WILD MEN OF ALASKA

chapter THIRTEEN

Lynx was dressed and in the kitchen when Eva entered wearing a short, azure silk Japanese robe that complimented the violet of her eyes. She hastily tied the belt when she saw him, which answered his question if she was naked under it or not. He wanted the woman who had no problem stripping down in front of him when she needed stitches.

“I thought you left.” She fluffed her damp hair.

“Not until we talk.” He flipped the grilled cheese sandwiches he was cooking and tried not to feel the sting of her frown. “Besides, while I’m here, I might as well remove your stitches.” Her eyes widened and he had to bite back a smile.

“No, that’s okay. I can take care of it.”

“Eva, you can’t reach them.”

“Seriously, I can do it.”

He moved the sandwiches to the plates he’d set out earlier, turned off the gas stove, and faced her. “I stitched you up, therefore, I’m duty sworn to remove them.” Besides, he didn’t want anyone else seeing her sweet backside but him.

“Fine. Can we eat first? I’m starving.”

Once again he bit back a smile. While he enjoyed the ballsy woman he’d first met, this shy and cautious woman charmed him too. He’d taken control by sleeping with her. Now she was the one off balance. He brought the plates to the small table and remained standing until she took a seat.

She adjusted the hem on the robe to cover more of her legs as she sat, but the silky material slid back up her thighs. Rather than fight the fabric, she scooted her chair farther under the table. He sat across from her, wondering what she was going to do next. He was at a loss of what to do with himself. It would help if he knew more about her.

She picked up a triangle of her sandwich that he’d cut into fourths and met his stare. “You are sooo not my type,” she blurted out, before taking a bite.

Well, he could have done without knowing this. “What is your type?”

“I don’t know.” She dropped her sandwich and buried her hands in her hair. “I thought I did, but all the men I’ve loved have turned out to be gay.”

Did she love him? Had that been a slip?

“You are not gay,” she continued. Though this wasn’t a question, it sounded tentative as though she wasn’t convinced.

“Damn right I’m not gay.” He was willing to prove it over and over again until she had no doubt in her soul. Skeletons were rattling in her closet, and usually this was the time he stood up and made his excuses, instead he nudged opened the door. “Tell me about them.”

She did. He learned all about Davis, the douche bag, and Jeremy, the man who had really hurt her, the one she still mourned. He reached out and held her hand until she ran out of words. He wanted to hold her but was afraid she’d stop talking if he made any sudden movements. So he just held her hand like they were high school sweethearts.

When she finished, she met his eyes and gave him a slight smile. “Sorry about that, guess I had some feelings bottled up.”

“Explains why you needed a change of scenery.” Something he’d been wondering about. But would she stay?

“What’s going on here, Lynx?” She released his hand and slumped back in her chair. “What we did in there—” she gestured toward the bedroom “—I’ve never experienced that before. I don’t know you well enough to have lost myself like that. Who are you? What are you?”

“I’m just a man, Eva.”

“I don’t buy it. Clarify what happened earlier with BW.”

He let out a deep breath. She’d been honest with him, but he couldn’t return the favor. To do so would ruin another chance at a relationship. He shrugged and didn’t meet her eyes. “Maybe he was finished mowing your front yard and decided it was time to move on.” He hated lying to her, but wasn’t willing to risk losing her so soon. Then again he wasn’t really lying, just not telling the full truth. It still wasn’t the best foot to start a relationship on. He was torn, and it must have shown in his face.

“That wasn’t how it looked to me.”

“How did it look?”

“As though you were talking to him. He acted as if he ‘liked’ you. Even in captivity moose aren’t ‘friendly’.”

He held his breath. He couldn’t go there with her, not yet. She wouldn’t understand, and if he came clean now, she’d walk away just like the others had.

Her eyes narrowed as she studied him. Then she came to some sort of decision. “Want a cup of coffee?”

His heart skipped a beat. She wasn’t throwing him out. Coffee meant caffeine, talking and sharing and staying up all night. “I’d love one.”

Eva stood and entered the kitchen, motioning for him to stay seated. “Instead of coffee, how about a bottle of wine?”

A bottle?

“Okay.” He watched her work, gathering glasses, wine from the refrigerator, and a corkscrew. She seemed comfortable in the kitchen, which shouldn’t be a turn on in this day and age. He completely believed in equal rights and a woman’s choice to do what she wanted, whether it was a doctor, trooper, or cook. He came from a very strong matriarchal family, with his grandmother and mother calling the shots, and if there were any decisions left to be made, his three sisters eagerly took charge. He’d spent most of his time growing up getting out of the way. But if any of them needed him, he was there and could protect and defend better than any grizzly bear.

Eva popped the cork from the bottle and poured two glasses of red wine, handing him one, and then setting her glass and the bottle on the table.

She sat, crossed her legs, the hem of her robe riding up higher on her bare thighs. “So, what now?”

He tore his gaze away from all her creamy flesh, and adjusted himself. Oh man. This wasn’t going to be easy. In fact, things were getting harder and harder the longer he sat across from her, catching her scent that was more prevalent to him now that he’d tasted her, and seeing all that soft skin and knowing how it felt to sink into her. She probably didn’t want to know what he’d like to do now.

He gathered a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh. “I’d like to keep seeing you.”

She took a long sip of wine. “Does that mean we are just dating?”

“No.” His tone was sharper than he’d meant it to be. Well, hell. In for a pound and all that. “I want to be exclusive.” Isn’t that the word women used? What he really wanted was to move her in with him and never let her go, but that might have her packing and running for the Canadian border.

“Like boyfriend and girlfriend?”

More like husband and wife. “Yeah.” He’d take what he could get at this point. And having her call him husband might be a stretch this early.

She seemed to roll the idea around as she rolled the wine around in her glass. She lifted the wine to her lips and drank, then set the glass down and stood. “Okay. Let’s take out my stitches.”

So was that an agreement? Now who was off balance? Just like that, she’d taken the back reins. He bet she killed at chess.

His chair scraped the floor as he stood to follow. Instead of taking him to her bedroom or bathroom, she opened the door that entered into the back of the clinic. A stab of regret hit his heart. She might want this to be impersonal or clinical.

Well, she wasn’t going to get it.





Eva opened an exam room and set the instruments needed to remove her stitches on a tray.

He was keeping something from her.

She wasn’t ready to have him touch her again. Not when her emotions were still reeling from his lovemaking. Why had she agreed to be his girlfriend? She wasn’t in high school or college for that matter. The man was keeping a secret from her, and she detested secrets. Why was she willing to do it, just because he was a God in the bedroom? Could she really be that easy?

Apparently.

He was so...much. More man then she’d ever dealt with before.

“Ready?” Lynx asked, having stayed back by the door as she prepared the room.

How long had she been standing there staring off into the photo of the northern lights hanging on the wall? “Yes.” Once the stitches were removed then she could show him the door and take the emotional breather she needed.

He came up behind her, and what air she had left in her body lodged in her chest. Just having him close, had her resolve scattering.

He held out his hand to help her up on the examining table. The protective paper crinkled loudly in the stillness of the room as she lay on her stomach. She adjusted her robe so she wasn’t lying on the material, and he could easily raise it to get to her stitches.

“Ready?” he asked again, his voice deep, dark.

She nodded, knowing she wasn’t up to speaking.

He dragged the silk over her skin to reveal the stitches. His breathing turned heavier, and she gritted her teeth to keep the moan from escaping from the sexiness of his caress.

She turned her head to the side so she could watch him. His brows knitted together in concentration, and she heard metal rasp as he picked up the cutters from the tray. He took a seat on the rolling stool, and his left hand cupped the cheek of her bottom, pulling the skin taut. She shivered.

“Are you cold?” he asked.

“No.” Cold, she was not. If anything she wouldn’t mind a winter squall blowing through the room about now.

Very professionally, he clipped each stitch and pulled them out. Total time couldn’t have been more than a minute. Yet, her nerves were so on edge she was sweating when he finished.

“Got a mirror?” he asked, his voice husky as his fingers smoothed over the scar.

“Counter.” She pointed to the hand mirror standing next to the sink. She rose on her elbows to get off the table.

He placed his hand in the middle of her back and held her down. “Not yet.” He grabbed the mirror and positioned it for her to see. “Take a look.”

She squinted and then squinted some more. “You’re good.” There was hardly a scar to speak of. Someone would have to be really close to find it. As close as Lynx currently was.

He set down the mirror, his long arm easily reaching the counter while his body stayed next to her, his other hand still on her lower back keeping her in place. Then he lowered his mouth and kissed her.

Right on the scar.

A moan escaped her. No. She wasn’t going to do this. Not here. That’s why she’d brought him into the clinic. What said no sex better than an exam room? Okay, maybe wrong choice of words as he proceeded to examine her.

“Lynx, we can’t.”

“Oh, yes, we can.”

“I work here. I can’t have sex here.”

He laughed, his lips moving up her backside, uncovering her bottom completely. “Haven’t you always wanted to play naughty nurse to sexy woodsman?”

Damn, he was sexy, and he had plenty of “wood.” She was torn.

“I have appointments tomorrow. Little kids, I think. Vaccinations.”

His hands snaked under her to cup her breasts, and he pulled her back against him. The exam room table was the perfect height for him to enter her from behind. “Just say the word, Eva, and I’ll stop.” He nipped the back of her neck.

Damn, he didn’t play fair.

Oh hell, she didn’t care. She could put the room back to rights, and no one would be the wiser except her. “Take me.”

And he did.