Frozen Hearts (Beyond Reality Book 3)

by Stoker, Susan

  The restaurant had a large selection of oysters, but Kina didn’t care much for them. She was more of a shrimp and crab girl. She ordered the King Crab cocktail and Jonathan ordered seafood chowder and a plate of Alaska oysters fresh from Halibut Cove and Kachemak Bay.

  Now that they’d ordered and were settled, Jonathan turned to Kina.

  “So, tell me about yourself.”

  Kina laughed. “That sounds like a cheesy pick-up line,” she told him unabashedly.

  He chuckled back at her. “I suppose it did, but I want to know about you, Kina. I want to know everything about you.”

  Kina sobered. “That’s a pretty tall order,” she said seriously, having no idea where to start.

  “What if we play a game? You can ask me anything and I promise to answer honestly, and then I get to ask you a question. We’ll continue until you want to stop. Remember, you’re in charge here.”

  Kina laughed, “Yeah right. I don’t think I’ve been in charge from day one.”

  They both smiled.

  “Okay, you’re on. I get to go first, though,” Kina told him, picking up her glass and taking a drink of water, while watching him nod.

  “Let’s see….is this like truth-or-dare where if you don’t like what I ask you have to do something crazy to get out of answering?”

  Jonathan didn’t even smile. “No, hon. If I feel like I can’t answer you honestly, I’ll let you know. If I’m uncomfortable with the question, I’ll answer what I can, but I’ll tell you that I don’t want to answer it right now. I promise, however…” He paused and took a sip of his own water as if he was nervous, before continuing, “…I’ll answer your question at some point while we’re here in Alaska. I want you to trust me and it might be too early for you to hear all my secrets at this point.”

  God. Kina loved that answer.

  “I don’t know if I can trust you,” she blurted out without thinking.

  “I know.” Jonathan answered immediately, not looking surprised or upset in the least. “I can tell it’s hard for you to trust people and that’s okay. I’m perfectly happy with you taking your time. I want to know everything about you and all about who made it so hard for you to put your trust in someone. But I’d rather have your honest and complete trust whenever you decide you can give it to me, than force you to lie to me now and say something when it’s not true.”

  Seriously, everything that came out of his mouth just got better and better. Was he for real? All right, she had to think of some good questions to ask him.

  “Okay, wow. Hmm. Let’s see. I’ll start out easy. What’s your favorite color?” She wanted to start out simple to break the intensity in the conversation.

  “That’s easy. Blue. My turn.”

  Kina squirmed in her seat. It seemed like a good idea whenshe was the one that got to ask the questions. It wasn’t as much fun being on the other side.

  “Are your toenails currently painted?”

  Huh? That was his question? “That’s your question?” she repeated what she was thinking incredulously.

  “Yup. I’ve been imagining what your delicate feet look like for days. And thinking about your cute little feet led me to think about your toes. Then I got to wondering if you were the type of woman who liked to paint her toenails a sexy red or maybe with a sheer coat of pink…believe me, I’ve spent a lot of time imagining what you look like with naked…feet.”

  Kina blushed hotly. Jesus. She squirmed in her seat. He was good. “Uh, no. Just plain toenails. No color,” she squeaked out.

  Jonathan picked up her hand and ran his thumb idly over the back of it. She was so cute. This was fun. “Your turn again, honey.”

  “Uh yeah, okay. Um. I heard you telling Carl this was your last job as a camera operator. Why?”

  He answered without hesitation, hiding nothing from her. “I hate it.” At her raised eyebrows and obvious shock he continued, “I’ve been living in Los Angeles for the last few years and the people there are so fake and jaded. I thought maybe filming for reality shows would be better, but it’s not. I’ve had enough. My brother Dean, you met him on the last show, is going to let me come and work with him. I’ll be able to be near him and Becky, as well as my folks. I can’t wait. I’ve missed my family.”

  Wow, Kina would love to have a place she could call home. She’d never really thought about it. All she’d known for the last few years was moving from one set to another. But to have a place where you belonged, where you could put down roots was something she’d always wanted, but hadn’t been able to hold on to.

  “Tell me how you got into this occupation.”

  Kina thought about Jonathan’s question for a moment. Her answer wasn’t a quick and easy one, by any stretch. How much should she tell him? She looked at the man sitting next to her quietly, waiting for whatever she wanted to tell him. She made the decision to be honest.

  “A while ago I was broke and homeless. I’d just left my boyfriend and didn’t have any ambition, or anywhere to go. An old acquaintance of mine felt sorry for me and let me move into the basement apartment of a house she was renting out. She also got me in touch with someone she knew in the television business who needed a daytime janitor. I started working and the cameras fascinated me. I paid attention, got friendly with the people who worked there and learned all I could. One thing led to another and here I am. I took the job with Eddie because it got me out of that crappy little town and allowed me to move around. I don’t have any family and Matt had made sure I didn’t have any friends, so there was nothing for me there.”

  She looked down at the hand Jonathan was holding and winced. He’d been squeezing it harder than was comfortable. Just as she went to pull her hand away he suddenly loosened his fingers and put them in his lap. She could see his fists were clenched. His voice, when he spoke however, was calm.

  “I’m sorry you had to go through that, but I’m glad you got out of that situation and you’re here now. I have about a million more questions I’d love to ask about some of what you just shared, but I hope you’ll tell me when you’re ready. This was supposed to be a lighthearted game so we could get to know each other better.”

  Kina put her hand over Jonathan’s in his lap. She could feel the tension. It warmed her inside that he was trying to hide it from her. This definitely wasn’t like her. In the past she would’ve warned him away from caring about her at all. But now, it felt right.

  “I didn’t mean to go there, but I’m not sorry I told you. Matt, my last boyfriend, did a number on me. I’ll admit it. He tried to control everything I did. He told me what I could eat. He alienated all my friends. He made me dependent on him for everything and I hated it. I hated myself when I was with him. I can’t ever go back to that sort of relationship. I don’t know if I even have it in me to trust any man again after what he did.”

  Jonathan consciously tried to relax. Every muscle in his body was tense and he wanted to go and beat the hell out of this Matt person, but he had to keep himself in control. He knew Kina wasn’t the type of person who wanted or needed that kind of man. She was independent and he loved that about her. It wouldn’t be easy to tone down his protective instincts when it came to her, but he’d try. He turned his hand over and captured hers in his now relaxed grip.

  “Thank you for sharing that with me. I know it wasn’t easy. I swear I don’t want to control you. I want to be with you. I want to stand next to you, not in front of you. If you allow me to spend time with you I’ll show you that you can trust me. I won’t let you down.”

  Kina opened her mouth to say something, she wasn’t sure what, when the waiter arrived with their meal.Saved by the food!

  Jonathan was content to let the serious subject drop for now. Kina had opened up to him and he was more than pleased. It had to mean she was beginning to trust him a little bit. He could wait.

  Throughout dinner they continued their game of asking questions, although none were as intense as before.

  “Which do you
like better, chicken or steak?” Kina asked.

  “Steak. What’s your favorite scent?”

  “Hyacinths. They smell so good! If you could be any animal what would you be?”

  “Hippo.”

  Kina laughed at his answer, not expecting it. “Hippo? Who chooses that? Why a hippo?”

  “No one messes with a hippo. Think about it. If you saw a hippo, what would you do? I’ll tell you, you’d run the other way.” Kina had to agree. God, he was hysterical. It was his turn.

  “What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?”

  “If I told you, I’d just be embarrassed all over again!” They both laughed.

  He let it slide and asked another question instead. “What do you think of men with long hair?”

  “Easy,” Kina said easily reaching over to finger the end of the long pony tail hanging down his back. “I never thought I’d like it, but now I think it’s sexy as hell.”

  Jonathan almost spit the water he’d been drinking across the table. Good God. He was hoping for a positive answer, but that was way more than he could’ve hoped for. He smiled at her, changing the subject to keep himself from kissing the hell out of her. “Your turn.”

  Their questions eventually turned into a game Jonathan used to play with his brother all the time. They called it, ‘Would you rather.’ He thought he remembered reading somewhere that it’d been made into an actual game people could buy, but he could only remember the fun times he’d had with his family playing it. The object was to pick one of two equally horrible choices. It was hilarious and Kina got into the spirit of the game without hesitation.

  “Would you rather be bald or excessively hairy?”

  “Would you rather break an arm or a leg?”

  “Would you rather eat breakfast foods for the rest of your life or only dinner foods?”

  They sat laughing and talking until they finally noticed they were the only people left in the restaurant. They’d been there for hours and Kina couldn’t remember having a better time with anyone in her entire life. Jonathan was fun to be around and she felt no pressure. He was being true to his word and letting her set the pace of their relationship.

  They apologized to the manager for staying so long, paid their bill and made their way to the SUV. It was late and dark. Kina felt Jonathan’s hand at the small of her back as he steered her toward their parking spot. She noticed him constantly scanning the area as if looking for trouble. He didn’t run to the car, but he also didn’t waste any time. He was protecting her, and she couldn’t get upset with him. When Matt used to do stuff like that it annoyed the hell out of her, but she knew it was because he felt as if she belonged to him and was just looking for a reason to beat the hell out of someone. She honestly believed Jonathan was doing it because she was important to him and he wanted to make sure she was safe. She had no idea how she knew that, but she did.

  Once again he opened the door for her and when she was settled into the seat he handed her the seat belt. God, why that made goose bumps break out over her body, she had no idea. Kina decided she liked it when Jonathan looked after her.

  After they were on their way back to the hotel Kina asked, “Would you rather have to rollerblade everywhere you went or skateboard?” Jonathan smiled. She liked the game they had played with one another. It was intimate and personal. Hell, she just liked Jonathan.

  Chapter Five

  It was time for another challenge. Eddie was upping the ante with this second challenge and the men were going to have to do something a bit more physical. Their task this week was to split logs. Alaskans who didn’t live in cities usually used wood stoves to heat their homes. They had to split a lot of logs to keep warm throughout the long brutal winters.

  Kina laughed. She didn’t think any of the contestants had ever had to split logs before. This would be funny.

  The men were loaded into two separate vans along with Shannel and Eddie and some of the other producers. The camera crew took their own SUV. Eddie didn’t care about having any shots of the men in the car on the way to the venue.

  They drove south of the city to Chugach State Park. The Park Rangers had cleared a small section of the park for them to film in. The men were given a lesson on the safest and most efficient way to use the axe. Many times people would use a wedge to assist them in chopping, but Eddie thought that was too wimpy for the show. After donning safety glasses and gloves, each man was allowed to practice chop one log to get the hang of it.

  After safety had been taken care of, the show could start. Eddie lined all the men up and let Shannel do her hosting duties. She explained the premise of the contest, that the men each had ten minutes to chop as many logs as they could. Big trees were already chopped up into sections. Each section had to be cut up by the contestants into pieces that would fit into a typical wood stove. Each one would be measured and should be around six to eight inches in diameter. Anything larger would be thrown out.

  The man who’d chopped the most legal sized pieces, the quickest, would win. The two men who chopped the least, the slowest, would be going home.

  In order to save some time, the men would be competing two at a time. It was going to take probably around two hours to get through everyone as it was. Making sure camera angles were appropriate and each area was cleaned up between contestants was also important. Kina knew that when people were watching the show it would only take around ten minutes for everyone to get through their turn because of editing, but in reality it took hours because of having to re-do the set for each man. Not to mention safety procedures and questions that might arise during the filming.

  Taylor and Kina were placed around one chopping area and Jonathan and Carl were set around the other. Jeff was a ‘floater,’ meaning he had to walk around and film the reactions of the other contestants and other interesting shots as the chopping was occurring.

  The first men to go were Slade the lawyer, and Darius the chemist. They each set up at their block of wood and when Shannel blew the whistle, they were off. Darius completely missed with his first swing of the axe. Slade wasn’t much better; but at least he hit the wood with his first strike, but then he couldn’t get the axe out of the chunk of wood. And so it went.

  Kina tried not to laugh as each group of men took their turn. It was obvious Julio, the web site developer, had never even held an axe before, because despite the instruction they’d had, he first tried to chop the chunk of wood with the blunt side of the axe. Roger and Trent were a bit better, but not by much. Kina was shocked at how good Benedict was. He’d obviously had some experience in the past, because he actually had a stack of something that resembled firewood at the end of his ten minutes.

  It was during Ian’s and Nash’s heat that the first injury occurred. Nash was furiously trying to chop the wood as fast as he could and when he swung the axe upward to take another hit, it flew out of his hands. Kina saw it go flying right toward Jonathan. She was supposed to be watching Ian through her lens to get the best shots, but she couldn’t help but see the deadly weapon flying straight toward Jonathan. Luckily, he was paying attention and stepped out of the way of the missile at the last minute. When it landed, blade first, it hit a rock and a piece came flying up and hit Carl on the side of the head.

  Carl was too much of a professional to stop filming. He kept on rolling until the ten minutes was up. Kina tried to pay attention to Ian, but all she could think about was if Jonathan hadn’t stepped out of the way, he could’ve been hit with the axe. It was bad enough to see the trickle of blood coming from the side of Carl’s face, all she could think was that it could’ve been Jonathan’s skull bleeding.

  After Eddie finally said “cut” after the time was up, Trent, a nurse, went over to Carl to see if he could help. Carl tried to blow off the whole incident, but for once Eddie was a being a stickler for safety. Everyone gathered around Carl while Trent bandaged the slight cut on the side of his head. He absolutely refused to go to the hospital and Eddie actually ma
de him sign a piece of paper that said as much.

  Nash tried to apologize profusely, but Carl wasn’t having it. Kina tried to get herself back into the swing of filming again, but it was hard. She didn’t like to think of anyone being hurt, especially a friend like Carl, but the close call for Jonathan was never far from her mind. She knew Jonathan was trying to catch her eye, but she refused to look at him. She had to get herself together.

  Finally, each of the ten contestants finished with their chopping. Shannel lined them all up again to announce the verdict. Benedict was the overall winner, which wasn’t surprising to anyone. He’d done a great job. In the end Julio and Cole, the security officer, had chopped the least amount of wood. Because they weren’t back at the production house, they had to “pretend” to leave. Jeff filmed them walking toward the van and getting in. Kina knew they’d splice in a shot of the van leaving later. But for now, some of the contestants joined Julio and Cole in one van and everyone else piled in the other to go back to the house.

  Kina was glad she didn’t have to be in the van; the men had been sweating profusely. It wasn’t actually warm outside, but the exertion of chopping the wood plus their nerves, were enough to make them quite odiferous.

  Eddie told the camera operators they had the rest of the day off. Nothing was going to go on back at the house, except for Julio and Cole packing their stuff and leaving the set. Eddie had learned his lesson in Arizona and each of the men, after leaving the show, were brought to a different hotel until the end of the show. That would assure that no one knew who won, but it was also protection for the contestants themselves in case someone didn’t agree with the results of the competitions.

  The camera crew piled into the SUV, ready to head back to the hotel to get their own showers. Kina leaned over the seat toward Carl.