“What is that?” she whispered, trying to see out into the water. All she could make out were shapes in the distance.
“A narwhal pod. You’re lucky. They usually don’t come this close.”
Mesmerized, Zoey leaned into his side, trying her best to find the long horns the whales were renowned for. Instead, there was only the soft slap of their bodies slipping beneath the surface.
“Graham, can you see them?” When Graham shook his head, Zoey sighed. “That would have been perfect.”
“We can wait awhile, see if they come back,” he offered kindly.
But the sounds of the narwhal pod were gone. Taking his hand, Zoey started walking again. “I wish I could have seen them.”
He glanced down at her in consideration. “We could always go swimming.”
“Could we? I feel like maybe we shouldn’t. Isn’t the water freezing?”
“Naw. It’s fine. Come on, Zo. Where’s your sense of adventure?”
“I’m pretty sure being in the middle of the wilderness with a stranger thousands of miles away from everything I know pretty much entails that I am all about the adventure.”
“Are we? Still strangers?”
“Aren’t we?” she murmured, countering with his own question. Zoey really hoped not.
“You’re in love with Easton, aren’t you?”
Zoey sputtered. “I’m sorry, what was that?”
“I see the way you look at him.” Graham sighed in mock misery. “I get it. The ladies always liked him the most. I don’t know. The rippling muscles thing never really did it for me. I was always a sucker for the artsy types.”
“You don’t like me for my rippling muscles?” Holding up her arm, Zoey flexed. “You see that? It’s impressive.”
“There are no words.” Even as he agreed with her, Graham’s large arms curled around her, tugging her closer.
“You’re about to show off, aren’t you?”
“I’m considering it. Do I need to?”
“You definitely need to.”
“Since you asked so nicely…”
Even though she expected it, Zoey still squeaked when he scooped her up. But unlike a far sexier picking up situation, where her legs would be wrapped around his waist and Graham would be gazing down at her with lust in his eyes, she somehow ended up sitting on his shoulders facing the water, with his head between her thighs and her hands gripping his hair for balance.
“Don’t worry. I won’t drop you,” Graham promised as he ambled down the beach. “Not unless I have a really good reason to.”
His hair was soft, and since his head was right there, she ran her fingers through it. “Graham? What exactly are we doing out here? Other than defying gravity and giving you a neck ache?”
“I wanted to show you something.”
“What did you want to show me?” Zoey asked the top of his head. They skirted another boulder and then stopped.
“This.”
Beyond them, the rough, dark gray waters of the Turnagain Arm rose and crashed, widening from the narrow passageway to a broad, violent sea, ringed in jutting mountains. The low hanging sun cast yellow and orange hues across the far-off mountaintops, the highest snowy peaks reflecting that midnight sun. And somehow in that moment, on the shoulders of a man she was only starting to know, this wild, strange place was the most beautiful thing Zoey had ever witnessed.
“There’s this moment,” Graham said quietly. “A moment everyone who decides to live in Alaska has, where they know without a shadow of a doubt that this is where they belong. I’d been here a hundred times, but the first time I truly saw this place was after I came back from college. I knew nothing out there could be better than what I had here. No matter what else you do or don’t get to experience, Zoey, I wanted you to come here, to my moment.”
And maybe it was his moment, but as the clouds parted again, the narwhal pod surfaced, so close Zoey could see the reflection of their horns. She’d never seen anything so incredible, so otherworldly in her life.
Utterly mesmerized, she couldn’t breathe.
“Do I get points for summoning a herd of sea unicorns for you?” he murmured.
“Graham.” She couldn’t put to words what she was feeling, but never had anything been so right.
She didn’t know why—when there was something this amazing in front of him—Graham chose to lean his head back and gaze at her. “Looks like it’s your moment too, darlin’.”
“Thank you.” Zoey was almost moved to tears. “Graham, tonight was…everything.”
She’d never known anything could be this perfect, then Graham blew the rest of it out of the water when he whispered, “That’s how I felt the night I met you.”
Zoey would never regret missing the narwhals disappearing into the water. Trusting Graham wouldn’t let her fall, Zoey bent over and kissed him instead.
Chapter 11
Every Sunday night in Moose Springs was karaoke night at the Tourist Trap.
No one had bothered to ask Graham if that was okay with him. If they had, Graham would’ve said emphatically no, it was not okay with him. He couldn’t imagine a worse situation than one in which the customers of his diner found an excuse to stay around even longer, driving him to stand behind his grill until nearly midnight, listening to the off-key musical stylings of those who should know better.
Some days, Graham truly hated his life.
By the time Lana’s “crew” came through the door, Zoey a quiet presence at their heels, the party was in full swing. From across the ridiculously packed diner, she raised an eyebrow at him as the group approached. He recognized Killian—grr—and Enzo and Haleigh, but the others were just more nameless, faceless strangers. Zoey seemed lost among them, dressed in her worn jeans and faded Wonder Woman T-shirt. She hung back, letting the rest of them order their mass of Growly Bears and food. Only when they moved off to find an empty table did she approach.
“This was not my idea,” he assured her in greeting, indicating the cleared area that made up the makeshift stage.
Graham winced at a particularly bad blond woman attempting a Righteous Brothers’ cover. The two backup singers with her weren’t going to be enough to save her, not when her voice entered the vicinity of a warbling screech.
“Definitely not my idea.”
“Why did you give them a karaoke machine?” Zoey asked, accepting the glass of water he gave her with a nod of appreciation. “It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a drunken mass who see a karaoke machine must use that karaoke machine.”