She shot him a sideways look and a jolt of desire sizzled through him. “Always happy to oblige.” He gestured to the stairs. “Ready for the last haul?”
She wiped sweat off her forehead before heading down the treads ahead of him. “I can’t believe it’s this hot already. It’s not even really summer yet. If I can find a nice calm pool, I’m going for a wade.”
A few minutes more saw them safely to the river’s edge. There was no such thing as a picnic area in this park. They tossed their packs on a flat rock, and began to explore. One of the original winches used for the stern wheelers was still in place—rusty and corroded, but a testament to the will and endeavour of those who chose to settle in Northern British Columbia. He chuckled as June gave it an encouraging pat.
The main channel of the river swept by at a furious rate. But here and there small backwashes swirled, trapped among the rocks. Squatting down next to one, she unlaced her boots and drew off her socks, wiggling her toes.
“Are you going to join me?” She swished a hand in the gently moving water and gasped. “Oh, my, that’s freezing!”
“Think I’m scared of a little cold?” he laughed, sitting next to her.
They plunged their bare feet in. He had to suppress a girlish shriek as ice instantly seeped into his bones.
June had no such concern, and squealed loudly. “Good grief! It’s worse than I thought!”
He grinned and dipped in his hands, scooping water up his forearms, washing away the sweat of the hike. “Refreshing, isn’t it?”
“Sure,” she agreed dryly, “although I was thinking more along the lines of bone-numbing.”
“You’re cranky because you’re too hot. Here, let me cool you off.” And without other warning, he doused her with a double handful.
She whooped in shock, frantically plucking the saturated fabric off her body. Alex couldn’t ignore the way the material clung to the slight curve of her breasts, but kept his gaze on her face, waiting expectantly. She stood up, cloudy brown water swirling around her knees, and took a couple of steps deeper into the pool.
“Oh, that’s how you want to play, is it?” she said, dangerously sweet—then paddled swiftly with both hands, sending a solid shower toward him.
He sprang up, face turned from her attack, and dove forward, catching her around the waist and driving her backward. She struggled, flailing strong, lithe arms and legs as he kept a firm grip on her hips. He reversed their positions so she was sitting on his lap, facing him, her knees snugly straddling his thighs. She was soaked and shivering but giggling.
She seized his ears and waggled his head. “You’d better let me up so I can dry off, before I turn into an icicle.”
Water darkened her hair to golden wheat and ran in rivulets down her cheeks. It had started in play, but now a craving filled Alex. He knew he should stop torturing himself with her nearness, choke off the urge to touch her, touch her everywhere. Especially if he couldn’t give her what she’d asked for, what she deserved. But he was unable to resist.
He reached up and took hold of her hands, drawing them down, clasping them between their bodies. Her face was so near he could see a rim of darker blue surrounding the brilliance of her irises.
He closed the distance until his lips brushed hers. He sucked her bottom lip into his mouth, tasted the faint earthiness of the river and a hint of salt. The suppleness of her buttocks resting on his thighs, her softness pressing against his chest, thrilled him. It was an odd yet glorious sensation, the chilliness of the water and the heat of her body, the warm sun on his shoulders and her cool lips on his. He wrapped his hands in her ponytail and tugged her head back, then traced open mouth kisses down her neck to her collarbone. A deep shudder shook her.
His thoughts clouded over, as silty with sensation as the water swirling around them was silted with sand. She strained her centre against his hardness and bent her head to sketch the whorls of his ear with her tongue. His hands slid down her back to her ass, lifting her, cradling her against him.
He couldn’t get enough of how her body demanded, her lips moved, her tongue darted. She purred deep in her throat as he discovered new delights along the length of her neck, behind her ear. She anchored herself in his lap and the little blood remaining in his brain drained out.
With his last coherent thought, he pushed her away, lifting her onto the rock at the edge of the pool, dragging his hands off her body. If he touched her one second longer he would have to have her, and nothing would stop him. His arousal was almost painful. His breath heaved, and it took all his resolve to keep his hands clenched at his side when they burned to touch her.
Her blue eyes were dreamy, heavy with passion.
“We have to stop.” He bit out the words. “I won’t be responsible for what happens next if we don’t stop right now.”
The intensity drained from her face, leaving it wan and still. “How very noble of you, to sacrifice your needs for mine,” she said coldly. “I didn’t ask you to kiss me, but if I hadn’t wanted you to, it wouldn’t have happened. I want you,” she continued bitterly. “It still doesn’t mean I’m ready to sleep with you.”
“What do you want from me?” Frustrated hunger blazed into flame again, but he kept it firmly under control. “What kind of promises? Are you worried I’ll be having sex with someone else if we’re sleeping together? What kind of guy do you think I am?”
He surged out of the pool and stomped a few feet away. Water coursed off the heavy fabric of his shorts and down his calves. He pulled off his shirt and wrung it out.
“I think you’re a very good man,” she said simply. He gathered himself before turning toward her. Hurt was evident in the hunch of her shoulders, the set of her mouth. “And I think you’re mad because you know I’m right.” She got to her feet and stepped out of the pool, but did not approach him. “I don’t want to mess this up. I want to be sure. I want you to be sure.”
Alex thought of his father’s recent announcement, and realized he was ashamed to mention it to June. “Tell me the truth. Tell me straight. Do you believe in marriage? In vows of ‘’til death do us part’?”
She answered without hesitation. “Yes, I do. I believe there’s nothing better than spending your life with someone you love. But I’m not stupid. I know it’s not all rainbows and roses. It’s hard work. And sometimes, even hard work isn’t enough.”
He wondered if she was thinking of his parents. She might be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, but he’d been there, he’d seen it. He wasn’t willing to give them even that much.
“I want kids, too.” She studied the river rushing past. “And I don’t want to put them through the pain of divorce. So I’m going to be very, very careful about who I let into my life. And while I know sex with you would probably be mind-blowing...” she teased a reluctant smile out of him “...having sex will change our relationship. And I want to make sure it changes for the better, not the worse.”
He remembered his panic when she’d called for help. Was it really less than two days ago? He could give her that much, at least. “I care about you. It’s not only desire, not only sex. It’s...” he rolled his shoulders, frustrated at his inability to find the right words. “I don’t know what it is. I need to know you’re safe, you’re happy.”
The tension in her arms, her neck, abated. He sighed. “Come on, let’s have lunch.”
Awkwardness still stuttered as they walked back to where they had dropped their packs. June pulled out a towel and shared it with him.
“Ready to eat?” he asked.
“What did you bring?”
“Let’s see.” He reached into his pack and pulled out a squashy thermal cooler from which he removed two take out containers, a couple sets of chopsticks, a small bottle of soy sauce, and a bottle of white wine.
June’s eyebrows rose. “Sushi? You brought sushi?”
“California rolls, ebi ten, veggie rolls. You like it, right? I’m sure you mentioned it before, when we had dinner together.”
“I love it. I can’t believe you thought to bring it on a hike.”
He handed over a container. “I got it fresh this morning, and it’s been in the cooler ever since. Dig in.”
Her uneasiness faded, helped along by the hot sun, crisp wine and excellent sushi.
She delicately plucked a slice of pickled ginger with her chopsticks. “Um, I’ve got a question for you,” she said.
“Fire away.”
“Maybe this isn’t the best time to ask.” He gave her a level look. She huffed out a breath and went on. “Fine. When I was at Mom and Dad’s, before all the excitement, they invited you to a family dinner on Friday. Feel free to say no if it’s too weird, too...whatever.” What had recently passed between them fizzed in the air.
He gestured with the wine bottle and she nodded. He topped up her glass. “Who all will be there?”
“Mom and Dad, my younger brother, Zachary. My other brother Sean and his wife and my nephew. I don’t think there will be aunts, uncles or cousins, but you never know. There shouldn’t be too many of us, though.”
Alex snorted at what June considered a small family gathering. “Would this be a kind of test?”
She laughed, a trifle uncertainly. “Probably more for me than you. Remember, you can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family. Once you meet them you might run screaming in the opposite direction, never to think of me again.”
He chuckled, pleased at this small show of nerves. Sun glinted off the wine in his glass, turning the pale liquid amber. “Why not? All right, I’ll come.”
They packed up their debris, then stretched out on the rocks to let the sun finish its job of drying their clothes.
“I think we should stay here forever.” He relaxed on his back with his head cushioned on his crossed arms.
“What time is it?” she murmured sleepily, face turned to the sun, leaning on her elbows.
“We don’t have to hurry. Come here.” He patted his chest. She slid next to him, her head on his shoulder, and rested her arm on his stomach. This, too, was a kind of test. He lay for a long while with June nestled next to him, listening to the peace of the rushing water, the occasional call of a raven, the buzz of a clumsy bumblebee, the rise and fall of her breathing. The sun burned patterns on the inside of his eyelids. His fingers played with the strands of her hair. She was so still, so quiet, she might have fallen asleep.
With great reluctance he nudged her. “I suppose we should get going.”
She groaned, then raised her head. They lazily set about collecting their gear for the return trip.
Chapter Ten
“I know it’s your day off,” June said as they reached the top of the stairs and headed back along the trail, “so maybe you don’t want to talk about work. But I was wondering how the meeting went, the one Iain organized.”
Alex paused to let her catch up, then took her hand.
“We spent a fair bit of time mapping out the kill sites, and discovered there certainly seems to have been an increase in the McGregor area. Odds are the more there are, the more we’ll find, even if we aren’t aware of them all. For right now, we’re kind of on hold until new evidence shows up...which, unfortunately, means we have to wait for a new kill.”
As usual, the return trip seemed a lot shorter than heading out, and in no time at all, they were back at the car park. Just as Alex was making a right hand turn onto the road, his cell phone rang.
“Crap.” He dug the phone out of his pocket as he manoeuvred to the narrow shoulder. “It’s the office. I’d better take it.”
“No problem,” June said.
He set the parking brake. “Alex here.” His body tightened with stressful awareness, eyes focused inward, all attention on what he was hearing. His side of the conversation was brief and abrupt, flat toned questions.
“Where?”
“Who found him?”
“How long?”
“When will the flight get in?”
“I’ll meet them at the hangar.”
He lowered the phone, rested his hands on his thighs and continued to stare straight ahead unseeingly.
“Alex?” She reached out her hand, but drew it back before she touched him. “What’s happened?”
“Iain Provost found another kill site this morning.”
“That’s good, isn’t it, in a bad way?”
“When the radio room didn’t hear from him after his initial report, they tried to contact him, but couldn’t. About three hours ago they sent out the ’copter. They found the kill site, and Iain.”
“Alex.” Alarm crept through her veins. “Tell me. What happened?”
“They found Iain, next to the grizzly. He’d been shot.” Alex turned blind eyes toward her. “He’s dead.”
****
June stayed with Alex for the rest of that dreadful day. By the end of it she was emotionally exhausted and feeling physically frail.
After his shocking announcement, they sat in silence, too stunned to know what to do next. Alex’s hand trembled in her grasp.
“I need to be there when they bring him in.” His eyes, fogged with grief and tinged with horror, fluttered from June’s face to the dashboard, to the phone he still clutched in his hand, unable to settle. “I need to go to the airport. They’re bringing Iain in by helicopter. His,” he swallowed, then went on, “body will be taken to the morgue. There’ll have to be an autopsy.”
She was not letting him drive in his state. No freaking way. “Let’s switch places. I’ll drive you there.”
“I’m okay.” He gave a horrible facsimile of a smile which in no way touched his eyes.
“No, you’re not,” she said bluntly. “Get out. I’m driving, or you’re not going anywhere.”
He fumbled with the clip of his seat belt and walked around the front of the Jeep as if he wasn’t quite sure where to place his feet. She gripped his arm momentarily as they passed, desperate to offer what small comfort she was able. He brushed by her blindly.