“I don’t think that would be a good idea.” He swallowed at the knot in his throat. He felt the heat of her body standing mere inches away from him. “Do you have the robe on now?”
She brushed against his backside. “Yes, it’s on. We barely fit under this umbrella.”
He turned around. He wasn’t prepared for the sight of her eyes gazing up at him. Her full lips were parted. Rainwater clung to her eyelashes.
Her expression looked uncertain. The white terry cloth robe gaped open in the front nearly to her bellybutton, revealing the swells of her breasts and a small butterfly tattoo.
Had it been that long since he’d been near an attractive woman? Unstable with wanting, he couldn’t get to the lodge quick enough. “We should get back inside.”
Zak put the umbrella into her hands and urged her forward. Away from him. “You go ahead,” he said.
“But you’re going to get wet.” She tried to keep her body beside his. “We can both fit.”
“I’m good.” He placed his hand on the small of her back, insisting she move ahead of him toward the lodge.
Finally, they got through the front doors. Zak moved straight to the leather sofa in front of the fireplace. “Take a seat. I’ll grab my laptop and we can book a flight home in the morning.”
“No.” Her voice stopped his retreat. “I’m not leaving. I’m not ready to go home yet.”
He didn’t know what to say, except that she couldn’t stay here. She was too vulnerable and he was too weak. He’d buried himself in work for so long he’d barely looked at women. Now he was feeling like a sex-starved maniac who might crack at any moment. She needed to run now, while she had the chance.
Her pale blue eyes blinked up at him. Her robe was still tied loosely, revealing pale pink skin covered in raindrops. “I understand if I can’t stay in your brother’s room for more than just tonight,” she said. “That’s fine. I appreciate the space you’ve given me. I’ll find another place tomorrow, but I’m not flying home. Not yet.”
She sat in front of the fire and stared into the flames, then pulled a blanket off the armrest and covered her bare feet.
He watched the flame’s light cast shadows across her determined face. She was making herself way too comfortable. She shouldn’t be here. “Can’t you see it’s not appropriate for you to be here?”
“Appropriate?” She eyed him curiously. “You’re going to have to explain what you mean.”
“Okay, so appropriate isn’t the right word. You can’t stay here.”
“But you said you’d let me use your brother’s room for the night.”
“Not here here. Here in Alaska. You’re not made for these kinds of conditions. Alaska isn’t a place for women like you.”
“First I’m not appropriate, now you think I’m so fragile I shouldn’t be out in the rain? Is that what you mean by ‘conditions.’ Women like me have every right to be in your state, like any other woman. I didn’t see a sign on the door that said ‘men only.’ You’re being awfully barbaric, aren’t you?”
Irritation pulsed through him. He was doing a horrible job of explaining what he meant. He was getting all tongue-tied. Everything he said came out wrong. Get a grip. It’s not as if he’d never seen an attractive woman before.
Buzzing interrupted his thoughts. He stared at her rain-soaked hair and flushed cheeks. His mind must be playing tricks on him.
The buzzing continued.
“That sounds like a phone. Do you need to answer it?” The thick fog of his irritation thinned. His senses cleared. It was the lodge phone. It had to be close to midnight…whoever was calling, it had better be good.
Frustrated, he picked up the phone. “Zak Forrester.”
“Oh, thank god. Zak, it’s Betsy.”
Zak blew out a breath he’d been holding. “Is this an emergency?”
“I’m so grateful you answered. I can’t find Shadow. I let him outside just like always at about ten o’clock, and he hasn’t come back. He doesn’t like the rain. He’d want to come back inside. Something’s wrong, I just know it.”
Something was wrong, all right. His sanity. “He’ll come home. He always does.”
“But I’m afraid. What if he’s caught in a trap?”
“It’s not trapping season.” He tried to keep the irritation out of his voice, but it wasn’t as if this would deter Betsy anyway. Blowing out another breath, he forked his fingers through his hair. Maybe this was a sign. A very real sign that he shouldn’t be fraternizing with the guests, especially jilted bride guests who were vulnerable. This was karma’s way of saying ‘back off.’
“Will you see if you can find him?” Betsy pleaded. “I know he likes to wander, but I’m worried. Have you heard the forecast? It’s supposed to snow. Shadow doesn’t have that much fur. He could die out there.”
Zak pinched the bridge above his nose. This was not completely out of the norm for Betsy, so he should get a grip. The alternative was hanging out with Sabrina. He was going to regret his next words, but he said them anyway: “I’ll be over. Give me ten minutes.”
He hung up.
“Problem?” Sabrina asked.
“Betsy Randall, she lives in town and owns a B&B. Anyway…it appears her dog has gone missing.”
Sabrina wrapped the terry cloth robe tightly around her waist. “I sense a bit of sarcasm in your voice.”
“Oh, you noticed?” He stood at the end of the sofa, eyeing her long bare legs.
“Does this happen often?”
“Every few weeks, yes. He likes to visit other neighboring dogs…or cats…or squirrels…other critters in general.”
Sabrina smiled and tucked a long sun-tanned leg under her. “You know, honestly, I’m exhausted. If you could direct me to your brother’s room? Ethan, did you say his name was?”
“Yes.” He’d been somewhat prepared to sit and discuss the merits of women like her being in Alaska, but searching for Shadow was the better plan. “You’re right. It’s very late.”
They went to Ethan’s apartment on the second story. He showed her the small kitchenette, sitting room, brick fireplace, and bedroom separated with a single pony wall. Ethan kept it pretty tidy.
“This is perfect,” Sabrina said. “How will I ever thank you and thank your brother?”
“He won’t mind.” He pulled off Ethan’s comforter.
“Who is this woman?” she asked from behind him.
Zak turned around, but he knew the portrait Sabrina must have spotted above the fireplace.
“My sister-in-law. She was killed in a car accident five years ago.”
She sucked in a breath. “I’m so sorry. She’s beautiful. Breathtaking, really.”
“She was a great person. I miss her.” It was a simple statement, but it still grated against his nerves. If he still missed her, he couldn’t imagine how Ethan felt.
Sabrina peered intensely at the photo. “How long were they married?”
“They were married two years before the accident. Ethan and Richelle were high school sweethearts.”
“That’s so sad.”
It was sad, and even sadder that Ethan was grieving as though the accident was still fresh. He hadn’t entered the land of the living again. Not really. He kept to himself. Except this time of year, when he was needed to guide hunting and fishing trips for the lodge.
Zak pulled off the rest of the sheets and pillowcases. “I’ll be right back with a clean set.”
He took the sheets into the laundry room and grabbed a fresh set for Sabrina to use. . Walking through the lobby, he glanced out the three-story prow-fronted windows. The floodlights illuminated the heavy downpour. Betsy Randall’s forecast was correct; the rain was turning to flurries of snow. No way would bikini-loving Sabrina want to stay here for a September snowfall.
Back in Ethan’s room, he found her staring at the photo of his sister-in-law and various wedding photos. “If you think her portrait sucks you in, imagine how much my brother was in love wi
th her,” Zak said. “Gave up a full-ride scholarship to play hockey at Michigan State.”
Sabrina’s eyes widened. “He stayed here and got married instead of going to college?”
“Yes.” Zak spread the sheet across the bed. Sabrina stood on the opposite side; they wrapped the fitted ends under the mattress in perfect synchronicity.
“They must have really been in love,” she said.
“They were. She was angry at him for refusing the scholarship.”
“Why didn’t she go to college with him?”
“Her father had terminal cancer and she wouldn’t leave him.” He tossed the flat sheet across the bed. “And Ethan wouldn’t leave her.”
Sabrina stopped tucking in sheets and stared across the bed at Zak. “How incredibly hard that must have been for your family. Ethan gives up a full-ride scholarship to college. His wife dies. It’s horrible.”
“Other families have weathered worse.” He grabbed a pillow and stuffed it inside the pillowcase. “Honestly, I don’t know that Ethan was really college material anyway. I think there was a part of him that didn’t want to leave Alaska, regardless of Richelle. We all love it here. Alaska gets in your blood, and you can’t leave.”
“So you all live here? Your whole family?”
“Yes. My brother Travis is a pilot and owns Tundra Air, the commuter airline you flew in on from Fairbanks. Ethan commutes between the lodge and Anchorage. My mom and sister live in Fairbanks. Then there’s Dane, my youngest brother. He plays in the NHL for the Alaska Fury.” Speaking to a stranger about his family made him realize how much he missed them all being together under the same roof.
“Wow. I bet you love going to his games.”
“I do. I’m really proud of him.” Zak stuffed the second pillow into the pillowcase and fluffed it up, then said: “I better get going before Betsy calls again.”
“Do you think you’ll find her dog?”
He shook his head. “No idea.”
“It’s awfully nice of you to try.”
“This town is a pretty close-knit group.”
“If I had a flat tire in L.A., no one would stop to help me, and here you are going out in the middle of the night in search of someone’s dog.”
“I think plenty of people would stop to help you change a flat tire.” He raised a brow to indicate his disbelief.
“No, really. People don’t stop. That’s why I have triple-A.”
She must be trying to be funny, he thought. Didn’t she have family or friends to call if she needed help with a flat tire? Then again, wouldn’t most women who’d been left at the altar want to be with family and friends right now, rather than thousands of miles away? He reminded himself that none of this was his business. “All right. Well, I’ll let you get some sleep. Come to the kitchen in the morning. I’ll have coffee on.” He leaned closer. “You drink coffee, right?”
“Sure do. Thank you, Zak. And goodnight.”
Zak headed outside, gathering warm outdoor gear and a flashlight before he hopped on the four-wheeler. No one stopped to help her change a flat tire, his ass. Nobody in their right mind would pass up an opportunity to stand next to Sabrina Tate, never mind changing her tire.
But a part of him wondered if it was true. Did people not help each other where she lived? Why didn’t she have the support of friends and family when she needed it? He couldn’t think about that right now.
It took Zak about an hour to find Shadow. He’d hooked up with a local musher’s sled dog and made himself at home, sharing her outdoor kennel. Even a dog was smart enough to get out of this rain.
Betsy was very appreciative and Zak supposed he was happy to help her out. The forced separation from Sabrina gave him time to think, and he realized the last few hours—ever since she walked into the lodge—he hadn’t done any thinking at all, he’d only reacted. First to her ridiculous outfit and how cold she was, then to how desirable she looked in the water. Clearly, he hadn’t been using his brain.
She made him feel in ways he hadn’t in a long time. But still, the fact remained she was vulnerable and, as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he really didn’t want to be the rebound guy. Maybe it was his pride, maybe it was Sabrina herself, but he needed to make a concerted effort to avoid further entanglements with his guest. He’d planned for months to research better marketing strategies to bring more business to the lodge in the winter months. He finally had the lodge to himself to get this work done. If only he could keep that California girl out of his head so he could do it.
CHAPTER 4
After twenty-four years, Sabrina had finally reached out and asked for something she wanted. Well, kind of. She had asked Zak to swim in the hot springs with her, but secretly she was glad he’d declined. For a brief moment, surrounded by the fog and mist, she had wanted to do something wild and crazy, and inviting Zak into the water seemed the thing to do. Not something that was planned or expected of her. Since he didn’t join her, she’d done the next closest thing to crazy she could think of: skinny-dipping. Oh, she knew that was tame, especially by Melody’s standards, but swimming naked in hot springs in the wilds of Alaska felt freeing nonetheless.
She had always considered the wants and desires of her family—in particular her father—and today, for the first time, she thought only of herself. She wanted an adventure, and it came in the form of this foreign place, so completely different from her world.
She was never alone at home.
This place was overwhelming with all its open space and fresh air. A person could suffocate amongst the undeveloped landscape covered in trees and mountains. The only time she felt somewhat at home was in the eighteen-passenger commuter plane flying to Gold Creek. The small seats and miniature fuselage reminded her of that scrunched-in feeling she got when driving in rush hour L.A. traffic.
After a restless night’s sleep, Sabrina slipped on her borrowed sweatpants and tee shirt. Out of habit she reached for her cell phone, but chose to put it back in her purse. There was no reason to check text messages or listen to voicemail. She had two weeks until the charity fundraiser, and she was going to use this time to regroup. The tennis community was relying on her to make the event spectacular, and she needed to be at her best when she flew home. Granted, she was not ready to face the repercussions of her would-be wedding yet, but she would be there for the tennis kids who needed her, no matter what.
She smelled coffee and made her way downstairs. Before reaching the bottom step, she spotted Zak leaving his office, reading paperwork in deep concentration.
“Good morning,” she said, shoving her hands into the deep sweatpant pockets.
Zak’s eyes flashed up at her and his pen hovered in midair. “Good morning to you. How did you sleep?”
“All right.” She rubbed the back of her neck and realized that she was nervous. Not fully understanding why, she asked, “Did you find Shadow?”
“As a matter of fact, I did.”
He was all kinds of capable, and she admired this heroic act he’d done for his neighbor. “I knew you would.” She eyed his white tee shirt with a colorful fish across the front with the words Gut Salmon? “Cute shirt.”
His eyebrows rose as he strode closer to her. “Can I get you a cup of coffee and some breakfast?”
Sabrina remembered Susan asking her only yesterday if Kyle made her heart race. And yesterday, when speaking about her own fiancé, she couldn’t say ‘yes.’ But now, thousands of miles away from that world, everything felt different. Her heart beat in an uneven rhythm. “I’d love that. Thank you.”
His hand drifted forward with invitation. “After you.”
Sabrina crossed the polished floors and gaped when she looked outside the prow-fronted three-story windows. “Oh my god. Look at it!”
“The snow?” Zak said in a sarcastic tone.
“Yes, of course the snow. I have to drive to the mountains to see snow at home, so I don’t see it very often.” She ran to the window’s ledge. “This is
incredible. Let’s go outside.”
“Sure we can, but I’ll need to find something more appropriate for your feet.” He stared down at her toes. “Do you always go barefoot?”
Funny how Kyle had never once mentioned the fact that she often went without shoes or socks. “It depends. In the mornings, generally yes, until I’ve practiced yoga.”
Zak nodded. “Ah, yes…yoga.”
Sabrina spun around and examined the vaulted ceilings with the rock fireplace and natural log beams overhead. “You know, this room would be perfect for yoga. The hardwood floors, the view of the mountains…it’s so relaxing here. I could see teaching classes right here in this room.”
Zak let out a boom of laughter.
“What? I’m being perfectly serious,” she said. “Do you have any yoga mats?”
“No.”
“Well, I have a travel mat in my bag. I’m going to get it. Be right back.” She was riled by his reaction to her yoga practice and her suggestion that this room would be perfect for yoga, but she didn’t have the inclination to discuss it with him right now. It shouldn’t matter what he thought anyway.
“I thought we were having breakfast,” he called out.
Sabrina stopped and straightened her spine. No sense in arguing with him, and she was hungry. “Fine. Let’s have breakfast, then I’ll do yoga.”
Zak urged her forward, placing his hand at the small of her back. “What size are your feet?” he asked.
His touch sent a zing of pleasure up her spine. “Six.”
“I’ll see if we can find some boots for you.” In the kitchen, Zak poured her a cup of coffee. “Cream and sugar?”
“Do you have any non-fat creamer?”
He set the coffee pot back in its holder and moved in measured movements. “No.”
“Figured you’d say that.”
Zak set the coffee mugs and cream on the breakfast nook table. “The lodge doesn’t cater to female clients.”
“Men might like fat-free creamer for their coffee,” she insisted.
“Not likely.” He slid into the wood bench seat across from her. “This isn’t California.”
Her Alaskan Hero Page 4
