Only Ever You (Wild Fire #4)

Chapter One

LUNA TALTON

A gust of salty air blew my hair wild. I lifted a hand to catch it and smooth it back.

I looked out over the water, marveling at the view.

The mountains towered in the distance and the sun struck sparks off the ocean’s surface.

Even though I’d grown up in Alaska, it never failed to wow me.

Whenever people told me they didn’t believe in any kind of spirituality, I would tell them they just needed to go to Alaska.

Because it was truly a spiritual experience.

Nature here snatched your breath right out of your lungs and reminded you that the whole world was a cathedral.

“Luna!” My friend Casey’s voice reached me and I spun around.

She was lugging a cooler all by herself and stumbled a little on the rock-strewn shoreline. I hurried over and reached for the other handle. “What’s in here?” I asked.

“Food,” she teased. “We have empty coolers too. Everyone tells me we have fish to catch. Have you ever done this?” she asked me as her gaze whisked over to several fishing nets propped up against another cooler nearby on the beach.

“Of course! Dipnetting is an Alaskan tradition. If you grow up here, you have to do it. I can’t even imagine not doing it.”

After we set the cooler down, I opened it to peer inside. “Oh wow, you didn’t mess around.” When I glanced up at Casey, she grinned. “Well, you said we might be here all day.”

Someone called her name. She looked over her shoulder, a smile stretching across her face. Her cheeks went pink when I chimed in, “You are so in love.”

She shrugged. “I am. And, it’s really the best thing ever.”

I impulsively hugged her. “Everyone deserves love like what you and Leo have,” I said just before her fiancé reached us.

“Hey, Luna,” Leo said, stopping beside us. “Ready to net some salmon?”

“Absolutely!”

Leo chuckled, holding two fishing nets aloft. “I have two options for nets. There’s my favorite, which is the cedar handle. I also brought a stainless steel one.”

Casey studied the nets before her gaze bounced to me. “People are really into the nets for this. I can’t dipnet yet. I haven’t been here a full year yet.”

“You can watch. It’s fun,” I replied.

I glanced around the area. Seagulls were calling raucously in the air, and I could hear the distant screech of an eagle.

We were at the Kenai River in Alaska, a favorite destination for dipnetting.

The activity was aptly named. You gathered on the shoreline at the edge of the water with handheld fishing nets to catch the salmon swimming upriver.

Some people chose to dipnet with nets dangling over the edge of boats, but I’d always preferred to be on the shoreline.

We were near the mouth of the river, where the fish came rushing in from the ocean in a race to spawn before they died.

If they didn’t get scooped up in a net, they would spawn and die.

The beach was getting crowded. There were regulations for the size of the nets and just about everyone had an opinion on the best nets.

I started to suit up in my neoprene fishing waders. Casey looked around, commenting, “This is crazy!”

“What do you mean?” I asked as I stepped into my wading boots.

“You and Leo told me about it, and Maisie was telling me—” Casey turned away as Maisie called out a greeting. We waved back and Casey continued, “I guess I didn’t realize there would be this many people. Parking is practically a competitive sport.”

I grinned. “It’s awesome. Fun though it is, it’s serious.

People rely on the salmon they catch here to feed their families.

One person can get up to twenty-five salmon with an additional ten salmon for each family member.

That’s a lot of food. Not to mention how fresh Alaskan silver salmon is.

” I tapped my fingers together in the motion for a chef’s kiss.

Maisie reached us with Amelia, Lucy, Tish, Griffin, and more trailing behind her. Recently, I’d started to feel like the odd one out. Many of my friends were happily married or coupled up, and I was still very single. I couldn’t even imagine being anything but single.

“Hey, Parker,” Griffin called.

My eyes instantly swung in his direction, while I ordered my hormones to ignore Parker Reeves. I also studiously ignored the inconvenient embarrassment that he didn’t recognize me. It was ten years ago. Forget about it.

“Hey, hey,” Parker said with a lopsided grin when he stopped by our group.

“Is this your first year dipnetting?” Casey asked him.

Parker shook his head. “No, ma’am,” he teased. “I might have only moved to Willow Brook in the last year, but I am a born and bred Alaskan.”

“Well, I’m gonna watch and learn. Show me your net,” Casey said.

Beck stopped beside Maisie. “That sounds a little inappropriate, Casey,” he teased with an exaggerated brow waggle.

Casey rolled her eyes. “Look, this is my first time watching this. Everybody keeps talking about their nets, so I’m trying to understand why they’re so important.”

Parker’s grin sent sparks pinwheeling inside of me. “A lot of people build their own nets.” He gestured to the net I was holding. “I’m on team-Luna. I like them with a cedar handle and a rectangular net. The cedar floats in the water, so it makes those easy to hold.”

Casey nodded along. “Hmm. I guess I have until next year to figure out what kind of net I want.”

The beach was getting more and more crowded. Amelia caught my eye. “I like the cedar handle too because it floats.”

Beck chimed in, “Well, now there are advantages to the stainless-steel ones because your grip slides more easily if you need to adjust it.”

“You undercut your own point. If your hands can slide easier, you can lose your grip,” Maisie pointed out. Maisie stopped beside Casey, pulling her into a side hug. “I was new at this too, but I’ve done it for a few years now and it’s really fun. You’re gonna love it when you get to go next year.”

“I sure love salmon, so I’m looking forward to it.” She glanced toward me, worry creasing her brow. “I can eat the salmon Leo catches, right?”

I burst out laughing. “Of course, you just have to officially be a resident before you can get a dipnetting permit.”

“Too bad we can’t keep any king salmon,” Amelia commented.

I nodded when I glanced her way. “I know. I remember when it was a big deal to catch them dipnetting. Here’s hoping the numbers improve again.”

It wasn’t long before we were all wading into the ocean.

I tended to push the envelope on this and go as far out as I could.

I loved the feeling of the water rushing against me.

Today, the fish were coming in fast and I could feel them bouncing against my legs.

I had almost caught my limit when I waded back into the water to try to catch one more salmon.

The sun was high in the sky, and the wind was starting to pick up so the water was getting choppy.

I didn’t think much of it when a boat came rolling down the river.

The boat’s wake was high enough that my feet lifted off the sandy bottom.

I still didn’t worry until several minutes ticked by and I realized I was drifting further away from the shoreline.

“Luna!”

I recognized Beck’s voice and glanced back. “Yeah?”

“You okay?”

I wanted to tell him I was completely fine.

I was independent, some people would probably think I was stubbornly so.

I hated asking for help. Ever. But I didn’t want to be stupid and I was deeply practical.

I knew that if I didn’t somehow change course, I might start drifting too far out into the current where the water could carry me out to sea. Literally.

The water was also cold. Alaska wasn’t a place where people swam without a wetsuit, even on the hottest days of summer. That cold water was beginning to seep over the tops of my waders. I was smart though, and I was wearing a life jacket.

I glanced back at Beck and called out, “I’m not sure!”

I turned to face the shore so I could keep an eye on how fast I might be drifting away.

I wasn’t alone in this predicament. I could see another person, maybe fifty feet away, who was trying to swim directly back to shore.

I knew that wasn’t the best move. It was safer to swim at an angle across the current.

I was a strong swimmer, but I had a fishing net in hand and was wearing waders that were starting to fill with water.

I did the only practical thing I could do.

I kept a hold of the net because it was floating, but I began to kick with my feet and unbuckle the tops of my wader straps.

After I got them off, I turned them upside down so the water drained out and hooked the boots under my armpits.

When I glanced toward the shoreline again, I noticed it was further away.

There were voices calling to those of us who had gotten swept away due to the boat’s wake.

“Don’t panic, Luna,” I said to myself. “You’re going to be fine.”

I was starting to shiver. I kept my eyes on the shore and began to swim, letting go of my net finally. Only a moment later as I was starting to despair, a small boat approached and someone called my name.

When I looked over, I saw Parker and Griffin in the boat. Parker caught my eye. “We’re cutting the engine and I’m going to get you out of there.”

Parker slowly reached a hand out, saying, “Just grab my hand, Luna. I’ve got you.”

Cold as I was, my hands felt numb so it was difficult to hold on. Parker’s grip was strong and he kept a firm hold on me as he reached for my other arm. He lifted me into the boat, scooping me in his strong arms. I didn’t realize my teeth were chattering until I tried to talk.

“I didn’t kn-kn-kn-know…”

“Wait to talk,” Parker said. He held me in his protective embrace.

With it being so crowded and busy, I couldn’t even remember when I’d last seen him on the beach.

He was in jeans and a T-shirt. I savored the feel of his warmth.

Griffin leaned into the water to get my net and tossed it over the side of the boat.

I glanced over to see another boat had gone to rescue the two other people who had drifted out.

“All right, I’m headed to shore,” Griffin said.

“You have any blankets on board?” Parker asked.

Griffin pointed to a seat. Parker kept an arm around me as he leaned over and opened it to pull out a big blanket. A moment later, he wrapped it around me.

“You don’t have to keep holding me,” I finally managed when I could catch my breath.

When he glanced down and my eyes locked with his, everything felt suspended. My heart thumped hard against my ribs, the beat of it echoing. It was as if a pebble of fire dropped into a pond and rippled through me. I became acutely aware of the feeling of his palm curled on the edge of my hip.

“We need to get you warm,” he said.