Taming Alaska (So Not Prince Charming Book 1) (28 page)

“Roll over,” I order.

He leans over and rifles through his pack to retrieve a condom. “I bet your pills are in your pack, so what are you going to do to me, Princess?”

I snatch the condom from his grasp and tear it open with my teeth. He whistles out a long breath, his eyes coasting along my body.

I unravel it onto the length of his hard cock. “All kinds of bad things.”

“It’s good that you took control. Thanks to you, what’s left of my blood has rushed to my dick.”

When a laugh escapes my lips, his fingers touch them while they quiver. It’s so sensual that it fires a needy urge deep inside me.

I straddle him and slide my clit along the length of his shaft while his hands caress my breasts and fingers pinch my nipples into stiff peaks. I tug off my boy shorts and throw them by my discarded bra.

“You are so beautiful, Cyn.”

His hands fall down to my hips then to my ass where he kneads them, the electricity firing between my legs. My vulva rides on his crown, letting it sink into the soft flesh. The feeling intensifies as I slide down the long shaft, letting him fill me, and when his cock presses against the top I whisper, “Oh, Shane.” He is the man for me.

I slowly drag his cock into the tender pink of my sex, closing my eyes and letting the pleasure fill me. I pull Shane’s hands up to my breasts for him to squeeze them harder, transferring shock waves to my core.

“You feel so damn good, Cyn.”

I ride him until my sex convulses, and I’m completely drenched by multiple orgasms pulsing deep inside me. He shoots off, his cock quivering within my walls. I puddle onto him, my breathing rapid, his earthy scent filling my nose.

“Is there a bathroom?” I ask, wondering if it’s outside in the blistering cold.

“Down the hall and on your right.”

I pick up the soft grey flannel shirt Shane wore earlier, pad to the bathroom, and study my wind-burned face in the mirror. I don’t look like the same girl who left Texas a week ago.

The pelting snow smeared the makeup I had on, so I remove the rest with soap and water. I don’t even have a brush to drag through my hair. I comb it out with my fingers and tie it back. He told me I was beautiful, but I’m a mess. I’ve judged him, yet he doesn’t judge me by seeing the surface dirt oiling my skin. I think he likes it.

Other than Shane and the clothes on my back, I literally have nothing now. The strength I held while hiking across the interior has slowly whittled away. I want to sit down and cry or at least try and get my mother’s ring back.

I wander back to his bed and nestle under his arm.

As I listen to his steady heartbeat, I realize we’ve avoided the inevitable long enough. “We should call the police.”

Chapter Twenty-eight

Shane

Cyn and I shower together before using the VHF radio. The hot water soaks into my achy muscles. I can only imagine how she hurts after the strenuous trek through the interior. My long arms wrap around her naked body that only stirs desire in my loins. I don’t just want her sexually I want all of her, so I’m not looking forward to speaking to the police because she’ll probably want to return to her comfortable life, and for that, I don’t blame her.

After we shower, Cyn puts on one of Julie’s shirts and a pair of her jeans while I throw her clothes into the laundry. Cyn takes a seat next to me, and I set the VHF channel to the one monitored by the Fairbanks Sheriff’s Department.

I go through everything that happened, even the parts about my brother and the truth I learned about Cyn’s husband. Muting the mic, she gives me a surprised look.

“Red told me,” I say. “Blake wasn’t involved.”

Pain over her dead husband crinkles those sugarcoated lips. “And you didn’t think that was important to tell me?”

I did. “We’ve been a little busy, and does it matter? He was fooling around with Julian.”

Before turning on the mic, she smacks my wounded shoulder and a tear rolls off her cheek. Does she still love him? And what am I to her?

“Ow,” I say. “Quit abusing me, Princess.”

From her expression, she’s very upset, and I didn’t really mean to do that.

“Fairbanks isn’t that much farther from the cabins than Tonakwa,” the sheriff says. “Why did you take her through rougher terrain?”

I snort out a laugh. “Because my gear was a few miles north of the cabins and it made no sense to go back past the men shooting at us and further endangering myself or Cyn. And besides, my bear was in the other direction.”

The sheriff chokes on what I’m guessing is coffee. When Cyn reaches to smack me again, I scoot out of the way. From the fire in her eyes, she’s looking for blood, and I smile at that.

It’s my turn to mute the mic. “I wasn’t going to let you ruin my vacation. Hell, I thought you’d be dead after a few miles.” I like getting a rise out of her.

“Remember?” She lifts her brows. “I made it better.”

“I’m the one who gave you what you were waiting on when Buddy couldn’t deliver.”

She grits her teeth. “It’s Blake. If we’d gone back to Fairbanks, Red would’ve been going in the wrong direction.”

“Actually, if he figured out we’d gone south, he would’ve doubled back and waited for us. It would’ve been longer for us on the other side of the river but not for them.”

Given no one is after us, Cyn finally has time to mourn her dead husband, which I really don’t like. The anger reddening her face makes her adorable though. I believe we’re going to have our first fight, and I look forward to the makeup sex.

“Calm down, Princess. I saved you.”

“Why did you shoot Julian Lake?” the sheriff asks.

“Because they were shooting at Cyn and me,” I say.

Cyn mutes the mic. “Was he even shooting? You took him out with one shot.”

“Who knows? Apparently, I’m a better marksman than Julian or Loki.” Red wasn’t shooting at us, and I wanted to even the odds.

“What about your brother?” the sheriff asks.

“He shot me twice in the shoulder.” He did worse things to me when we were kids, like throwing me into an icy river where I almost drowned and froze to death. “If he’d wanted to kill Cyn or me, he would’ve.”

“I know,” the sheriff says. “I’m sorry about his death, though if he was alive, he’d be facing serious jail time.”

“Thanks.” I’m nothing like my brother. I don’t have a police record. Hell, I don’t even have a speeding ticket.

“Why didn’t you take out your brother earlier?” the sheriff asks.

“I think you know why. Look, why am I being interrogated? Are you going to charge me or not?”

“Not if Cyn verifies your statement.”

I grin at her. “You aren’t still mad, Princess.”

Her face flames, her ire growing hotter by the minute. God, I love to fight with her. She better not make up shit.

“I wasn’t with Shane when the bear attacked them, but everything else is correct,” she says. “Someone was paying Loki to kill me.”

“That right?” the sheriff asks. “The feds will look into it. We spent quite a bit of time searching for Oki’s plane. Our deputies went through the cabins and didn’t find anything, but we’ll send back our CSI team and dredge the lake. The feds have already become involved because of the kidnapping across state lines…and Shane?”

“Yes.” Nothing good can come from this.

“Special Agent Banks is here, and he’d like to speak to you in private.”

I laugh because the sheriff knows anyone can listen in on these channels. It’s Alaska’s favorite pastime, but maybe I should filter whatever Cyn hears. “Is this about the kidnapping?” I ask.

“Have no idea, Shane. They’ve been bugging us for the past week to find you, and we knew you were hunting the grizzly. Damn feds. They’re a pain in my ass.”

Cyn crinkles her nose. “Does everybody in Alaska know?”

“Pretty much,” I say.

“Are you alone yet?” a new masculine voice asks.

Cyn lets out an irritated breath before leaving the room, giving me the finger. She’s a pistol.

“What do you want?” The IRS wanting me I can understand, but the feds I don’t.

“My name is Special Agent Banks. We need your help in an investigation.” He has one of those nasally voices, which grates on my nerves.

“I have other obligations.”

“This involves your current tax debt.”

I better give him my full attention. “I’m listening.”

“It appears that Nikita Harper may have been involved in embezzling money from several firms. You weren’t the only person she was seeing.”

And Cyn said she was too stupid, and what the fuck? She was cheating on me? “So what do I need to do to get back my money?”

“That may be long gone, but if you work with us, we’ll put in a good word with the IRS.”

“Fuck you. Goodbye.”

“Wait. We can reduce your bill significantly.”

“My lawyer can do that too.” I don’t know how much yet. “You don’t need me to catch one woman.”

“She was working with another entity,” he says. “If we recover any money, we’ll take a percentage and keep you out of federal prison. We’ll get you a better deal than your lawyer.”

“Okay. What do I need to do?”

“We need you to resume your relationship with Miss Harper.”

“I have a girlfriend.” This sucks. I can either choose prison and no Cyn, or dating Niki and freedom, not much of a choice. Even if I don’t sleep with Niki, Cyn won’t have anything to do with me because I won’t be able to tell her the truth.

“Miss Diaz has her own issues she needs to deal with. She won’t be available for perhaps a long time.”

What the hell is he talking about? “What do you mean? Loki was trying to kill her.”

“We cannot discuss her situation with you, but a chopper will be by in the morning to pick her up.”

I don’t like the sound of this. “I’ll let her know.” I turn off the VHF and walk down the hall to find Cyn, I lose no matter what choice I make, and I don’t want to lose Cyn.

“Let’s go have a drink,” I say, rubbing my beard I trimmed after our shower. I’ll remove it before returning to Texas.

“What did he say?”

I fold her into my arms because losing her was never what I wanted. I waited until she was eighteen and then another three years until she fell into my arms, and I don’t want to let go. “The honeymoon is over. The feds plan on picking you up tomorrow.”

“Well, that’s good. I can check on my sister and—”

I brace her shoulders. “They said you had issues?”

She looks at me curiously. “Like my kidnapping?”

“They didn’t say, and eluded that it was something more.”

“I don’t know what.” She kisses me, and it makes my decision all the harder. “I could use a drink.”

After we shrug on our parkas, I lead Cyn to the only place open, Sally’s, where a few snowmobiles are parked out front. The northern lights glow in colorful ribbons across the evening sky.

Cyn palms a hitching post. “Where are the horses or should I say reindeer?”

“They’re in their stalls. Come on.” I sling my arm around her and pull her close. I love the way she smells and tastes. There must be a way to keep her and pay off the IRS.

After I shuffle across the bar, pain shooting up my leg every time I put weight on it, I sit at a table leveled by a matchbook under one of its legs while Cyn takes the other seat next to me. Lindsey drops her bar rag and hurries over. When she plops down on my lap, I wince when her cherry-picking ass lands on my stitches.

I bite down the pain while she wiggles her ass on my wounded thigh. “You may want to get off me before my girlfriend tosses you across the bar and you reopen my stitches.” I do like women with a nice ass, but Cyn’s is much better, firm yet plump.

Lindsey’s head swivels around to stare at Cyn. “Her?”

My shoulder muscles tense. Past girlfriends are never good subjects to entertain. “Yes, this is Cyn.”

Lindsey curls her lips. “I’d heard you broke up with your girlfriend, and you like blondes.” Lindsey’s a strawberry blonde, but her words form a smirk on Cyn’s lips.

“I’ve never had a preference,” I say.

Cyn finally chuckles at Lindsey’s sniping, which relaxes me a bit. “Do you think they’d suspect me if she went missing?” Cyn asks.

I push Lindsey off my lap, and she gives me a foul look. “We’ll make sure the body’s never found. Would you get us bourbon on the rocks?”

Half snarling, Lindsey flicks the rag at me. “Yes, master.” She returns shortly with our drinks, eyeing over Cyn like she’s the dirt beneath her feet.

I don’t know what’s up her ass because Lindsey dumped me, and she must not know I killed her brother yet. They’ll be hell to pay when she finds out.

When she finally leaves, Cyn and I clink our glasses together. “To you, Princess.”

“To you, Shane.” And there’s the big smile I fell for years ago that now belongs to me.

Three guys I worked with on the pipeline stroll over, setting their beers on the table next to us.

“Already traded in your fiancée?” Leon says between guzzling beer and letting it drip into his beard. “With all that dough, you must have them crawling all over you.”

Cyn sips her bourbon, staring into it, probably thinking about Blake when I wish she’d only think of me.

“Not really,” I say.

“Have you told Lindsey about her brother?” Leon must’ve been listening on the police frequency.

“Don’t mention it.” She’ll go after me with a knife again.

“Please don’t mention what?” Lindsey asks, delivering another round of beers for the guys.

“Nothing,” Leon mumbles while the rest look down into their beers. Everyone fears the fiery wrath of Lindsey.

She slams down the beer, sloshing it all over Leon. “Tell me now.”

“It’s nothing,” he says. “Honest.”

She whips out a blade from her boot and holds it to his throat. “Tell me. Now.”

“Shane killed your brother,” Leon says.

“What the hell?” Her face catches fire, reddening to the point of exploding.

“I had to,” I say.

As I prepare for her to attack me, Lindsey goes for Cyn’s throat. Before I can react, Cyn stands, picks up her chair, and stabs its legs at Lindsey. Cyn punches her in the stomach with the chair, knocking the wind out of her and the knife out of her hand. Using the chair’s legs, she pins Lindsey’s throat. I’ve always admired Cyn’s inner strength.