A small smile, finally. “Not as nice as you. You like pretty dresses.”
That surprised a laugh out of her. “I do. I like pretty things.”
“Like me,” he said drily.
“Oh, sure. You’re my pretty treat for the night.” Stop, she told herself as she watched his nostrils flare a little. Stop flirting. Just tell him the truth and leave.
But her mouth refused to obey. Instead of speaking up, it quirked a secret little smile at the way his gaze had intensified. Sophie reached for her wine. “How long are you in town, Alex?”
“Through the weekend,” he answered. “Not long.”
“The dedication ceremony?”
He looked surprised for a moment, then he seemed to remember how small Jackson was and nodded. “Yeah. I’ll ride on as soon as the damn thing is over.”
Now it was her turn to be surprised, but she wasn’t going to press him on this issue, that was certain. It wasn’t a topic she wanted to intrude on. “Where do you live?”
One of his big shoulders rose in a shrug. “Here and there. I’m on my way to Alaska next month.”
“Alaska?” she gasped. “In October? Isn’t it already freezing there by then?”
“Not quite, but the work doesn’t stop during the winter.”
“What sort of work?” Her pulse quickened at the thought of Alaska. She wanted to see it, so badly.
“I’m a groundwater engineer. I work as a contractor for oil companies. Making sure they’re not fucking things up.”
“Is that the official engineering term?”
Now his mouth relaxed into a real smile, and she was shocked at how sweet he looked. “Pretty much. It’s a rough-and-tumble engineering field. Not a lot of scientists stationed in the places I go.”
“Is it always Alaska?”
“Not always. I travel a lot.”
Sophie’s thoughts were swirling almost too fast to catch one. She had a thousand questions about Alaska and a thousand more about where else he went and the things he’d seen. She took a drink of wine and grabbed hold of one question. “Tell me what it’s like. Alaska. Is it...is it amazing?”
“It’s pretty amazing. What do you want to know?”
“Everything,” she breathed before she realized how odd and greedy it sounded. “I mean... Where do you go? Are there polar bears? Is it dangerous? Is it cold?”
He chuckled. “You look like a little girl right now, wide-eyed and sparkling.”
A blush hit her hard and fast, and she reached for her wine again, trying to think of a way to backtrack.
“It’s cold, at least where I go. And barren, if you can use that word for something usually covered in snow and ice. I’ve been to the fields in the summer, and it’s different then. Like a savanna, I guess. Mile after mile of grass and sun and flies. You see caribou everywhere then. Foxes. Even some wolves. It’s beautiful and quiet.”
“Wow,” she breathed, her skin tingling at the idea. Or maybe it was the wine.
“You want another?” he asked, gesturing toward the glass she realized she’d drained.
“Yes,” she answered quickly. He’d barely touched his beer, but she didn’t care. Her buzz was pushed on by her excited pulse, and she felt deliciously alive.
Alex rose to get her another glass, and she realized her mistake then and almost grabbed his wrist to make him sit and keep talking. Thankfully, he was back within moments.
“And in the winter?” she pressed before he’d even sat down.
“In the winter, it’s cold and dark. It’s eerie, knowing you’re so far from anyone or anything. And it’s not so quiet. The wind blows day and night when it kicks up. When you’re inside, it sounds like you’re on a ship, and not a steady one.”