“Do you think a polar bear will eat him?” Zoey quipped.
“This far south? Naw. But he might die of despair without someone to pay attention to him.”
“Ouch.”
“And he’s sensitive.”
“I’m actually sitting right here, ladies.”
“And I heard he’s got a short—” Graham whistled loud enough to cover whatever she was going to say. Voice filled with humor, Ash continued, “Temper. A very short temper.”
“Please, I’m the epitome of laid-back.” Stretching out his feet as far as the cramped quarters would let him, Graham tipped his head to the window. “You’re missing the view, Zo.”
They made another pass, so close to the glacier Zoey could almost taste it. “Aren’t we getting too low?”
“We’re setting down.” Graham nudged her seat with a knee. “You wanted to see a glacier, right? Well, here it is.”
A squeak of excitement escaped her throat as Ash landed the helicopter on the glacier and killed the engine. “Take your time. Just don’t do something stupid like carving your initials in the ice. No one wants to read Graham loves Zoey for the next thousand years.”
“The next million years,” he grunted as he swung out of the helicopter, for once flushing at the teasing. “Read a book.”
“Global warming, five hundred years at most.” Ash smirked. “Kiss my ass, baby doll.”
“Not with a lady present.”
As they started out across the ice, Zoey glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “Are you sure you two weren’t ever…?”
“A couple?” Graham shook his head. “I’m more the annoying older brother type. Besides, Easton terrifies me.”
“I thought he was your best friend.”
“Ulysses is my best friend.”
“He just likes you for your buns.”
Graham nodded sagely. “Can you blame him?”
As Zoey scooted forward on the ice, careful to keep her balance, Graham followed, hands stuffed in his pockets and shoulders relaxed. He never seemed this calm at work or on the boat, she noticed. Maybe it was the isolation. Out here, it felt like they and Ash were the only people in the world.
“So all you had to do was pick up a phone, and suddenly a private helicopter glacier tour appeared.”
“Small towns are like that. Oy, Zoey. Stay to the left. You’ll want to see that.”
Bearing to the left as suggested, she gasped in pleasure at the shallow pool of brilliant blue water in front of them. As they knelt by the glacier pool, cupping handfuls of ice-cold water, Zoey nearly thrummed with excitement.
She pulled out her phone. “Graham, will you take a picture with me?”
Hesitating, she glanced at him, curious at his pause.
“Of course I will, gorgeous,” he murmured. So he held up the phone and let her move it around and add all the filters she wanted before clicking away. He didn’t even grumble when she added the puppy dog filter, giving them both wriggly noses and puppy ears as they leaned their heads in close to fit in the photo.
Zoey bounced forward, still snapping pictures for all she was worth, then suddenly, she hit the brakes. Her eyes widened, her jaw opening in shock.
“Graham. It’s an ice cave.”
* * *
There was a reason he’d asked Ash to take them here specifically, and it was worth every favor he’d have to trade for the inconvenience just to see the look on Zoey’s face and hear her breath catch in her throat.
Now, for the record, Graham knew far too well ice caves were dangerous. But this ice cave had been there since he was a child, and the shifting climate patterns had yet to cause any noticeable structural integrity losses this far up the glacier.
“There’s a climbing rope.”
“Hold on, Zo.”
It was adorable how excited she was, but the idea of a med evac for a broken neck was far less exciting for Graham. But there was joy in her eyes, and no matter what else he did or didn’t do, Graham was not going to be the one to take that from her. If Easton thought he was crazy for the whale watching, who knew what he’d say about this. Selfies, ice caves, letting Ash have a first-row seat to his insanity…Graham would never hear the end of it.
“I weigh more than you,” he told her, tugging on the rope to check it. “Let me try it first.”
“That’s nice, but you have a better chance of pulling me out if I fall than I have of pulling you out if you fall. Plus, I’m a better climber.”
“How do you know that?”
“The same way I knew I was the better pool player.”
“Tell me how you really feel.” Chuckling, Graham knelt next to the stake securing the climbing rope, gripping it securely. “Okay but try not to fall. We lose tourists every year, but you’re more enjoyable than most.”
More enjoyable. Funnier. Sweeter. Basically, she was the last person who Graham wanted to lose life or limb because of an error in judgment on his part. She couldn’t have been any happier. Zoey was practically bouncing with pleasure. Graham wasn’t immune to the beauty of the glaciers in his home, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
“Be careful, Zoey,” he added gruffly, looping the rope around his hand a second time and feeling the tension of her weight dig the heavy nylon braiding into his skin. She climbed quickly, then held the rope steady as he climbed down to join her.
“Graham. Look. It’s amazing.”
Over the course of his lifetime, Graham had watched a lot of strangers ooh and aah over his corner of the universe. He’d spent a significant portion of those years mentally or physically rolling his eyes. But as he stood there, watching Zoey turn in a circle, her face alive with sheer joy, it occurred to him that familiarity too often bred contempt.
Surrounded by walls of ice, something inside Graham thawed, leaving him unable to keep from closing the distance between them.
She caught him watching her, looking far too pretty to be with a guy like him. It wasn’t the first time Graham had been off his game in this place.
“I lost my virginity here.”
Which wasn’t the best conversation starter he’d ever had.
“What? No.”
Graham couldn’t keep the sheepish expression from his face. “It was awful. I’m assuming it was awful, but on my end, it was amazing. All thirty-three seconds of it.”
“At least you didn’t have time to freeze your dangly bits.”
“My dangly bits are made of steel. It comes with the territory of living up here.” He scratched the back of his head, adding, “And maybe there was one dangly bit that didn’t escape unscathed.”
“Your dangly bits have had a tough life.”
“So they remind me regularly.”
When he winked at her with what he hoped was sexy roguishness and probably more like prepubescent awkwardness, Zoey blushed again. Then she slipped her hand into his, and Graham was a goner.
As they stood in the corner of an ice cave, Graham allowed himself the luxury of enjoying how much Zoey Caldwell was enjoying herself.
“Show me where.”
“There.”
“Right there?”
“Right in that spot. Although it technically started over there.”
“That’s a lot of ground to cover.”
“Especially when you’re trying not to let anything important hit the ice.” Graham squeezed her fingertips in his. “Zoey? How long are you here?”
He’d never asked anyone before. He’d never wanted…or needed…to know.
“Eight more days. This was a two-week vacation.”
“You leave next Sunday?”
“Sunday afternoon,” she corrected him. “I’m planning on making those couple hours count.”
Eight days wasn’t enough time for anything. If Graham was the kind of
guy for whom just over a week was enough, he wouldn’t be standing there with the kind of woman who had no clue he couldn’t stop staring at her.
“Zoey? If I asked you to go somewhere with me tonight after work, what would you say?”
Glancing at him shyly, Zoey bit her lower lip, worrying at it. Graham wanted to kiss her and steal that lip away, make it his for a while and treat it better than she was currently doing. But eight days just wasn’t enough time.
“I’d say yes. But on one condition.”
“What’s that?”
Her eyes reflected the blue glacier ice like stars in the night sky. He was waxing poetic. It was a bad, bad sign.
This time, Zoey was the one who winked, flashing him a naughty grin.
“You have to tell me which dangly bit.”
Chapter 10
Climbs back up always sucked more than climbs down. At least Zoey had a great view.
Graham went first, climbing with the competence of a man who was used to this sort of activity. When he reached the top, he whistled loudly to signal to Ash they were ready to start back. Then Graham turned and knelt by the rope ladder as Zoey followed suit. She climbed up more slowly than Graham had climbed, taking one last look around to memorize the moment.
“That was amazing.” Unable to keep from beaming at him, Zoey accepted Graham’s offered hand, getting a foot safely on the ice. “Did you see—”
It wasn’t the rope’s fault that things went to hell in a handbag. It was all the ice’s fault. Or maybe it was the stake having wriggled just loose enough in the warming surface of the glacier. Or maybe, just maybe, the glacier was as fed up as the locals were at having their home territory crisscrossed by the curious feet of exuberant tourists, because when the rope went, it took the stake and Zoey right along with it. That would teach them to not pay attention to climate change.
With a squeak of surprise, Zoey slipped. She kept slipping, right off the edge of the shelf into the cave. Graham lunged for her, snagging her wrist as she went over. Dangling twenty feet above the floor of the cave, only Graham’s strength keeping her from falling.
“Hold on!” Graham bellowed, tightening his grip on her wrist. “Ashtyn, get a rope! Zoey, give me your other hand.”
She tried to stretch, but the movement only made them both slip more. “Graham—”
“No way.” A feral snarl escaped his throat. “I’m not letting you go.”
“Actually, I was going to say please don’t let me go. I will eat every reindeer dog in Alaska until Santa’s sleigh is permanently stuck on the ground if you don’t—”
A cry of fear escaped her lips as Graham’s purchase gave a few inches.
“Ash, move! She’s slipping.”
Not just Zoey. They both were slipping. As terrified as she was, it occurred to Zoey maybe it would be a good thing to make Graham let her go. If someone was going to get eaten by an ice cave, it was better for her than him. He had a much better chance of getting help.
At first, Zoey thought they were falling. It took her a moment to realize that they were both dangling, only now he had a two-armed grip around her waist from grabbing her. Graham’s face squashed painfully into her left breast as he cursed like a sailor.
“Did we die?”
“Not yet, gorgeous,” he grunted. “I’m going to hoist you up. Grab onto Ash and don’t let go. If you have any muscles, you use them.”
“I have muscles.”
“Prove it, Zo, because I’m not at my best position to be tossing tourists right now. One, two, three.”
Maybe he wasn’t in his best position, but when he hit three, Graham muscled her up past him. If he had been cursing like a sailor, up on the ice, Ash was as foulmouthed as the sailor’s disreputable uncle, ice ax clenched between her teeth as she rewrapped the rope that now held Graham’s leg secured around a new stake in the ground. Between the two of them, Zoey and Ash grabbed Graham’s legs and hauled him high enough he could get the top half of his torso out of the ice cave.
Graham dropped back on the ice, inhaling deeply to regain his wind. “Thanks for saving our bacon, Ash. That was exciting, wasn’t it?”
It took a moment for Zoey to realize that the pounding in her ears was actually her heart beating violently in her chest.
“I think our versions of exciting may be a little different,” Ash groaned, sitting on the ice near them, winded.
Zoey looked over and realized Graham’s face was two shades paler than it usually was, and his hand was tight around her own.
“That was brave,” she whispered, rolling over and wrapping her arm around his waist. “Thank you. Both of you.”
He hugged her tight, a much-needed comfort for both of them. Smoothing his hand over her hair, Graham looked into her eyes.
“You know how life-and-death situations bring things into sharper clarity? I just realized something very important.”
“What is it?”
Nose-to-nose, Graham panted, “I am so glad I’m not a wuss.”
* * *
“Did you ever see Dirty Dancing? You’re carrying a watermelon, Zoey.” With that, Graham dropped something bulky in her arms. It wasn’t a watermelon, but the sticks of firewood he gave her sure weren’t light.
Grunting under the weight, Zoey followed Graham down the sandy beach where a party full of strangers waited for them. “I feel like you use too many pop culture references.”
Graham hefted his own firewood bundle up higher, balancing it in one arm and taking a handful of her top pieces to add to his own.
“I have it.”
“Yes, but I don’t want you to fall the wrong way. Stick a foot in a mud flat, and I won’t be able to get you back out again before the tide comes in and you drown or freeze to death.”
“Ha ha.”
“No joke. Stick to the dry stuff, and you’ll be fine.”
Eyeing the frothy, crashing waves next to them, Zoey stepped closer to Graham’s side. “It’s a dangerous day to be us, huh?”
“Don’t worry,” he said, eyes sparkling in the soft July sunlight. “When a guy finds a woman he likes, he tends to not let her die of exposure in a mud flat.”
Not letting her die seemed to be Graham’s mission of the day.
His friends were having a late-night bonfire along the coastline, and Graham had invited Zoey to come along. They dropped off their armfuls of firewood, and Zoey helped pull pieces of driftwood over to the slowly growing fire for seating, careful to keep a safe distance from the mudflats Graham warned her about.
Zoey was grateful he was such a large, talkative personality. Even though she had come with him, there were certainly some curious looks and a few less than enthusiastic ones. But everyone loved Graham, and the more he pulled her around introducing her, the more Zoey started to enjoy herself.
She knew more people than expected, and it was clear Graham knew them all. Easton and Ash, Rick from the pool hall, and Frankie from the bakery were familiar faces in the group. Diego, the resort pamphlet pusher, sat silent at the edge of the fire, carving a piece of cedar and ignoring the rest of them. Leah gave her a nice hug in greeting, although Zoey would have preferred not to have Officer Jonah there, even if he was distracted with his kids and a newly pregnant wife. Despite the late hour, several families had brought their children to make s’mores. Flirting teenagers played a game of touch football just past the firewood, and one infant was sound asleep in his mother’s arms.
Watching Graham play with his godsons was so much fun, and it was clear as the three played a game of soccer that Thomas and James were far more skilled. After Graham’s pride had been crushed and no one could eat another bite of graham cracker, melting chocolate, or fire-toasted marshmallow, they all settled in around the bonfire. It was a teeny tiny little thing, not nearly large enough to fit this many people around comfortably. Zoey perched
on her allotted section of driftwood, hoping there weren’t too many creepy-crawlies making their way toward her, Graham on the ground at her side.
Ash pulled out a guitar, skilled fingers strumming the chords quietly, drawing the attention of the entire group.
“I didn’t know she played,” Zoey leaned over and murmured to Graham.
“The Locketts are a talented family,” he agreed. “But don’t tell them. Their heads are big enough as it is.”
Ash snorted without missing a chord. “Shut up, Graham.”
Ignoring Ash, Graham stretched his legs out in front of him, relaxed and at peace.
The wind was crisp, blowing strands of her hair across her forehead and into her eyes. Zoey pushed them away, then glanced over and saw Graham watching her. Was he shivering?
“Are you cold?”
“Are you offering to keep me warm?” Graham asked hopefully.
Rolling her eyes, Zoey couldn’t help but laugh when he rubbed his arms with dramatic excess.
“Brrrr.” Leaning his shoulder against hers, Graham adopted an expression of shivery misery.
He was a lot taller than her, but seated on the ground as he was, it wasn’t hard to drape her arm across his shoulders.
“You just want to cop a feel.” Graham sighed. “Women are all the same.”
Which wasn’t true at all, because Ash was amazing. As her fingers strummed the strings, Zoey found herself entranced, drawn into the music that somehow fit perfectly with the low crash of the waves against the shoreline. The flickering firelight left the forest behind their circle in darkness. She might have been nervous if she had been alone, but these strangers were as relaxed and comfortable as Graham. The wilderness was their home.
A deep longing hit her hard, a desire to be here, not as a person who’d carried a watermelon but as an actual person who belonged.
Even though the fire grew in warmth, the wind still left her chilled enough that Zoey leaned into Graham’s shoulder, unconsciously seeking the heat of his body next to her. His hand rested loosely on the driftwood between them, and when she shivered just a little, Graham slipped his arm around her. He tugged her those few critical inches from the driftwood seat onto his leg.
The Tourist Attraction (Moose Springs, Alaska) Page 18