Page 9 of Bearing North
There was a sense of humor behind Alexandra’s armor.
Sometimes they drove for miles without seeing a real building. Occasional turnoffs looked like driveways rather than legitimate roads, and they only saw cars coming in the other direction a few times an hour. At one point, they were slowed by a poky RV, but Alexandra passed them on a clear stretch of road. Once in a while, there were actual side roads with stop signs. It was hard to believe they were on a major highway.
Orson tried to pry more information from Alexandra about herself, but she only glanced at him, smiled, tittered obnoxiously, and changed the subject to talk about Alaska.
He let her jabber whenever she would, loving the sound of her voice, especially when she forgot to be air-headed and got invested in her topic. She admitted that she was passionate about fishing, which set Orson’s bear aquiver in excitement.
Yes, he growled happily.She is meant to be ours.
They stopped so many times that they got into Tok quite late.
“We should get dinner before we find our rooms,” Alexandra suggested. “Sandra booked us some cabins just down the road. Fast Eddy’s has the best pizza in the state but they close at nine.”
“Pizza sounds great.” It did, too; Orson didn’t have to exaggerate. It sounded comforting and familiar, and it had been a whole lot of day that wasn’t either of those things. He was looking forward to catching up on the sleep that had eluded him the night after meeting his mate and he was still struggling with jet lag. “What time is it? I’mstarving.”
The sun was still high in the sky, which was confusing, because Orson’s phone said it was already eight PM. They had stopped at every pipeline viewing area on the way, though they started to look the same after a while.
“You get used to the daylight,” Alexandra said pityingly. “It gets dark again in August.”
Orson stared up at the blue sky. “I was hoping to see the northern lights,” he admitted.
“They’re up there, but it won’t be dark enough to see them for a few months.”
Somehow, that was a very comfortable feeling.
Fast Eddy’s was a long, low building off the highway, and Alexandra pulled the truck up in front of it. It sounded like a dive bar and looked like it was barely a step up from that.
A harried waitress led them to a booth and handed them plastic menus. Alexandra didn’t even look at it. “Growling Grizzly,” she said.
Orson was alarmed at first, wondering if she was calling him out. Then he realized it was the name of a pizza, just as she gave a simpering smile. “Tee hee hee, I mean, if you want to split one, we can!”
Orson liked her better giving orders than backpedaling. Why was she being so weird? He’d gotten glimpses all day of the woman she must be behind that fake laugh, the kind of woman who could successfully run a security company and win awards.
“Sounds great,” he agreed, closing his menu. “I’ll take a beer.”
“Water,” Alexandra said, looking at him suspiciously.
Should he have ordered a whiskey? Or a water?
It was utterly exhausting trying to pretend to be someone he wasn’t. He was so tired of wondering if he was doing everything right.
And this was hismate, sitting across from him. He wanted to know what she was thinking, what it would taste like to kiss her, what herreallaugh sounded like.
“Tee hee hee.”
That wasn’t either realora laugh.
“Alexandra…”
She winced. Was he pronouncingthatwrong, too?
“I had some questions about the company employees,” he said.
Her mouth curved up in a cute little smile. “Tee hee hee. I’m happy to answer any questions.”
“Why did you hire felons?”
Her fake little smile froze in place, but her gaze didn’t waver. Had she not expected him to find that? He might be clueless about Alaska, but he’d taken the time to review the basics of the business before he came north.
