“Well, not Kaia,” Montana said. She hadn’t told her parents about Kaia’s attitude lately or that she’d skipped school. Kaia was a wonderful kid, and she might be going through some stuff right now, but Montana only sang her daughter’s praises. Public shaming of her wrongdoings wasn’t something Montana ever planned on.
“Yeah, it’s with the police station. And Mom’s boyfriend will be there,” Kaia said.
Montana’s eyes widened, and she slid off camera. Unfortunately, she could still see her parents’ faces. Surprise and confusion and the normal disapproval flashed in succession. If Kaia noticed, she didn’t act like she had.
“Boyfriend?” Eleanor said.
“Yeah, you know. Eddie. The cop who saved her life.”
“Saved her life?”
Montana was desperately waving her hands and shaking her head on the other side of the monitor. She hadn’t told her parents about any of that yet. She hadn’t told them a whole hell of a lot since she’d been there. They didn’t know her exact role and job description with SnowTrek Tours. They didn’t know she was a support member of the search and rescue crew, and they didn’t know about her getting lost in the woods months before or the shooting incident.
Or about her dating life.
They knew absolutely nothing, and Montana had been planning on keeping it that way for as long as possible.
Kaia looked confused as she glanced back and forth between the computer monitor and Montana.
“What do you mean saved her life, darling?” she heard her father ask.
Kaia looked panicked. “Oh, it was nothing. Just a shooting on Main Street.”
“Shooting?” Her mother’s voice had gone up an entire octave. Montana was in so much shit.
She shut her eyes tight as her front door opened and Eddie entered.
“Kaia, can we chat with your mom for a minute? Alone?” her mother asked.
“Hello, hel...” Eddie stopped and shot her a quizzical look, when she put her finger to her lips.
My parents, she mouthed.
He nodded and quickly hid out by the door. Lucky bastard.
Lucky gorgeous bastard, dressed in his state trooper uniform, clean-shaven for the first time in weeks with his dark hair gelled back. He looked like Sexy Cop, and she wished he could blow off the Halloween event and they could spend the evening role playing. She could definitely think of a few uses for those handcuffs.
“Sure. Eddie’s here so I have to get going anyway,” Kaia said. “Bye!” She blew them both a kiss as she moved away from the laptop.
Right. Shit. Her parents.
Kaia looked sheepish as she approached Montana. “Am I grounded again?” she whispered as she hugged her goodbye.
“No, but I might be,” Montana said, hugging her daughter a little longer, not wanting to let go and to have to face the music.
* * *
“SO, YOUR GRANDPARENTS had no idea about the shooting, huh?” Eddie asked Kaia as they drove to the Haunted Trail site.
“Nope. I think Mom’s going to kill me.”
“Aw, she didn’t seem upset with you.” Freaked out to face her parents, but not upset with Kaia. They hadn’t had a chance to talk, with her parents waiting on Skype, but the look she sent him as he left, one that said she wished they were alone so she could tear his uniform off, made him less annoyed that she hadn’t told her parents about him yet, either.
Besides, how could he be annoyed? He hadn’t exactly told his family he was seeing anyone, either. He still hadn’t told his grandmother that he’d be bringing a date to the wedding after all. They each had their reasons for not revealing the relationship. His was because he couldn’t deal with his sisters’ teasing that he’d eventually have to endure. He suspected hers was that her parents seemed to be having a hard time with her being in Wild River. They weren’t completely on board with her recent life choices and they worried about her living on her own and being so far away from them, so she obviously didn’t want to give them more cause for concern. He understood. He just hoped it wasn’t because she wasn’t sure about the two of them together yet, because he was definitely feeling sure.
The last few weeks with Montana had been amazing. His attraction to her kept growing stronger. He looked forward to seeing her every day and missed her when they weren’t together. Playing it cool had never been his forte, but he was desperately trying not to scare her away with the intensity of his feelings for her.
“I don’t know why she’d be afraid to tell them things,” Kaia said, gazing out the window. “They are her parents.”
“Well, do you tell your parents everything?” he asked. He knew the answer was no, and he hoped that maybe Kaia could see how her mother could understand what she was going through.
“I guess not,” Kaia said. She looked about to say something else on the subject, but Eddie turned into the lot of the Haunted Trail, and she didn’t. “Are we here?” she asked instead, looking around at the empty lot and field around them.
Eddie laughed. “Yes. The trail starts in that creepy-looking barn over there,” he said, pointing to it.
“Oh, cool,” she said, already climbing out of the van.
He grabbed his crutches from the back and got out, then led the way to the dimly lit trail entrance that guided visitors toward the creepy barn. Donation bins lined the trail and skull-shaped lights illuminated the path. Only the event volunteers had arrived so far. “Go on in,” he said, opening the door for Kaia.
“Wow, it looks super cool in here,” Kaia said as she entered. The makeshift thirty-by-thirty space was painted all black—walls, ceilings and floor—with the exception of stripes of iridescent, fluorescent paint that gave the room its ominous glow and provided lighting for participants. The station put up the same structure each year, but the interior stations of spooky surprises changed from year to year to keep the trail fresh and exciting for regulars who attended as part of their Halloween traditions.
“You think so?” he asked, looking around.
“Absolutely. Can I check it all out?” she asked.
“Of course.”
She pushed through one curtain of ripped garbage bags hanging from the ceiling to check out the first scary exhibit along the tour. He heard her chat with Al, the trooper running that station, and then heard her Oh, gross! when she saw the floating eyeballs in the punch and the severed fingers dipped in a blood-red-colored rich chocolate.
“They may be gross, but they are delicious,” Eddie said, joining her as she picked one up. “Hey, Al.”
The other man nodded his greeting. “Good to see you, Eddie.”
“You made these?” Kaia asked him.
“Yep.” He’d made most of the edibles and gross-out stuff that year, with the help of YouTube, having more time to do it than anyone else. It had felt good giving back to the department in some way while he was on leave. “Take your time looking around, and when you’re ready, I’ll show you to your station out on the trail,” he said.
“Awesome.” Kaia made her way through the interior setup, and he heard her laugh and shriek as she moved from one to the next. The volunteers were happy to have a test run before the crowds started to show up.
“Hey, Eddie. Good to see you,” Adams said from behind his own station in the corner. He was dressed as a mad scientist in a white lab coat covered in fake blood and guts. His naturally dark hair was sprayed white and stuck out in all directions as though he’d been electrocuted. Thick black glasses, broken and held together with medical tape in the middle, completed the look. It actually suited the guy.
“Hey, what are you carving up over here?” he asked, moving closer to peer into the specimen jars containing brains and organs floating in a yellow gellike goo.
“Captain Clarkson,” Adams said, pulling the sheet back to reveal the captain’s head poking up through a hole on the t
able, while a fake disemboweled body lay on the examination table.
Eddie laughed. “Never looked better, sir.”
“I don’t know how you assholes rope me into these gruesome displays every year,” Captain Clarkson grumbled, but Eddie knew for a fact that he was always the first one to sign up for a volunteer station—the gorier, the better. He practically funded the event himself. His kids were older now, but he’d been doing this every year since they were young enough to be terrified by it. “How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Better,” Eddie said and meant it.
“Better as in ready to return to work?” the captain asked.
Eddie was afraid to ask in what capacity or to promise anything he wasn’t entirely ready for, and the event wasn’t really the place to discuss his future on the force, so he said, “Better as in I’ve been thinking about it.”
His captain nodded. “Good.”
“Eddie, I’m ready,” Kaia said, joining them. “Oh, sick!” she said, seeing the guts and gore of the exhibit.
“What do you think? Too scary?” Adams asked her.
“Just perfect scary,” she said.
“You look great. That’s amazing zombie makeup. Did you do it yourself?” Adams asked.
Kaia beamed at the praise. “Cassie helped.”
“I hear you’re trapped in the spider web this year,” Captain Clarkson said. “That’s a fun one.”
“Yes. Want to hear my scream? I’ve been practicing,” she said.
“Absolutely,” he said.
Eddie grinned as she let out the blood-curdling sound that chilled his veins.
Damn, he’d believe that.
After suitable praise on her performance, Eddie led her out and through the outside exhibits along the dimly lit trail. She shivered and moved a little closer to him. “You’re going to be sticking nearby, right?” she asked, looking all around her as they walked.
“I promised your dad I would, but don’t worry, I won’t crowd you,” he said with a wink.
“It’s totally cool if you want to stay close,” she said casually, but he heard the note of fear in her voice at the idea of being out there by herself.
“I’ll be right outside the exhibit, directing people toward your brilliant performance,” he said.
“Great.” She paused and coughed. “Hey, I just wanted to say thank you for saving my mom. I think it’s really great that you two are, well, you know...” she said with a shrug.
Did he? He knew what he wanted to be happening with Montana, and he suspected they were on the same page. He could feel her attraction to him growing stronger each time they were intimate, but he hoped it was more than just amazing chemistry. He was starting to catch major feelings for the woman, and he hoped he was having the same effect on her heart. “Thank you, and it was no problem.”
Kaia eyed his crutches. “I’d say it was a huge problem. You risked so much—your life—for her. You must really like her.”
And it was kinda his job, but the truth was he wasn’t sure he would have reacted as quickly if the bullet had been flying toward anyone else.
“Here we are. Your web,” he said, stopping by her exhibit setup.
Kaia’s eyes lit up at the bungee cord spider web, spray-painted a shade of silver, and the oversize, mechanical jumping spider on the floor next to it. “That is so cool!” She moved closer and stepped on a spot on the floor that read Beware of Spider: Don’t Step Here! The spider jumped toward the web, and Kaia shrieked in happy surprise. “This is going to be so fun!” She ran toward him and hugged him. “Thanks for asking me to help, Eddie.”
“Hey, you were made for this,” he said. “Whenever you’re ready, climb onto the web...and I’ll just be over here watching people pee themselves.”
Two hours later, he’d heard countless screams and tons of nervous laughter echoing all around him on the trail. Between groups, he snapped a photo of Kaia in the web and sent it to Montana.
You might have a movie star on your hands, he texted along with the image.
Good thing we know a bodyguard in LA ;) So thrilled that she’s having fun, came her reply.
Are you having fun with the trick or treaters?
I could think of things that would be more fun...
Such as?
Ripping that uniform off you.
He grinned. So she had been eyeballing him.
Later?
Count on it.
Seeing another group approach on the trail, Eddie reluctantly put his text flirting on hold and tucked the phone into his pocket. “New group,” he told Kaia.
On cue, her pleas for help started, growing more frantic as the group got closer. A group of junior-high and high-school students. No parental figures with them. They were laughing and joking as they stopped in front of Kaia’s exhibit.
Eddie watched closely as Kaia suddenly didn’t look to be having as much fun. Maybe they were kids she knew...but why would she be embarrassed? She was killing it with her performance. She continued to play the part, but Eddie could sense she was uneasy.
Two of the junior-high-age boys spoke to her, and she ignored them.
One reached for the bungee cords on the web and shook them, tossing her off balance. She told him to stop.
Eddie couldn’t hear what they were saying, but their tone and demeanor suggested teasing and taunting. He didn’t like it. He moved closer, but before he could tell them to scram, they saw him approach and moved on down the trail.
“Hey, everything okay?” he asked Kaia. She looked visibly shaken, and he glared after the boys. “You didn’t get hurt when they were shaking the web, did you?”
“Yeah, no, I’m fine. Just some jerks from school,” she said, fixing one of the cords that had come loose before climbing back into position.
“Well, I’m not far away if they come back,” he said.
She smiled gratefully at him, and he sensed whatever was going on with her might have something to do with those jerks from school. Might explain the withdrawn behavior and the cutting class. “Thanks, Eddie,” she said.
He moved away again as a new group approached on the trail. “Okay, you’re on. Let’s hear that scream,” he said with a wink, and she visibly relaxed as she got ready to act scared shitless.
Confident she was okay, he moved back out of the way and radioed up the trail to his coworker, Sanchez, who was hiding behind a tree with a hockey mask and really loud and very real-looking chain saw. “Hey, man, there’s a group of teenagers approaching. Do me a favor, will you?”
* * *
WHEN HE RETURNED to his job on the force, Eddie would be needing a new uniform. New shirt buttons at least. True to her word, she’d ripped the sexy uniform from his body the minute they found themselves alone at his place the night before.
Now, the uniform lay discarded in a heap along with her clothes on his bedroom floor, and Montana smiled as she rolled over in the bed next to him. “Good morning,” she said, prying one of his eyelids open.
Eddie laughed sleepily. “Why are you awake? We barely slept last night.”
Bad Cop, Good Cop, Sexy Cop, Naked Cop—it had taken a while to fulfill all the cop fantasies she hadn’t known she had. “I have to go to work,” she said. She’d rather stay in bed with him all day. It was cold and rainy outside. The perfect day to stay wrapped up together in these bedsheets, order take-out and stay naked all day. But she needed to help Cassie with the holiday-adventure tour package brochures.
Now that Halloween was over, they were full steam ahead on bringing in the holiday tourists bookings. Winter was one of SnowTrek Tours’s busier seasons, and this would be Montana’s first winter in Wild River. She’d actually been kinda dreading the shortened days with twenty hours of darkness and the frigid temperatures, but now that she had Eddie to snuggle the long winter nights away with, sh
e was actually looking forward to it.
In fact, she was looking forward to her new future a lot more now. Feelings of fear and uncertainty about whether she was doing the right thing and in the right place were slowly fading...fading a little more each day as her feelings grew for Eddie.
She had everything she needed here in Wild River.
Of course, convincing her parents of that was something she was giving up on. The Skype chat the night before had gone exactly like every other. They thought she was making a mistake by continuing to pursue her dangerous career, as they put it. They weren’t convinced that the doctors here in Wild River were as good as the ones in Denver. They thought a new romantic relationship would be added stress on her and now thought Wild River was a dangerous ghetto because of the shooting.
She’d tried to tell them that she was happier and safer here surrounded by an amazing support system, which included Eddie, but it had fallen on deaf ears. Luckily, she’d learned over the years to take her parents’ advice and ignore most of it. She was grateful for all they’d done for her after her accident, but she really was okay now, and she wished they could see it for themselves.
She was feeling better than she had in a really long time.
Dani hadn’t been around in a while, either, so if she was a result of an overstressed mind, then that was a good sign.
Who knew the magic cure she’d been searching for to start feeling like her life was back on track was her annoying cop next-door neighbor?
Eddie pulled her closer and nuzzled her neck. “I don’t want you to go.”
That made two of them.
She ran a hand over his bare chest, then down over his washboard abs, then lower. He may have just woken up, but a certain part of him was wide awake already. “Sorry, it has a mind of its own,” he said.
Her hand wrapped around him. “Don’t apologize. I’m glad I can have this effect on you,” she whispered, stroking slowly, up and down...
Eddie growled as he rolled on top of her and pinned her hands above her head on the pillow. “You, Montana Banks, drive me absolutely insane, and I never want that to stop,” he said, kissing her.
A Sweet Alaskan Fall Page 19