The view was spectacular, and I’d seen several more moose as I’d traveled south. The small problem, though, was that I was flying blind. The sun was starting its bow, and I was praying to beat it before it disappeared behind the mountains. Although it was August, the mountain peaks still had snow. Climate change was coming, but Alaska was hanging in there, at least at some elevations.
Walker Adventures was roughly twenty miles outside of one of Alaska’s gems, Diamond Creek. Diamond Creek was the adjacent town near the lodge, where I intended to spend three weeks. That’s right, three whole weeks in the wilderness. Me, Daphne Bell, doing something so wildly out of the ordinary basically everyone I knew thought I was crazy.
I needed this almost as much as I needed air. My actual life, the one I left behind, was an epic mess and littered with regret, recrimination, and almost unbearable pain. Maybe, just maybe, I could piece myself together if I was far enough away.
“Oh! A sign! All you have to say is lodge,” I muttered to the green highway sign in question. “A little specificity never hurt anyone.”
Fuck it. I took that left turn. The pavement stretched for a few miles and then transitioned. “Oh hell,” I murmured as the little blue SUV rumbled confidently over the gravel road. At least I made sure to rent a trusty vehicle with 4-wheel drive.
I kept on going, telling myself the same thing over and over again. You’ll find it, you’re meant to be here, and it’s all going to be okay.
Considering that I was thoroughly acquainted with just how not okay life could be, my faith in the universe was shaky at best.
Roughly forty-five minutes later, with one wheel mired deep in a mud puddle, I was staring at a bear. “Are you a brown bear or grizzly bear?” I asked from the safety of my SUV as said bear ambled along the opposite side of the road, giving me nothing more than a cursory glance.
“Since when do roads not have shoulders?” I looked at my cell phone and glared at the No Signal warning. “Fuck you.”
I tapped my GPS button on the dashboard screen but got nothing. I didn’t even know if I’d been speeding on the gravel road for the past half an hour or so. My SUV seemed to be working, but the bells and whistles definitely weren’t.
I heard a plane above and looked up in the sky through my windshield. Mind you, I didn’t dare open my window in case the bear came over and ate my face.
“Oh, the plane’s landing!”
The small plane was lowering in the sky and appeared to be landing not too awfully far away. But as the crow flew, or in this case literally as the plane flew, it could be as far as a few miles away. I didn’t dare climb out and walk. Because: bears and God only knew what else.
My stomach growled, and I slapped my hand over it. I hadn’t brought enough snacks. The lodge promised a dinner tonight, and I thought for sure I would get there with hours to spare. I’d eaten my last granola bar a few hours ago.
Leaning my head back against the seat, I took a deep breath and willed myself not to cry. I was going to be fine. If I had to walk, I would walk.
I heard a rustling sound, lifted my head, and screamed.
The bear was now right outside my car! Eating blueberries. I might not be a wildlife expert, but I knew blueberries when I saw them, and I’d run my car off the side of the road into a small patch of them.
The bear lifted his head and eyed me dispassionately. I thought the bear was a he, although I had no idea why. While I was truly scared of the bear, he was a magnificent creature. His brown fur was gilded with gold. He stared at me curiously after my scream. After a moment, he lowered his head and continued eating. Somehow, it seemed ridiculous this giant creature was nibbling—yes, nibbling—on blueberries.
I watched quietly, forgetting my predicament and forgetting the other disaster of my life as this massive bear that could probably kill me with nothing more than a gentle swat of its paw meandered along eating blueberries. A few moments later, the bear disappeared into the trees, and I was alone again. A shaft of loneliness struck me so hard it took my breath away.
“Daphne, you need a plan,” I told myself sternly once I managed to take a breath.
I didn’t know where to even begin with a plan, except hiking down this road and hoping it took me to the lodge.
That spinning anxiety, a fucking whirling dervish, picked up in my chest again. I really didn’t know what to do other than walk, and I could only pray I didn’t have to walk too far.
Just when I was about to lose the battle with my tears, a truck appeared around the corner of the road ahead.
“Yay!” I literally lifted my fist in a cheer. I had no idea who this was, but I prayed whoever it was would stop.
Not thinking, I clambered out of the SUV and ran to the middle of the road, waving my arms like a crazy woman.
The black truck rolled to a stop. When I saw the man behind the steering wheel, I got slightly scared. Friendly wasn’t exactly the word that came to mind at his appearance.
The truck door opened, and he stepped out. My knees suddenly felt like liquid. Oh. My. God. His eyes flicked to my SUV where it sat hanging off the side of the road with one wheel buried in the mud before his gaze landed on me. I supposed it was lucky I had a few seconds to prepare myself.
When his glacial blue eyes locked with mine, it felt as if an electric jolt sizzled through my body, setting every nerve ending alight with sparks. The man was tall and just plain built. His broad shoulders filled out his T-shirt. My eyes traveled down his arms, lean and muscled with a dusting of gold hair. He wore battered and faded jeans, which dipped at the waist when he hooked his thumb in a belt loop.
My eyes didn’t mess the strip of gold skin just below his T-shirt when the waistband tugged down and revealed one side of a muscled V. I swallowed and dragged my eyes up. He had a jaw cut from granite and starkly angled cheekbones with an aristocratic nose. His lips were perfect. As if to torture me, he had a dimple in the center of his chin.
I had clearly lost my mind because I felt my cheeks heat as my skin prickled all over.
“You must be Daphne,” he said, his tone crisp.
All that came out of me in return was a gurgle. This man not only stole my breath, but he also snatched away my ability to speak. This was new for me.
Chapter Two
Flynn
The woman in front of me made some sort of gurgling sound and just stared at me. All things considered, I needed a moment, so I was grateful she gave me that.
Jesus fucking Christ. If this woman was trying to be more out of place, I didn’t think she could swing it. Her auburn hair was in a braid, twisted neatly on top of her head with loose tendrils framing her face. She wore a skirt, a fucking skirt, on a gravel road in the middle of almost nowhere in Alaska. A pair of fitted black boots hugged her calves, and I had to will myself not to linger too long on her shapely legs. A silky blue blouse topped off her outfit. It was a freaking button-down blouse, and I had to work not to stare at the way the top button strained a little.
She looked like she would be right at home at some sort of sexy business meeting. She gave off a princess vibe. There was no other way to describe it.
Her jade green eyes searched my face, and her cheeks flushed pink as we stared at each other.
“How do you know my name?” she finally asked, lifting her chin slightly and squaring her shoulders.