“My brother Quinn and I own two fishing boats. We do long lining, cod and halibut.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?” Kara asked.
“It can be,” was his clipped answer. By his tone of voice, she decided not to pursue that line of questioning.
“Aren’t you awfully young to own your own boats?”
“How old do you think I am, Kara?” he asked as he pulled into a parking spot and turned to face her.
Kara’s tummy did a slow turn at the softly worded question.
“Old enough,” she answered softly.
Ben brushed his knuckles against her soft cheek, ending at the side of her mouth. “That’s the right answer. I’m twenty-two. I’m the second oldest of seven boys. I’ve been taking care of my family with my older brother Quinn since my father died, six years ago. Don’t let a number fool you. How old are you, Kara?”
“I’m going to be twenty-six next month,” she breathed.
“Then you’re old enough for me. I was worried,” he said with a smile she felt all the way to her toes.
When they entered the small restaurant he was greeted by almost everyone seated and working in the place. She saw many curious glances sent her way. She just smiled, knowing the dynamics. Ben found a table and pulled out the chair for her. She shot him a questioning look. “My mom would have my hide if I didn’t show proper manners. As a matter of fact”—he paused and she saw a slight flush crawl up the mahogany skin of his face—“would you mind waiting, so I can open your door when you get out of the truck?” he asked. Oh God, that was exactly what her dads did for her mom!
“Okay,” she answered softly.
“Hey, Ben! Who’s your friend?” a cute, young boy carrying a tub of dirty dishes asked as he came up to the table.
“Kara, this is my brother Levi. He’s the youngest of my brothers. Levi, this is Kara Johansen. She’s staying at Lacy’s, and she’s an artist who works in glass, like Nate. They’re working together.”
“I’d shake hands, but my hands are full. It’s really nice to meet you, ma’am,” the boy said.
After he left, she bent over to whisper to Ben, “Isn’t he kind of young to be working?”
“He’s thirteen. This is his summer job. He’s saving up to help with his college fund. He wants to be an engineer,” Ben said proudly. “He’s got the grades for it. Kyle just finished high school. He starts college a year from now. But first, he’s going to do a stint with Quinn and I on the boats. The rest of the boys are in high school. Hopefully, we’re going to have four college graduates in our family.” Kara loved the pride that Ben had in his voice when he spoke about his brothers. It was the same kind of pride that the Johansens had for one another.
“Who does Alice belong to?”
“My brother Randy and his wife Selma. They got married young. Randy works for the power company.”
“Why aren’t you out on either of the boats today?” Kara asked.
“I lost the coin toss, so I’m stuck getting our quarterly taxes done for the next three weeks.” He grimaced.
Kara laughed at the piteous look he gave her. “It can’t be that bad.”
“Oh, it’s bad. First, I have to find all the receipts. We have receipts on the boats, at the house where Quinn and I live, and some are at Mom’s house. Then, I have to sort them out. A lot of them have gotten wet, so I have to go back and ask for duplicates. Then, and only then, I can start the process of doing taxes. Trust me, trying to get it done in three weeks is asking a lot out of a man.” Kara couldn’t help but giggle.
“I’d go nuts if my paperwork for my business wasn’t all kept in a binder at my desk. If I don’t have everything tallied up by the first week of every month, I start to hyperventilate,” she admitted.
“You have your own business?” he asked, clearly interested.
“Yeah, I sell my blown glass and glass sculptures.”
“And that’s enough to cover your living expenses? That’s remarkable! You must be really good, Kara. Do you have any pictures of your work?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. You wouldn’t be interested,” Kara said, thinking of her family’s initial reaction when she started. Ben reached out and grasped her hand across the table.
“No, I would really like to see. Your sketches at the beach were unbelievable. I would love to see your glass pieces. Do you have pictures in your phone?” She slowly nodded her head. “Will you show me?” he coaxed.
Kara called up the pictures from her last show and handed him the phone. She monitored his rapt expression. “Kara, these are amazing. You take a lot of your inspiration from nature, don’t you?” She was stunned at his perception. “Like this one, it has the shape of a pine cone, right?” He pointed to one of her favorites, and he was right. She had used a pine cone as her jumping off point. “How do you sell these?” he asked.
“I was lucky. I started out at fairs and I took my portfolios around to different galleries, and I have a website. Finally, two galleries picked me up, and that’s when it really started to come together.” She looked down in embarrassment.
“That’s so impressive, but looking at these pieces, I can see why galleries want to show your work,” he said appreciatively. She looked up and saw that he was being really sincere, and it made her feel warm inside.
“Thank you, Ben. I love it when somebody really gets my work.”
“Everybody wants their vocation acknowledged. Even being a fisherman. It’s nice when somebody understands that there is an art to it. You need to understand the waters. You need to be respectful of the environment and protective of the men and women under your care.” Kara found herself liking this man more and more, and she could see what he meant. The difference in their ages really didn’t matter. He was mature far beyond his years.
“I like the way you talk about your profession. I think it’s important to take pride in your work. But you don’t have to sell me on being a fisherman. My last name is Johansen, so we’re Norwegian fishermen going way back. As a matter of fact, my grandfather owned a fishing boat, and my dads fished for whiting with him in Puget Sound, along the Oregon and Washington coasts.” Ben gave a slow smile that showed off deep slashing dimples on either side of his face.
“You’ve got to be kidding, that’s great. So, you know all about it,” he enthused.
“Well, they did that in their teens. Granddad ended up selling his boat and was retired by the time I was old enough to know about commercial fishing. But he kept a small boat for fun, and my brothers and I would go out with him all the time. We loved it.”
“Hey, wait a minute, did you say dads?” Ben asked in a curious voice, which was when a waitress finally walked up to take their breakfast order.
“Hey, Ben, you want the usual?” she asked.
“Yeah, that’d be great, Florence. Do you know what you want, Kara?” Ben asked.
“I’ll take the number two with extra bacon, crisp, please,” Kara said.
“What would you like to drink?” Florence asked.
“How about OJ and coffee,” Kara stated.
“Sounds good. It’ll be a few minutes, we’re backed up. I’ll bring out some biscuits with your drinks, to tide you over. I’d hate for Ben to get grumpy because his blood sugar drops,” she said with a wink.
“Hmm, biscuits, are they homemade?” Kara asked Ben.
“Yep, they melt in your mouth,” Ben assured her. “And they come with honey butter.”
“Oh, don’t tell Lacy, but I think I’m coming here for breakfast from now on.”
“You haven’t run the gauntlet yet,” Ben warned. “And here they come,” Ben looked up as a man who looked a great deal like him came to the table, wearing his long hair in a braid that stretched down his back. He was holding Alice and had a smiling woman standing next to him. “Kara, I’d like to introduce you to my brother Randy, his wife Selma, and you’ve already met Alice.”
“Kara sculps,” Alice announced, “and she draws purdy pictures.” Al
ice wiggled to be let down, and her dad gently placed her on the floor so she could stand next to the table where Kara and her uncle sat. “Are you eating breakfast?” she asked.
“Yes, button, we are,” Ben said with a sweet smile for his niece.
“We had breakfast, too. We had pancakes, them’s good.” All of the adults looked at the little girl, completely charmed.
“Are you in town for long?” Selma asked Kara.
“Just for a week,” Kara explained, not surprised to see the slight frown flit across the other woman’s face. She was obviously feeling protective of her brother-in-law, and didn’t want to see him get hurt by a woman who was clearly passing through. “Ben is just being kind enough to spend a little time with me this weekend until I get back to work on Monday. This is a working vacation. I think he’s trying to avoid doing the quarterly taxes,” Kara explained, and watched as Selma immediately broke into a relieved smile. Kara slid a sideways glance over at Ben and realized he had caught the byplay between the two women.
“Well, have a good breakfast. Alice is right, it is good,” Randy assured Kara. “It was very nice meeting you.” He shook her hand. Kara watched as her hand was swallowed in his. When she thought about it, her hand had been swallowed in Ben’s, as well, but that hadn’t been intimidating. It had made her feel safe.
They left just as Florence brought the biscuit, honey butter, and drinks. She also brought some homemade jams. Kara was in heaven. Ben watched her orgy of eating, and he had enough sense not to interrupt, which she appreciated. Despite the fact that Florence had brought the biscuits for Ben, Kara ate three of the five, and Ben was lucky to get two.
“So is it safe to say you like food?” Ben asked with a grin.
“Yes, that is a safe bet.” Kara grinned back. “I grew up with three older brothers, so I know how to grab fast and early.”
“I noticed,” he said dryly.
“This jam is to die for. What is the orange jam?” Kara asked.
“It’s salmonberry. The berries grow wild all over. The blossoms are a bright reddish purple, and then the fruit looks like a blackberry only they’re salmon color.”
“Gotcha. It’s delicious, so tart, and so good.”
“My mom makes it better. She adds apples,” Ben confided. Florence walked up with their breakfasts, and there was silence at the table as they tucked into their food. They were halfway through when a young girl walked up. She was very pretty, with light brown hair and a curvy figure that she showed off in very short shorts and a tank top. Kara guessed her age to be about sixteen or seventeen. She would have called her beautiful if her expression hadn’t been so sour as she stood over their table.
“Who is she, Ben?” she asked rudely.
To his credit, Ben smiled and was very polite as he introduced Kara to Shannon Bagley, whose brother worked on one of their fishing boats. “What are you doing with her? I didn’t think skinny and flat chested was your type.”
Ben exchanged a quick apologetic glance with Kara, and she immediately understood. Shannon might be dressed like a sexpot, but she was really just a young girl. “Shannon, that’s rude,” Ben said firmly but without heat. “You need to apologize to my friend, right now.” Just like that, Kara saw all of the wind go out of Shannon’s sails. Obviously, she thought the world of Ben, and she didn’t like him upset with her.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled.
“Actually, Kara is an artist.” And Kara saw the child in the woman’s body bounce back to life.
“Really? That’s what I want to study at UAS, I mean University of Alaska Southeast. I mean Art History. Did you study in school?” she asked in an excited voice.
“Yep, I got a BFA at Arizona State.”
“Ben says you’re an artist, so do you do something? Do you do, like, graphic design or something? That’s what I want to do,” Shannon said, smiling brightly, having changed her mood in that mercurial fashion of teenagers.
“Shannon! We’ve got to go!” Shannon turned around and saw a woman waiting impatiently near the door.
“That’s my mom. Gotta go, it was nice meeting you, Kara. Sorry I was a bitch.” She smiled and waved good-bye, leaving Kara a touch bewildered.
“So you have a fan club,” she said to the very good-looking man sitting across from her.
“Not nearly like the one you’ve managed to acquire since sitting down. I don’t know if you have noticed, but the male to female ratio here in Alaska is slightly skewed, and you are definitely on most of the available men’s radar, Ms. Johansen.” Kara glanced surreptitiously around the restaurant and felt heat spreading from her chest to her neck, all the way to the top of her forehead. Ben was right. There were a lot of male glances aimed her way.
“But I’m sitting here with you,” she objected, looking at him for an explanation.
“Honey, I’m with them, I would be staring, as well. You are what I would term ‘eye candy.’” Kara threw back her head and laughed.
“You are full of shit, Shotbrook. I like that.” Her smile was broad.
“Oh my God, you don’t see yourself at all, do you? Are you done with your breakfast?” Kara looked down and saw her plate was empty, so she nodded. “Let’s get out of here, so I can convince you of your appeal.” If that included kissing, Kara could get behind that. She watched as he threw some bills down on the table, not waiting for the check. “Thanks, Florence,” he yelled out as he ushered her out the door.
“Bye, bro,” Levi called out after him. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“Brothers—gotta love ‘em or shoot ‘em,” Kara quipped, and Ben laughed. She waited for him to open the truck door for her.
“So, what have you done since you’ve been here?” Ben asked as he climbed into the truck.
“I fished the second day with my brothers. Since then, I’ve been working with Nate and sketching around the lodge.”
“How about doing some hiking, biking, and whale watching?” Ben asked.
“I say yes, to all three,” Kara said enthusiastically.
“I know a great place to hike that ends near a waterfall, where we can have a picnic. What do you think?”
“I think that sketching at that tide pool the other day was a great idea,” Kara said with a wide smile.
“Do you know what I think?” Ben asked. Kara shook her head. “I think that agreeing to babysit Alice that day might have been the best decision of my entire life.” He reached across the bench seat, unbuckled her seatbelt, and brushed his lips against hers, making the ends of her hair tingle. When he drew away she managed to arch an eyebrow at him.
“I’m sorry, did I give you permission to kiss me?”
For just a quick moment he bought into her teasing, and then he rallied. “I prefer to beg for forgiveness, rather than ask for permission.”
“That kind of thinking could get you into trouble.”
“I don’t know, are you still willing to go on a picnic with me?”
“Absolutely.” She grinned.
* * * *
Ben picked her up in front of the lodge well before 10:00 a.m. Lacy came up and knocked on Kara’s door when he arrived.
“Hi, Lacy! Come on in. Is Ben here?”
“I see you’ve managed to find one of the best tourist guides in town,” Lacy teased. Kara snickered as she sat down on the bed and laced up her hiking boots.
“Am I wrong, or is he all kinds of fantastic?”
“You’re not wrong. Rosemary and Eddie Shotbrook raised those boys right.”
“I’m going on a picnic with him today. This is nothing more than us spending time together over the weekend.”
“I know, honey. You’re not from around here, and he has responsibilities. But I think the two of you will have fun. That’s what’s really important.” Kara bounded off the bed and gave the woman a quick hug. She went down the hall to the head of the stairs and saw Ben staring up at her from the landing below. She couldn’t stop the big silly grin on her face.
She walked down to meet him. They held hands all the way to his truck, where he opened the door for her. When he got her settled in, he stole a small kiss and she was glad that he did.
* * * *
After breakfast, he asked her if she was used to hiking and she assured him that she was. He was prepared to stop at many of the places along Indian Trail River walk, instead of going all the way up to the falls, but she made the five-mile hike, her stride just eating up the miles. He enjoyed seeing those long legs in cargo shorts. She had a cute, tight ass that swayed slightly as she walked, and it made him more than a little uncomfortable as he had to follow her.
The only thing that really slowed them down was her propensity for stopping to examine any little thing that captured her artist’s eye. She would see beauty in things that he had been ignoring for years. A type of fern, a jut of granite, the way the bark was peeling off a tree. Anything could capture her eye, and then she would have to touch it. Actually, when he thought about it, they had really made remarkable time.
“So, is that tree talking to you?” he asked as she stopped at yet another evergreen tree.
“Yes, actually, it is,” she said as she threw a smile at him over her shoulder. “It’s asking what’s in that backpack of yours and how much longer until we get to the waterfall.”
“Listen.”
He watched as Kara cocked her head and then gave him a delighted grin. “Oh, I hear it.” He shouldn’t have been surprised that she hadn’t heard it. She was obviously more of a visual person.
“It’s around the next bend, and there are plenty of places to have a picnic. As for what’s in the backpack, I don’t know. Florence packed it, so we’re both going to be surprised. She promised me that there would be enough even for you,” he teased.
She walked over to him and hit him in the arm…hard.
“Hey, that almost hurt,” he said as he pulled her in for a hug.
“It was supposed to hurt. I have three brothers. I don’t believe in pulling my punches, especially when somebody is calling me a pig.”
“I wasn’t calling you a pig. I was merely admiring your healthy appetite.” He looked down at her diamond-blue eyes. She was absolutely beautiful, and she felt wonderful in his arms. He was careful not to let their lower bodies touch. He didn’t want to make her uncomfortable with his body’s reaction. He slowly bent down and brushed a soft kiss against her lips, enjoying the delicate texture. Her lips slowly parted and he melded their mouths deeper, luxuriating in the taste of Kara. Finally he lifted his head, satisfied to see her lift her lashes, her eyes dazed.
Claiming Kara [Fate Harbor 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 3
