Allowing himself to love always seemed too dangerous. Now it might be his only salvation...
Single dad Tank Wheeler has vowed to keep his heart shuttered in the name of keeping his young daughter’s life stable. But lately, the chemistry between him and his adrenaline-loving best friend, Cassie Reynolds, has been getting him a little hot under the collar. And then, with one scorching birthday kiss, these best friends are instantly more.
Exactly the wrong time for Tank’s ex to show up in Wild River, Alaska.
Cassie is pretty sure she’s having a waking nightmare. Not only is Tank’s gorgeous ex hoping to reclaim her family, but a new megastore is threatening the wilderness-adventure business she’s spent five years building. But Cassie never backs down from a fight. And now it’s time to make the most terrifying leap of her life—and hope that Tank catches her...before she falls too far.
Praise for Jennifer Snow’s Wild River series
An Alaskan Christmas
“The big-city girl choosing between her career and loving a small-town boy is a romance staple, but the nail-biting search-and-rescue scenes save Erika and Reed from being a cliché. Readers will enjoy the mix of sexy love scenes, tense missions, and amiable banter. This entertaining introduction to Wild River will encourage fans of small-town contemporaries to follow the series.”
—Publishers Weekly
“An Alaskan Christmas, the first book in the Wild River series, drew me in from the first page to the last. I tried to read slower so that I could savor the story and feel every emotion. I reveled in every nuance, felt the cold, the wind and snow, and loved the small town and the mountains... I can’t wait to return to Wild River.”
—Romance Junkies
“This first title in A Wild River series is passionate, sensual, and very sexy. The freezing, winter-cold portrayal of the Alaskan ski slopes is not the only thing sending chills through one’s body as Erika and Reed’s connection heats up.”
—New York Journal of Books
“Set in the wilds of Alaska, the beauty of winter and the cold shines through in this romance.”
—Fresh Fiction
“Jennifer Snow’s Alaska setting and search-and-rescue element are interesting twists, and the romance is generally smart and sexy... An exciting contemporary series debut with a wildly unique Alaskan setting.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Also available from
Jennifer Snow
Wild River
An Alaskan Christmas
Jennifer Snow
Under an Alaskan Sky
To the four-legged members of
all search-and-rescue crews.
“Until they are home, until you have closure, until you can rest, I will not rest... I am K-9 search and rescue.”
—Buckeye Search and Rescue Dogs
Acknowledgments
I’m grateful for so many people, from my agent, Jill Marsal, and editors Dana Grimaldi and Susan Swinwood, who make every book stronger with their feedback, to my husband and son, who keep me sane and fed during deadlines. A big thank-you to SARDAA (Search and Rescue Dogs Association of Alberta) for all their research help with this book. All mistakes are my own, and I hope they would be proud of the S & R dog that Diva becomes.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
EXCERPT FROM A SWEET ALASKAN FALL BY JENNIFER SNOW
CHAPTER ONE
WOULD HER OBITUARY read brave or crazy?
Cassie Reynolds stared down the steep slope of packed snow that ramped at the end, sending Slush Cup contestants across a wide pond onto a crash pad on the other side.
Few had actually made it to the soft, dry landing. Most were shivering human popsicles standing on the sidelines, hoping they’d sailed far enough, fast enough, to advance to Wild River’s Slush Cup finals later that day.
Hoping? Okay, she was definitely crazy.
“No wonder it’s free to enter this event,” her best friend, Erika Sheraton, said, bouncing next to her to stay warm in the damp, cool April weather.
“I wouldn’t exactly say free. I think we’re paying with our pride,” Cassie’s brother, Reed, said, trying to cover his lower region in the skintight silver spandex one-piece body-con suit with the SnowTrek Tours logo on the back.
Cassie shot her brother a look. Each team that entered the Slush Cup was required to wear matching costumes. On the sidelines, there was a group dressed as hippies with wide-leg jeans and peace symbols on their tie-dyed shirts, a group of Spartans wearing short brown leather kilts and sashes over their bare bodies, and a group of werewolves in white fuzzy onesies... Cassie had planned her company-logo’d silver body-con costumes, thinking strategically.
They were more aerodynamic all dressed up like silver rockets, right?
“Oh, come on, guys,” she said. “Where’s the spirit? Tank’s not complaining.” Neither was she. Her brother in the skintight suit was something she could do without seeing, but Tank, affectionately nicknamed for his six-foot-five, two-hundred-seventy-pound solid muscle frame, on the other hand...she could stare at his shiny silver ass all day.
“I tried complaining. It didn’t work,” Tank said, checking over their DIY craft—a dune buggy on skis that Cassie would use to attempt her flight across the slushy twenty-by-forty-foot pond in three minutes. This year, contestants had a choice of how they wanted to cross the pond: skis, snowboards or a homemade dune buggy. After breaking her foot in an avalanche accident months before, Cassie had opted for the buggy.
“I still can’t believe you signed us up for this,” Erika said, wrapping her sweater around her own shiny costume. Technically, she was missing the point, covering up Cassie’s company logo by wearing the big bulky sweater, but when Cassie had pointed that out, Erika had told her she could technically kiss her ass.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure none of us volunteered,” Reed said.
“You were each selected for a reason,” Cassie said. “Tank is the muscle...” And boy, did he have muscles. She eyed her friend’s solid, sculpted chest in the suit. His pectoral muscles should have been deemed illegal, and his abs gave way to oblique muscles that had her drooling. She lost her train of thought. They had to start having sex soon. It was five years overdue, in fact.
A few months before, they’d finally started moving away from friend territory, but Tank moved at the pace of a military vehicle. And damn, her patience was certainly being tried. His fear of commitment and his unwavering dedication to the only permanent woman in his life—his daughter, Kaia—kept her lusting from afar.
“And the rest of us? How did we make the cut?” Erika asked.
Cassie turned to her brilliant surgeon friend. “You’re here to fix my
face if this goes horribly wrong...”
“Which it most likely will,” Reed said.
“Shhh...and you, big brother, are here to film it all,” she said, handing Reed her cell phone. She readjusted her GoPro camera on her helmet as she climbed into the craft. Various angles would make a more compelling video. “Be sure to get a good, clear shot. One I can use for promotion.” Bookings at her company, SnowTrek Tours, were down since winter ended, and with the opening of North Mountain Sports Company in a few weeks, a rival chain store, Cassie was desperate to drive more tourists to the mountains. People just needed to see how fun Alaska could be in the spring and how much her company was part of this wild and adventurous community. Adding footage of their participation in the Spring Carnival and the annual Slush Cup competition would definitely help.
Looking down the steep slope, she almost lost her nerve. Every competitor so far had been swallowed up by the half-frozen pond. Could she make it across in one piece?
Thousands of spectators watched from the sidelines, waving signs in support of their favorite team. It was one of the busiest weekends in Wild River. Cassie’s goal was to turn some of these extreme sports fans into customers.
If she survived.
She took a deep breath, putting on her goggles.
With the man of her dreams watching, she couldn’t wimp out now.
“Come on, Cass! You got this.” Tank’s daughter Kaia waved from her position at the base of the slope, camera poised and ready to take the still shots for the social media promo. Cassie’s Siberian husky sat at Kaia’s feet, trying to be obedient, but the panting and wiggling of her tail betrayed her. Diva would happily be in the pond if Kaia wasn’t holding tight to her leash.
Cassie climbed into the craft. There was nothing to worry about. She had a surgeon and two of Alaska Search and Rescue’s best on her team, and they’d designed a foolproof...
The craft’s steering lever broke off in her hand as she tested it.
“Well, that’s unfortunate.” Was it too late to make adjustments to the dune buggy? Like maybe install an airbag?
“Okay, so we’re out?” Erika said, looking more than happy to call it a day. “This means we’re out, right?”
Reed shook his head. “Don’t get your hopes up. She’s insane.”
Cassie gave him the middle finger.
“Don’t worry. You don’t need it,” Tank said, taking the steering lever from her. “You’re only going in one direction.” He bent next to her, getting ready for push off, as the official signaled for them to get into position. “Ready? Let’s get this stunt of yours over with.”
His dark charcoal-colored eyes revealed his concern. They held that emotion a lot. On rescues with S & R, he was always tense, worried until the mission was over, and as a single dad, he was constantly concerned about Kaia...whether she was safe, whether he was making the right parenting decisions, whether he was successfully fulfilling the role of father and mother... It was a big part of what attracted Cassie to Tank—his thoughtful, serious nature, fierce loyalty and protectiveness. She was carefree and always up for adventure, but having someplace safe to land and someone to have her back as she adventured her way through life was a good feeling. And she had that in Tank.
As a friend.
He brushed her hair out of her eyes, and the feel of his cool hand against her sweating skin made her shiver. Maybe she should kiss him just in case she died without getting the chance... How many times over the years had she wanted to? But she always came to her senses before taking the plunge over that line. Once she crossed it, there’d be no going back, and there was a lot at stake. Everyone in Wild River thought the two of them were perfect together...everyone except Tank. He either ignored the whispers and looks they got from everyone, or he was actually that obtuse.
Would a kiss finally make him realize they could be more than just friends? She stared at his mouth. Tempting Tom Hardy lips...
He grinned. “Can you focus, please?”
Damn, he could always read her mind.
She tore her eyes away from him. “Okay. Ready,” she said, gripping the sides of the buggy.
Reed gave the wave to the official at the bottom of the hill and the five-second countdown started.
“I can’t believe I’m helping you do this,” Tank muttered, giving her a shove. “Please don’t die.”
The dune buggy tipped over the edge of the slope and Cassie clenched her eyes tightly shut as the craft picked up speed, descending a lot faster than she’d anticipated. Wet snow flew up from beneath the skis, hitting her in the face and sticking to her hair. The craft shook and the sound of rattling confirmed that screws were coming loose.
Maybe they weren’t essential ones.
She struggled to hold on as the craft soared over several small ramps—added for more “fun.” Who the hell came up with this event in the first place? She was a thrill seeker, but this was just violent, the way her body bumped and thumped on the way down the slope.
Tossed around like a rag doll, she white-knuckled it as she neared the big final ramp that would launch her across the pond.
Or into it...
“Open your eyes for the pics, Cass!”
Forget the promo pics, she was going to die.
She held on even tighter as she neared the end of the slope and felt the craft lift over the packed-down ice and snow.
Airborne lasted far too long. Each second felt as though someone had hit a pause button.
Please make it to the mat. Please make it to the mat.
Crashing hard onto the pad a second later, she inhaled sharply as she was thrown from the dune buggy. But she was on the other side.
She’d made it. She was alive. Definitely would be bruised to shit, but alive.
Cheering from the crowd made her smile as she opened her eyes and removed the goggles.
Reed, Erika, Tank and Kaia all ran toward her. Diva, her narcolepsy getting the better of the puppy in all the excitement, was asleep in Tank’s arms.
“Jesus, sis, you must have hit a new height on the jump,” Reed said.
Impressing her older brother took some doing, so Cassie shook off the rattled feeling in her brain. “Just tell me you got it on camera,” she said.
“You bet. I’ll upload the video later today.”
Erika approached and took her face between her hands. “You good?” She scanned her eyes for signs of concussion.
Cassie laughed. “Yes, I’m fine.” She hugged her friend, feeling better than ever. A good adrenaline rush did that to her. Made her feel invincible. Once there was no turning back and the initial danger was over, of course.
“You advanced to the finals!” Kaia looked to be the only one excited about that.
“Yeah, you know, I think maybe we’ll forfeit. Quit while we’re ahead?” Tank said.
Damn, that sounded good. Why tempt fate? But Kaia’s look of disappointment made Cassie put on her bravest face. The little girl had been looking forward to this for weeks, had helped paint the dune buggy with the SnowTrek Tours logo and had gone shopping with Cassie for the silver body-con suits...
“No way! Kaia’s right. We’ve made it this far and we’re totally going to win this thing.”
But first she needed an ice pack for her ass.
* * *
TANK ARRIVED AT the training clearance field five minutes behind schedule. The Alaska Search and Rescue Dogs van was already there. Parking his truck next to it, he grabbed his Search and Rescue jacket. “Diva, we’re late.”
Through the rearview, he caught the dog’s look that said, “Not my fault this time.”
“For once, it’s all on me.” Peeling off that bodysuit and washing the silver sparkle paint off his face had taken forever. There was no way to get all that shit off. He’d be glistening for months.
Opening the back o
f his truck, he let Diva out and gathered her leash and training gear.
She danced at his feet, eager to start that day’s training. She’d been sitting next to Cassie’s apartment door when he’d picked her up. Her tail wagged so fast it blurred, and the tiny whining noises coming from her meant she had energy to burn.
Usually they arrived early enough to play catch, but today they’d have to play later. “Ready to go to work?”
She sat obediently, though Tank knew it was a struggle.
He suppressed a grin and forced authority into his voice. “Alright, let’s go.”
Diva walked alongside him to the training area. He varied his pace several times and she matched him. After four months of training together, they were well synchronized as a team.
“Hey, man... I was hoping you’d still be in your silver bodysuit,” Frank Jennings, head trainer at ASARD, called to him. The older man had helped train and certify over fifty search and rescue dogs for the organization in his thirty-year career. They were lucky to have his assistance training Diva, their first attempt at adding a tracking dog to the team.
“I’m burning that thing,” Tank said. He still couldn’t believe Cassie had talked him into wearing it, but when had he ever successfully said no to her?
How could he? She was his best friend, someone he could trust and rely on to help him with his ten-year-old daughter, Kaia, and man, he was crazy about her. So much so, he’d resisted a relationship with her for five years. Kaia was his focus, his priority, and until he was sure they were both prepared for a life with someone else, he couldn’t take that leap.
But watching Cassie that day in her tight, body-hugging silver suit had driven him wild. Her athletic, rock-hard body containing her adventurous, fearless spirit was tempting as fuck... But the way she’d looked like she was about to kiss him at the top of that suicide slope had made him panic. He knew she had feelings for him that went far beyond friendship and he sensed her patience with him was running out. His patience with himself was running out. How much longer could he keep his attraction to her in check? Chemistry wasn’t the problem—they had plenty of that. It was commitment he wasn’t ready for. It wasn’t just himself he had to think about.
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