by Nina West
“Good job. Try it again.”
I do. A dozen more times, until sweat trickles down my back, and finally I hear the splitting sound.
“A couple more hits should cut through the last bit, there.”
He’s right. Finally, I rest the ax head on the ground and smile triumphantly as two chunks lie on the stump. “Where’s the next one?”
He chuckles, closing the distance to take the ax out of my hand. “Let’s work your stamina up. Your body’s going to hurt tomorrow, and we need you on your game. For your job in housekeeping.”
I step back as he takes his position in front of the stump, setting up one of the pieces on its end. He swings the ax over his head and brings it down, splitting the wood in one stroke.
I can already feel the heaviness in my arms, and I split one piece of wood. He’s been swinging that ax for an hour straight. “You must have high stamina.” The second the words leave my mouth, I realize what else it could imply. I shut my eyes and fight the burn in my cheeks. All I seem to ever do around him is blush with embarrassment.
When I crack a lid, I find him setting a fresh piece of wood on the stump.
“My stamina is exceptional,” is all he says before getting ready to swing the ax again.
I’m sweating now, and I’m not sure that it has anything to do with outdoor work anymore. Peeling off my college sweatshirt, I leave it on the side of the truck beside my vest and smooth down my black, long-sleeved shirt, wishing for the thousandth time that my breasts weren’t so cartoonishly large for my slender body. I’ve had them since I was fifteen. I remember coming back to sophomore year after summer break and being accused of having a boob job by the nastier girls in school. A ridiculous suggestion, but I guess I can understand why. I did go up two cup sizes in two months.
I duck my head and turn my focus to the small woodpile. It takes another half hour to load everything into the back of the truck, and I do it quietly, afraid of what else may come out of my mouth.
I’m finishing up the last few pieces when a rash of noisy bird caws sound nearby.
“Abbi.”
“Yeah?”
“Get in the truck. Now.” Henry’s tone is low and even, but I hear the warning in it and I don’t stop to ask questions. I climb into the passenger side. He’s already walking slowly toward me, ax gripped in hand, his gaze focused in the distance. I scramble over as he climbs in behind me, slamming the door shut. He seizes me by the hips and, with seemingly little effort, shifts me onto his lap and then over, swapping seats to put himself on the driver side.
Unease slides down my back. “What’s wrong?” As the words come out of my mouth, I spot the brown body emerging from the tree line, some hundred feet away.
Chapter Nine
“That’s a grizzly bear.” The telltale hump bobs up and down as the beast saunters toward us. I spent plenty of hours reading up on those as part of my research.
Henry remains perfectly still, his gaze locked on it. “A teenager. They’re more brazen than the older ones. More likely to come out to investigate.” He’s speaking softly, calmly. “I saw tracks around here last week.”
“You knew there was a grizzly bear wandering around here and you brought me?” I can’t help the accusation in my tone.
“Relax. He’s just curious. I won’t let him do anything to you.”
A small part of me relishes the protective words, but it’s overshadowed by the bigger issue at hand. “I read they can break into cars.”
“He’s not the Incredible Hulk, Abbi. He’s not going to smash through the glass and grab you in one swoop.” Henry chuckles softly. “As soon as I crank the engine, he’s going to bolt. Trust me. And even if he doesn’t, we’ll drive away. Sit back and keep calm. You get to see nature up close today. Something none of the other staff is likely to see.”
I try to mimic Henry’s ease, settling back into the seat, even though my heart is hammering inside my chest and my breaths come out ragged and my voice sounds shaky. “So that’s a teenager? As in, it’s not full-grown?” I can already see that its back easily lines up with the truck’s hood, even from this distance.
“He’s going to be a big one. I’m guessing close to a thousand pounds.”
I watch it move, the power in its steps. “How do you know he’s a he?”
“See the way he sways as he walks, with his hind legs farther apart? Males do that in the spring, during mating season.”
“You know a lot about bears.”
The grizzly is maybe twenty feet away. Henry lowers his voice to a whisper. “I spent my summers in Alaska when I was growing up.”
The bear is coming around to my side.
“Oh my God,” I hiss.
“Slide closer to me if you’re afraid,” Henry whispers, but I’m paralyzed, the grizzly no more than ten feet from my door, his gaze on me. You’re not supposed to look it in the eyes and yet I can’t help it. They’re narrow and assessing me.
“Why’s he doing that?” I ask as the bear steps from side to side, like he doesn’t know which direction to go. Suddenly he charges straight for my door. I yelp and scamper backward across the seat toward Henry.
Onto Henry’s lap, into his arms.
The bear veers to the side, taking several steps back.
“He knows we’re here and he’s wary. Stay still,” Henry whispers into my ear, the words skating across my skin.
“No problem.” The fact that I’m in my boss’s lap hasn’t escaped me, but I’m temporarily distracted. Thankfully, he hasn’t pushed me off.
Yet.
“See?” Henry’s hand sits on my trembling thigh, rubbing it soothingly, but I only have eyes for the side mirror, where I can see the bear now approaching the truck, where my vest and sweatshirt hang off the side. “He’s curious.”
“Oh, shit,” I mumble, realizing what he’s after. “I have turkey jerky in my vest pocket.”
“Turkey jerky?”
“Yes. I always get hungry midmorning and I didn’t know what I’d be doing today.”
“But, turkey?” Henry mutters something about beef but I’m not listening, too focused on the bear.
Sure enough, the bear tips his head to sniff the air around it. Then he’s up on his hind legs, his massive front paws landing on the side of the truck, rocking us and earning my nervous yelp. His nails drag along the side in a scraping sound that can’t be good for the paint. He starts rubbing his nose along my vest, leaving a trail of wet against the soft pink.
“Do you think he’ll take it?”
The bear drops to all fours, and my vest vanishes with him. Seconds later, I hear the sound of material tearing, and then he’s swaggering away, putting about twenty feet of distance between us and him, with his prize and pieces of pink fabric dangling from his mouth.
My initial terror has abated somewhat as we watch him hunker down on his rump and work away at the wrapping. “That must be hard for him, with those giant paws.”
“He’ll manage just fine,” Henry whispers, chuckling softly.
Heat on my thigh reminds me that his strong hands are resting there. Quite provocatively, too; halfway up, his fingers splayed. I glance down at them, deciding if this is okay.
“We should get back,” he murmurs. “We won’t be getting any more wood split today.”
“Right.” I’m disappointed and I don’t do a good job of hiding it from my voice. The morning with Henry was fun and therapeutic, and exactly what I needed to ease my conscience about how I acted with him that first night. Maybe that’s why he invited me to tag along.
I need to climb off his lap before I do something to add to my track record of inappropriateness around this man.
I make to move but his hands tighten their grip, pulling me back a touch, until I can feel something hard press against my ass.
My heart begins racing, pumping adrenaline into my veins.
I may be inexperienced, but I’m not stupid.
Is this happening?
&nbs
p; Henry has an erection. Is it simply because I’m sitting on him? Or is it for me? Maybe his cool exhales against my neck aren’t intentional, either. I feel the urge to grind myself against him. Would he be okay with that? No, I don’t think so. He made a point of saying that he trusted me not to try anything when I’m sober.
But now he’s pinning me down in his lap and his erection is digging in to me, and his shallow pants fill the truck to compete with my own.
“Did you tell anyone about the other night?” Henry’s deep voice has turned soft and seductive.
I’m shaking my head before I can manage any words. “No. I mean, Tillie figured out that something happened with someone, but I didn’t tell her that it was you.”
“Why not?”
My eyes dart to the rearview mirror and I find myself pinned down by his gaze, the look dark and daring. “I don’t know. I was embarrassed, I guess?”
“What exactly were you embarrassed about?” His voice is so melodic, as if coaxing me to respond.
A strangled sound escapes me. “I don’t know. That I was drunk. That I said all kinds of stupid, crazy things about my ex-fiancé and... other things.”
“Other things, like when you asked me to fuck you?”
I struggle to form a coherent answer. He must know this makes me uncomfortable, that I’m mortified. So why is he tormenting me? Does he like making me squirm? Or is he punishing me for my behavior? Or did he bring me out here because I asked him to have sex with me and now he wants to deliver?
What would a man like Henry Wolf do to a girl like me?
He did promise me that I wouldn’t be inexperienced for long with him.
He also said that I should spend the next four months fucking someone in every position imaginable. Is he offering to be that guy?
Would it be four months? Or one night? If it’s true that this guy goes through women like underwear, why would I want to give away my virginity to him, to be used and tossed aside?
I wouldn’t. Of all things, that I’m sure of.
And this is the owner, I remind myself. He could have me on the next flight back to Chicago if I do or say the wrong thing here. Or worse, Pennsylvania.
I finally free myself from his gaze to stare ahead.
“You look perplexed. Why?”
“Because this feels like a test.”
A ghost of a smile passes his lips. “Maybe it is.”
For five pounding heartbeats, with his grip on my thighs tightening, and his body leaning in until his mouth is a hairsbreadth away from my neck, I make myself believe that I’m not delusional, that his hard dick is for me, that Henry Wolf has invited me here for more than to simply help him stack wood, and that I could actually deliver on that.
My breaths turn ragged, waiting.
“Watch this,” he whispers, reaching for the ignition. The bear has finished my snack and is now on all fours, eyeing us. With one flick of Henry’s wrist, the sudden, loud rumble of the engine sends the bear bolting for the tree line at speeds I can’t fathom for a body that big.
“And that’s why you should never try to outrun a bear.”
He leans back and releases a heavy sigh. His hands slip from my legs, one reaching for the heat dial, leaving my thighs cold and me instantly missing his touch. Warmth blasts out from the dashboard.
I slide off him and shift to my spot in the truck. The air is still tense and I can’t stand tension, so I clear my throat and say the first thing that comes to mind. “I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to plant trees. Leave the land barren.”
The truck fills with his deep laughter and I instantly relax. His laugh is beautiful and it reminds me that, above all else that he may be, Henry Wolf is still human.
“Should I leave my vest here?” I stare out at the tattered remains lying in the mud.
I feel his gaze on my chest before I even turn back. It sits there for five racing heartbeats, intense and probing, until my nipples begin to tighten. I’m sure he can see them poking out of my thin cotton sports bra. “For now. I’ll get you a new one,” Henry promises, as the truck lurches into motion.
The drive back goes much faster than on the way out, and I find myself wishing we were still stacking wood. “How long will you be staying in Alaska?” Is this it? Will I see him again before he leaves? Wolf Cove suddenly feels lonelier with the idea of him not being here.
His fingers strum the steering wheel. “I’m staying for the season.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. Why?” He glances over at me, curiosity in his eyes.
“Don’t you have other hotels to open, or something?”
“I have a lot on the go, but I’ve decided to focus on Wolf Cove for now and work remotely on everything else. It’s important to me that it succeeds.”
Inexplicable happiness fills my chest. Does that mean almost four months with Henry? Will we be doing any more of these private little trips? Or is that just wishful thinking?
“Why are you smiling?”
“No reason.” My cheeks flush.
He pauses. “Does me staying for the summer make you happy?”
I bite my bottom lip, deciding whether to be honest. I finally settle on, “Maybe.”
He says nothing, turning into the driveway.
“You’re back to being Mr. Wolf when we pass those gates, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” No hesitation.
“Well, then it was nice to spend this time with you.” My eyes drop to my lap.
“I trust you know where you’re going this afternoon.”
“To set the rooms on the fourth floor, and then collect my uniform.” The instructions appeared in my inbox last night during dinner.
A secretive smirk touches his lips. “Don’t worry, I doubt you’ll find it as awful as you expect.”
“We’ll see what your guests have to say. I don’t think I’ve ever actually made a bed properly.”
“Huh.” He mutters something that sounds like, “I’ll keep that in mind,” under his breath. The wheels squeak as the truck rolls to a stop where Henry picked me up this morning. The hotel is alive with workers now, carrying supplies from the docks, raking the beach, and I’m sure a thousand other things I’m not even aware of. Grizzly bear or not, the morning was much more peaceful than what I anticipate the next few days will be. “Do you need me to help you unload the wood?”
“No. I have the Outdoor crew for that.”
I shoot him a glare, earning his smirk.
It quickly falls off his beautiful face, though. “I’m glad I can trust you to keep things to yourself. I’d like to ask that you continue to do so. If anyone does ask, tell them you helped me load wood. If anyone asks.”
I frown. “That’s all I did. Do you mean about the bear? Or...” My eyes inadvertently drift to his lap before I snap them back and swallow hard.
A wicked smirk touches his lips. “You can respect that, right?”
“Yes.”
“I thought so.”
“Maybe I’ll see you around.”
“Maybe.”
I reach for the handle, but then stop, the one unanswered question still ringing in my ears. “You said that you hired me? Why?”
He stares out the windshield for the longest time. When he finally turns, it’s to settle a dark, heated gaze on me. “Because it looked like you really needed this.”
“I did. I do.” I clear my voice to get the shake out of it. Lord, he can be intimidating at the snap of a finger.
“Well then, I wanted to give it to you.”
The mood in the truck has turned dark and palpable, and I feel the sudden urge to escape. I slip out and head toward the main lodge, replaying his words. It would be easy to believe he meant that I really needed this job, or I really needed to get away to the peaceful wilderness of Alaska.
Something tells me he’s talking about something else, though.
I glance over my shoulder to find him watching me quietly from his truck. That stare, it’s
almost... wolfish.
Chapter Ten
“Fifth floor needs ten more corkscrews and shoe polish kits!” Shelley, one of the room service supervisors, hollers. “Can you ladies bring those up? Last request, then you can go get your uniforms and call it a day. Promise.”
“Sure thing,” Tillie answers for us, strolling past me to grab the corkscrews from the supply bin against the wall to our left. All the major staples—bottle openers, extra pens, batteries, adapters for foreigners, the special custom-made Wolf Hotel branded chocolates—are sorted there for easy access. “Maybe you should carry these, with those broken arms and all.” She winks and dumps the corkscrews into my appreciative hands.
I guess being in Chicago all year has softened my muscles, because only hours later—albeit long, arduous hours of shuttling extra pillows, towels, and hair dryers all over the hotel and, yes, wrestling with bed sheets—my arms are aching something fierce.
I’m exhausted. All I want to do is curl up in my little bed, and as soon as I’m able, that’s exactly what I’ll be doing.
“That’s what you get for disappearing into the woods with Mr. Wolf,” Tillie hisses as we head toward the staff elevator.
I spear her with a warning glare. Tillie’s the only one who knows who I left with, and that’s because she badgered me until I let it slip. In trying to respect Henry’s wishes, I asked her to keep it to herself.
“Oh, relax. I’m not gonna say nothin’.” She hits the Up button with her elbow and then stands back. “I can’t believe you spent all morning watching that man cut wood and did not take one picture. Did he sweat? Oh, I bet he was sweating.”
“I didn’t notice,” I lie. “I know that I was sweating. It was hard work.”
“Why’d he ask you, anyway? I mean...” Her eyes roam my tiny frame.
“I think it was a reality check for outdoor work in Alaska. So I’d shut up and be happy in Housekeeping.”
