Chapter 4
Chapter Four
COLE
An offer
Adele sat across from me at the small round table in the Gallery Café. Asher was looking at something on his phone, while I couldn’t keep my eyes off Adele. Holy hell, she was beautiful.
Her cheeks were flushed from being outside in the cold air and sunshine. Her green eyes were bright, and her auburn hair was pulled up in a ponytail with a few loose tendrils framing her face.
“I don’t understand the menu,” she said, glancing up at me.
“Oh, they have themes,” I explained, looking down at the menu. “Looks like it’s Mediterranean this week. They have staples that are always available too.”
“Oh, I love this!” she exclaimed.
“Ooh, Mediterranean week is one of my favorites,” Asher said, placing both palms flat on the table for emphasis after he put his phone down.
Adele blinked, her lips curling in a slow smile as she glanced from him to me. “Wow, you seem excited about this, Asher.”
“Good food makes me happy,” my younger brother replied simply.
Adele’s laugh was throaty, the sound sizzling straight down my spine and lighting up every nerve ending in my body.
“Good food makes me happy too,” she said after a beat.
“Same,” I chimed in.
When she bit her lip and snorted another laugh, fuck me. Adele Jacks was a firecracker to my nervous system.
Just then, a waiter appeared, glancing between us. “Hi there, what—”
“So, it’s Mediterranean week,” Asher cut in.
The waiter chuckled. “That it is, and you appear happy about this.”
Asher nodded firmly. “I am. Can we just go to the buffet?”
“You can just go to the buffet,” the waiter replied. “But first, can I take drink orders?”
“Just water for me,” Adele said quickly.
“Same,” I chimed in.
Asher’s eyes landed on the beer menu tucked between the condiments before his gaze bounced to mine. “We’re done hiking for the day, and you’re driving.”
“Dude, we have so much work to do back at the resort,” I pointed out.
Asher let out a put-upon sigh. “Fine. Just water for me too.”
“Well, that’s easy,” the waiter replied before quickly filling our water glasses from the pitcher on his tray before he moved along.
We went to the buffet, filling our plates. Asher and I had a lighthearted debate over whether hummus or baba ghanoush was better.
When we were seated back at the table, Adele looked amused, her eyes arcing between us.
“What?” Asher asked.
“Nothing. You guys are just funny. It’s nice to see siblings who get along.”
“Do you have any siblings?” I asked, realizing in that moment that I wanted every answer to every question I could think of about Adele.
My curiosity about her was boundless. This was so not me.
I loved women, but I wasn’t that guy who got curious about a specific woman.
I wasn’t an asshole, but I liked to keep things light.
And yet, here I was with Adele wanting so much more.
I’d never even kissed her, or gotten close enough to slide my hands over her sweet curves and map her body.
I was in deep, and I barely knew the woman.
Adele paused for just a beat before she replied, “I do. I have a sister.”
She took a swallow of water, and I felt Asher’s gaze shift to me. When I slid my eyes to meet his, I realized he sensed that my reaction to Adele wasn’t typical.
Fuck my life. My nosy brothers.
“And, what does your sister do? What are we talking? Older? Younger?” Asher circled his hand in the air.
I bit the inside of my cheeks to keep from chuckling. He’d appointed himself my advocate. He was going to be nosy as hell. Asher was typically curious, unabashedly asking all the questions.
“Her name is Rowan, and she’s two years older than I am.”
“Oh.” Asher nodded. “Okay. What does Rowan do? Does she gallivant all across Alaska and hike like you?”
Adele pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh. “Is that what you think I do?”
“Well,” I cut in. “You kind of said that’s what you do.”
Her cheeks flushed a little, and she lifted one shoulder in a tiny shrug.
“I suppose that is what I do. But that’s not what Rowan does.
Like me, she was born and raised in Alaska.
We lived just outside of Fairbanks. My parents, if they could have, would’ve wanted to live in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. ”
“Whoa,” Asher replied, blinking. “That’s rural, even by Alaskan standards.”
A long enough pause followed that I got really curious. Adele took a quick breath. “I had some medical issues that meant I needed to be close to medical facilities,” she said simply.
My burgeoning curiosity exploded, along with an intense surge of protectiveness.
“If you have medical issues,” Asher pointed out dryly, narrowing his eyes at her, “what are you doing planning hikes on your own in places like Katmai National Park?”
Adele narrowed her eyes right back at him. “I’m fine. I don’t need a keeper.”
Asher pressed his palm to his heart in faux outrage. “I wasn’t trying to be your keeper.”
Adele let out a sigh before she lifted her chin slightly.
My heart twisted at the tiny flicker of vulnerability in her eyes because this was the woman who’d been ready to take on a wolverine the first time I met her.
I didn’t know much about her, but I sensed her strength was a defining characteristic.
“I’m always careful because I’ve been dealing with it since I was little,” she said. “I wouldn’t do anything that I couldn’t handle.”
When her gaze met mine, my heart twisted again. “Well, like we said, you’re welcome to hike Katmai with us. We’d hate for you to be on your own.”
“Honestly, and I can’t believe I’m saying this out loud,” Adele said, her tone dry, “I appreciate you all inviting me. I hadn’t hammered out my details yet. There are often options for group hikes that you can find online, but”—pausing, she shrugged again—“I prefer to go with people I know.”
Asher’s gaze caught mine, and I didn’t know what details Adele was leaving out in that brief explanation, but I sensed something had gone awry with an option like that in the past. I filed that detail away in the parking lot of my brain.
Adele didn’t hesitate to eat. She dug in with as much gusto as we did, which was saying something. As we were finishing up, our mom appeared. “Hey, boys.”
Her gaze landed on Adele, and she didn’t even try to hide her curiosity. “Adele, right?” She smiled warmly, curling her palm around Adele’s shoulder and giving it an affectionate squeeze. “Did you two find her?”
“She was on the same hike. We were just checking it out to see if we could take guests up there yet. We’d like the icy patches to be all gone,” I explained.
“Adele, by the way, where are you saying?” our mom asked.
After Adele explained, Mom clucked. “We all love Janet.”
“Oh, I can tell Janet is sort of the town mom or something,” Adele replied.
My mom beamed. “She is. Can you stay in her rental more than a week or so?”
The corners of Adele’s mouth tightened. “I don’t think so, but she told me she’d let me know if something opened up.”
“We have plenty of space,” our mom offered.
“And, if you’re planning to hike Katmai with us, you’ll be around for a bit,” Asher interjected.
Adele cleared her throat. “I’m sure you do, and I appreciate that thought, but I have a feeling Heartfire Falls Resort is a little out of my budget.”
“I don’t mean as an official guest,” Mom said.
“But if you’re staying—and you’re going to be hiking with my boys in Katmai—you’re going to be here for at least a month.
We have staff rooms. You can stay in those, or you could even take the apartment above the barn.
Nobody’s claimed it.” Our mom looked between us.
Adele blinked, and one of her hands twisted the edge of her cloth napkin.
“I won’t pressure you,” Mom added, softening. “But the offer stands.”
I personally wanted our mom to be the nosy busybody for once. Normally, it got on my nerves, but right now? I wouldn’t mind having Adele close by.
What the hell are you thinking? The skeptical side of my brain chimed in. You don’t usually want complications. You definitely don’t want to see how this plays out with this Adele chick here.
She’s not a chick. She’s Adele, my good angel retorted back.
Sometimes I’d wondered why I always tried to keep things light and superficial with women. After our family had three body blows with our dad passing, the fire that destroyed the resort, and our sister dying, my mom had gotten us all set up in therapy.
I’d still been in high school at the time. I wanted to stay safe, so I built emotional walls. That’s how my therapist had described it. It had been a conscious choice. You could only hurt so much if you didn’t let anyone else matter.
“Cole?” Asher prompted.
I gave myself a mental shake, jerking my thoughts back to the moment. “Yeah?”
“You were just kind of zoning out over there,” he teased lightly.
My mom and Adele were still talking, and my mom was beaming. “Perfect. I’ll call Janet.”
“Maggie, you don’t need to call Janet,” Adele said quickly.
“Janet usually has to chase tourists away from her rentals,” my mom pointed out.
Adele giggled. If I thought her throaty laugh was a turn-on, the sound of her giggle cinched around my heart with a burst of sparkle and joy.
“That’s probably a good point,” she said. “When I told her I didn’t know my time frame when I was scheduling, she pointed out that she unfortunately couldn’t leave it open-ended.”
I didn’t know why, but I could tell Mom had decided Adele was her project. Asher met my eyes with a knowing brow waggle.
Our mom loved a project, someone to take good care of. Adele fit the bill perfectly.
When we were walking out a few minutes later, Jasmine—who ran the gallery and helped with the café—smiled over at us. “Hey, Silvers!”
Our mom stopped to give her a hug and introduce Adele.
“So good you’re in town,” Jasmine said warmly. “You’re going to love it.”
Adele nodded. “So far, so good,” she offered before glancing at her watch. “Well, I should get going.”
As we drove to drop her off a few minutes later, I was acutely aware of the feel of her sitting immediately beside me. She emanated warmth, and I savored her scent, brisk and outdoorsy with a vanilla hint.