Page 29 of Wilderness Daddy

When the doors open, she bolts out, leaving me to weave through a sea of people attempting to enter the elevator.

“Akari!” She doesn’t turn back. “Our reservation?”

“I’d rather eat with a raccoon out of a trash can!” With that she slips off her high-heeled shoes, scoops them up and runs.

And God damn it, I’m more intrigued by her than ever.

* * *

My camo hunting coatis loaded with my limited gear. The pot will hang off the loop of my belt as will the hatchet so I set them on top of the coat in the back of my truck. I’m ready. I’ve secured extra care for my mother. Full-time, twenty-four-hour care with experienced nurses from a top-notch, reputable agency is expensive but I’m confident I can rebuild my savings once I fix everything. And with Grant promising to step up as well as keeping on top of Mom’s caregivers and keep me informed, I’m hoping to keep my worry to a reasonable level. Oh, I’ll still worry, but less so knowing she’s well cared for. When I told her I was going away I was purposefully vague. My mother smells bullshit a mile away, but she’s also my biggest cheerleader and although I expected her to question me more, she didn’t. She did have a knowing gleam in her eye that unnerved me though.

“You sure this is a good idea, bro?” My brother sits on the tailgate of my truck and watches me taking a pull from his beer.

“No,” I say with a laugh and grab a beer for myself. It hisses as I crack the top. “But if all else fails and I have to marry Akari, I can always try hand feeding the bears.” I smirk and my brother shakes his head.

“She might surprise you between the sheets, dude.” His brows shoot up and down. “Might want to hold off on feeding the bears until you’ve given her a go.”

I shake my head. “It’s always about sex with you. Try thinking with your other head.”

He shrugs and I watch him critically for a moment.

“I saw Joanie at Martin’s. She looks good.” His eyes shoot to mine with a flare of interest before he cools his expression.

“Yeah?” He picks at the tab of his beer.

“She asked about you,” I say, watching for his reaction. He hides it by tipping his beer to his lips.

“So what’s the plan again?”

I smirk, knowing he’s changing the subject. My brother may pretend to be a playboy, but I know he’s in love with this girl. I wish I knew why they broke up, because it’s pretty clear to me, she’s still in love with him as well.

“Every Monday we meet at Wilson’s overlook. You bring whatever outpost item I’ve requested from the prior week and some fresh micro SD cards. I’ll have my solar-powered battery case, my phone for any extra video, and my action cam. You’ll edit and post the videos when you get home.”

“And you think this is gonna get more people into the store?”

“I think it’ll get them onto our site. They come to watch the video, see the stuff I’m using and get excited by nature. If nothing else our online sales will rise.”

“I don’t know how you came up with it, but it’s brilliant, bro.”

I grin. “Being forced to marry a stranger is motivating.” I chuckle and he smirks. But suddenly Akari doesn’t feel like a stranger anymore. I know so much more about her now than I did before and I know her business mind almost as well as I know my own.

“Still think she’ll be a good lay. It’s the quiet ones, bro. Always the quiet ones.” He sucks air through his teeth. “Maybe you should give her a test drive before you leave. Or can I?” He dodges my not-so-playful punch, but the jealous lurch in my gut gives me pause.

I gather a breath and wait for my heart’s rhythm to regulate. “Dude, this girl only pretends to be quiet. That mouth of hers makes me crazy.” I finish my beer, thinking about Akari’s reaction as I walloped her ass and my cock stirs. Damn it.

“Crazy hot?” he questions with a quirk to his lips.

“No, crazy insane,” I reply flatly, but it’s a damn lie.

“How come they didn’t ask me to marry her?” He looks thoughtful, and knowing my brother, the thoughts in his head are of the sexual variety. My hackles rise. I don’t know why it bothers me, but the thought of Akari naked in my brother’s imagination makes me crazy insane.

“Because clearly I’m the brother without sexually transmitted infections,” I say sarcastically and he tosses an old Tim Horton’s coffee cup from the bed of my truck at me.

I snort, batting it away like a gnat as he jumps off my tailgate to start a play fight with me. We wrestle like when we were kids until we’re out of breath, then I toss him another beer and crack one open for myself. It’ll be a while before we can do this again.

We both settle on the tailgate in thoughtful silence drinking our beers.

“Hey.” A soft voice at the garage door has me spinning to look. It’s Akari. She’s standing there, makeup-less, wearing jeans and a white tee with a zip-up hoodie over it. Her hair is in a ponytail, smooth and shiny. I have never seen her look so casual and my gut pulls at the sight. I like natural-looking Akari. Now if only she shed the rest of her armor as easily.

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