And despite her rapid motions, he believed her. Clearly she’d had some change of heart and it had worked wonders to soothe her anxiety. Did that mean she’d finally given in to her attraction for him?
Well, they would find out soon enough, because he had a plan.
That night, under the stars, with the campfire crackling, he’d ask her if he could kiss her again. It would be the perfect romantic setting, and this time he doubted she’d say no. At least he hoped she wouldn’t.
They reached the creek and Noah pulled out his family’s trusty old tackle box. Because his father was the last to go fishing, he’d left dozens of pre-tied lures in several small baggies waiting and ready. And almost as quickly as they’d reached the river, they both had poles set up with brightly colored Spin-N-Glo lures.
Taylor studied hers with a serious expression. She was obviously serious about beating him at fishing, as she’d put it. “This looks like one of those helicopter nuts that falls out of trees,” she said.
“It kind of is. These spinners twirl in the water,” he answered as he showed Taylor the correct way to cast out.
She copied his motions with ease, asking, “And salmon think that looks tasty or something?”
“Nope. It makes them mad,” he said as they watched the ripples on the water, then turning toward her with triumph, added, “So mad, in fact, they threaten to break both of its arms.”
Taylor jabbed at him, but he moved out of the way just as quickly.
“Save some of that fight for the fish.”
They both laughed, then fell into a companionable silence as they waited for something to bite.
“So where are they?” Taylor asked only a few short moments later.
“Who? The fish?”
“Well, yeah. In every show or movie I’ve ever seen, they’re leaping out of the water and into bears’ mouths.”
“Yeah, you probably watch TV too much. They aren’t always jumping, but it makes for a better documentary than watching a bear wade out into the water, duck his head under and then pop back up with a fish in his mouth. Give it a moment. Fishing takes a little skill, a little luck, and a lot of patience. You have to—”
Taylor’s cries of joy cut off his speech. “Ooh, oh! I think I caught one!”
Sure enough, her pole bowed as the fish on the end of it tried to swim upstream and out of reach.
“Fish on!” he yelled out. “And a big one, from the looks of it.” He reeled his lure back in and then reached over to help Taylor pull her catch ashore.
“I’ve got this,” she insisted proudly. “I want to catch it myself.” She jerked the pole and spun the reel, but the fish’s instincts won out over her inexperience.
“What a workout!” she said, theatrically reaching up to wipe her brow and almost losing the pole in the process.
“That’s it!” Noah circled his arms around her from behind and added his strength to the fight against the fish. “Can’t afford for you to lose our dinner.”
He felt her tense in his arms and then relax into his hold. Yeah, she totally liked him back, but like the fish, she was fighting hard to avoid the inevitable.
“Keep the rod tipped up. Let him tire himself out a bit,” he mumbled in her ear. “When the pull lets up…”
Almost as if on cue, the tension on the pull eased.
“Okay,” he said, widening his stance and instructing her to do the same. “Bring the tip down and start reeling.”
She worked the reel frantically, when suddenly, the line started getting dragged back out.
“Bring it back up and hold,” he said, helping to transition back to the first position.
“But he’s getting away!” she cried, cranking at the reel but not making much progress.
He couldn’t help but laugh. Taylor was something else, all right, but one thing was for certain, she was determined to bring this fish home.
“Think of it like tug of war,” Noah guided her. “He’s going to pull out, then you’ll pull in and whoever tires out first, loses.”
“I’m not losing,” she said with a husky, low voice.
“Oh, I believe you think that. Let’s see what actually happens,” he teased, smiling when she let out an annoyed sigh.
The fish leapt into the air in a flash of pink and silver.
“There’s the jumping you wanted, now reel!” he shouted, but Taylor was already on it.
Twenty minutes later, they’d at last worked the fish into submission and brought it ashore. Noah had guided, but it was Taylor who’d done all the work.
“Oh, my gosh!” she cheered. “We did it!”
“You did it,” he said, loving how happy she looked as she studied the fish flopping on the ground. “I was just backup.”
“Thank you, Mr. Fish. You will make a very tasty dinner, and I promise I will always remember you fondly.”
Noah couldn’t control his laughter. “Are you breaking up with him?”
“No, just acknowledging his sacrifice.” She remained serious, exhausted, proud as they both studied the fish and how his scales caught and reflected the waning sunlight. “He really is a beauty. How big do you think he is?”
“Oh, forty-five pounds or so. I can get the scale in a minute, but I’m glad you find the fish so attractive, because you’re going to have to kiss it.”
Taylor put a hand on each hip and glanced over at him in horror. “This isn’t princess and the frog, and you’re not funny. Very not funny.”
“I’m not trying to be funny! I’m serious. Here in Alaska, we fishers have a tradition. You have to kiss your first King, and this guy is yours. Right?” he goaded her, knowing she would rise to the challenge. She was far too competitive not to.
A look of triumph shot across her face as she announced, “We caught him together.”
“So you want to kiss him together?”
“It’s the only way I can make sure you’re being serious here. C’mon, tough guy. Put your mouth where your money is… or something like that.”
He slid his hand carefully into the gills of the large salmon and hefted it up, placing his other hand under the tail.
Taylor stepped back as he approached her. “Oh, my gosh, you are being serious, aren’t you?”
“Dead serious,” he said through laughter he just couldn’t contain. “Are you ready?”
She swallowed and took a wide stance, similar to the one she’d used to reel the salmon in. “On three?”
He nodded and started the count, “One.”
“Two?” Taylor squeaked.
“Three!”
And just like that, Noah’s first kiss with Taylor was on either side of a salmon’s face.
He hoped the next one would be far less slimy.
Taylor laughed the whole way back to the campsite. Noah carried their fish and she handled the gear.
“Ready for the best fish dinner you’ve ever had?” he asked, carefully placing the salmon on a cutting board.
“You know it! Tell me how to help.” She crouched down beside him, but he turned away, motioning at a pair of collapsible chairs they’d set up nearby.
“Sit back, keep me company, and I’ll handle the rest,” Noah said.
“But isn’t this the blood, guts, and gore part? I don’t want to miss that, seeing as it’s the whole reason I came in the first place.” She tried to wink at him, but couldn’t do so without opening her mouth and pinching the whole right side of her face.
Noah burst out laughing, making her feel self-conscious once again. “I won’t ask what that was,” he said. “But anyway, you caught. I’ll cook. It’s only fair.”
Taylor decided to give up the fight. Her arms did kind of burn from the earlier workout. Maybe it would be okay to relax for the rest of the evening, build up her strength for the next trip to the river.
She watched in tired awe as Noah deftly gutted, sliced, and seasoned the salmon. By the time the fire had come to a steady blaze, the sky above them had settled on a nice shad
e of deep red.
“It’s beautiful,” she said, craning her neck toward the rolling clouds above. She could practically see the colors shifting as the sun continued its descent over the horizon.
Noah poked at the fire before glancing up himself. “Just wait till you see the stars.”
“I’ve seen the stars before, but never a sunset quite like this.”
“Trust me. You’ve never seen stars like this, either. Far away from the city, no light pollution. It’s like you can see straight into the heavens.” He lowered his gaze on her, and somehow it felt hotter than the fire blazing before her.
“How poetic from a man whose hands are buried deep in fish guts,” she joked in an attempt to dial down the sudden intimacy.
He shook his head and laughed. “You never just let it happen, do you?”
She hated that he’d called her out. So instead of acknowledging his question, she looked back up at the skies, pretending to be too distracted to have heard him properly. She didn’t know the answer to that particular question anyway.
But he wouldn’t let it go. “I know you heard me,” Noah said. “You never let things take their natural course, you know? You’re just as bad as this fish.”
“You gonna debone me, too?” Too late, she realized how wrong that sounded. Heat rushed to her face so quickly it made her dizzy.
“Maybe if you’re lucky,” Noah teased, returning his attentions to the filets.
“I didn’t mean…”
“Relax, I know.”
Taylor wrapped her arms around herself as the air cooled. She was also much more careful with her words as they continued their chat beside the campfire. Noah seemed in his element out here in the Alaskan wilderness, but Taylor felt very out of hers. She didn’t want a relationship, didn’t want romance, and yet here they were with all the makings of the perfect date.
Private plane ride. Check.
Beautiful sunset. Check.
A freshly prepared meal. Check.
Crackling fire. Check.
Playful banter. Check, check, check…
All the stinking boxes were checked, leaving Taylor to wonder when she had found the time to compile a list.
It felt like it could be easy—being with Noah—if only she were to let it. But how could she?
Taylor was just about to remind him that they weren’t on a date, when he flipped a smoky filet onto a tin plate and handed it to her. “Dinner is ready just in time for the show,” he told her, pointing above.
And as she glanced up, she nearly dropped her plate in shock.
“Careful,” Noah said, catching it for her and coming to sit right at her side with a plate of his own.
“You weren’t kidding,” she whispered, studying the spectacle above. The sky wasn’t even completely dark yet but rather a deep shade of majestic purple. And now millions of stars had come out to shine down on them. The once-in-a-lifetime view of an overlapping sunset and night sky took her breath clear away.
She’d never seen anything like it.
Never met anyone quite like Noah.
It was almost too perfect. But perfect was exactly the thing she didn’t need, couldn’t want.
“Noah, I…” she started, unsure of what she needed to say and if she had the strength to actually say it.
“What’s your sign?” he asked with a lazy smile.
She wanted to make a joke about bad pickup lines, but doing so seemed disrespectful in the presence of this beautiful display.
“Gemini,” she answered. “But I don’t believe in astrology.”
Noah slid even closer and raised her arm toward the sky, tracing the outline of a faraway constellation. “There they are, the twins. Do you see them?”
He continued to trace the path of the stars over and over until she finally recognized their shape as one she had seen many times—though never in person.
“That’s incredible,” she said on a slow breath out. “Do you know them all?”
He nodded slowly as he continued to study the stars. “All the zodiac constellations and many more.”
“Show me.”
Noah reached for her hand again, and her entire body felt as if it were on fire, just like the night sky had been only minutes before. “Libra, the scales. That’s my sign.”
“Do you know their stories, too?”
“What good boy scout doesn’t? Want me to show you my favorite?”
Their entwined hands followed the stars in the path of a W.
“Cassiopeia?” she guessed.
“Yes, that’s the queen of the night sky.”
“They say she was the most beautiful woman anyone in the world had ever seen.” He bumped her shoulder with his. “Kind of like someone else I know.”
Noah let go of her hand and reached up to brush aside a strand of hair that had fallen loose from her pony tail. “But unlike you, Cassiopeia knew how beautiful she was and often boasted about it, then there was that whole chaining her daughter to a rock thing, but we don’t really need to talk about that.”
He chuckled softly, waiting for… something. Something that Taylor just couldn’t give.
She took a deep breath, trying to look away, but he stopped her. “Noah, I…”
“I know,” he whispered, not bringing his face closer but not pulling away either.
And by the flickering light of the fire, she stared into Noah’s eyes and let him see into hers. His eyes flashed brilliantly, not unlike the stars above--and she wondered what he must think of her. Did he really regard her as an other-worldly beauty like Queen Cassiopeia?
And would it really be so bad to let him kiss her, to see where things could go if she stopped holding back?
Noah’s face inched closer, and at last she closed her eyes, ready for whatever came next.
MRRRRUAAAAAAHHHHHH!
A terrible cry rent the night sky, ripping Noah and Taylor apart before they could even come together.
Chapter 7
“What was that?” Taylor asked without the slightest hint of fear in her voice. Sure, flying in a perfectly safe plane terrified her, but an attack from a yet-to-be-identified wild animal was business as usual.
The campfire had died down during their stargazing, but their eyes hadn’t had time to adjust to the blackness yet.
Taylor jumped to her feet, ready to investigate, but Noah pushed her back to the other side of the campsite. They still didn’t know what animal had joined them and what kind of mood it was in, but from the sounds of things, it wasn’t good.
“Let me help,” she argued.
He pushed her back again. This was one area where he refused to compromise. If anything happened to this poor, city girl, he’d never forgive himself. “No way! I have way more experience in this area. Let me handle it.”
That was when another frustrated cry rang out again, and Noah followed the sound cautiously moving toward the animal in distress.
Taylor was right on his heels, refusing to let him deal with the situation on his own.
As they drew closer to the source of the cries, he saw one of the shiny tents jerking about in the sky. The sounds were coming from inside, and he instantly understood.
“It’s a moose,” he explained to Taylor, pushing ahead of her and using his body as a shield. “Luckily, not a full grown one. He’s still a juvenile, which is why he didn’t know to stay out of the campsite.”
“What happened? What is he doing?” she whispered, looking to him for guidance in her fight against nature once again.
“My guess is one of us forgot to close up the tent properly and he poked his head in. Now he can’t get it back out.”
“I’ve never seen a moose up close before,” she said in awe.
“And you’re not going to now. Seriously, these guys are huge,” he hissed, pushing her back yet again. “This one in particular is clumsy and anxious. Not a great recipe for safety.”
“But it’s dangerous for you, too. Let me help.” As she pushed past him again
, he realized it would be easier to let her help than to have her force her way into the situation.
“Fine,” he grumbled. “Go grab a flashlight and point it at the tent.”
As she shone the light on the tent, Noah crept up and grabbed the bottom of the moose’s makeshift hat. The gigantic animal thrashed and stomped his feet in frustration as Noah struggled to pull the tent off his head—until, with a rip and snort, the tent fell away in tatters at last.
“Go away, moose! Get out of here!” Noah screamed as loud as he could. Finally, Taylor shrank away, but not for fear of the animal. “Yell with me,” he told her, still at full volume. “We need to scare this guy away. Otherwise, he could hurt himself even more, or he could turn on us. Yell with me, Taylor. Yell!”
After a few tense moments, the moose shook his rack, seemingly thankful to have been freed but not anxious to stick around. With all the casual grace of a drunken sailor on land, the moose trotted off on its long knobby legs.
“Whoa, that definitely doesn’t happen back home in South Carolina,” Taylor said, holding the flashlight under her face so that it made her look like a jack-o-lantern.
“Look at you, catching a salmon, rescuing a moose. You’re a real Alaskan now. But I’ve got bad news for you, Ms. Hunt.”
“Uh-oh? Is he coming back just as soon as he finds his little squirrel friend?” she said, breaking into a fit of laughter.
“Just remember, I tried to be a perfect gentleman.” Noah groaned as she directed the flashlight toward him, blinding him temporarily. “Yeah, anyway, we’re going to have to sleep together. That tent is way too damaged for either of us to take shelter in.”
“Excuse me?” she said with a laugh, and he couldn’t tell if she was being playful or just really nervous. “But I’m not that type of girl.”
“Tonight you are,” he said with a shrug. “I promise to be on my best behavior.”
“What if the moose comes back?”
“He won’t.”
“But what if he does?”
“Then I’ll keep you safe.” He glanced over at Taylor as she raised a hand to each of her hips. “And you can help, too.”
Taylor seemed happy enough, but Noah cursed his bad luck. He’d been so close to kissing her until that moose had totally spoiled the mood. Now if he made a move to kiss her, she would think he was trying for more—considering their new sleeping arrangement.
The Alaska Sunrise Romances: A 9-Book Sweet Romance Collection Page 11
