by Edie Claire
“I’m real,” she assured tenderly. “And I’m really here, too.”
He stared at her for another moment, then leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips. “For how long?” he whispered.
A joyous warmth spread up from Haley’s toes to flush her already beaming face. “As long as you want, Captain,” she answered.
Ben took a half step back. “Don’t tease me, Haley,” he said soberly. “I need to know what’s going on with you. You’ve been hiding something from me for a while now.”
His eyes flashed with hurt, and Haley’s heart nearly burst. She threw her arms around his neck and held him tightly. “I’m sorry, Ben. It’s just that I’ve been trying to surprise you.”
She pulled back and looked at him again. Her eyes moistened, despite herself. “I’m not teasing you. And I’m not leaving you. Not ever again. Unless you get sick of me, of course.”
She collected herself and smiled at him. “Just listen to me, okay? I know you have your heart set on moving to Southern California, but both you and Micah keep telling me I need to do what I want for a change, and frankly, that plan doesn’t excite me. I own property in Alaska now, and I want to enjoy that property all summer long. And even though I know it means you’ll miss the blue whales at Newport Beach, I’d really like it if you could live in the cabins with me, so I’ll have somebody to fight the bears off. As for the rest of the year, I know I’ve only been here a matter of hours, but I’m really liking this island. I’ve been thinking about investing in a condo for years, and the place I’m renting now is absolutely gorgeous, just fifteen minutes up the road on some beach I can’t pronounce that starts with a K and has a dozen vowels after it—”
“Ka'anapali?” Ben breathed.
“If you say so,” Haley smiled again. She waited for him to speak, but his expression remained blank. “If you still want to move to California in April, I suppose I can’t stop you,” she continued gaily. “But I’ve already given notice on my lease and moved out of the apartment, and my new job starts next Monday, so I’m afraid you’d be living there by yourself.”
Ben gave his head a shake. His eyes swam with confusion. “Your new… where?”
“Probably on my lanai,” she answered wistfully, enjoying herself. “With an ocean view, if I can afford it. I’ll have to move my laptop inside if it rains, though. In Seward, I’m thinking a cozy little office somewhere near the marina. We could get internet at the cabins, I suppose, but I think I’d rather leave my work behind at the end of the day.”
Her meaning was starting to penetrate. The corners of Ben’s mouth turned up ever so slightly, and although his muscles remained taut with caution, his eyes began to sparkle. Haley stretched up on impulse and kissed him soundly, but he did not respond. He remained standing still as a statue, staring back at her with disbelief.
“What are you saying, Haley?” he asked hoarsely.
“I’m saying that my new job is one I can do remotely. All I need is my laptop, a phone, and an internet connection.”
His chest heaved with a sudden intake of breath. “They’ll let you do that?”
“Who?” Haley asked, only to realize how poorly she was explaining herself. “Oh,” she said dismissively, “screw Merriweather, Falstaff, and Tynes. I quit them. But I did decide to stick with environmental law.”
She watched with amusement as the lights in his eyes dimmed ever so slightly again. “My new employer is a non-profit,” she announced. “Their mission is conservation, and their goal is to level the playing field by supporting plaintiffs’ attorneys across the country. Specifically, they just secured funding for a major database project that they had planned to staff with paralegals. I’ve spent the last month convincing them that the project would be far more effective with an experienced attorney at the helm — someone with a solid knowledge of the regs and the case law. Ideally, someone who’s also familiar with the kind of games corporations play. And as I explained to the board so eloquently, so long as said attorney serves purely as a resource, there will be no conflicts of interest. They decided I was right.”
Haley watched as the last remnants of self-preserving caution disappeared from Ben’s eyes, replaced by sheer, unmitigated joy. In one motion he pulled her into his arms, crushing her against his chest so tightly she could scarcely draw a full breath. Just when she thought she might cough from lack of oxygen, he released her enough to look at her again.
“You really mean it?” he exclaimed, his hazel eyes misty.
“I really mean it,” she whispered back, her own eyes moistening in return. “I’m here to stay, Ben. With you, wherever you go. And yes, this is what I want. So deal with it.”
He pulled her back into his arms again, but this time his embrace was gentler. For a long time, they simply stood still, holding one another, basking in the pleasure of each other’s touch. Haley had missed him with a physical pain, and she knew he felt the same. They had been in love for six months. In all that time, they had been together for only a few, precious days.
It wasn’t enough.
Not nearly enough.
“You feel so good,” Ben whispered finally.
“Likewise, Captain,” Haley murmured into his shoulder.
Ben cleared his throat and straightened a bit. “Um… counselor?”
“Yes?”
“Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but we’re standing on a wharf in the middle of a rather busy town. And I really don’t know how much longer I can keep my hands off you.”
Haley lifted her head. She stepped back from him with a smile. “You’ve kept your hands off me for a very long time, Captain. How close do you live?”
Ben’s eyes smoldered, even as a look of distress crossed his face. “Walking distance. But I meant what I said about my place being a dump. If I’d known you were coming, I would have—”
She placed a finger across his lips. “Never mind. I was hoping you might want a tour of my condo, anyway. My rental car is parked right over there.” She stepped back and pointed past the banyan tree, grinning with pleasure to see how his eyes followed every movement of her new and improved body. His breathing was ragged and his face was flushed.
“Race you!” she taunted, breaking into a run.
She left him standing on the dock, but when she reached the side of her car half a minute later, he was fully on her heels. Laughing heartily, he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her off the ground, swinging her around for another moment before letting her slide slowly down his chest again. “I love you so much, Haley.”
She planned to respond in kind, but didn’t get the opportunity. He leaned down and kissed her, deeply and thoroughly, making her quickly forget whatever it was she was about to say. His embrace felt so wonderfully, amazingly good she found herself melting into him, swallowed up by a rising tide of passion that wiped all conscious thought from her brain. She had no idea how long it was before she realized that she had pressed him up against the side of her car and that his warm, caressing hands had wandered to her hips.
Reluctantly, she drew back. “Ben,” she whispered.
“What?” he murmured, his eyes dazed.
“We’re still in the parking lot.”
“Mhmm,” he grumbled, unconcerned. He pulled her back against him, then leaned forward to kiss the nape of her neck.
Haley chuckled. “Um… I’m pretty sure we’re still in plain sight of your place of business.”
He groaned. But he didn’t stop.
“If you’ll let me go long enough to get in my car,” Haley negotiated, “I’ll take you straight to my condo. You’ll like it, I promise. You can look for humpback spouts from my lanai.”
He lifted his head and smiled at her, his eyes brimming with a message she had no trouble reading. A message that had nothing whatsoever to do with whales. “How’s the shower?”
“I have an amazing shower,” she answered, grinning back at him. “All ceramic tile, extra-wide showerhead with multiple massage optio
ns. Just like the one I’m having installed in your cabin in Seward.”
“You don’t have to do that,” he chuckled softly. “I was only kidding.”
“I know,” she replied. “But I’m not. Being able to spoil you is an important part of my happiness plan. I won’t be making as much money at this job as I was before, but I did manage to negotiate a respectable salary for myself, considering how many fewer hours I’ll be working. All I have to do now is figure out how to get you to marry me.”
His eyes widened slightly. “I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with that,” he whispered.
She looked into his honest hazel eyes, relished his adorable dimples and strong, tanned jawbone, and impulsively kissed him again.
Some immeasurable amount of time later, when his hands circled her waist and physically lifted her off of him, she realized that not only was she smashing the man up against her car again, but her side-view mirror was poking him in the thigh.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” she said, flustered.
Ben stood up straight, his hands braced on her upper arms as he held her away from him. “Don’t apologize,” he whispered gruffly. “Just take me home. Now.”
“Home?” she asked, her heart beating fast. “You need to stop at your place?”
He growled beneath his breath. “No, I mean—” He shook his head with frustration. “Home is wherever we’re together, Haley. Can we just go?”
Her heart leapt. She reached up a hand to touch his cheek, then ran her fingers lightly across his jawbone.
Ben groaned, caught her hand in his, and pulled it away. His eyes swam with smoke and his breath came in heaves. He whirled away from her, moved to the other side of the car, and put his hand on the door handle. “I can only take so much, counselor,” he said roughly. “Now are you going to start driving, or am I going to lose my job?”
Haley pushed the button on her remote and unlocked the car doors.
“Come on, shower buddy,” she said with a grin. “Let’s go home.”
ALASKA AGAIN
Epilogue
“Wait!” Ben called from the drive, his voice insistent. “Don’t you dare!” He dropped the suitcase he had been pulling out of the trunk and practically vaulted over the railing and up onto the porch of his cabin, where Haley stood.
“You know the drill, counselor,” he chastised, swinging her up off her feet. “Really!”
She laughed and reached for the doorknob. It was awkward inserting the key from such an angle, but eventually she managed it. “You’ve carried me over two thresholds already,” she defended.
“So I have a thing about thresholds,” he teased. “In our case, the more, the merrier. Besides, this is our honeymoon, remember?”
“Oh, right,” Haley laughed as she pushed open the door. “What does this make, our third now?”
“Who’s counting?” he replied merrily, setting her on her feet in the kitchen and looking around. “Hey, this place looks pretty good!”
Haley looked around herself, and a wave of emotion threatened to choke her. She hadn’t set eyes on the cabin since the day she’d driven off and left Ben standing on his porch, not knowing if she’d ever see him again. To be back here with him now, after all that had happened in her life since, meant more than she could say.
“I like that new management company,” Ben enthused, stepping around to check the place out. The belongings he had left behind were neatly stacked, the rest of the cabin having been cleaned around them. “That second year I rented from your uncle, I had to clean it myself. I guess he figured I couldn’t complain about my own dirt.”
“Told you I would spoil you,” Haley reminded. “Both cabins have working showers, too.”
He grinned at her. “I was kind of hoping you wouldn’t fix yours.”
Haley attached herself to his side and nuzzled her head against his chest with affection. They had been together for four months now, and still, she savored every touch. Being able to hold him was a gift she never planned to take for granted.
“We can share them both,” she offered. It would be a little bizarre, living together spread out across two cabins with a driveway between them, but neither of them could imagine spending the summer anywhere else. Someday she hoped to build a decent house on the site of her uncle’s shack, but right now that was hardly a priority. Right now, they were simply having fun.
“You do realize,” he said huskily, dropping a kiss on the top of her head, “That having you here in this cabin with me will be the realization of all my fantasies from last summer?”
“Surely not,” Haley protested. “We were only just friends then.”
He laughed out loud.
She grinned up at him. “I had a few fantasies of my own, you know. From the very first time I saw you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “The very first time?”
She chuckled. “Well, okay. The next morning, anyway.”
“Then I have you beat,” he said smugly.
Haley laughed and lifted her head to kiss him. She was so happy. Happy to be in Alaska, and happy period. They had married somewhat impulsively in a private, sunset ceremony at sea — a move which Ben still swore was entirely coincidental with the lease running out on the dump he was renting in Lahaina. As much as Haley enjoyed teasing him about that, she truly didn’t care what had motivated him to propose so quickly. All she cared about was knowing that he loved her — and on that score, he left no room for doubt. Ever.
She made a point of returning the favor.
“Oh! Let’s see the view,” she said with enthusiasm, breaking off the kiss to lead him by the hand outside to their porch railing.
“I’m pretty sure it’s the same as before,” he teased, seeming reluctant to leave the cabin’s cozy interior.
“No, it’s not!” she insisted, looking out over the trees to the sweeping white mountains beyond. She breathed in a lungful of the clear, still-nippy air and sighed with contentment. “May is different from July. There’s a lot more snow than when I left,” she insisted. “And everything lower down isn’t quite as green yet. But it will be soon. I can’t wait.” She leaned back against him, and his arms wrapped around her.
He let out his own sigh of contentment. “You know, Haley,” he said seriously. “I would have been happy enough, living with you in Newport Beach. But the truth is, I really would have missed Alaska. I would have missed it terribly.”
“I know that,” she answered.
He kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you. And thanks for setting things straight with the Sisters Parker, too. They never would have believed me, you know.”
Haley grinned. Their ceremony at sea might have been private, but their mutual families had thrown them a rockin’ wedding reception in Seattle just last week — complete with all the nieces and nephews, including baby Sophia. Both Haley and Micah had gotten along famously with the Sisters Parker, but the latter had indeed given Ben a hard time about Haley’s giving up her life to follow him around. What he couldn’t see — no doubt due to remnants of childhood trauma — was the obvious irony of their barbs.
“Of course they believed you,” she assured. “They know you would never make me do anything. Their whole purpose in teasing you was to point out that I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing if I didn’t love you so madly. They were happy for you, Ben. That’s all.”
He was quiet a moment. “That makes no sense.”
Haley chuckled. “How long did you live with those women?”
“Too long.” He pulled his arms away from her and stepped back. She remained looking out over the railing a moment, hoping he would return, but when she realized he was leaning out over the side rail looking intently at the ground below, she turned.
“What?” she asked, her heart beginning to race. She loved being in Alaska every bit as much as Ben did, but there was one thing she didn’t think she’d quite ever get used to.
He made no response. He merely smiled, stepped behind her, and pulled he
r back into his arms again. “Now,” he whispered, kissing her lightly below the ear. “About that third honeymoon…”
Haley stiffened. “You saw grizzly tracks. Didn’t you? Right beside the porch!”
Ben continued to nuzzle her neck. “No, I didn’t. You want to light a fire in the fireplace? I remember one particular fantasy—”
“Don’t lie to me!” Haley protested, shrinking back against him. “I know that look. There was a grizzly right here, wasn’t there!”
He raised his head just long enough to look at her. “You know I would never lie to you.” He returned his attention to her neck. “It was a black bear.”
Haley groaned.
Ben laughed and tightened his embrace. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,” he teased. His warm breath tickled her ear. “Not that you need protecting. You’re the smartest, most capable woman I know, counselor.”
Haley’s tense muscles began to relax. He was right. She really did need to get over this bear thing. Eventually. Somehow.
“You’re just building up my confidence so I’ll go hiking with you,” she accused playfully.
Ben chuckled. “I wasn’t thinking that far ahead, actually. I’m still just trying to get you back inside. In fact, now that I think of it, maybe those were grizzly tracks…”
“Stop it!” Haley squealed, spinning around to face him. She looked up into his laughing hazel eyes and realized with a sudden burst of deja vu that they were standing exactly where they had been standing when she had walked away from him last summer. Forced to leave him, not allowed to touch him, not knowing if she would ever see him again. How had she stood it?
She threw her arms up around his neck and hugged him tightly.
She would never stand it again, that was for sure.
“I don’t suppose you could lend me that bear spray of yours, could you, Captain?” she asked suddenly, releasing him.
