Christmas on the Last Frontier (Last Frontier Lodge #1) (13 page)

“I’ve got a friend who works in private security in Seattle. He’s going to trace the source of the emails and follow up with the police in Seattle,” Gage interjected.
“Are you sure that’s necessary? I mean, what if it’s nothing?” Even though Gage had asked her about doing this, whenever she considered it, she wondered if she was overreacting.

“If it’s nothing, then it won’t matter,” Gage said flatly. His thumb ceased its soft strokes as his hand tightened on her shoulder. “I’m not going to sit by while you wonder who’s sending those. We’re also not going to let the police sleep on the investigation of the robbery.”

“I’m sure they’re doing everything they can. I don’t want you to think you have to do this…” The part of her that savored his protectiveness bumped up against the part of her that wanted to pull the pieces of her life together on her own.

Ginger cut her off and turned to Gage, her expression somber. “Thank you for checking on this.” She paused and looked at Marley. “You haven’t heard from the police in weeks. Even if they mean well, they’re busy and you moved away. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. If Gage has someone down there to follow up on things, maybe they’ll keep digging and figure out who the hell did what they did to you. It’s not okay for you to go through that and have the investigation just peter out. Gage is right, if the email thing is nothing, it won’t matter what his friend finds.” Ginger turned to Gage again and nodded firmly. “It means a lot to me that you’re taking care of this and her. Marley’ll be pissed at me for saying this, but sometimes she takes independence a little too far and never asks for help.”

Marley lobbed a napkin at Ginger, but didn’t have it in her to argue the point. She’d been steadily sipping her wine and had quite the buzz going. Gage glanced at her, his eyes assessing. Turning back to Ginger, he simply nodded. Their food arrived and conversation moved on. Marley couldn’t think too much about the emails or the robbery because it rattled her too much. Gage’s involvement unsettled her because she felt vulnerable enough as it was. But she also felt a sense of relief. He’d so easily stepped in and lifted the weight off of her, she didn’t quite know what to make of it. She didn’t want to get too comfortable in whatever it was between them, but it felt so good, she couldn’t seem to think clearly.

Before she knew it, Gage was standing and tugging on her hand. Ginger chuckled. “You’re driving her home, right?”

Marley started to protest, but Gage shook his head. “You’re not driving. I’d bet this dinner was the first thing you had to eat all day. That wine hit you hard.”

He was entirely right, but she didn’t want to admit it. After he’d left this morning, she’d had coffee and buried herself in working on a few apps she had in development. She tended to lose track of time when she was working like that. If it hadn’t been for Ginger’s call about dinner, she’d likely still be working.

She met Gage’s eyes and the heat that lay banked inside whenever he was near sparked and flickered. She forced herself to focus. “Fine. I might have had a tad too much wine.”

Gage gave her another tug, and she slid out of the booth. When she stood, her legs felt rubbery, and she was thankful for his strong arm clamping around her waist. Ginger stepped to her side and dropped a quick kiss on her cheek. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow if you need a ride into town to pick up your car.” With a smile and a wave, she was off.
 

Marley stood at Gage’s side, savoring the delicious feel of his muscled body against hers. Gage tilted her chin up. “Ready?”

When she nodded, he reached past her to snag her purse and began walking. Marley realized how hard the wine had hit her as she realized she’d likely have lost her balance without his strong grip on her. The cold air hit her forcefully when they stepped outside. The wind kicked up and blew her hair in a swirl. She shivered as they made their way across the parking lot. When they reached his truck, she glanced up. He looked down just as she looked his way. In a flash, electricity crackled between them. Gage turned, sheltering her between his body and the truck. He took a breath, and she felt his heartbeat against her breasts. He held her gaze in the dark.

Gage brought his lips to hers, the heat of his kiss a brand. Desire thundered through her. The icy air around them was such a contrast to the heat between them, she thought she might melt. He delved deeply, his tongue tangling with hers, before he pulled back swiftly. Their breath misted in the air. He ran his hands up and down her arms. “It’s freezing. Let’s get you home,” he said gruffly.

They drove home through the dark night, snow starting to fall, illuminated in the path of his headlights. Gage hooked his arm around her waist when they walked inside and efficiently started a fire in the woodstove before carrying her upstairs. Marley drifted into sleep, snug against his side. The moon hung low over the mountains, leaving a shimmering path on the water below.

Chapter 12

“Okay, what’s the status on those emails?” Gage asked. He stepped around a furniture dolly in the hallway as he walked toward the office. Aidan had called him while he was in the middle of directing a crew of movers to move out the old furniture and relocate the new furniture. After Gage had attempted to persuade Don he could handle all of the moving himself, Don had simply handed him the number of a local moving company.

“I thought Navy SEALs were supposed to be smart,” Don had commented.

“We like to take care of things ourselves.” It chafed at Gage to pay for something as simple as lugging furniture around. He figured his relentless physical conditioning might as well come in handy where it could, so he stubbornly ignored Don and set out to move everything himself.

“You’ve got the funds to pay someone, don’t wear yourself out moving furniture.” At that, Don had walked away.

After a few hours of trudging up and down stairs by himself, Gage realized Don was smarter than he was and promptly hired someone else to do it. The last week had flown by. Delia’s initial hesitance to manage the front had dissolved under the face of how much work needed to be done. She’d promptly hired cleaners and was slowly working her way through applicants for managing the reception area. After quickly discovering Gage was no help with recommendations on the menu, she’d wrangled Marley and Ginger into meeting with her to look over her ideas and offer suggestions.

Thanksgiving was days away, and Gage was due to fly down to Bellingham for one day only. He had too much to do to stay away longer and couldn’t imagine being away from Marley more than that. Which should have given him pause, but he swatted away any hesitation. She’d blushed like mad when her mother stopped by to check out the progress on the lodge and invited Gage to Thanksgiving dinner. Given that Gage was either at Marley’s place or she was here every day, he had enough sense to know her family would be wondering what Marley meant to him. Her mother had nodded approvingly when he’d explained he needed to see his family then since he’d be at the lodge for Christmas. He considered inviting Marley to come with him, but he sensed it was more important for her to be with her family after everything she’d been through this year.

He finally reached the office and swung the door shut behind him. “Sorry man, I missed half of what you said. I’ve got guys moving furniture here. I’m finally in my office.”

Aidan chuckled. “No worry. I heard the racket and was talking to my receptionist here.”

“So, those emails?”

“Right. When you asked me about it, I figured we might end up in a dead end. Most companies often have one internet service provider address. If anyone sent it within the company, we’d have a hard time sorting out who it was. In this case, we got lucky. The guy sent it right from his house…”

Gage cut in, anger bolting through him. “Who the hell sent it?”

“If you hadn’t interrupted me, I was getting to that. Kent Walker rents the apartment where we traced the ISP address. He works at the same company Marley did. We’re working on it on this end to see what else we can find on him.”

Gage swore and sat down abruptly. He almost broke the phone in his hand and had to consciously ease his grip. “I’m coming down there. Let me…”

“My turn to interrupt. Hold your horses, man. Don’t come down here until we have some more info. If you show up and blaze your way in to haul off and punch this guy, we may never figure out what’s behind his emails. You’re too emotionally involved. Let me do my job. I’ll keep you up to date. Once we’re ready to move, then you can come down here and be all badass.”

Gage’s chest was tight, anger pulsing through him. He forced himself to breath slowly. He knew Aidan was being logical, but it didn’t make it any easier. “I’m not too emotionally involved.”

Aidan barked a laugh. “No offense, but hell yes you are! I don’t know Marley, but that woman has your number. You were one of the coolest, calmest guys on our team. You never did anything that didn’t make sense even when it was damn near impossible to stay sane. You know damn well it would be stupid to show up on this guy’s doorstep until we have time to figure out what’s behind it. We don’t even know if he had anything to do with the robbery, but I’d bet money you’ve already decided he did. Sit tight and wait.”

Gage heard Aidan’s words and knew they were rational, but the cool, calm part of himself Aidan was referring to—that part was
not
running the show when it came to Marley. The thin thread of control he had was due solely to his years of training and work as a SEAL. By virtue of habit, he’d trained impulsiveness out of his system. It took all he had not to throw his phone at the wall and ignore everything Aidan just said.

“Fuck you.”

Gage could imagine Aidan’s wry smile when he replied. “Whatever, man. Let me be your friend. Don’t be stupid. You’ve got plenty to work on at the ski lodge. Focus on that, and I’ll call you as soon as I have more news.”
 

“Fine. Don’t sit on this though.”

“It’s at the top of my priorities. I’ll call you soon,” Aidan said before ending the call.

Gage sat there, staring blindly at the floor, as he tried to process what he felt. He didn’t like waiting on this. His mind volleyed through an internal debate. He wanted to be driving this.
Yeah and if you weren’t in so deep with Marley, you’d be running this exactly how Aidan is. He’s waiting to make a move until the timing is right. You can’t see straight because all you can think of is Marley.
Her green eyes flashed in his mind, and he took a gulp of air. His jaw clenched and unclenched. He stood and strode out of the office. He needed to be outside where the bracing air took his focus somewhere else.

***

Marley’s breath misted in the cold air as she walked along the worn trail that ran from her cabin to her parents’ house. Snow crunched under her boots and occasionally fell in soft swirls when the wind blew through the trees. The trees opened onto the field beside her parents’ home. Lacey stood on the deck.

“Hey Lacey!” Marley called as she began jogging to the house.

Lacey whirled around and squealed. She met Marley with a hug at the stairs.

“Hey sis! I caught the last flight out yesterday. How’s it going?” Lacey hooked her arm through Marley’s and pulled her along to the door.

Marley glanced at her sister, her chest tightening. Though she’d visited regularly in her years away, she hadn’t realized how good it would feel to be home once and for all. Lacey’s cheeks were bright from the cold. Her chestnut hair was pulled into a loose ponytail. Lacey kept her grip on Marley all the way into the kitchen where she sat down at the kitchen table with flourish. The kitchen was scented with the familiar scents of Thanksgiving and warm from the oven.

Bemused, Marley sat down across from her. Lacey grinned. “Well?”

“Well, what?”

“How’s it going?” Lacey repeated.

“Pretty good.”

Lacey stood and stepped to the counter. “Want some hot cider?”

“Sure. Where’s Mom and Dad?”

“Mom is upstairs changing and Dad went down to pick up Don, Delia and her son. Don’s truck battery froze up this morning, so Dad went to get them.”

Marley nodded and took the steaming mug of hot cider Lacey carried over to her. Lacey slipped back into the chair across from her. “So, Mom says you’re seeing Gage,” she commented with a sly grin.

Marley fought the flush that crept up her neck, but it was useless. She shook her head. “Should’ve known Mom would tell you. She keeps dropping hints about how wonderful he is.”

“She hardly knows anything! Oh my God, Marley! You finally have major news on the man front, and you act like nothing’s happening.”

Marley bit her lip to keep from laughing, but a laugh bubbled out anyway. “I’m not trying to hide anything, I just don’t know where things might be going.”

Lacey brushed a loose lock of hair out of her eyes. “So, what’s the status with him?”

Marley chewed her lip and considered Lacey’s question. The fact that she had to think about it made her uncomfortable. She toyed with the edge of a placemat and distracted herself with a sip of hot cider. Gage had been at her cabin every night straight for the last week. The nights were a blur of passion mingled with a deep comfort. It was as if she’d known Gage for far, far longer than she had. She’d come to crave the way she felt with him—alive, passionate, and deeply connected. All of this combined with the fact that he happened to be the sexiest, most beautiful man she’d ever laid eyes on resulted in her being in a befuddled daze about him when she tried to think about what they were to each other. She couldn’t quite believe a man like him could want a woman like her. And yet, his body made his attraction blatantly obvious.

They didn’t talk about what was happening between them. Marley’s years of barely dating had been partly due to her relentless focus on work and partly due to the fact that she’d never been quite comfortable with the flirty banter that seemed to go along with making herself attractive to men. If she hadn’t gotten to know Gage and seen his kindness in action, she’d have pegged him as cool and reserved. He was anything but. Yet, he didn’t spell things out. He let his actions speak for themselves in every way. One of the things she loved about programming and coding was its simplicity. Once she found the path she wanted, she knew how to follow it and didn’t have to wonder about the intentions of others. In relationships, it was all about wonder and wondering. She stumbled from sheer amazement about what happened between them to questions and confusion about what it all meant. To Lacey’s question, she didn’t quite have an answer. She didn’t know if Gage considered what was happening between them serious or not. While for her, it was the deepest she’d ever gone in any relationship. She was in so far over her head, she couldn’t see where to look next.