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They lay cuddled together for a while. Then Holly’s stomach began gurgling a demand for breakfast, and Ice chuckled.
“Right,” he said, untangling himself and getting to his feet. “I’ll start breakfast while you check in with your boss.”
Holly groped around the tangle of blankets for the Garmin InReach. “I’ll tell him you’re taking good care of me.”
Chapter Thirteen – Change of Plans
“You’re spoiling me, you know,” Holly said a half-hour later, contemplating the table loaded with steaming mugs of coffee and scratch-made waffles, plus plates mounded with scrambled eggs and piled with strips of crisp bacon. “How am I going to face a freezer full of Lean Cuisine, lasagna, and chicken pot pies after this?”
Ice’s eyes widened in horror. “That’s what you’ve been living on?” He shook his head. “No way.”
“I’m not a very good cook,” she confessed. “I get distracted, and then stuff burns or turns to shoe leather.”
He fixed her with a stern glance. “That’s it, Holly. I’m keeping you here with me for the rest of the winter and feeding you properly.”
She grinned at him, loving the idea of holing up with her shapeshifter sex god, who was also a professional cook. Then cruel reality intruded.
“I wish I could,” she said with genuine regret. “But I have a job.”
“A job you can’t really do until your leg heals,” Ice said, handing her a pitcher of deep purple huckleberry syrup and a bowl of freshly whipped cream fragrant with vanilla. “Which won’t be until January at the earliest. And won’t you have to do at least a few weeks of physical therapy once they remove your cast?”
“Don’t remind me,” she sighed. “Let me guess—shapeshifters heal up a lot faster than regular people do?”
“Yup,” he said cheerfully. “Here, try the eggs. I made them with Gruyere cheese.”
She served herself, then put a forkful in her mouth. Rich flavors exploded on her tongue. “Oh my God, Ice. Marry me.”
He laughed. “Careful. I might hold you to that.”
“At least I’ve got a ton of data I can analyze,” Holly said, cutting into her waffle. “But my boss wasn’t happy about me dropping out of the study with only a month of data collected.”
She winced, recalling the text message Arnold Beckworth had sent her just now via the InReach’s message function.
Glad you’re safe. Disappointing you had to terminate bear study. Advise when you expect to return to office.
She knew her boss well enough to read between the lines. He was pissed at her bad luck.
“These waffles are amazing.” A thought struck her as she chewed and swallowed. “Hey, Ice, now that I’m in on your big secret, would you mind putting my trail cams back where you found them? I’m pretty sure that Arnold will try to pull someone else in to replace me on that study I was conducting.”
Ice looked thoughtful. He hesitated and took a long swing of coffee before replying. She wondered if she’d overstepped.
Then he said, “Sure, no problem. And I’ll do you one better.” He brightened. “How about a new deal?”
“What kind of deal?” she asked around another mouthful of waffle. Without a doubt, they were the best she’d ever eaten.
“What if you can keep doing your study?” he asked. “Here’s the deal: If you promise to stay here with me for the rest of the winter, I’ll go check the trail cam footage every day or two, and do whatever other outdoor stuff you need for your job.”
“I can’t possibly impose on you like that,” Holly protested, warmth blossoming inside her at his generous offer.
Since arriving here, she’d discovered that his grumpy exterior hid a sweet, thoughtful man.
Now he folded his arms and gave her one of his patented glares. “It’s not imposing. I enjoy being outdoors. Besides, you told me you love your job, plus you need to rest up so your leg can heal. This solves all of your problems, right?”
“That’s such a generous offer… but what about your job? I mean, it’s not just the cameras. I have to do other stuff, like collecting poop and hair samples.” She wrinkled her nose. “I signed up for tasks like that, but asking you to do it seems kind of extreme. I wouldn’t want to take advantage of your good nature.”
Ice smiled crookedly. “I’m not exactly known for my good nature.” He eyed her nearly-empty plate, then snagged several strips of crisp bacon and gave them to her before continuing. “Checking your cameras won’t take long. If you have extra SD cards, I can swing by and swap them out after my restaurant shifts end. And I guarantee that finding and collecting those hair and poop samples won’t take me very long.” He tapped his nose. “I can smell if a bear’s been in the area or not.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, struggling between her desire to stay with him and her concerns about inconveniencing him. “I mean, it would mean a lot to me, but it’s so much extra work…”
