Werewolf in Alaska

“Want me to grill your steak so you can have a steak sandwich when you’re ready?”

She finished with her shoes and stood. “Please don’t fire up the grill on my account. Go ahead and eat. I’ll have some of your fruit and nut cereal if I get hungry.”

So she’d checked out the contents of his cupboards while she was at it. But that wasn’t the most significant thing she’d said just now. He finally understood her reluctance to eat with him, and he was both horrified and amused. “You think I’m going to eat my steak raw, don’t you?”

Keeping her expression carefully neutral, she nodded. “But there’s nothing wrong with that,” she added quickly. “You should be allowed to eat whatever way you want in your own home.”

He couldn’t blame her for thinking such a thing. He’d devoured both raw steak and raw hamburger over at her place. She didn’t know that had been under duress. “I prefer my meat cooked,” he said.

Her eyes widened. “You do? But you’re a—”

“Shape-shifter. Maybe it’ll help to use that term instead of werewolf. I’m not, strictly speaking, a wolf at all. I can take that form, but I’d rather not eat once I’ve shifted. That is, unless I have no alternative.”

“Oh.” Her cheeks turned a soft pink, which made her quicksilver eyes even brighter. “Sorry about that. I didn’t know.”

“No need to apologize. I was grateful for any food, raw or cooked.” God, she was beautiful. He’d need a bigger vocabulary just to describe all the rich shades of brown in her shoulder-length hair. The last time he’d stood this close to her, he’d been half-crazy with pain, but now he was free to enjoy every second of close proximity.

He breathed in her almond scent, which had become like an aphrodisiac. How in hell would he make it through this night without doing something foolish? Maybe he was destined to act like a fool and pay the price.

“I knew you were famished,” she said. “I used it to trick you so I could keep you captive longer.” She hesitated. “Now I have to wonder. Would you have been better off if I’d simply left you alone?”

He hesitated to give her the answer, both because it might make her feel bad and because he really did want to limit her knowledge.

“You would have been better off.” Regret laced her words. “I can tell by your expression.”

“Shifting helps me heal.” He could say that much without causing more problems.

She groaned. “And I thought I was helping.”

“That’s all that counts.” He resisted the urge to cup her face as he said that. “You were nothing but kind to me during that twenty-four-hour period. I’ll never forget how caring you were.”

“You’d saved me from that bear, so of course I wanted to take care of you. I didn’t know I was doing it wrong.”

“You couldn’t know that.”

“I was so grateful to you. I’m still grateful, in spite of . . . well, everything.” She paused. “But how did you happen to show up in the nick of time?”

That was a topic he’d rather not discuss, either. “We can talk about it over dinner.” Maybe by then he’d have come up with a great cover story. “That is, if you’re willing to share a meal with me now that you know I have decent table manners.”

She smiled. “I am willing. More than willing. I’m starving, and I’d love a steak.”

“Good.” Fixing dinner would give him something to concentrate on besides his recurring fantasy of rolling around with her on that big bed. He headed for the kitchen. “How do you like your steak?” he called over his shoulder.

“Barely pink.”

“Got it.” He liked his steak rare, but after this touchy conversation, he’d cook his a little longer so it looked the same as hers. He might not be able to erase her image of him in wolf form tearing into the raw meat she’d offered him days ago, but he’d sure as hell like to.

As she followed him through the living room, a cell phone rang, and it wasn’t his.

“Don’t answer,” he said quickly.

“Sorry, but you don’t get to decide that.” She pulled her phone from the backpack she’d left sitting in his easy chair. “Hi, Ted. What’s up?”

Jake clenched his jaw. He should have known she wouldn’t accept a barked order. If he’d said please, she might have responded better. And now she was on the phone with Ted, and no telling what she’d say to him.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I’m at his cabin right now, but thanks for letting me know, anyway. I happened to be passing by and saw his truck was here, so I stopped.”

Jake shook his head in frustration. When he’d stopped at the general store on his way home to pick up his mail and let Ted know he was back early, Ted had mentioned that Rachel wanted some advice on hikes in the area. He’d known then that he might have trouble, and sure enough—she’d wanted to make certain he was really gone so she could case the joint, and the hiking thing had been a smoke screen.

“Yes, Jake’s been extremely helpful. He’s offered to take me out hiking tomorrow, in fact.”

Jake stared at her. What in God’s name was she doing telling Ted they were going on a hike together?

“Uh-huh. Should be a good day for it. Anyway, thanks for letting me know he was back. Talk to you soon. ’Bye.” She disconnected the call and tucked the phone into her pack.

“Would you care to explain that?”

She faced him, her expression unapologetic. “I made up a story for Ted that I needed hiking advice so I could find out how long you’d be gone.”

“So you could nose around. I realize that. But what’s the point of telling him we’re going hiking tomorrow?”

“Just planning ahead. In case you hadn’t noticed, we have a big issue to resolve.”

“Trust me, I noticed.”

She crossed her arms and gazed at him with those amazing silver-gray eyes. “What if we don’t get it figured out tonight?”

At the moment he didn’t want to figure out anything. He wanted to walk over there and haul her into his arms. “We have to.” Because the longer he was locked in this dance with her, the less control he’d have over his raging libido.

“And that”—she uncrossed her arms and pointed at him—“is exactly why we might get stuck. Too much pressure. We could freeze up.”

Or burn up. That seemed more likely. “I won’t let that happen.”

“Then great, we’ll ‘cancel’ the hike.” She used air quotes to make her point. “But if for some reason your magnificent brain stalls tonight, we don’t have to avoid everyone we know while we hole up in this cabin struggling to find an answer. We can leave on the hike I just mentioned to Ted. That might not be a bad way to clear our heads, anyway.”

“I hope it won’t come to that.”

A hint of vulnerability shadowed her expression. “Can’t wait to get rid of me, huh?”

Yes, but not for the reason she thought. “Nobody likes to have problems, and you present one. It’s not your fault . . . well, some of it is. If you’d resisted the urge to come over here and investigate, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

“I owed it to the wolf.”

“Who, it turns out, was me.”

“Yes, but I didn’t know that. And my debt is actually to you. When you put it that way, I guess if I help find a solution to our problem, that would be a way of me settling up with you.”

“I’ll accept that as a fair trade. And I hope for both our sakes we can come up with a workable plan.”

“As you said, we have to.”

“Right. And I don’t know about you, but I can’t think very well on an empty stomach. I’m going to start dinner.” He started toward the kitchen.

“Good idea.” She followed. “Can I help?”

He wondered if having her sweet body in the kitchen would help or hinder. Probably hinder. “Tell you what. How about if you set the table out on the deck? I’ll bet you know where all the utensils are.” He gave her a