Unbound (7 page)

I thought about the float plane and making a living out here in Sitka. I thought of Mac, the cute and unsuspecting proprietor of The Pine Way. I thought of the two lives I had already lived to this point and found myself incredibly anxious to
truly
start the third one.

7—Mac

I was having what I liked to call a Crossword kind of day. Those are the days when business at the shop is so slow that I spend most of my time doing crossword puzzles to pass the time. For the last five years or so, over half of our business consisted of online orders which meant that all I had to do was box the item up, slap a shipping label on it, and send it off.

The only real reason The Pine Way managed to exist as a physical store at all was for the tourists that came in from time to time. There were a few loyal locals as well, but they only made up about fifteen percent of our business.

This was why I was so caught up on the idea of buying the float plane. With the plane, I could introduce an entirely new facet to The Pine Way—one that my father had mentioned offhandedly in the several years he had taken me under his wing. I liked to think that if I managed to get the plane and make a successful venture of flying tourists out to great fishing spots and off-the-beaten-path hiking locales, I’d be bringing a dream of his to fruition. Dad had been in the grave for almost five years now, but I still saw The Pine Way as his store.

Of course, there were hold ups at the bank, not letting me purchase the plane as quickly as I could. According to the guy I was working with, the money would be mine within forty-eight hours. My only hope was that the other interested party was having the same sorts of complications. I was tempted to just siphon some of the funds from the shop’s money but it would go against the financial practices that my father had lived by and I wasn’t about to disgrace his memory in such a way.

So to busy myself, I was attempting to complete the crossword in the back of the local paper. I was trying to figure out a nine letter word for
love
when I heard the little bell over the front door jingle. I looked up and saw the man that had come in two days ago.

I smiled as my heart skipped a beat.  “Hey there.  Jack, right?” I asked. I was being coy; I remembered his name.

“
That’s right,
Mac
,” he said with a smile. The good-looking man made his way to the counter and looked around passively, as if he wasn’t quite sure what he was doing there.  I watched him for a moment, noting the way he moved. 

“
I’m relieved to see you,” she said. “I was afraid our Alaskan wilds might get the better of you.”

“
Oh, I can handle myself in the wilderness,” he said with a confident grin that made my insides pur.

“
Did you have fun?” I asked.

“
I did. It was sort of cool to get lost out in the woods for a day or so. I made it all the way to Catchman’s Overlook and camped. It was beautiful.”

“
Wow, that
was
quite a hike!”

He nodded casually.  “
I hope to do it again soon.”

“Ambitious hiker.  I like that,” I said with a smile as his big brown eyes lifted to me.  “
So what can I do for you today?” I asked.

“
I wanted to get some more of those GoBars. Those things are delicious—unlike most of those other healthy nature bars that taste like cardboard.”

“
Yeah, they’ve been selling pretty well. I just put a few new boxes out.” I pointed to the aisle behind him and to the left. He glanced over to them in an almost reluctant way, and tossed me a sexy, boyish grin. Maybe he hadn’t come here
just
for the GoBars after all?  A girl could only hope...

Still, I guess he felt obligated at that point. He walked over to the aisle where I kept nutritional supplements, granola, power bars, and the like. He eyed the GoBar selection for a while and then seemed to randomly pick a few. As he did all of this, I finally got a chance to give him a look-over without being too obvious.

His dark-blonde hair was slightly unkempt, but not in a never-been-washed sort of way. It seemed to have that messy quality that usually showed up on magazine covers, the '
I didn't try but I did
' look that most guys couldn’t pull off. Both his hair and his goatee were in need of a trim, but it wasn’t too bad.

His t-shirt, while loose-fitting, emphasized his amazing upper body. Most hikers I saw come into The Pine Way were usually rather slim, yet fit. But Jack looked as if he made a habit of hitting up a weight room fairly often. My eyes roamed greedily over his broad shoulders and down his muscular back. 
Dear Lord, what would he look like without a shirt on?
 
How I could use a night alone with him…
Goose bumps rose up on my arms as I reveled in my naughty thoughts.

Jack turned back towards the counter and I looked away quickly, my eyes going back to the crossword puzzle. As I did, I heard the bell over the door jingle again. I frowned as Amber Dawson stepped through the door. She was dressed in a cute sweater and pants that were far too tight. She had on a pair of those ridiculously large sunglasses that somehow looked absolutely beautiful on her.

I hated her in that moment. And I knew that I would hate her even more when Jack’s attention would predictably shift from me to her. But, just as I expected her to rush up to Jack and initiate a pointless conversation, something amazing happened. For a brief moment, our eyes met.  Amber took in the situation and smiled.  Pointing at Jack, who was facing away from her, she mouthed “omg he's hot.”

My eyes flicked to Jack, who was completely oblivious, and then back to Amber.  For the first time, I actually smiled at her. She saw that I was in the middle of an awkward conversation with a man that she had never seen before and was giving me space.  She stepped to the side and pretended to find something of interest in the rock climbing section of the store, far away to the back. 
Maybe Amber isn't so bad after all...

Jack sat the bars next to the register slowly, as if he were trying to think of something to say. My insides twirled like a vortex of butterflies. 
Is he going to ask me out?
  Finally, when the last GoBar was on the counter, he found the words he was looking for.

“
Have you ever been to Catchman’s Overlook?” he asked. 
Damn.

“
Once,” I said. “A few years back. I’m really not much of a long-distance hiker.”

“
Rock climber?” he asked.

“
No.”

He twisted his head and thought.  “
Runner?”

“
Wrong again.”

“
It seems odd that you’d be the proprietor of a place like this, then,” he said with a boyish grin.

“
It was my father’s place,” I responded with a proud smile. “I used to help him here when I was a teenager and I fell in love with it. It was all I ever wanted to do even after I went to college.”

“A
h,” he nodded slightly.  “I revoke my previous statement then.”

“
No worries.”

Jack eyed me for a moment, still smiling, and then an awkward silence fell between us, one that I did not let extend any further than it had to. I started to ring up his GoBars, going as slow as I could in the hopes that he might pick the conversation up again. As I scanned the bars across the scanner, it occurred to me that this was the first time since my divorce that I had spoken to a man in a way that might lead to…well, to
something.

It was both monumental and terrifying all at the same time.

The silence made me very aware of Amber Dawson in the back of the store. I was sure she was eavesdropping. Therefore, I wasn’t
about
to be the one to take the next step. I found myself thinking, as if trying to push some sort of telepathic message across to Jack:
Ask me out already! At least ask for my number!

“
Heading back out there again anytime soon?” I asked.

“
I don’t know. Probably.”

I had another question at the ready, but didn’t want to seem too obvious. It was on the top of my tongue, but I managed to swallow it. And it was a good thing I did, because he
almost
crossed the line I was hoping he would cross with his next question.

“
SO, are you here every day?”

“
Yeah,” I said with a shrug. “It’s a glamorous life.”  I tossed my hair over my shoulder in a teasing sort of way, indicative of a starlet at the Oscars.

He nodded and smiled at me, paying cash for his items.  God
, this guy is hot as sin.
 
Wow. 
His model-worthy smile could light up a room and melt panties off of any hot-blooded woman, including mine.  I handed him the paper sack with a steady hand, refusing to give into the sex-crazed monster suddenly lurking in my brain.

“Then I'm quite sure I'll be back soon,” he said softly, making sure to hold my eyes. 
Oh Jesus Christ!
  My insides completely melted into some odd mixture seemingly consisting of runny oatmeal and pop-rocks.  “Bye, for now.”

“
Later, Jack.”

We held eye contact for another two seconds before he turned around. His eyes were dark brown, almost chocolate. But despite the lack of color, there was a lot going on in them. He had one of those stares that was beyond expressive.  I could totally get lost in those deep pools of chocolate.

When he turned away, I frowned. Amber Dawson slowly walked down the aisle towards me, hidden from Jack by two display racks. She froze at the edge of it as Jack opened the door and turned back to me. He gave me a dazzling smile, a wave, and then he was gone. 
Oh, good God!

Amber wasted no time in coming to the counter. She gave me an evil grin and nodded. “If you don’t mind my saying so, that guy is
beyond
hot.”

“I suppose some people might think so
,” I said trying to sound professional to avoid a lengthy conversation which I was positive would turn to my love life.

“Please.  All people
,” she said, flipping her radiant hair back with a smile. “I can’t remember the last time I saw you speak to a man for that long. And I don’t know if you are aware of it or not, but you were looking at him like you were a starving bear and he was a piece of meat.”

I gasped.  “
I was
not!”

Amber beamed, nodding and grabbing my arm lightly.  “Oh, you totally were! But so was he! Seriously, Mac, you need to get out and play. When he comes back in and asks you out, you better say yes and have some fun.”

I looked at her for a moment then the door of my shop. 

“He
will
ask you out the next time he's in,” she said, nodding to the front of the store.  “So obvious.”

“We’ll see.”

“
And when he
does,
”
Amber said, ignoring my doubt, “you damn well better accept. Let this be your warning: if you let that man get away without at least sampling his skills in bed, I’m going to pounce.”

Of course you are
.

I sighed and then gave her an exasperated look. “Is that why you came in today?  To discuss my love life?  You didn't seem too interested in that rock-climbing gear.”

She laughed.  “No, and no I wasn't – hate rock-climbing
. I saw that guy walk in when I was across the street and followed him in because I wanted to introduce myself. But then I saw that you two were on the verge of something, so I backed off.”

“
Well thanks.”

“Welcome
.” She shrugged and smiled.

We both snickered a bit at this and it helped me to realize that I hadn’t been so excited and hopeful in quite some time. First there was the possibility of acquiring the float plane and now there was the possibility of a man being in the picture, and one of the best looking men I'd ever seen at that!