Head over Heels for the Holidays

by Jennifer Bernard

  “Same.”

  Under the soapy surface, Rune tangled his legs with hers. He wasn’t generally speaking a hot bath kind of person. They were suited more for Alaska than Hawaii. And he didn’t really fit into this tub, its oversize dimensions notwithstanding. While she was mostly immersed in the water, he could only get some of himself underwater at a time.

  Even so, he loved this bathtub. Some of their best conversations took place here.

  In the relaxing warmth of the scented water, Maya gradually opened up about her life. She told him all about Jerome, and her high school boyfriend, Lucas Holt, and how at her first dinner with his family, old Jack Hammer had made a racial comment that he’d never apologized for. Lucas finally had, years later.

  In that same vein, she told him about the many times strangers to town had looked right past her, assuming Hollister or Chen was the chief. And the time the school librarian, an amateur genealogist, got angry when Maya pointed out that her family had been in America longer than most people’s. She didn’t believe it, so Maya brought in a family tree that went back to the 1600s.

  On the lighter side, she talked about summers spent with Kate and Jessica, Toni and another girl who’d left Lost Harbor—Chrissie. They’d spend sunny days sunbathing on the deck of Jessica’s stepfather’s boat. As teenagers, they worked scooping ice cream or frying shrimp or guiding tourists in kayaks.

  They also did things like sneak into the Olde Salt Saloon and flirt with tourists. Keeping Kate Robinson out of trouble was often Maya’s primary mission.

  “Did you and Harris ever think about coming back to Hawaii?” he’d asked at one point. “I always thought you would, but you never did.”

  “Not really. My dad didn’t really like it. He prefers the cold. Says he can breathe here. He doesn’t like humidity.”

  “Excuse me, the weather is always perfect in Hawaii.”

  She’d giggled. “I bet you’ll be happy when you can go home again.”

  Yes and no. Yes because it was home. No because it didn’t have Maya.

  Right now, in the luxurious two-person tub, Maya’s foot was sliding along the inside of his thigh.

  “Do you think we should give each other presents?” she asked, her breath stirring the soap bubbles.

  “I vote yes. Cara says it’s hard to buy presents for me, so I’ll give you a hint.”

  “Okay, what?” Her dark honey eyes shone at him over the froth.

  “As long as you give it to me naked, it can be anything.”

  “Ha ha.” She lifted her foot and flicked soap suds in his face. He snagged her ankle and kept it lifted above the water.

  “Hand me that pumice.” She had an adorable little pumice stone shaped like a sea horse. He knew this because she’d actually given him a tour of her bathroom and all her guilty pleasures.

  She handed it to him and he rubbed it across the rougher skin of her heel. She sighed and relaxed into the tub again, her eyes closing.

  “Did you learn how to do that in paramedic school or with a surfing babe?” she asked.

  “Paramedic school,” he said seriously. “We had to practice on each other. The pedicures were the hardest part.”

  “Funny.”

  “You think I’m joking. Hand me the nail trimmers. Let me work my magic.” Actually, he knew nothing about such things. He was just going on instinct here.

  “When did you lose your virginity?”

  That was the thing about their bathtub conversations. All kinds of questions surfaced. “Where’d that question come from?”

  “I’m just curious. The way you touch me, it always feels like you know things.”

  “Know things, huh?”

  “About women. All women, not just me.”

  “You make me sound like a man whore.” Even though he made the comment lightly, he wasn’t entirely joking.

  “No no no.” She touched his other foot, which was nestled snug against her hip. “I really don’t mean it like that. Really really. I just mean that I love how you touch me.”

  “Well, I do fuck like a superstar, never forget,” he joked.

  “How could I when you remind me almost every night?”

  “Boom!” He flicked soap suds at her as she laughed. “Okay, you win an answer. I lost my virginity to an older woman. I was seventeen and she was twenty-one and worked as a lifeguard at the beach. She always told me to come see her when I turned eighteen. But I couldn’t wait that long, so I fudged it a little.” He grinned. “Boy was she mad when she found out. But by then we’d been boning like bunnies for months.”

  “Was she Hawaiian or white?”

  The question caught him off guard. “She was biracial. Her father was white and her mother was from Thailand.”

  “And now you’re with a black girl. So what…you don’t see color, is that it?” Even though she was smiling, he caught a shimmer of something else in her expression.

  “I see color. I see you, Maya Badger. And your color. And everything else that makes you, you.”

  How else could he tell her that he adored everything about her? She was quiet, watching him through the soap suds. Should he say again that he loved her? It was almost three weeks since he’d bared his heart at the beach lot in the storm. She still hadn’t said anything about her feelings for him. In fact, he wasn’t completely sure how she felt about him. Maybe “conflicted” would be in there somewhere. He knew she loved spending time with him, in and out of bed. And bath.

  “Sometimes I think people here forget I’m not white, because there’s not a lot of black people here,” she finally said. “But I never do. I’d never want to.”

  “It’s pretty white here, except for the Native population. So different from Hawaii. Does it bother you?”

  “I’m used to it. It’s home. Once in a while I have to check someone who says something dumb.”

  “I know the feeling.” He grinned at her ruefully. “You’ve called me out plenty of times.”

  “The thing with you is, you always listen to me. That goes a long way.”

  “Count on it. Whatever you want to say, I’m here for it.” He hesitated, then plunged onward. “Hypothetically, if I was more than a fake holiday boyfriend, would your family have a problem with me being a white dude?”

  She flicked some soap suds at him. “Hypothetically? You know my dad doesn’t, but that’s because he knows you. Maybe some others.” She shrugged, her bare shoulders rising through the suds. “How about your family?”

  He laughed. “My mom would pop open the Lambrusco. Then again, she does that every day anyway. She always loved you because you kept me out of trouble.”

  “Tried,” she corrected. “So what happened with your lifeguard girlfriend?”

  Abrupt change of subject. He went along with it. “She ended it and broke my heart.” He shrugged ruefully. “I was just a kid, after all. She moved on. I think she’s married now.”

  “I’m sorry your heart was broken.”

  “Hey, I’ll never regret it. She was a dream come true for my horny teenage ass. She was an incredible surfer. That’s how I knew her first, from the water.”

  “Did you know that people surf here too?”

  He put the pumice stone back on the edge of the bathtub, next to one of the candles in its glass stand. “You’re kidding. In full dry suits or do they just skip right to the hospital gown?”

  She smiled. “Dry suits. You should try it sometime. People say it’s amazing with the views of the mountains and so forth.”

  “Maybe. When it’s eighty degrees and sunny, with a five-foot swell.”

  She was quiet for a bit as she piled soap suds under her chin.

  He loved this girlie side of her, the part that indulged herself in long hot baths. Of course, he loved all the other sides of her too.

  Even the cautious, reserved side that refused to think about how she felt about him. He could be patient—until the day he had to leave. Which might come at any time.

  But just
lately, he’d come to the conclusion that he and Cara were safe until next year. Stalker Chad probably had some form of family somewhere. The holidays would throw a wrench in his stalking plans. And with Lost Harbor empty of tourists, it would be harder for a creepy stranger to sneak into town.

  At least that was his deepest wish and hope, for himself and for Cara. Cara and Maggie were so excited about the Christmas trip to Lost Souls that it was all they could talk about. At least let Cara experience the wonderful winter holiday she’d always dreamed of.

  “Rune?”

  He startled at the sound of Maya’s drowsy voice. “Yeah?”

  “In case I don’t tell you enough, I’m really glad you’re here.”

  He smiled to himself as he picked up her other foot and applied the pumice sea horse. He was wearing her down, he knew it. “Because I take such good care of your heels?”

  “Yeah. It’s all about the heels.” She sounded as if she was falling asleep in the clouds of steam. “Head over heels.”

  Head over heels? That meant…his hands paused on her foot. Did she mean it the way he thought?

  A soft snore came from the other end of the tub. He chuckled darkly. He wouldn’t be surprised if she was faking it because she’d realized what she’d just said.

  No matter. The holidays weren’t over yet. Miracles could happen.

  Chapter 29

  A few days before Christmas…

  * * *

  An old Coast Guard buddy of Harris Badger’s offered up his Piper Cub for their journey to Aurora Lodge.

  The Piper Cub only held four people, including the pilot, so Ben would have to make several trips in order to ferry them all across. Maya insisted on covering the cost of the fuel, though she had to insist hard.

  “I hate taking money from the Badger family,” he rumbled. “Between your dad saving my ass in the Aleutians, and you catching that burglar, I owe you Badgers.”

  “You’re a good man, Ben. But I’m paying for the fuel, and that’s that.”

  After all, it was going to take him half the day to make all the necessary trips. Their group included Maya and Rune, Alastair Dougal, Jessica and Ethan, Maggie and Cara, Darius, Kate, and Darius’ son Dylan—awkward, because Dylan and Maggie were “taking a break,” whatever that meant.

  Sadly, Nate and Bethany weren’t able to come. The Morrisons were holding a command performance Christmas party back in Connecticut, so they and Gretel and Zander and the boys had flown there a few days ago. Toni was throwing her usual Christmas party at the Olde Salt for the fishermen without families.

  That left a core group of Maya, who of course had brought her firearm, along four people she’d trust in a crisis, two question marks (Alastair and Jessica) and three teenagers.

  Then again, neither Maggie nor Cara were ordinary girls. Maggie probably belonged in the category of people she’d trust in a fight, and Cara could go into the “unknown” category. She’d taken self-defense classes after that first attempted kidnapping, but Maya had never seen her in action.

  Still, she felt fairly comfortable with that pared-down group.

  A group that didn’t include her father.

  For the first time in her life, she wouldn’t be celebrating Christmas with her dad.

  “It’s too soon for you to travel out there,” she’d explained. “It’s too unpredictable. I don’t know what we’ll be facing.”

  “You do your job, honey. Don’t worry about me.” But she could tell he was putting on a brave front, and she did worry—until Vicki swooped in with all kinds of plans for the two of them. Caroling with her church, a memorial potlatch for one of her Athabascan uncles, an eggnog party at her salon. A cozy little Christmas morning with just the two of them.

  Get used to it, she told herself. Dad’s happier than he’s been in a long time. This is a good thing. Don’t be such a baby.

  She was still working on that.

  The Piper Cub’s first flight across the bay included Maya, Rune and Alastair. Maya sat in the front with Ben, while the two men crammed themselves into the backseat.

  Flying over the dense snowy forests, it seemed impossible that they’d be able to spot the tiny airstrip, a mere scratch in the vast blanket of snow. First the lodge came into view, so improbably stately in this wild land. A billionaire had built it in the 1970s as a private retreat, then sold it to a consortium that opened it up for guests.

  The suites were absurdly expensive, especially considering that you had to hire a private plane to get there. Maya knew the clientele skewed toward wealthy people who wanted the priceless experience of being catered to in the midst of some of the most magnificent scenery on earth.

  But what if there was more to it? There was essentially no oversight in such a remote location. Other than the lodge, only scattered cabins and yurts existed in Lost Souls Wilderness, and those were few and very far between. Between Alastair’s strange fund transfer and Kelsey’s determined silence, all signs pointed to the lodge.

  There was no real law enforcement out there, other than Kelsey herself, who’d been deputized by the sheriff. But since Kelsey had been neutralized by threats against her daughter, there was zero law enforcement.

  She thought about the men she’d seen at the cove near Far Point. In her examination of the maps and satellite imagery of Lost Souls, she’d noticed a clearing in the forest not far away. Decades ago, some logging had taken place there, and the forest hadn’t recovered. It would be possible for a small plane to land there without anyone noticing.

  “Ben, can you take a little detour before we land?” she shouted over the drone of the engine. She pointed toward Far Point and the little cove. He tilted the wings and veered east. They chugged across the frozen landscape of ravines and icebound lakes and glittering cornices on the upper slopes of the mountains. The low midwinter sun had barely risen above the peaks, a sluggish effort, as if all it wanted was to stay in bed.

  The shoreline held so many little coves and inlets that it was difficult to spot the cove. Her binoculars were in her bag in the cargo section, held back by webbed netting. She should have anticipated better. Not only that, but the glare of the sun across the snow was blinding. She should have brought sunglasses. What was wrong with her? She was distracted, that was it. Distracted by Rune and all the time they’d been spending together in beds and bathtubs and wherever else they could sneak a moment.

  “I’ll be damned,” said Ben, gazing out the window on his side. “Looks like someone’s been landing a plane down there. It ain’t even plowed.”

  “Show me.”

  He performed a maneuver that put the wings at a vertiginous thirty-degree angle. Nausea clawed at her throat, but at least now she could see the mess that a plane’s wheels had made in the clearing.

  “Is that dangerous?” she asked Ben.

  “Hell yes. Must have been an emergency put-down. Don’t know why they didn’t go back to the lodge.”

  She knew. They had a mission to complete, no matter how dangerous the landing. She gave Ben a nod and he oriented the plane back toward the lodge.

  Rune must be wildly curious about their little side trip. He must recognize the cove he’d taken pictures of. She wasn’t sure if she should bring Alastair up to speed; then again, he wasn’t the type to sit back and wait for instructions. It would probably be best to loop him in so he didn’t go off and do something reckless.

  At the airstrip, Kelsey Lewis was waiting for them next to a futuristic-looking four-seater snow machine. Maya had never seen anything like it. As they ducked out of the Piper Cub onto the gritty pavement of the airstrip—this one properly plowed—she waved them over. She wore an anorak in vibrant burnt orange, along with snow pants and a balaclava covering most of her face. With all that winter gear, Maya barely recognized her.

  “It gets cold on the snow machine,” she told them as they carried their bags across the airstrip. “Better bundle up.”

  This deep into the wilderness, the air temperature here was a
good fifteen degrees colder than Lost Harbor because it didn’t have the moderating influence of the ocean.

  “I’ve never seen a snow machine like this,” Maya said.

  “Four-seater prototype from Canada. We’re testing them out here. Nothing but the best for the Aurora Lodge.”

  With their breaths sending puffs of steam into the cold air, they loaded boxes of food supplies, along with their backpacks of personal items, onto a trailer towed behind the snow machine.

  Maya gestured a “thank you” prayer hands to Ben, who waved back from the cockpit as he turned the plane around. She watched the bright little plane lift into the air, then turned back to their task.

  She pulled out her phone to text Jessica. Tell everyone to bring extra winter gear. It’s a lot colder here.

  Will do. Is it gorgeous?

  She answered yes before she’d even taken a solid look at the surrounding scenery. Of course it was gorgeous, that was a given. Even though she wasn’t here for the views, she allowed herself to absorb the breathtaking panoramas on the bone-rattling trip to the lodge. The snow machine seemed to hit every bump and fallen branch on the trail.

  Alastair sat in front with Kelsey, while she and Rune huddled behind them. For warmth, of course. Not because she always felt better when she was plastered up against Rune Larsen.

  He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and grinned down at her. “Things are never boring around you, you know that?”

  She smiled and brushed at the frost forming on the scruff of his beard. His eyes were bright with the excitement of an adventure. Her heart did a slow somersault inside her chest. Why did Rune always make her feel this way, as if the world was filled with joy and the opportunity for fun? But also—which seemed almost contradictory—safe?

  The truth had been welling in her heart for days. Weeks. But in this particular moment, with snow-spangled spruce sliding past their vehicle, and the cold making her snuggle against his strong body, she couldn’t hold it down any longer.

  She loved him.

  Once she let that truth come out, it spread through her entire being like a rising sun. It illuminated every corner of her heart and soul. She loved him. Without any of the shadows that had marked her feelings for Jerome. No doubt, no insecurity, no anxiety. Just pure joy to be with him, for however long that lasted.