Hometown Hero (Hometown Alaska Men Book 2) (11 page)

"Okay," she said.

"The trigger isn't as sensitive, but there's a fine line between when it fires and when it doesn't. Go ahead and squeeze it, but don't be surprised if it goes off. Be prepared for the kick."

"I'm ready."

Rick braced himself and her. Tawney backstepped into him. He tightened his arms around her. The floral scent of her hair teased his senses. The feel of her backside against his sensitive male parts caused his body to heat from the inside out.

He never wanted to let her go.

The weapon fired.

She jerked back against him.

"Wow," she said. "That was different."

"Try again," he said.

The gun blasted, pushing her into him. Arousal roared through his body. "Again," he said.

She pulled the trigger, bumping up against him.

He groaned, glad her ear protection prevented her from hearing the soft sound. He wanted her. No denying it.

"Let me try alone." She stepped away from him.

Rick let go of her, the snow falling on him where her body had been seconds ago. "Be ready for the kick back."

She nodded, leveling the weapon and firing. The bullet hit the target. Tawney whirled around. "I did it. Wow, did that feel great."

Rick smiled, removing his ear protection. He took the gun from her.

Tawney took off her ear protection. "Thank you for the lesson."

"You'll need more practice, but do you feel more confident than you did this morning?"

"I do." Her grin was infectious. "And I don't feel as helpless. I love the feeling of power I have right this minute."

"You're going to be okay," he offered. He hated that she'd been intimidated. He didn't wish that feeling on anyone.

She nodded, her eyes on him.

Snow swirled between them, hitting Rick's eyes, mouth. "I don't think this snow is letting up anytime soon. We should probably head back."

"Okay."

In the house, he turned off the heat. He made them each a travel mug of coffee for the drive.

Rick set the windshield wipers on high. The blades couldn't clear the snow away fast enough. Ice began to form on the windshield severely hampering his vision.

"Can you even see?" Tawney asked, the words filled with concern. "I can't."

"Not really. Snow is freezing to the glass."

The Jeep hit a rut. Tawney braced her hand on the dash. "Where's the road?"

"It's here somewhere." He'd had plenty of experience driving in the snow, but this was an all-out whiteout. He'd definitely underestimated Mother Nature today. "I’m turning around."

He did a U-turn but must have missed the road, because the right tires slipped into a rut, putting the Jeep at a definite tilt.

Tawney cried out. "Oh no."

"I think we're stuck," he said. "Damn it."

Rick exited the Jeep into the swirling snow. He surveyed the Jeep. There was no way he could get the vehicle out without a tow.

He leaned into the vehicle. "We have to walk back to the cabin."

Tawney's forehead wrinkled. "Okay."

"Don't look so worried. We'll walk back in our tracks. It's just up the road." He helped Tawney out of the Jeep. They quickly adjusted their scarves, pulling them up over their faces so only their eyes were visible.

The snow dragged at their boots.

"Keep your head down." Rick took Tawney's arm.

They trudged on, walking in the Jeep's tracks, making the turn to the cabin. When the house came into view, Rick breathed a giant sigh of relief. There was always a chance of losing their way in the snow. He hadn't allowed himself to think of that possibility until now.

"We made it," Tawney said. "I've never been so glad to see a cabin in my entire life."

"I hear you," Rick said. He'd had no intention of becoming a statistic.

On the porch now, they stomped the snow from their boots before going inside. The air was still warm from the heaters. With his coat still on, Rick got the heaters running again, then started a fire in the wood-burning stove. It was only after he'd coaxed the flames to a decent burn that he turned to look at Tawney. She stood at the kitchen stove, her coat still on.

"I think we're good," he said.

She brought him a steaming mug. "Tea."

"Thanks." He looked at her over the rim of the cup. "We're stuck here overnight, maybe longer. I'm sorry."

She shrugged. "No worries. It's not a bad place to be stuck."

Rick grinned. No it wasn't a bad place to be stuck at all.

CHAPTER TEN

Tawney stood at the cabin's kitchen window, watching the swirling snow hit the glass. Snow had accumulated on the outside window casing, framing the window in winter white.

"Slowing down any?" Rick asked, glancing up from the book he'd been reading.

Too keyed up to read, Tawney had tossed the mystery book he'd given her aside. Never much of a reader or a relaxer, she found it hard to sit still. Being here made her antsy. She needed to quiet her brain, but it was hard with Rick in the room. There was something a little too intimate about being snowed in with the man you had almost married.

"No." She rejoined him. "What do people do when they get snowed in?"

"Watch movies? Play games?" He hefted his book. "Read."

"Yawn."

Rick set his book aside. "What kind of things do you do for fun?"

"I lived in Vegas." She smiled. "I took classes in my free time, tap, ballet, exercise. I rehearsed. I went to the spa. I shopped."

"City girl." He laughed. "Boy, are you in the wrong town. I knew it when you were in high school, and it still holds true today."

"Really?" she said dryly. "What makes you say that?"

He considered her, his look measuring. "I don't know. I always had the feeling you needed to get out of this town. Like it wasn't big enough or loud enough for you. Maybe that's why things ended between us."

"I don't see it that way at all. I always figured I wasn't good enough for you. Let's face it, Destiny's girls were thought of as white trash charity cases. Your grandparents didn’t approve of me. Oh, they were nice to me, but I knew that they thought I was holding you back. Obviously, you thought so too because you left me at the altar." The tired old ache was back in her heart. "I waited for you for over an hour that day. You just left me, like I was trash." There, she'd said out loud what she'd been thinking since returning to Seward and finding him.

"Trash?" Rick sat up a little straighter. "No."

The words were said softly and she heard the sincerity behind them.

"I never meant to hurt you." He reached for her hand. "We were young. I got cold feet. For a number of reasons, none of which had to do with you, your family, or my grandparents."

She snatched her hand away. "How can you say that? Of course it had to do with me. I wasn't good enough, or smart enough, or loveable enough." Tawney shot off the sofa. "Tell me the truth. I can take it."

"I am telling you the truth." Rick stood. "Come on, you know we weren't ready to be married. I wanted you, and marriage was a way to get what I wanted. I'm not proud of that, but I was a teenager. I didn't do my thinking with my head."

"So you just wanted sex?" she asked, trying to understand. "That's stupid. I would have given it to you anyway if we'd stayed together, marriage or no marriage. Instead you left me. You broke my heart. I lost faith in men. Do you know that my sisters and I call you the Destroyer?"

He winced. "I wish I had a better defense, but I don’t. I was young and stupid. I had dreams. I wanted to go to college, study law enforcement, be a cop. I didn't have parents to guide me, just grandparents and June. She was my voice of reason."

"June talked you out of marrying me?" Tawney asked.

"She did, but not because she didn't like you. She thought we were too young. She told me we had all the time in the world to be in love."

Tawney looked deep into his eyes. In his gaze she saw truth, sincerity, and sorrow. He was right. They had been kids. For God's sake, her own mother should have warned her off of Rick, but Destiny had been too wrapped up in her own life as always. And try as she might, Tawney couldn't remember if Patsy had known about the almost wedding or not. If she had known, maybe Tawney would have been the one to walk away. She'd had her own dreams of being a dancer in those days, dreams Patsy had encouraged. She really couldn't fault Rick for leaving her. He'd done them both a favor. He'd already apologized and she'd accepted. It was time to let the whole matter die.

Tawney resumed her seat on the sofa. "Well, I guess it's all water under the bridge. Interesting that neither of us is married now. Maybe we've both had too many hard knocks in this life. Are we emotional cripples, Rick?"

"No," he said, sitting beside her. "We are just living our lives like everyone else." He gave her a tired smile. "Friends?"

She returned his smile. "Friends. Let's start over as grownups."

"Deal."

"Do you miss Seattle?" she asked, wanting to change the subject. "You have to."

"I miss certain things." His features took on a pensive look. "I miss the weather. It's mild. Summers there are beautiful, the water, the mountains, all the green. Seattle truly is the Emerald City."

She nodded. "What else?"

"I miss all the places to get coffee." He grinned.

"I miss that about Vegas, too."

"I miss the buzz." He leaned back, his head resting on the back of the sofa, his eyes on the ceiling. "The excitement. The smell of the police station. My place on Queen Anne. My view of Lake Union and the Space Needle. What do you miss about Vegas?"

She smiled. "The excitement of life moving quickly. The trends. I like being on the cutting edge when it comes to fashion. I think I might be some kind of pop culture girl."

He scrubbed his chin. "I'm not into pop culture so much, but I liked having a lot of choices."

"Restaurants." Her hand went to her stomach. "I miss the food and the way you can get anything you want to eat twenty-four hours a day."

"Me, too."

This time they both smiled. At last they were talking and it was easy between them. Good. She had to look at him in a new way. He wasn't an enemy anymore, the man who'd wrecked her life. This Rick was new, an equal. He'd grown up and so had she.

"All this talk about restaurants is making me hungry," Tawney said. "I hope you have food."

"An Alaskan is always prepared."

Rick stood and stretched. His sweatshirt rode up, giving Tawney the tiniest peek of the light coating of hair on his stomach. A flat stomach. Her long dead libido roared to life, startling her. It had been a long time since a man had sent her pulse rocketing.

"How about some fettuccini?" Rick asked.

"Really?" Her stomach rumbled. "That sounds fantastic."

He stood. "Come on, you can be my sous-chef."

"I'd love to."

Tawney chopped the garlic and grated the cheese, while Rick worked on the sauce. In a matter of minutes the dish was prepared, and they sat down at the table, a bottle of wine in the center.

"Dig in," Rick said.

Tawney did. The creamy noodles tasted like heaven against her tongue. Her eyes slid shut.

"I can see you hate it," Rick said.

"I adore fettuccini," Tawney said, "but I never let myself eat it. Too fattening."

"Women," Rick said. "Always worried about your weight."

"I made my living based on how my body looked," she reminded him. "I had to weigh in weekly. I've seen a lot of girls get fired for going up in weight."

He chewed, his eyes on her. "That's a lot of pressure."

"I guess. It's part of the business. A business I’m no longer in." She forked up more pasta.

Tawney sipped her wine. When they had finished eating, they took their wine to the living room, sitting on the sofa in front of the woodstove. The storm raged outside, but inside the cabin it was cozy warm. Tawney curled her legs up under her, enjoying the buzz from the wine.

Something had shifted between them since clearing the air about their almost wedding. For her a dark cloud had lifted. She'd blamed Rick for so many bad things in her life; now she had to admit that the bad choices had been hers alone.

"Penny for your thoughts," Rick said.

"Just thinking about how our lives might have been had we married." She sipped her wine. "I guess I'm glad that things worked out the way they did."

"Everything happens for a reason, right?" he said, but he didn't sound convinced.

"Tell me about your job in Seattle," she said, wondering if he'd ever confide in her. "Do you miss it?"

"No."

"No?"

His mouth tightened. "That part of my life is over."

He went to the woodstove and opened it, poking at the fire.

The ridged way he held his body told Tawney more than words could. "What happened in Seattle? Why did you leave?"

His brows drew together. She could see the upset on his face. He didn't want to tell her.

"I failed someone," he finally said.

"Who?"

"A woman. She was my informant in a big drug case. When her betrayal was discovered, I believe she was forced into setting me up." Rick glanced away from her. "We both got caught."

"What happened to her?"

"She was executed."

"Oh, Rick, how awful. I'm sorry." She couldn't begin to imagine what he'd been through. She felt like ten times a whiner for bothering him about Fox Lassiter.

"I can't stop thinking about her, about how I failed her. I can still picture her lying on the floor, the stain of blood on her blouse. She trusted me."

"But it wasn't your fault," Tawney reasoned.

"Wasn't it?" His eyes bored into hers. "I should have protected her. Instead I got her killed. She was a person. She had a son."

Tawney didn't know what to say.

"I don't deserve to be a cop."

"Rick—"

"No, you don't get it. The guy who shot Angie, Tony Malone, took something from me that day. Not only did he damn near kill me, he stripped away my confidence. I was so damn cocky, so sure I could handle things. That arrogance got Angie killed. If not for my partner, Phil, I'd be dead, too."