by Shaye Marlow
“What if I just want you?” I asked.
He stepped in close, his hand sliding warm and gentle against my face. “You can have that too.”
Ep
ilogue
One Month Later
“You remember the first day we met, how I burned your blueberries?”
“Of course I remember.” How could I forget? Because of him, there’d be no more blueberry pies. I was still a little sore about that. I understood Gary had to enter my life with a bang, because that was just the way he did things…but I wish he’d ‘banged’ something other than my blueberry patch.
We were a couple thousand feet up, high above the treetops in his helicopter. It was the end of August, getting on toward fall, and the landscape below us was taking on tints of yellow and orange.
It was my first day off in a week-long run of guiding, and Gary had scooped me into his helicopter immediately after he made me breakfast—pancakes with maple syrup and cheesy broccoli quiche. Yeah, I was a lucky woman.
“Did I ever say I was sorry?” he asked.
“No, you didn’t.” He’d reminded me I had yet to burn something of his in retribution.
“Well, I’m sorry,” he said.
I nodded, but I was still planning arson. “Where are we going again?”
He smiled over at me, and I noted he hadn’t gotten any less handsome now that we were getting along. “It’s a surprise.”
We were flying toward a low, rounded ridge that by Lower 48 standards probably counted as a mountain, but by mine it was a tall hill. The trees ended before the top, giving way to low shrubbery and then ground plants interspersed with rock.
The helicopter was losing altitude, so I figured that was our destination. I had seen Gary load up a blanket and a five gallon bucket with food—because we’re classy like that—so I guessed he was taking me for a picnic. Of course, there was also a small pile of something back there he’d been careful to throw the blanket over.
I’d been out and about with him in his helicopter almost daily since he’d gotten it repaired after the shootout. Actually, we’d been thick as thieves since he finally told me the truth. I even went riding with him on his stupid jet ski—also after he’d gotten it repaired—and guess what? It actually was pretty entertaining, even if we were just roaring around in really big circles.
His construction was going well. He’d extended his living room six feet and put in a wall of windows. It wasn’t entirely finished, but it was sealed up, so he’d been able to unhook the mosquito netting from over his bed. I knew this because we’d been sleeping together every night, either at my place or his. And lately, I’d been leaning toward his. Did I mention he had installed a Jacuzzi tub in his bathroom? I love my cabin to death, but it doesn’t have a Jacuzzi tub.
Best of all, though, he’s been respecting my sleep-in hours. If I’m at work, he starts hammering almost immediately after I leave—I know because sometimes I hear him even before I fire up my four-wheeler—but if I’m home, he waits until I’ve woken up. He also got me a pair of noise-canceling headphones for when I am home, and don’t want to hear his noise. It’s real sweet of him, and I try to say thank you in the best way I know how… Let’s just say that in the past few weeks, I’ve gotten plenty of new material for my stories.
The massive pike in my freezer emerged unscathed by both bear and bullets. True to his word, Gary had sent it to be taxidermied. And because he thought I’d enjoy it more, he was going to let me hang it in my cabin. I was planning on putting it right next to the thugs’ drone, which I’d dredged off the lake bottom and mounted high on my wall.
And Brett? The law hadn’t come down on him like it should have, so Gary and I did instead. We paid him a visit, and Gary made him cry. It was beautiful, and even better: I haven’t seen Brett since. And no, we didn’t kill him.
Gary set the helicopter down on a bed of lichen and killed the engine. I climbed out, breathing in the clean, tall-hill air as I looked out over the rolling landscape. I could see everything from here, forest dotted with marshland, lakes and ponds, and cut through with winding rivers all the way out to the next mountain range. It still amazed me that a man who had all this available to him, who could go anywhere, had chosen the cabin next door to mine. I mean, my little lake is pretty amazing, but…
“I wanted to show you something,” he said. He started down the hillside.
Now he really had my curiosity piqued. Who knew what he had out there. Maybe a jade boulder? I’d heard of people finding ones the size of Volkswagens. Or an albino moose? But how would you keep one of those in one spot? Ooo, a hidden cave or waterfall would be cool.
He stopped on a gentle slope dotted with knee-high greenery, and I almost bumped into his back. “We’re here,” he said.
“We’re here?” I looked around. There was nothing special about this spot. Nothing special except—my vision snagged on a round shape, about the size of the tip of my pinkie, peeking out from behind a leaf. It was blue, and when I focused on it, I realized it was part of a clump of these round shapes, and the bush it was on had several clumps, and—fuck me—I was surrounded by these bushes.
“Blueberries,” I uttered, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of my lungs.
“Yep.” He had been watching my face, and now he started to smile.
Gary had taken me to blueberries. This was better than water in the desert. Better than breakfast in bed. Better, even, than sparkly things.
“How?” I asked. I knelt down and pulled gently at a clump. They were perfectly ripe, plump for Alaskan berries, and a whole handful came away in my hand.
“Well…I didn’t know what blueberries looked like even after burning yours, and I didn’t know where to look, so I enlisted your friend. Suzy and I went scouting, and we were able to find this patch one morning while you were at work.”
I stood and emptied a couple blueberries into his hand. “Try,” I said.
He popped them into his mouth and made the tart face. “Flavorful,” he said.
I ate my own more slowly, looking at him contemplatively. He’d blown me away. This was the best present ever, and it wasn’t even my birthday. Or Christmas. Maybe I wouldn’t have to burn anything of his after all.
I stepped up to him and looped my hands around his neck. His hands came up to my waist, and I knew I had his complete attention as I said, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
And then, right there on that puny mountainside, we shared a blueberry-flavored kiss. And another. And then one thing led to another, and that blanket got drafted for something besides picnic duty. Namely, cushioning my bare ass.
And that’s when it started to rain. There was one damn cloud—barely a wisp, really—directly overhead, and it opened up and sprinkled on us. It was sunny, and yet it was sprinkling, so yeah, just another beautiful day in Alaska.
I laughed as water dripped from Gary’s hair down onto my face. The man was forever getting me wet.
THE END
Author’s Note: If you enjoyed this story, please please please leave a review! Every single one counts, helping others to find my work, and ultimately helping me to produce more stories like the one you just read. I love hearing from my fans! Shoot me an email at [email protected] to let me know what you think. I’m active on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/shaye.marlow where you can like/follow/friend me for free stories and news. Thanks for reading!!
If you enjoyed this story, and feel up to something steamier still, you might like my erotic, romantic, sci-fi adventure:
The Erotic Adventures of an Alien Captive
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Dreamer Awakened
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