Page 14 of The Northern Lights in His Eyes

Something caught Garvin’s eye up the slope, and he tried to see it more clearly, but the light was fading as clouds rolled in. He gave up when a whoop-whoop sound indicated the rescue helicopter was approaching.

“We’ll guide in the chopper,” the other team said through the radio. “Need to move fast. Another front is expected.”

Everyone worked quickly. EMTs from the chopper arrived on snowshoes, bringing baskets to get everyone out and transported by snowmobile to the chopper. Once the injured were on board, Garvin gathered everything and climbed out and onto the snowmobile, moving it away from the depression and pointing it toward home.

“You did amazing,” he told William.

Enrique pulled up next to them. “Head back to the trading post. Angie will have hot sandwiches, soup, and plenty of coffee waiting.” He took off, and Garvin made sure William was all set before they began the ride back, with Garvin closely watching the fuel. They had burned more than they should have, and the needle hovered at empty as they broke out of the trees just across the field from the trading post. He swore they glided the last bit of the way before he turned off the engine outside the main door, parking next to the group of others.

Garvin sighed and climbed off the snowmobile, his legs aching as he took the first steps toward the door. The sun from earlier was gone. Clouds had rolled in and hung low over the lake. As William joined him, the first flakes began to fall. At least with some cloud cover, it wouldn’t get as cold. The worst were the clear nights, when it could get far below zero. “Let’s get inside, get warm, and then we can put gas in the tank and go home.”

“I take it you’re tired,” William said, apparently still filled with energy. Sometimes Garvin wondered where all of it came from.

“Let’s go inside.” He pulled off his helmet and took William’s, and then they headed inside. As soon as they stepped through the small vestibule and into the main room of the post, applause broke out. Devon and the other guys began patting William on the back.

“That was good hunting,” Enrique told him. “I never would have found them, but you heard something, and there they were.” It turned out that the injured men had heard the snowmobiles and called out, but they couldn’t be heard over the engines.

“I always had really good hearing.” William took off his hat and outer layer and hung them on a hook. Garvin did the same, and then they sat at a table while Angie brought soup, coffee, and big subs that they practically inhaled.

“I just heard that all three of the folks we rescued are going to be okay. Their bones have been set, and they were treated for exposure, but they should all recover.” Devon patted William’s shoulder before moving on to make sure everyone had what they needed.

Garvin sat back in his chair, watching William soak up the attention, his cheeks flushing every time he received a compliment. “It was Enrique and Garvin who did the heavy work,” he said. “They actually knew what to do to help them.” He ate the rest of his soup, and for the first time, Garvin saw William in a different light.

He had always thought of William as attention-seeking. The guy made a career of walking runways and spending time in front of the camera doing commercials. He practically screamed “look at me.” But maybe that was just an impression Garvin had. William could have hammed it up and made the most of his notoriety, but instead he seemed uncomfortable and kept throwing the light onto others.

“I’m really tired now that I’ve eaten.” The day seemed to have passed in a flash. “We should get back to make sure Sasha is okay. I put some food in his dish before we left and made sure he had water, but I bet he needs to go out and should be fed again.”

“Okay.”

Garvin finished the last of his coffee and then thanked Enrique for the food and headed for the door to put on his gear. William did the same, receiving pats on the back and big smiles from everyone. Garvin huffed to himself as he yanked on his snow pants. He needed to stop himself from falling into old patterns, but it was hard. They had all worked together to help the avalanche victims. He pulled on his coat and hat, making sure everything was in place. Then, without waiting for William, he stomped out into the snow.

He checked the tank on the snowmobile, surprised and pleased to find it full. After climbing on, he started the engine and backed the machine away from the others. William came out and got on behind him. As soon as his arms slid around his waist, Garvin started the machine forward, heading south along the shoulder of the highway then turning down the lake road. He said nothing, stewing in his own juices, and the shitty thing was, he didn’t know why.

So what if William had actually found the people? They needed help, and William’s keen hearing had been instrumental in locating them. That was something Garvin should be happy about, not all roiled up inside over. He turned on the headlights and continued driving until he pulled the snow machine to a stop next to the cabin. Once they were off and the box emptied, William went inside, and Garvin covered the snowmobile and grabbed a load of wood to carry into the cabin.

William already had his outer gear off and was feeding Sasha, who sat next to William, looking up at him like he was the center of the world. Garvin got his gear off and then lit the fire, adding small pieces of wood to get it going and burning well. Then he added some logs and closed the stove door.

William took off the rest of his gear and hung it all up before grabbing two beers and flopping down on the sofa. Sasha curled up next to him, his head on William’s lap. It seemed like William was everyone’s man of the hour.

“What’s up with you?” William asked. “You’re never this quiet.” He took a swig of beer and handed Garvin the second bottle. “We did good. You should be happy.”

The shitty thing was that Garvin knew he should be pleased. They had found the folks who were missing, and in the end everything had turned out okay. That wasn’t always the case in a situation like that. Often, search and rescue operations in severe cold weather found nothing… or weren’t in time. But he was all twisted up. “I’m fine.” He opened the beer and took a good swig.

“Bullshit,” William countered. “You are not. I’ve known you long enough to know when you have your panties in a wad, and right now they’re so tight, they’re cutting off circulation to your balls.” His glare grew colder than the air outside.

“I don’t fucking get it, okay?”

“What’s there to get? We did good—we found them.”

Garvin scoffed. “You found them,” he muttered.

William shrugged. “I heard them. Big deal. You and Enrique developed the pattern we followed to cover the entire search area. That brought us close enough that I could hear them. So big deal. Is that what has you all tied up? That the greenhorn who doesn’t know anything up here actually located them?” He stared blankly at Garvin. “I never pictured you as an ass before. You can be a jerk sometimes and a definite PITA, but a real ass… nope.”

“I am not,” Garvin growled.

“Then get over yourself. We worked together and found them. That’s good and what we were out there for. So what if everyone thinks I did something special? I actually contributed to the team instead of just warming the snowmobile seat with my ass.” William set his bottle on the scarred coffee table. “Everyone was happy because the mission was a success.” His gaze softened as he turned to Garvin. “Besides, the only person I wanted a pat on the back from… was you. Okay?”

Garvin swallowed hard as heat built inside him. William stayed still, his eyes filling with warmth. Was this going to happen? Garvin wasn’t sure it should, but the pull toward William was becoming too great. The past couple of nights, it had taken all his willpower not to pull William to him, slip his hand under those sleep pants, take his cock in hand…. Garvin wanted that lean, luscious body, and he wanted it bad. He didn’t know what to say. The current between them was too strong to ignore. He shifted closer, and Sasha lifted his head and looked at each of them before jumping down to lie in front of the fire.

---