Dawson Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire 5) (5 page)

Kate smiled politely at Dr. Vega and waved goodnight. He’d been in a beast of a mood tonight and yelled at her twice for no good reason, but she forgave him. His brother had been sick for a long time, and he was open with his worry for his family, but Dr. Vega tended to take out his frustrations on the clinic staff when he was at work.

He jerked his chin as a goodbye and lowered his attention back to the paperwork on the nurse station countertop. She didn’t wait around for an apology. That man didn’t give them. Really, no men gave apologies. They took what they wanted, drained the women around them, then moved on. Or died, apparently.

She shook her head hard to punish thoughts of Miller out of her mind. He had been terrifying in the end of their relationship, or whatever it was they were doing, but in the beginning, he’d pretended to be nice. It was those few days of the pretend caring that had gotten her all jumbled up with the news of his death. She felt guilty for being sad. There. There it was. He deserved to be in the ground, but she was still sad at the loss of a life she’d known once.

The snow was falling in thick sheets, and she high-kneed it through the deepest parts on the way to an awning that protected her four-wheeler from the Alaskan weather. There were a couple of other ATVs sitting under there with hers. She owned a truck, but it liked to fishtail in weather like this, so on the snowiest days, she used her little off-roader to make her way through town. It wasn’t like Galena was huge. The only reason they could afford a police station and medical center was because this was prime real estate right off the Yukon where boaters were frequent in the warm months. This was the place where all the tiny towns in the surrounding area could load up on supplies. There were a couple of bush pilots who lived here that kept this place stocked as long as the weather was flyable.

She loved it here. Or she had before Miller. Before the video that kept her in shame. Everyone in this town had probably seen it. Oh sure, she kept her head up, but the whispers of a small town were hard even on the toughest souls, and she was quite meek.

A black Chevy truck with fat tires and chains on the wheels came to a stop behind her, blocking her from backing out. In an instant, fear pummeled her heart. Was it Darren, back to finish what he’d started? But the truck was older, and not the right model.

When the window rolled down, she froze. Dalton’s eyes danced, but for a few moments, neither one of them said anything, only stared at each other until she offered him a shy smile. “I thought I would never see you again.”

“That was the plan.”

She wiped a thin layer of snow off the taillights of her ATV just for something to do other than swim in his too-handsome gaze. “What are you doing here?”

Dalton relaxed back into his seat, arm draped over the wheel as he dragged his attention out the front window. “I’m going to be shitty at this.”

“At what?”

His jaw clenched, but when he looked at her again, a smile lingered right at the corners of his lips. “I’ll take the job.”

“The job?”

He lifted his chin and waited, cocky, sexy man.

“Oh, you want to sleep with me.”

His smile deepened, and her heart banged against her chest. Dalton was the most striking man she’d ever seen, and he was here, talking to her.

“We should negotiate terms over dinner.”

“Dinner?” Was he asking her out? On a date?

She swallowed down her immediate, high-pitched answer just so she wouldn’t look too eager. “It’s late. Not much is open at midnight around here.”

“Yeah, when I planned this, I didn’t know you worked so late.”

“My schedule changes all the time, depending on when I’m needed. Uuum,” she said, desperately thinking of somewhere they could go because she definitely wanted to go on a date with Dalton, even if it was the middle of the night. “There’s the Taco Trailer. It stays open late. It’s right beside the bar so when last call ends, the heavy drinkers can eat and sober up a bit before they go home.”

“Perfect.” He looked at her ATV. “You know how to load that thing?”

“Oh, I can just meet you there.”

“I don’t like you cold.”

“Oh. Okay. Yeah, I can load it. Do you have a ramp?”

Dalton shoved his door open and disappeared around the other side of the truck, then lowered the tailgate and pulled out a couple of long metal pieces with grooves. He set them at a comfortable angle, then leaned on the side of his truck, arms crossed as he waited. He wore a white sweater that clung to the muscular curves of his arms, but no jacket. He didn’t even look cold, but maybe that was a werewolf thing. She didn’t know for sure, nor would she ask because she still had to be careful not to let on that she’d guessed what he really was. She might like him a ridiculous amount, but she’d liked Miller at first, too, and he’d turned poisonous.

“I’d offer to load it, but I have a feeling you can take care of yourself just fine.”

That drew her up short. “Why do you say that?”

“Am I wrong?”

“No,” she said softly, struggling to hold his direct gaze. “I can take care of myself, but usually people underestimate me. They always do, actually.” Before he could respond to that mortifying bit of personal information she’d just shared, she turned and hopped over the seat of the four-wheeler, then started the engine. Backing through her exhaust fumes, she pulled a wide loop in the parking lot and lined it up, then hit the throttle and drove it carefully up the ramp and into the back of Dalton’s truck. Without a word, he began to wench straps onto it to secure the ATV in place as she climbed down one of the jacked-up tires and onto the snowy ground.

“Go on, get warm inside. I’ll finish up here.”

She stood there for a moment, a few feet away from where he worked, unable to look up from the ground with the silly thought that had just gone through her head. She’d missed him. Really missed him. Especially when she’d thought she wouldn’t ever see him again.

Closing her eyes so she wouldn’t see the rejection, she took a giant step forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. He went rigid, so she whispered, “Hi.”

Dalton let off a long sigh and relaxed under her hug. Slowly, he slid his arms around her shoulders, then shocked her silly when he rested his cheek against the top of her head. “Hi,” he murmured in that deep, sexy timbre of his.

God, he smelled good. That same feeling of safety washed over her, making her feel two-shot tequila drunk.

“You’re shaking,” he said above the sound of his idling truck. “Go on, get in. I really don’t want you cold. It makes me…”

“Makes you what?”

Dalton shook his head and eased back, only inches from her face. His smile had disappeared, and his eyes were that blazing caramel color again. She should be scared, but she couldn’t muster any fear.

“It makes me want to take care of you.”

She let off a long, shaky breath. Oooh, she liked him. “I’m not shaking from the cold. I’m shaking because you make me the good kind of nervous.” Her stomach was currently doing flip-flops just being this close to him.

He searched her eyes, then dipped his too-bright gaze to her lips.

Please kiss me.

Smoothly, he eased her backward, step-by-step until her back pressed against the side of his truck. He cupped her neck and lowered his lips toward hers. But just an inch away, he hesitated. “Kate,” he whispered, a slight frown marring his handsome face. “I should leave you alone.”

That’s not what she wanted, though. She didn’t want him to leave at all. Pushing up slightly, she pressed her lips against his and reveled in the way he softened for her. Soft kiss, rough scratch of his short stubble. Such a sexy contrast. Dalton angled his head and moved against her, sipping her mouth until he’d built a fire in her middle. She gripped onto his sweater and pulled his waist closer to feel more of his body heat. Dalton drew her bottom lip between his teeth and bit it gently between kisses, and now she was four-shot tequila drunk. And when he pressed his hips forward, she could feel it. He was aroused, and it was because of her. She’d done that. She was turning on a man like Dalton Dawson, and a layer of insecurity slipped away like the exhaust from the back of his truck.

Dalton’s tongue brushed her lip, and she opened automatically for him, eyes tightly closed to fully melt into this moment. She’d never been kissed like this. She’d never felt like this.

He sunk his tongue into her mouth, and a helpless, needy moan wrenched up her throat. Dalton answered with a soft, sexy growl. He ended the kiss with a quiet smack, then rested his forehead on hers as his chest heaved.

“Sorry,” he murmured, hands slipping from her neck to her waist.

She laughed and blinked hard once, trying to clear her tipsy thoughts. “You should definitely not apologize for kissing me like that, mister.”

Dalton chuckled, but he was hiding his eyes now, veiling the color by looking at the ground beside them.

With a frown, Kate cupped his cheeks and tried to bring him back, but he wasn’t having it. He kissed the palm of her glove instead and eased away, then busied himself with shutting the tail gate.

“Kate, please. Warm.” His voice sounded strange now. Too deep, too gravelly.

She wished she could tell him she understood why he was pulling away. She wished she could tell him she knew about the animal, and that it was okay, but if he didn’t want to share that part with her, she had to accept that. Miller had hidden it for the six months they’d dated. Maybe it was werewolf law, or maybe Dalton didn’t trust her. Either way, he didn’t want to let her in. It stung, but this wasn’t about her. Hiding was his choice.

Pain burned through her chest, as if he’d dragged a hot poker underneath her sternum. To hide the hurt from his rejection after the most incredible kiss of her life, she pulled open the door to his truck and climbed inside while he finished strapping the ATV in the back.

When he climbed behind the wheel, his eyes were as dark as night again. She was already thawing out, but he turned up the heat anyway as she stared out the window.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

“I’m sorry I kissed you.”

“Shhh!” She clenched her hands in her lap to stop the urge to punch him in the arm.

Dalton gripped the wheel in a choke hold. “Did you just shhh me?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

She crossed her arms over her chest as the tips of her ears turned hot. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Woman, I don’t get hints, and I can’t read your mind. Tell me what I did wrong and be done with it. I want tacos.”

She wasn’t confrontational, and she liked to think she was too smart to start an argument in the cab of a pickup with a freaking werewolf, but he’d seriously just slammed on the brakes and then apologized for kissing her like he regretted it.

“Kate!”

“If you regret kissing me so much, I don’t really want to get tacos with you anymore. I’m tired and have to work again tomorrow.”

“I thought you needed me to apologize! Women like that shit!”

Kate reeled back. “What women are you talking about? No woman wants to get the kiss of her life and then have it immediately taken back, Dalton.”

He scrubbed his hands over his face and relaxed back on the headrest. “I told you I would be shitty at this. I don’t know jack about girls or making them happy. It would be best for both of us if—”

“Don’t you freaking finish that sentence, Dalton Dawson. Save your break-up-before-we-begin speech for someone who wants it.” She sighed an irritated sound. “Buy me tacos.”

He rolled his face toward her, his dark brows drawn down suspiciously.

“I’m serious,” she said, daring to show him her blushing cheeks. “I want three. And extra hot sauce.”

Dalton’s lips lifted in a stunning smile, and he snorted. He threw the truck in drive and eased out of the parking lot. “Did we just have an argument?”

“Yes, and I hated it.”

“I don’t regret the kiss, you know. It was kind of amazing. I just…”

“Freaked out?”

“Yeah.”

“I had a man who was only half in with me before. I’m not looking for that again.”

“Miller?”

“Him and my first ex. I want to be a girl a man
chooses
, you know? I don’t want to just be a safe decision because a man is afraid of being alone.”

With one hand, Dalton turned the wheel onto the main drag in Galena. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Why Miller?”

Kate scrunched up her nose. “How well did you know him?”

“Well enough to know he was a grade-A mega-chode.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t figure that out until month three of our relationship. He was nice to me at first, and he was a bit of a bad-boy. I was spiraling after a rough break-up, and he took the edge off my loneliness for a while. It was fun to make a risky decision for once in my life.”

“And what happened?”

Kate ghosted a glance at his profile, then fiddled with a loose string on her gloves. How stupid was it to admit she’d been so naïve with Miller? After all, she wanted Dalton to actually like her and stay interested.