“Pretty impressive collection, isn’t it?”
Sophia turned and found herself face to face with Finn, the bartender from last night. Up close, he looked even taller and more handsome than she remembered from last night. She suddenly felt self-conscious and flustered. She quickly wiped at her eyes, hoping that it wasn’t obvious that she’d been on the verge of tears. But it was too late. His face changed to an expression of concern, and his voice softened.
“Is everything alright?” he asked. “You look upset.”
Sophia felt the same heat in her body that she’d felt when he looked at her last night, only more intense. The look of genuine worry for her in his eyes made her heart skip a beat, and she stumbled as she tried to speak.
“I’m fine,” she said, forcing a weak smile. “It’s just, you know. Romance novels. Always gets a girl.”
Sophia made a wide sweeping gesture of the Austen shelf. Finn raised an eyebrow in her direction as those he wasn’t quite sure whether he should believe that the only reason she was on the verge of tears was a shelf of Jane Austen books, but after a brief pause he just nodded.
“They have quite a collection of her books. One of the town’s residents spent a lifetime building her personal library, and Austen was a particular favorite of hers. When she passed away, she left all of her books to the town library in her will. At least a quarter of the books here were hers.”
“It’s pretty crazy to see this many physical books in one place,” Sophia said. “The only other place I’ve seen this many is in a museum.”
Finn nodded. “It is pretty crazy. And anywhere else in the world it would never work to have a library of books worth millions just here and available for townspeople to borrow. But Frost Peak is the kind of place where people still take care of things and respect them. And no one here is dishonest enough to steal a bunch of books. So we get to keep our lending library. This is probably the last public library left in the country that has hard copies of books.”
Sophia managed a smile and ran her fingers over the spines of the books again. “I’m glad I came to Frost Peak this Christmas, if only for the chance to see this.”
“Ah, yes. You’re the city girl, right? San Francisco, I think I heard? Must have been hard to convince you to come out to the wilderness, huh?”
There was a hint of a challenge in Finn’s voice, and Sophia felt strangely defensive. “Just because I live in San Francisco doesn’t mean I hate the wilderness. I grew up with a clan of smokejumpers. It’s hard to find people who love the wilderness more than a group of guys who jump out of airplanes to fight forest fires.”
Finn held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Hey, hey. I’m not hating on the city. I spent a good portion of my life in New York City. But you sounded like you’re not exactly thrilled to be here.”
Sophia frowned. “Yeah, well. It’s not the wilderness that worries me. It’s the number of shifters who are going to be here. They’ve all known my dad forever, and they’re going to ask me all kinds of questions about my life and what I’m doing with it. I just don’t have much patience for that.”
Finn threw his head back and laughed, earning him an annoyed look from Sophia and a sharp “Shhh” from the librarian at the front desk.
Finn lowered his voice and looked at Sophia with a twinkle in his eye. “Yeah, if you’re worried about nosy shifters, there are sure to be plenty of them around. My advice is to run for your life now.”
Sophia couldn’t help but grin. “Thanks for the advice. But I’m pretty sure my dad would kill me if I took off now. He spent the better part of last year trying to convince me to come. I only agreed in the end because I quit my job in a fit of anger, so what else was I going to do over the holidays.”
“You stormed out of a job?” Finn asked. “I knew you were a feisty one.”
Sophia raised an eyebrow. “Did you now? How? You’ve barely met me.”
“You’re Zach Brooks' girl, right?”
Sophia nodded.
“Yeah, if you’ve got even half the personality of your dad, then you’re definitely a feisty one. The man’s reputation precedes him. Sawyer loves him. He’s always talking about how he’s not afraid of anything.”
Sophia sighed. “Well, I’m afraid I inherited less of my dad’s spunk than I would’ve liked. He’s always used his strong personality to do important shit like jumping out of planes and saving forests. Me…I use my strong personality to occasionally quit a job with no plan and drive away every man even remotely interested in me.”
Sophia regretted the words as soon as she said them, but it was too late to take them back. Finn wiggled an eyebrow in her direction. “Maybe you just haven’t found a man strong enough to handle you yet.”
Sophia wasn’t sure how to respond, and for several long, awkward moments, silence hung in the air.
“Well, maybe a man like that doesn’t exist,” she said finally. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go work on my job search.”
She pushed past Finn, who didn’t protest or say anything else as she scurried away. She sat down at the computer furthest away from the shelves of books, and pretended to be typing something. In reality, she couldn’t see straight right now. Why was Finn affecting her like this? She knew better than to think she had any kind of future with him. From what Drew had told her, he was something of a broken man. And, besides, he lived in Frost Peak, and Sophia lived in San Francisco. She wasn’t keen on moving out here, and she was pretty sure he wasn’t too keen on moving to a city.
Still, her heart wouldn’t stop pounding, and the heat in her body took a long time to subside. When it finally did, she dared to look up and peek over at the book stacks where she had been standing with him. Of course, when she did, he was gone.
Chapter Six
Finn was in so much trouble.
He had known there was something special about Sophia from the first moment she walked into his bar last night. He’d figured it was just a natural, primal attraction. After all, she was a gorgeous woman, and he was a man with eyes. How could he not notice her? But when he ran into her in the library, he’d realized it was more than just a simple appreciation for her physical beauty.
When he’d gone to talk to her, there had been an intense heat between them. It had been unlike anything he’d ever experienced with a woman. And then, as they talked, his bear began to stir within him. There was no denying it. His bear wanted her. Finn had heard all about how a man’s inner beast would rise up when it found a woman who was meant to be his lifemate. But Finn had always thought tales like this were exaggerations. He’d been attracted to plenty of women, and he’d never felt any “bear stirring.” Now, he realized what he’d been missing.
His bear was going crazy. Finn was filled with a deep restlessness unlike anything he’d ever experienced. His bear was insisting on being let out, but Finn tried to ignore the feeling. He had things to do today that didn’t involve shifting and letting his lovestruck bear run free.
One of the things he needed to do was go grocery shopping. He’d been working at the bar a lot lately, and his own kitchen at home was seriously neglected. But, of course, a few minutes after he entered the grocery store, his bear started going crazy again.
She was here, too. Somewhere in one of these aisles, Sophia was walking around doing her own grocery shopping. Finn knew better than to go find her. The smart thing to do would be to quickly pay for his groceries and leave. And yet, he couldn’t help himself. He started walking down the aisles, peeking around each corner looking for her while devising what he would say about how ironic it was that they had run into each other by chance twice in the same day.
He heard her before he saw her, though. Her voice was calm and even, but he could tell she was distressed.
“I’m not sure, Uncle Lance. I’ve been looking for something else but I want to take my time and make sure it’s the right next step for my career.”
“Well, what’s your long term career goal?�
� a cheery voice asked.
Finn recognized the voice instantly. It was Lance Bowman, a member of the Panda Shifter Clan that lived in Kodiak. Sawyer loved the Panda Shifters, and invited them as guests of honor to pretty much every major government event in Frost Peak.
“I…I’m not sure,” Sophia was saying. “I thought this might be a good time to reevaluate and make sure that my long term plan is what I want it to be.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” another shifter said. Finn recognized the new voice as Ace Grimes, another of the Panda Shifters. “But what about a lifemate? Are you including that in your plan? It’s a really important piece of the puzzle, you know. I see so many young people these days getting so caught up in their careers and not thinking about their personal lives. I don’t want to see that happening to you.”
“I’m definitely thinking about it,” Sophia said. “But it hasn’t been easy to find someone. There’s still a lot of unrest in the world from the bear flu epidemic, and most of the shifters have left San Francisco.”
Finn winced at the strain in Sophia’s voice. He could tell that she was trying to keep her tone light, but this was clearly not a conversation she wanted to be having. He felt badly for her. He had the same issues and questions as her—often wondering whether running his bar was really the right career path, and wondering whether he should move to look for a lifemate. But he was rarely questioned about it. He didn’t have much in the way of family or close friends, since he preferred to be a loner and keep everyone at arm’s length to avoid being hurt. And he also kept a pretty gruff exterior and snapped at anyone who tried to even remotely suggest that he needed to readjust his life’s priorities. He supposed it was easier for a man. People accepted the idea of a gruff bachelor more than they did a single woman.
Lance was asking more questions now about how many male shifters actually lived in San Francisco, and Finn could hear the distress in Sophia’s voice rising. He had to hand it to her. She was doing a great job of remaining calm and polite, even though he knew that having that conversation was probably the last thing she wanted to be doing right then. After another minute of listening to Ace lecture Sophia on the necessities of a lifemate, Finn couldn’t take it anymore. He had to do something to rescue her.
He quickly swung his cart around and pushed it to the aisle where Sophia was standing. She was holding a basket with a few food items in it, and she had the expression of a cornered animal in her eyes. Lance and Ace were smiling and laughing, clearly thinking they were being helpful, good-natured uncles. They were oblivious to the distress they were causing Sophia. Finn rolled his eyes. He never understood why everyone always seemed so concerned about everyone else’s love life. The clans here in Alaska were some of the worst offenders, probably because the clans out here were all close to each other. Civil wars, human persecution of shifters, and flu epidemics over the last several decades had resulted in the clans up here learning to work together to survive. Now, in times of peace, the closeness remained. Sometimes it just became too overbearing.
“Sophia!” Finn said as he pushed his cart right up next to the group. “There you are! I’ve been searching all over this store for you. Did you get everything? Are you ready to go yet?”
Sophia looked up at him in slight confusion. “Uh…” she said, trailing off as she looked down at the basket in her arms. It currently held bread, yogurt, and milk.
“Looks like you got everything,” Finn said brightly. “Come on, let’s pay and get going. We’re going to be late. Gentleman, good to see you. I’m sorry to steal Sophia away but we promised to grab some groceries for a get together this afternoon, and we’re already running behind.”
Finn saw a look of understanding and relief wash over Sophia’s face. Lance and Ace smiled and nodded. “Of course, of course. We don’t want to keep you younguns from your fun. Good to see you Finn. And you, Sophia. Catch you both later.”
Finn gave them a small wave and then turned toward the front of the store, pushing his cart quickly down the aisle. Sophia scurried after him.
“Thank you,” she said as soon as they were out of earshot of Lance and Ace.
Finn chuckled. “No problem. I hope you didn’t have a lot more shopping to do, though. You’re on your own if you want to venture back into that jungle with them.”
Sophia smiled as she looked down at her basket. “Yeah, I’d rather get out of here and far away from those two. I love them, but man. They are persistent with their interrogations.”
“I thought you might feel that way,” Finn said. “Come on. Let’s go check out.”
The pair was mostly silent as they stood in line and then paid for their groceries. Finn was trying to calm his wild bear down, and he had a suspicion from the way Sophia avoided eye contact with him that she was doing the same. The heat between them hung so thick in the air that you almost felt like you could cut through it. Finn paid for both of their purchases together, waving away the credit card that Sophia offered to him. When they finally made it outside, Finn had never been so glad to feel cold wind on his face. He felt like he was completely burning up inside from the chemistry between Sophia and him.
“Well, I guess I’m gonna head back to my cabin,” Sophia said, finally breaking the heavy silence between them. She shuffled nervously from one foot to another, causing the paper bag her groceries were in to crinkle noisily.
“Hey, hey! Not so fast,” Finn said. “I rescued you from that mess back there by saying that you were going to hang out with me this afternoon. If you leave now then the whole thing was a lie, and I’m no liar.”
The words came out of Finn’s mouth before he could really think about them. He hadn’t planned on actually asking her to spend time with him. The whole “rescue” had indeed been a ruse. But now that he was standing out here next to her, drinking in her beauty, he felt desperate for the moment to continue. He was playing with fire, but he couldn’t hold himself back. There was magic in the air right now. He’d always thought the whole “magic of the Christmas season” thing was bullshit, but he couldn’t deny that something felt different right now. For this brief snapshot of time, he wasn’t scared of loving. He wasn’t scared of opening his heart to someone. And something told him that he needed to hurry and seize the opportunity before it disappeared. This was one of his few days off from the bar. He had no schedule, and it was early enough in December that Sophia probably didn’t have much planned, either. The chance to spend an afternoon together might not happen again.
Sophia’s eyes widened slightly as she processed what he had just said. She hadn’t expected him to want to actually hang out, either. She bit her lip, thoughtfully, contemplating his offer. Then, to his relief, a small smile broke across her face.
“Okay,” she said. “I suppose that’s fair. But what are we going to do?”
“Have you been out in the woods yet?” Finn asked, watching her face carefully.
Sophia’s smile widened. “No. And I’ve kind of been dying to go see it. I haven’t been to Alaska since I was a little girl, and I remember loving the woods here back then.”
“Okay, we’re definitely going to the woods then. There’s nothing in the world like the Alaskan wilderness. It’s a bear shifter’s greatest dream. Let’s go drop these groceries off at my place and then head out. I can show you trails so beautiful it’s unreal.”
Sophia nodded, and Finn could see that the excitement in her eyes was growing. She followed him home, where they left their groceries and packed a backpack with blankets and a thermos of hot coffee. By the time they hopped onto his old snowmobile for the short ride to the outskirts of Frost Peak, where all the trails began, Finn could barely contain his excitement. His bear was roaring inside of him, excited for the chance to run free—especially when Sophia’s bear would be running, too.
As a shifter herself, Sophia had instinctively understood what Finn meant when he asked her if she wanted to see the wilderness. He was asking if she wanted to head out to the forest an
d shift, letting their bears frolic in the woods. It had been years since Finn had gone out to the forest with anyone else. Usually, he stayed true to his solitary nature by only going into the woods alone. The idea of running around with another bear never appealed to him, until now. Despite the warning bells going off in his head about how much he had to lose if he let love in, he couldn’t keep himself from wanting to spend every spare moment with Sophia. He had a feeling the intoxication wouldn’t last, but he figured he might as well indulge it as long as it did.
There were still more than three weeks left until December twenty-fifth, but he already felt like a kid on Christmas morning.
Chapter Seven
Sophia clung tightly to the Finn’s broad, strong body as the snowmobile whizzed quickly through town and toward the wilderness trails. Of course, he had a gasoline snowmobile, preferring it to the newer, electronic snow-hovers. Gasoline powered machines were notorious for being much harder to steer than the self-driving electronic ones, but Finn had clearly had a lot of practice on this machine. He dodged through the streets, around parked hovers, and down narrow alleyways with ease.
Sophia’s heart beat faster with every minute that passed, and not just from the thrill of the snowmobile ride. She could hardly believe that she was sitting this close to Finn. His body felt like a strong, warm pillar, and part of her wanted the ride to go on forever.
All too soon, he pulled up in front of the forest. She’d been curious about the trails out here since she arrived in Frost Peak. Drew and Hope were busy with a playdate for several of the young cubs right now, so it seemed like a good time to come see the trails. She was unlikely to be missed, and, if it just so happened that she got to spend time with Finn in the process, then so be it.
Sophia was starting to wonder whether she should just give in to the desire that was quickly overtaking her every time she was anywhere near Finn. Perhaps their lives were too different for them to have a long-term relationship, but what was so bad about two consenting adults having a little holiday fling? Maybe a Christmas lover would make the strain of the season a bit more bearable.
Christmas in a Fur Coat (The Fur Coat Society Book 7) Page 4