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Trudie retreated to her side. Knox shifted to find a more comfortable position for his suddenly very tight pants.
“Why did you do that?” she asked.
He straightened, put the truck in gear, and resumed driving as much to forestall the temptation to kiss her again as to get to Good Riddance. “Because things were so awkward between us. And now we know.”
“What is it we know other than you had no right to do that?”
“We know how good it is.” It was devastatingly good.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Don’t do that again.”
“Okay.” It would happen again, but next time it would be her move. For as eager as he’d been to get rid of her ten minutes ago, now he didn’t want her to leave. He didn’t know when he would see her again and he wasn’t sure exactly where she fit into his life anymore, but he didn’t want her out of his life the way she had been.
“I’m heading out to the bison ranch tomorrow just for a quick visit to check out their operation and meet the resident vet. Want to tag along? It should be interesting and when we get back we could look for some of your greenery or whatever you’re going to need.”
Silence stretched between them. Finally she spoke. “Is Elsa coming along?”
“No. Elsa’s busy with Chrismoose stuff.” Plus, he hadn’t asked her.
“What time are you heading out? You driving or flying?”
“Given all the snow on the roads and time constraints, I’m flying. Dalton’s taking me out around nine.”
Dalton Saunders and Juliette Sorenson were the bush pilots running flights out of Good Riddance. Knox would’ve been fine with either one. Both had gotten married since the last time he’d been here. Dalton had married the local doctor while Juliette had wound up with a construction guy. The Sisnukett cousins, Clint and Nelson, were also both hitched. Gus and Teddy had both married and left. Damn, even Merrilee and Bull had tied the knot. Elsa had started making marriage noises and that’s when Knox had figured it was time for him to be making exit noises.
“You taking Jessup?” Trudie said, worrying her lower lip in consideration.
“Yep. He’d be miserable otherwise. He still goes to the office with me every day.” Jessup loved to be in the thick of things but he was also well-mannered so taking him along was never a problem.
“I have to work—”
“I said I’d help you, woman.” He suddenly really, really wanted her to come with him. It was as if he was trying to catch up on missed time while they were both in the same place and they had the familiarity of Good Riddance and Chrismoose knitting them together. Who knew what would happen when they returned to Anchorage. He wanted to be with her while he could. Well, and there was that awesomely explosive kiss. “Come with me. Please.”
He saw the capitulation in her eyes even before she nodded her head and opened her mouth. “Okay. What time? Where?”
Tomorrow was now something to anticipate. “I’ll meet you at the airstrip at eight forty-five. Or I can swing by and pick you up at your place.”
He pulled into the parking lot and angled his truck behind her little Suzuki SUV.
“No,” she said. “I’ll meet you at the airstrip.”
“Okay, then.” She reached for the door handle. Her vehicle was squeezed into a spot on the other side of Gus’s. “Thanks for helping put up the tree.”
“Right. Thanks for the burger and beer.”
“No problem.”
She hesitated, her hand still on the door latch. Oh boy, she had something to say and she was working herself up to spitting it out. Knox steeled himself because chances were he wasn’t going to want to hear it. Trudie had never been one for mincing words.
“I know we already covered it, but I just want to make sure.... Don’t kiss me again,” she said, staring straight ahead, out the windshield at the snow, which had started to pepper down. Her words had a clipped edge.
She looked at him and a measure of desperation gleamed in her eyes.
“No problem.” He’d always been tuned in to Trudie in a way he wasn’t tuned in to anyone else. Animals and Trudie he felt most comfortable with. Trudie had wanted that kiss as much as he had...but, next time she’d kiss him. “That request would carry a little more weight if you hadn’t kissed me back so enthusiastically, but okay.”
“You’re delusional.” She tilted her little nose into the air.
“Like hell.” He expected more of her. She wasn’t like other women and he supposed he held her to a different standard—one that didn’t cover this bullshit. “You wanted me to kiss you, but okay, we’ll play this your way. You’re right. You were just the innocent party sitting there all snuggled up next to me on the couch, and when you looked up at me you weren’t inviting me to kiss you. And you didn’t enjoy that kiss here in the truck at all. Okey dokey, if that’s the way you want to remember it.”
“You’re not nice anymore.”
“Then don’t come with me tomorrow if I’m so not nice,” he said, throwing out the challenge.
“I don’t know you anymore.”
“Then get to know me again.”
She opened the door and cold rushed in, carrying a miniature snow flurry on a gust of wind.
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” she said as she climbed out.
It was a start.
* * *
TRUDIE HESITATED as Knox threw his truck in reverse and backed out of the parking lot. She’d done the right thing telling him they weren’t going down that road again. Really, it was best that way...even if her body still felt like it was on fire from that one kiss. She’d known it was wrong, he was involved with Elsa, and dangerous, as evidenced by how miserable she’d been the last year and a half. However, she hadn’t had the willpower to resist his touch, the feel of his lips.
Speak, or think, rather, of the devil... Elsa materialized out of nowhere.
“Hello, Gertrude.”
Trudie loathed her full name, but with guilt gnawing at her over that kiss, she let it slide. “Hi, Elsa.”
“It’s been a long time.” Elsa, resplendent in a white fur-trimmed hat and coat, tilted her head to one side. “I almost didn’t recognize you with that cute haircut.”
And what the heck did someone say to that? There was something faintly insulting about the term cute when it was wielded by a tall, elegant blonde.
“It’s me.” A lame response but she really didn’t have anything to say to Elsa and Trudie wasn’t very good at making chitchat, especially with someone she didn’t like.
“How’s the...what is it...oh, yes, the flower shop business?”
“No complaints. How’s the fashion business?” Elsa owned a trendy boutique in Anchorage and a secondary business that catered to pageants.
“Busy, busy, busy. You should stop by some time and let us give you a wardrobe makeover.” Trudie knew Elsa meant the suggestion as a criticism, as in Trudie needed to dress more fashionably.
“Maybe I will. Sometime.” Right around when hell froze over.
“Have you been to the new spa in town? It’s fabulous. You should give it a try.”
Elsa was brimming with what Trudie should do. And it wasn’t as if Elsa had cornered the market on all things feminine. Trudie nodded. “I love Jenna’s place. If you haven’t had a massage from Ellie Sisnukett, you’re in for a treat.”
“I had a facial. You should definitely have one.”
Enough. If Elsa told Trudie one more time what she should do, Trudie was probably going to scream...and screaming would be bad. She’d been civil but now she was done. “Okay, well, see you around.”
Elsa either wasn’t catching the hint or didn’t care. She kept chatting. “So, this must be like old home week with Knoxie.”
Knoxie? Elsa, a grown woman, had just referred to an adult male as Knoxie? She was letting Trudie know that she knew that Trudie and Knox had been in Gus’s and left together...and she was reminding Trudie that she had been calling the shots for the last couple of years and had kept Trudie and Knox apart. There was a whole lot that was said, yet unspoken, in that one statement.
Trudie didn’t like Elsa any better now than she had before and she had no intention of discussing “Knoxie” with the woman.
“Something like that,” Trudie said. “Gotta run. I have a meeting in five minutes.”
It was more like ten minutes but she did need to touch base with Merrilee about the floral arrangements before meeting with the new bed and breakfast owner, Alyce Henderson.
“I’m popping over to Tessa Sisnukett’s screening room for a photo shoot and interview. It’s some lady named Norris with the local paper and then a representative from Alaska magazine. They’re doing a spread.” Elsa rolled her eyes. “We had to flip-flop the schedule, which is what happens when you work with small-town affairs. Last year’s Ms. Chrismoose is going to be there but I’m the big draw since I’m not local.”
