WILD MEN OF ALASKA

chapter SEVEN

Gemma licked her lips. “I should make this clear. I didn’t invite you over so we could sleep together.” Oh no, why had she said that?

“Good to know.” Cub bit back a smile. “So why did you invite me over?”

“You make sense.” No sleep made for one stupid girl.

“Excuse me?”

“We like the same activities. The same people. I’ve even heard that you’ve been known to read the occasional book.”

A dimple winked at her as he grinned. “And here I thought it was because I was so damn cute.”

She answered his grin. “Yeah, there is that too.” Might as well take stupid a step farther. “I thought you were going to kiss me?”

“Sure put the pressure on.”

He took her hand, a sweet understanding smile curving his lips. “Come here.” He sifted his fingers in her hair. “Close your eyes.”

“If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to leave my eyes open.”

“By all means, leave them open then.”

His head lowered, but before his lips would have taken hers, his mouth grazed her cheek, his fingers tracing the angles of her face as though learning her. His hands framed her face, and he slowly took her mouth with his.

The kiss was soft, questioning, almost innocent. Like she was back in high school being kissed for the first time, though not awkward. Awkward had been last time they’d tried this.

Cub applied more pressure, pulling her closer to him, and deepened the kiss. This was nice. Sweet.

“Your hot chocolate tastes way better than mine,” Cub murmured.

“I, uh, added a little something.”

“Let me take another—” Cub’s mouth took hers more aggressively this time. His arms wrapping around her, lifting her off her feet and closer to his body. Her stomach did a surprising little flip.

Wow, he had such big...hands. His arms were long enough to envelop completely around her, his hands splayed around her back, with his fingers brushing the undersides of her breasts.

A groan vibrated from him, and he broke contact, seeming startled by the sound. “That was much better than the other day.”

“Much,” she whispered. Maybe sleeping with Cub wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

A chill blew into the room.

Cub looked around the kitchen. “Do you have a window or door open?”

“No.”

He set her back onto her feet and turned. “Did you feel that?”

“Feel what?” Oh, no. She was awake right? She pinched herself. Yep. Cub’s kiss had been real. She hadn’t dreamt that. Neither had she dreamt the sudden drop in temperature that sent more than just a shiver through her body this time.

She followed Cub into the living room where he double-checked her front door. It was still closed and locked from when they had entered the house.

“Where’s your thermostat?”

“Down the hall.” She led the way, realizing for the first time how close the thermostat was to her bedroom. She had a short hallway. Her bedroom was at the back, a guest bathroom on the left, and second bedroom on the right across from the bathroom. They were now just a few feet from her open bedroom door. Her queen size bed was a temptation she didn’t want to resist.

But for sleep or some other reason?

“Your thermostat seems fine.” Cub adjusted the settings and the heat kicked on. “Must have been a freak thing.” He glanced at her unmade bed and then back to her. “Nice sheets.”

“They were a gift.” It was hard to admit to this big man, who was currently biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing, that she’d trekked down the Star Trek sheets for herself. And they’d been hard to find.

“A fan?”

She shrugged. “Somewhat.” She didn’t want to scare him off with the truth.

He pointed to the autographed picture of Leonard Nimoy framed and hanging on her wall. “I think more than somewhat.” He cocked a brow. Not as impressive as Spock’s famous questioning brow what with Cub being all blond and blue-eyed...and hot. “Don’t tell me your bedroom is ‘where no man has gone before’?”

“Oh, you’re funny.” She reached around him and shut the door.

“Guess that was the wrong joke to make?”

She folded her arms across her chest.

“What if I admitted that I’m a huge Doctor Who fan?”

“Nope. Gotta do better than that. Everyone is a Doctor Who fan.”

He choked out a laugh. “Okay, if you really want to get personal—”

“You laughed at my sheets.”

“Personal, it is then.” He cleared his throat. “My favorite movie of all time is...Titanic.”

Her arms dropped to her sides. “‘I’m the king of the world’ Titanic?”

He gave her a sheepish look. “Too soon?”

“Yeah, I think so.” It was her turn to bite back a smile, which she lost. “It’s hard to see the big man in front of me, who it’s been rumored to have stared down a bear, so in touch with his feminine side.”

“Once. I stared down a bear once. Don’t ever want to do it again, and it was more of a case of being too scared shitless to move than actual bravery. Besides, I thought women liked men who were in touch with their feminine sides.”

“To a point. Men still must be able to defend hearth and home, kill spiders, and pay attention when picking out paint colors. But we don’t welcome your opinions differing from ours. And above all, there is nothing manly about crying during a chick flick.”

“Good to know. I’ll be covert when I take you to see the new Nicolas Sparks movie. What do you say?”

She glanced at him from under her lashes. “So you want to move our relationship beyond the pool?”

“I’d like to get to know you better, Gemma. You have very impressive paddling skills.” He angled his head to the side. “Did that sound dirty to you?”

“A bit.”

“Good. So, you want to take in dinner or a movie sometime?” He leaned in closer. Her back was literally against the hallway wall. But she didn’t feel trapped.

“On one condition,” she said.

His finger tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Name it.”

“We see the new Joss Whedon movie instead.”

He leaned back. “Don’t tell me you’re a Buffy fan?”

She nodded. “Diehard fan of not just Buffy, but Angel, Firefly, and Serenity too.”

He shook his head. “Should have known by the Trekky sheets.” He gave a deep, pretend sigh. “I guess if you can overlook my love for Titanic, I can see past the geek in you.”

She let go of the laugh. It had been so long since she’d flirted like this.

Another cold breeze swirled around them. Gemma rubbed her arms.

Cub looked around, tapped the thermostat, and shook his head in confusion. “I think you have a draft somewhere.”

She had an idea of where that cold breeze was blowing in from.

Her Dreamweaver needed some boundaries.