Taming Alaska (So Not Prince Charming Book 1) (27 page)

“You’ve lost a lot of blood,” Wendell says. “I should get your sister in here to give you some.”

“I’ll be a cheap drunk. Ow, dammit. Go a little easy there.”

“Quit complaining, ya goddamn pussy.”

They exchange a few more obscenities, but all-in-all, it’s friendly banter, like they’ve known each other for years. It makes me wonder what it’s like to know every single person in a town that’s no larger than my shoe closet.

I take a seat on the rickety desk, worrying it might collapse under my weight. My mind works over what Loki told me. I don’t think my dad wants me dead. He made me stop doing the books.

Dad only manages the estate temporarily because the ranch belongs to us girls. If I’m dead, Fay will have control of the ranch. Me dying in the wilderness would be an accident, but Loki murdered Blake in cold blood.

Anyone who could testify against Fay is dead.

The pseudo doctor whisks the curtains to the side to show Shane pulling up a fresh pair of jeans. He winks at me as he tucks in his soft grey flannel shirt that smells of him.

Shane drapes an arm around my shoulder. “Wendell, this is Cynthia Diaz.”

“If you’re with this sorry ass son of a bitch, my apologies.” Wendell lays a hand on Shane’s good shoulder. “Take those antibiotics and don’t forget to come back for the rabies booster shots. It’s rare when wolves attack humans, but we shouldn’t take any chances, and dammit, kill that stupid bear before it kills anymore of us. You’ve been dragging it out for years. What kind of goddamn hunter are you?”

Shane thins his lips. “I’m working on it.”

Wendell nods to me and uses a much more pleasant tone. “Nice to meet you. Staying long?”

“I have to go home to let Willa know I’m all right. How do we contact the police?” I doubt seriously this town has any.

“Shane’s dad has a VHF radio, and I think Bill just bought a satellite phone,” Wendell says, tucking his hands into his lab coat pockets.

“We’ll take care of it, Cyn.” Shane’s fingers graze my cheeks while he smiles at me. “Thanks, Wendell.”

Shane’s touch fires underneath my skin, kindling heat between my breasts so that despite the draft, beads of perspiration pop up in preparation of the next smoldering connection between the two of us.

“Sorry about your brother,” Wendell says. “We’ll go get him before the sun sets.” Which isn’t that much longer. Since I’ve been here, the days have already gotten significantly shorter.

A hint of sadness flickers in Shane’s eyes. “Thanks again, Wendell.” Shane nods, his brow wrinkling. “See ya around.”

The streets are fairly empty, except for the few native Yup’ik Eskimos riding snowmobiles.

Shane drives the snowmobile to a small cabin surrounded by tall pines, a half mile out of town. He helps me off and despite his injuries, the strength in his arms pull me toward him. “I never thought I’d want a princess.” His lips descend onto mine, the pressure of his mouth forcing mine open, his tongue wet and hungry, his breathing raspy, and the heat of his body seeping into me. “I’ve never desired any woman the way I crave you.”

He opens the cabin door to escort me inside.

“We weren’t expecting you so soon,” a tall pretty brunette about my age says, “and you’re not Shane’s fiancée.” She watches Shane hobble inside and studies my disheveled appearance. “What the hell happened, Shane?”

I offer my ungloved hand that’s semi-clean, minus the lack of a manicure for the past week. “I’m Cynthia Waits, and you must be Shane’s sister.”

She gives me an odd look then turns toward Shane.

“Where’s Pops, Julie?” Shane asks.

“Right here.” A man appears around the corner, not as large as Shane, but with the same soft celery green eyes, except his dad has crow’s feet that starburst from the corner of his eyes.

Shane inhales slowly. “The bear killed Red.”

Julie cries out, covering her hand over her mouth, her anguish spilling into her hazel eyes. “How?”

Feeling like an outsider and intruder, I step behind Shane.

His dad shakes his head. “That damn bear.”

“Wendell says he’ll help retrieve Red,” Shane says.

“I’ll grab Bill. Where’s Red at?”

Shane tells him exactly where he left his brother, which loses me. I don’t think I could find my way back in the dark.

Tears cascade down Julie’s cheeks, so I pull her into my arms where she sobs into my parka. I don’t know what else to do.

“Think you’ll be ready to hunt the bear in a day or two?” his dad asks.

“Yeah.” Shane wraps an arm around me. “It attacked Red and me both.”

“I’ll get the rifles, Pops,” his sister says, biting her lip. Moisture sparkles in her eyes. “I’ll meet you outside in a few minutes.”

“You should probably use mine,” Shane says, exhaustion settling into his masculine carved face. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

He steps outside, and Julie cocks her head. “So how did you get here?”

“It’s a long story.” I give her the basics, hoping Shane returns to interrupt, but he doesn’t. Through the window, I can see he’s talking to his dad and Wendell.

“You aren’t Shane’s usual type,” she says, assessing me.

“And that is?” Not a princess is what I expect.

“Bat shit crazy. That Nikita, she wasn’t all there and don’t get me started on Lindsey. She went after Shane with a knife.”

I stifle a laugh because her gaze trails after Shane and her dad discussing Red. “Maybe he deserved it.”

She gives me a half-hearted smile. “Could be.”

My first meeting of Shane comes to mind, and how he treated his sister. “Is it true Shane used to watch over you and your brother?”

“Yeah.” She smiles at some distant memory. “He used to paddle me—many times. He has a temper. The last time was in Austin, but to tell the truth, he saved me. There was this boy, and I thought he hung the moon.”

She gives me a knowing smile. “He was really a jerk. You know the kind.”

“Yes. Mine was Trevor.” To this day, the memory of my first stinks of vodka.

She gives me a weak grin, grasping my hand and squeezing it. “I was sixteen, and it would’ve been my first, but Shane walked in on us. I was buck-naked, mortified, and he took me over his knee and spanked me. It had been years since the last time he’d done that. But then Shane turned on Kyle. At first he was going to fight Shane, but that just made him laugh. Then Kyle said I wasn’t worth it. That lit a fire under Shane. He took Kyle over his knee and walloped him good. I never heard from him again.” She chuckles. “I love my brothers, every one of them.” More tears tumble down her face, so I hold her. “I can’t believe two of them are gone now.”

She’s bigger than me, so I have to look up. “I still can’t believe a skinny girl like you survived out there. The weather turned to shit this past week. You’re both lucky to be alive.”

Shane walks into the cabin, kicking the snow off his boots. “They’re ready to go.”

Julie grins at me. “I like Cyn. We’ll see you in an hour or two.” After pulling his head down, she kisses Shane on the cheek. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Be careful, Julie,” Shane says in a deadly serious tone.

“We will,” she says, heading outside. “There’s spaghetti in the fridge.”

Before his dad closes the door, he says, “Mind your manners, son.”

After the door closes, Shane says, “Well, let’s get busy.”

I poke him in the chest. “I think that’s a warning your dad gave us.”

Shane nips my neck, and I lose focus. “He’s yanking your chain because he could see that spark in your eyes.”

I take in a deep breath, inhaling his masculine scent, and all that does is stir hunger deep inside me. “I’ll fix us something to eat first. You need your strength.” I can’t let him sidetrack me because it’s doubtful he’d take care of himself.

He tugs me into his solid chest. “I need to fuck you right now.”

I stumble, letting him hold me up, my resolve crumbling to this overgrown caveman.

“Come to bed with me.”

Though my sex clenches and prickles race through my arm hairs, I say with a deadpan expression, “Later.”

While my stomach growls, I leave him standing there smiling to heat up spaghetti and meatballs. It smells heavenly, and we both haven’t eaten since morning. Holding two plates, I wander through the halls until I find him lying naked on a four-poster bed made from yellow, knotty pine, only a sheet covering his cock standing straight up, like a tent pole. The natural wood bed catches my eye, and when I sit on it, the down molds to me, its softness cradling my butt. “Where did you find this bed? I love it.”

There’s that smile again that wiggles into my heart and nestles between my thighs. “I made it, even plucked hundreds of snow geese, ducks, any white fowl I could find to stuff my bed and pillows.” Shane takes a plate from my hand and twirls the spaghetti onto a fork. “My sister Julie’s a good cook.”

He pats the bed next to him, so I crawl up onto the very cushy bed.

“You’ll let me in your bed?”

“Anytime. Except you need to get naked. It’s a requirement.”

“I may never leave,” I add, kicking off my boots and shedding my jeans.

“That’s the plan.” His cast-iron shoulder rubs against mine while he eats, and as usual, he shovels the food into his mouth, holding the fork like it’s a hammer. It’s grown on me.

“We could live up here, and you could pop out nine or ten kids. What do you think?” The sparkle in his eyes lets me know he’s teasing me.

“Two or three is my limit.”

He sets his plate on his lap to pick up my hand and entangles his fingers into mine. “I want to be with you, Cyn. I have a few social media ideas I believe will make me some serious money, and maybe get me out of this mess.”

I can’t help but let the disappointment creep into my brow. I want my happy ending. If only Mom were here to counsel me.

He licks away the sauce from my lips. “You’re always so impatient, but that won’t stop me from loving you.”

And there are the words every girl wants to hear. I fork spaghetti into my mouth, and after I finish, I tug off my shirt to expose my pink heart bra.

“Very sexy,” he says, setting his plate down. “You’re one hot princess.” He kisses my nose. “Cyn, I’m not on the rebound if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m old enough to know what I want, but you have to figure out if you’re willing to live on the Kenai with me. It’s a big commitment.”

“Is it like here?” There’s no way I could live in a town with a pseudo grocery store.

“No. It’s about three hours from Anchorage, and it’s much more populated and packed during the summer. It’s the best fishing. I’ll take you there, so you can see for yourself.”

Could I really do this? I glance across the room at photos of people lined up to fish on the banks of a river and an aerial showing acreage with a large house and cabins on a river.

“That’s the place I want to buy, and the other is a photo of Red, Julie, Sky, and me fishing on the Kenai.”

Shane has a salmon fighting on his line, and they all wear big smiles.

“Summers I could probably handle.” Maybe. It’s just that I had this picture of the ranch with lots of kids, but I’ve always had the wrong man until now. Why can’t I look at it that way?

I get out of bed in only my panties and bra to examine the photos more closely. They look happy.

His gaze rakes over me, like I’m dessert, and that sends delightful shivers into my clit now aching for him. What he does for me. “Don’t be shaking that sweet ass in front of me.”

I swivel around to face him and slink up onto the bed like a cat. My hand reaches under the sheet, gliding up his good leg, his soft, curly hairs tickling my fingers. Squeezing his eyes shut, he groans.

My hand reaches further up his thigh until it firmly caresses his balls. Shane fists the sheets. I want to please him, like he’s done for me. My tongue follows my hand, licking along the shaft until I lap the crown where a white pearl spills onto my bottom lip. I lazily lick around the head, breathing life into his enormous cock that steels in my grasp.

“Fuck,” Shane whispers, clawing the sheets then my hair, my dull blonde strands tangling in his long, scarred fingers. “I love your hair black, so that it matches those fiery eyes.”

“I’ll dye it back,” I say.

“Good. I like it when my woman listens.”

I poke his granite-hard chest. “Don’t get use to it, O’Flannery.”

He draws in a breath as I inhale his cock. I’d read how in
Cosmo
, and from the ecstasy lowering his eyelids, it’s working. I suck on him, using my palm to glide up his hard-on, keeping it well lubricated.

His breaths quicken, and my panties melt at turning him on. He growls out his pleasure while my mouth slides up and down along his cock. It’s throbs underneath my palm, the veins bulging out. His half-lidded gaze lands on me. “I’m going to come.” He shudders, and his ass muscles clench as he thrusts into my mouth.

I don’t back down but lick up the hot seed spurting into my mouth.

He blows out a breath. “Oh fuck, Cyn. You are so damn good. Come here.”

I take a drink of water to swish out my mouth, then I curl up beside him. He pulls me into him and kisses me long and deep while he unhooks my bra. It falls off onto him, and he tosses it aside. His fingers twirl around my breast before they pinch my nipple, its hot point triggering current into my sex. I’m so wet for him. Unlike the first time, he hardly has to do anything at all. It’s like he’s trained my pussy to come on his command, and it certainly wants him.

“What do you want?” he breathes into my ear.

My heart ramps up, beating fast. His thumb pushes back a lock of my hair while his gaze probes my eyes. His lips descend onto mine, his tongue roaming my mouth, my lips, my neck. His kisses spark delightful shivers that settle into my breasts and nipples.

Shane nibbles on my neck, firing smoke signals to every erogenous zone in my body. “Do you want me to reciprocate?”

Having all of him inside me is what I like best. “I want you to make love to me.”

He fingers me through my soaked panties. “That’s easy for me to do.”

My sex physically longs for him as he rubs his cock against it. He winces, and I realize his leg is bothering him.