That’s exactly what he was trying not to do.
Hank pushed Avery toward the room where he could hear Cat laughing with her sisters. Drew was probably charming them like he naturally did. “Go and say hello.”
“I really need to get back.” The walls seemed to be closing in on him, and it became hard to breathe. He turned on his heel and headed downstairs, feeling like he fought tethers that were wrapped around him, anchoring him to Cat.
“Hey, Dawson, grab a beer, stay a while,” Jack said, when he entered the main room.
“Another time. Enjoy the pizza and beer. I need to get back to work.” How many times had he said that now? Yes, he had a business to run, but it was a weeknight, and he hired good people. They would be fine without him. But he couldn’t stay.
This was too intimate. Well not intimate but uncomfortable with the close family members helping each other out, the love permeating the walls of the place with everyone here supporting Cat and her dreams. Growing up, his house had been full of strife and tension. No wonder his dad had taken off for work all the time.
He waved them off and escaped into the cold. He made it to the middle of the street when Cat called his name.
“Avery!”
Thank God she hadn’t called him Dawson again.
He turned and watched her run up to him. How he wanted to open his arms and have her fall into them. Instead, he anchored his hands in his pockets.
“Thank you for the pizza and beer, which you really shouldn’t have added. I won’t get any more work out of them tonight.”
“Sorry, I didn’t think of that.”
“It’s okay. There isn’t much heavy stuff left to do other than clean-up.”
“Well, it looks like you got a lot done. What else do you have planned?”
“Pretty much patching and painting and then stocking inventory. I hope to be open in two weeks.”
“That fast?”
“If there aren’t any delays, I think I can do it.”
“Won’t it take you longer than that to get inventory in place?” Shipping to Alaska took a while.
“I have a storage unit bursting at the seams with what I’ve already collected over the last year.”
“You’ve been planning this that long?” How had he not known in this small town that knew everything?
“Believe it or not, I have a good head on my shoulders.” Her mouth tightened, and his eyes centered on her lips.
God, he wanted to kiss her.
“I have no doubt about that. I’m impressed with what you have accomplished in such a short time.”
“Wow, a compliment. How hard was that for you to say?” A twinkle entered her green eyes, and he realized she was teasing him.
“A lot easier than the ones I’ve been biting back.” To hell with it. He wanted her. She wanted him. “Would you have dinner with me tomorrow night?”
“What? Like a date?”
“Yes, like a date.”
“We’ve already tried that, and you didn’t like it, remember?”
“Remembering is the problem. I can’t forget you, Cat. Not being with you isn’t working.” He freed a hand from his jean pocket and brushed some debris from her hair.
Her eyes went wide.
“Don’t analyze it, just agree to go out with me. Let’s start again.” He didn’t know what he’d do if she said no.
“Don’t you have to work?”
“The benefit of owning your own business is that you call the shots.” He waited, holding his breath, for her answer. She took her time in answering, making him sweat in the subzero temperature.
“Okay, Avery, I’ll have dinner with you.”
Relief hit him with such force it felt like a section of his cold heart calved off like ice splitting off the side of glacier. Fire burned in his chest and he no longer felt the cold. He reached for her, cupping a hand behind her neck and slowly leaned down and kissed her.
She melted into him like she did every time he touched her, and it took everything he had not to deepen the kiss, haul her up in his arms, and carry her to his bed above the bar.
Reluctantly, he released her. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Wait, where are we going? I need to know what to wear.”
Wear nothing was on the tip of his tongue. “You look great in everything. It’s you I want to have dinner with, not your outfit.”
“That doesn’t help. I’m a woman. I need to know if I should wear something dressy or comfortable.”
“Definitely comfortable.” He hoped whatever she chose, she wouldn’t be wearing it long.
Chapter 15
Catriona struggled with what to wear for her date with Avery. Butterflies flapped their wings so hard in her stomach that she didn’t know if she would be able to eat anything. Outfit after outfit was discarded onto the bed until the log cabin quilt her mother had made for her when she was ten all but disappeared.
Her bedroom door swung open, and she squealed, grabbing a top to cover herself as she only wore bra and panties. Zoe entered.
“Don’t you know how to knock?” Cat asked.
Zoe shrugged, ignoring the question, and pushed aside clothes to sit on the bed with a bounce. She gestured to the discarded outfits. “Hot date?”
She sure hoped so. “Maybe.”
“Are you seeing Dawson? Drew said he was sweet on you.”
“Yes.” She remembered Zoe and Drew huddling close in the corner last night at the Mystic Heart. “Is there anything between you and Drew?”
“He’s got a crush on me. Always has, but he’s just a boy.”
Drew might only be almost sixteen, but calling him a boy was like labeling a wolf a puppy. All the men in the Dawson family had alpha in their genes. Even Hank. He might be heading toward fifty, but he was aging like Pierce Bronson and Sean Connery with his salt and pepper hair and rugged face. Avery would age like his father, dashing and dangerous. But if Zoe thought Drew was just a boy, she wasn’t going to talk her out of seeing him that way.
“What do you want, Zoe?” she asked, shuffling through the hangers in her closet. She was running out of clothes.
“Just wanted to see what my sister was up to.”
Their dad nicknamed Zoe, Wild Card, and rightly so. She’d been a huge surprise to her parents, who thought they were finished having kids. And then Zoe continued to surprise at every turn. She was unpredictable, indecisive, and prone to irrational actions.
Catriona regarded her closet with dismay and gave up. “All right, what do I wear?”
“First, change your lingerie. With your love of fabrics, you must have something lacy.”
She’d specifically chosen the plain, white cotton bra and panties so that she wouldn’t sleep with Avery tonight.
“What I have on is fine.”
“For a nun, maybe. Oh, you don’t want to sleep with him. Got it. That’s a pity. The man is hot.”
“Hey, that’s my…date,” she finished lamely. What was Avery to her? He wasn’t her boyfriend or lover, and they’d already established that they weren’t friends. It was too early for labels anyway.
Zoe gracefully rose from the bed and ambled over to the dresser, rustling through Cat’s underwear drawer. “Here, wear these.”
“Black? I don’t think so.”
“Trust me. He doesn’t have to know what you have on under your clothes, but you will know, and it will make you feel sexy and powerful.”
She was right. “And you know this how?”
“Just because I’m the youngest doesn’t make me a child. I’m all grown up.”
Catriona narrowed her eyes. “Just how grown up?”
Zoe gave her a saucy grin. “Grown up enough to know that you’re acting as if this is your first time. I’m sure it isn’t, and if it is, why?”
Cat grabbed the lingerie out of Zoe’s hand and quickly changed into the delicate strips of black lace. “It’s not my first time, and tonight is not going to be another time either.” But it could be her f
irst time with Avery. Goose bumps erupted on her skin when she caught her full-length reflection in the mirror. The black lingerie turned her skin to cream. She looked sexy and daring in the lacy bits of fabric. Just the thought of Avery seeing her like this had her second guessing wearing the matching set. She should put the plain cotton on again, because she really wanted Avery to see her in the black lace, and it was too soon for that.
“You look like a Victoria Secret model. Now what are you going to wear over it? Where did he say he was taking you?”
“He didn’t.” Which was one of the reasons she couldn’t settle on any one outfit. “He just said to be comfortable.”
“That could mean sweats and a t-shirt,” Zoe said. “Don’t guys know anything?”
Apparently not. “Is it still snowing?” Maybe she should just put on a pair of jeans and a sweater.
“No, it stopped a little while ago. Here, wear this.” Zoe pulled out a form-fitting knit dress.
“No, that’s too much.”
“And you don’t want him to know you’re making an effort?”
“Yes, no. Crap.” She raked a hand through her hair. She was acting like this was her first date. She grabbed a pair of straight-legged, black jeans that shaped her butt nicely.
“If you’re going to wear those, I have the perfect top for you to pair it with. Be right back.” Zoe ran for her room, leaving the door wide open, and then rushed back with a ruby red knit top with…wings?
“Don’t knock it until you see it on. Here.” Zoe helped her into it. The length of fabric that Cat had mistaken for wings wrapped around her waist and tied in a knot at the side. She looked stylish, sexy, and yet comfortable.
“There,” Zoe said. “You look perfect. I’d pair this with drop earring and a necklace long enough to rest in your cleavage. It will also have his eyes traveling there like they are following an arrow.”
She pulled on the neckline. The top was low cut and she’d have to watch for it gapping open.
“Don’t fidget. If the top gaps opens, it will give him a peek of the black lace of your bra and drive him insane with desire.”
Did she want Avery driven insane with desire? A smile tilted her lips. Of course she did. Call it payback since the man did the same to her with just a touch.
“Thanks, Zoe. You have a knack for this. You might want to consider going into fashion.”
“I was going to talk to you about that actually. Would you consider listening to a business proposal? Dad mentioned you might be looking for an employee to help out with the shop, and I have some ideas.”
Dang it. Why did he have to go and do that? She’d told him she wasn’t interested in hiring Zoe or anyone right now.
“Can we discuss it later?” She needed to get a move on as Avery had called and asked her to meet him at the Pump House. At first, she’d been a little put out that he wasn’t picking her up at home like any proper beau. But then, knowing she had her own vehicle for a getaway in case she needed it helped her get over that quick enough.
“Sure,” Zoe said. “I need to iron out some details on my plan anyway.”
“Sounds good. Thanks, Zoe, for your help tonight.”
“One more thing before you go,” Zoe said as Cat slipped into tall boots. “Do you have protection? If not, I have some condoms in my purse.”
Her baby sister carried condoms in her purse?
“I’m not sleeping with him, so it doesn’t matter.”
“A woman should always be prepared for any contingency, and not leave it up to the man to make sure you’re covered.”
When had Zoe grown up?
“Okay, I got it.”
“You want the condoms then?”
“No. I said I wasn’t sleeping with him.”
“Right.”
Cat hated how Zoe dragged out the word in a disbelieving tone. But then Cat didn’t know if she believed it herself.
Chapter 16
Catriona walked into the bar, her nerves dancing sporadically like the northern lights currently overhead. Avery wasn’t behind the bar like she’d expected to find him. She couldn’t remember walking into the Pump House and not see him serving drinks behind the bar.
She stood there dumbfounded over what to do next. Did she grab a booth? Were they having dinner here? That would equal “comfortable.” What if he stood her up? Had he called and canceled and she’d missed it because she couldn’t make up her mind on what to wear? She hated feeling like sixteen again, but Avery had a knack for making her feel that way.
She’d get a drink at the bar. There, that was a good plan, plus a drink would help calm her nerves.
Honoree was behind the bar, multi-tasking by pouring drinks with both hands. She was a little thing, which fooled a lot of people into thinking she was a pushover instead of a powerhouse. Cat had seen her put the giant Swede Leif in his place more than once.
“Hey, Cat,” she greeted. “I’ll be right with you.”
Cat hiked a hip onto the barstool and slipped off her coat. By the time she was settled, Honoree had finished filling orders and placed a coaster in front of her.
“I hear you have a date tonight with the boss.”
Oh boy, the whole town would know soon. She was surprised Avery had told anyone.
“Do you know where he is?”
“He’s in the kitchen checking on your dinner. He said to make you a drink if you showed up before he was done. What’ll you have?”
So, they were having dinner here. She shouldn’t feel disappointed that Avery didn’t want to take her out somewhere. He’d said comfortable, she reminded herself, but it felt like she was meeting a friend for dinner instead of a real date.
“I’ll have a dirty martini with three olives.”
“Gin or vodka?”
“Gin and make it extra dirty.” She didn’t drink much as it tended to go to her head fairly fast, but some liquid courage or numbing might be what she needed tonight.
“I was disappointed to find out that you’re no longer teaching yoga at Heart Springs Enteral,” Honoree said, adding the ingredients to a shaker. “They have some young dip weed teaching now.”
“That would be Randi. I’m surprised they have her taking over my class.” Randi had only recently certified. “I’m sure she’ll get better with practice.”
“A bunch of us are hoping you’ll return.” She expertly poured her shaken martini into a glass, added the olives on a long toothpick, and set it in front of Catriona.
“Actually, once the Mystic Heart is opened, I will be teaching there.”
“Across the street?”
Cat nodded, taking a large swallow of her martini, enjoying how her blood instantly warmed.
“Hot damn, that’s the best news. I’ll share it with the others.”
She finished her drink, had eaten the last olive, and contemplated ordering a second, when Avery showed.
“Why didn’t you tell me she was here?” he addressed Honoree, his eyes not straying from Cat. They did indeed drift south, following the necklace Zoe had made her wear. How was it that her baby sister seemed to have a better handle on the opposite sex than she did?
“You said to make her a drink,” Honoree said.
“And to notify me when she arrived.”
“Well, it’s not like I haven’t been a little busy,” Honoree muttered, turning to fill another order and dismissing Avery.
Cat snickered. The little dynamo wasn’t afraid of Avery either. She vaguely wondered what would make Honoree nervous.
Avery came around the bar and gathered up her coat and purse where she’d set them on the neighboring stool. “You look very nice,” he said, drinking her in in such a way that her blood heated more than from the gin and vermouth she’d consumed.
“Thank you. You look very nice yourself.” He wore blue jeans with a tucked-in, moss-green, button-down shirt that intensified his hazel eyes.
And he’d shaved.
Gone was the dark stubble he was never
without, and he smelled better than he looked. The fresh, crisp scent of pine and cedar wafted toward her, and she wanted to nuzzle her nose in the crook of his neck where it would be the strongest. The cut on his cheek wasn’t as red as the day before, but it still gave him a rakish appearance that her hormones seemed to like way too much.
“Shall we?” He held out his hand.
She placed hers in his, charmed by the romantic gesture. “Aren’t we staying here?”
“In a manner of speaking. Come with me.”
He led her through the kitchen of the pub house to a set of stairs located at the back.
Was he taking her to his apartment? Even when they’d dated before, he’d never taken her to his place. A warning bell sounded in her head.
You don’t want to be alone with him. You won’t be able to trust yourself.
But curiosity got the best of her as it always did. She wanted to see where he lived. A person’s pad said so much about who they were.
Avery opened the door for her and let her precede him inside.
He’d set the scene. Soft Spanish guitar music strummed in the background and he’d left off the overhead lights, using lamps to create a romantic mood.
The apartment was small but no space was wasted. Bookcases took up one wall, with a brown, leather couch placed opposite a fireplace that crackled as flames greedily ate at the logs in the grate. A simple coffee table, an end table made from a wine barrel and a club chair were the only other pieces of furniture.
“You don’t have a TV?” she asked, looking around.
“Not here. I prefer reading over watching TV. Plus, if I want to catch a game or the news, I have plenty of TVs down in the bar.”
“You read? I didn’t mean it to sound like that,” she quickly said. “What do you read?” She badly wanted to peruse his bookshelves.
“A little of everything. But my go-to are mysteries and thrillers.”
“Do you have a favorite author?”
“That would have to be Harlan Coben. I like the humor and witty dialogue he balances with the never-ending action.”
“I haven’t read him.” She’d seen some of his books in Jill’s inventory.
Wild Cat (Alaska Wild Nights Book 2) Page 7
