WILD MEN OF ALASKA

chapter TEN

Lynx stuffed his phone back in his pocket. “Gotta go, kid.”

“Poachers again?” Fox gathered up the scraps of cardboard Kiski had torn into little pieces while she currently investigated a butterfly.

“Nope. BW has Eva trapped in her house. I’ve been called to play hero again.” This time he wasn’t moosin—messing it up either.

“Take her flowers!” Fox hollered as Lynx jumped the last three steps from the deck.

“Right. Thanks.” That kid was a freaking genius.

Lynx yanked flowers in his sprint to Eva’s. She wouldn’t slam the door in his face this time. He exited the trees with a handful of sweet-smelling wildflowers intermixed with some weeds. While he approached the moose, he attempted to clean up the mess and rearrange the blooms. BW was doing a fine job of mowing Eva’s front yard.

Maybe he should mow it for her. Chances were she didn’t have a lawn mower. There wasn’t much of a lawn either, more like forest carpet than grass.

“What are you up to, BW?” Lynx slowly drew near the big bull moose, glancing around the opening, suddenly conscious that he had a handful of flowers and was talking to a moose. There was no sign of Eva, but he could feel eyes on him and knew she watched from the window.

Now how did he talk a moose into leaving an all-you-can-eat buffet of sweet greens?

At the sound of Lynx’s voice, BW bobbed his head a few times, much like a horse that was happy to see him.

“You can’t keep doing this,” Lynx tried to reason, knowing he was setting himself up for a psych evaluation. He hoped Eva couldn’t hear him. It was bad enough she was witnessing this. On the phone, she’d demanded he come bearing arms. “We want her to stay, and while this is one tactic, it’s going to backfire.”

BW took a step closer and extended his head, his nostrils quivering. Then quick as an owl snatching a shrew, BW chomped the tops off the flowers Lynx had picked for Eva.

“Ah dude, you are not helping my cause, here.”

The moose bobbed his head again, nudged Lynx playfully in the chest, throwing him back a few steps, and then walked off without a care in the world, blending into the trees. The breaking of branches was the only proof he was still out there.

The door opened behind him. Lynx turned to see Eva, and his mouth hit the ground.

“What was that all about?” Eva asked.

What was she wearing? She looked all womanly and stuff.

“Lynx?” A scowl appeared on her forehead as she studied him.

He needed to tread carefully or that door would be slammed in his face again. There was no way in hell that was happening, not with her all gussied up. He couldn’t remember seeing a woman so beautiful before. He remembered Fox asking him if he’d given her any compliments.

“I like your hair,” he blurted out.

“Huh?” Her scowl deepened, and then she shook her head as if to clear it. “Explain to me what just happened here. How did you get that moose to move on so easily? And don’t tell me I didn’t hear you right this time. You called him BW.”

Uh-oh.

If he told her how he’d gotten BW to move on, she wouldn’t let him into her bed. That door would be slammed in his face for the last time. And by the looks of her, he wasn’t getting anywhere unless he did something fast.

“Here, I picked these for you.” He held out the munched stems with a few remaining limp flowers.

She didn’t seem impressed. “Why did you call that moose BW? And why did it look like he was ‘friendly’ with you?”

“Can we talk inside?” His eyes bugged when he caught sight of the lacy bra peeking up to say hello under her form-fitting top.

“BW stands for Bullwinkle, doesn’t it?”

Damn, why did she have to be so intuitive? “Uh, maybe.”

She folded her arms pushing her breasts up and deepening the cleavage that was already blood-starving his brain cells.

“Tell me why when I yelled, waved my hands, and threw apples at BW, he didn’t scare off until you talked to him?”

Oh, no. “Tell me you didn’t feed him apples.” BW wouldn’t leave her alone now.

“It’s not like I had rocks in the house or a gun.”

She didn’t need a gun, not with the heart-stopping punch she packed in that get up.

He needed to do something quick to change the subject, get her focused on something else. “God, how I want you.”

“Huh-what?”

He tossed the chomped steams aside and advanced. “Where were you headed?” He reached out and fingered one of her dangling earrings. What perfect little ears she had, elfin-like really. He wanted to nibble.

“I...uh, was actually coming to see you.”

He stepped back so he could see into her eyes. “Why?” He liked her suddenly uneasy around him.

She shrugged, and swallowed. “Well, I got to thinking. Maybe I’d been a little rough on you. The chocolates were a thoughtful gesture.”

“I’m sorry about the other day, Eva. I shouldn’t have left you alone.” He realized that he should’ve apologized first, before trying chocolates or flowers.

Her wary eyes met his. “Why did you? Leave me alone, that is.”

“If I hadn’t taken a minute to get blood back into my head, I would have taken you against a tree like a wild animal.”

A switch seemed to go off at his words. “Next time, take me against a tree.” She reached out and grabbed the fabric of his t-shirt, fisting her hand in the soft cotton. Pulling him down, she kissed him.

His heart leaped, and his blood raced. He growled and yanked her into his arms. His hands snaked under the soft knit top and tugged it up and over her head, revealing the sexiest bra he’d ever seen. Lacy, with thin straps and the color of wild lupine, it cupped her perfect breasts, pushing them up for his eyes to devour.

He wanted it off. “What are you wearing?”

She smiled, her magical eyes bewitching him, daring him. “Hardly anything at all.”

It hit him then. She’d been on her way to see him, dressed like this for him, so he could do all manner of naughty things to her.

He reached behind her and flicked open the clasp of her bra, letting it drop to where her blouse had fallen. Her breasts were perfect. Small, rounded, and perky with extended rosy nipples. His hand cupped her breast, while his heart swelled with something that made his breath hard to catch.

What was she doing to him?

“Lynx?”

He took in her beauty and knew deep within his soul she was the one for him. This pixie of a woman had somehow, with her sharp tongue and daring spirit, captured his heart.

How did something like that happen in so short a time?

He remembered the telling of his parents’ short courtship. How his dad had taken one look at his mom and absconded with her. From that moment on there had been no other woman for Fox Maiski Sr. She’d remained the love of his life until his untimely death when Lynx had been nineteen.

“Lynx?” Eva called his name again. “Are you okay?”

No, he wasn’t. He was falling in love with a woman who could easily break his heart and destroy him. A woman who didn’t understand all there was to know about him and when she did, she’d probably hightail it right back to her former life in the lower forty-eight.

He had to stop that from happening. Somehow he needed to bind her to him. The only way he knew to do that was to follow his animal instincts.

They’d saved his sorry ass many a time.

He lifted her right off her feet, carrying her into the house, and kicking the door shut with his boot. It felt powerful to be on the inside of her door. Her legs came up and circled his hips, and he nearly hit the floor. There wasn’t much between him and her besides his jeans and the laughable barrier of her panties. He could feel her heat pressing into him as she ground herself against his erection.

“Bed,” he growled.

“Second door on the left.” She tightened her arms around him and held on, her lips nibbling down his neck.

He tumbled her onto the bed, her skirt riding up, showing a flash of more lavender lace.