She hesitated. “You’ll think I’m weird if I tell you.”
“I already think you’re a little on the different side of the fence.”
“Oh, yeah.” Sabrina reached down his muscular torso and slid her hand over his bottom. She’d never been this bold before. Maybe it was because Zak didn’t know her. He didn’t know her very proper upbringing, or all the expectations placed on her by her family and by the media. “I like being different.”
“I like you being you. Whether that’s different or not, I don’t care.” His mouth captured hers. He demanded her lips to comply. She willingly opened her mouth. He lifted his body above hers and pressed her deeper into the mattress, pushing his knee in between her legs.
“I get these feelings sometimes. I guess you could call them premonitions.” Her breath caught and her legs needed little urging from him to open.
“Tell me about them.” He braced his arms on either side of her head.
The heady masculine scent of him filled her nostrils. “I get a sense of things—usually bad things—before they happen.”
Raising a brow, he leaned on one elbow. “Really?”
She should have known better than to tell him. Only Melody believed her.
“Do you get good premonitions, too?” he asked.
“Yes.” He probably didn’t believe her, but it didn’t matter. Not in the grand scheme of things. Besides, it’s not like she was staying here. She had the fundraiser to think about and people depending on her. She’d prepared in advance, knowing she’d be leaving for her honeymoon, but she still needed to be there.
“So what’s your premonition about what’s going to happen next?”
“Next as in, next week or tomorrow?” She smiled.
“Next as in right now.” Zak reached between her legs, teasing her.
“Mmm…I’m getting the premonition that you’re going to make me feel all kinds of wonderful.”
“I think you are psychic.” He leapt off the bed as quick as a cat and shoved his brawny arms under the small of her back and knees. “I’m taking you out front by the river rock fireplace.”
Zak easily hoisted her into his arms like she was nothing more than a bag of groceries.
Breathless, she said, “At least grab a robe for me. What if a neighbor shows up?”
“Fine.” He grabbed a robe, then hoisted her in his arms again.
Her heart fluttered and spun in circles before settling back in her chest. The phrase weak in the knees came to mind when she looked at Zak. This naked hunk of a man carried her around this big empty lodge and it completely thrilled her.
But even as she felt joy, the thought intruded—she’d be leaving soon. She’d have to let him go. This man who was so capable, literally building a lodge from nothing. He was committed to his family and to Alaska. He was nothing like the men she used to date, and soon she’d have to leave him behind.
CHAPTER 7
Early the next morning, his phone rang. Zak didn’t want to disturb Sabrina’s slumber. He took the call outside his bedroom. “Forrester Lodge.”
“Hey, just checking in,” his brother Ethan said.
Wiping the sleep from his eyes, Zak realized it wasn’t as early as he’d thought. He’d been up until the wee hours making love to Sabrina. He sure didn’t want Ethan getting any indication of what he’d been up to. “Get any moose yet?”
“Yeah, we got one this morning. Stalked another one, but he gave us the slip.”
“How far did you have to pack it?”
“A couple miles. It wasn’t too bad. The wind is really picking up though, so it’s difficult to hear them or call them in.”
“Too bad.” Although the longer they didn’t get a second moose, the more time he’d have with Sabrina.
“I was just thinking about the dimensions of the new meat locker and whether it’s big enough. Did you already send off the blueprints?”
“No, not yet,” Zak replied. The sooner he could end this call, the sooner he could get back to her.
“Well, what do you think of making one side a couple feet bigger? Maybe get bids for the original size and one with some additional footage. Just to see if there’s a big difference in cost.”
“Yeah, okay.” Zak glanced out the window at the wet ground where the snow had melted.
Silence sounded on the other end of the phone.
Ethan finally said, “Yeah, okay? That’s it? You aren’t going to argue about it?”
“No. Why would I? It’s just a bid.”
“Is everything okay at the lodge?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”
Ethan made a long mmm noise on the other end of the phone. “This is about our unexpected guest, isn’t it?”
“No, everything’s fine.”
“The Zak I know would have already sent off the blueprints to at least three different companies two days ago. And you’d at least argue about changing the dimensions of the meat locker. Not just say ‘yeah, okay.’ Tell me more about our California girl.”
“She’s not our girl. She’s passing through is all, and will leave soon. She needed a temporary escape from her problems.” Saying the words made Zak realize how much this bothered him. The arrangement between them was only temporary.
“Most women don’t come to rural Alaska to escape problems, but sure, okay, why not?”
“She’ll leave when you get back.”
“Well, don’t chase her off. I’d like to meet the woman who kept you from working for a few days.”
“I haven’t quit working.” Maybe temporarily, but she’d been too hard to resist. He didn’t think a snowball fight, a Scrabble game, and gold panning could change how he felt so quickly, but he’d never been faced with something quite like this before.
“Then maybe you should take some time off. With this weather going the way it is, we may not be back by the end of the week as planned.”
Zak noticed the way his gut clenched at the thought of them being delayed. The sad thing was it was a good clench, an excited clench, knowing he’d get more time with Sabrina the longer they stayed away.
“What’s our girl doing right now?” Ethan asked.
“Quit calling her our girl.”
“You’re a little testy.”
“I’m not testy.” He didn’t want to tell Ethan she was asleep, because then he’d inevitably ask in whose bed. “She’s doing yoga right now.”
“Interesting.”
With the clarity of morning, Zak had to face the reality of just how temporary his time with Sabrina was, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. “Just say what you’re thinking, I know you want to.”
“I’m thinking that a California tree-hugger who does yoga isn’t the right woman for you,” Ethan said.
“Who said anything about a right woman? She’s passing through. She won’t stick.”
“I’m guessing you’re right. She won’t stick, and this bothers you.”
“This conversation is over.” Zak heard Ethan laughing and it infuriated him.
“You know…” Ethan paused. “You deserve to take some vacation time. I think you’re overdue.”
“What you think doesn’t matter. There’s lots to be done around here.” Even though he’d gotten none of it done, which was so completely out of character for him.
“Yeah, okay, sure.”
Zak sensed disappointment in Ethan’s tone. He wasn’t exactly sure why this bothered him so much.
“Talk to you later,” Ethan said, and the call disconnected.
Zak hung up the phone and pinched the bridge of his nose, angry with himself for being so short with Ethan, but his words kept replaying in his brain. A California tree-hugger who does yoga isn’t the right woman for you. And that was the crux of it. She wasn’t the right woman for him.
Zak wasn’t the type to have an affair, but wasn’t that exactly what he was doing? He’d never had a serious girlfriend. He figured when it was right, he’d know. Sabrina wa
sn’t right for him. Getting more attached to her would prove fatal to his heart.
Soon she’d fly south, just like the snowbirds. And this bothered him. More than he cared to admit.
* * *
SABRINA WOKE to an empty bed and a ravenous appetite. She slipped downstairs to watch Zak cook breakfast. She sat in the breakfast nook with the sunshine blaring in the windows, sipping her coffee and eyeing the way his biceps bulged under his tee shirt. Today his shirt had a giant king crab in the middle. The wording said I got crabs in Alaska. She wondered if he ever wore anything other than tee shirts.
She thought about everything she knew about him. He loved his family. He worked hard, probably too hard. He helped his neighbor in times of need, searching for a dog in the middle of the night. He didn’t like to lose board games, or, for that matter, any type of game. He knew how to pan for gold. He cooked. He took care of everything and everyone, but did anyone take care of him?
Sabrina was determined to explore Gold Creek and learn more about Zak. While she felt guilty for not checking in with her family, she simply refused to turn on her cell phone.. She had another day before she absolutely had to check in with Susan about the All-Star tennis match. A nagging sense of guilt pulled at her conscience, but she wanted a few more days of absolute independence. Thinking on her own without concern for anyone else’s plans for her was the most liberating feeling she’d ever had.
Zak cracked the eggs in perfect rhythm. He cleaned up his mess as he went along, wiped down the countertops, and threw away the garbage. She’d always had cooks to prepare her food, so she never spent much time in the kitchen except to eat. “Who taught you how to cook?” she asked.
“My mom,” he said, flipping the sausage over in another pan. “I hope you’re hungry.”
“I’m starving. In fact, I’m so hungry I could eat one of those moose you hunt for.”
“Well, that’s good, because I’m feeding you moose sausage.”
She gulped. She wasn’t really serious. She was just trying to be funny. “What?”
“You said it. You could eat a moose.” He stirred the scrambled eggs and chuckled. “I’m about to serve you up some.”
Great. What had she gotten herself into?
Zak cleaned off the cutting board where he’d chopped red bell peppers and asparagus. He grated cheese and sprinkled it in the scrambled eggs.
“You’re a California girl who ventured all the way to Alaska by yourself on a one-way ticket and now you’re telling me you’re unwilling to try moose sausage?” he teased. “You ate a ham sandwich on your first night here, so you’re not a vegetarian.”
She sipped her coffee while thinking of a good response. “No, I’m not, but I don’t want to eat moose.”
“How is it different from eating beef?”
“It just is.”
Toast popped up from the toaster. He took the slices out and started to lather butter on them. “You’re going to have to explain yourself.”
Ravenously hungry, she still didn’t need that many fat calories. “Please, leave my toast dry.”
He stopped before he added butter on the second slice. He set it on her plate and placed it on the table.
“Thank you.” She smiled and sat back down. “That’s real butter, I assume.”
“You have to ask?” He slid in across the breakfast nook toward her.
“I try to limit my calorie intake.” Because forever being in front of cameras made a person very self-conscious about their appearance, but she noted she had changed a little on that front since arriving in Alaska. She was wearing his sister’s sweatpants and hadn’t given it a second thought. The seclusion of this lodge had never-dreamed-of benefits.
“Well, this is a good argument then,” he said. “Moose meat has less calories and less fat than beef or pork. It’s one of the leanest types of meat you can eat. Although this sausage has extras added, so it isn’t pure moose, by any means.”
She was all for adventure, but “extras” might be crossing a line. “What do you mean by ‘extras’?”
“Pork fat.”
“Then I don’t want it.”
“Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how many preservatives they add in meat you buy at the grocery store?”
“No, I suppose not.”
“Well, I can promise you, this is the best meat you’ll ever get as far as being good for you. Nothing processed. Nothing artificial.”
She breathed in a deep breath. How was she going to win this argument? The best way, she decided, was to be honest. “It’s just hard to imagine eating something that was wild and free.”
“I’d rather eat something that had a good life being free, rather than being fenced in and fattened up by eating corn. Moose eat green leaves, lichen, willows, and they have a happy life.”
A bubble of laughter welled up in her gut. The conviction in his eyes, the passion in his voice…it was too much. “Zak, I’m sorry, but you speak as if you’ve had a conversation with these moose to know what kind of life they’ve had.”
“Well, I know they haven’t been fenced in and rounded up.”
“True. I can’t argue with you there. But they get chased by wolves, don’t they?” She scooped some of her eggs on the toast.
He clenched the knife and fork in his hands. “Yes.”
“Then their life isn’t always…how did you say it? Good and happy.” Forcing herself to keep a serious face, she met his stare. He had such a no-nonsense way about him. Living with a politician her entire life, she didn’t realize how much she appreciated this about Zak. She swallowed the delicious eggs and thought about what he’d said about moose, their life, the non-processed meat, all of it. “All right. I give up. I’ll try a bite of the moose sausage.”
“Thank you.”
“If…”
“There’s an if?”
“If you’ll take me to town.”
“Why do you want to go to town?”
“I want to explore. I want to see more places. I want—”
“Okay, okay. I’ll take you to town, if you’ll eat the moose sausage.”
She smiled, sliced a piece of the sausage, and plopped it in her mouth. She chewed. “Mmm…not bad. It’s not as fatty tasting as beef, that’s for sure. I could probably get used to this.”
Pride lit the corners of his beard-stubbled face. His tousled brown hair begged to be touched. She spotted the dimple that only appeared when he smiled. The bite of moose sausage was worth it just to see that smile, and she was so hungry she decided to not waste a single crumb. She’d been so focused on Zak and his sexy grin, she hadn’t even looked outside. “Look, the snow melted,” she said.
“Maybe Betsy’s weather forecast was wrong.”
“Or it’s the calm before the storm.” She put her napkin on the table and slid out of the breakfast nook. “Let’s go.”
“Wait just a minute. I need to load the dishes in the dishwasher first.”
“Can’t we do it when we get back?”
“We could, or we could do it right now. It’ll only take a minute.” He piled their plates on the counter beside the sink.
This place consisted of new adventures for her, even in the kitchen. “Okay, I’ll help you.”
“Great.” He rinsed the plates, glasses, and flatware. Then he wiped a damp sponge across each plate before loading them in the dishwasher.
Sabrina watched helplessly, hoping to intervene but unsure how. He appeared to have a system in place.
“Is something the matter?” he asked.
“No, I was just wondering why you go to so much trouble rinsing and washing, only to load them in the dishwasher to be washed again.”
He gave her a questioning look. “To get them clean.”
“Doesn’t the dishwasher get them clean?”
He scratched his cheek. His beard stubble was the sexiest stubble she’d ever seen, except it did chafe the insides of her thighs. The thought of their night and morning together s
ent pulses of wanting between her legs again. A flush of heat washed over her face. The look in his intelligent eyes told her he was in deep thought. She’d learned that he thought carefully before he spoke.
“Have you ever loaded a dishwasher before?” he asked.
She scoffed at him. “Of course I have. Do you think I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth?”
He rubbed his chin with his thumb. “I’m not sure what to think.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Some of the questions you ask sometimes…I don’t know. Just a feeling, I guess.”
“I thought you didn’t operate on gut feelings or myth or premonitions, only facts.”
“That’s pretty much a true story, except where you’re concerned.” He loaded the last of the flatware in the dishwasher. “I seem to be a rule breaker in all things Sabrina Tate.”
He said the last sentence so quietly Sabrina had to lean in closer to hear. “Actually, I should do yoga first before we go into town, is that okay?”
“Yes. I should do a little paperwork, too, so go right ahead,” he said.
“Thank you, Zak.” She reached up and kissed him on the cheek.
He placed his big hands on her waist. “You keep that up, we’ll never get to town.”
“You could do yoga with me.”
“No, you go right ahead. Like I said, I have work to do.”
“All right. I’ll come get you in your office when I’m done.”
* * *
AFTER AN HOUR of going over meat locker bids, he figured Sabrina had had enough time to do yoga and take a shower. He left his office to find her. If the weather forecast was correct, he better get her to town before the wind picked up.
He heard music and followed the sound. In his apartment, his sheets and covers were still askew from their lovemaking the night before. Sabrina had turned on his radio to some rock-n-roll station, but she was nowhere to be found. He tucked in the sheets, straightened the top cover, and fluffed the pillows.
He tapped on the bathroom door before opening it. A damp towel lay crumpled on the floor. The flowery scent of perfume filled the room like the heavy fog. How long of a shower did she take? He wiped the mist off the mirror and hung up the towel.
Her Alaskan Hero Page 8
