Cotton Grass Lodge (22 page)

Duncan stood and also thanked his parents for dinner. “I think I should walk Hanna home. There are bears in Anchorage, too. Better safe than sorry.”

Standing next to him at right in the moment, Hanna admitted to herself she had never been in love with anyone before. Lust indeed, loved maybe, but not
in love
. His eyes sparkled in the subdued lighting. He slipped into the infamous leather jacket, last seen in April. His body imprinted with the healthy strength a summer awarded hard work. He was the perfect height to look down into her eyes and melt the bones of her hips.

“Safety first Mr. GQ. Thank you.”

****

It had been three months since Duncan had had anything other than a single beer. Tonight he’d indulged in a scotch and the fine meal diluted the alcohol into an agreeable afterglow. He let Hanna fill his peripheral vision as he walked her toward the elevator of the hotel. “You look stunning tonight. Did I tell you once already?”

Hanna stared at the elevator doors, waiting. When he spoke she tipped her head, and her lips lifted at the corners, he could see the quirky little twitch of an eyebrow. He knew some witty, smartass remark was on the tip of her tongue, but as usual she held it back. Right now, he liked thinking about the tip of her tongue.

The elevator slid open, and they stepped aside to let three people exit, then they stepped into the opening and waited for the door to swoosh gently shut. The door chimed its readiness to depart and Duncan turned, they were alone and he reached for her, the kiss was soft at first, but the taste of her mouth, rich with the lingering flavor of raspberries deepened into single-minded passion.

The door chimed again breaking the kiss and Hanna’s laughter effervesced as Duncan jerked back to the present and stabbed a button for the first floor. The door hesitated, opened wider and they had to stand close as a foursome joined them in the elevator. Duncan’s hands rested on Hanna’s hips and pulled her against him supposedly to make more room in the tight confines of the elevator.

Hanna turned her head, and a coy look flashed at him. With deliberate ease she stepped backward, shot her hip against his erection and ground her body against him as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Ah hum.” He cleared his throat.

She let the movement of the elevator exaggerate the transfer of weight again, and he thought perhaps he would shatter. He flushed and held his breath willing the other two couples to leave, soon, now. He wanted to rip the dress off Hanna’s back to feel her flesh against his, to relieve the pain of desire. Now.

With a final jerk, the motion of the elevator stopped, and one by one the others exited the door, a glance from Hanna showed a come hither look, and Duncan wondered if there was a janitor’s closet close enough to use for the brief moment it would take to blast his passion into her. If this was what she called foreplay, he didn’t think she would ever get the full benefit of his experience as a lover. There could never be long, lingering love making in their future. He was afraid he would be afflicted with premature ejaculation as long as she stayed in his life.

Duncan strolled behind Hanna through the lobby of the hotel and out onto the street. He was afraid to look down at the front of his trousers. “Do we have far to go?”

“Why, Mr. G.Q., I thought we’d take the scenic route.” She drew a fingertip along his jaw line and kissed the tip of his chin, “Are you in a hurry?”

“Hanna, we are going to your place, now, or you’re in danger of being ravaged behind the first clump of bushes I can find.” She’d teased him to a fever-pitch of lust.

Three blocks they walked, three short blocks, he held her hand and couldn’t think of anything to say. Making love suddenly seemed a commitment, and for Duncan a lifetime of promise was the easy choice to make.

Her tiny walk-in basement apartment smelled of citrus incense and Hanna. He wanted her in a delirious rush of desire and need, but something held him back. She turned on a small lamp and came to him. “This is serious. I’m serious, Hanna.”

Reaching into her hair she removed a clip, and a mass of raven curls tumbled to her shoulders releasing an abundance of scent. “Make love to me,” she whispered.

Duncan enjoyed the fullness of giving when he made love to her not the empty satisfaction of sex. He roamed her body with his hands and his tongue. He tasted the sharpness of her sex and reveled in making her moan when he mounted her and teased her open with his fingers.

He felt the wetness of need flow onto her leg as he moved against her and taunted her to a frenzy, slowly, slowly. Stroking into her, mingling his own wetness with hers, pulling back as she rose to meet his stroke. Waiting until her fingers curled against his buttocks, her breath bursting with little cries, he couldn’t control his need any longer. He fell into her, plunged into her, lost his mind in her, filling her with gratitude and love. Yes, love, a small coherent corner of his mind accepted the admonishment. He loved this woman.

His climax rendered him practically senseless. Then she reached the apex of passion and in her release she sobbed. Unable to breathe, her body convulsed. Duncan rolled away and gathered her into his arms and held her while she struggled to regain control. She gasped and cried, moaning as the climax rolled over her body again and again.

Gradually her breath became regular and steady. Duncan reached down and grasped a wad of comforter from the floor beside the bed and pulled it up over their bodies. “Thank you,” Hanna said.

“I got cold, believe it or not.”

“I didn’t mean the covers.” She used her foot to readjust the blanket.

Duncan settled around her, he kissed her temple and fell into a deep sleep.

Chapter 23

The small downtown coffee shop bustled around them as Hanna and Duncan lingered over breakfast. Early morning office workers grabbed bagels and coffee to go. Duncan returned from putting a plate in the bus tray next to the kitchen door. “I talked to Carl yesterday. They’ve been as busy this summer as we have. I can’t wait to show him all we’ve accomplished out at the lake.”

The activity around the cash register hummed. “Do you miss this?” Hanna asked, nodding toward the espresso machine behind the counter.

“What?” He shifted in his seat and directed all his attention to her thoughtful face.

“This industrious early morning. The juggling of time and people, the—this?”

“I have all this. I just juggle it from my porch, with Alice’s coffee.” His cell phone interrupted. He looked at the caller id and answered. “Hey, Carl, we were just talking about you. No kidding? Great, I’ll ask.” Duncan looked over at Hanna. “Can we take Carl and his wife out to the lodge with us this afternoon? We have groceries and stuff.”

Hanna gazed into the distance over his shoulder and calculated. “Sure.”

Ping
.

He’d had the brains to ask about how much weight they could add to the trip. She refocused on his face. Tanned and fit, she loved the look of his strong jaw and those beautiful green eyes.

In an absent-minded gesture, he reached toward her and touched her elbow gently. “She says sure, be at Charlie’s about eleven. See ya then.” Duncan’s boyish grin splashed around the room like rainbows from a prism.

The time disappeared much too fast. A trip to two grocery stores, an office supply, and a hardware store made short work of the morning. “I can’t believe how much there is to do when we come into town.” Duncan hefted a bag into the plane. “Next time we need to just come for the fun of it. With no lists.”

“Yeah, right, it might happen, in your dreams.” Hanna flushed when he turned his attention from packing the plane back to her.

“I like being able to do this.” Duncan gripped her waist, pulled her close to him, and enveloped her in a kiss.

Bright stars spangled behind her eyes as she sank further and further into the taste of his mouth. Last night’s love-making had made a frightening shift in her world view. She adored making decisions without considering anyone or anything. Her life, her money, her time. Now, perhaps she would share those things.

His tongue slid between her lips and she shuddered as a wave of desire crashed over her. This trade-of might not be too bad.

“All right you two, do you want to get into trouble? Don’t you know what will happen?” Carl bounded ahead of his wife to clasp Duncan in an affectionate hug.

“Ginger! Come here.” Duncan took the pregnant little blonde following behind Carl in a fond embrace. “What’s this? Number two already? When did this happen?”

Ginger narrowed her eyes at Carl. “What can I say; he’s a beast.”

After half an hour Hanna felt as if she’d known Ginger forever, and it was nice to get reacquainted with Carl, too.

The casual banter continued as they all got into the plane and lifted off toward the lodge. The afternoon filled with an over-abundance of information and enjoyment. When Hanna flew back to Anchorage in the evening to begin her work rotation, Carl and Ginger came with her.

As they stood beside their cars, Hanna hugged Ginger and Carl wouldn’t let her get away with just a handshake.

“We’ll have to do it again soon,” Carl said when he released her from his warm embrace. “Duncan has made a huge difference in the lodge. In May I wasn’t sure he would last for the whole summer. I’m glad I was wrong. The place looks great. We’re going to make a nice profit when we sell.” Carl closed door of his Tahoe and waved good bye. “See ya soon.”

Carl’s comment shorted all her circuits. Hanna stopped breathing. She touched three fingers to her lips to stave off the tremble as if hiding it from Carl could hide it from herself. Jaws clamped tight, she lifted her hand and waved back.

****

Hanna rolled over and opened one eye, three o’clock, what the heck was wrong with her? The weather had been good and it was fall, so she’d flown freight to villages strung from Nome to Barrow. Today, Kotzebue.
I’m tired enough to sleep for a week
. She rearranged the pillows and forced her eyes closed. Her mind drifted to Duncan, where it always drifted when she had a quiet moment.

Duncan. What was she going to do about Duncan? Nothing. Let the love-affair be what it was, short and sweet. He would leave and it would be over. No harm done.

Twenty minutes later it wasn’t hard to snatch the ringing telephone and answer it. She hadn’t gone back to sleep, or dozed even. She had been dwelling on what Carl said about selling the lodge, again. It had been such a brief comment, could he be mistaken?

Hanna wanted him to be wrong, and she was tired of playing her little mind-tape over and over again. She knew talking to Duncan would clear up her confusion. But talking to Duncan might mean hearing the truth.

“Hello?”

“Hanna Reed?” a man’s voice asked.

“It’s three-thirty in the morning. Who is this?”

“I’m Matt Godfrey, Ms. Reed, with the Social Services Department at Anchorage General Hospital. We have your name listed for an emergency contact in regards to Charlie Pitts.”

Hanna bolted upright. “What’s wrong? Where’s Charlie?” She flung back the covers and slid out of bed. She began snatching underwear out of a drawer as Matt continued.

“He was found unconscious in his vehicle at a stop light on Spenard Road. He’s been transported here, but we need more information from a responsible party. We need for you to come to the hospital.”

Hanna dropped the phone when she tried to put on a shirt and a sock at the same time. “I’m on my way. Is he gonna be okay?”

“I’m sorry,” Matt said. “I can’t discuss Mr. Pitts over the phone.”

She sat on the edge of the bed and put her head between her knees for a moment and breathed. One and then two deep breaths filled her lungs before she could finish getting into her shoes.

“Oh, Charlie.” Hanna pleaded as she sped through the deserted streets. “Don’t do this, not now, not now.”

Charlie was dead.

Hanna stood just outside the doors of the hospital lobby trying to get cell phone reception. She held the phone but couldn’t make her mind work with her fingers. She punched the numbers into the key pad and an annoying trill followed by an automated voice told her the call could not be completed as dialed. Again.

She dialed the number for the lodge a fourth time as frustration boiled and took the place of the pain coursing through her chest.

“Answer!” she shouted at the offending telephone. A woman looked disapprovingly in the direction of Hanna’s outburst.

Hanna’s surreal four hour journey into the administration of death left her numb. The lobby of the hospital began to fill with the daybreak bustle of any business at eight o’clock in the morning.

“He-lo? Cotto—rass Lod—.” Alice’s voice was scratchy with static.

“It’s Hanna, I have to talk to Duncan.” She held tight control over the scream building from her broken heart.

“He isn’t here,—got a call from Califor—an—d—to leave.” Phone service to the lake, like so much of Alaska, was sketchy at best. Something Hanna thought quirky and amusing, until now.

“But Charlie died. He has to know. I have to talk to him. He has to come. He—” Hanna heard the dead air and knew the call had been dropped. She threw the phone at the wall of glass surrounding the hospital atrium. Her scream came out as a thin high-pitched keen, and she retrieved the two pieces of phone and threw them again at the pavement in front of her. Now she had three pieces of phone to pick up. She stomped on the black odd-shaped battery cover and it shattered. The body of the phone sailed across the shiny concrete when she kicked it, and Hanna followed. A corner of the wall served as back stop for the hockey-puck phone, and Hanna scooped it up and flung it again at the wall this time several pieces came to rest at the feet of a security guard, who couldn’t decide if he needed backup for this particular lunatic.