An Alaskan Christmas

by Jennifer Snow

  Maybe she needed to try harder to find that balance. Or more realistically, she’d forget all about her alcohol-influenced promises and resolutions the moment she arrived back in Anchorage.

  Tossing back the comforter, she swung her legs over the side of the couch. “Cassie!” she called up the stairs to her friend’s bedroom.

  Silence.

  Going into the kitchen, she saw a bottle of Gatorade and two aspirin.

  Thank you, friend!

  Next to it was a note.

  Had to leave for work, make yourself at home. See you tonight. Maybe we’ll stick to wine this time.

  Good idea. She popped the pills and gulped the Gatorade, then stood in the kitchen. What did she do now? She might be on vacation, but her friend still had a job to do. Which left her to her own devices...

  A vague memory of some sort of beast jumping her the night before flashed in her mind and she turned in a quick 360, checking for a dog, but the condo was empty.

  Had she dreamed it? She wasn’t sure. One dream stood out vividly though... Reed. Naked. And the most mind-blowing sex dream that had nearly given her a real orgasm in her sleep. She still couldn’t believe he was the same guy she’d known years before. He’d certainly filled out—the muscles straining against the fabric of his T-shirt the night before had practically made her drool. Muscles she’d touched every last inch of in her dream...

  Coffee. She needed coffee. Stat.

  She surveyed the uncluttered counter. No Keurig? No coffee maker? Was her friend kidding?

  She opened every cupboard, standing on tiptoes and bending low to search every corner for the lifesaving appliance, but nope.

  Holy shit. Her friend didn’t drink coffee yet she was up and off to work at...she searched for a clock... 7:00 a.m.? Was she a robot?

  A thorough search through the pantry revealed Cassie still had a kid’s cereal addiction, but not even instant coffee could be found.

  There’s no way Erika would survive two weeks without coffee in the morning, which gave her a new daily purpose.

  She’d gift her friend the miracle of caffeine. An early Christmas present.

  Hearing a key turn in the front door, her heart raced slightly until she saw Reed enter, then it echoed off the open-concept walls.

  Damn, he looked far too hot for 7:00 a.m. She quickly ran a hand through her hair and wiped her raccoon eyes.

  “Morning,” he said, juggling a tray of coffee and a bag that smelled like it had a piece of heaven trapped inside. Erika’s stomach growled and she quickly did an underarm sniff test as Reed closed the door...behind a beast on a pink leash attached to a bejeweled collar.

  Great, so she hadn’t imagined the dog.

  And right now the thing was staring at her like he wanted to eat her face.

  She moved to put the kitchen island between her and the animal as Reed unhooked the leash. “Hi...”

  He smirked as he watched her back around the island, away from the dog. The thing was relentless in his attempt to get to know her, rubbing the damp fur on his back against her and rotating in circles by her feet.

  “Will he bite?” she asked, not taking her eyes from the creature as he sniffed her leg.

  “Not unless you bite her first,” Reed said.

  “Very funny,” she mumbled, though she was grateful when the dog lost interest and went to its oversize pink food dish.

  And then immediately fell into it. Out cold, completely limp, legs sprawled out behind him.

  “Oh my God... Is he okay?”

  “Diva—she...” Reed said.

  Right. She always assumed all dogs were male.

  “And yes, she’s fine, just asleep,” Reed said, going to the dish and scooping her up into his arms, cradling her to his chest as he carried her to her dog bed near the window.

  A fuzzy memory of being the one Reed put to bed flashed in Erika’s mind and her cheeks flamed. He’d carried her inside...had she cuddled into him? Yep.

  Just focus on the dog. “What happened?”

  “She’s narcoleptic. She could be out for a minute or an hour.”

  Was he kidding? “A narcoleptic dog?”

  “Yep.”

  Okay then...

  “I brought you coffee and breakfast,” he said, opening the paper bag.

  “Why?” Glancing down, she saw her nipples pointing through the fabric of her thin tank top. She folded her arms across her body. Her bra was draped over the back of the couch. She hadn’t expected visitors.

  Reed picked up a coffee and closed the gap between them in two easy strides. “Because, I told you last night that I’m not the kind of guy who has sex with a woman and then doesn’t call.”

  Her mouth gaped. No freaking way. It had just been a dream. “We...no...there’s no way...” She shook her head, but a flashback of him laying her down on Cassie’s couch the night before had her panicking slightly.

  Nope. There was no way. She was sticking with that. “We didn’t.”

  But her confidence wavered as he grabbed her hips and pulled her closer. “Final answer?” The intensity in his blue eyes made her shiver. His soft, manly smelling cologne made her mouth water slightly as her body stiffened. Shit, if they had, she just might not regret it...

  Reed grinned. “You’re right, we didn’t.”

  She pushed him away and reached for the coffee. “I knew that.” She took a desperate sip, the hot liquid scorching her tongue and the back of her throat as she forced it down.

  “You kissed me, that’s all,” he said with a shrug, opening the bag and taking out a plastic-covered container.

  She scoffed. “You’re so full of sh...” Oh crap, she had kissed him. Reality had somehow blended with her dream, but she was starting to distinguish between the two. She had kissed him. And it was a fantastic kiss... “Oh, that was nothing... And so completely out of character for me.” Damn, she’d really let her guard down the night before.

  “Why? Because I’m just a bartender and you’re a brilliant, beautiful surgeon?”

  Her cheeks flamed, her mind still caught on beautiful. Ignoring the question, she reached for the plate of food piled high with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and toast, but he pulled it back out of reach.

  “This is mine.” He took out a small container of what looked like oatmeal and handed it to her. “You said last night you only ate ‘clean.’”

  She’d said that? Man, she must have sounded like a complete holier-than-thou asshole. His breakfast looked so good and the greasy food was exactly what she was craving that morning, but she squared her shoulders and accepted her fate. She could always head out for a second breakfast once he left. “The oatmeal’s perfect.” She opened it and, grabbing the plastic spoon, she forced herself not to gag on it. She normally skipped breakfast and sometimes lunch with her busy schedule. But she was on vacation and she planned to eat. A lot. And the faster she could get rid of him, the faster she could get to the breakfast diner on Main Street.

  Reed grinned, watching her put another spoonful of the thick, tasteless gunk in her mouth. “Good?”

  “Delicious.”

  He folded a piece of crunchy bacon and popped it into his mouth. “Mmm. I love bacon.”

  Setting the oatmeal down, she stole a piece off his plate and closed her eyes as the grease hit her tongue.

  Reed laughed, sliding the plate toward her. “I was kidding. This is yours. I actually do eat ‘clean’ most of the time,” he said with a wink as a chime sounded from his pocket and he reached for...

  “A pager? What are you, a drug dealer?”

  “Don’t you carry a pager at the hospital?”

  She sighed. “Yes, but there are very few professions where they’re needed these days... I can’t imagine the bar has an emergency at this time in the morning.”

  “The bar—n
o. Snowcrest Mountain—yes,” he said, grabbing his coat.

  She narrowed her eyes at the search and rescue logo in the corner of the red-and-yellow jacket. Okay, so that was unexpected and more than a little hot. “You’re mountain search and rescue?”

  He nodded, checking his watch. He hesitated when his gaze locked on hers once more. A brief second of conflict registered in his baby blues before he said, “If you can tear yourself away from that coffee, why don’t you get dressed and I’ll show you my emergency room?”

  CHAPTER SIX

  INVITING ERIKA ALONG had been an impulsive move. One Reed was immediately wishing he could undo. Since the kiss the night before, he hadn’t been able to shake his annoying attraction to her. Her taste lingered on his lips and her taunting words replayed in his mind. She could say what she wanted, but she’d definitely been as turned on by the kiss as he was. His freezing walk back to the bar had little effect on the heat coursing through him. He hadn’t expected such passion from her, but she’d rocked him. So much so, that he’d turned down a very enticing proposal to spend the evening with a bombshell blonde tourist that promised no strings attached.

  Of course, it was all physical with Erika. She was the sexiest woman he’d had the pleasure of putting to bed in a long time, but she was irritating and stuck-up and so far from his type...it was merely physical.

  Her braless state when he’d entered Cassie’s an hour before had given him a semi-hard-on that only the emergency call had been able to deflate. Soft-looking, round breasts visible under the tank top she’d been wearing had practically begged to be touched and the long, shapely legs that had straddled him on the couch had stolen his attention more than once. Messing with her had been a mistake...putting his hands on her body after a sleepless night of thinking of nothing else had only made the torture worse.

  He couldn’t act on the temptation. She was his sister’s best friend, a woman he’d grown up with, and her attitude drove him insane. Hot sex with her wasn’t worth the headache.

  And now, watching her climb the side of Snowcrest Mountain with three support members and the head of the ski patrol unit, he definitely regretted inviting her along. Tyler, Wade and Marcus seemed more focused on getting to know Cassie’s houseguest than they were on the task ahead of them.

  Tyler especially. He was going to have a chat with the young team member. Reed wasn’t going to act on his impulses toward Erika, but he didn’t want anyone else to either. She should get to enjoy her vacation without being pawed at by his team.

  He hadn’t even expected her to agree to come along. But after only the slightest look of consideration, she’d hurried to Cassie’s closet to find an extra ski suit—one that fit his sister’s body like a glove and therefore hugged every last inch of Erika’s taller, curvier frame like it was clinging for dear life.

  If he was jealous of anything, it was the fabric.

  Of course, her excitement and eagerness to join him had nothing to do with him, but a doctor’s instinct combined with the prospect of boredom, holed up in Cassie’s condo all day. From the moment he’d entered, he’d felt a restless energy from her. He would be surprised if she lasted five days on this vacation.

  “So, this is a first,” Tyler said, falling back from the others to walk alongside him.

  “What’s a first?” Tearing his gaze away from Erika’s ass, he turned to the guy.

  “You bringing a morning-after out on a rescue.”

  His jaw tightened at Tyler’s casual dismissal of the surgeon as just another lay. “Not a morning-after. She’s just a friend of my sister and she’s a doctor. Thought we could use the help.” That hadn’t been his motive at all. He’d wanted to show her that there was more to him than she saw.

  Why did he still want some sort of validation from her? What Erika Sheraton thought of him shouldn’t matter at all, but it did.

  “A doctor? Shit. Beauty and brains. She single?”

  Reed shrugged. “She’s on vacation alone.”

  “So, you think she’s available then?”

  Tyler’s interest wasn’t surprising. Erika was beautiful and Tyler made it a habit of dating the beautiful tourists. Reed didn’t judge. He hooked up with his fair share, too. The search and rescue jacket was like a beacon for some women and he wasn’t one to turn down a good time. Difference was, the women he had fun with knew it was just a one-night stand. Tyler had a way of leading them on, making them believe there could be more to it. Then ghosting them the minute they left the mountain.

  Reed didn’t like the idea of Erika falling prey to Tyler’s charms, but there was little he could do about it.

  “You know, I didn’t check her Facebook relationship status,” he grumbled as Erika joined them. “Why don’t you take a turn with the litter?” he told Tyler.

  “Yes, boss.” Tyler gave a mock salute as he took over from Wade. He grinned at Erika. “I’ll buy you a drink at Tank’s later.”

  “Oh...okay, sure,” she said, looking slightly confused.

  Was it possible that she didn’t realize how hot she was?

  “Any update from ski patrol on suspected injuries?” she asked, and he shook thoughts of her body from his mind.

  Ski patrol was already on-site, waiting for his injuries to be assessed so they could determine the safest way to get him back down the mountain to the ambulance waiting to take him to Wild River Community Hospital. Reed’s initial reaction was to tell her she couldn’t be privy to the info as she wasn’t officially supposed to be there, but he’d been the one to invite her. “Nothing more than the broken leg reported so far,” he said. “But he is complaining of pain in his right arm and upper chest and they aren’t moving him until we arrive on scene.”

  She nodded, unzipping her jacket slightly as the mild temperature and the trek uphill brought a flush of heat to her cheeks and neck.

  Catching a glimpse of the tank top beneath the jacket, he shook his head. “Are you just wearing the tank top and shorts beneath that?”

  “You said to hurry.”

  Damn. She was still braless. Despite the thickness of the borrowed winter coat preventing any visibility to her tempting body, he felt himself harden again.

  They were just breasts. He saw breasts all the time. Okay, maybe not all the time. But a lot. And this particular set—while amazing—was attached to a woman that drove him crazy. And not in a good way.

  The entire drive to the base of the mountain, she’d been glued to her cell phone, typing furiously—texting or answering emails, he wasn’t sure. But he was willing to bet it was work related. And when he’d cranked the soft rock station, she’d flicked the stereo off.

  Annoying. As. Fuck.

  And he’d do well to remember that, he thought as his eyes drifted back toward her exposed chest and his mouth went slightly dry.

  Luckily, the ski patrol snowmobile came into view a second later and immediately his focus returned to the rescue...and only the rescue.

  Mostly.

  Picking up their pace, they heard the skier before they saw him.

  “What’s taking so long? I’m freezing to death on this snowbank,” the guy on the ground said.

  Hardly. It was forty degrees outside. And the guy should be thankful for the cold ground beneath him, it was no doubt dulling some of the pain from his injuries. His left leg was twisted and his skis had been removed. Ski patrol was trying to calm his ranting, but the guy continued to beak off.

  “We’re here,” Reed said, approaching the two ski patrol guys kneeling on the ground next to the injured man.

  “Thank God,” Jimmy, a young ski patrol crew member, muttered. “He’s been talking smack about suing for forty minutes now.”

  Doubtful. Reed had read and signed enough ski resort release forms to know the man wouldn’t have a legal leg to stand on. All injuries are the fault of participants. Ski hill condition
s and unpredictable weather made this sport a “do at your own risk” thing. “We got it,” he said, doing a visual assessment of the skier. “What’s his name?”

  “Kent,” Jimmy said.

  Kent was in his midthirties, Reed would guess. Five-ten, two hundred pounds. The litter should work. A quick glance at his left leg confirmed it was broken. The odd angle of the knee joint was slightly sickening and he shot a quick sideways glance at Erika to see if she turned even the slightest bit green.

  Nope. Her own critical gaze was assessing the scene same as his. Unfazed. Calm. Thorough.

  It was a little hot.

  “Is someone going to help me? This fucking hurts,” Kent said.

  Erika dropped to the snow next to the guy. “It hurts more when you expel too much hot air unnecessarily,” she said.

  Reed’s eyes widened. Her bedside manner could use a little work, but the guy did zip it.

  “Broken leg...where else are you experiencing pain?” she asked.

  “Right shoulder. I think it’s dislocated...” Kent said, calmer now. “Why aren’t you dressed like these guys?” he asked as she moved closer to his arm.

  “I’m not search and rescue.”

  Reed bent next to her and stopped her as she reached for the zipper on Kent’s coat. “That’s right. You’re not. You are just here to observe.” There were two thick gloves between their flesh, yet the contact resulted in an electric current shooting up his arm.

  She yanked her hand away from his. “Bullshit. I’m a qualified surgeon. Under my oath as a doctor, I have to help in an emergency situation.”

  He forced a breath. Arguing in front of the injured man would be unprofessional, but he wasn’t letting her take lead on this. It was his job, his team, his responsibility...his ego. “We are fully trained to deal with these types of injuries...”

  She ignored him, unzipping the coat and shaking her head. “Not a shoulder dislocation. Looks like a clavicle fracture. It’s swollen pretty badly. Do you hear any grinding when you move your arm?”