Follow Love (Diamond Creek, Alaska Novels Book 2)

by Croix, J. H.

  ***

  Hours later, Tess sat by the window in her room, watching the sun finally dip behind the mountains. The sky was barely light, a deep pink radiating above the mountains. She was restless, had been since they’d returned from dinner. She regretted that she’d told Nathan she’d have dinner and berated herself for worrying about it. His pull was a little too strong for her sanity. She didn’t need to fall for some handsome guy again. Her inner agitation prompted her into motion. Tugging her windbreaker out of the closet, she stepped into her running shoes and slipped out of her room, heading to walk on the beach.

  The early night air was sharp and brisk. A soft breeze came off the bay, the earthy fragrance of saltwater and ocean life almost instantly soothing her. The waves rolled into shore in a quiet rhythm. She took several slow breaths and stopped to look out over the water. The deep pink in the sky had faded to just a whisper of color. The half-moon sat high in the sky, its light reflecting on the water.

  Tess walked slowly along the edge of the water where the sand was firm. She could hear distant voices from other areas on the beach and the harbor docks. Their hotel was situated just down the road from Otter Cove Harbor. Though out of sight, the reflections from the lights lining the docks spilled out from the cove, the water shimmering in the almost dark. The soft sound of water lapping the shore lulled her.

  As Tess walked, she heard muted footsteps approaching. She glanced up to see Nathan walking towards her. Her stomach clenched, heat swirled to life and her pulse thrummed. “Damn,” she said, not meaning to speak aloud.

  Nathan didn’t appear to have seen her up to that point. His head whipped up when she spoke.

  “Tess?”

  She sighed and stopped in her tracks. “Yup. It’s me.”

  “I didn’t expect to see you out here,” Nathan said, sounding legitimately surprised. “Where are you staying?” he asked, striding towards her, coming to a stop a few feet in front of her.

  It took a moment for her eyes to adjust and discern his features. Tess nodded her head in the direction of their hotel. “We’re just back there at Midnight Sun Lodges. Dad wanted to be close to the harbor and from what I can tell, that’s about as close as you can get. What brings you out here at this hour?”

  Nathan shrugged. “Can’t beat a walk on the beach. I love it here just about anytime of the day or night. What about you?”

  Tess wasn’t about to tell him that she was restless and discombobulated, mostly because of him. “Just wanted to take a walk. It’s beautiful out tonight.”

  She hoped Nathan would move on quickly, although she wasn’t sure how to gracefully make her exit. Being this close to him keyed her up, her pulse so rapid she worried he could hear it.

  Nathan was quiet long enough that Tess glanced over and saw that he was looking out over the bay where the moon hung above. He appeared pensive. Despite the pull to fill the silence, she remained quiet.

  Tess stared toward the water and was startled to hear the surface of the water break nearby. A sleek rounded shape lifted out of the water and held still.

  She jumped slightly. Nathan turned quickly toward her.

  “What’s that?” she asked.

  “Looks like a seal. They come pretty close to shore. Surprised you haven’t seen one yet. They’re nosy and love to watch people. If you walk on the beach during the day, don’t be surprised if a few follow you along in the water, checking on you every now and then. Once in a while, they pull up and sun themselves on the docks.”

  Tess quietly watched the seal, which held still in the water. It couldn’t have been more than fifteen feet away in the dark. She sensed Nathan move closer to her. The tension that radiated through her ratcheted up a notch.

  Tess dared to look in Nathan’s direction. Her focus narrowed to this very moment. A gust of wind blew her curls wilder than they already were. In the scant light, his eyes locked with hers, dark and intent. Unable to look away, heat rushed through her, her chest rose and fell with her rapid breath. His mere gaze wiped all thought from her mind. Nathan stepped closer until he was inches from her. Another gust of salty air blew a curl across her eyes. He reached up and brushed it away, his hand sliding into her hair and down along the side of her neck, his thumb gently passing over the beat of her pulse.

  Before she could form a coherent thought, she was wrapped in Nathan’s strong embrace and his lips came against hers. His kiss was a slow burn, initially cautious and then rocketing into a heat that she hadn’t known she craved. One of her hands slipped into his black curls and the other around his neck, pulling him closer. She would have crawled into him if she could, completely engulfed in the moment. Thought abandoned her and she reveled in sensation.

  One of Nathan’s hands slipped under the back of her shirt, the warm roughness of his palm sent sparks skittering through her. His tongue delved into her mouth, meeting hers in a heated tangle. Her nerves were alight, vibrating to the tune of his touch. Heat smoldered in her center, pulsing through her. Without the strength of his arms holding her up, she’d have fallen.

  She needed to be closer. She tugged at his flannel shirt, tearing the buttons open and slipping her hands inside. She sighed into his mouth at the feel of his skin. She ran her hands over his chest, feeling his heartbeat against her hand, pounding in a rapid rhythm.

  Slick moisture built inside of her. Nathan’s lips traveled down the side of her neck, leaving chills in their wake. Tess was flushed inside to the point of madness. She tugged him against her pelvis, sighing when she felt his hard cock press into her. He unhooked her bra and slipped his hands around to caress her breasts. Her breasts were heavy with desire, aching for his touch, craving the relief it offered. She gasped into his mouth. He dragged his thumbs across her nipples, slowly curling his hands around to cup both of her breasts, holding them with the lightest touch. She arched her back, her shirt slipping open and breasts spilling out.

  Nathan sucked his breath in. “Tess!”

  His whispered exclamation filtered through the fog of desire that had swamped her. Before she could form a thought, his lips closed over one nipple. She fell back into the fog, sensation overtaking her. He slowly licked and nibbled on both of her breasts. His hands kept busy with soft strokes, caressing her nipples with the barest grazes of his thumbs and soft pinches. Tess tumbled into a pool of feeling—her pulse careening out of control, her breath shallow, her desire building to a fevered pitch. Somewhere in a distant corner of her mind, she was stunned with how much she wanted him and wanted this.

  She dragged her hand against his cock, felt it pulse against her hand through his jeans. She wanted him inside of her and wanted it now.

  She started to unbutton his jeans, only to feel one of his hands come against hers and hold it still. She paused, her breath coming in gasps.

  “Tess,” he said, a questioning tone to his voice.

  She held still, the haze clearing in her mind. She was relieved her eyes were closed because she couldn’t believe she had been about to yank Nathan’s jeans down and much more.

  “What?” she asked finally.

  “You have to know that I want you. I want you now. But…I didn’t mean for this to happen this fast. Not because I don’t want to. Trust me, I do. It’s just that…” he paused and took a breath. “I don’t want you to do something you might regret later.”

  Tess was relieved for the dark so Nathan couldn’t see her blush. Now that the haze she’d fallen into had cleared, she was mortified. Her hand was still against the front of jeans. She could feel the heat from his cock, straining against his jeans. The hand he’d placed over hers remained there. She slowly pulled her hand away, feeling his gaze on her. Her eyes traveled down, taking in her unbuttoned blouse, his hand cupping one of her breasts. Her nipples tight and peaked with desire, both damp from his lips.

  With a quick shake of her head, she stepped back abruptly, creating a pocket of space between them. His hands fell away. She looked up and saw the chest she’d just bee
n caressing. As she had guessed, he had a body many women would give anything to get their hands on. His chest was fluid and muscled, a light dusting of black curls. His abdomen was sculpted. Her eyes followed the trail of dark hair to where his jeans hung low on his hips. His jeans pulled tight across his erect cock. Only the top button was open. Despite reality slapping her in the face, she still wanted to tear his jeans open. She couldn’t believe she’d let this happen, much less how much she wanted him. If she let herself be honest for a moment, the desire she felt for him was unlike any she’d felt before. Her experiences with sex were best described as mediocre. Nothing horrible, but nothing great either. These few moments with Nathan were a wildfire she couldn’t contain and didn’t know what to make of.

  She finally tilted her head back far enough to see his face. He had tucked his hands in his pockets. His chest rose and fell quickly. She waited a beat before speaking. “Well…that kind of just…happened.”

  Nathan gave a soft laugh. “You could say that again.”

  He looked over at her in the darkness. He appeared to be waiting for her to say something. Tess was lost. But she was nothing if not polite and since he seemed expectant, she tried to come up with something.

  “I don’t know what to say,” she said and paused with a small laugh when she realized how honest her statement was. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

  Nathan nodded. “Me neither,” he responded, giving her a long look that turned the heat up a notch inside of her. “But I won’t pretend I didn’t enjoy every second of it,” he continued with a slow smile, his eyes flicking down towards her breasts and back to her face.

  Tess thought she might melt into a puddle at his feet. Her nipples had tightened

  in response to his glance. She instinctively tugged her shirt closed and looked away, breaking free from his gaze. She was surprised when his hands carefully started buttoning her shirt for her. Her breath, which had finally started to slow, became shallow again, her heart racing just to have his hands buttoning her shirt. Stepping back when he finished, he quickly buttoned his own shirt, hiding away that glorious chest.

  She tucked her hands in the pockets of her windbreaker, uncertain of what to say next. Although the silence could have been uncomfortable, it wasn’t. The sound of the ocean water lapping against the sand calmed her. She looked out over the water. The seal had disappeared.

  Nathan’s voice broke through the quiet. “Guess it’s good we’re in agreement we didn’t plan that. Can I persuade you to have dinner with me now?”

  Looking over, she saw a flash of uncertainty in his gaze. He continued, “I get the feeling that you said you’d have dinner with me but that maybe you’d let the next few weeks go by without actually letting it happen. After this, well…let’s just say I want a chance to get to know you.” His said this with an earnest quality.

  She wanted to tell him that he wasn’t right, but that would have been a lie. She had wished maybe she could just ignore his request and put it off. She took a long breath again as anxiety built in her.

  “I wasn’t planning to ignore that you wanted to go to dinner. But I won’t pretend I wasn’t sure about it, still aren’t sure about it. I’m only here three weeks. I don’t know…about this.” She gestured between them.

  He nodded. “Me neither. Don’t see what it hurts just to maybe get to know each other. All I know is that I’ll be bummed out if we can’t even have dinner.” He sounded almost boyish.

  A giggle burst out, the sound foreign to her, it had been so long since any man had made her giggle. She glanced away for a moment, looking out over the dark water. Turning back she nodded. “Okay, you wanted dinner, you’ll get dinner. Lord knows, I wouldn’t want to bum you out,” she said with another giggle.

  “You say when,” came his quick response.

  She considered what she could tell her family and then decided not to worry about it. “How about tomorrow night? You can pick me up at the hotel. We fish with you and your brothers again the day after.”

  Nathan nodded in quick ascent. “You got it. Seeing as I can tell your mom’s already scoping out what’s good, any requests for where we go?”

  She shook her head. “You pick. Say six o’clock?”

  Another nod from him. “Do you want me to walk you back to the hotel?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “No thanks. I want to walk some more.”

  “Got it. Watch out for seals,” he said with a smile.

  They stood for a moment. Tess had the urge to lean over to kiss him but wasn’t ready to face the fire that he kindled. He reached a hand up and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” was all he said before his hand dropped. Her ear tingled where he’d briefly touched it.

  “Good night,” she called softly as he turned away.

  He glanced over his shoulder. “Good night.”

  Tess watched Nathan walk away in the dark, his form slowly fading. When she lost sight of him once he rounded the corner of the beach into the harbor, she turned to face the ocean. The moon had risen higher in the sky. It was almost perfectly at half fullness, a half circle of light casting a glow on the water, the waves rippling in its shimmer. Her heart finally slowed, her breath following suit. She laughed to herself, considering that she’d come out here to get her mind off of Nathan. That was about impossible now. In what couldn’t have been more than a few minutes, he’d turned her world upside down. She’d never felt what she’d felt with him and it terrified her.

  She started walking back towards the hotel at a slow pace. The cool temperature was a balm to the flush she felt inside and out. She heard a sound in the water and looked out to see a seal surface again. Just as before, the seal held its head above the water and appeared to be watching her. In a moment, the seal curled and dove back under the water, only to surface again a few feet ahead of her. Tess made her way along the edge of the water towards the hotel. As Nathan had described, the seal followed her along the way. It would pause at points, holding still in the water, its rounded head above the surface, bobbing in the small waves that rolled into shore. It repeatedly dove back under the water and surfaced ahead of her. When she reached the walkway for the hotel and turned to walk up, she looked to the ocean once more. There was just enough light cast from the hotel lights that the seal was visible, watching from the water just beyond the end of the walkway.

  Chapter 5

  Nathan came awake gradually, warm from the sun shining directly onto his bed. He hadn’t been thinking too clearly after running into Tess on the beach and had forgotten to close the shades last night. Replaying those few minutes with her over and over, he’d been forced to take a cool shower to shake off the yearning for her. He lay still, disoriented from being deep in sleep. He heard his door push open and the sound of dog paws padding across the carpet. With a smile, he rolled to the side, expecting to see Jessie, Hannah and Luke’s dog. Luke must have stopped by with her. In a moment, Jessie came around the side of his bed and started wagging her tail like mad. She’d stayed with them a few weeks when Luke first found her, and he and Jared took care of her whenever Luke and Hannah were out of town. She sidled up to the bed, rubbing against his hand. She was a lovely girl, black with soft gold markings and wavy long fur.

  “Hey there girl,” he greeted her. “You’ve decided it’s time for me to get up huh?”

  Jessie responded by wagging her tail faster and nuzzling his hand. He stroked her back and rested in the sun for a moment. With a deep breath, he pushed himself up and swung his feet to the floor.

  “Alright girl, I’m up.”

  Striding to his dresser, he tugged a T-shirt out. He didn’t bother changing out of the sweatpants he’d fallen asleep in last night. Jessie followed him a half step behind as he walked out to the kitchen and living room area. He found Jared seated at the kitchen table with Luke and Hannah.

  “Good morning,” he said with a small wave. He swiped at his curls for a moment, pointlessly attemp
ting to bring order to them.

  Hannah grinned. “Hey there Nathan. Looks like you’re personal alarm clock woke you. If you’re not around in the morning when we come by with Jessie, she goes to find you right away.”

  Nathan glanced over to Jessie who’d flopped down in the middle of the kitchen, her tail still wagging with small thumps against the floor.

  “I think I’m her favorite uncle,” he said with a sly smile towards Jared.

  Jared shook his head. “Nope, that’s me.”

  “Jessie loves everybody,” Hannah said with a laugh. She gestured towards the coffee pot. “Fresh pot of coffee—waiting for you.”

  Nathan quickly poured coffee in a mug waiting on the counter, added a dash of cream and sat down at the table. He held his coffee aloft with a nod towards Hannah. “Guessing you’re the one who got a mug out for me,” he said with a smile, taking a sip of coffee. “And of course, the coffee is delicious.”

  “Of course, I got the mug out for you. Jared and Luke may sometimes take care of you, but I don’t think they go that far,” Hannah replied with a wink.

  “Uh, definitely not,” Jared said. “We might make coffee for him, but only because we’re making it for ourselves.”

  Luke chuckled. Nathan took another few sips of coffee, savoring the rich taste. Hannah made coffee the way he liked—dark. Luke’s arm rested across the back of Hannah’s chair, hand curled around her shoulder, his thumb absently caressing her. Nathan thought back to last night—a part of him wishing his sense hadn’t got the best of him. Tess’s ginger eyes and honey curls and lush curves filled his mind. It had taken almost all the discipline he had to stop himself from taking her in the sand.