The sun was setting faster than Wade’s feet could carry him from the tiny landing strip to the lodge across the street. Salty wind tore in off the rural harbor. He hitched his backpack more securely over his shoulders, Sunny keeping pace beside him. But then she always did.
The woman was unstoppable. He admired the hell out of her, would give just about anything for a shot at a real relationship with her. But he didn’t have a clue how that was going to happen while she protected a deserter brother.
There were a lot of things in life he could overlook or learn to live with. That was not one of them. He’d been too ingrained in military culture with his parents for too long to look the other way when it came to her brother.
So now he knew what Sunny had known all along. Their time together was limited, very limited.
In the morning, they would launch the final leg of their journey to her village. They’d reserved two snowmobile rentals to be picked up at sunrise tomorrow. For tonight, they were staying at the lodge perched on the shore. He waited for a moose to clear the road before continuing toward the one-story building of weather-worn wood.
Twice he’d flown rescue missions out here, once for stranded fishermen, and another time to save capsized kayakers. The water was so f**king cold he could have sworn his chestnuts retreated behind his lungs for warmth for at least a week.
He believed in the mission with every cell in his body, just as both his parents had been willing to give all for country. He squeezed his eyes closed against the headache throbbing at the thought of his mother, once every bit as take-charge as Sunny, whose battles now included struggling for words and learning to feed herself.
Beside him, Sunny gasped. He looked at her quickly, tracking her gaze to a couple of hunters walking across the street, their wolf-hybrid dog loping in step.
Sunny swiped her wrist under her eyes, and he followed her train of thought in a flash.
His hand fell to the back of her neck. “We can call McCabe and check on Chewie after we eat. So far I still have bars on my cell phone.”
She smiled up at him as she stepped into the lodge lobby. “Thanks. I would really appreciate that.”
“Before you go all mushy on me”—he closed the door behind her, sealing the wind away from the warmth of the wood-burning stove—“I’m also calling in to see how the investigation is going.”
He ushered her through the lobby, which doubled as a dining area, tables packed with fisherman tugging off black stocking hats. Walls were crammed with mounted local catches. A stuffed brown bear loomed on its hind legs in a corner.
Five minutes later, he signed the check-in book. Wade collected the key. Neither of them had questioned staying together. The place only had a half dozen rooms, but after this morning’s close call he wasn’t letting her out of his sight.
Waiting beside him, she hooked her thumbs on her backpack straps. “A lot can change in a couple of hours.” She chewed her bottom lip with uncharacteristic nervousness. “After you make your call, there are things I should tell you.”
Yeah, he knew that too well.
This was it. When he had the conversation he knew needed to happen, things between them would change. Call him selfish, but he wanted this chance to be with her.
Once they crossed that line, saying certain things out loud, things would change irrevocably between them. “Sure, but first, I have something to say to you.”
She stepped into the room, easing her backpack onto a split-log bench. “What?”
He carefully placed his own pack beside hers before pivoting back to face her.
“This.” He closed the thick oak door and pressed her to the panel in one smooth move.
Hands bracketing her face, he kissed her. Hard and fast and with all the frustrated energy pent up from a day full of insane twists. They should have been lounging in bed for a lazy week off. He would have used the time wisely to learn every inch of her creamy flesh, to discover the precise location of every erogenous zone.
Instead she’d spent half her day identifying grisly crime scene photos and he was stuck finding out her secrets from OSI investigators. Whatever happened to exchanging phone numbers and astrological signs over drinks?
The day rolled over him. The insanity outside his apartment that morning. How close a crazed killer had been lurking, targeting Sunny. How close Sunny had come to walking away from him.
Tomorrow loomed with a big dark shadow of the unknown. But right here, right now, he had Sunny in his arms.
Her tongue searched his mouth every bit as boldly and thoroughly as he delved into hers. She tunneled her hand between them and unzipped his parka and shoved it from his shoulders and to the floor. A damn good idea. He set to work on her jacket until finally they could press chest to chest. The fullness of her br**sts flattened against him, her curves familiar, enticing, and still entirely too covered up.
Wind howled beyond the curtains, bedside lamps flickering in response, bringing a momentary blink of reason.
He resisted the urge to tear every inch of clothes from her body. “We should slow down.”
“Why?” she gasped, fumbling down the buttons on his uniform.
He covered her hands with his. “Because I don’t want to be an insensitive jackass by taking you against this door.”