by Edie Claire
Bella whined and licked his face again.
“Fine,” Wolf said with a groan. “I’ll feed you. I’ve got to get up anyway. If you’re lucky maybe I’ll forget to tell Kenneth and you’ll get breakfast twice.”
The dog thumped her tail.
Wolf rose, cleaned up the run, fed and pilled the dog, left a note for Kenneth, hauled his bedding back inside, and took a shower. He was running late. It was well past first light when he unlocked his gear from the storage closet and met Ri at the truck.
Now that his brain had filled in all the missing blanks from last night, he felt anxious about seeing her again. And the fact that he felt anxious annoyed him.
She was leaning up against the driver’s door, waiting. She was wearing lightweight cargo pants that were ankle-length now, but which he knew could be rolled up as the day grew warmer. Her voluminous hair was drawn off her forehead with a zany orange band, and she wore a bright teal jacket with the Foundation for Ocean Mammals logo emblazoned on it. Most likely, underneath it, she wore a tank that showed off her generous curves and exposed those gorgeous bronze shoulders of hers. Maybe if they finished early again today, they could go back down to the valley and she would take off the jacket and change into shorts again—
“Good morning,” she said cheerfully, smiling at him.
Wolf blinked. For a second, he was lost in fantasyland. He was in yesterday. Ri wouldn’t be running around the beaches with him in a tank top this afternoon. Not today, or any day. She’d said no. Nada. Nothing. I choose nothing.
They were going out for a day of freaking gas flux measurements. That was it. Her choice. Not his. Why she was pretending to be excited about that, he had no idea.
“Morning,” he returned tonelessly.
Ri smirked. Her eyes sparkled at him like they shared some intimate secret.
What the hell?
He averted his gaze and got into the passenger side. He hated not driving, but a deal was a deal. He supposed he was lucky she was still working for him at all. Nothing had gone the way he’d expected it to with her, and he had no clue what came next. Up to now, these things had always followed a pattern. He got a lot of interest from women. He was fortunate that way. But he was careful to avoid the ones who were fishing for husbands. He limited himself to women who wanted something as temporary as he did, even if — damn it all — the really interesting women always seemed to be in the first group.
But Ri was supposed to be in the second. She knew that he was leaving Maui. She knew that he was going and never coming back. Yet she’d lured him into that foggy, dark grove and she’d laughed and she’d turned out the light and she’d put her arms around his neck and she’d kissed him like…
His jaw muscles clenched. He remembered very well, now, why he couldn’t sleep last night.
After the way Ri had responded to him in the grove, he had every reason to believe they were on exactly the same page. He’d thought that the little speech he gave would be no more than a formality in her case. It was always awkward, but he’d learned that it was worth a few moments’ awkwardness to avoid the nightmarish emotional drama that came with mismatched intentions. Besides which, inexplicably, there were some girls the speech really turned on. And yet, at the crucial green-light moment of consent, what had this intelligent, provocative, diabolically evil, angel-faced woman said to him?
I choose nothing.
That’s what she’d said to him.
Nada. Nothing at all.
“Wolf?”
“What?” he snapped.
Ri jumped.
“Sorry,” he said quickly. “What is it?”
“I don’t know where we’re going,” she said. The truck was paused at the field station’s exit. “Uphill or down?” Her voice was still upbeat. If she noticed his foul mood, she seemed to be ignoring it.
“Uphill,” he answered more politely. He gave her the precise directions, then lapsed into silence. He needed to get hold of himself. Their misunderstanding, whatever it had been, was mutual. He’d just have to figure out how to deal with it.
He took a few long, slow breaths. The problem was that he didn’t know how to deal with it. He’d been giving the “no strings or nothing” speech since college, but this was uncharted territory. Women differed in their immediate reactions to it, yes. But he had never been turned down flat.
They drove to the research site in silence, set up in silence, and worked in silence. It could have been uncomfortable for them both, but in truth it wasn’t much different from the day before. Ri hadn’t chit-chatted yesterday either, and she didn’t act like there was anything wrong between them now. She was upbeat and smiley and didn’t react one way or the other to the occasional accidental brush of their arms or legs or shoulders. If there was any change in her today, it was that she went about her work with such forceful determination that Wolf felt like his own steady pace was holding them up. They didn’t even have a real lunch break. She ate her sandwich at the Hilton while he checked on Bella, and he ate his in the truck while she drove to the next site. By 1:30 PM they had finished all the measurements on his schedule, and Wolf decided right then and there that he would purchase an airline ticket home for the upcoming weekend. There was no reason left for him to stick around.
“You are amazing, Ri,” he said genuinely after he’d recorded the last data reading. “Shall we move along to the next site on tomorrow’s schedule? At this rate, we can stop a little early each day and you can still probably get Friday off. Or at least most of it.”
Ri’s lovely brow furrowed, shifting her orange band. She glared at him a moment as she took a swig from her water bottle. Then, still studying him thoughtfully, she recapped the bottle and smiled.
“I think not,” she said smoothly. “I worked fast today for a reason. I have plans.”
Wolf’s heart sank. He wanted to finish a day early. He wanted to get away from this vision of delectable sexiness and go home. Well, actually, that wasn’t at all what he wanted. “Plans?”
She grinned at him. The doe eyes held that same, maddening look of “knowing” again. Like she and Wolf shared some wonderful, exciting secret. Except it was a secret he didn’t know about.
“Come with me,” she invited.
Wolf’s heart skipped a beat. Wait. Was he missing something? Had her answer changed?
“I want to drive around the west side and see the cliffs,” she announced with childlike excitement. “I want to pack a picnic and eat it at a beach park somewhere. And I want to see Honolua Bay, where the longboard surfers go, and I want to watch the sun set at Ka'anapali, where all the snazzy resorts are.”
“Sounds fun,” he said automatically. She would probably wear a swimsuit for that. A two piece. What would her hair look like when it was wet?
Her face lit up. “So you’ll come?”
Wolf blinked. She seemed to be waiting for an answer about something. His mind was still on the swimsuit. “What?”
“Let’s get going, then!” she said cheerfully. “We’ll have to stop and pack the food.”
Wolf sensed he was being railroaded. He shook his head to clear the haze, and the bad news came roaring back.
Nothing. I choose nothing.
“Why do you even want me to go?” he blurted.
Ri, who had already turned and started walking toward the truck, swung around and stared at him. “Because I enjoy your company,” she answered simply.
Wolf stared at her. For the life of him, he had no response to that.
“Come on!” she said, tossing her head. Her brown-black curls bounced in the sun, and a brilliant smile drew her cheeks into two perfectly round, dimpled cherries.
Wolf went.
Chapter 24
“It’s so much greener here than it is on Haleakala!” Ri gushed. She drew in a breath of the warm ocean air as it rushed past her face, whipped her dark ringlets around her neck and shoulders, and buffeted her skin. The scent of it was intoxicating.
She w
as standing on a cliff high above Honolua Bay, watching with awe as wave after blue wave broke into a feathery line of white over the reefs far below. The volcanic peaks behind her were tall and emerald in color, sheer and sharply angled, unlike the smoother, more gradual and drier heights of Haleakala. Lush vegetation bordered the streams flowing down from the mountains, and the trees in the valley to her left were tall and dense with leaves and vines. She had driven the truck in a wide circle all around the base of the West Mountain and up its far side, and from where she stood now she could look across the ocean and see the island of Moloka'i.
She could hear Wolf’s soft chuckle behind her. “You haven’t seen the greenest part of Maui yet. That would be the northeast section.”
Ri smiled without turning around. All in good time, my friend… and with luck, you’ll be right there with me. “The road to Hana is on Saturday’s agenda,” she said.
“Ah,” Wolf commented.
Ri breathed the air and absorbed the view in silence for several more minutes. She saw no surfers out this afternoon, but she could see a few people walking on the beaches below. “Is there any place to picnic down by the water?” she asked.
Wolf stepped up beside her. “I think I remember a picnic table or two, yes.” He pointed out over the valley that stretched inward from the bay. From the cliff on which they were standing, they could look out over the tops of the trees that filled it. “There’s a trailhead off a little parking area down there,” he explained, pointing. “I checked it out once. I bet you’d like it.”
He was standing close. Ri wanted to reach out, wrap her arms around his waist, and hug him for no particular reason. She wanted the kind of relationship where she could do that, confident that her gesture would be eagerly returned. But they didn’t have that. She decided to catch his gaze instead, and as soon as his pure, ice blue eyes looked into hers, she poured every ounce of her telepathic energy into them, trying to show how very much she wanted to touch him, to show him affection. And how sad she was that she couldn’t.
He looked back at her with puzzlement.
It was a start. She stepped away from him and towards the truck. “Let’s eat, then,” she said with enthusiasm. “I’m so ready for that exciting peanut butter sandwich of mine.”
She parked the truck in a small dirt lot next to a row of portable restrooms, an overflowing trash can, and a dozen wild chickens. “Welcome to Hawaii,” Wolf teased as they hopped out. He grabbed the cooler from the back of the truck. “Some people think the chicken should be the state bird instead of the nene. I can see their point.”
Ri chuckled as a red hen and her family of mostly grown chicks scuttled along the path in front of them. She and Wolf walked further into the trees and quickly found themselves in the depths of a jungle. “Oh, my,” she exclaimed. The canopy of broad leaves high above her head let only dappled beams of sunlight through to the cool, shady floor, where a carpet of tropical greenery grew over exposed roots, twisted branches, and mossy stones. The treetops were alive with the sound of chattering birds, and a splashing stream rushed along through the valley over tumbled lava rocks and fallen limbs. Long, shaggy vines rained down from the uppermost tree branches while giant elephant ears sprang upward to meet them. And all along the moist dirt path, hens clucked and roosters strutted — a few of the more obstinate males being disinclined to step out of the way.
“I don’t see your name on this path, Red,” Ri said to one of them after a lengthy staring match. “Now move along. I’m bigger than you.”
The rooster gave her a dirty look and moved ever-so-slightly to the side.
“Attitude!” Ri complained, sidling by him.
Wolf laughed.
Ri laughed, too. His humor had improved, gradually, once she had gotten him in the truck and on the road. A couple times while they were making sandwiches at the field station she was afraid that he would back out of the venture, but something — perhaps inability to come up with a plausible excuse quick enough — had prevented that tragedy. He had agreed to come with her, and here they were. She had kept the talk on the way over light and breezy, focused on his work and hers, which was appropriate. You couldn’t look at someone properly when you were driving, and good eye contact was essential for more in-depth conversation.
The kind of conversation Wolf avoided, Ri thought to herself. But no matter. She was up for the challenge. Her spirits remained high as they strolled along the path through the idyllic jungle toward a sun-soaked opening in the distance that promised to reveal a beach. The spot was obviously a popular one with both locals and tourists alike, and they passed several people and a few more chickens before reaching a partly shaded clearing near the forest’s edge.
Ri looked out to see a line of trees at the edge of the clearing, with two picnic tables nestled beneath. Beyond the trees, the ground was covered with large, smooth boulders as it sloped down to the water. Two paved lanes ran through a break in the trees and off into the bay to form a small boat ramp, but no boats were in view on the water today. Just a dozen or so people sitting on the rocks and walking along the beach to either side, enjoying the view and the breeze.
Ri was dying to kick off her sandals and get her feet wet, but Wolf had already set their cooler on an unoccupied picnic table. She decided she could wait. Delayed gratification might not have been her forte as a child, but she had learned to appreciate its charms.
Her eyes were drawn to Wolf’s well-toned arms and shoulders, even as he performed such a mundane task as unpacking their dinner. His dark blond hair ruffled slightly in the breeze, making stray curls pummel his ears and dance about his sun-browned neck. Case in point, she thought ruefully. Wolf might try to hide his classic good looks behind a few days’ worth of beard and some dirty boots, but he still had the face and body of a Greek statue.
She smirked to herself. Well, a Greek that worked out, anyway.
Wolf sat down facing the ocean, and Ri sat down opposite him. He looked up at her in surprise. “Don’t you want to see the view?” he asked.
“I would,” she answered honestly. “But it’s more important to me to see the person I’m talking to.”
Wolf frowned. “Well, let’s switch then,” he said, getting up. “I’ve been enjoying the ocean for four months already.”
Ri smiled and consented. They dug into their hastily prepared sandwiches, fruit, and snacks, and she gave them both a few minutes of quiet to take the edge off their hunger before the main event began. She’d thought long and hard about how best to go about her task, but she had never come up with a failsafe plan. Sometimes, when the stakes were highest, she was better off winging it.
“Tell me about growing up in Alaska,” she said offhandedly. “Forgive me if this sounds like stereotyping, but did you hunt and fish? Did your dad take you and your brother out with him?”
To her relief, Wolf smiled. “I suppose you could call that stereotyping, but it’s a valid question. Hunting and fishing isn’t a hobby up there so much as a part of life. Not everybody does it, but pretty much everybody has given it a try. My dad went out with his dad when he was young, but he never cared for it. So Bear and I only got to go fishing or hunting when we visited our grandpa. But those were good times.”
“So, your dad was morally opposed to shooting Bambi?” Ri teased.
Wolf chuckled. “That’s not how my dad would explain it. He would tell you he was just a bad shot. But I think he didn’t have the heart for it. He doesn’t even like baiting hooks.”
“What about you?” Ri’s heart beat hopefully. So far, so good. He was talking about family, and he was still at ease.
He looked away from her with a shrug. “It’s okay.”
Careful, now. “Baiting hooks or shooting Bambi? I don’t think I could look a deer in the eyes and kill it. That really doesn’t bother you? Not a tiny little bit?”
He looked at her, then. He looked annoyed. Like she was making him think about something he didn’t want to think about. She gave hi
m her most playful smile. “And if you lie to me,” she said coyly, hoping her eyes were transmitting her affection. “I’ll so know.”
When his blue eyes smiled back at her, she almost cheered out loud.
“I have killed Bambi,” he said with amusement. “More than once. And if I was hungry enough, I would do it again. But, no. Unlike some people, I don’t enjoy hunting.”
“Knew that!” Ri said smugly. Another risk. At any point, the man could bite her hand and slink off into the wild again.
But thankfully, he still smiled at her. “How did you know that?”
“I see the way you are with Bella,” she answered. “A lot of hunters love their dogs, I’m not saying they don’t. But there’s a quality about you…” She broke off and let a hint of mischief into her smile. “Well, I probably shouldn’t use the particular word I’m thinking of. Men don’t like it. Not manly men, anyway.”
He made a pretend angry-face. “What word?”
Fished in! “Oh, now I’m in trouble,” she said with an exaggerated sigh. “I was going to say, you have a very ‘nurturing’ quality about you. I bet you were a wonderful big brother.”
Wolf’s cheeks flamed. He looked distinctly uncomfortable as he chose that particular moment to toss back his cola and hunt for the last few, nonexistent drops in his already emptied can.
Say something, Wolf. Ri waited hopefully. If he said anything at all, it would be a major breakthrough. Most likely he’d change the topic or just walk off. She knew she was digging perilously close to “mother” territory. But she also knew it was the obvious starting point. Not to be too Freudian, but as far as she could tell, the man didn’t have a single significant female in his life right now. He held both female friends and intimate partners at bay, and it was just “my dad and my brother and me.” Linking one to the other wasn’t brain surgery.
“You’d have to ask Bear about that,” he said finally, crushing the can with one hand.