True North (Golden Falls Fire Book 1)

by Scarlett Andrews

“Did you tell the station?” Steve inquired.

  “No, because my internship was ending, and I didn’t want anything like that on my record. I wanted a clean reference, you know?”

  Steve frowned.

  “Plus, since I was leaving, I figured he wouldn’t be able to get hold of me because he only had my email address from the station.”

  “Let me guess. He found you on social media.”

  “Yes, but I didn’t know it at first,” Cassie said. “His messages only came via email, but apparently he was stalking me online the whole time without me knowing it. Then he sent flowers and a five-page-long letter to my apartment for my birthday, and it really freaked me out that he knew where I lived.”

  “And that he knew it was your birthday.”

  “Right. And the flowers were actually a bridal bouquet, because I was going to be his bride. In the letter, he said he was going to tame me and teach me how to be his well-behaved wife.” She shuddered. “I’ll never look at lilies the same way again.”

  “It sounds terrifying.”

  “It was. I took the letter to the police,” she continued. “They gave me some advice about making my social media more private and telling me to take a self-defense class, which I did, but finding my stalker didn’t seem very high on their priority list. I even hired a private investigator so I could get his name and a restraining order, but it was like finding a needle in a haystack.”

  “Did you ever come face to face with him?”

  “I did.” Unwelcome tears filled Cassie’s eyes, and she wiped them away in a hurry. “Sorry.”

  “No need to apologize.”

  “I ordered a rideshare once—are you familiar with Uber and Lyft?”

  “Yes, we have both here.”

  “Oh! I didn’t realize that. Anyway, one day when I called for one, a car pulled up in front of my apartment and I got in, thinking nothing of it.” She shivered at the memory. “It was him, and I didn’t realize it for a while, but I suddenly got really bad vibes, like my internal warning system was screaming at me to get out of the car. Then I got a notification on my phone that my ride had arrived, which was also weird seeing as I was already in it, so I asked him to pull over and said I’d get out there. But, of course, he’d locked all the doors. When he realized I knew it was him, he gave me the freakiest smile and tried to hand me a small bag from a lingerie store, saying he’d always known I’d come to him one day and he’d bought me something for our first night together.”

  She fixed her gaze on the sharp edge of Steve’s desk, remembering Doug’s face, the sound of his voice, as he tried to hand her the bag.

  “Shit,” Steve said. “What did you do?”

  “Well, I didn’t take the bag! I had my phone in my hand, and I called 911, which I should have done before anything else. And thanks to New York traffic, he couldn’t go anywhere fast. When he realized he was stuck, he unlocked the doors, called me a bitch, promised he’d come for me later, and yelled at me to get out. I just took off running.”

  “The cops didn’t catch him?” Steve asked. “There must have been a record of him picking you up.”

  “He wasn’t a real driver,” she said. “He’d just watched me enough to know I often called for a ride outside my apartment, and he posed as a driver and picked me up. He had an identifier on his windshield, but it wasn’t valid, although I didn’t know that. I didn’t think twice, and I definitely wasn’t paying enough attention. Damn smartphones. I was distracted. Anyway, that’s what happened.”

  “I’m sorry you went through that,” Steve said. “And I’m sorry the cops didn’t take you seriously. That’s bullshit.”

  “Thank you,” Cassie said. “Anyway, soon after that, this job popped up and it felt like a sign. When you hired me, I chose a new professional name and made sure not to create a public record anywhere of my new location, and life has been pretty good since I got here. I thought I was safe. I thought it was all behind me.”

  “And yet you’re telling me this now,” Steve said. “I’m sure it’s something you would have preferred to keep private.”

  She nodded. “The only thing I kept was my phone number. It was registered to my father’s account, unlisted, and the stalker had never contacted me by phone or text, so I figured it was okay to keep it.” She gave a shrug of resignation at what she now realized had been a mistake. “I’ve had that number since middle school. I just … it means something to me. I don’t know, but it just felt like a part of me.” She laughed self-consciously. “Weird, huh?”

  He shook his head. “I’ve had the same number my whole life, too. I get it.”

  “Anyway, I’m telling you this now because he called me yesterday, and then he followed up with some texts.” As Steve’s eyebrows shot up, she reassured him. “He doesn’t seem to know where I am, although he did threaten to come looking for me. In any case, I disconnected my phone number last night.”

  “Good,” Steve said.

  “And so the favor is, I need a new number, but it can’t be registered to me, and I was hoping I could get it through the station.”

  “Of course,” he said.

  “I could pay for it.”

  “No, no,” he said. “That’s a cost we can pick up. And when you do move on from here, you can transition to another new number, and that’s probably not a bad thing.”

  “Thank you,” Cassie said, standing up. “I’m sorry I even had to bring this up.”

  “Not a problem and don’t be sorry,” Steve said. “It’s a hazard of this job, especially for female journalists. Every news director worth his or her salt is aware of the issue. Just to be on the safe side, I recommend you talk to the police chief here, too. I’ll put in a call and give him a heads-up. Does the guy have a New York accent?”

  “He does, actually. He sounds like a native New Yorker. Working class. He says his name’s Doug, but who knows if that’s really his name.”

  “All right. So we’ll keep an eye out for a native New Yorker potentially named Doug, working class with a side of psycho. When you get your new number, which HR can help you with, make sure you have my number programmed into it, and call anytime, day or night, even if you think it’s probably nothing. You got it?”

  “I do, thanks.”

  She was touched; her new boss took the situation more seriously than her own parents had.

  “You should let Cody Bradford know what’s going on, too.”

  She shook her head, having already decided against it. Cody had made clear his disdain for women who couldn’t take care of themselves. The last thing she wanted was to come across as high maintenance.

  “He doesn’t need to know,” she said. “Like I said, he just gave me a fishing lesson.”

  “Uh huh,” Steve said, as if he believed otherwise.

  “And Steve? Can we not tell Michael and the rest of the staff about the stalking situation? For reasons I’m sure you understand, I’d greatly prefer to keep my private life private.”

  “I’ll send out a staff memo—generic, not mentioning you by name—to remind everybody about the station policy to never to give out personal information. We’ll keep this on a need-to-know basis.”

  “Sounds great,” Cassie said, “Thank you, Steve. I really do appreciate it.”

  Her thoughts went back to Cody, he of the you’ve-got-to-save-yourself-in-this-world mentality.

  Cody most definitely did not need to know.

  10

  “You shouldn’t have made her smash the fish’s head against a rock, you dumbass,” Sean said to Cody the next day at work. “What the hell were you thinking?”

  Cody didn’t answer as he raised the large mallet over his head and brought it down hard on the massive fire truck tire that lay on its side. Cody swung the mallet nine more times, each time going harder, feeling the satisfying rubber thud each time. He and Sean were outside in the fine summer weather, on the large concrete parking area behind the station, doing work-hardening exercises using mallets,
old tires, and disused hose line.

  Cody handed the mallet to Sean. “I didn’t make her,” he defended himself. “She wanted to.”

  Sean’s expression was doubtful. “Even I don’t want to. I just do it because it has to be done.”

  “You know what I mean,” Cody said. “I offered to do it, but she said she didn’t want to be a sissy.”

  Sean lowered the mallet and faced Cody. “Man, I know you’re clueless about women, and I’ve tried to give you advice over the years, but I swear it never even occurred to me I needed to counsel you on not letting a woman kill a fish on a first date. She’s a city girl! She’s probably never encountered any animal that hasn’t been a pet and part of the family.”

  Cody groaned. “No wonder she changed her phone number.”

  Which Cassie apparently had. Cody felt the hard sting of rejection just thinking about it.

  “Well, that’s a little extreme,” Sean said. “It begs of drama. She could have just been mature and said she’s not feeling it. But you know what? Her loss. Trust me, you don’t want a drama queen. I’ve been there. Many times.” Sean raised the mallet and did his own set of swings onto the old tire.

  Cody didn’t want a drama queen, but he did want Cassie, and something felt off about the conclusion he’d drawn and which Sean was now supporting. There had been chemistry between him and Cassie. He was as sure as a man could be who hadn’t acted on it—and why hadn’t he acted on it?

  Because of this, he told himself. Because you were with her for just a couple hours and already you feel like shit when she’s out of your life and you know damn well you shouldn’t let yourself get close to a woman who’s just going to leave at the first chance she gets.

  Sean and Josh didn’t mind flings at all—and Josh preferred them—but short-term had never been Cody’s style. Quiet as his life was, he craved an emotional connection with a woman. Most women he’d dated had been all talk, talk, talk, but Cassie was about listening. She’d really shown interest in him as a person. His background, his upbringing. What made him tick. It was flattering to be listened to and to feel understood by a woman, especially one as beautiful and as worldly as Cassie. The thought that she found him interesting downright astonished him.

  But she’d changed her number and fallen off the radar. When he’d driven her home, he kept waiting for her to suggest a second Alaska lesson, but she never had, and the closer they’d gotten to her townhouse, the more withdrawn she’d become, to the point that it was a relief when he finally dropped her off.

  The lesson had ended with a whimper, not a bang, and trying to rectify that, he’d sent her a text later that night, to which he’d gotten a reply saying the number had been disconnected. He’d tried calling to the same effect.

  Whatever, he told himself. He’d known all along that he’d never be enough for her. She was sophisticated and came from money; he was her complete opposite.

  Cody got the rest of his workout done, angrily flipping the huge tire up and down the length of the parking area, and then they had a busy afternoon running mostly medical calls, with a dumpster fire and a single-vehicle accident thrown in for good measure. It helped the time pass quickly. He took some ribbing when Cassie came on the five o’clock news, along with her co-anchor, the over-tanned Michael Driessner. Cassie wore a hot pink V-neck fitted dress, her silky blond hair had that perfect flip to it, and her lipstick was … how to put it? Damn hard to take your eyes off. Based on her appearance and cheerful presentation, it was clear she was doing just fine without him.

  Half an hour after the newscast ended, the fire station’s doorbell rang. Josh was closest, so he answered it. After a few seconds, he called from the vestibule, “Cody! Someone here to see you!”

  Cody rose from his recliner and went to the door, stopping short at the sight of Cassie, looking every bit as beautiful in person as she had on TV. Not surprisingly, he found himself at a loss for words, and he stood helplessly as Josh left them alone.

  “Hi!” Cassie’s smile was radiant, disarming, and it gave him hope. “I hope you don’t mind me stopping in like this.”

  “Uh …”

  She waited, still smiling.

  After a moment he remembered his manners and gestured for her to come in. She stepped inside the dark vestibule and Cody became very aware of how close their bodies were in the small space. He was also aware that the other guys were keeping their distance; the living room beyond had emptied out.

  “I came by because I changed my phone number—for work purposes—and got a new one, and during the changeover, I lost all my old contacts, including you,” Cassie said, quickly adding, “I really had a great time fishing with you, and I was hoping we could set up our second Alaska lesson, if you’re still willing.”

  Still willing?

  Cody did something inadvisable then. Something against his better judgment, something definitely against fire department policy … something he couldn’t resist. He took Cassie by the arm, pulled her close, and kissed her thoroughly. Her soft lips yielded to him, and she reciprocated his kiss with enthusiasm, with heat. He kept one hand on the nape of her delicate neck and his other hand grasped her hip, holding her taut curves against his own body. The feel of her was temptation itself, and he wanted her like he’d never wanted a woman before. Every inch of him ached for her, but alas, he was at work for another thirty-six hours.

  The fact of his current location and duties crashed back into his brain. With reluctance, he pulled away, but he was pleased to see the lustful look in Cassie’s gorgeous green eyes. She smiled at him and wiped a bit of lipstick from his lip.

  “I’m glad you finally picked up on all the hints I was dropping the other day!” she teased.

  He grinned sheepishly. “I may be completely dense when it comes to women, but I’ve been wanting to do that since the first minute I laid eyes on you right here in this doorway.”

  Her smile broadened. “So why now?”

  “Because when you changed your number I thought you were ditching me. I’m damn glad to hear that’s not the case.”

  “Ditching you?” Her eyes danced. “Cody, you’re fast becoming my favorite thing about Golden Falls.”

  His heart felt like it was bursting with happiness.

  “So lesson number two.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, something he’d imagined doing more than once. “Have you got anything in mind?”

  He’d actually made a list in his head. He wanted to teach her how to chop wood, how to make a bonfire, how to put snow tires on a car. How to shoot a rifle, how to ride a snowmobile, and how to make moose stew—which first necessitated hunting the moose. Quickly leapfrogging to the top of the list, though, was how to fuck an Alaska man—him, in particular.

  Him, only.

  And often.

  The list of things he wanted to do with—and to—Cassie Holt was never-ending.

  “I’ll leave you in charge.” Her smile was seductive. “I’m sure you can think of something exciting you could introduce me to.”

  “I’m sure I can,” he said.

  But after Cassie left, Cody’s rational self returned, and he wondered if kissing her had opened the door to losing his heart. That voice at the back of his mind told him to slow down, that this was a woman who wouldn’t want to stay in Alaska forever when she had a career to pursue elsewhere, and he’d never ask her to make that choice.

  Not for him, not at the expense of her happiness.

  Kissing Cody had felt like a love song, and as soon as she got home Cassie called Abby to tell her all about it.

  “That’s awesome, Cassie,” Abby said. “I’m glad you found someone to help pass the time until you leave.”

  “I don’t know,” Cassie said dreamily. “Maybe he’ll be the one who makes me decide to stay.”

  “No, no, no!” Abby said. “This is not what we do. We’re career women. We don’t put our lives on hold for men. We date them, we sleep with them, and we move on when it’s time. You�
�ve always been that way, Cassie. Career first, men second. Don’t let a man change you now.”

  Cassie was looking out her open second-story bedroom window. It was a clear July evening, and she could see the distant great white peak of Denali to the west. The air was warm yet crisp, and it was what she’d always thought a summer day should feel like, in contrast to the sweltering, humid New York summers she’d always had to endure. Alaska did summer right, never-ending daylight and all.

  “What if I want to change?”

  She was more making idle conversation than anything, but there was an undeniable undercurrent running through her that appreciated the life she was beginning to build here.

  Steve was turning out to be a really good boss and someone who had her back. The pace of life in Golden Falls was so much more manageable than life in a big city; she could drive from one side of town to the other in twenty minutes. And Cody—well, meeting Cody had been a gift she hadn’t expected. The memory of the spontaneous and passionate kiss they’d shared earlier put butterflies in her stomach.

  “Come on, Cass,” Abby said. “You are who you are, a city girl all the way. You might want to slum it in a small town for a little while, but you belong where the action is.”

  “This is not slumming it,” Cassie said. “I swear, this is the most idyllic place I’ve ever set foot in. You should see Main Street! Old-fashioned street lights with flowerpots hanging from them. Cute little awnings on every storefront. And the main square park is like a movie set come to life. The town’s orchestra gives free concerts every Sunday in summer, and everybody comes out and picnics or gets food from the carts that line up on the street.” She’d gone twice, alone the first time, but the second time she’d come across the vivacious Shannon Steele, who owned the bed-and-breakfast she’d stayed in for a couple nights when she first moved to town. She’d been reminded how small a town it was; Shannon’s brother Tom was the ladder captain at Station One, same shift as Cody. And Shannon was dating Josh Barnes on Tom’s crew.

  “I’m really coming to love it here,” Cassie said.