Hot Alaska Nights

by Lucy Monroe

  "It’s home." He might not have been born in Alaska, but he was proud of his home. It was unlike any other place on earth.

  She gave him a speculative look. "Carey said you fly to New York at least once a month."

  "And Tokyo, sometimes Europe, even South America when necessary." That didn’t mean he ever wanted to move to the Lower 48 to live. "I like to travel. There’s things I can do in the city I can’t here, but I always come home."

  And he always would.

  Cailkirn was home for him in a way it never could be for a city girl with stars in her eyes like Deborah. The woman was an older version of Carey. She wanted to be a star, just like his brother and that didn't make for settling down material. Not that Rock was looking.

  He'd raised one family that had walked away already. He wasn't sure he'd ever open himself to another one.

  "You're lucky." Her voice was soft, wistful.

  "Am I?"

  "You know what you want out of life and you have it. Do you have any idea how rare that is?"

  "Are you saying you don't?" He passed a slow moving RV running his gaze over Deborah's face as he looked over to move back into the lane.

  Her beautiful face was set in serious lines. "I thought I knew exactly what I wanted when I walked away from my family. I’m not so sure anymore."

  "That must feel like hell, considering what you gave up for your dreams."

  "My family was never like yours. If my parents could reject me just because I didn't go into the vocation they wanted me to, they could never have loved me like a mom and dad are supposed to love their daughter."

  The pain in her voice did something Rock's inside. "You sure about that? Maybe they didn't want to see you spend your life chasing a dream that might break you."

  "So, they tried to break me with their rejection?" she asked in a voice laced with bitter memory.

  "I’m sure they didn't see it that way."

  "My parents aren't like you, Rock. They don't love me like you love your siblings. Their love has as many conditions as the US Pacific Trade Agreement and I broke one of them, so they withdrew their love and my place in the family along with it."

  "And now you're doubting the dream you followed?" he asked with some disbelief.

  "I don't know. Maybe. We're not all as self-assured as you are, Rock."

  "You seem pretty sure of yourself to me, beauty. You're one hell of an actor."

  "Thank you. That's high praise coming from you."

  "I told you. I don't like your industry. Doesn't mean I'm ignorant of it."

  She made a sound between a laugh and disbelief. "You're just a little arrogant, you know?"

  "Just a little?"

  "Maybe more than."

  Rock was right, Deborah loved the small town of Ninilchik and its historical Russian Orthodox church. But most of all, she loved spending the day with Rock. They held hands as they walked through the graveyard, making up stories about the lives the people buried there.

  "I think that man must have been one exhausted puppy by the time he died. Three wives and all those children?" Rock shook his head, like the idea of all that family was an anathema to him.

  Deborah wasn't buying it. Not from the guy who did family so well. "He probably died fat and happy."

  "He outlived all three of his wives and half of his children. That's a lot of loss." Rock frowned. "I don't think fat and happy comes into it."

  "But think of all the grandchildren he had by then."

  "Do you think they made him forget the ones who had gone before?" Rock asked in a tone that had lost all the humor.

  "I think we have to allow the gains in our lives to balance out the losses or we'd never survive." She couldn't dwell on the loss of her family and how they’d rejected her.

  Deborah had come to recognize that early on. Although, she realized there was still a part of her that was trying to prove that her decision hadn't been the wrong one, she didn't spend her days in an emotional abyss because her parents didn't love her and her sister's familial affection extended only so far.

  "Does your career fill in for the loss of your family?" Rock asked her bluntly. Almost brutally.

  So, she replied in kind. "I'm not sure I ever had a family. Not the way you, Carey and Marilyn are connected."

  Maybe he would never understand that, because for all his parents' faults, because of who he was, Rock had always had a family. He'd made one.

  There had been a time she wasn't entirely alone though, when she'd had people she'd believed were hers. A time when she didn't wake in the middle of the night terrified by a sense of loneliness so heavy she thought she was going to suffocate from it.

  "Anyway, school was very fulfilling." Her friendships there deep and intense as college relationships so often are, but only one had lasted beyond school.

  "And your career since?" he pressed. Was he baiting her? Drilling home what she'd lost?

  He really didn't understand she'd never had it in the first place. Her nightmares weren't new. She'd had them as a child too. Only now she knew she was alone. Back then, she'd had the illusion of a family.

  She did something she'd told herself and him she'd never have to do with Rock. Deborah pulled her actor persona around her and gave him a flip answer. "It's had its moments."

  "I'm going to assume this film has been one of the good ones." Rock turned her to face him, pulling her body into his, his heat engulfing her, making her feel warm, safe, cared for even as she marveled that he hadn't noticed what she’d done. His sherry brown eyes burned down into hers.

  Letting go of any thoughts of loneliness, knowing her future would be what it would be, she grinned up at him. "That's a very safe assumption."

  "When you smile like that, all I want to do is kiss you."

  "What's stopping you?"

  "Nothing." He leaned down, let his lips slide over hers. "Nothing at all." Then he was molding her body to his and kissing her with possessive intent.

  She opened her mouth, letting him taste her, returning the favor, reveling in the amazing sensation. Kissing Rock sent bites of electric shock along her nerve endings and heat to her core. Every. Single. Time.

  Her past. Her future. None of it mattered when Rock was kissing her.

  Loneliness wasn't even a concept when his mouth claimed hers, when his body was pressed so tightly against her own.

  She locked her hands behind his neck, diving headlong into the kiss, pushing tighter into his body.

  He growled softly and broke his mouth from hers. "We'd better stop, hot stuff, or we'll be doing things in this cemetery that have a lot more to do with life than death."

  She let her throaty laughter be her answer as he took her hand and led her toward the white church with green trim. The quaint building had definite Russian flair with its rounded brass spires topped by crosses with three horizontal bars, rather than the more familiar Western cross of a single horizontal bar. Deborah found the building both fascinating and beautiful.

  Stepping inside was even more surreal. It was not entirely unexpected. The iconography, the stark white with gold accents, the beauty of the altar, all were within what she understood of the Eastern Orthodox tradition. But to find them amidst this small village on the outer reaches of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska?

  It was almost magical.

  "This is amazing," she whispered to Rock, feeling that to speak any louder would be wrong somehow.

  He nodded, his expression both understanding and approving at the same time. He slid his arm around her, his hand settling on her hip.

  His voice near her ear was soft, his deep timber sending warmth through her. "Unexpected beauty is the best kind."

  She looked up, their gazes locking, and she knew she hadn't imagined the double meaning behind his words.

  "Was I a surprise, Rock?" she asked.

  "I guarantee I never expected to find a woman like you on a movie set, beauty."

  That had to mean something, didn't it?

&
nbsp; She didn't ask him what. The moment was too perfect to ruin with reality.

  Later, they drove back toward Cailkirn before Rock pulled the SUV off the highway and parked in what seemed a lonely, secluded spot.

  "What are we doing here?" Deborah asked feeling nothing but contentment and maybe a little anticipation.

  So far, her sex without commitment pseudo boyfriend had managed a Golden Globe nomination worthy date. Ninilchik had turned out to be a completely charming town that did its own bit of catering to tourists even if it didn't get quite the influx of cruise passengers Cailkirn did.

  "Having our picnic."

  She looked around for a parking sign, or picnic tables. Neither of which was in evidence. "Is it a park?"

  "Not exactly." He smiled at her, the rare curve of his lips that reflected a genuine warmth in his eyes making her melt inside. "But it's a beautiful area all the same. I used to come hiking here with Tack MacKenna. He knows all the best off-the-trail spots. Don't worry, it's not much of a walk to where we'll be eating."

  "Okay." She wasn't concerned about the walk. She was more worried about what it was doing to her heart to have Rock bring her to someplace special to him. "Why don't you hike here with him anymore?"

  "He's gotten pretty busy with his business. We were never best friends, but he was a good guide and he's a decent guy. Committed to Cailkirn and building the town, not leaving it for greener pastures in the Lower 48."

  "That's important to you."

  He climbed out of the SUV and grabbed the picnic basket from the back. "A small town like Cailkirn is only going to survive if its people are focused on keeping it alive."

  She followed him, carrying the blanket. "That makes sense." And explained a little of why he was so protective of the town. "But if someone's life isn't here, that doesn't make them a bad person."

  "You mean like my brother and sister."

  "Yes." She wasn't sure why she even brought Carey and Marilyn up. She was having such a good day.

  But she wanted Rock to understand better why the younger Jepsoms had felt the need to leave Cailkirn. They hadn't abandoned their brother and still needed him. Deborah hoped he could see that. For his sake as much as that of his younger siblings. They might not be her family, but they were a family. A real one.

  And it was important to her that he saw that, saw how much they all meant to each other still.

  She didn't examine why.

  Deborah only knew that she needed Rock, Carey and Marilyn to be on better terms, and for Rock, especially, to understand how much his younger siblings still loved and cared for him.

  "Don't worry, beauty. I know my siblings have a life outside of Alaska. They've made sure of that."

  "But they still love you." She caught up with him, grabbing his wrist, needing the connection. "That hasn't changed, Rock. It's not about where they live."

  "So, they say."

  "Do you doubt it?"

  "Does it matter to you?"

  She slipped her hand into his. "Yes."

  "I don't see how." But he didn't break the connection of their hands.

  "I care about all of you." Could he hear the truth in her tone? The emotion that shouldn't be there? The need she couldn't hide?

  He gave her a sidelong glance before shaking his head. "You've got a soft heart."

  "You say that like it's a bad thing." She meant the words to come out teasing, but they sounded just a little sad to her own ears.

  She wondered what he heard.

  His frown wasn't giving much away. "In your business, it's a definite liability."

  "Says you." She'd survived so far. Maybe she wasn't where she wanted to be, but if getting there meant stabbing friends in the back or taking advantage of others like she'd been taken advantage of before she'd gotten smart…

  Well, she'd rather be where she was.

  Stardom wasn't worth the cost of her soul and she believed if it was meant to be, she wouldn't have to pay that price either.

  "Tell me I’m wrong."

  She couldn't. Not and mean it. She didn't want to talk about her suitability for the business anymore. Deborah had a feeling she wouldn't make any better of a corporate shark than she would a cutthroat actor.

  Maybe for all her inner drive she wasn't driven enough to step over others to climb to the top of any profession. If her talent wasn't enough, maybe she would have to settle for something less than stardom, less than mega success on either side of the camera.

  Done with her thoughts and the discussion, she said, "You were right that this walk is a beautiful one, anyway."

  His laugh was cynical, but still so darn sexy and masculine. It really wasn't fair. They stopped at a small clearing that had a breathtaking view of the inlet.

  Awed, Deborah sucked in her breath. "It's amazing."

  "It is." Rock put the food hamper down and took the blanket from her, snapping it out over the grass.

  "I'm surprised no one else is here."

  "No trail." Rock shrugged, like that explained it all.

  They ate a lazy lunch, the food everything Rock said it would be.

  Afterward, she leaned against him, looking out over the water, content in a way she could never remember being. "This has been a wonderful day, Rock. Thank you."

  "I've enjoyed myself, beauty. No thanks necessary." His arms wrapped around her, a barely-there kiss brushing against her temple.

  She turned her face up to kiss the bottom of his chin, the moment so perfect she never wanted to forget it.

  "Now, isn't that sweet, Virgil?" The sneering male voice was so out of place with her idyll, it made Deborah jump.

  Rock tensed against her. They both turned to see two men dressed in flannel shirts, one was older with a graying beard and dark hair streaked the same. The younger man was a dirty blond and leering at Deborah in a way that made her glad they hadn't come up on her alone.

  "Don't know about sweet, Amos, but she sure is pretty," the dirty blond replied.

  Amos smiled, showing off a silver front tooth. "That she is, Virg. Think she's real attached to that guy she's with?"

  Who wrote these guys' dialogue? It rang too genuine not to be real, but were they serious? If it weren't for the air of unsparked violence that they carried around them like a cloud, she would have found their ignorance darkly amusing.

  Rock stood in one fluid motion, making Deborah gasp with surprise. He moved in front of her. "She is more attached to me than you'll be to your remaining teeth if you don't move along, Amos."

  Deborah shivered at that chill in Rock's tone. The two men who thought they were clever talking about her like she was a new toy they might be interested in weren't smart enough to look worried.

  But while they had a sense of potential violence about them, the underlying menace in Rock's tone was unmistakable. He was a grizzly to a couple of packless wolves.

  Only by their expressions, they clearly didn't realize they were facing an apex predator.

  "You think so, city-boy?" Virgil asked stepping forward all swagger.

  Rock relaxed his body into a stance she recognized from classes she'd taken in self-defense. It wasn't exactly what her instructors had taught, but it was close enough for her to know he'd taken some kind of martial arts training.

  "I know so, Virgil." Again Rock's voice was cold enough to stand in for an Alaskan winter.

  "The way I see it, there's two of us and one of you," Amos said, completely dismissing Deborah.

  She stood up and glared at the rude men. "Excuse me if you think I'll stand quietly by while you attempt to hurt either of us. I'll kick your sorry butts into the ground." And she would. She'd learned enough self-defense for safety on the LA streets, these two backwoods thugs weren't going to scare her.

  Amos and Virgil laughed, the sound ugly and loud, but not frightening. Not until Virgil pulled a gun from his waistband. Cold, black metal, he pointed the deadly end at Rock. "Now, I don't think you'll be doing anything but what we tell you."
/>   Terror poured through Deborah. Images of the damage the gun could do to the man she'd come to love flashed through her brain.

  Before she had a chance to shout, move or do more than imagine what could happen, Rock was in motion. Fast, efficient, violent motion. The sound of a crack preceded Amos screaming. The gun dropped one direction as Amos' body went flying in another. Virgil was headed for the action, but Rock was ready for him, his hand connecting with the older man's throat in a chop that sent Virgil to his knees gasping and grabbing at his throat.

  Deborah dove to retrieve the gun, not wanting either of the miscreants to get their hands on it again. She didn't particularly know what to do with it when she got it, but she knew she didn't want them having it. She held it away from her body as she backed away from the physical violence.

  Rock kicked Virgil in the side of the knee when he tried to come at him with one arm dangling uselessly, and then the dirty blond was down and not getting up any time soon. Deborah yelled a warning when Amos came at Rock from behind and Rock spun, laying Amos out cold with a punch combination that looked more like trained hand-to-hand combat than two men fighting.

  He turned to her then, his sherry eyes dark with a fury she'd never seen in them before. "Are you okay?"

  "I think I should be asking you that." Why was her voice so shaky?

  He crossed the distance between them in a few long strides, and then wrapped his hands around her upper arms. "You did great, hot stuff. You got the gun."

  "I've never touched one before."

  "Not even for a role?" he asked, rubbing up and down her arms. Like she was cold.

  She wasn't cold. Was she? Why was she shaking? "Not a real one."

  "That isn't a prop."

  She looked down at the gun in her trembling hand between them, part of her wondering why she still held it. "No. It's heavy. I don't like it."

  "You want to give it to me?"

  "I'm not weak."

  "No, hot stuff, you are not weak."

  "Guns are not my thing though." Why was her voice so quiet? Like she was whispering?

  "That's okay. You want to put it on the blanket?"