by Edie Claire
Wolf sounded like he was standing only three feet away, but Ri couldn’t see his face. “I don’t suppose you could turn that flashlight on?” she asked.
He lit it up, directly under his chin and aiming skyward, illuminating his disembodied head like something out of a horror movie.
Ri laughed. Ah, so he could be goofy. She knew it! But if he thought he could frighten her into a scream that easily, he had a great deal more to learn about her.
He frowned at her in disappointment. “Tough crowd. All right, um… you really want a tour?”
“Absolutely.”
“Follow me, then.”
He shone the flashlight on the ground and walked ahead of Ri along the edge of the parking lot. “I could feel my way around here with a bag over my head,” he told her. “So if the flashlight dies, I’ll be fine. But if the flashlight and I both fall into a sinkhole or something, just follow the curb around the edge of the parking lot till you get back to the truck. We’re not going far.”
“Aw, darn,” Ri lamented.
Wolf chuckled at her. “Why do I get the feeling that back in Maine you had a thing for haunted houses and abandoned graveyards? I can just see you running around ghost hunting as a teenager. I bet you used to scare Mei Lin and make her scream her head off.”
A bolt of warmth shot through her Ri’s chest. How could he know that? “I would never intentionally terrorize my sister,” she clarified. “Mei Lin wasn’t really scared. She just liked getting the guys’ attention.”
Wolf turned and shone the light around. He seemed to want to see her face, but what he was looking for, she couldn’t imagine. His own face was behind the light.
He moved the beam to the side and swept it out over the campground. “This is where I usually pitch my tent,” he explained. There were no tents in view, but they could only see a few yards in any direction. “It’s not usually crowded out here this time of year, not midweek, anyway. But there could be tents farther out tonight and we’d never know.”
Ri could see that. Somebody could be laying in a sleeping bag out there right now, listening to every word they said.
Wolf continued to lead her along the curb until they turned a corner where the grass ended and a thicket of brush and trees began. The curb disappeared, replaced with a series of square wooden posts, and Ri found herself on a trailhead. “We’ll just go a little ways into the grove where the trail is obvious,” Wolf told her. “I have a feeling you may like the ambience.”
Ri could tell from the sound of his voice that he was smiling. And she suspected that he was right. She followed the flashlight beam and his sandaled feet as they moved along the trail, which quickly turned from paved to mulched as it headed downhill and back up again. Just as Wolf reached a stopping point and turned around, Ri noticed something odd.
“That smell!” she cried. “Am I crazy or does it smell like mint?”
“Peppermint,” Wolf replied. “Peppermint eucalyptus, to be exact. You’re standing in a eucalyptus grove.” He shone the flashlight up in the air, and Ri was shocked to see giant tree trunks towering all around them. They were so tall that in the wispy denseness of the fog, she could not even see their tops! She hadn’t seen trees so large anywhere else on Haleakala.
“A guy named Hosmer planted them here in the twenties,” Wolf explained. “The trees aren’t native species for Hawaii, though, and if you want to know how well that worked out from an environmental perspective, you can ask Maddie. But I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’ve got at least an hour to kill. As an ecologist she has strong opinions on the subject.”
Ri could imagine. But at the moment, her interests lay elsewhere. “Can I borrow the flashlight?” She allowed her teeth to rattle. They were both still wearing shorts and sandals, and the temperature had dropped dramatically since they’d left both sun and sea level behind.
Wolf handed her the light. The ground around her feet was largely bare of vegetation under the canopy overhead. The tree trunks were broad and stark. They were several feet across at eye level, with pale, vertically grooved bark. She shone the flashlight upward, but could see few horizontal limbs branching out, just the straight, solid trunks standing like soldiers in the choking fog. The only noises she could hear were occasional bird calls in the distance.
It was spooky as hell.
“I’m feeling like I want to turn the light off,” she admitted in a whisper.
Wolf laughed. It was a warm, husky, indulgent laugh, and it sent a little shock wave of anticipation up Ri’s spine. It was dark and creepy and spooky and cold. She wanted the man’s arms around her.
She shifted the light to see that he had moved to lean against a tree trunk a few feet away. His arms were crossed casually across his chest. “Suit yourself,” he said.
Ri switched off the light. Darkness fell like a blanket. She feared that with all her exposed skin she would be eaten alive by bugs, but she disciplined herself not to move. She listened for the sound of Wolf’s breathing, and for the tiniest rubbing or scratching sound that would indicate he was shifting position against the tree. He’d tried to scare her once already. There was no way he’d be able to resist. Any second now… aha!
Wolf’s fingers flew out of the darkness to snatch briefly at Ri’s waist.
She laughed.
“Oh, come on!” he complained loudly, standing close. “That’s not human!”
Ri laughed harder. She took a step back from him, then turned on the flashlight. He watched her, smiling and yet clearly baffled, as she moved around, scouting for something on the forest floor. She leaned down and picked up a thick stick about two feet long. Then she smiled at him and turned the light off again.
“Ri?” he asked after a moment. “What are you doing?”
She giggled.
“You know,” he said dryly, “when a girl picks up a club, gives you a dirty look, and then turns out the light, a guy could get paranoid.”
Ri staunched any more laughter. With careful precision, she leaned down and quietly lofted the stick so that it would land on the ground about three feet to Wolf’s right. Just as the stick landed and he pivoted toward the sound, Ri leapt nimbly to his opposite side and clutched his waist from behind.
“Gah!” he bellowed, jumping in his tracks.
Ri doubled over in hysterics.
“You are evil!” Wolf reprimanded, spinning around. He wrested the flashlight from her grip, then threw an arm around her waist and pulled her toward him.
The darkness was still complete. Ri could see nothing. They were standing toe to toe, with his left hand holding her around the waist. His other arm was also behind her back, his elbow holding her close, his splinted hand presumably still holding the flashlight somehow. She lifted her own arms over his shoulders. He felt so solid. So warm. So steady. She wanted him to kiss her, but just as much she longed to bury her head in his shoulder and simply be held. She wanted to be close enough to him emotionally that doing so would make her feel safe and comforted and blissfully secure. She and Wolf didn’t have that yet. She’d never had it with a man. It was part of the dream.
Nothing happened. Seconds ticked by.
Ri began to curse the darkness. She couldn’t see his eyes. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
But he really should be kissing her by now.
“If you’re thinking of me as a co-worker,” she said quietly, “don’t. I consider my work to be more of a barter arrangement. And as for my staying at the Hilton, I’m really just a temporary guest, not a renter.” She cleared her throat. “Just saying.”
She could hear him huff out a breath. Their faces were very close.
“She’s evil, and she can read my mind,” he said in a throaty whisper. “Now that should scare me.”
But apparently it did not. Because in the next moment, those warm, tantalizingly kissable lips of his pressed over hers.
She heard a thud as he dropped the flashlight.
***
Sometime l
ater, it occurred to Wolf that his toes were numb with cold. The fact was of no great concern to him; in his line of work, anything short of amputation-risking frostbite was a mere nuisance. But he remembered that Ri was also wearing sandals, and that her lovely lightweight, scooped-neck top and boy shorts were doubtless leaving her more vulnerable to the plummeting temperature than he was. He should stop this now and get them back to someplace warmer. He needed to explain things to her, anyway, before…
Wolf lost his train of thought. He regained it only after a breeze blowing through the grove drew a fresh crop of goosebumps on Ri’s wonderfully soft, previously smooth upper arms.
“You’re cold,” he said, drawing back sharply, albeit reluctantly. It was the only way he could let go of her at all. He rubbed his good hand briskly over her arm a moment to warm her. “Actually, I’m cold, too. I’ve just been ignoring it. We’d better go.” He released her and looked around him in the dark. Something was missing.
Oh, right. The flashlight.
He stooped down and felt around on the ground. He shouldn’t have dropped the thing. Then again, he thought with a smile, he’d needed that hand.
He heard what sounded like a muted giggle coming from Ri. Then she joined him in feeling around for the flashlight. Three seconds later, he was nearly blinded. “Stop that!” he chided, reaching out and taking the flashlight away from her again. “I’ll be seeing spots for an hour.”
“I’m sorry,” Ri said, sounding genuine even as she laughed. “I really am. I didn’t know where you were exactly.”
Wolf turned the beam onto the trail in front of his feet. He really did have spots in front of his eyes. “Right,” he said sarcastically. “Follow me.”
“Wait,” Ri said, reaching out and touching his arm.
Wolf stopped and turned. She sounded upset.
“I really didn’t mean to shine the light in your eyes,” she said, her voice serious. “Do you believe me?”
Wolf moved the beam so that he could make out her expression. What a puzzle she was. So deliciously mischievous and fun loving… yet when she spoke plainly, there was no guile in her. Her large, dark eyes showed genuine concern. “Yes, of course,” he answered truthfully.
Ri’s face brightened. She dropped her hand and started walking again. Wolf picked up his own pace, lest the vixen actually pass him on the trail, and they soon found themselves back at the truck.
The fog hadn’t let up in the slightest, but it did seem at least five degrees colder than when they’d arrived. They got in the truck and Ri started the ignition, but when she began to put the truck into gear, Wolf stopped her with a hand and shut off the headlights instead. Then he turned on the dome lights, cranked up the heater, and relaxed in his seat. “Let’s just warm up here a minute,” he suggested.
Ri didn’t argue. Instead she kicked off her sandals, twisted her knees, and tucked her bare feet up underneath her. She had cute little feet. And sexy legs. Everything about her was cute and sexy. She scooted closer to him.
Wolf’s teeth clenched. It was time again. Time for the talk. The talk he hated, but could not avoid. It was the only way to manage things, to keep things honest. He wasn’t a teenager and he didn’t play games.
Ri held her hands over the heating vents. She had lovely fingers. Short nails, no polish. Earthy and practical, perfect for a woman who worked with fish and muck, he thought with amusement. A real woman.
A woman who deserved honesty.
“Ri,” he began, leaving himself no room to procrastinate, “there’s something we need to talk about.”
Her brown eyes looked up at him with surprise. He supposed she didn’t consider him much of a talker. That was fair enough. “You know I’m not going to be on Maui much longer,” he said softly. “A week and a half, maybe. Two weeks, max.”
Ri’s eyes studied his keenly. “I’m aware.”
Wolf had no idea what she was thinking. Hopefully she was thinking that this horribly awkward conversation was unnecessary.
“I don’t want to make a big deal out of nothing,” he threw in optimistically. “But I also don’t like misunderstandings.” Almost involuntarily, he reached out his left hand and laid it on Ri’s perfect, satiny smooth shoulder. His fingers toyed with her soft, bouncy curls while she watched him, motionless and curious.
He wanted her. He wanted to pick up right where they left off, but his saying what he had to say often killed the mood, at least for a little while.
His fingers moved to trace her angular cheekbone, her perfectly curved jawline…
Dammit.
He dropped his hand. “Ri,” he said quickly. “It’s like this. I’m a solitary kind of guy, and I plan to stay that way. I like you very much, but I don’t do relationships. When I get involved, it’s… casual, and its temporary, and that’s understood.”
God, how he hated this. Ri’s eyes were wide, but her expression was inscrutable.
“I don’t want to hurt anybody,” he said more gently. “That’s why I’m saying all this now. I’m just trying to be honest with you.”
Still, she said nothing. Her face didn’t change. She didn’t move.
He swallowed and shifted in his seat. “I enjoy your company tremendously,” he said with a smile, trying to finish things on an upbeat. “And I think you’re incredibly, amazingly sexy. But with me, it’s no strings or nothing.” He let out a final breath of relief. There. He had said it. He was relieved of all moral responsibility. The ball was in her court.
She made no response. After an awkward second, he broke eye contact and gazed out the front windshield.
Ri let out what sounded like a gulp. Wolf looked back to find her staring out the side window. Her face was thoughtful; her eyes no longer wide, but narrowed in contemplation. Even when she was in such a tense posture, he found his gaze lingering over her with fascination. The way her curls drifted over the curve of her shoulders, the profile of her adorable nose, her pert chin, those full, sensuous lips…
“Ri?” he exclaimed without thinking. He couldn’t stand not touching her anymore. He needed her answer.
She jumped in her seat a little, startled. Her eyes met his again, and she gazed at him for a long moment, seeming to plumb some depths of his soul so deep and dark that he didn’t know he had them. He wanted to ask her what she was thinking, what she was seeing, but he felt like he had no right. He had already asked her a question, and her answer was still hanging out there.
Finally, her face warmed into a smile. It was a small, sad smile, but a smile nevertheless. Wolf’s heart leapt as she reached up a hand toward him. She ran her fingertips lightly, tenderly along his bearded jawbone, and her touch ignited him like a lightning bolt. She would accept him with no strings.
“If those are my choices,” she said softly, sweetly. “I choose nothing.”
Chapter 22
Anchorage, Alaska, 2000
Wolf wasn’t sure what had woken him up until he heard it a second time. A short wail, following by a kind of a choking sound. He glanced over at his brother, but knew that an eight-year-old couldn’t make his voice that deep, even if he wanted to. Besides, Bear was sound asleep. Wolf looked at the clock on their dresser. It was 2:05 AM.
Wolf swung his feet out of bed and sat up. It had to be his dad making that noise. He walked to the door of his bedroom, opened it as quietly as he could, and walked around the corner into the main room. His father was slumped on the couch, listing to one side. His face was buried in his hands. He was sobbing.
Wolf stood frozen for a moment, staring. Never in his life had he seen his dad cry. He’d seen his eyes get wet once or twice, but this was something different. The man was blubbering like a baby.
Wolf didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to do. All he could think was that the worst thing in the world must have happened. But he couldn’t imagine what that might be. His dad looked okay — he didn’t look hurt. Wolf knew that Bear was fine, and they’d just talked to their grandpa on the phone
a few hours ago. Their dog, Chaga, was lying by his dad’s feet, and she looked okay, too. That pretty much covered what mattered most in the world to Wolf. So what was the problem?
“Dad?” he asked finally, tentatively.
Nels Markov shot up off the couch as if he’d been struck. He turned away from his son and wiped his face hastily with his hands, then strode into the kitchen and finished the job with a splash in the sink and a dish towel.
Wolf followed. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Nels forced out unconvincingly, his voice full of gravel. He cleared his throat. “Sorry if I woke you up. Everything’s fine. You go on back to bed, now.”
Wolf stood where he was, staring back at his father. He smelled that smell again. Flowery. He wanted to say grape, but he knew that wasn’t a flower. He didn’t know flowers. He just knew that when his dad went out on the weekends, he usually came back smelling like that.
Wolf wasn’t stupid. He knew his dad had been seeing a woman again. The signs were pretty obvious, at least to him. Bear never caught on, but that was a good thing. And Nels never brought the women home anymore, which Wolf was glad about. He thought his dad was being smart. The three of them got along just fine without a woman in the house.
His dad did still hire a babysitter when he went out late, though, which was a bone of contention between them. Wolf was eleven years old now, in middle school, and he didn’t need a babysitter. He could take care of Bear just fine by himself. He’d been doing it for years already. But if nothing else, the regular appearance of babysitters on the weekends was a sure signal that his dad was shacking up again. And this time, Wolf knew who he was doing it with.
“Is this about Ms. French?” he asked with contempt. Until this minute, he’d had nothing against the woman. But he was beginning to think this was all her fault, and “this” was seriously embarrassing. Real men didn’t cry.
