Chapter Fourteen
Alexa
I loved what Daniel had done with the house. John had brought me out here when they were finishing the build on it and the place had seemed so barren. Daniel had filled it with furniture and love. The table in the dining area, set for twelve, to the large couches and fifty-five-inch television on the wall.
I walked into the kitchen to start making dinner, but I couldn’t find anything. No dishes, pots and pans, or even food were here yet. I turned to look at Daniel as he brought in the last of the stuff from the truck.
“Hey, I thought you said there was already going to be food here.” I waved my hand around the kitchen, to the fridge.
“There should have been. Why? Is it empty?” Daniel snickered, putting down the box in his arms.
“Well, I was looking for something to make for dinner and there’s no dishes, no pots and pans, and most definitely no food for me to be able to cook. I know we have some snacks in the truck, but other than that, there’s nothing.” I plopped down on the couch next to him, stretching my legs out after sitting all day.
“We could go and get some stuff until the supply truck gets here. Fairbanks is only a couple hours’ drive from here. I suppose it would be worth it to go and get groceries.” He stood, grabbing the keys, and put his jacket back on. He grabbed my jacket from by the door and tossed it at me. “You might want this. Looks like it might snow soon.”
I stared at him and the jacket in my hands and put it on. Shrugging into my jacket I walked outside and glanced up at the clear sky. There was a chill in the air, and I could smell the snow. It was far off, but only by a couple of hours. I just hoped that we could make it to and from Fairbanks before it started in earnest. I hate letting someone else drive in the snow. It scared me.
Daniel pulled back out on the road toward Fairbanks and Nenana. I watched the sky as we drove, noticing the clouds gathering over the park, coming from the north. I wondered if I shouldn’t just offer to drive to save myself the anxiety of having to drive with someone else. The drive through Denali would be easy, but the roads past it could get messy. I was weighing my options and watching the scenery when I noticed the caribou off to the side of the road. Sure, Daniel hadn’t seen any in the wild, I decided to point them out.
“Hey, look at those!” I pointed them out and leaned back to let Daniel see. I couldn’t help but notice the way his eyes lingered on my chest as he glanced out my window. He smiled at the animals beside the road.
“That’s cool. Does that happen often up here? Where they just stand on the side of the road?” He looked curious and confused at the same time.
“Sometimes, up here in the park and where we haven’t truly invaded their space. They talk about herds of caribou on the North Slope running under the Pipeline all the time. The moose in Anchorage have been known to press the walk signals to cross the streets instead of darting out into traffic.” I tried not to laugh as I remembered reading about it in the newspaper, thinking they were being silly. Then I saw it with my own eyes, and I never laughed again.
I hadn’t laughed this much in a long time, and I knew it was because of the man sitting beside me right now. He was waking me back up, and I could never repay him for that.
Soon we were leaving the park and heading toward Nenana. I hadn’t bought my ticket for the Nenana Ice Classic yet, and I needed to. Driving over the river would let me guess how thick I thought it was and when I figured it would break. The pod was already in place when we crossed the bridge. This was going to be a great year and a giant pot.
I sighed as I wondered if I would still be pining over Daniel when the ice finally broke.
“Hey, everything okay?” Daniel touched my arm, bringing me back to reality.
“Yeah, I was just thinking we will be in Fairbanks pretty soon. Probably about another half an hour or so since we just passed through Nenana.” I sighed, not willing to share my inner turmoil.
I kept staring out the window, refusing to look at Daniel as we drove. I was just getting settled back down when we drove into Fairbanks. I was about to say something about dinner when Daniel spoke instead.
“Hungry?”
“I could eat a horse or two,” I laughed and pointed up the road. “There’s a Denny’s up here, most northern one they have. We could stop and eat before shopping. You know what they say. Never shop on an empty stomach.”
We pulled into the parking lot and Daniel looked like he was about to have a coronary at the number of cars in the parking lot for 10:30 at night. If I remembered correctly from coming up here when I was younger, this was the local dive for all the younger gamers. They would get their coffee and game all night.
Daniel held the door for me once we found a spot, and we walked inside to wait for someone to seat us. The place was packed with people, and there was only one table available.
“Be right with you.” A waitress hurried by, carrying a tray full of drinks to a booth full of teens in the back. She hurried back to us, slightly out of breath, reaching for menus.
“Hi! Just the two of you?”
“Yup. Do you only have the table or is there a booth available?” Daniel looked nervous. I was having a hard time not laughing at him.
“Sure, this way please.” She grabbed the menus and led us to the booth that was hidden in the back of the restaurant. I looked around as the roar in the restaurant dulled. Everyone was staring at us. Daniel in his suit, and me in my jeans and t-shirt. They must have all thought I was his charity case of the evening. Once we were settled at the table and had our menus, the roar came back to life, and the waitress ran off to get us water.
I kept trying to read my menu, but couldn’t help getting distracted as I felt Daniel’s eyes drilling into me. Finally, I slammed the menu down on the table and glared at him.
“What?”
“It’s interesting watching you try and decide what you want to eat. Whether you want dinner, breakfast, or maybe both and an appetizer. Don’t worry, I like my women to have an appetite. I know you can eat your weight in gold. What’s the worst thing you do? Take it in a doggy box to go?” He fixed me with a pointed stare.
“Yeah, and how long has it been since you came to Denny’s? Hmm, Mr. Money? Don’t you think you should look at the menu to see if they have something that you want to eat?” I was trying to take some of the heat off of my face, but Daniel sitting there smirking at me just made it that much worse. He was insufferable!
Our waitress finally seemed a little calmer when she came back with our water. “Hi. My names Alicia, and I’ll be your server. Can I start you guys off with something to drink, maybe give you a couple more minutes to look over the menu?” Alicia looked from me to Daniel and kept staring at him.
“I’ll have Vanilla Shake, T-bone and eggs, rare, sunny side up eggs; bacon cheese fries, and a cheeseburger and fries, sautéed onions instead.” Daniel rattled off, staring at me.
“And you?”
“I’ll have the chicken bacon sandwich, fried chicken patty, fries; Cookie’s and Cream shake, mozzarella sticks, side salad, Italian dressing, and the fish and chips, extra tartar.” I was playing Daniel’s game and he knew it. He was smiling at me as he took my menu to hand to Alicia.
“Anything else?” Alicia took our menus from Daniel. He dismissed her and she ran off to get our drinks and put in the orders.
Daniel looked at me and started laughing. “I know you said you were hungry enough to eat two horses, but really? The restaurant too?”
“Well, you were ordering so much I didn’t want to be left out. So, I just... upped the ante? Like you said. Worst I do is take home a doggie bag. Afraid I’m going to make you go broke?” I fluttered my eyelashes at them innocently.
“Broke, no. I am afraid of you losing your girly figure.” Daniel winked at me. “So, I guess we’ll just have to figure out a way to burn those calories off. After we get home. Or before depending on when we get out of here and get our shopping done. That sound okay to you? At least for now?” Daniel took a sip of his water.
“Sounds fine.” Everything about this man confused me and enticed me. Was he making a statement or a promise? Would there be more than what happened last night? I wanted to go shopping and get some things that would be good to have in the house, and all he could make me think about was sex and him. I was a mess, and he wasn’t helping. I was sure we would be looking for a way to keep this going after the end of this weekend. I sure as hell didn’t want to let go.
The smell of food arriving broke me from my thoughts as I looked in front of me. The salad would be the first to go. I hated taking them to go. At least the mozzarella sticks would stay if we had to take them, so would the fish. But not the fries. I grabbed the fork and dug into my salad, looking up at Daniel to see if he was watching or eating. As always, he was watching.
“Why are you watching me eat?” I wanted to make a more smart ass comment, but I had already been pushing my luck today. I didn’t know what he was capable of and I didn’t want to lose my job after just getting it. Maybe I should tell him to take a video though because it would last longer.
“I like watching you eat. You actually eat. Not like the other women I’ve dated. You don’t shy away from food after three bites and expect me to be okay with it.” He looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to continue eating. He went back to his fries when I brought the mozzarella stick to my mouth and took a slow, eye rolling bite of it.
I decided to return the favor and started to watch him eat. The way he was attacking those fries though, made me question my sanity. I started to think about what we had done last night, and how he had attacked me with the same vigor. I wasn’t going to forget last night anytime soon, and I could tell that this weekend was going to be an extremely long weekend.
I looked around the restaurant in time to see our entrees heading toward us. I gathered the empty dishes and stacked them all together, and waited. When the food was placed on the table, I handed the empty plates to the waiter and looked at our plates. Greasy and loaded with deliciousness. I watched Daniel in the same way he was watching me. Smirking, he picked up his burger and took a giant bite out of it, moaning in delight. I glared at him and he started laughing. He was laughing at me! I took my chicken sandwich and cut it in half, beginning to eat it.
He cracked a smile at me, and I started to giggle. It wasn’t long before I was full out laughing at him. As if unable to stop himself, he got out of his seat and kissed me, not caring who saw us. The kiss was searing, more so than last night. He broke the kiss as quickly as he started it, and sat back down to eat again.
“What was that for?” I was confused.
“You were laughing at me. It was the only thing I could think of to shut you up. Why were you laughing at me anyway?” Daniel cocked his head at me.
“Well, you were moaning and I glared at you and then you smirked and I lost it.” I took a bite of my sandwich, stuffing some fries into my mouth with it.
“Well, it had been so long since I had a burger that you could taste the burger and not all the other crap on them. I like my burgers simple, and just slightly decorated. Like you.” He took another bite and winked at me. I could feel the fire in my cheeks at his compliment.
I finished my food quickly and decided that I would rather save the rest of the other meal for a midnight snack and get something sweet instead. I flagged down the waitress and asked for a menu so I could look at the desserts. Normally, I would get the apple pie a la mode, but tonight I wanted something rich. Like Daniel.
Alicia was back within a few moments with the menu and the box, making sure there was nothing else we needed before she went to her next table. It was starting to get more crowded the later it got, and the more people got off of work. I was starting to get uncomfortable with the crowd and was debating on getting dessert to go as well when Daniel spoke up.
“I know you want dessert, but if you wait until we go to the store I will buy you a whole chocolate cake if that’s what you want. Can we go? I hate crowds like this.” He looked around nervously.
“If you want to go I can get something at the store. Go ahead and get the check and we can go.” I grabbed our boxes and headed toward the door, stopping Alicia on the way out, letting her know we changed our mind and needed the check instead.
I turned to check on Daniel, to see Alicia handing him the check, touching his arm. I felt my blood boil at the simple gesture, as he pulled his wallet out and leaned toward her, handing her a couple of bills, motioning for her to keep the change. Daniel was much too nice, and if I had anything to say, we would never come back here when she was working. Daniel was mine.