WILD MEN OF ALASKA

chapter FOURTEEN

Eva stretched and woke to the sun shining bright in her window like it was midday. She glanced at the clock in panic and then breathed easier when it revealed seven in the morning. Would she ever get used to this midnight sun? At least she’d slept last night. A marathon of sex would exhaust most, but a Lynx marathon put her into a coma. She’d vaguely remembered him kissing her goodbye some time around five, saying he’d been called out on a report. She’d have to have him clarify that later. He’d told her what he did for a living, but she still didn’t fully understand it.

She groaned as she headed for the shower. No, make that tub. This morning she’d take the time needed for a hot soak in the bathtub. Otherwise she wouldn’t get through her day of appointments. Maybe she should up her exercise routine. Who was she kidding? Lynx had upped it. It would just take a while to strengthen muscles she’d never used before, muscles she planned to use a lot in the future.

The day was a weird one. Either everyone was being affected by the twenty-four hours of daylight, the summer solstice coming up, or she wasn’t privy to a town “language” that everyone else was. She tried calling Lynx, hoping he was free to have lunch with her, but had to leave a voicemail when he didn’t answer.

When there was no word from him at the end of her day, Eva decided to head to the lodge for dinner.

She nodded to a few people on her walk as the lodge was only a mile from her place. Nice thing about small towns, most things were within walking distance. She’d probably only need her car to travel to Fairbanks, or to explore farther than the village. It would sure save her a lot in gas money. Besides, it was calming and beautiful to walk outside in the fresh air and sunshine. In Cincinnati she was always in the car from work to home to store. It was an effort to spend anytime outside because she was always rushing somewhere. This was a nice change of pace she hadn’t known she needed.

She stepped up on the plank sidewalk of the lodge and entered the restaurant section. The lodge was the town hub. Part hotel, part restaurant, and part country store. If they didn’t have what she needed, Fairbanks or the Internet was her only hope.

“Hey, Eva,” Lynx’s uncle Pike hollered from the kitchen. “How’s life treating ya?”

“Great. Just great.”

“So I heard.” He saluted her with his spatula and a smile, returning his focus to the grill.

What did he mean by that?

She took a seat at the same table she’d waited for Lynx the night he’d stood her up so she could see out the windows, which were wide open to let the cooler air in. She’d be hard pressed to find any building in Alaska with air conditioning.

“Good to see you again, Eva,” Bree greeted, setting a water glass in front of her. “Looks as if you and Lynx made up. Is he meeting you?”

“No. It’s just me.” Did everyone know they were a couple already? Who had Lynx been talking to? She hadn’t told anyone. Not that she had many friends to tell. She hadn’t made more than acquaintances as of yet.

There weren’t many people in the restaurant as it was early for the dinner crowd. A few tourists at one table and two old sourdoughs sitting near the window, one with bat-winged brows and another with a snowy beard that would give Santa a run for his money. She half listened to the conversations going on around her as she studied the menu. She was starved after the night she’d had.

“Now, that there ain’t no Fred Meyer bra,” Bat-wing Brow said around a mouthful of food. “That’s one of those fancy Victoria Secret numbers.”

How would they know what kind of bra a woman was wearing under her clothes? Eva centered more of her hearing on their conversation. Beat the one with the woman tourist discussing the merits of different bug spray brands to her husband who looked like he was ready to bug out.

“Bet you a cord of wood that’s a citified garment,” Bat-winged Brow said.

“How in the hell do you know that?” Snowy Beard asked.

“No way is that boulder holder going to keep the titties warm come winter. I guarantee you that.”

“Like you’ve seen any titties in the last two decades,” Snowy Beard said, shoveling mashed potatoes in his mouth.

“Now don’t be spouting off about things you know nothing about,” Bat-winged Brow said. “Granted it’s been a few seasons between the lovelies, but by the looks of the bra BW is sporting, I’d lay ten to one odds that bra is our new nurse practitioner’s.”

Eva jerked up from the menu and looked out the window at what the men were talking about.

There was BW grazing on wildflowers alongside the road with her lavender bra hanging off his antlers.

Holy shit.

How had that moose gotten a hold of her bra? She sank into her chair and raised the menu to cover her face. Her heart thrashed like a hummingbird’s as she tried to think it through.

Lynx had taken the bra off her last night along with her top while they were still outside her door. Come to think of it, she didn’t know where her top was either. She hadn’t given her clothes a thought, not when all she could think of was Lynx. Embarrassment flamed up her body in waves.

“No way am I taking that bet,” Snowy Beard said. “But I’ll think I’ll make an appointment with the little gal. How do you think BW came about such a lovely garment?”

“I wouldn’t put it past Lynx to have found a way around her mad for standing her up the other night. That boy never did stay in trouble for long.”

“Yep, he sure does have a way with the ladies.”

Eva sank farther behind her menu. A way with the ladies? How many ladies? Maybe he wasn’t as invested in their relationship as she realized she was.

Had she jumped from one doomed relationship to another? You couldn’t call what she’d done a pattern because she hadn’t fallen for another gay man. Lynx was as straight as a birch tree. But could he be just entertaining himself with her? And where the hell was he anyway?

“Have you decided what to order?” Bree asked, trying her hardest to keep a straight face. She’d heard those old sourdoughs too. Damn it.

Eva slapped the menu down on the table. It wasn’t in her to hide like some simpering female. “I want the moose steak. Rare.”