I had my coat folded over my arm. “I wasn’t sure how cold it would be. I checked the weather, and it looks like it’s going to be warmer during the day, but the nights look cold.”
Alex nodded. “Mud season’s about here,” he explained. “It’s not the prettiest time of year here. I’d like you to come again in the summer so you can see the fireweed.”
I didn’t know how to reply because that meant planning for the future. It had taken so much courage just to take this trip. I wasn’t sure I was ready for more. My plane had landed late, and it was dark when we stepped outside at the airport. Alex never broke stride and never released his arm from around my waist. His palm curled over the edge of my pelvis, and I loved it. I loved him holding me close.
Although I knew we were in Alaska, it was funny how all airports felt the same. We stepped out of a revolving door onto a sidewalk where taxis and car services were lined up to pick up the people spilling out of the airport.
My breath misted in the air. I was chilly enough that I wanted to put my jacket on. I didn’t, though, because that meant stepping away from Alex as we walked into the parking garage. When we reached his truck, I glanced at him. “Did you leave it running this whole time?”
He chuckled. “Of course not. I have a remote starter. I started it as soon as I saw you come through the gate. It’s cold out, so I wanted it to be warm for you.”
I grinned as I climbed in. “This is the same truck you picked me up in when I ran off the road before Christmas,” I said as I buckled my seat belt.
Alex, because he had manners, had put my suitcase away and insisted I put my jacket on. He glanced sideways as he buckled his own seat belt. “Of course it is. I don’t have two vehicles. Just this one.”
My God, I was ridiculous around him. Joy fizzed through me as I smiled back at him.
We were quiet as he drove out of the parking garage and paid the fee. When I offered to pay it, he ignored me, and a sense of insecurity stole through me. I spent most of my life not having enough—not enough money, not enough clothes, not enough anything. He’d insisted on paying for my plane ticket, and I was willing to bet he was going to try to cover everything while I was here.
“Please let me pay for something.” My words slipped out before I could catch myself.
One of Alex’s hands rested over the steering wheel as he glanced toward me. “I’m hosting you,” he said as if that explained everything.
“But you flew yourself to North Carolina,” I protested, not sure why I was even bringing this up. It made me feel a little twitchy inside.
The stoplight where we’d been waiting turned green. As he drove ahead, I fell quiet, telling myself to shut up about it. I didn’t have a ton of money. Every extra penny I had went into covering my nursing school tuition.
“I don’t want to argue about money,” Alex finally said as he took a ramp onto a highway.
“I don’t either,” I said softly.
Because I was looking out the window and trying not to be irrationally upset, I didn’t realize he was reaching for my hand until he caught it in his, bringing it over to his lap, his grip warm and firm.
“Stop worrying. I can practically see the wheels spinning in your brain,” he said.
I could hear the smile in his voice, and the tension that had started to bundle in my chest loosened slightly. “Okay, I’ll try. How far away are we from Willow Brook?” I asked, figuring I might as well change the subject so I could distract myself from worrying.
“Forty-five minutes, give or take a little. In just a few minutes, we’ll be out of the lights from the city, and you can enjoy the view.”
“It’s dark,” I stated the obvious. “How am I going to see the view?”
Alex chuckled and gave my hand a squeeze where his fingers were laced with mine. “The moon is out tonight, and it’s clear. I promise there’s a view.”
As he predicted, a few minutes later, I looked out the window and saw the silhouette of a mountain range. Bright stars glittered through the darkness. When I looked at the other side, the moonlight was cast across the water. Its surface rippled under the pearly illumination.
“Is Willow Brook on the ocean?” I asked.
“It’s close,” Alex replied. “There’s a big lake in town, and the ocean’s about twenty minutes away. That’s Cook Inlet you see over there. It goes out to the Pacific Ocean.”
“It’s beautiful.” I felt a sense of awe unfolding. With my emotions rioting, the beauty reached in and yanked at my heart.
“It is.”
We fell quiet for the remainder of the drive. After a while, Alex turned off the highway—a not particularly busy highway, by the way—and a few minutes later, the lights of a town became visible. “This is Willow Brook,” he said as he turned onto a street.
It was approaching midnight, so all the shops were closed, but the streetlights were on. The main street showed a cute town with storefronts and signs glowing in the darkness.
“We’ll get coffee here in the morning,” he said as we passed a place with a sign labeled Firehouse Café.
In another few minutes, Alex pulled up to a small house in the darkness. Two lights flanked the front door. “Here we are.”
He insisted on taking my bag, and my footsteps crunched on the gravel as I followed him across the driveway and up the stairs onto the small porch. Looking around, I saw nothing but trees although I knew houses were nearby because we had passed them on the way.
I couldn’t see much beyond the small pool of illumination cast by the lights on either side of the door. We stepped into a tiled entryway, and Alex flicked on the lights. From there, I could see directly across the open room to a wall of windows that offered a view of the mountains with the moon above them.
“It’s so pretty,” I said softly.
“It’s hard not to have a house with a view in Alaska,” he commented with a shrug. “You can hang your coat here.”
He was pointing at a coatrack standing by the door. I took off my shoes and hung up my coat, following him as he crossed through the living room and passed an island, which delineated the kitchen, to a door on one side of the main area.
He led me into what I presumed was the master bedroom. It also had windows offering a view of the moon over the mountains and a giant bed.
Alex wheeled my suitcase through another door on the side of the room. Following him, I realized he had a walk-in closet with shelving on both sides. He lifted my suitcase and set it on top of a dresser. “You can leave this here.”
He then took me on a quick tour. There was his bedroom, which had a nice bathroom with a gigantic tub. The living room and kitchen area were decorated in muted colors, along with the rest of the place. There was another bedroom opposite Alex’s on the other side of the living room, and a bathroom with a washer and dryer.
When we were back in the living room, I commented, “This is really nice. You decorated it well.”
Alex cast me a sheepish grin. “My mother and Holly decorated it. I built it, though. Nate helped me. Are you hungry? I knew you were going to be landing late, so I got some pizza that I could reheat if you were hungry when you got here.”
Just as I was about to open my mouth and refuse, my stomach let out a rumble.