by Meg Ripley
We’d had our share of tragedies in the park, as with any place people frequented with extreme weather conditions and wild animals. That’s why I took my job so seriously when it came to educating the public. I would never want anyone to get hurt, especially if they could have avoided it with a little knowledge. My regular talks had probably saved a life or two over the years.
As I typed up a paragraph about the station, the door opened, and I looked over to check if it was a visitor. As evidenced by the woman’s Ranger uniform, it wasn’t. But as soon as she stepped inside, every fiber of my being knew she wasn’t just any Ranger; she was, hands down, the most stunning woman I’d ever seen. I think I might have stared for several seconds; definitely longer than I’d meant to. Way longer than what was appropriate.
“Hey there,” I said, recovering myself as I stood to greet her.
“Hiya. I’m usually at the eagle station, but the internet is out over there, so I was sent here. I have some reports to file.”
“Sure thing. I’m Carson.” I stuck my hand out, anxious at the chance to make contact with her.
“River,” she answered in kind.
“Ironic.”
“What is?” She drew her eyebrows together but looked more curious than confused.
“Your name. You’re an eagle? You’re an air creature, yet named for the water.”
“Huh,” she said. “I never thought of it like that.” She chuckled, which made me smile. “I guess I just need some fire and earth and I’ll have all the elements covered.”
Unlike hers, my name was tied to my nature. The first part of my name, the “Car,” came from the Scottish “mossy place” and the Welsh “rock;” both earthly elements. That meant all we needed was fire—and I’d felt plenty of that building in my core. Standing that close to her, I could have sworn I felt heat radiating from her, too.
“But then…” she continued, “I guess you bears are kind of earthly, aren’t you?” She raised an eyebrow.
“That’s part of what I was just thinking.”
“What else were you thinking?” she asked in a playful tone.
“Too soon to tell, I think.”
She crossed her arms and leaned back, amused. “Too soon to tell what?”
“I was just thinking…there are lots of ways to interpret ‘fire.’ In the literal sense, we have flames, of course. But rage, passion and desire come to mind as well.”
She looked at me for a long moment. “Interesting. You notice some unusual things.”
I shrugged. “I read a lot. It gives me varied perspectives.”
“What do you read?”
“Anything. Mostly non-fiction. I prefer to learn and grow in my reading time, but I never pass up a good novel. Stories can teach us plenty, too.”
She chuckled. “That they can.”
A natural lull came into the conversation, and I gestured to the computer. “Would you like me to log you in?”
“Oh, right; that would be great. For a second, I almost forgot I was here to work.”
I typed in the guest username and password we used for Rangers who didn’t usually work out of our station. I stood so she could sit, and a message popped up on the screen telling me I’d typed something incorrectly.
I leaned over her to re-enter the code, and her closeness made the bear in me roar with desire.
The login worked that time, and I took my seat back at my desk. We both worked for a while, the only sounds being our clicking keys and mouse buttons, but the demands of my provoked bear were hard to ignore.
After about a half hour, she stood to stretch and came to stand behind me. “That looks neat. What is it?”
“It’s a brochure on the history of the park. It’ll go in the visitor’s center.”
“Oh, good. People ask me about the background of the area sometimes, but I never have a good answer.”
“Well, you can always call on me. I’m somewhat of a historian, especially when it comes to Glacier Bay. I love to study up on the land I work and live in. We cover a lot of ground running in bear form.”
“I bet. We do in eagle form, too.”
“We’d make a good team. You in the air, me on the ground. Nothing would escape us.”
“Unstoppable,” she agreed.
“Undefeatable,” I added.
“Unconquerable!” She raised her fists in the air and pumped them.
We both laughed, but she kept looking at my screen and pointed to the photo. “Is that a Ranger station?”
“The oldest one in the park.”
“Wow. When was it built?”
“About 120 years ago,” I answered.
“I didn’t know people were in this area that long ago.”
“Oh, sure. The natives had settlements all over the state and throughout Canada. Some were even shifters.”
“You weren’t kidding; you do know a lot about this area. What’s your title here, anyway?”
“Director of Education.”
“Ah.” She nodded to herself. “Well, that makes perfect sense.”
“The early Rangers were more responsible for preserving the park itself—keeping people from building and settling in it, that sort of thing. We don’t think about that these days, with everything being owned and countless permits needed to build anything. But at one time, if you built on a piece of land, it became yours. Alaska could have easily been a conglomeration of privately-owned properties.”
“Look at us, preserving Glacier Bay. Go Rangers!”
I laughed as she pumped her fist into the air again. She was so upbeat and carefree, and my ursine soul wanted nothing more than to bask in her presence. Just to see her smile and hear her voice would be enough for me.
“Would you care to take a hike?” I asked. “I’d love to tell you more about the area. Then you can pass it on when visitors ask.”
Her face lit up and she broke into a smile. “I’d love to. I just need to finish up one more report, then I’m off the clock.”
“Take your time. I’ll just keep plugging away at this until you’re ready.”
Who am I kidding? I just made a date for only a few minutes from now with the most alluring woman I’ve ever seen, I reminded myself. There’s no way I can focus on this brochure now. But I’d made it look good, clicking and typing to make it seem like I was concentrating; like I was keeping my cool.
But in my chest, the bear in me raged on.
When River had said she’d finished and logged off, I’d inconspicuously wiped the sweat from my palms onto my pants and led her out to the waiting ATV.
“If we take the little beast, we’ll be able to get to a few spots I think you’ll really love.”
I hopped in and River slid beside me. I couldn’t explain why I wanted to reach over and take her hand so badly; we’d just met. It was hard to be so close to her in such a small space; the air between us was charged with sexual tension, and I had a feeling I wasn’t the only one who felt it.
I took her to one of my favorite hiking spots. In this two-mile loop of a path, we’d see a small waterfall, a reflecting pool under a layer of ice, many animal tracks and plants, and my favorite part: a giant, old western hemlock with a hole in its trunk big enough to stand in. I’d make it the best hike she’d ever experienced.
7
River
“Here we are,” Carson announced as he brought the ATV to a stop.
We were in a part of the park that was bear territory, so it was unfamiliar to me. When I got out of the vehicle, I stopped to take in a long breath; the earthy scents of spruce, soil and fungi filled my nose. It smelled homey; comfortable.
Which was strange, because I was anything but comfortable.
Every cell in my body was freaking out—as was my head. My human and avian natures warred with each other. My inner eagle demanded, Who is this hottie? She clearly wanted Carson in a physical sense, flipping so hard when I’d met him, I swore I felt her wings beating against my ribcage. But then when he’
d talked, he’d captivated her with his intelligence, too. Carson was incredibly smart; there was something so undeniably sexy about his intellectual mind. But my human side attempted to lock my eagle’s lust away in a cage, determined to keep things as neutral as possible.
If possible.
I put my hand in his and stepped across a thin stream. I didn’t need his help across, of course, but it was a nice gesture. He had a different sort of charm than Max. Carson was considerate and confident, with that brainy vibe of his making him seem a little stiff at first, but then I’d realized he was just serious about certain subjects. Like history. I smiled as I remembered him telling me about the park’s past. How had I never known all that before?
But from the moment I realized my pull toward Carson, one name kept poking my mind. Max. So, we’d said from the start that there’d be no strings attached to us going out. We had made a second date, sure, but nothing in the realm of being exclusive had entered our conversation. He might be seeing other people, I told myself. With charm like that, I could see him as the player type. Possibly.
Did I owe him any loyalty, was the question. And in the end, after feeling such an intense draw to Carson—as intense as the draw I felt to Max—I had to submit to my avian side’s demands and explore where this was going. Because if I could feel this strongly about Carson, then maybe what I had with Max wasn’t as special or rare as I thought. I mean, what were the chances that I’d have such immediate, intense feelings for two men within a 24 hour period?
“This is the first thing I wanted to show you,” Carson said, bringing me back to the moment.
I’d been so tangled in my thoughts, I barely took notice of the world around me. I stopped and gave my full attention to Carson.
He squatted and pointed to a small circle of ice. It looked like a frozen pond of some sort, but as we moved closer, I could see that it must have been connected to a bigger body of water. As if the ice were a window, I watched through it as the water moved underneath. Fish swam against the current, right in our line of sight.
“Wow,” I murmured, squatting beside him. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“And I’ve never seen anything like it anywhere else.”
“How did you find it?”
“I spend a lot of time exploring and just came across it one day. I smelled the fish and wasn’t sure what I’d found. But when I brushed enough of the snow away, I found this little window to the world below.”
“I could sit and watch them all day.”
“I’ve done almost that very thing,” he admitted.
After we left the frozen window, we walked through a patch of evergreens, and he stopped frequently to identify the flora around us. I knew a lot of them, but he knew far more. He led us toward the sound of moving water and, moments later, pushed aside a large branch. Like pulling back a curtain, he revealed a small waterfall.
The waterfall was maybe twenty feet high and a few feet thick. The water splashed below onto large rocks before running into the creek. The loudness of the crashing water made the place quieter somehow, allowing no other sounds to exist.
We stood for a long while, just watching the scene. He closed his eyes for a long while and looked peaceful. I tried it and found the sound helped drown out the negative thoughts in my mind.
I was still standing there with my eyes closed when he said, “River?”
I opened my eyes and smiled. “Sorry. I was really enjoying that.”
“I hate to interrupt. I’m just a little concerned about the light running out on us and I haven’t shown you my favorite spot yet.”
“Oh, then let’s go.”
He took my hand and led me until the path became too narrow to walk side by side. This part of the forest was home to scores of massive trees; the biggest I’d ever seen. I couldn’t believe I’d never seen all this before; it was like discovering the park all over again.
“The trees in this area are hundreds of years old,” Carson explained. “The fine for cutting one down is up to $250,000.”
“That’s one expensive log.”
“There’s just no way to replace such old growth; it’s so tragic when it’s lost.” He stopped in front of one tree in particular and pointed to a large knot in its middle. “Check out the one with the knot that looks like a beachball.”
As I looked, I saw where the lines of the bump looked similar to those of a beachball.
“You ready for this?” he asked.
“Well, since I don’t know what this is, I’m going to have to go with sure.”
He took my hand and led me around the tree. On the opposite side, there was a large hole in the trunk. He hunched down and swooped inside.
“Room for one more,” he called out.
I crouched, peeking inside before I stepped in. It was dark in there, but enough light filtered in to give some illumination. We had to stand very close together, and the warmth emanating from his body was heating me up. I could grab him right here and kiss him, I mused. We shared a long, intense moment, locked in each other’s gaze, then he ducked back out of the tree.
“That is really cool,” I admitted.
“It’s one of my favorite places in the whole park.”
“I can see why.”
He stopped to look at the sun and make an assessment. “I hate to end our time together, but I think we should start to head back.”
I spotted a tall, pink flower as we walked and stopped to pick it. “What is this?” I asked.
He turned and inspected the flower. “That’s fireweed.”
“Weird name, but it’s lovely.”
As we walked, he started pointing out plants again. Every flower and tree, he knew. He was like a walking encyclopedia.
“Okay,” I’d said after he’d shown me a tree that there were only a handful of in the whole park. “Let’s make a bet, shall we?”
“What for?”
“I bet I can find one plant you can’t identify.”
He smiled and looked smug. “Oh, really? What makes you think that?”
“Because you missed a few.”
“Where?”
I laughed. “What do you say?”
“A friendly little bet? What are your terms?”
“What do you want if you win?” I asked.
His eyes took on a playful glint and he smiled. “A date with you.”
At least he and Max are consistent. “I can certainly agree to that. If I win, you buy me a car.”
“A car?” he asked, turning around to face me. “You sure you’re up for that level of commitment?”
“What level would that be?”
“A car isn’t a casual dating gift. A car is something you’d give as a wedding gift. A fortieth birthday sort of gift. A car means a serious commitment. Are you ready for that?”
“Um…” I said dumbly. In all the time I’d been making this challenge, no one had ever flipped it around on me like that.
I was so distracted and more than a little panicked at how to answer him, I stumbled back a little, catching my heel on a tree root and fell backward, mortified.
Feeling my center of balance shift, I knew I was going down. But almost simultaneously, a pair of strong arms was under me, catching me before I hit the ground.
Carson’s face was just inches from mine; my heart, chaotic.
And then he did it. Without much hesitation. Like there was no other option. Almost like he’d planned it, even.
He leaned down and tentatively grazed my lips with his. My inner eagle was in her glory and begged for more, so I reached up to hook my arms around his neck, pulling myself closer to him, and deepened the kiss.
He stood us upright after a moment, and I smoothed down my uniform.
“Is that a yes?” he asked.
“Oh…” As much as I knew my eagle wanted to screech out her answer, I’d have to just admit the truth. “Well, I just ended a brutal relationship not that long ago, and I’m really not ready to get
involved with anyone right now. I’m sorry.”
But Carson’s had been the best response to the buy-me-a-car challenge that I’d ever been given. The most common one was some sort of corny, empty promise like, “Baby, I’ll buy you anything you want.” But when I’d tried to call them on it, they’d played it off like I’d been joking.
Max’s answer, while not too encouraging, was at least honest. He definitely wasn’t going to buy me a car, and he wasn’t about to pretend he would; I’d appreciated that. And when he came up with an alternative solution, that made it even better. He’d been in the number one slot until I’d heard Carson’s answer, and somehow, I didn’t doubt he’d follow through.
Assuming we got married someday.
Which was never going to happen.
Carson nodded. “I understand. I’m sorry it was a bad situation for you.”
“Thank you.” Kind and respectable, just like I’d expect him to be.
The only problem was, his whole demeanor changed. The light in his eyes had dimmed, as did the playfulness in his voice. Now, as he plowed ahead, it seemed as if he couldn’t wait to get the hike over with. And I suppose I couldn’t blame him.
When we got to the ATV, we rode back in silence. I felt bad, like I’d really offended him. Maybe that was a sign. If he gets upset this easily, he might be a volatile person.
He pulled into the station and surprised me by coming around to my side and opening my door, then helped me down.
“I had a really, really nice time with you,” Carson said, still holding my hand.
“I did, too. I’m sorry if what I said upset you. I just wanted to be fair.”
“No, it’s okay. I just…felt a real connection with you. I was looking forward to getting to know you better.”
“There’s no reason we can’t spend time together. Just as long as you understand that it won’t lead to a relationship.”
He nodded slowly, considering. “Well, I might be okay with that. If that’s the only way I can have you in my life, then I’m game.”
