by Joyce, T. S.
“The river is that way,” she said, jamming her thumb behind them.
“I told you, woman. We’re going to bear country.”
Elyse’s mouth dropped open as she stared at the trio of small bush planes in front of them. “Did you hire a pilot? Ian, that’s expensive.”
Ian chuckled mysteriously and pulled the truck to a stop in a clearing near the landing strip. With a wicked grin, he opened his door and said, “Come on.”
She helped him carry the nets and the basket of food he’d packed, as well as her hiking pack, but the closer they walked toward the planes, the more confused she became. If they were flying, there was no pilot here. Perhaps he was running late.
But Ian pulled a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked one of the planes—a red and white four-seater, and everything started to make sense. “You fly?”
“I do.”
“And is this your plane?” Her voice jacked up another octave.
“It is.”
“You’re a bush pilot?” Any higher, and her voice was going to crack.
If his beaming grin was anything to go by, Ian was utterly amused. “I’m going to take you to my favorite fishing spot. The salmon have already run this year, but we can still get some fish in the freezer. And when hunting season starts in a few days, I’ll go out and get you some red meat. Caribou and deer. Maybe even a moose. Along with the beef we butcher and the vegetables from the garden, you should be good all winter. And if things get tight at the end, you can take a few chickens. You won’t go hungry if I get lucky on my hunts.”
“And what about you?”
Ian’s face went serious, and he busied himself with loading the back of the plane with their equipment. “I meant we will be good all winter.”
Elyse narrowed her eyes at the back of his head. Mmm hmm. He’d been slipping up like that a lot. She opened her mouth to call him out on it, but he turned abruptly and kissed her into silence. As he eased away, he whispered, “I’m sorry. It told you I don’t always say the right things.”
Fidgeting with the gold ring on her finger, she nodded her forgiveness, but her hackles were still up. She hated the thought of spending the winter without him. Really, she hated the thought of spending any amount of time without him. Now that was an unsettling feeling, being so attached to someone this quickly.
“Have you ever ridden in one of these things?” he asked as he helped buckle her in.
“Yes.” Most Alaskans had since bush planes were the main mode of transportation between towns and cities.
“Good, so no fear of heights?”
“I didn’t say that.” Her nerves had her heart pounding double-time.
“Don’t worry. I haven’t had a crash landing yet.”
“How long have you been a pilot?”
“Nine years. I bought my first plane when I was twenty-one and took over the business my dad had left behind when he retired to Anchorage. Well, me and my brother, Tobias, took it over. He flies deliveries, too.”
Ian closed her door and busied himself checking the plane. And when it seemed up to snuff, he got in and started flipping switches like his fingers knew exactly what to do. Seeing him so capable put her at ease a little.
The take-off was borderline terrifying, but smooth, and once they were up in the air, Ian seemed to lose whatever had kept him closed off about his life outside of Galena. “My other brother, Jenner, is a hunting guide. He’s one of the best and gets clients from all over the world.”
“What does he specialize in?” Elyse was trying her best to keep her eyes off the ground that was shrinking under them.
“Big game. Moose and caribou. Occasionally bears.” The way he’d said bears sounded as though the word was bitter on his tongue, but when she glanced over at him, his face was wiped clean of any emotion.
“Does your mom live in Anchorage, too?”
“I don’t know where she lives. My brothers and I were raised by my dad.”
“Oh.” Elyse reached over the space between their seats and rested her hand on his leg. “I’m sorry. That must’ve been hard.”
“Nah, it was fine. She wasn’t fit, and we were better off in Dad’s care. Kind of.”
“My dad wasn’t in the picture when I was growing up, so I get it. My mom was kind of overwhelmed with raising me and Josiah on her own, so she sent us to the homestead whenever she could.”
“In bush planes?”
She nodded and dared a glance at the green landscape below. “It’s been a while since I’ve been up in one of these.
“Well, you’re doing good, and we’ll be there soon. You’re a tough woman.”
A smile commandeered her face at his unexpected compliment. “Really?”
“Really. Why did you kick Cole out of your cabin?”
“Lots of reasons.”
“Tell me the last reason. The big one. The one that ended it.”
Elyse winced. “He split my lip.”
Ian’s bright blue gaze drifted to the thin scar down her bottom lip, and he didn’t look surprised at all. Perhaps he’d already guessed she was mishandled. “You kicked him out immediately?”
“Yes.” Stupid shaking voice. She wanted to be strong when she admitted this. “I loaded a shotgun and pulled it on him when he wouldn’t leave. Told him I’d blow a hole through him. He told me he didn’t mean to, that it was an accident, but that’s what they all say, you know? I don’t want to be one of those women who sticks around for that shit.”
“Like I said. You’re a tough woman. A survivor.”
“A tougher woman would’ve let him go a lot sooner. I knew he was using me, but I was scared of being alone.”
“Why?”
“Because life out there isn’t easy, Ian. Every day I run into something that could kill me, and being alone means I’d die alone. Josiah hardly ever comes my way unless we’re driving the cattle either to the good pastures or back to my place for the winter. It could be weeks, maybe months, before anyone found me. Being with Cole was hard, but it took me a while to realize I’d rather die alone than be with someone who breaks me. Lesson learned the hard way.”
“Is that why your advertisement said Romantics need not apply?”
“Yeah. I didn’t expect this.” She gave him a pointed look. “I thought it would be more like legally bound friends running the homestead. I was just so desperate for help that I did what my Uncle Jim did and put an ad out. He’d only wanted a helpmate, and Marta could’ve walked away any time, but I didn’t want that. I wanted someone I could depend on. I got lucky and got you.”
“Lucky,” he repeated low, sounding unconvinced. She understood his reaction. She had trouble accepting compliments, too.
Ian spotted a place to land, and the panic set in, so Elyse did the only sensible thing and closed her eyes tightly until the bumping plane came to a complete stop. When she opened them again, they were surrounded on two sides by towering pine forest and wild grasses that swayed in the wind like ocean waves. Wild flowers dotted the landscape, and she was rendered breathless by the mountains that towered in the distance. This place was what calendars were made of. It was what mainlanders traveled hundreds of miles to see, and it was just a short bush plane ride away from her home.
“Do you like it?” Ian asked softly, as if her answer truly mattered.
“It’s incredible.”
Ian pulled off his headset, turned off the plane, and ran around the front to help her out. While she shouldered her backpack, he loaded himself down with most of their equipment like it weighed nothing, then he strode off toward the forest. She was stunned by how strong he was. Sure, she’d known by the way his muscles pushed against his clothes that he was powerful, but his easy gait and long strides up the side of a sloping hill were completely effortless.
Shaking her head, she hurried after him, resembling a tranquilized rhino next to his smooth strides. The hike through the woods lasted a good half hour at their fast clip, and Elyse gasped as they came out o
f the trees onto the bank of a stream. A small waterfall easy enough for salmon to jump in the right season flowed into the churning waters of the river. Ian kissed her forehead and then unloaded everything. He hopped over a set of rocks like a nimble mountain goat to the other side of the stream. If she tried that, she was going in the water, no doubt.
“We’ll see if we can’t get some lingering silvers with the net, and if not, we’ll use the poles. Stand over there,” he said, pointing right across from him.
“Oh!” she yelped as soon as the water splashed above her boots. “Good golly, that’s cold!”
Ian frowned as he lowered himself easily into the water. “I didn’t think about how the water would affect you. I should’ve brought waders.”
Elyse stared in disbelief at him as he stood up to his waist on a rock below the churning water’s surface. “You aren’t cold?”
“I don’t get cold easily.” A troubled expression passed over his face as he dragged the net down through the deep water beside his standing rock. The giant net with the silver handle looked heavy to lift, but Ian did the practiced movement as though the weight didn’t bother him at all.
It took half an hour to land their first fish, but he explained to her they were either here or they weren’t. And he was right—once he caught the first one, the next ones followed quickly. They found a rhythm eventually. He caught the giant fish and pushed the net toward her where she pulled them out as best as she could manage and cut the gills with a knife he’d packed.
Usually, fishing was tedious and boring for her because she spent the entire time on the pole, thinking about all the things she still had to do back at the homestead. But today, she was having a blast. Ian knew the area and knew the exact fishing technique for this spot in the river, and they were on the fish. Each one they caught would feed them for several meals. Plus, she knew her workload at the homestead had been cut in half with Ian’s presence, so she could let the never-ending to-do list go for a while and just have fun.
For hours, laughter mingled with the soft gurgling sound of the river as she and Ian teased each other. He was hard to look away from, smiling like this. He had dimples, which she would’ve never guessed under his beard. And time and time again, his eyes were drawn to her, as if he was having the same trouble keeping his attention away.
Finally, Ian said, “I think we have as much as we can carry.” He hopped easily up the boulders, jumped the stream over to her, and pulled her against his chest, swaying as he dropped the net to the muddy bank. “You are my good luck charm. I don’t think I’ve ever caught so many on one trip.”
“We make a good team,” she murmured happily. He was getting her all wet, but she couldn’t even muster the energy to care. She was tired, hungry, and her arms shook with fatigue from hauling the heavy fish, but she hadn’t ever been so happy. Maybe Ian was magic.
“You know what I keep thinking about?” he asked in a naughty, low voice as he scanned the woods behind her.
Oh, she could guess, but she would play along. “What?”
Ian dipped down and sucked on her bottom lip, grazing his teeth against her before he eased back with a wicked grin. “You touching yourself.”
“I thought you said that wasn’t appropriate talk for our first date,” she joked.
“I changed my mind,” he whispered, then kissed her again, deeper this time.
“Mmm,” she moaned helplessly as he guided her backward. Her shoulder blades bumped against the rough bark of a tree, and she stretched up on her toes and whispered against his ear. “I’d like it better if you touched me.”
Ian froze for just a moment before he leaned against her and asked, “Really?”
Elyse nodded and ran her hands up under his damp shirt to his warm skin underneath. His muscles were hard as bricks, and she flattened her palms against his abs just to feel them flex with every ragged breath he drew. Ian’s lips were on hers again, kissing her slowly, thoroughly, as he popped the snap of her jeans open. He smiled against her lips and pulled her zipper down slow. Holy hell, she was desperate for his touch. Shifting his weight to the side, he slid his hand down the front of her pants under her panties.
“Cold!” she gasped out as his river wet hand cupped her sex.
“Sorry,” he murmured, but he didn’t sound sorry at all. He had that sexy, growly voice again.
Slowly, he slid his hand upward and back down, brushing her clit softly. “So wet already,” he murmured, dragging a trail of fire down her neck with his lips.
“Please,” she begged, needing more.
“Please what?” he asked innocently.
“Inside,” she said on a breath.
His response was instantaneous, and so was the curious humming in his throat. He pushed his finger into her, and she cried out at how good it felt. She hadn’t been touched like this in so long, and Ian had been building a slow burning fire inside of her since the day she’d met him.
“Noisy mate,” he said.
Mate? Her thoughts were swirling. His words didn’t make sense, but right now, with him moving his finger inside of her, it was hard to care. She moaned and closed her eyes, tilted her head back to give him access to her neck.
A low feral sound filled the air, and he whispered, “I like when you give me your neck, woman.”
Desperate to feel more of his skin, she pushed the hem of his shirt upward, over his head, and threw it on the ground beside them with a wet sound. His arm and chest were flexed as he worked her closer to release, but the hard definition of his muscles weren’t what had her drawn tight like a bow. He was marked up by dark red scars. Four long ones across his chest, and a mess of them across his ribcage. She wanted to know what happened—wanted to know everything, but not when she was so close to release. Right now, she wanted to appreciate his rugged sex-appeal. Burly, dominant, scarred-up man who had softened for her.
He pushed into her again, making sure to touch her clit every time until the pressure that built inside of her was blinding. So good. His touch was perfect. Just what she needed. He cupped her hard as she writhed against his hand, and then he pushed a second finger into her. She bowed against him and cried out his name as her body pulsed around him. So fast and so good, she was overwhelmed as he continued to stroke until every last aftershock was finished.
And when her legs locked under her, Ian was there, arm around her back, holding her against him and pressing his lips against her hair. Elyse hugged him as tightly as she was able. He couldn’t understand how much that had meant to her. No one had ever cared about her pleasure before. They’d just taken from her, but not Ian. He was laying sweet kisses against her and holding her close, completely content not to take it a step further until she was ready. And something deep inside told her that Ian would only push for more if she was verbal about her needs.
“Ian?” she asked.
“Mmm?”
“I’m ready for more with you.”
Ian eased back and smiled down at her, but when he opened his mouth to say something, he jolted to a stop and lifted a hard gaze to the woods instead. His nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply. Slowly, he maneuvered her behind his back and eased her toward the waterfall.
“What’s happening?” she whispered, adrenaline dumping into her bloodstream, making it hard to move slowly as Ian was urging her.
“She has cubs,” he murmured low.
Cubs? Elyse dared a peek around his wide shoulders and stifled the scream clawing its way up her throat. An enormous grizzly bear was walking slowly toward them, eyes intent on their pile of fish. And behind her followed two small cubs.
A whimper came from Elyse’s throat as she tripped over the rocks that lined the bank. Ian didn’t catch her or even turn around as she fell. He was unbuttoning his pants in what had to be the most inappropriate reaction to being stalked by a momma brown bear. Flashing his dick at the animal was not going to scare her away!
“Ian,” she whispered, frozen to the rocks.
�
��Elyse, run.”
“What?” You were definitely not supposed to run from a grizzly. Play dead. That was brown bear survival one-oh-one.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered in a broken voice as the bear stood on her hind legs and roared. “Run!”
Elyse watched in horror as the bear charged, but Ian’s neck snapped back and his shoulder joints hunched forward with the painful crack of breaking bones. He grunted an agonized sound as Elyse scrabbled for the rocks and up onto a higher bank. The bear skidded to a stop in front of Ian, but the second Elyse took off on level ground, she could hear paws pounding through the brush and the heavy breaths of the bear chasing her.
She let the scream out now because it didn’t matter. Ian was broken on the bank and nothing would save her from this bear’s wrath. Elyse pushed her legs harder than she ever had until she was almost flying through the forest, but still, it wasn’t nearly fast enough. The bear was gaining and was so close, Elyse could almost feel her breathing down her neck, right behind her. Any step now, she was going to be on top of her. Terrified, she reached out, hooked her hand on a tree, and pulled herself sharply out of the animal’s path. The bear skidded to a stop and gave chase. Elyse had only bought herself a few seconds at most. Damn it all, she’d been afraid of dying alone, and here it was—her death come early, and it was about to mean excruciating pain.
The bear clipped her leg with her long, curved claws, ripping her skin as she tripped her. Elyse hit the ground hard and shielded her face from the long canine teeth she knew was coming for her. But in the second she should’ve felt the puncture wounds, something huge barreled into the bear with enough force that their impact made a sickening thud and shook the air around her.
Elyse looked up in horror as another bear roared and slapped and sank its teeth into the first one. This one was much bigger than the other. A brawler if his torn ear and scarred body were anything to go by. She’d never seen such raw violence as the massive dark brown bruin pushed the smaller bear farther away from her.
She had to find Ian. She had to get them both out of here before the bears turned their murderous attention back on them. She tried to stand and cried out as her leg wouldn’t bear any weight. The scent of iron was strong in the air, and her ankle was warm with the blood that was now soaking her tattered jeans. Sobbing, she crawled away as the roaring of the bears echoed through the forest. The best she could do was drag herself behind a tree and cover her face with her hands to quiet her panicked crying.
