Alaska Heart (16 page)

“Could you tell me where it is?”

Brian cuffed Bear’s arm. “Bear, help the lady out, will you?”

Bear scowled at Brian but then focused his tired eyes on me. “Two streets over, tear to the left. Sikik’s Sweets. That’s where you’ll find the best goods.”

Brian nodded. “I went there this morning for breakfast. Apple cinnamon croissant like none other.” He put his hand over his heart and pretended to swoon.

“Great. Thanks.”

I twirled around and bounded up the stairs. I added a couple details garnered from my walk and finished up for the day. Then I shot a quick email to Meg.

acormac:

Going to Dale’s. Taking your advice. Will go with the flow and enjoy his body…I mean his company.
☺

As I was going to shut down my laptop, another message on my personal email caught my attention.

sled-dog16
:

I changed my mind about casual nudity in Fairbanks. Too cold or not, I’m all for it. Can’t wait to see you (naked) tonight.

Heaven help me.

I fumbled with shutting down my laptop, tidying the room, and deciding what to bring with me to Dale’s. Unfortunately, he had already seen my one set of naughty underwear. Nothing but floral prints left in my suitcase now. Oh, how I hoped he liked flowers.

After tossing a small bag into the Explorer, I started the engine, but a rectangular square of paper flapping in the breeze under the windshield wiper caught my attention. I opened the door and grabbed it. Back in the driver’s seat, coaxing the heat to hurry the hell up, I unfolded the paper.

Alanna,

Directions to my house. I couldn’t help but notice you were watching me during the entire drive back to the hotel instead of paying attention to where we were going. Who can blame you?

See you later,

Dale

The rest of the note gave turn-by-turn directions from the hotel to his house.

Seeing more of Dale was stupid, but sometimes you just have to go ahead and be an idiot.

“What’s in the box?”

“Nice to see you too.” I waved the box beneath Dale’s nose, taunting, teasing.

He took it from me and placed it on the kitchen island. Then he backed me against the refrigerator, and his lips were on mine quicker than I could register what was happening. My entire body—every inch of it—shot awake.

I matched his fervor, hungry kiss after hungry kiss. The taste of him extinguished the longing that had built all day. My hands slithered into his hair. Soft. Full. Dale groaned and pressed his body firmly against mine. His arms slid inside my coat to wrap around my waist and pull me closer.

I worked my lips around Dale’s whiskery chin and down his neck. His body went slack against mine as I explored the rim of his ear with my tongue.

“Holy shit,” he rasped.

“Don’t care what’s in the box now, do ya?” I purred into the crook of his neck.

“Not really, no.” He stepped back to look at me, his eyes a hypnotic green. Blinking slowly, he shook his head. “Let me take your coat.”

“Oh, the manners have kicked in now.” I poked him in the chest.

“Sorry. Hormones take precedent over manners when it comes to you.” Dale tugged my coat from my shoulders. He hung it on a hook by the door next to his. I stared at the two jackets for a moment, liking the look of them side by side.

Gypsy and Zynk galloped after one another into the kitchen. They skidded to a halt and tumbled into one another when they saw me. Gypsy righted herself and nipped at Zynk’s neck as if to tell him, “Knock it off. We have company.”

She trotted over and pressed her muzzle against my thigh, her blue eyes sparkling. Zynk did the same and then licked all the fingers of my left hand before sitting back on his haunches next to Gypsy.

Staring at my soaked fingers, I couldn’t cringe at the disgusting state of my hand. Dale’s dogs, the two closest to him, had accepted me and shown me affection. That overruled any innate instinct to immediately wash off the slobber.

“They say animals can sense things about people we humans don’t pick up on. I’d say you’ve bewitched these two.”

“Maybe I’m fixing to bewitch you.” I used my scarf to lasso Dale. He allowed me to catch him, and when I tightened the slack, his body was right where I wanted it.

“Maybe you already have.” He set me on fire with his lips once more, using them to stimulate every nerve ending at once. He was a skilled explorer, traipsing confidently along my skin. My leg rubbed possessively along the length of his. His hand skimmed my thigh, and he pulled me closer still. The fingers of his other hand coiled in my hair.

Pine and citrus, mixed with…what was that? Another fragrance. Something like…

“Salmon?”

Dale nodded without taking his lips from my neck.

“You made salmon?” I pushed him gently back by his shoulders.

The dreamy look on his face was precious. Slightly ruffled hair, a healthy blush on his cheeks, those disarming eyes. What’s not to love?

“Yeah.” He released my leg somewhat absentmindedly, as if unsure how it had wound up in his hand in the first place. “Don’t you like salmon? I figured I’d make you an Alaskan favorite.”

“I love salmon. It’s my favorite fish. But you didn’t have to—”

He put his fingers to my lips, pinning them closed.

I squirmed beneath his grip and swatted his hand away.

“I know I didn’t have to,” he said. “I wanted to.”

“Thanks. It smells delicious.”

“As soon as you tell me what’s in this box, we can start eating said delicious salmon.” He turned on his stocking feet and tapped the top of the pasty box still waiting on the kitchen island. “Maybe Gypsy and Zynk will tell me what’s in here.” He picked up the box and lowered it to the dogs. Both of them scampered over, sniffing and resniffing every angle of the box.

“You’ll be sorry if they tear into that box before we get a chance to,” I warned.

Dale placed the box back on the island. He pulled scissors from a nearby drawer and indicated the thin string crisscrossing the box. “May I?”

“Go for it.”

He attacked the string and had the top open in seconds. He froze abruptly when he stared into the box.

“Sikik’s Triple Truffle Chocolate Cake!” His eyes shot open as his tongue skimmed across his bottom lip.

“That’s exactly how I looked picking it out in the bakery. Only I think I utilized a touch more drool.” I dabbed the tip of my finger into the frosting and held it out to Dale who swirled his tongue, hot and demanding, over it. “Sikik herself assured me this cake was better than any sex I would ever have.”

“We’ll see about that.” The challenge in Dale’s eyes sent my temperature soaring, and my insides ached for him.

Chocolate sex and cake. I mean…chocolate cake and sex. Could this night get any more perfect?

After dinner—yes, at the dining room table—we went outside to feed the other dogs. They were much quieter than the night before. Most of them ate and then meandered back toward their houses.

“They seem to have lost their fire,” I said, a little concerned as we rinsed the bowls and put everything away in the shed.

“I worked them out like wild today so they’d be too tired to…interrupt us.”

“Smart man.”

“More like selfish.” He looked past me into the second section of the shed and motioned toward his sled. “You want to go for a ride tomorrow?”

The thought of riding on his winning sled with him charged me with a giddy excitement.

“Definitely.”

“Great!” My enthusiasm clearly pleased him as he returned to washing the dog bowls. “There’s still a good enough layer of snow for mushing.”

“I can’t wait.” My fingers closed around Dale’s forearm as he drained the water from the sink in the shed.

“I believe there’s a cake inside that can’t wait either.” He tugged me through the shed door and locked it.

Back in the kitchen, Dale went straight for the cake.

“Plates?” I tried to remember which cupboard housed the dishes.

“Plates?” Dale looked at me innocently. “I was planning on cutting this baby in half and eating it right from the box.”

“Dale.” I slapped him lightly on the bicep, which only made me want to see that particular bicep and all of its toned, defined angles. Man, I couldn’t think straight around this guy.

“Okay, okay. If you insist on being civil.” Dale padded over to one of the cupboards and extracted two small plates. He pulled a knife from a drawer on the island.

“You’d better let me handle this.” I reached around him to grip the knife.

“Don’t trust me?” He looked over his shoulder with a glint in his eyes.

“No, I don’t,” I said. “I’m afraid you’re going to cut pieces so huge, I’ll need to spend a lifetime on the treadmill working it off.”

“I have better ways we can work it off.”

“I’ll bet you do. Give it here, Dale.” I motioned with my fingers for him to hand over the knife. He let out a hiss of breath in mock frustration but gave it to me.

I cut two conservative pieces and plopped each onto a plate while Dale stood behind me, nibbling my earlobe. I closed the box before Dale could protest, stashed it in the refrigerator, and then dug in the knife drawer for two forks.

“Aw, forks too? You’re no fun.”

“No fun?” I cut into my cake and held the piece out to him. He closed his eyes and accepted it, but bit down on the fork so I couldn’t take it back. I pulled lightly and then let go.

Removing the utensil, Dale said, “My turn.” He used his fingers to break off a piece of cake, and chocolate frosting smeared his skin. When he held it out to me, I kissed my way from his glorious lips, down his arm, to his fingertips, where I consumed the cake as my lips slid by. I ran my tongue along the palm of his hand until every chocolate crumb disappeared. He groaned with pleasure, his eyes closed again.

“I take it back,” he said. “You’re the most fun person I’ve ever known.”

People back home in New York would have disagreed, but I was a different person here in Alaska. I liked this Alanna. Smooth, confident, alluring. What was in the fresh mountain air around these parts anyway, and could I bottle it to take it home?

Eating chocolate cake had always been a rather seductive experience even when I was alone in my apartment. Eating it with Dale, however, was downright orgasmic. Talk about foreplay. I never thought licking frosting off another human being could be so…so tantalizing. Bless, Sikik.

Dale guided me toward the fireplace in the living room where he had organized a puffy quilt, several pillows, and candles. Tons of them along the mantle and hearth. On the end tables flanking the couch. In a crystal bowl of water on the coffee table. Flames flickered their orange-yellow greeting in all corners of the room. The heat and glow were so cozy, so inviting.

“Oh, Dale,” I whispered. “It’s breathtaking.”

Standing behind me, he slipped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder. “So are you.”

Ten days in Alaska wasn’t nearly enough time.

****

When I awoke in the morning, Dale’s arm was slung over me; his braced wrist rested on my stomach. Peeking under the covers, I made a soft, yummy noise. That brace was the only thing he wore. I let the covers drop back down before I overheated again. At the movement of the sheet and blankets, he shifted closer to me in his sleep. His arm tightened slightly around my waist as a little crease formed between his eyebrows. A soft groan escaped from his lips. Did his wrist hurt? Was he dreaming?

Shifting a little myself, I combed my fingers through his tousled hair. In the dawning light rippling into the room, his hair was a medley of browns and coppery tints. I traced a line with my index finger along his temple, down his cheek, and around his whiskered chin. A different sound, something like the purr of a large feline, hummed from his throat, and his lips twitched upward on one side.

Slowly, he raised his braced hand to catch mine and press it to his cheek. His eyes opened, one at a time, and his smile grew to full-blown charming.

“Whew.” He closed his eyes again.

“What’s the matter?”

“Glad you’re really here, and I’m not dreaming.” He opened his eyes again and looked at me.

“Nowhere else I’d rather be.” My throat tightened a little at how much truth that statement held.

“Really?” Dale propped himself on one elbow. His other arm slid across my stomach and lingered.

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak steadily. Dale rested his head on my shoulder, his hair soft against my skin. I slipped my hand to his back and kneaded the muscles there until he nipped playfully at the valley between my breasts. His tongue did things to my skin that caused spontaneous combustion.

“This,” he said, his voice still laced with slumber, “is the way to wake up.”

“Beats the hell out of an alarm clock.”

“Or Gypsy slobbering all over you.”

“Yes, I much prefer you slobbering all over me.”

“I’ll slobber all over you any time you want.” He pushed himself up, hovering over me so his lips were parallel to my own. “You want?”

“I’ll have to think about it.” Seeing his pout, I couldn’t resist lifting my head to devour him. His arms gave way as soon as I made contact, and his body rested atop mine. I slid my hands around his shoulders and relished the feel of him, the heat of him, as he brought all my senses to the edge of sanity.

A girl could fall in love with a guy like Dale.

Shit.

I pushed the thought away, but as the kiss grew fiery and my insides spun about happily, it was too late. It had already happened, and I was powerless against it. I didn’t
want
to fight it, but this game was risky.

“C’mon.” Dale broke into my mini-panic attack. “Let’s get up. I want to have enough time to show off the dogs on our sled ride today.”

Dale’s excitement was like that of a young boy on Christmas morning. Damn. He kept getting more and more adorable every second I spent with him. Another reminder to not spend any more seconds with him flashed across my brain, but it was amazing what I could ignore.