One Week in Maine (4 page)

As
I rose out of the chair to head back inside to find Dottie, an exterior light came on, illuminating the back yard. Probably a motion sensing light, I figured. Now that the light was on I could see the back door. It was faster and easier to reach than the front door, and I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of walking around to the front of the house again in the dark. My imagination ran wild with ideas of what kinds of ferocious animals might live in the nearby woods, so I quickly opted to go back in through the back door.

It was dark inside the back of the house, but as
I stepped inside I felt along the wall until I came across a set of light switches. I tried them in turn until finally a light came on. I found myself in a tidy, neat kitchen. While by no means modern or up to date, it looked like this room of the house had received more attention and upkeep over the years than the rest of the place. The appliances and décor were a bit outdated, but it was less worn than the rest of the house. A quick look around led me across the room to the doorway into the dining room, and I flicked off the light in the kitchen as I headed through the doorway. I crossed the dark dining room, guided by the front hall light Dottie had so kindly turned on for me at some point. There was still no sign of my hostess and all was quiet. As anxious as I was to ask her about the truck and join up with my friends at Sarah’s wedding, it would have to wait until morning.

As I
climbed the old stairs up to my room, I looked forward to a long, hot shower. My day had started way too early and only gone downhill from there. I wanted to get cleaned up and relax a little, and then have an early bedtime. It was my hope that Dottie rose early in the day because I intended to be up and ready to go early myself. With any luck I could be in that old blue truck bright and early and make it to the wedding with plenty of time to spare.

The event itself had lost its luster for
me when my friends had shown their true colors and refused to help me out so I could escape this tiny little backwoods prison. The ones who had been drinking were forgiven, but the ones who were too lazy to help out a friend in need still angered me. But I had come all this way and Sarah expected me to be there, so I would do my best to get there in time. Anything was better than being stuck here.

Dottie had left the
hall light on upstairs for me as well, and I silently thanked the old woman for her thoughtful gesture. Fumbling around in the dark, looking for light switches would have been most unpleasant in the old house. Back in my room I grabbed a pair of cotton pajamas out of my bag along with my beauty supplies and went to check out the bathroom. I wasn’t expecting much based on the rest of the Inn, but maybe it would have one of those gorgeous antique clawfoot tubs.

As
I swung the bathroom door open, I noticed that Dottie had even been thoughtful enough to leave the bathroom light on for me. That thought vanished instantly as my eyes drank in a scene far more interesting than extra lights left on for guests.

In the bathroom, shaving at the little antique sink, stood a naked man.
Completely, totally naked. It wasn’t just any man, I realized with horror as he turned to look at me, but the game warden.

-3-

While he looked good in uniform, he looked even better out of it. I just stood there staring at him in shock with my mouth agape. In the nanosecond of stillness before he reacted to my presence, I drank in every last detail of him that I could. It wasn’t my intention to invade his privacy, but he was quite a sight to behold.

He was well built
with little fat on him, solid looking and muscular, at least from the side view I glimpsed of him.  His biceps tensed almost imperceptibly as he moved his hands to shave, and his thighs were rounded with the strong muscles there.

He was just as surprised as
I was and with a startled yelp he turned to close the bathroom door in my face. Before the door closed, I caught a peak at his cut abdominal muscles rippling as he dove to close the door. He moved too quickly for me to get a look at much else.

I
stood frozen outside the bathroom with the door mere inches from my bright red face. I was thoroughly ashamed of my reaction to finding him there. It would have been common courtesy to avert my eyes and apologize as I shut the door once I realized my error, but instead I had stood there and gawked at him like an idiot.

“Sorry!” I
called weakly through the closed door. “I thought I was the only guest!”

“You are,” he replied gruffly, “but I live here.”

“You live here?”

“Dottie’s my aunt.”

“Oh.”

I
remained frozen outside the bathroom, awash in embarrassment. It may have been an honest mistake but that didn’t make it any less awkward. The faint sounds of the warden washing his razor in the sink reached me through the door and with a start I considered how even more foolish I would look if he came out to find me still standing there. I hurried to my room and closed the door.

I
sat down on the bed and considered the situation. So the warden lived here, with his aunt, on my floor. It would have been nice if Dottie had disclosed that information up front, but what was done was done.

My
mind wandered back to his naked form, cut and strong. Of all the things I imagined I might discover on my trip to Maine, a hot naked guy in my bathroom wasn’t one of them. I wasn’t complaining. The guy could be a Chippendale’s dancer with that face and body.

It’s not a
s if I were exactly celibate, but I didn’t sleep around and I hadn’t had a serious relationship in over six months. My last relationship might have headed into more serious territory, but John was transferred to the west coast by his company before we had a chance to pursue a serious relationship. We had both agreed that trying to make it work long distance wasn’t an option we wanted to explore, so we mutually ended it. Our parting had been amicable, and I stopped missing him faster than expected, but no one had piqued my interest since then.

Not that I
wanted a relationship of any kind with the warden. I was simply a healthy woman with needs, and seeing his exquisite naked body had pushed some of them to the surface. There had been no physical intimacy in my life in over six months and I had been blissfully unaware of how much of a hole had been created in my life without it. Seeing the warden’s glorious naked form stirred up primal urges long buried within me. I bet he had that effect on a lot of women, even with his clothes on.

Fo
otsteps sounded in the hallway and moment later there was a soft knock on my door.

“I’m all set in there, Calista. I’m going to make a quick dinner, maybe pasta or something. You’re welcome to join me when you’re ready.”

“Okay,” I called back shakily. His invitation for dinner was unexpected, and I was beginning to get hungry after all. Maybe I’d take him up on it. Now that I knew that I wasn’t alone on the second floor, I put away the cotton pajamas and opted for a pair of yoga pants, a tank top and a warm hoodie instead. Not exactly a glamorous outfit, but fit to be seen in by the warden. I hadn’t packed a lot for my quick weekend getaway to the wedding, so my options were limited.

The hallway was empty as I stepped out and made my
way back to the bathroom. The warden had left the door wide open for me. To my delight, there was an old clawfoot tub just as I’d hoped for. I showered quickly, still rattled by the warden’s unexpected appearance, and then got dressed. I threw my hair into a quick ponytail and stared at myself in the mirror. After a moment’s thought, I carefully applied some quick makeup. Satisfied I looked as presentable as I could without going obviously overboard, I returned my bath items to my room and padded barefoot down to the kitchen.

My
heart hammered in my chest as I crossed the dining room into the kitchen. I paused just shy of the doorway, hidden in the shadows of the dark room while I watched the warden for a moment.

He stood at the stove and stirred a pot of spaghetti sauce while some sort of pasta boiled in a large open pot on the next burner over. He wore a pair of sweatpants and a tight cotton t-shirt, and while
I had never cared for the look of sweatpants, he wore them well. They hung low on his hips and followed the curve of his perfect ass rather nicely. The t-shirt clung to him like a second skin. I shook my head and tried to ignore the memories of his glorious, naked body I had seen not so long ago.

“Hi,” I
said softly as I stepped into the room. The smell of baking garlic bread made my stomach rumble in anticipation.

“Hey, I was hoping you’d come down. Dinner’
s in a few minutes. Grab yourself a seat.” He pointed to the huge oak kitchen table with a sauce covered spoon.

His laid back demeanor instantly put
me at ease. I was still embarrassed about the whole bathroom fiasco, but it seemed unlikely that he would bring it up. It appeared that he just wanted to forget about it and move past it, and that was fine with me. I followed his suggestion and sat down at the table.

“So Dottie’s your aunt?”

“Well, great aunt, actually, but I usually just say aunt. She’d resting now, but I’ll see if she’ll take a plate in her room.”

“Won’t she be joining us?”

“Most likely not. Your arrival today took a lot out of her.” Seeing the look of horror on my face, he added, “It’s not your fault. She loves having guests. It was hard on her to close this place down and she’s really missed running the business. But with her failing health it was just too much for her. It was for the best, really.”

“So you live here with her, all of the time?”

“Yup.” He nodded and found a clean spoon to taste the sauce. Frowning, he grabbed a container of oregano and added a pinch more. “I moved in about a year and half ago to help her out and kind of keep an eye on her. She shouldn’t be here all alone.” He tried the sauce once more with another spoon and seemed satisfied with it. “So what’s the news about your car?”

I
relayed to him everything Bobby had told me, and the warden nodded.

“Sounds about right.
So you’re stuck here until it’s fixed?”

“Yeah.
No one from the wedding will drive all the way out here to come get me. By the way…” It was as good a time as any to ask about the truck. I had assumed that it was Dottie’s, but now I realized that it was most likely the warden’s personal vehicle. “That truck out front? Is it yours?”

“Yup, that old beast’s mine all right.”

“Do you think I could borrow it for a day or two? To get to the wedding?”

Before he answered me
, he turned down the burner and leaned against the countertop, facing me. I did my best to make eye contact with him instead of staring at his sculpted body. To my dismay, his eyes were just as distracting as the rest of him, but still I held his gaze and tried not to squirm in my seat. I hadn’t missed his good looks when he helped me on the side of the road, but now that the immediate crisis had passed, I was able to pay more attention to exactly how ridiculously handsome he truly was. It was like seeing a GQ model in person.

“I’m afraid not. It’
s not in the best shape, as you probably noticed. I wouldn’t trust that truck to go very far. I won’t even drive it far out of town, myself. I think it’d be asking for trouble to try to take it all the way out there.”

“Oh, no problem.”
My voice was light and understanding, but inside I was crushed. That truck had been my one hope to escape to the wedding.

“Well, I think we’re about ready here.”
He pulled a pan of freshly baked garlic bread out of the oven and removed a large strainer from a nearby cupboard.

“Can I help with anything?” I
felt out of place just watching him do all the work.

“
Naw, don’t worry about it. I’ve got it, and besides, you’re a guest here.”

“What should I call you, anyway?” It occurred to
me that I had no clue how to address him and if we were going to be sharing the same space for the next week, I might want to know what to call him.

“Well,” he began with a grin, “seeing as how I’m not at work, I think we could do away with the
Warden Holbrook bit. Will’s good–all my friends call me Will.”

“Will it is, then.”

I sat in silence as he plated our meal and made a small plate for Dottie as well. He brought our dishes to the table, and I caught a whiff of his earthy, masculine scent again. This time I was sure that it wasn’t cologne of any kind, but perhaps the smell of his soap mixed with his natural scents. Whatever it was, it drove me wild. Just like the rest of him.

“You go right on ahead and start. I’m just going to see if my aunt will eat. She tends to have a very light appetite, and sometimes she won’t eat at all if I don’t remind her!”

“Thanks, but I’ll wait for you.” I stared at my plate as I waited for him to return. It looked delicious, and I couldn’t recall a time any man had ever cooked for me. Sure, men would take me out on dinner dates to various restaurants, but no man had ever made me a home cooked meal before. From the look and smell of the food, Will was a hell of a cook.

When he returned
he took a seat across from me.

“So, I’m sorry it’s nothing fancy, but I hope
it’s okay,” he explained apologetically. “I made the sauce myself, from the garden.” Eagerly he watched me to see my reaction when I took my first bite.

I
didn’t even have to pretend to like it. It was delicious.

“You made that?
Seriously?”

He laughed out loud, and his amusement made
me smile in return.

“Don’t sound quit
e so surprised about it! I’m actually a pretty good cook, and yes, I made the sauce. Dottie keeps a little garden out back, and I help her tend it. She can’t do all the canning she used to, but I help her do small batches of things in the summertime because it keeps her happy. I did the tomato sauce this year.”

“It sounds like you’re really good to your aunt.”
My voice shone with admiration.  I didn’t know too many guys who would do such things for their elderly relative. Will had a softer side to him, and I added that to the growing list of attributes that made him so attractive to me.

He shrugged modestly. “I’m the only family she’s got around here, and if I don’t do it, who will?”

“She’s lucky to have you.” Our eyes met across the table and we grinned at each other for a moment. I tried not to read into the look he gave me. It was probably just wistful thinking on my part, but I could swear that I saw a spark of interest there.

What did it matter, anyway?
Maybe he was just a natural flirt, or maybe he slept around and thought I might be easy pickings. No matter what the explanation behind the glimmer of something I thought I saw in his gaze, it didn’t matter. I was staying for the week and I would hightail it back to Hartford where I belonged as soon as I could. Still, I couldn’t help but lament over the fact that a guy like Will lived up in the boonies of Maine. The more I talked to him, the more I suspected he was quite a catch, and not just due to his good looks. Most likely I had just misread the look he gave me.

“So what do you do, besides get stuck in the backwoods of Maine?” he joked as he ate.

“I’m a graphic designer. Well, I was, until I got laid off a few months ago when my company downsized. I’m job hunting now. What do you do? I mean, I know you’re a warden, but what does that mean, exactly?”

“I do a lot of things. I enforce the hunting laws and make sure people aren’t poaching or hunting unsafely or illegally baiting traps, that kind of thing. I also enforce off road vehicle laws and just kind of make sure everyone’s enjoying the outdoors properly and safely.”

“Do you like your job?” It sounded awfully boring to me.

“I love it,” he answered honestly. “I get to spend my days outdoors, help people, and protect the state’s natural resources. Oh, and some
times we help the state with drug cases.”

His job was suddenly sounding a lot more interesting and dangerous than
I originally imagined.

“You’re involved in drug cases?”

“You’d be amazed how many people try to grow pot out in the middle of the woods where they think no one will find it. If we come across a grow site, or someone reports a suspected one, we investigate it and call in the DEA if there’s a basis to do so.”