by J. H. Croix
Ginger cleared her throat again. When Ivy caught her eyes, the flush that had started to fade raced up her cheeks again. Ginger smiled slowly. “Oh I get it. You think he’s hot.” She lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “That’s a plain fact, so no need to be embarrassed. If you ask me, it’s good. You’re so brainy, you intimidate me sometimes. Nice to know you’re human,” she said wryly.
Ivy stared at Ginger, trying to will her blush away and failing completely. She finally shook her head. “Fine. He’s hot. I’ll get over it. It’s just kind of inconvenient, especially after what went down with Dr. Parkhurst. I’ve never in my life even noticed someone I work with, and I had to leave a job because of an asshole. I guess I didn’t expect to notice Owen, so it’s weird. I’m sure it’ll pass.”
Ginger’s gaze sobered, her eyes narrowing. “You did absolutely nothing wrong at your old job! Dr. Parkhurst is a creeper. The worst kind. How many harassment complaints were filed on him? Something like ten, or that’s what I heard. It’s better you left that university job anyway. You would’ve been trapped kissing ass for years to get any recognition. At Off the Grid, you can do everything you want without all that bullshit. Plus, having the hots for your totally sexy boss in a private company is different. Not to mention, you don’t technically work for him. Remember? I helped you with all the hiring paperwork. He has you set up as a private contractor with buy in to all the benefits. It’s smart for him and smart for you. Normally, I’d say that wasn’t a good option, but Off the Grid is incredibly generous with the benefit options, so it’s like all the pluses of technically working for them with more freedom. So if you look at it that way…” Ginger trailed off with a wink.
Ivy stared at Ginger, her mouth dropping open at Ginger’s audaciousness. “Are you crazy? I can’t think about him like that.”
Ginger was unabashed and shrugged. “Honey, you can think whatever you want. I was just pointing out you didn’t need to let the whole ‘job’ thing get in the way.”
Ivy shook her head forcefully. “It’s not about technicalities. This job is everything I ever wanted. I don’t want to be stupid and mess it up.”
Ginger’s grin faded. “Right. There is that. Well, I’m sure you’ll settle in and stop drooling over him.”
The front door opened and Cam stepped through. Ivy watched as George bounced off Ginger’s lap and straight to Cam’s feet. Ginger caught Ivy’s eye. “George gets the first hello.”
Cam straightened from petting George and looked over into the kitchen. “Only because he’s so fast.” Cam toed off his boots and walked into the kitchen.
The home he shared with Ginger was on a bluff by Kachemak Bay. The downstairs was comprised of a living room with a kitchen to the side through an archway with a guest bedroom, a small bathroom and laundry room to the other side. A wall of windows afforded a clear view of the rocky beach and bay. Cam plunked down at the table. “It smells amazing. What’s for dinner?” He leaned over and dropped a kiss on Ginger’s cheek, lingering for a second.
“Chicken and veggie stir fry,” Ginger replied. “Ivy did the chopping and I cooked.”
Cam glanced to Ivy, his amber eyes meeting hers with a gleam. “Perfect. I’m starving. How was your day?”
“Good.”
“Just good?”
Ivy glanced sideways at Ginger, praying she wasn’t in the mood to tease about Owen. Ginger was standing up from the table, so Ivy breathed a mental sigh of relief. She was quite close to her brother, but she generally didn’t discuss romance in her life with him. The truth was there’d never been any romance to discuss. “Yup. Just good. I’m settling in, getting to know the lay of the land at Off the Grid and staying busy. How about you?”
Cam leaned back in his chair and ran a hand through his amber hair. She shared his coloring, although her hair and eyes were a tad bit darker. “I’m exhausted. We had ski clinic today, which is fun, but we’ve got a rowdy group this winter. Another skier got lost on the cross-country trails, so Gage and I spent the afternoon skiing all over the place up there. Doesn’t seem to matter how well we mark the trails and how many liability releases we make people sign about staying on trail, there’s someone every week who takes off on their own.”
Ginger spoke from the counter where she was serving food onto plates for them. “Since you’re not saying it, I’m assuming you found whoever got lost.” She turned with two plates in her hands and set them down in front of Ivy and Cam. “He always does this. Tells me stories about people getting lost and doesn’t bother to mention if they’re okay.”
Cam chuckled. “Yeah, we found the guy. No shocker, but it was a twenty-year old kid. He fell in the ravine by the stream that cuts through the trail section. He’s damn lucky he wore a bright jacket. He twisted his knee, so he’s got some nasty bruising and won’t be skiing for a few days. His girlfriend had enough sense to stay on the trail, so we found out pretty quick he’d gotten lost.”
Conversation moved on. The longer she was in Diamond Creek, the more relaxed Ivy became. After dinner, they spread out in the living room. Ivy had lived on her own ever since she’d started graduate school. That meant long nights researching and writing papers by herself. Though she’d grown up in a close family, she hadn’t realized how much she missed evenings with others until she came to stay with Cam and Ginger. They’d insisted it was a waste of time for her to try to find her own place this time of year. With spring on the way soon, Ginger had explained any rentals would be taken over for the tourist season. For now, Ivy planned to stay with them through next winter and assess what to do then.
Hours later, she lay in bed, trying and failing to keep her mind from chewing on Ginger’s comment about how she was technically an independent contractor for Owen. Her forbidden and overpowering attraction to Owen didn’t seem so forbidden in that light. She finally fell into a fitful sleep, waking before the sun came up, her mind muddled and her body out of sorts due to her restless sleep.
All because of Owen.
Chapter 5
Owen leaned forward, curling into a turn on the ski slope. He savored the rush of flying down the mountain. The icy air energized him as he angled back and forth down the steep slope, coming to a swirling stop at the base with snow flying in an arc around him. He closed his eyes and gulped in a breath. Opening his eyes again, he glanced up the slope, which was dotted with bright colors—the jackets of skiers decorating the snowy white expanse. On the heels of another breath, he pushed off on his skis again, aiming straight for the lift. He spent most of his weekends at Last Frontier Lodge when he wasn’t working. Skiing was pure joy for him—between the exhilaration of speed, the physical escape, and the sheer beauty of skiing in Alaska, there wasn’t much else that cleared his mind the way skiing did.
He skied off the lift at the top of the advanced slopes and paused. For the moment, he was alone up here, high in the crisp mountain air. He slowly circled, surveying the view. Diamond Creek’s location on Kachemak Bay in Alaska offered breathtaking scenery with the mountains surrounding the town and the bay spilling out in view. Tourists flocked here for good reason, and the community catered to them. The ski lodge was situated above Diamond Creek, offering a three hundred and sixty degree view of the area. Not too far in the distance, Off the Grid was visible, tucked into the trees on the hillside.
Two volcanoes were visible with Mount Augustine standing tall in the waters of Cook Inlet at the entrance to Kachemak Bay and Mount Illiamna further away—both snow covered. Owen turned to face the entrances to the slopes and took a deep breath of the spruce scented air. It was late February with spring not technically far away. Alaskan winters were long though, and the snow would cling until as late as May. When Owen decided to move to Alaska, the long winters were a draw for more than one reason. With skiing one of the only activities that took his mind off work, he’d been thrilled with the idea of skiing for six months or more every year. In addition, Alaska seasons offered the harsh conditions he wanted to test the products Off th
e Grid created. Running hypothetical models of how a wind powered furnace would hold up in a long winter were never as effective as actual tests under true conditions.
The ski lift rounded the top of the slope and slowed to drop off a single skier. Owen glanced over to see Cam Nash skiing off the lift in his direction. The sight of Ivy’s brother immediately conjured her in his mind—yet again, the searing memory of her lips under his sent a hot jolt through him. He didn’t realize he was actually shaking his head until Cam skied to his side.
“Unhappy to see me?” Cam asked with a grin.
Owen caught himself and managed a chuckle. “Nah.” Uncertain what to say about why he was shaking his head, he elected not to bother trying to explain. He couldn’t exactly consider the truth, which was that Ivy, who happened to be Cam’s sister, had him nearly tied up in knots every time he thought about her. He didn’t know Cam well enough to know if he’d care about something like that, yet Owen’s reticence also came from his preference to keep his private life private. That was much easier to do when he wasn’t dealing with his scorching attraction to Ivy and wrestling with her emotional pull on him.
Cam eased to a stop beside him, leaning on one of his ski poles. As Owen met his eyes, he realized Ivy and Cam shared the same coloring. He hadn’t really considered it, nor could he have said he ever noticed Cam’s eyes before. But right now, he saw they were a slightly lighter shade of amber than Ivy’s. Cam scanned the area before his gaze landed on Owen again. “I’m guessing you put two and two together and figured out my sister’s working with you now,” Cam said.
Owen nodded and willed his mind to behave and not think about Ivy in any way other than the abstract. His mind instantly disobeyed, this time recalling the brief feel of her soft curves against his body in that moment of madness when he kissed her. He skipped tracks to the moment during a meeting the other day when she was reviewing data on the battery project with a few team members. Her silky amber hair had fallen loose from its knot, and he’d wanted to run his fingers through it. He started to shake his head again when he caught himself, realizing Cam would think he was half-crazy if he kept randomly shaking his head. He swallowed and met Cam’s eyes. “When she mentioned she had family here, I put it together. Gotta say, you two definitely went in different directions.”
Cam flashed a grin. “Oh yeah. Ivy’s been the smartest member of the family since the day she was born. I was already competing on the backcountry circuit by the time I was in high school. If I ever had the potential to be as brilliant as her, I wasted it on the slopes.”
Cam’s pride in Ivy was so obvious, it gave Owen’s heart a squeeze. He couldn’t resist the pull of his curiosity about Ivy’s family. “I’d say you’re a genius in your own field. You didn’t get to be world famous in backcountry skiing for nothing. I never did ask, but how’d you get started competing?”
Cam’s expression sobered as he looked out toward the bay. “Our older brother started first, and I followed in his footsteps. Before I knew it, that’s all we did. It was fun, but the schedule and travel were hard after a while.” He slowly turned back to Owen. “Skiing’s a huge part of my life and I love it, but I’m happier here in Diamond Creek than I ever was chasing medals.”
Owen sensed he was missing something important, but he wasn’t sure what. He asked the natural question that came to mind next. “Is your brother still competing?”
Pain flashed in Cam’s eyes before he took a deep breath. “Eric died in a car accident. I never competed again after that.”
“Damn. I’m sorry, Cam. I had no idea.” Owen knew all too well the pain of a loss like that, so he felt genuinely bad about stumbling into the topic.
Cam shook his head. “It’s okay. No way you could’ve known. For a long time, I didn’t think I’d know I was over Eric’s death until I competed again, but turned out all I needed to do was remember how much I loved to ski. Ivy held our family together afterwards. She’s not just an engineer, she’s got a big heart. Before you know it, she’ll be taking care of everyone at your office,” he said with a chuckle.
His curiosity about Ivy grew by leaps and bounds with the little windows into her personality Cam was providing. He managed to stay focused on the actual conversation. “Well, I’m sorry to hear about your brother, but it sounds like you’ve found a good place. Diamond Creek’s about as good as it gets as far as I’m concerned, so I see why you love it here.”
Cam shrugged. “Oh, it’s gorgeous and the skiing’s amazing, but that’s not what made me stay. It’s Ginger and everyone else here. My family was always close, but with the traveling I did, I never got to enjoy it much. Between Ginger and everyone here at the lodge, it’s like a second family. Our parents come up all the time now too. I doubt they’d retire here because they want to be somewhere warm. I’m damn happy Off the Grid brought Ivy here. She’s not happy if she can’t spin the wheels in her engineering brain, so when I heard she applied at your business, I figured it’d be a good fit for her. Never did think the whole academic world suited her personality. Not to mention the asshole who chased her out of her last position.”
“What do you mean?” Owen asked, a flash of anger mingling with his curiosity. He didn’t even know what he was angry about, but Cam’s tone indicated someone had treated Ivy badly. He didn’t like that, not one bit.
Cam shook his head, a look of disgust passing over his face. “She’ll probably never mention it, but the chair at her department took a shine to her and not the good kind. Old creeper if you ask me. I told her to get the hell out of there. He made her life miserable. She looks better than she has in over a year now that she’s out of there.”
Owen’s mind spun with questions, while anger simmered inside. No woman deserved that kind of bullshit, but it was common in the world of academia. The ‘old creepers’ Cam described often held positions of power on faculties and wielded it as they chose. Hearing that was what pushed Ivy out infuriated him. He was beyond thrilled to have her and the brilliance she brought with her at Off the Grid, and he truly believed it would have been wasted in a university setting, but it made him sick to learn what prompted her to make a change.
“I’d like to say that surprises me, but it’s all too common in that world,” he finally managed. “We’re happy to have her at Off the Grid, so it’s a win for me.”
Somehow he managed to get the conversation onto more casual terrain over the next few minutes. He was pondering which slope to ski down when Cam caught his eye as the ski lift rolled toward them again. “Race you down,” Cam said with a grin.
“You’re on!”
Just like that, they pushed off in unison toward the steepest slope. Owen couldn’t claim to have the depth of experience Cam did from his days of competition, but he loved to let his skis take over and fly down the slope. This wasn’t their first impromptu race. By the time they spun to a stop, his eyes were watering from the icy wind. Snow spun in a wild arc around them. He glanced over to find Cam laughing.
“Damn. Not sure I could tell which one of us made it here first,” Cam said once he stopped laughing.
Gage Hamilton slid to a stop on his skis beside Cam, his eyes bouncing between them. “Pretty sure it was Owen,” he said with a nod in Owen’s direction.
Cam shrugged. “If you say so.”
Gage laughed. “Couldn’t actually tell myself. All I know is you always want to beat me, but you don’t seem to care with anyone else.”
Cam chuckled. “Maybe so.”
Gage caught Owen’s gaze. “How’s it going today?”
“Any day I’m skiing for a few hours is a good day.”
Owen mostly kept to himself, but he’d gotten to know Gage and Cam because of their presence at Last Frontier Lodge. Gage owned the lodge with his siblings, although he was the one who’d renovated the once boarded up lodge and brought it back to life as a world-class resort. Owen appreciated Gage. He was friendly and welcoming, but he let Owen keep his distance. He tended to be serious, but l
ightened up around his wife Marley and a few regulars at the lodge. Cam ran the ski programs for the lodge. When he wasn’t working, Owen spent most of his free time at the lodge skiing, so he probably knew Gage and Cam better than most anyone outside of Off the Grid.
Gage flashed a grin. “Of course any day skiing’s a good day. Have you had a chance to check out our new cross country trails?”
“You added more?” Owen asked, thinking that they already had over forty miles of trails.
Gage smiled sheepishly. “Can’t help myself.”
A voice called Cam’s name, sending a prickle up Owen’s spine. Without seeing her, he knew it was Ivy’s voice and turned to see her skiing in their direction. This was a problem he hadn’t considered. Actually, it was the lust pounding through him every time Ivy was near that was the problem. He should’ve expected to see her at the ski lodge because her brother worked here—the brother she’d made clear meant a lot to her. He’d have to find a way to keep his distance.
Ivy skied over, a wide smile on her face, her tempting dimple making him want to kiss her. Right here, right now where he absolutely shouldn’t be thinking anything like that.
“Hey sis,” Cam said with a grin. “You and Ginger have fun on the trails?”
“Of course! She’s right behind me.” Ivy glanced over her shoulder. “She stopped to talk to someone.”
Cam chuckled. “She always stops to talk to someone. I swear every time we go somewhere, I figure I’d better plan an extra half hour just to give her time.”
Ivy beamed at Cam. “Tease all you want. You love her and you know it.”
