ROMANCE: Tumble Into Love: A Diamond Creek Alaska Novel, Contemporary Romance (Diamond Creek, Alaska Novels Book 5)

by Croix, J. H.

  She met Ethan’s eyes, blinking back tears. “Another time,” she said around the lump in her throat.

  She strode from behind the counter and whirled Stuart up in her arms. “Hey buddy, so tell me when we can have one of our beach walks again?”

  As Stuart giggled, Risa met Emma’s eyes. Emma looked worried, but Risa ignored her, spinning around with Stuart. Moments later, after a plan was confirmed for a walk in the next few days, Emma and Trey left with Stuart.

  Risa walked to the back of the gallery and slipped into the office, closing the door behind her. Sitting down in the desk chair, she rested her elbows on the desk, her face in her hands. Hot tears pricked behind her eyes. Her throat was tight. Quiet settled around her. She finally lifted her head and glanced out the window, which faced Kachemak Bay. The tiny slice of a view offered a straight line of sight to one of the glaciers in a valley between mountain peaks. Sun glinted off its translucent blue surface. Snow had fallen last night. The peaks of the mountains were bright white in the sun. An eagle screeched nearby and flew past the window, landing on a piece of driftwood on the beach. She’d heard that a pod of beluga whales had been out in the bay yesterday. She scanned the water, hoping to see them. For now, the bay hid its residents under its wind-ruffled surface. She looked away with a sigh.

  So that was great, just great. You’re supposed to be getting up the nerve to tell him you think you’ve fallen in love with him, and now he probably thinks you don’t even care.

  Then there was the fact that her heart clenched at the sight of him, to see him and know he was really, really okay. She’d heard what the station said earlier when they called. She’d heard his message, but her heart had still been tight, anxiety a knot in her chest. She wanted to see him. And she had—with a well-intended audience. She sighed and leaned back in her chair, absently lifting up a small hourglass with colored sand and turning it over, watching the sand slowly mark time.

  There was a soft knock at the door. Jack glanced around the corner. She tried to smile, but her effort wobbled. She waved him in.

  He sat across from her, his eyes assessing. “I’m guessing you’d have liked a few minutes to yourself with Darren,” he said with a soft chuckle.

  Risa shrugged. “Probably.”

  Jack leaned back. “Your Darren could hardly keep his eyes off of you.”

  “He’s not my Darren.”

  Jack arched a brow. “I beg to differ. Don’t tell me you’re going to stick to that line after last night?”

  Risa bit her lip and glared at him. “Don’t give me a hard time. I’m so tied up in knots, I can’t even think straight.”

  Jack’s expression softened. “I wasn’t trying to give you a hard time. But I don’t think pretending he doesn’t matter will help. You’re clearly in love with him, so perhaps now would be a good time to make sure he knows that.”

  “Now would be a good time to hide under a rock.”

  Jack threw his head back with a laugh. He met her eyes again. “Avoiding him isn’t going to resolve this. He came to see you, why don’t you go see him now?”

  Risa shrugged and didn’t reply. She wasn’t accustomed to feeling this out of control. It was bad enough to try to scrounge up the courage to tell Darren how she felt and worse when she hadn’t counted on how hard it would be to manage the hurricane of her emotions in his presence.

  Ethan poked his head around the door. “Hey, could use a little help out here.”

  Risa started to stand up. Ethan waved for her to sit down again. “Not you. You’re excused. Get on the phone and call your boyfriend. Jack can help me.”

  Jack stood up and grinned. “Do what Ethan said,” he said pointedly before striding out of the office. She heard their muted voices talking with customers and twirled her chair around to face the window again. The sun glinted off the waves rolling into shore. As she looked out across the bay, she suddenly stood. Sleek white curves flashed atop the waves and back under the water—the pod of beluga whales she’d heard about. They traveled along Cook Inlet and into the bay every so often. Even from a distance, she was in awe. They were so white against the slate gray water, moving in unison in a rippling pod across the water. She watched them until they disappeared from sight, diving down together into the depths of the bay.

  Chapter 24

  Darren walked across the station parking lot on the way back to his car. A biting wind blew straight into his face. The blink of fall in Alaska was almost over. The white line of snow on the mountains across the bay got lower every morning. He expected snow to fly at sea level any day now and wouldn’t be surprised if Diamond Creek woke to a thin layer of snow after this evening. He kept his head down and swiftly climbed into his truck. The cessation of wind was so welcome, he sighed in relief. The wind whistled around his truck, but the cab was still and quiet.

  His phone buzzed. He shifted to tug it out of his pocket. Risa’s name flashed on the screen. He hit silent and set it on the dashboard. He hadn’t spoken to her since he’d stopped by the gallery yesterday. She’d left him a message and called another time last night. He knew she wanted to talk, but he wasn’t quite sure he was ready for that. He’d gotten himself all worked up to walk into the gallery and tell her that she mattered, really mattered, to him yesterday. His plans had evaporated when he found her there with Trey and Emma, her nephew busy peppering him with questions. He’d had to swallow his feelings and put on his public face. He’d left the gallery thrown off and discombobulated.

  He missed her like hell and wanted to call her back, but his emotional state after his long night in the backcountry wasn’t helping. It had taken all of the tattered threads of his nerves to convince himself it was worth it to let go and move past his self-imposed boundaries around relationships. He drove home, trying and failing to keep his mind off of Risa.

  Hours later, Hallie glared at him across the kitchen counter.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “Damn Hallie, cut me some slack.”

  Hallie put her hands on her hips and shook her head, her ponytail bouncing. “You obviously want to talk to Risa, and you ignored her call. I saw her name on the screen. And don’t go acting like I’m being nosy. If you don’t want me to notice anything on your phone, don’t leave it on the counter right beside me. I looked down without even thinking. She was here all night the other night while we were waiting for word on you. I don’t know what your problem is, but ignoring calls is a jerk move.”

  Darren turned on his heel and walked to the couch, throwing himself down and kicking his feet up on the coffee table. He knew Hallie had a point, but he wasn’t up for arguing with her. He grabbed the remote and turned on the television.

  Hallie followed him over and stood in front of him, blocking his view. “Well, if you won’t bother calling her, I will. The least you could do is let her know you’re okay.”

  “She knows I’m okay. She saw me yesterday.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized he’d opened himself up to a line of questioning from Hallie.

  “You saw her yesterday? When?”

  “I stopped by her gallery after I got back.” He tried to hew to the facts without giving her too much to run with.

  “And?”

  “And what?”

  “Oh my God! You’re purposefully being obtuse. Which tells me you’re avoiding something. Spill it. I’m your sister. I tell you practically everything.”

  Darren leaned his head against the couch and closed his eyes. The nightly news droned in the background. He opened his eyes and looked at Hallie. “I stopped by her gallery to see her. You’ll be happy to know, I got myself all worked up to, I don’t know, try to tell her she meant something to me. Not to be corny, but I had a lot of time to think while I was out working the fire the last few days.”

  Hallie’s eyes brightened when he paused.

  He lifted his brows in return.

  “So then what?” she asked.

  “I left.�
�

  “You left?”

  “That’s what I said,” he replied.

  “But why?”

  “Because her family was there, along with her two bosses. It wasn’t the time or place to talk, so I left.”

  Hallie just kept looking at him as if expecting him to offer more. Darren inwardly groaned. Hallie wasn’t going to stop asking questions until he explained his thought process. Much it annoyed the hell out of him sometimes, she knew him well enough to know when he was putting her off.

  “Hallie, I get it. You want me to be with Risa. Isn’t it enough that I’ve been seeing her?”

  Hallie stepped away and flung herself on the other side of the sectional. “Seriously? You’re being ridiculous.” Her tone was loaded with exasperation.

  Hallie’s pressure only increased the internal pressure he felt. He closed his eyes and took a slow breath.

  Hallie’s expression softened. “You’re scared.”

  Darren’s chest tightened at her words. “Maybe I am. Could you please let me go at my own pace here? You know this is a new thing for me. I wrote off relationships after the accident. The fact that I’m even contemplating this is a big deal.”

  Hallie quieted and didn’t comment again. She looked out the window.

  Darren flipped the remote around in his hand. “I’ll call her back tonight.”

  Hallie let the topic drop to his relief. After she meandered off to the guest room later, he retrieved the phone from the kitchen counter and called Risa. He got her voice mail. Though he hated admitting it, he knew Hallie had a point. Not answering her calls was a jerk move, even if the only reason he was avoiding her was that his feelings for her scared him half out of his mind. So he took a deep breath and left a message. And asked her to call him back. And told her he was sorry he hadn’t called yet. And told her he missed her.

  And the sky didn’t fall.

  ***

  Risa was up early and put herself through another grueling bout on her elliptical. She hadn’t been sleeping well and needed something to burn off the restless energy she couldn’t seem to shake. She’d forced herself to turn her phone off last night after she’d tried calling Darren again only to get no answer. Three calls and two messages was enough. More than that and she would feel like she was stalking him and clearly not taking a hint. After she showered, she finally turned her phone on. Her heart flew to her throat when she saw he’d called late last night.

  His voice was gravelly, but his words were heaven. He went so far as to say he was sorry he hadn’t called…and he missed her. She replayed his message about ten times. He paused before he said he missed her. She could hear the breath he took before he said it, as if he was gathering courage. She did a little happy dance in her living room, holding her phone close to her chest. It was on the early side, but she called him back anyway. She was so giddy, she wasn’t even disappointed when she got his voice message. Feeling bold, she asked him to stop by the gallery if he could today.

  Hours later, she strode down the short hallway in the back of the gallery to the office. Ethan and Jack were still here helping out for the week, so she had the freedom to take a break from the floor. Her feet were sore from a new pair of heels she’d worn, so she sat down at her desk, immediately kicking her shoes off. She whirled the chair around to look out the window. Ever since she’d seen the beluga whales the other day, she was constantly scanning the bay for another glimpse. The sun struck sparks off the glacier. The snow that dusted the peaks had made its way further down the flanks of the mountains during the night. Wind gusted across the water, stirring whitecaps in its wake.

  There was a quick knock on the door. She called out for whomever it was to come in, assuming it was Ethan or Jack.

  The door opened and closed quietly. “Hey Risa.”

  At the sound of Darren’s voice, she whirled around. She didn’t hesitate and raced around the desk, flinging her arms around his neck. His arms came around her and lifted her in his embrace. She leaned back and looked into his warm chocolate eyes. He still looked weary, but his gaze was open and zeroed in on her. She cupped his cheek with her hand.

  “It’s so good to see you.” Emotion washed over her in a wave as she looked into his eyes. Whatever it was between them, she wasn’t going to be a coward and wait and see if he felt the way she did. She was going to trust what she felt and that he would be on this path with her however they navigated it.

  “I missed you. A lot,” she said bluntly.

  “I missed you. A lot.” He mimicked her words with a grin.

  His arms loosened and she slid down his body to the floor, savoring the feel of his hard body against hers. She took a step back and leaned against her desk. She didn’t know how to proceed other than to simply say what she felt.

  “I don’t know what you’re thinking or feeling, but I don’t want to waste any more time without telling you what’s happening for me. This,” she gestured between them. “…thing between us. It’s way more than I bargained on. When I met you, well, let’s just say there was some chemistry. But I haven’t had the best luck with relationships.” She paused to gauge his response.

  He merely arched a brow.

  “Not that it matters, but I was giving some perspective. Anyway, so I thought I’d have some fun with you. But right from the start, you blew me away. I can’t stop thinking about you. I miss you when I’m not with you, and I don’t want this to be something that goes away because we’re both trying to play it cool. So I’m done playing it cool. I don’t know if you want to give something more a shot, but if you do, I hope you might with me.”

  When she finished speaking, anxiety swirled in her belly. She’d never so blatantly put her heart on the line like that. Her heart galloped in her chest. It was exhilarating and terrifying. Holding her breath, she met Darren’s eyes. He took two strides to reach her, lifting a hand to tuck a loose lock of hair behind her ear. A shiver raced through her at his soft touch.

  His eyes were trained on hers. His shoulders rose and fell with a deep breath. “I couldn’t bear it if I thought I couldn’t see you again. I missed you so much the last few days, my brain was a broken record. All I want is you.”

  His words were direct, his voice husked with need. His chocolate gaze darkened as he held her eyes. He traced her mouth, pausing on her lower lip, the pad of his thumb resting there. Heat pooled in her center, desire unfurling within and coursing through her body. In a breath, the air around them came to life, vibrating with the pulse of passion that thrummed between them whenever they were near. Her pulse skittered, her breath became shallow. He murmured her name, eliciting a quiver in her belly. He leaned forward in slow motion, his lips meeting hers softly for a moment and then claiming her mouth fiercely.

  Risa slipped a hand around his neck and pulled him closer. Darren’s hand fell away from her mouth, his warm strong hands sliding down her sides, lingering on her curves before cupping her bottom and lifting her onto the desk. Her fitted skirt rode up around her hips as he stepped between her knees, tugging her close against him. Arousal spiked through her. She couldn’t get close enough, wrapping her legs around his hips and running her hands up the muscled planes of his chest.

  Their kiss was hot, wet and devastating. When he tore his lips away and blazed a wet trail down her neck, she gasped for air. He tore at her blouse. When the buttons caught, he swore and yanked, the fabric tearing. Cool air hit her flushed skin, her nipples pebbling under the thin silk of her bra. With a flick of his thumb, her bra came undone, her breasts spilling out, hot and aching for his touch. His breath hissed through his teeth. His eyes met hers, and she melted in the heat of his dark brown gaze. Holding her eyes, his lifted his hand, grazing it across her nipples, the barest touch tightening the coil of desire within her.

  There was a sharp knock at the door. Darren stepped away quickly, his eyes locked onto hers as he stepped backward to the door, reaching to lock it. He shrugged his jacket off, letting
it fall to the floor. Footsteps retreated away from the door down the hall. Darren moved swiftly, his hot, warm, hard body nestled in the cradle of her hips in a breath. His hips rocked into her, tiny spikes of pleasure coursed through her. She was drenched with want for him. She shoved his shirt up, desperate for the feel of his skin against hers. He reached behind his neck and pulled his t-shirt up and over his head at once. She moaned in relief when his warm, muscled chest pressed against her breasts.

  He feathered kisses across her face, down her neck and across the tops of her breasts, hot sparks of electricity sizzling with each touch of his lips on her skin. She slid her hands up over his muscled chest and around his back, scoring his skin with her nails when his mouth closed around her nipple. He drew it deeply into his mouth, the bite of his teeth a balm. The sharp pain relieved her desperation, if only for a second.

  Darren murmured her name when he lifted his head. He toyed with her nipples, rolling them between his fingers, tugging lightly when she arched into his touch. Releasing her nipples, he stepped back and clasped her calves. She closed her eyes at the feel of his strong hands, their heat traveling in a tantalizing path up her legs, pushing her thighs further apart, his thumbs coming to rest at the apex. The silk there was wet with the evidence of her desire. He stroked his thumb slowly back and forth across the silk. Her hips shifted restlessly into his touch. Her breath came in ragged gasps.

  He slipped a finger under the edge of her panties and finally delved into her folds, slick with want. Another finger joined the first as he slowly drove her mad with light touches and deep plunges.