12 - Gunner
Alone At Last
~
Gunner
The truck had a very specific smell, a combination of men’s cologne (they honestly all just smell the same), oil, and wood chips. With Brie jostling beside me, there was a zesty, fruity smell too.
She was bundled up in way too many clothes.
Every time the truck lurched, she struggled to sit up straight again.
I drove over more rocks than I had to and swerved away from dips later than necessary to make her bob and bounce around beside me.
Her thigh rubbed against mine even through her jeans and mine.
I could feel her warmth; it made the long drive more bearable.
“Gunner, show Brie where you saw the bear,” Lexi said excitedly. “It’s closer than you’d think. Maybe we’ll see it too.”
Brie’s eyes went wide at the mention of bears nearby.
I could tell she would have thought twice about coming here if she knew how close all the wild animals were.
There were no cages or even fences that would keep them out.
The only reason they had wandered out of the woods and onto our front porch was that they didn’t want to.
“It was over there by the trees,” I said, pointing it out to Brie. “A big old grizzly just wandering around like he owned the place.”
“Because he does!” Lexi laughed. “The bears do kind of belong here. They eat the fish in the river.”
I stole a glance at Brie. She was looking at the trees, probably hoping not to spot a bear, while Lexi looked at the trees with exactly the opposite wish.
“But just to be sure, they don’t come around the cabin, right?” Brie asked nervously.
Even when she was absolutely terrified, she was gorgeous. Her lips were naturally the perfect shade of pink. Her hair peeked out from the front of her woolen hat, forming perfect waves around her face. It wasn’t just her beauty. She was smart and gentle, with a well-hidden mischievous side.
When I stumbled into the cabin bleeding from my leg after that iron sheet sliced into me, she’d been afraid.
Still, with all that going on in her head, she had stitched me up, good as new.
Almost. I hardly felt her piercing through my flesh.
I was too transfixed on her face, her hands, the way she stared into my eyes and breathed with me to get through it.
Talk about the perfect woman. Brie was the entire package, and I had never come close to any woman who was anywhere near her level.
“If the bears come anywhere near the cabin, you just have to call my name and I’ll run to your rescue.” I was only half-joking.
“Bears aren’t coming to the cabin,” Tobias said, shaking his head. “Knock it off, Gunner. You’re scaring the girls with your tall tales.”
I caught Brie looking at me. I wasn’t just going to look away; I wanted her to know I saw her. She had to know I liked what I saw too, so I winked at her and it made her blush.
“Hey, Lexi,” I started. “Why do fish always blush?”
Lexi gave the riddle some thought, but couldn’t think of an answer. “I don’t know. Why?”
“Because they always see the ocean’s bottom,” I laughed.
“Your jokes get worse and worse,” Gideon said, holding in his laughter.
I didn’t care. Both Lexi and Brie laughed, which was the whole point.
I loved to hear her laugh; it was like the tinkling of a bell, high-pitched with her hand over her mouth, the bridge of her nose scrunched up, and her cheeks a soft pink color.
The same soft pink her cheeks became every time I paid her a compliment or touched her leg.
I changed gears between her legs, caressing her inner thigh each time. It was a daring move, but the cramped front seat could easily excuse it. She was literally straddling the gear shift so the three of us could sit comfortably.
Of course Tobias could have sat in the back, but he didn’t. He sat on the other side of Brie, giving me looks I knew meant he wanted me to stop. Usually, I would have listened. He was the big boss and his word was the only word, but this was different. This wasn’t work.
We finally made our way into town, which was a generous description of what Salmon actually was. The street was lined with small, family-owned stores, and if we drove long enough, we’d hit a scattering of houses on either side. Nothing much else. A small church, a town hall, and a school.
As soon as the car stopped and Gideon announced he was heading to the drugstore, I knew what would happen. Lexi would need the bathroom, and Brie would take her, and then Tobias would start in on me.
“You have to cut it out with all that stuff with Brie,” Tobias said, staring ahead and leaning back on the hood of the truck. “You’re making her uncomfortable.”
I turned sideways, looking straight at him, “Did she say that?”
Tobias sighed. He still wouldn’t look at me, but he insisted on trying to get me to back off. “She doesn’t have to say it. I can tell. All those corny jokes, the touching, that kiss from the other night.”
I wasn’t buying it. Brie was anything but uncomfortable with my advances.
I wasn’t in line for any genius award, but I could read people the same way I could read animals.
There was a look in a deer’s eyes just before it made a run for it.
If Brie had been uncomfortable around me, I would have seen that same look in her eyes. But I hadn’t.
“You mean you’re uncomfortable with Brie laughing at my jokes and enjoying my attention,” I hit back. “I know she’s gotten under your skin. When you’re not snapping at her for anything and everything, you disappear into her room for hours. I know you did more than just apologize in there.”
I recognized the guilt Tobias felt, even if it was only for a few seconds.
It was just the confirmation I needed. I already knew something had happened that night.
He had left the table and reluctantly gone to Brie’s room to apologize for making an ass of himself, but we washed the dishes and packed up the kitchen.
The next time we saw Tobias was the following morning. No apology had ever taken that long.
“That’s bullshit. You need to grow up. This isn’t high school, and you can’t annoy a grown woman into wanting you,” Tobias snarled.
Brie and Lexi walked back down the street toward us with the kid skipping ahead of her excitedly.
“Daddy, Brie and I will buy the groceries,” Lexi announced, holding out her hand for the list. “Brie knows all the good spices.”
The wheels were turning in Tobias’s head. “Okay. It’s probably better if we split up. We’ll finish sooner. I’ll head to the mechanic to get the oil and replacement tools.”
Tobias gave me an admonishing look, pinched Lexi’s cheek, and walked away.
“Let the fun begin!” I clapped. “Last one to the store is a rotten egg!”
I ran with Lexi fighting hard to catch up with Brie trailing behind shouting, “That isn’t fair. I don’t know where the store even is!”
“Neither does a rotten egg,” I shouted back, laughing hard at my own joke.
I slowed down to let Lexi catch up and win the race before we reached the grocery store.
“That was unfair,” Brie laughed breathlessly. “How am I supposed to win a race when I don’t know where the finish line is?”
“You aren’t supposed to win,” I said, playfully bumping shoulders with her. “You’re just supposed to accept that you’re a rotten egg.”
We strolled through the small store from aisle to aisle and hardly saw anyone.
The winter tourists hadn’t started making their way down yet, and the place was practically deserted.
I pushed Lexi down one aisle and up another, following Brie while she packed items into the cart and crossed them off the list.
“So how are you finding the dating scene? Anything interesting? Anyone interesting?” I asked, trying to keep things casual, but hearing myself speak, I knew I had failed dismally.
“Who would Brie date?” Lexi asked. “She never goes out, and she’s just stuck with me, you, Gideon, and Dad.”
She had an answer for everything and somehow made her interjections adorable.
“What do you know about dating Lexi?” I asked.
“I just know,” she smiled.
Brie shrugged, “Well Lexi has a point. I’m at work all day, every day. There’s absolutely no time for dating.”
I nodded, not because I agreed, but because I was considering what she had said. She was at work all day, every day. This was her first outing since she had come to stay in the cabin, but it didn’t mean there was no room for fun.
“Well, no woman is an island and all that. Living in the cabin means you have a limited range, but since I’m part of that range, it isn’t really slim pickings, is it?” I joked. “What do you think, Lexi? I’m the handsome one, right?”
Lexi rolled her eyes. “Brie can’t date you. You like animals and being outside, and she doesn’t.”
Lexi had brought it down to a simple reason: it was easy to think of reasons not to, but the chemistry I knew existed between Brie and me was unmistakable.
It wasn’t something I could just walk away from, not before I knew without a doubt that Brie wasn’t interested.
And from where I stood, she seemed very interested.
“Really?” I asked. “Do you agree, Brie? Even when I recite poetry?”
She laughed, that cute little laugh she did with the scrunched-up nose and her hand over her mouth. “Especially when you recite poetry. You’re so corny.”
I played out my disappointment complete with the down-turned lips, making Lexi laugh.
“Seriously, though,” Brie said, adding a can of crushed tomatoes to the cart. “I don’t mix business with pleasure, and since work has just become my entire life, there just isn’t room for any of that anymore.”
I didn’t believe a word she was saying. My instincts were never wrong, and I could tell she was interested in becoming more than just polite colleagues.
I didn’t look at colleagues the way she looked at me.
I didn’t stare at their lips when they talked, and I definitely didn’t invade their dreams like Brie invaded mine.
“Daddy!” Lexi squealed.
Tobias strode down the noodle aisle with a concerned look on his face.
“This is taking longer than I expected,” he said. “We need to split up and get moving. I’ll take Lexi.”
He rushed off with the cart, Lexi telling him about the alphabet soup she saw, the spices Brie had bought, and all the recipes she was going to learn.
The woman had transformed our lives in the short time she’d been at the cabin, and even though we felt it, each of us was holding onto the same excitement Lexi so freely shared.
“Alone at last,” I whispered, leading her into the detergent aisle. The thick flowery smell filled my nose, but I couldn’t care less. I was with Brie.
“Alone? We’re in the middle of a grocery store. Besides, what do we need to be alone for?”
I stared at the way her mouth moved, how she tilted her head when she didn’t understand.
I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into a kiss.
A soft, gentle kiss at first, but the longer I pressed my lips against hers, the deeper she fell into it, parting her lips and meeting my tongue with hers as I held her.
Her body softened, and for a few seconds I felt all her weight lean into me.
She was swooning in my arms, giving in to the recklessness she had said she wanted no part in just a few minutes before.
I stepped back, and it should have been just for a few seconds, just long enough to catch my breath and confirm this was real. But I opened my eyes only to see Gideon glaring at me from the end of the aisle.