WILD MEN OF ALASKA

chapter SIX

Lynx grabbed the branches overhead and tied a rope to secure the canoe so it didn’t float downriver.

Eva gasped and splashed as she fought to swim against the current. “Help! I’m drowning!”

“Eva, stand up.” He tried to fight back the laugh bubbling to the surface and lost. The woman was so out of her element, she was adorable. Her spiky hair lay plastered against her skull, her violet eyes went from filled with fear to fury as she stood up and the water came to her upper thighs.

She planted hands on her hips and narrowed those livid eyes at him, and he laughed harder. His sides hurt with it. If the woman could zap him with a spell, he’d be a horny toad right now. Actually he was already horny, had been since he’d picked her up. Scratch that. Since he’d carried her back to his place when she’d been moosed-up.

There was something about her that fired to life every one of his need-to-mate receptors.

“Help me out of h-here you...you b-big moose.” Eva shivered, her hand shaking as she slicked back her wet hair.

Ooh, now she looked sexy and mysterious like some exotic European model.

He remained seated and braced his legs on each side of the canoe so that helping her back in didn’t tip him into the river. He reached for her and pulled her in. Even soaking wet, the woman weighed nothing. He helped her to sit in the bottom of the canoe, facing him. She cradled her knees to her chest and shook. That sobered him up. She was cold and probably miserable. He’d save his laughter until later when he was alone and maybe retelling this story to Fox. Right now, he needed to get her warmed up. The thought shouldn’t please him so much. He took another look at her and decided warming her up might not be as pleasurable as he’d hoped. Not with the blame shooting his way.

He untied the canoe and picked up the paddle, easily navigating them away from the nest of sweepers and the rapids until he reached a pool of water where he could bank the canoe. He jumped out and secured the craft to a tree, reaching back to help guide Eva to shore. She was shaking so badly that he gave up and swung her up into his arms.

She slapped his shoulder. “P-put me d-down.”

“Make me,” he fired back and tried not to laugh again. He got another slap for his comment. He carried her to a clearing blooming with wildflowers and set her on her feet then proceeded to unstrap her from the wet lifejacket. He tossed that to the ground and went for the buttons on her shirt.

“W-what are you d-doing?” She knocked his fingers away.

“We need to get you warmed up.”

She narrowed her eyes. “It’s a nice day. I don’t think I’m going to f-freeze to death. In fact, the m-madder I get, the less cold I feel.”

She should be smoking hot then.

He bit back the reply and instead asked, “Did you pack what I told you to bring?”

She bared her teeth and growled.

He blinked.

Damn if she wasn’t the most adorable woman he’d ever laid eyes on. He couldn’t stop himself from grabbing her upper arms, lifting her up, and kissing the mad right out of her. She sputtered when he set her back on her feet. He gave her a goofy smile. “Be right back.”

He left her to stew and headed to the canoe for their backpacks. When he returned she’d shed her shirt and wore a wet tank top.

Oh, he was in trouble here.

Her nipples beaded like small stones through the tissue-thin, white material. The lace of her bra was defined through the soft fabric. She glared at him as she struggled to get her tennis shoes off. “Stay away from me.”

Yeah, not going to happen.

The more time he spent around her the more he wanted to be around her. Who would have thought he’d fall for a pixie of a woman with an Amazonian temper? She went for the button of her jeans next and slowly peeled the wet material down her hips and thighs, until she stomped free of them, wearing only her tank top and lacy pair of electric blue panties.

He took a step closer.

“Stay right there!” She pointed at him with her finger, and if it had been loaded he’d be dead right now.

She really wasn’t happy with him. And why did that please him so much?

Probably because she wasn’t afraid of him. Most people saw his size and either figured he was as dumb as a musk ox or a man to be feared. Women tended to think the latter and a few men had been educated in the former. Eva was a breath of fresh air he hadn’t known he needed.

He stayed rooted to his spot and focused on her every move. The woman was perfectly fine with being practically naked in front of him. He was just grateful. She gathered up her wet clothes and laid them over tree branches to help them dry. He took in her creamy skin, so different from the brown of his, and couldn’t wait to join the two of them together. She bent over and fluffed her hair in the breeze. He groaned. She was just messing with him now.

“How are your stitches?” he asked, eyes rooted to her ass.

She turned and looked at him over her shoulder, her back arched in a pose worthy of Playboy.

The minx.

Did she have any idea what she was doing to him?

“They seem fine.” She started to wring the water out of her socks.

“You seem warmer now.”

She lifted her face to the clear blue sky and closed her eyes. “This sun is just glorious.”

It wasn’t the only thing. “Would you like your backpack,” he asked, his voice husky. She turned and gave him a full frontal view. With the sun behind her, she resembled a mystical faerie sent to sexually enslave him.

Where did he sign?

If he didn’t get her covered up, he was afraid of what he might do. There was only so much temptation he could resist.

A hungry man was going to eat.