Wild Alaskan Hearts

by Jennifer Snow

  Praise for USA TODAY bestselling author

  Jennifer Snow’s Wild River series

  “Heartwarming, romantic, and utterly enjoyable.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Melissa Foster on An Alaskan Christmas

  “This first title in the Wild River series is passionate, sensual, and very sexy. The freezing, winter-cold portrayal of the Alaskan ski slopes is not the only thing sending chills through one’s body.”

  —New York Journal of Books

  “Set in the wilds of Alaska, the beauty of winter and the cold shine through.”

  —Fresh Fiction on An Alaskan Christmas

  “Jennifer Snow’s Alaska setting and search-and-rescue element are interesting twists, and the romance is smart and sexy.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “Readers will enjoy the mix of sexy love scenes, tense missions, and amiable banter. This entertaining introduction to Wild River will encourage fans of small-town contemporaries to follow the series.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “An Alaskan Christmas drew me in from the first page to the last. I tried to read slower so that I could savor the story and feel every emotion. I reveled in every nuance, felt the cold, the wind and snow, and loved the small town and the mountains... I can’t wait to return to Wild River.”

  —Romance Junkies

  Wild Alaskan Hearts

  Jennifer Snow

  Dedication

  To the amazing art department at Harlequin—thank you for all the beautiful covers for this series!

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER ONE

  NICK HAD ACTUALLY unfriended her. And blocked her, judging by the slightly ominous disappearance of all his posts and comments from her social media sites. He’d even untagged himself from their photos together. Alisha Miller had been able to view her ex-boyfriend’s Facebook profile long enough to see him change his status from “In a Relationship” to “Single,” and notice that he’d “Liked” the Wild River Single Professionals dating page.

  That hurt, but it was probably his intent, and how could she fault him for it? The breakup had been 100 percent her fault.

  Who mixed up their current boyfriend’s birthday with their ex’s? Worse—who planned a surprise birthday party on the completely wrong day? She’d barely had the word “Surprise!” out of her mouth before the look on Nick’s face made her realize the mistake. The sound of her apartment door slamming behind him had made it perfectly clear that things were over.

  If only one of their friends could have prevented the mix-up... But Nick was a transplant to Wild River, so her friends had become his friends over the months they’d dated, and therefore, no one—not a close buddy of his or family member—could have prevented her massive blunder.

  Alisha sighed as she shut down the site and tucked her phone into the pocket of her scrubs. Getting dumped had been overdue actually. How many times had she messed things up and Nick had let it go? Even the sweet, patient, smart, successful lawyer had his breaking point. It was disappointing because she and Nick were compatible on so many levels. He was everything she claimed to look for in a man.

  Unfortunately, he wasn’t Arron.

  She’d thought that after all this time, she’d have moved on. Healed from the breakup before this one. But Arron Bosch had somehow weaved his way into her heart so deeply that even a steady, reliable relationship with Nick hadn’t been able to shake him loose.

  Alisha left the break room at Wild River Community Hospital and suppressed a yawn as she headed toward the maternity ward. She paused in the hall outside the baby room and the familiar tug at her chest felt even stronger this time.

  She wouldn’t call the sensation the result of longing or a ticking clock—it was more a foreboding sense of not being sure whether she wanted children of her own. In three months, she was turning thirty, and she’d never felt the pressure to get married and start a family even when it seemed everyone around her was blissfully betrothed. But her lack of desire one way or another was worrisome. She’d heard of the inexorable biological clock and she’d expected it to be ringing or at least sending warning signs anytime now...

  But nothing.

  The babies were beautiful, precious, adorable. She could cuddle one or all of them for hours. But it was also just as easy to hand them back. Indecisiveness over something so big was the scariest part. How could she plan her future if she had no strong feelings when it came to something as important as children?

  She continued down the hall and pushed through the door to Room 43, where her best friend, Cheryl Kingsly, was breastfeeding her new baby girl. Her second child in less than two years. Cheryl and her husband, Mitch, wanted a big family and they wanted the kids to be close in age. Cheryl and Mitch had a plan.

  “How’s Mom and baby Rose?” she asked quietly as she tiptoed toward the bed.

  Cheryl was already showered and dressed, and looked fresh as a daisy only twelve hours after delivering the perfect little girl. Cheryl was a personal trainer and Alisha suspected she’d be back in the gym with her clients, baby Rose strapped to her chest, doing squats in record time.

  “We’re doing great. She’s latching like a champ,” Cheryl said with a smile as she swaddled the baby and put the sleeping child into the plastic crib next to the bed. When she turned back to Alisha, she frowned. “You don’t look so great though. Everything okay?”

  She was a terrible liar and Cheryl could always tell when something was up, so she said, “Nick has officially banned me from his life. I’ve been erased on social media now.”

  After the birthday incident, he’d refused to answer her calls and texts. He’d sent Mitch to collect his personal things from her apartment. Just a week earlier she’d been thinking his next move would be to bring all of his items in, as his own apartment lease was coming up for renewal. But there had been no opportunity to explain or apologize, and it killed her that at this point, she was concerned more with clearing the air and removing the awkwardness between them than with actually getting back together.

  Since the breakup, she’d had to reluctantly admit it was for the best. Still didn’t stop her from missing him or the life they’d been sharing. But expecting him to still want to be her friend would be selfish.

  Cheryl offered a sympathetic smile and said, “Look, I know you wanted Nick to be the one...but you can’t force these things.”

  Right, but if Nick wasn’t the one when he was absolutely perfect in every way, how would she ever find the one? An anxiety attack threatened, so she calmed herself by staring at the peaceful, sleeping baby.

  “I didn’t have to screw things up so badly though. I still can’t believe I made such a crazy mistake. I know when Nick’s birthday is. He’s a Scorpio. It was one of those perfect things where the stars—the actual stars—aligned. We were astrologically compatible.” It wasn’t something she put a ton of stock in, but it certainly helped. “I don’t know how I got the two dates confused.”

  Cheryl eyed her. “Because you’ve never gotten over Arron.”

  Alisha opened her mouth to argue but then slammed her lips shut again. No sense trying to bullshit Cheryl. She paced the room and resisted the urge to scream. Arron infuriated her. Any thought of him, any mention... The fact that he didn’t infuriate her as much as he should infuriated her. “How could I? There was never any closure.”

  “What did happen between you two anyway? I was away at that yoga teacher trai
ning when things ended. You never did tell me. It was all kinda crazy, intense...then boom! Over.”

  Boom! Over. That pretty much summed it up. “Things were crazy and intense.” Arron was one of those exciting men who swept a woman off her feet with the promise of life being a continuous adventure. He was a free-spirited free climber who was essentially living life one challenging mountain to another. As an adventure guide for SnowTrek Tours, he was living the life he’d always wanted.

  Alisha had met him on a rock climbing team building exercise with the hospital staff and had fallen hard and fast. Their sense of adventure had been in sync. She loved to climb and surf and ski and all things outdoors that provided an adrenaline rush.

  Arron had been one hell of an adrenaline rush.

  She took a deep breath and continued. “Then his twin brother, Langdon, died of a brain aneurysm and Arron was devastated. He seemed lost and depressed one minute and almost manic the next. He quit his job at SnowTrek, sold off everything in a matter of days, bought an old Volkswagen sleeper van and decided to travel the world.”

  He didn’t exactly ditch her. He’d asked her to go with him, and the memory of that moment continued to haunt her. At the time she’d thought he was asking the impossible. She had a career, an apartment, friends, family and a life in Wild River. They’d only been seeing each other three months. Giving it all up had seemed impulsive. His actions had appeared to be on the brink of reckless and the whole thing had terrified her. She had been unable to go with him and he’d left...but they’d never really ended things. They’d never talked about what happened next for the two of them. If there was a way to make things work...

  “There was never any real closure.” After he drove away, she’d never heard from him again. Pain and pride had prevented her from reaching out.

  “Well, maybe it’s time you get that,” Cheryl said in her best life coach tone. Twelve hours after childbirth and she was already back in action as Alisha’s best friend and sounding board.

  Alisha’s heart raced. She wasn’t sure she wanted advice right now. Especially when it was obviously the right advice, which was notoriously difficult to follow. “How?”

  “Call him. Right now. Say the things you didn’t get to say and then tell him it’s officially over.” Cheryl’s instructions made it sound so easy.

  Alisha stared at the ground as she mumbled, “I don’t even know if I still have his phone number.”

  “Bullshit.”

  She sighed. “Okay, so maybe it’s still on my speed dial.” Another thing that had pissed off Nick. The guy deserved a medal for sticking it out as long as he had.

  “Well, do it. Like pulling off a Band-Aid.”

  Yeah, a sixteen-month-old Band-Aid that was likely covering an open wound.

  Could she really do that? Call up the only man she couldn’t stop thinking about, dreaming about, reminiscing about...and finally close the door on a relationship she obviously never wanted to be over?

  Unfortunately, it seemed like it might be the only way she could ever move forward.

  * * *

  HIS THIRTIETH FREE CLIMB, to mark his thirtieth birthday, had to be epic. So, naturally, Arron Bosch was back in his hometown of Wild River, Alaska. Or more accurately thirty minutes outside town, staring up at the base of Denali Diamond. This mountain had always eluded him, with its menacing height and dangerous terrain, and while the goal wasn’t to climb to its very peak, this free climb would be one of the very few attempted on this rock face.

  This had been the plan for almost five years. The pact he’d made with his twin brother, Langdon. They’d been working their way up to this climb. Training for it, preparing for it. To mark their thirtieth birthday, they’d tackle one of the world’s most formidable mountains with the most challenging climb of their lives.

  Langdon was gone, but Arron was determined to fulfill the promise. A way of honoring his brother’s memory. He’d spent the last sixteen months traveling the United States, climbing peaks from California to Colorado to Maine. Alone, in his old sleeper van, living on his savings and picking up an odd job here and there, he’d made his way from north to south, from east to west and now back home again.

  He stared up at the mountain in front of him. This was it. He was ready.

  No harness, no safety net. Just him and the rock face.

  He took a deep breath, checked his gear and started his climb. His muscles were ready—he’d been endurance training for six months. His mind was ready—razor focus could mean the difference between life and death. Sound decisions, careful calculation, never taking a foothold or handhold for granted. There was a spiritual element to these climbs, a connection to nature, a respect for the danger these skyscraping mountains could evoke.

  This climb would take over forty hours, so he paced himself as he went higher and higher. There was no rush. The goal was to complete the ascent, not break any records. And he wanted to enjoy it. His climb path would take several days and he’d be portaledge camping after the sun went down.

  About two hours and two hundred feet from the bottom, he paused and took in the breathtaking view of the valley below and the snow-covered mountain peaks in the distance. Rivers and lakes reflected the sun’s warm glow and midafternoon shadows fell over the forest areas. This sight never got old. Wild River had some of the best experiences and scenery in the world. Surreal majesty enveloped him as he continued the trek upward, letting his mind and body come together as he pushed through the more difficult aspects of the challenging climb.

  This was living. And he was determined to do as much living as possible. Langdon had taught him the importance of not wasting a single moment.

  His twin brother had been the adventurous one growing up—the daredevil, the wild child. Arron had been more afraid to try new things, but his brother always refused to do something if Arron didn’t do it too. Langdon had helped him overcome his many fears, and after they both graduated college with matching physical education degrees, they’d moved to Alaska to operate their own free-climb clinics in partnership with SnowTrek Tours.

  They were twins. They were brothers, so naturally they were close, but they were also best friends because they respected one another. They’d had each other’s back.

  Unfortunately, there was no fighting the brain aneurysm that had taken his brother’s life. Langdon had led a life of activity, geared toward good health and body positivity. The one day he was at home with a minor head cold, chilling in front of Netflix, he’d died suddenly, without apparent cause. The autopsy report had shocked them all. How could someone so healthy, so full of life, just die?

  Arron’s life had changed in that split second. He hadn’t known what to do. Fear unlike any he’d ever experienced had gripped him, making it hard to breathe, hard to focus, hard to sit still... He’d needed to escape the pain, so he’d left for the road trip of a lifetime, hoping to find peace in a world without his brother.

  Whether it had been the right thing to do...maybe he’d never know, but lately he’d found himself second-guessing his decision more than he’d like.

  The sound of a ringtone came from his backpack—one that he hadn’t heard in sixteen months. He attempted to take the next step upward but lost his footing. He frantically reached higher to try to steady himself against the rock face, but the ledge above him was too narrow. Without a firm grasp, his fingers slipped, and the one hand holding his body weight gave way.

  A second later, he was free-falling.

  CHAPTER TWO

  ALISHA YAWNED AS she headed toward the locker room. Her last twenty-four-hour shift for the week was over, and she was looking forward to three days off. She needed time for self-care. An at-home spa day and maybe a new hairstyle would help her rebound from the breakup...and get her head on straight to prevent any more impulse dials to ex-boyfriends. As soon as she got home, she was deleting contact details for all former flame
s from her cell phone.

  Thank God Arron hadn’t answered her call. What the hell would she have said?

  Cheryl was right—she did need some kind of closure if she was going to move on with her life. But maybe that closure had to come from within. Maybe the fact that they hadn’t found their way back to each other after so much time was enough.

  Did she really need to hear him say he didn’t love her?

  The thought made her stomach drop. She changed quickly, grabbed her purse and headed out of the locker room. Pizza, cheap Chardonnay, pajamas and a face mask held the cure to all her problems. And maybe she’d grab some cleansing herbs from the apothecary store on Main Street to reset the balance in her apartment.

  As she approached the front doors, she waved to the staff at the triage desk and paused to rearrange the stack of magazines in the waiting room. For three days, this place would not be her problem. She’d unwind and relax and not give work a second—

  The emergency doors swung open, and the sight of a stretcher being rolled in had her moving toward it. She wasn’t sanitized or dressed to deal with the patient, but her oath as a nurse prevented her from simply leaving the hospital when she might be needed. “What do we have?” she asked one of the paramedics.

  “Male. Late twenties. Climbing accident,” he said. “Several broken bones for sure. Internal bleeding and concussion suspected.”

  Alisha glanced at the man. “Is he unconscious?”

  “Induced. He was in a lot of pain.”

  She walked alongside the stretcher as they made their way down the hall toward surgery, and when she looked at his face, really looked this time, her heart stopped. The man she’d been trying to call an hour before was now lying there severely injured.

  Fate had the worst sense of humor.

  It was irrational to be mad at someone on a stretcher, but damned if she could control the feelings of rage flowing through her at the sight of Arron lying there damaged and broken. She wanted to yell at him for getting hurt. But in the next instant, she had to resist the urge to grab him and hug him in relief that it wasn’t so much worse. Her stomach felt queasy as she forced a calming breath and tried to take in the situation as a professional caregiver and not a woman seeing the love of her life for the first time in months under terribly unfortunate circumstances. It was nearly impossible.