“She found herself smiling. "Was the big, bad forest ranger scared?""I stared a fire," he said instead of answering, and the typical guy avoidance of admitting fear made her smile in the dark. "But even after I had a roaring fire, I still felt watched.""What did you do?"His hand was still gliding up and down her back, absently soothing, not-so-absently arousing her further. "I got up and searched the perimeter," he said. "Often. I finally fell asleep holding my gun, and at first light was startled awake by a curious teenage bear.""Oh my God," she said on a horrified laugh. "What happened?"Amusement came into his voice. "I shot the shit out of a tree and scared the hell out of us both. I fell backward off the log I'd fallen asleep on, and the bear did the same. Then we both scrambled to our feet, and he went running off to his mama. If my mama had been anywhere within two thousand miles, I'd have gone running off to her just the same as the bear." -Matt on his first night out as a ranger”

“He turned her ninety degrees. "To get back to the ranger station and your car, you want to go southwest," he said.Right. She knew that, and she stalked off in the correct direction."Watch out for bears," Matt called after her."Yeah, okay," she muttered, "and I'll also keep an eye out for the Tooth Fairy.""Three o'clock."Amy craned her neck and froze. Oh sweet baby Jesus, there really was a bear at three o'clock. Enjoying the last of the sun, he was big, brown and shaggy, and big. He lay flat on his back, his huge paws in the air as he stretched, confident that he sat at the top of the food chain. "Holy shit," she whispered, every Discovery Channel bear mauling she'd ever seen flashing in her mind. She backed up a step, and then another, until she bumped into a brick wall and nearly screamed. "Just a brown bear," said the brick wall that was Matt.”

“Give me,” she said.“Don’t you mean please give me?”“You want me to beg?”That smile spread slightly. “Nah. I just heard you beg plenty.”“I did not beg.” But she had. She so had. Still grinning, still naked, he pulled her against him and pressed his mouth to her shoulder. “My panties, Mark.”

“Her hands tightened on him. “I mean it,” she said. “We’re not doing this.”“Define this.”“We’re not going to be friends.”“Deal,” he said.“We’re not going to even like each other.”“Obviously.”She stared into his eyes, hers turbulent and heated. “And no more kissing—”He swallowed her words with his mouth, delving deeply, groaning at the taste of her. He heard her answering moan, and then her arms wound tight around his neck.And for the first time since his arrival back in Santa Rey, they were on the same page.”

“You're not going to be bear bait," he promised, turning her so that she was behind him. "Not today anyway."She grabbed a fistful of the back of his uniform shirt and pressed up against his back. "How do you know?""Well, you're behind me, for one thing. So if anyone's going to be bear bait, it'll be me. And brown bears are extremely passive. If we take a step toward him, he'll take off."She let go of him, presumably so he could do just that, even giving him a little nudge that was actually more like a push. With a laugh, Matt obliged and stepped toward the bear, waving his arms. With a look of reproof, the bear lumbered to his feet and vanished into the bush.”

“Listen," she finally said. "I might've given you the wrong impression when I...bumped into you with the bear thing.""Bumped into me?" He couldn't help it, he laughed. "You tried to crawl up my body.""Which is my point," she said stiffly. "My sleep-out adventure isn't going to include crawling up anyone's body.""Will it include sleeping?"-Amy and Matt”

“The question is, did you get your life-changing experience?"Amy looked at Matt and smiled. "I did."Matt's entire heart turned over in his chest. "Damn," he said, pulling her in. "Damn, I love you.""Watch the arm!" Josh warned."He's not watching that arm," Ty said as Matt kissed Amy again.”