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“I think I’m going to head out,” I said, pulling a five from my pocket and standing.
“Leo…”
I clasped Gideon’s shoulder as hard as I could to see if he would flinch or flatten me into the floor.
He did neither, simply watching me, his face expressionless.
The man was definitely fearless.
“Thanks for what you did for my uncle and Addilyn.” I spoke with no more tone than a whisper. “Best of luck to both of you.”
He dipped his head in a single nod.
I turned on my heel and left, surprised by the lack of heartache—and the lightness in my steps.
An idea began to take shape in my head, but my phone rang, pulling me away from the fantasy the sight of Nissa had brought to life inside my mind the night before.
My boss’s number flashed up at me, and I groaned before swiping to answer. There was only one reason he would call me on a Sunday afternoon.
Once more, it was all hands on deck to finish cleaning up that damn oil spill.
Chapter 4
Nissa
I huffed in annoyance as I checked my cell again to find Leo hadn’t texted me back. It’d been hours, and the entirety of my Sunday had been wasted away waiting for him to reply.
Mom and Dad had headed back north, both anxious for the privacy of their homestead Midnight Sun Charter would whisk them away to once they reached Anchorage.
My brother Roan, his wife Annie, and their three kids had also driven northward but planned to spend the week with her family before her parents flew them home too.
Nissa and Josh had caught their early evening flight for the lower forty-eight, and I sat bored as shit in their apartment.
I’d browsed the internet for entry-level jobs for someone without a bachelor’s degree and wondered if I would amount to anything other than a house cleaner or cashier in retail.
My abilities consisted of surviving in the wilderness. I could hunt and skin small game to roast over an open fire. Fishing came as easily as breathing, and scrubbing clothes in the river wouldn’t tire my arms.
But what sort of man outside of bearded alphas out in the middle of nowhere wanted such a woman? Those types tended to enjoy their silence, and I sure as hell didn’t come from that mold.
“I don’t fit in anywhere,” I grumbled what I did at least once a month, hating how depression fought to take over my mind.
I had freedom, the chance to live on my own, to make decisions without anyone’s influence, and I needed to enjoy the hell out of it while I could. Once I eventually tied the knot, I’d have to become a meek housewife like Mom, Annie, and Ciarra.
I fake-gagged over that type of lifestyle, then giggled at myself while swiping my cell’s screen to life.
Still no response.
A few more taps took me into stalker mode, and I searched all the major social media platforms for Eugene Leonard Rogers, aka the hottie I’d gotten myself off to the night before.
I already knew where he worked, that he was single, and it didn’t take much for me to find his address and an aerial view of his home. A ping of…something hit my chest as I studied the image of his single-story house closer to the water than downtown. Three bedroom, two baths—the house he owned meant he had plans for a future.
Imagining a houseful of dirty-blonde kids with brown eyes like mine intensified that strange thing beneath my breastbone.
Sighing, I set my cell aside, turned off the lamp on the table beside Ciarra’s guest bed, and shifted around until I got comfortable. It took forever before I finally fell asleep.
I dreamed of a small garden behind Leo’s house. Children’s giggles while playing tag. Sun warming my face and joy in my heart as arms wrapped around me from behind.
Contentment oozed from me when I woke, but blinking brought reality into focus.
