pictures of everything, and they complained constantly about the lack of cell service in Glacier Point. Most of them stayed a few days. Some stayed as much as a week. But none stayed for an extended period of time like one month, let alone four. They all wanted to see the sun shining at midnight, post about it on their Facebook pages, and then move on to the less isolated, more cell phone friendly portions of Alaska. So Tyler was curious what made Kat decide to spend four months in this spot. Not to mention, four months was quite a lengthy vacation. Most people Tyler knew got a month of vacation per year, at most. But Kat didn’t seem interested in discussing her reasons. She just shrugged.
“Eh, I just needed a long break of something different from my everyday life. It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got time,” Tyler responded, taking a long, slow sip of his beer, as if to demonstrate that he was in no hurry right now.
Kat sighed. “I took a leave of absence from my job for four months. It was the most they would give me, even though it’s an unpaid leave. I lost my father in March of this year after a long battle with cancer. I’m an only child and my mom died in a car wreck a few years ago, so I pretty much have no family left.” Kat’s voice caught a little, and she paused for a moment to regain control of her emotions. Tyler reached over and squeezed her shoulder.
“Kat, I’m so sorry for prying. You don’t have to talk about.”
Kat shook her head. “No, no. It’s okay. It’s nice to talk about it a little bit, actually. I’ve been keeping everything so bottled up inside, and it’s driving me crazy.”
The bartender came back by, dropping off Kat’s food order and bringing Tyler a fresh drink. Kat took a long sip of her beer and then continued. “I had been dating this guy, Ethan, for several years. We had actually gotten engaged, and were planning to get married this year. But when my father’s battle with cancer took a turn for the worse, the wedding plans got put on the back burner. I spent literally all of my free time taking care of him. This was back in Nebraska, where I worked as an investigative reporter for the small-town local newspaper. I would work all day and take care of my dad all night. I barely slept. I don’t remember eating, though I must have. I certainly didn’t have time or energy for dates with my fiancé. I guess he got tired of dealing with it, because a week after my dad died he called off the wedding and broke up with me. Now he’s dating some skinny, blonde athlete who supposedly makes a living collecting prizes at beauty pageants.”
“He broke up with you a week after your dad died? And for another woman, from the sound of it? For fuck’s sake! I mean, pardon my French, but what an asshole!” Tyler barely knew Kat, but he burned with anger for her. She seemed like such a good-natured, kind person. How could anyone do that to her?
But Kat just shrugged. “It was pretty tough, but I probably deserved it. I basically ignored him and spent all of my time with my dad. And I cried a lot. It had been like that for a long time. I mean, it got worse toward the end. But the whole time my dad had cancer I was kind of a mess.”
“Kat, you went through something really hard. You lost the last family member you had. You’re allowed to be a little bit of a mess. You’re allowed to be a lot of a mess, in fact. You need time to grieve.”
Kat stared down at her beer, looking uncomfortable. “I guess. But, when Ethan broke up with me, he said something that really bothered me. He told me that I didn’t seem like I knew who I was. That I just went to work and went through the motions, then came home to mindlessly watch television. And I realized that it was true. I used to be this fun-loving person who was always up for an adventure. But somewhere along the way I lost my spark and started just getting by. I decided that maybe if I took some time and went away for a few months—somewhere far away and adventurous—that I could get my spark back. During college, I always wanted to visit Alaska, but it never worked out for me to go. I decided now was as a good a time as any to come here. Then, I discovered that the midnight sun stuff was going on while I was on leave, and I knew I had to come to Glacier Point so I could see it. Sorry for being cliché,” Kat said, giving Tyler an apologetic glance.
Tyler grinned at her. “It’s okay. It
is
a pretty cool thing to experience.”
“Well, anyways, that’s how I ended up here. I got a bunch of money as an inheritance from my dad when he died, so I could afford to take some time off. I rented a cabin for four months, and decided to come ‘find myself,’ or whatever the expression is that the cool kids are using these days. I’m not sure if I want to stay at my job in Nebraska, but at least I have the option to go back after four months. This vacation will give me some time to think. I’m hoping I can get some clarity and decide where to go from here. And I want to get in kick ass shape, which is where you come in,” Kat said, grinning at Tyler.
“I can certainly help with that.”
“I feel like if I can just get my life in order and get myself back in shape, that I can win Ethan back. He’ll see that the person I became when my dad died was just a bump in the road. I’m better than that.” Kat smiled brightly. She put up a brave face, but the pain in her eyes had been obvious all through dinner.
“Kat, I’m a big believer in doing things to better yourself. I think it’s amazing that you came here by yourself to take a break and take some time to reset. But do it for yourself. Don’t do it for some asshole who wasn’t there for you when you needed him most. That’s not love. If he couldn’t handle the fact that you were sad because your dad died, then he doesn’t deserve you.”
Kat tilted her head sideways to look at Tyler. “I’m not surprised to hear you say that. All of my friends back home told me the same thing, in so many words. But what Ethan and I had was good. I’m determined to find myself again, and to win him back in the process.” Kat took a final swig from her beer mug, and pushed away her half eaten nachos. Then she stood and pulled some cash out of her wallet, throwing it down on the bar top next to her plate.
“I should get going. I’m still adjusting to the time zone here, so I’m pretty tired. And I have a big day, tomorrow. Big workout coming up!”
Tyler nodded and smiled at her, raising his glass in a farewell cheers as she headed toward the entrance. But he felt anger rising like bile in his throat. She could smile all she wanted, and make as many excuses as she wanted to for her scumbag ex-fiancé. But Tyler could easily see she was hurting, and he felt strangely protective of her. He didn’t want Kat going back to a man who obviously didn’t love her. But that’s clearly what she had set her heart on doing.
Tyler frowned and turned back to staring at the baseball game, but he couldn’t concentrate on the television screen. All he could concentrate on was the bear inside of him, roaring with rage at the mistreatment Kat had received. The feeling overtook him with an unmistakable intensity. Could it really be? None of this made sense.
