Chapter 4
FOUR
CLIFF
Whoever thought over-serving people whiskey and beer before handing them a bunch of axes was an idiot.
Or a genius. An evil genius.
I can’t decide if I’m more amused or scared as friends and family line up to take their turn at ax-throwing. It’s a bonding outing my sister and future brother-in-law planned for the day before the wedding. Because, I guess, we aren’t already spending enough time together.
Some people can’t handle being alone for more than an hour at a time. They wouldn’t last a whole weekend back in my neck of the woods.
It also happens to be Valentine’s Day, and I suppose throwing axes at a wall isn’t the worst way to celebrate a supposedly romantic day.
Not wanting to lose an eye—or my neck—I give the more enthusiastic wedding guests a wide berth from my perch near the bar. That’s where my sister finds me, still nursing my first beer.
“You look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders.”
I lift one of the shoulders. “I’m fine.”
“Oh, I know you better than that. You look worried.” Winter slides her arm through mine and rests her cheek against my shoulder. “What do you have to be worried about?”
“I’m not worried. I just don’t feel like getting in the way of any of these axes.”
She rolls her eyes. “You live in the Alaskan wilderness. I know for a fact you use an ax almost every other day.”
“Yeah, but I’m not usually using it around a bunch of people who are two sheets to the wind.”
“I suppose that’s the benefit of being a recluse.”
“It’s not the only one,” I grumble.
Laughing, she gives my arm a squeeze and straightens. “Yes, well I know it was a lot to ask you to leave your little piece of heaven in Alaska to slum it with the rest of us here for a week. But I appreciate it all the same.”
I cast her a sidelong glance. “I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. You know that.”
The bright smile she flashes makes me feel even more like an ogre than I usually do. The only thing Winter has asked of me in this whole thing was to come to her wedding and walk her down the aisle. As I said, I wouldn’t have missed doing either one.
Yet, here I am. Acting as if she’s asked me to lead a conga line around the lodge or give her a kidney. Though, now that I think of it, I’d give her one of my kidneys without batting an eye.
I suppose showing up to her wedding festivities without pouting isn’t that much of an ask.
I should quit being such a curmudgeon.
For a second, I think about telling Winter how much I admire her big heart and the love she shows everyone. But the words get jumbled in my head before they have any chance of coming out of my mouth.
Sighing, I slide an arm around my sister’s shoulders. “Sorry. I’ll try harder to have a good time.”
“You make it sound like a lot of work when you say it like that.”
I spare her a pointed look instead of verbally agreeing with her. That only makes her chuckle again.
“Poor thing. Don’t worry. I won’t make you dance or give a speech or anything.”
“I’m sensing a but.”
“But…” She laughs even harder as I sigh. “I was thinking you maybe wouldn’t mind giving a few pointers to some of my guests. You know, in the interest of safety and anything.”
“What makes you think I know anything about ax throwing?”
“Because you actually know how to use one—even for chopping wood—already has you miles ahead of just about everyone else here.”
She’s not wrong there. “I suppose I am the person least likely to lose an arm doing all of this.”
“See, there you are again with that nice, cheerful attitude that I’ve missed so much.” She cranes her neck and sighs. “If you actually had a cheery attitude, I’d ask you to go use it on Sophie. Poor thing.”
My spine immediately straightens. “Why? What’s wrong with Sophie?”
“I don’t know that there is anything wrong, per se. But something is up with her.”
Frowning, I follow the line of her stare to the woman in question. Like me, she’s hanging back from the rest of the crowd, who are all but elbowing each other for the chance to try their hand at hitting the target.
Only, unlike me, she’s watching with a light smile playing on her impossibly full lips. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about those lips more than a few times while I tossed and turned in my bed last night.
“She looks good to me.”
Winter’s eyebrows lift up until they disappear under her bangs. “And just how good do you think she looks.”
“Don’t be like that.” I scowl, even though that’s exactly where my mind had been headed. “I just meant that she looks happy enough.”
“I never said she wasn’t happy.”
No, I guess she didn’t. “But you said something was up with her.”
“I did. It seems like she’s keeping a secret.”
“Well, if she’s keeping a secret, it isn’t any of our business.”
Winter rolls her eyes and shakes her head at me. “You’re completely hopeless.”
“Not completely.” I push away from the bar.
“Where are you going?”
“To spread a little of my cheer to your friend.”
Striding across the room, I pause when I reach Sophie’s side. I hold out my hand. “Come on.”
She frowns. “Come on and what?”
“Let me show you how to throw an ax.”
She blinks at me. “You want to throw an ax?”
The look of shock on her face almost makes me grin.
“I want to show you how to throw an ax.”
“I mean…”
“Come on.” I hold out a hand to her. “What’s the worst thing that could happen?”
“One of us could lose an arm.”
I smirk. Great minds think alike. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Eyeing me warily, she sets her drink down. Taking her hand in mine, I pretend not to notice the instant jolt of electricity that passes through me.
Keeping her close, I cut past the people who are already too drunk for their own good to get through the front of the line. A few people call out greetings, and I grunt in response.
She races to keep up with me. “Didn’t you hear them say hello?”
“Yeah.”
“Why didn’t you say anything back?”
“I nodded.”
Sophie laughs, and the sound makes my heart hitch. “You’re not really one for social interaction, are you? Spontaneous or planned.”
My lips twitch. “No, I don’t suppose I am.”
“Then what is this?” She gestures between the rack of axes and me.
I cock my head to the side. “Call it an experiment.”
“Okay.” She takes a deep breath. “Then, I suppose I’ll leave myself in your capable hands to do whatever it is we’re going to do.”
“You can trust me.” I give in and grin again. The second time in as many days, and both times for her. “As my sister pointed out, I am a mountain man.”
Then, keeping hold of her hand, I spin her so she’s standing in front of me. I place an ax in her hand, the one I’m holding.
“How does this feel?”
She frowns. “Weird. I don’t see how I’m going to get the leverage to throw it.”
“That’s because you’re standing all wrong.” Sliding in even closer behind her, I rest my other hand on her hip. It’s impossible to ignore the way she trembles at my touch.
Or the way my body instantly coils at the feel of her so close.
Kiss her.
It’s not the first time the thought has occurred to me. The first was about ten years ago at one of Winter’s birthday parties. But I’d quickly shaken off the idea then.
Now, it’s not such an easy thought to dismiss.
You could cut the sexual tension between us with an ax. The way she’s still breathing shallowly tells me she feels it too.
For a second I close my eyes and breathe in deeply, filling my lungs with her sweet scent.
I don’t know what it is about Sophie, but I want to know more about her. Not just her touch. But everything she’s thinking.
That’s dangerous territory. Maybe even more dangerous than throwing axes at a bar.
I open my eyes and clear my throat. “Okay, let’s do this.”