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“You have to go? Where?”
“Lincoln,” I ground out, “Adele and Cole have their whole, you know, party thing.”
“Oh, hell. You’re right. Shit.” He looked down at his boots and faded jeans, his hair dusted with snow.
There was a loud bang outside my window. “That freaking moose! I swear, I don’t even know what to do about her.”
“Chase her away,” he replied laconically.
“Chase a moose?! You Silver boys are way too mellow about moose. They’re huge. I read all about how more people get injured by moose than bears in Alaska.”
My point earned nothing more than a shrug. “Well, yeah. But they’re not predatory. You just have to make enough noise. I’ll take care of it. What time is the party?”
“In twenty minutes, and I don’t even know how I’m going to get there on time. I can’t drive fast in this weather. It stresses me out.”
“I’ll drive.”
“You’ll drive me?” I squeaked.
Another shrug. “I’ll deal with the moose and we’ll leave soon.”
I couldn’t help myself and got up to follow him as he left my office. I needed to see what he was going to do about this marauding moose. He walked down the back hallway and outside. I stuffed my feet into my boots and stood on the snowy deck while Lincoln strode confidently through what had to be roughly three feet of snow, and hollered, “Go on, girl! You’ve got better places to be.”
The moose eyed him and pawed the snow, letting out something like a snort. Lincoln fashioned a snowball and threw it at her. She lifted her head, giving him a curious look as she seemed to be sizing up her options. He threw another snowball. She finally turned away and took her sweet time ambling off into the trees on the far side of the snow-covered back lawn.
“So I can just throw snowballs at them?” I called over to him.
Lincoln flashed a grin as he approached the steps. “It’s pretty effective. Like I said, they’re not predatory. They’ll charge if they have calves or feel threatened. They’re also nearsighted, so you have to make noise. Trust me, I’ve dealt with moose my entire life and been a hotshot firefighter in your ‘beautiful’ Alaska for over a decade. I’ve never been charged by a moose. Now, we better hustle if we’re supposed to be there in twenty minutes.”
“Is that what you’re wearing?” I asked.
His brows rose toward his hairline. Now might be a good time to appreciate the fact that Lincoln Silver has gorgeous hair. Dark, always a little mussed, with just a hint of wave. The kind of hair that makes a woman, or specifically me, think inappropriate thoughts.
“Is there a dress code?” he asked dryly.
My cheeks burned. “The invite said casual dressy.”
His eyes narrowed. “There were invitations?”
“I only know this because I helped send them out.” My pulse galloped along madly as I took a shaky breath.
“Okay. I’m going to run through the shower. I’ll be ready in ten. Meet you in the staff kitchen.”
“Um, okay,” I managed.
I hurried into the staff suite where I was staying to change. I didn’t need to shower, even though the day had been crazy. While I mostly lived at the resort, sometimes I stayed with my dad in town to make sure he was doing okay. He was the whole reason I was here.
His dream had always been to live in Alaska, so here we were. When someone you love more than anything has a place on his bucket list and your own life is a train wreck, you go. Simple as that.
Within a few minutes, I had changed into a pair of fitted pants tucked into leather boots, paired with a flowy blouse. This was Alaska, so the concept of casual dressy was pretty flexible.
What I was entirely unprepared for was the sight of Lincoln. When I found him ten minutes later, waiting in the staff kitchen, my mouth dropped open.
Oh. My. God. If I thought Lincoln was ridiculously and inconveniently sexy in his regular clothes, when he dressed up even a touch? He ascended to an entirely new level of ridiculous and inconveniently sexy that probably should’ve been illegal.
He wore slightly faded black jeans with a blue shirt just rich enough to make those stunning blue eyes of his even brighter. He hadn’t shaved. I mentally sighed.
I wanted to feel the prickle of that five o’clock shadow against my skin. I wanted him to make me shiver all over. I was ready to just hand over my ovaries.
