Read Bear Naked for Free Online

well, I’d just go home that much earlier. Each day that Leif showed up, he was a little more coherent, a little more alert, and stayed a little longer. I took out my sewing kit and let out the seams in some of my clothes, cobbling a few shirts together to give him a piecemeal top and a pair of (admittedly) ugly pants to wear. I made him a pair of booties out of pieces of my sleeping bag. I was tearing through my supplies, but that was okay, too. I felt like progress was being had, and anything I could do to turn Leif a bit more human, I was all for it.
    Having him around camp was far more enjoyable than I’d expected. There was a shyness to Leif, but also an alpha rawness to his mannerisms. It was like he was deliberately being careful around me, conscious of the fact that he’d hurt me while mindless. Now, he seemed just as determined to treat me with kid gloves. Every morning, I’d wake up and find a new sculpture left in a snow drift nearby - a penguin, a reindeer, a mermaid…and the mermaid had looked like me, right down to my braids and nose-piercing. I’d laughed with delight at the sight of it. Leif was finding his artistry again, and in doing so, seemed to be finding himself.
    It had been several days since I’d had the opportunity to bathe, though, and I was feeling grimy. I’d noticed little rings of dirt under Leif’s nail beds as well, and decided that both of us could use a bit of a cleaning. Of course, being that it was the Antarctic, it was difficult to get the urge to bathe when it was so chilly outside.
    Still, I could do with a quick sponge bath, and I suspected that Leif would, too, if I threw it out there.
    So the next morning, I woke up earlier than normal. I heated water on my fire and rushed it back to my tent, and then stripped down. I scrubbed myself with a wet cloth and a bar of soap, and then undid my braids, wet my hair, and washed it as well. It wasn’t the best bath I’d ever had, but I felt cleaner - and smelled cleaner - than I had in days. By the time Leif arrived for his morning coffee, I was re-braiding my wet hair.
    He shifted before coming into camp, and as he did, I laid out his clothes that I’d made for him. We’d fallen into a bit of a pattern. I made coffee, Leif showed up, dressed, and we chatted for a bit before he left again.
    As he dressed, I watched his nostrils flare, and he looked over at me, eyes narrowing. “What’s that smell?”
    “Honeysuckle?” I smiled at him. “My soap is scented. You want to sniff?” I offered him one of my newly-cleaned braids.
    To my surprise, he leaned in and smelled my throat, his face so close to my skin that I could feel his breath on me.
    My body instantly reacted to his nearness. My nipples hardened, and my pulse sped up. A warm flush of desire covered me and I began to breathe harder. I suspected that if I touched myself between my legs, I’d be slick with need.
    All of that from a simple sniff.
    There was no question I was attracted to Leif. He was gorgeous. It wasn’t just that he was a were-bear and one of the few I could consider as a mate. It was his sleek, tanned build, the tight buttocks that I saw every morning, the gleam in his amused blue eyes…I just liked everything about him. I liked his artistic spirit, I liked his sensitive side, and I liked that he was regaining a sense of humor. I remembered having a crush on him when I was ten years old. That crush was returning, and returning hard.
    “Smells good,” he said after a long moment. “I haven’t smelled flowers in a long time.”
    “I still have some soap and water,” I said, hating the shiver in my voice that gave away my emotions. “You want to get clean, too?”
    Leif held his hands out and grimaced. “I’m not good company like this, am I?”
    “You are,” I said breathlessly. And when that sounded too intimate, I forced myself to give his arm a friendly pat. “Come on. Let’s go into my tent.”
    I took the last of the heated water from the