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“Fine. I can negotiate. I can have lunch right now.” Half of me wants him to be busy. The other half is praying he takes me up on it. I am not ready to be without his warmth and safety yet. I like myself in his presence. His eyes light up, sparkle really, and I want to melt into them.
“After you,” he says, ushering me out of the door.
I can feel the eyes on us as we walk to his car, and little by little, I start to retreat within myself. By the time we make it to the restaurant and inside of it, I am berating myself, wondering what the hell I was thinking. There are no more sassy comments or comebacks. There is only a reminder that I am not the girl who has lunch with wealthy politicians.
His eyes, I can feel them scrutinizing me, trying to figure me out. It's like he can tell I have hidden back inside my shell, and that is unnerving. “So, tell me about this grant.” His eyes show warmth and understanding now, like he is giving me a reprieve or something, and you know what? I am thankful.
“For quite some time I have been studying the mating patterns of penguins. The rate of birth amongst them has declined by thirty percent in the last twenty years, putting them on the list as the number two most extinct mammals, only next to polar bears. I believe something in the water is affecting their ability to breed, but without the money to set up the equipment on the edge of the sea and in my lab, along with the money to pay interns, I won’t be able to stop it.” To his credit, he seems to be really listening to me.
“That is concerning. You say this grant came to me?”
“I am not sure if it came to you directly, but my boss sent it to the Fish and Game Committee, and they said it would come to you.” He looks a bit concerned, and I am starting to think he didn’t get it. “Oh God. You didn’t get it did you?” The panic is rising. He places his hand on mine and looks me in the eyes, stopping the ensuing attack as no one has ever been able to.
“I am sure I did. I promise I will look into it, okay.” I am still trying to catch my breath from the whiplash of being brought out of a panic situation so quickly, so I simply nod, believing in him. What the hell is happening?
CHAPTER 6
BALDER
I haven’t been able to get little Summer Frost off of my mind all week, which is why I find myself on a plane headed to Anchorage on a fucking weekday. Though I do have other reasons for coming home tonight, as my brother is hosting a charity event. I tried to get work done, but for the first time in my professional career, I couldn’t. I’ve never been a highly sexual person, I mean, I scratched the itch when I needed to, but I don’t do relationships, and I’ve never fucked the same woman more than once, but with Summer, I want it all. I jerked my cock to thoughts of her so many times I lost count. My dick is raw, and my hand is no longer cutting it, but I’ll be damned if I ever sink my cock into a cunt that doesn’t belong to her ever again. My heart and soul have already claimed her, but she’s skittish. She’s not quite ready for all that am, but she will be. I can’t accept anything less.
I’m a big guy, six foot five inches, and last I checked two hundred and twenty pounds of pure muscle. I know how intimidating I can be. I’ve always used that to my advantage; high school sports, the Army, politics, even women in the past, but with Summer, I don’t want to intimidate her. I want to make her mine forever.
Showing up at her job probably isn’t the smartest idea I’ve ever had, but I have to see her. Dressed casually in jeans and a Seahawks t-shirt, I walk into the Alaskan WildLife Conservation Center, which I didn’t even know was here, despite being ten minutes from my house, and ask for the director.
“Hi! Can I help you?” a female voice asks. When I turn around, I see an older woman dressed like Jack Hanna or Steve Irwin, and I wasn’t expecting that. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but that wasn’t it.
“Hello. I’m Balder Jorgensen.”
“Oh. Mr. Jorgensen. Welcome. I’m Akna Monroe, director of Alaskan WildLife Conservation. To what do we owe this visit to?”
“I’m here to see the penguins.”
“Ah. I see Miss Frost got to you in Juneau.”
“You could say that.”
