Page 43 of Seale the Deal

She exhales hard. Yeah. Just startled me.

I nod, resisting the urge to run a hand down her back. You did the right thing. Letting off the trigger was exactly what you should’ve done.

Her shoulders relax a little. What happened?

Likely a knot in the grain. Makes the saw catch.

I toe the log and point with my boot. Move your line a little lower, like an inch. You’ll avoid the worst of it.

This time, when she cuts, it’s clean. She finishes the pass in one go, a proud smile blooming on her lips as the round drops of the log with a solid thud.

Nice, I say, grinning. You’ve earned your first badge to becoming an honorary Alaskan.

Yeah? She flicks the saw off, a few curls coming loose from the hairband she had them in. What other badges do I need?

I scratch my beard. Well, for starters, you’ll need to successfully chase off a moose without dying.

She blinks. That feels fake.

Surviving your first winter without crying is also up there.

I’ve been crying pre-emptively for months, so bring it.

You’ll need to drive on a sheet of ice with one hand, a coffee in the other, and at least one bald tire. Extra points if it’s a twelve-year-old Subaru.

She’s trying not to laugh. You’re getting detail specific with this now.

Swatting a mosquito the size of your fist while peeing in the woods is also on the list.

That one sounds personal.

It was traumatic.

Wrenley bites her lip to keep from laughing, but it doesn’t work. She breaks into a full grin, eyes bright. Okay, well, I’ll start working on it.

You’re off to a good start. I bend to grab the cut round. But don’t get cocky. That scene in my front yard is working against you still.

She rolls her eyes and follows me back to the quad. I drop the round in with the rest of the wood and brush my gloves off.

You ready to head back? I ask.

She doesn’t answer right away, and something flickers across her face. I wonder if she feels the same strange gravity I do.

But then she straightens, swiping her hands on her jeans. Yeah, she says with a small smile. Let’s go.

I nod once and try not to overthink her pause while also hoping she holds on to me a little tighter this time.

Chapter 6

Wrenley

DAYS LEFT ON VISA: 83

My arms wrap around him again, and I pretend it’s for safety like he said earlier. In truth, I kind of want to hold him. Not only is he warm, something that is hard to come by in an Alaskan fall, it seems, but it just feels good. I’ve forgotten how nice it is to hold a man, and a good-smelling one at that.

Cutting wood with Ruger shouldn’t have felt intimate, but it did. And I can’t stop thinking about the way our hands touched when he handed me the chainsaw. The way he didn’t hover, just watched with this quiet, feral protectiveness like he’d rip the tree in half if I so much as flinched wrong. When the saw jumped and my heart literally stopped beating in my chest, he didn’t panic or belittle me. He encouraged me to try again.

Now, I’m pressed up against his back, my face practically tucked into the hood of the hoodie I borrowed. It smells so good. My new favourite scent mixture is pine, firewood, and clean soap. I feel everything. His strength, the heat of him through the cotton, the way my body reacts like it’s been waiting for this exact kind of contact. We hit a bump, and my arms tighten. So does everything else.