Page 6 of Forever Theirs

“Leavehim?” Fuck, was I crushing on some heartbroken woman who came here to heal?

She cringed and shot me a reluctant look. “Yeah, sorry for that slip. You don’t want to hear about the life and drama I’m here to escape.”

Normally, I’d agree with her, but I uncharacteristically wanted—no,needed—to know more about this beautifully sad woman sitting beside me. I inhaled deeply, forcing more of her sweet scent into my lungs, and held the full breath, hoping to imprint it deep inside me. Her casually gorgeous style, yummy scent, and the calming tones of her voice were drawing me deeper into her orbit, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Not that I wanted to. Because for the first time in way too fucking long, I felt something other than the heavy weight of my guilt pressing on my chest or my mind spinning with anxious thoughts about past mistakes I couldn’t change.

“Sure, I do.” When she shot me an incredulous glance from the passenger seat, I couldn’t help but chuckle. “We’ve got about fifteen minutes until we get to the resort for you to tell me all about it.”And don’t leave off in the middle of the story if you’re still with “him.” Or are still in love with him.

Fuck, don’t let her still be in love with him.

I gave my head a hard shake to dislodge that thought. What the actual fuck was all this about? Who cared if she was still in love with him? It wasn’t like I’d have a shot with her. She wasn’t from our community and didn’t understand the unique relationships we preferred.

Unless she was into sharing too.

I swallowed a groan that vibrated in my chest just thinking about this woman between me and Miles.

“Well, let’s see here,” she said.

I cleared my throat in hopes of dislodging those erotic thoughts so I could focus on her.

“When I left home to pursue my passion in nature photography, my mother said it was a waste of time, telling me I would fail and probably end up alone with a hundred cats. My dad wasn’t really supportive of my ‘illogical career decision’ either, but his opinion didn’t have anything to do with my wanting to pursue photography. He was more pissed that he was losing a ranch hand.”

I arched a brow at that, which made her smile.

“Surprised? I grew up helping my dad, doing whatever needed to be done. We mostly raised cattle, plus a few goats that my mom made Dad buy—oh, and the chickens, of course.”

“Of course,” I said with a smile.

“After submitting my pictures to different media outlets, I landed an internship at this magazine in Seattle. After a couple of years of proving myself, they decided to pair me up with James Peoples. If you don’t know his name, he?—”

My scoff cut her off. “I know who James Peoples is. He used to be this badass extreme sports and exploring guy until he?—”

“Became a household name and decided he liked the celebrity life as a fake explorer for a TV show instead of being hungry, dirty, and exhausted somewhere out in the middle of nowhere for a magazine article?” I nodded and pressed my lips together to keep from interrupting. “Yeah, I saw that awful transition happen right in front of me. James Peoples… that’s thehimof my depressing story.”

“Oh.”

Not the most intelligent response, but it was all my brain could come up with after that bomb. Because damn, James Peoples wastheadventure guy for years, and I guess still was, just more mainstream with his TV show. Some of his tips and tricks to survive in various climates were some I still used today when out on rescue missions. I had heard his new fame caused him to water down his survival suggestions, and now everything out of his mouth was about his sponsors or himself.

“So, after three years of following him around, and me just now realizing he led me on and used me for my talent, yesterday, I went into a meeting with James and our editor to talk about doing an article on Anchor Bay only to find him—” She groaned into her palms. “—in a compromising position with our editor.”

“What a fucknugget,” I snapped. “Who does that?”

“James fucking Peoples?”

I shot her a half smile. “Assholes, that’s who. Please tell me he’s now missing one, if not both, of his tiny balls.”

“How did you know they were tiny?” she responded with an almost smile.

“The bigger the ego, the smaller the balls. It’s science.”

“Hmm, science might be different up here in Alaska.”

“It is. It’s much, much better.”

Now her smile grew genuine, so wide the corners of her eyes crinkled. I reluctantly pulled my gaze away from Aspen and back to the road to keep from running into a five-foot-tall snow wall left behind by the plows this past winter.

“It does seem that way already,” she mused while staring at the gorgeous views out the window. “Better, that is. There’s always been something about the outdoors, the peace that settles deep inside you, that has spoken to me. But this place, after doing some research on the resort and town, there was this insistent pull. Almost like it was calling me home.” She shot me a wince. “That sounds strange, doesn’t it?”

---