Stay With Me, Contemporary Romance (Last Frontier Lodge Novels Book 5) (20 page)

J
essa walked
down the dock at the harbor. A whistling sound caught her ears and she turned to see an eagle flying alongside the dock, mere feet away from her. Her breath caught and she stopped to watch as the eagle angled to the side, its wings catching a gust of the breeze, lifting it higher in the air as it turned. She turned to make her way down the dock. Eli was visible ahead as he leaned over the boat railing and handed a small cooler to Ryan. She breathed in the salty air and sighed, a warm joy blooming in her heart.

It was one day past the anniversary of the fire that spun her life on its compass and pointed her in the direction of Diamond Creek and ultimately Eli. Ryan had started to walk up the dock, two customers following behind him. He grinned when he saw her. “Hey Jessa, Eli’s on the boat.”

“Hey you too! Are you home for dinner tonight or something else?”

“Home. Eli said he’s picking up pizza from Glacier Pizza on the way home. Jeff and Ben might stop by. Will that be okay?”

Jessa stopped and put her hands on her hips. “Did Eli say it was okay?”

Ryan nodded, his hair falling in front of his eyes. “Well, yeah, but if it wasn’t cool with you, you could say so.”

“Of course it’s okay! Just don’t leave dirty socks all over the place and I’m good.”

Ryan burst out laughing and waved as she continued walking. When she reached the boat, Eli was waiting, having climbed out and slung his backpack over his shoulder.

He dipped his head and dropped his forehead to hers. “Hey.”

“Hey. How was your day?” she asked, smiling widely because she couldn’t be near Eli and not smile.

He brought his lips to hers before answering. In a flash, what started as a soft kiss morphed into hot and sense stealing when he swept his tongue into her mouth and nipped at her lips. By the time he pulled away, she was panting and arching into him.

He chuckled softly. “Sorry ‘bout that. You kind of make me forget where I am.”

“Ditto,” she replied with a laugh. “I hear we’re having pizza from Ryan’s favorite place and maybe some company.”

Eli stepped away and adjusted his backpack on one shoulder as he curled his palm around her hand. They started walking slowly along the dock back toward the harbor parking lot. “Yeah. Couldn’t say no when he asked. He busted his butt today. We ran two charters—one this morning and one this afternoon. He never complains and just works. Makes it hard to say no when all he asks for is pizza and if his friends can come over. Hope you don’t mind.”

“I never mind. I don’t know why you worry about it.”

“Because it’s your house too now, and if you did mind, it would matter to me.”

They’d married a few months ago. Though Jessa had informally stayed with Eli for many months up to that point, she’d officially moved in after their honeymoon. The house was warmer now with her eye for decorating and some of her own furniture pieces to brighten up the space. She stopped on the dock and tugged him to face her. “When I married you, I knew Ryan was part of the deal. I love him too. He might not be my son technically, but he is in every way that matters. He needs to be able to have pizza and friends, so unless there’s some other reason to say no, then it won’t ever be because of me caring for some silly reason. Plus, all they ever do is stay upstairs. It’s like the lair of teen boys with video games, TV, and stuff everywhere. Maybe we could agree that I get to make him do laundry a little bit more?” she asked with a grin.

“Deal,” Eli said as he dipped his head for another kiss.

* * *

L
ater that night
with Ryan and his friends ensconced upstairs with two pizzas and engaged in a lively battle on some video game, Eli glanced over at Jessa. They were out on the back deck. The air was starting to lose its warmth from the sun and a soft breeze blew a loose lock of hair over her eyes. She brushed it away and turned to face him, leaning against the railing. She spun the almost empty wineglass in her hand and smiled at him. In the smudgy gray light of dusk with the sun setting in a glorious burst of red and gold behind her, all Eli could think was she was the absolute best thing that ever happened to him.

He stood from where he sat by the small wrought-iron table and stepped in front of her. She took the last sip of her wine and set the glass on the railing. He reached for her hands, holding them both in his.

“Tonight was perfect,” he said.

Sometimes he felt silly because he felt so much with Jessa that words usually didn’t capture it. Plus, he hadn’t had much practice with words and feelings, not when they were paired together. Jessa didn’t seem to mind, so he kept winging it.

“Takeout pizza is always perfect, especially when it’s from Glacier Pizza. Although, I have to say living here has taught me the virtues of fish and moose and even caribou. I always promised myself I couldn’t sanction mass-production of meat, but this whole hunting, fishing thing you do, well, that’s something else altogether,” she said with a teasing grin. “I still can’t believe when I saw you last year with that grocery cart full of frozen foods. So not you!”

He chuckled, recalling his chest freezer had been broken and he’d wanted an excuse to find her in the grocery store. “Hey, I got to talk to you,” he said with a shrug. “That’s all I cared about.”

She stepped closer and slipped her hand up behind his neck, her silver eyes shining through the dim light. “I’m so glad I backed into you,” she whispered against his lips.

“Me too,” he said on a sigh as her lips met his.

A
rock came tumbling
down the steep mountainside. Lacey Adams heard it before she saw it and quickly glanced up to see a small boulder hurtling toward her. She scrambled out of the way, only to lose her footing on the gravelly trail and crash to the ground onto her hip. “Ooomph!”

“How’s it going up there?” Quinn Haynes called out.

“Great, just great!” Lacey called in reply. She waited until the boulder came to a thudding stop against a spruce tree at the bottom of the slope before pushing herself up on her hands. Once she was back on her feet, she took stock and figured she’d have a hell of a bruise on her hip when they got to camp tonight. Otherwise, it was all in a day’s work for her. She and Quinn were leading a guided photography trip in Katmai National Forest. Katmai was renowned for its remote beauty and particularly for the brown bears that frequented the famed Katmai River Falls where remote video cameras recorded the massive bears feeding off salmon running through the river. They were many miles away from the river falls and trekking deep into the wilderness with a group of wildlife photographers committed to more pure forms of photography, namely capturing wildlife in more challenging circumstances than those of the convenient viewing platforms by the falls.

She’d volunteered to check this trail out before they took the group along this route to reach another mountain peak ahead. She’d confirmed what they suspected—the trail had been mostly washed out by the spring thaw when the melting snow turned into raging streams. The gravel here was loose, along with the rocks up above. If Lacey had her way, they’d take the slightly longer route through the trees. In her years of backcountry guiding, she’d learned it was usually wiser to go slow than to take potentially risky shortcuts. It was one thing to risk her own injury, another to risk that of her clients. She ran her own small business from Diamond Creek, Alaska and often paired with other guides she knew from her years of working in the wilds of Alaska. Quinn Haynes was an old friend and occasionally joined her on these trips. She hadn’t seen him in over two years when they confirmed this trip. He’d taken a break from guiding to finish his medical degree. Now, he had a fancy title to go with living on the edge. He’d spent the last year overseas providing medical care in war torn regions.

Lacey carefully made her way back down the mountainside and met Quinn at the bottom where he was waiting. Their clients had taken a short hike to a nearby field to watch and wait for wildlife to pass by. Quinn grinned when he saw her. “I’m guessing we won’t be using that shortcut. You okay?”

She had a slight limp from her hip’s collision with the rocky ground. She figured it would work itself out once they got moving again. “I’m fine. The slope is rocky and loose. Let’s take the longer way through the trees. Aside from not wanting anyone else to fall on their tail, I’d rather not worry about the expensive cameras they’re hauling.”

Quinn’s amber hair glinted in the morning sun when he nodded. His eyes, almost a precise match with his hair, coasted over her. “You sure you’re okay? You’ve got quite the limp.”

Lacey sighed. “I’m fine. Give me a few minutes.”

He turned to walk at her side when she reached him. They walked back toward the camp at a leisurely pace. Lacey’s hip started to loosen as she’d predicted. By the time they arrived at camp, her limp had almost disappeared. Quinn strode to his tent and came out with a thermos.

“Coffee for you,” he said as he handed it over with a grin.

Lacey plunked down in a camp chair and unscrewed the thermos lid. The coffee was plenty warm and dark. After a long swallow, she sighed and leaned back. “Thanks. I forgot you somehow manage to make the best coffee even when we’re in the middle of nowhere.”

Quinn chuckled and sat down across from her in another folding chair, his rangy form barely fitting in the chair. Lacey caught herself when her eyes began a slow investigation of Quinn. She didn’t know what it was because she’d known Quinn for years, but ever since he’d met her at the start of this trip, she was uncomfortably aware of how handsome he was. He was in superb physical condition, rugged and fit, every inch of him honed muscle. His skin was bronzed from days living in the outdoors. He was a man who threw himself into whatever environment he happened to be in—whether it was the wilderness of Alaska, the beaches of a remote island, or the desert somewhere.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t noticed he was handsome before, but she’d never had any physical response to him. The last few days had been downright annoying for her. If she had a few spare minutes and he was nearby, he was like a magnet for her eyes and her body hummed with a buzz of awareness. She mentally shook herself and lifted her eyes above the trees. It was early fall, yet still quite warm for Alaska. The sun was up, brightening the snow-covered mountain peaks of the Katmai Range. Conveniently, the wilderness gave her plenty to stare at other than Quinn.

They sat in the quiet with nothing other than the sound of water sliding over rocks in the background. A stream was close to their camp, offering a place to bathe and easy water access for drinking and cooking. They had two more nights here before they hiked out.

Later that afternoon, Lacey was leading the way back from their hike when both of her knees buckled suddenly. Weakness like she’d never felt before crashed through her body. She stumbled sideways and gripped a birch tree to steady herself. After several deep breaths, she felt almost normal, so she pushed off the tree and began walking again. She glanced behind her to see Quinn had stopped with their group and was pointing at something in the distance. He was a veritable font of information about the geology of Alaska, so he was an extra plus as far as clients were concerned. She breathed a sigh of relief because it didn’t appear any of them had noticed her stumble.

That night after the four photographers had retired to their tents, she glanced over at hers and sighed. Sometime during the hike away from camp, some type of animal, likely a marmot, had shredded a corner of the tent door, just enough that the fastener to the tent pole was torn and the tent leaned drunkenly to one side. That meant she would be sharing Quinn’s tent tonight. Not such a great plan if her body’s reaction to the idea told her anything. The moment she’d heard Quinn chuckle and comment she’d be sleeping with him tonight, heat had rolled through her body in a flash. She needed to get over this weird attraction to him as soon as possible. She didn’t really do the whole relationship thing—too messy, too inconvenient. She’d also found that men tended to shy away from her anyway. She was too much of a tomboy.

She’d temporarily considered just sleeping outside under the stars, but that wasn’t smart. Autumn nights were cold out in the wilderness and while a tent didn’t offer too much protection, it was better than nothing. She looked across the dying fire to Quinn. His features were shadowed in the dim light, his amber hair gilded with gold in the flickering firelight. He glanced up and caught her eyes. For a flash, she thought she saw something in his gaze, but he shuttered it and his usual teasing smile hooked the corners of his mouth.

“I’m about to crash. You want me to help drag your sleeping bag in the tent?”

She stood swiftly. “Nah. I got it. Mind putting the fire out while I do that?”

She heard him stand as she strode toward her torn tent. She gathered her sleeping bag and carefully tidied up her backpack before carrying everything over to Quinn’s tent. He was using a stick to sift through the coals and push them down into the pile of ash. Moments later, she was kneeling over trying to straighten out her sleeping bag when she heard the tent zipper. She scrambled to turn around. In her rush to turn, she fumbled and instead of him being up close and personal with her bottom, she found herself a mere inch or so from his face. For a beat, she wanted to close the space and see if his lips felt as good as they looked—full and sensual against his strong and masculine features.

Instead she scrambled back with her heart beating staccato in her chest and that inconvenient desire flooding her. Quinn merely grinned and crawled into the tent beside her. Without a word, he yanked his t-shirt off and slipped into his sleeping bag.

“G’night,” he said, his voice gruff.

She could hear the smile in his voice because that’s how he always was. Everything held a hint of fun for him. Meanwhile, he’d left her dry-mouthed and nearly panting at the glimpse of his chest—all sculpted muscle and a true six-pack of abs. She’d seen him shirtless before, but she’d never thought much of it. What the hell was wrong with her? She shook her head and slipped into her own sleeping bag, grateful she’d be cocooned away from his body through the night.

She woke hours later, her hand—oh my god!—her hand was sliding over the hard planes of his chest. While somehow, her tank top had slid up and she was draped over him, one of her bare breasts pressing against his side and his hand cupping her bottom. She had absolutely no idea how they ended up tangled together like this, but both of their sleeping bags were unzipped and one of her legs was thrown over his. It felt
sooo
good to be close to him like this, her body was nearly aflame with need. This was not good, definitely not good.

* * *

Q
uinn came
to slowly and realized he was rock hard with need and Lacey was draped all over him. He felt her lush bottom under his palm and almost groaned at how good it felt. Lacey Adams had been forbidden fruit for as long as he’d known her. She was always all business when she was around him, so he’d struck the same tone. But he couldn’t help himself from appreciating how damn tempting she was with her auburn hair, her bright green eyes, and her body, which was nothing short of a work of art. She was completely fit. Her life demanded it with her years of leading hikes, dog sledding trips, cross-country skiing and then some in the wilderness. Somehow though, she retained her femininity with an hourglass figure, lush breasts and generous hips to soften her athletic build.

To wake with her like this sent his body and mind into all kinds of wild imaginings. Suddenly she stiffened against him. Ah hell, she was awake and now he had to find a way to be a gentleman about this. Because unless she made it crystal clear she wanted something more, he’d try to respect their friendship. Her hand stilled on his chest and she slowly lifted her head.

“Um, I’m not sure how this happened,” she said, her words rough with sleep.

Seeing as he knew damn well she could feel his hard cock against the leg she’d thrown across him, he couldn’t really deny his state. He chuckled. “Me neither.”

Her eyes lifted and met his in the dark. He’d give anything for just enough light to be able to read her gaze. With his pulse thundering and lust lashing at him, he held his breath and willed his body under control.

She shifted her leg off of him. The feel of her silky skin sliding over his only served to tighten the need clawing at him. She slowly untangled herself from him, and he reluctantly let his hands ease off of her. She sat up and tugged her tank top down and looked over at him again. “Didn’t mean to climb all over you like that,” she said, her tone sheepish.

He aimed for nonchalant. “No need to apologize. We were asleep.” He left unsaid the fact that he would have happily allowed her to climb all over him again, but he sensed he needed to bide his time if he was ever to have a chance with Lacey.

She was quiet for several beats before she spun around and slipped back inside her sleeping bag. “Right, we were sleeping,” she said softly.

He listened to the sound of her breathing as she drifted back into sleep. He lay in the dark, wide-awake as his body settled down, the hot lust surging through him gradually ebbing away. An owl called in the trees nearby, another owl returning the call from a distance.

The following morning, Quinn woke before Lacey. He rolled his head to the side, a smile curling at the sight of her. Her auburn hair lay in a tousle around her face and shoulders. She was on her side facing him with her hands tucked under her chin. Her full lips were relaxed and tiny freckles were scattered across the bridge of her nose and her cheeks. He resisted the urge to lean over and kiss her. As if she sensed him looking at her, her eyes opened, green with flecks of gold and bright in the gray light of dawn.

“Morning,” he said.

She shifted onto her back and stretched before rolling to face him again. “Good morning. How long have you been awake?”

“Just a few minutes.”

“How’s your hip?”

She shifted her legs and shrugged one shoulder. “A little sore, but that’s all.”

She pushed up on one hand and crossed her legs under her. Her hair draped around her shoulders, long waves falling around the curves of her breasts, which were inconveniently on display in her fitted tank top. She leaned over and dug around in her backpack, tugging out a flannel button-down shirt, which she threw over her shoulders. He watched as she shimmied into a pair of fleece leggings. She glanced over her shoulder as she slid her feet into a pair of lightweight boots. “Don’t suppose you’ll be making coffee this morning?”