Early the next week, Cassie stood in her walk-in closet and scowled. She had tailored suits, silk blouses, pencil skirts, embellished black skinny jeans, a leather cocktail dress—no, no, no, no, and no. She had nothing appropriate for Alaska lessons, Cody Bradford style.

He’d be picking her up soon and had told her to dress casually, but casual wasn’t really her thing. She liked high heels, expensive labels, bold makeup, and sparkly jewelry. She’d had a generous allowance all through college and used it to put her feminine wiles on full display.

She didn’t think she even owned anything flannel.

It was a dilemma, and she decided to call the one person she knew would be able to offer her a solution—her best friend, Abby, who’d moved to Atlanta for her newspaper reporter job the same week Cassie moved to Golden Falls for her TV job. They’d met their first week in grad school and had been inseparable ever since. Abby was one of the few people who knew where Cassie was and her true reasons for being there.

“Hey, hey!” she said when Abby answered. “Guess who?”

“My crazy Alaska friend! Girl, you should have been out with me last night. So. Much. Fun. Atlanta’s a hopping town. Tons of smart, preppy boys who like to buy women expensive drinks.”

“Did you go dancing?”

“You know it. I danced until dawn.”

Cassie missed the club scene. She’d never been much of a drinker, but she loved music and dancing, the glitter and the glitz. She loved getting dressed beforehand with girlfriends and anticipating the night ahead and what sort of fun and men it might bring. Truth be told, Cassie loved to flirt. The fact that her attempts to flirt with Cody seemed to have gone unrewarded so far had perplexed her to no end.

“Listen, Abby, I need help. You know that sort-of date I have today?”

“With your hunky firefighter?”

“Right. I have no idea what to wear, so I’m relying on your wisdom to help me figure it out.”

“Ooh, fun. What look are you going for?”

“Sexy outdoor Alaska chick,” Cassie said.

Abby laughed. “There’s no such thing.”

“Hey, you’re not allowed to diss my new hometown!” Cassie said. “You’ve never even been here—what do you know?”

Cassie had already texted Abby all the details about Cody and her date—was it even a date? She didn’t know!—because she’d needed to share her excitement with someone and didn’t yet know anyone in town in whom she could confide. In return, she’d gotten a ton of messages about how much Abby loved Atlanta and all the new friends she was meeting through work and meetups and online dates, which left Cassie wishing she were in Atlanta, too. Or at least in a big city with people more like her, where she belonged.

It was a new and not altogether pleasant experience to feel like the odd woman out. There was a term for newcomers to Alaska—Cheechako—and it wasn’t complimentary. Most found they couldn’t handle the winters and lasted less than a year, so long-timers didn’t bother investing much time in developing friendships with them until they’d stuck around for a full year. Like it or not, Cassie was a Cheechako—worse, even, because she already knew she had no intention of sticking around, as quaint and lovely as Golden Falls was. As soon as she felt she was safe, as soon as he stopped trying to contact her … then the first big-city job offer that came along would have her packing her bags. She missed sushi and concerts and being in a city that never slept.

“Fair enough. I’ve never been to Alaska,” Abby conceded. “I’ll look it up on social media and see what comes up. Hold on.” Cassie heard typing in the background, and then Abby was back. “Oh, this is pathetic. All I’m getting is girls in overalls and baseball hats.”

“Neither of which I have.”

“I guess do your hair in braids,” Abby said. “And how about wear a black tank with tight denim and a super cute belt? If you show lots of cleavage and highlight your tiny waist, your sexy will be in your shape. That’s really the best I can do for you.”

“I think that could work,” Cassie said. Most importantly, she had the items in her closet. “And then I could soften it up with dainty earrings.”

“And perfume,” Abby said.

“Of course,” Cassie replied. “Always perfume.”

“What are you guys doing?”

“I have no idea.” Cassie smiled. “All I know is Cody said it’ll be dirty.”

“Ooh,” Abby said. “I like the sound of that.”

“Right? I swear, I’ve never been with someone like him before,” Cassie said. “He’s a man in a way no New York guy ever could be. I mean, there are plenty of alpha males in New York, but their brand of alpha is I’ll-slit-your-throat-as-I-climb-over-you-on-my-way-to-the-top. Polished and ass-holey. But Cody is just pure physicality and total competence and he’s got muscles like I’ve never seen before. I cannot wait to feel his biceps, and his pecs, and his abs—preferably when he’s … you know … over me and naked.”

“Pound, pound, pound,” Abby said, and Cassie laughed at the phrase they’d used often when referring to sex.

“The sooner the better,” Cassie said. “I mean, he’s giving me Alaska lessons. Don’t you think sex with the sexiest man in Golden Falls should be one of the lessons?”

“I’d think so.”

“Maybe even today.” Cassie sighed dreamily. “On a bearskin rug.”

“A bearskin rug—now that’s Alaska,” Abby said.

They said their goodbyes, and before Cassie got dressed, she rubbed her favorite scented lotion all over herself to make sure her skin was soft as could be. Cody would like that, she thought. If he touched her, he’d like that.

The thought of him touching her made desire course through her, and the unbidden thought of his cock filling her made her breathless with want.

Today, she thought. Please let it happen today.

* * *

Cody couldn’t help but smile when Cassie opened the door to her townhome. She’d been so professional in how she’d dressed the other day at the fire station, so perfectly styled and manicured and flawless. No doubt, the woman had been hot. Capital H Hot, but he’d felt intimidated by her, too, like they weren’t on the same playing field in life.

Looking at her today, wearing jeans, riding boots, and a tight black tank top that showed off the tantalizing curve of her breasts was hot on a whole other level. With her blond hair in two braids and her simpler style of clothing, she looked more like a woman he could handle. More like a woman he had a chance in hell with.

“Hey there,” he said as he came up the walk.

“Hey there, yourself.” Cassie leaned against the doorframe with a hand on her hip. “How did you like the feature segment I did on the fire station?”

“I liked it fine,” Cody said, although he’d been teased mercilessly by the other guys for his starring role. He stopped in front of her on the small porch step. “But the fire chief called over and bitched to Jack Barnes because you didn’t give him any face time.”

“You were more interesting … and a lot more photogenic,” Cassie said, laughing. “Hey, am I dressed okay? I wasn’t sure what to wear since I don’t know what we’re doing.”

“It’ll do.” Cody resisted the urge to tug on one of her braids. “We’re going fishing, if you must know.”

“Fishing? As in, with fish?”

He grinned. “Is there any other kind?”

“I guess not. Why don’t you come on in while I get my—” Her cell phone rang. “Oh, I’d better grab that. It could be work.”

He followed her, stopping just inside the door, as Cassie rushed to her phone. He took a quick glance around, hoping for more clues about her, but he was disappointed. The house had reddish hardwood floors, all-white walls, and bland corporate-style furniture that he suspected had come with the rental. There was nothing to reveal Cassie’s personality, not a single personal touch anywhere.

“Hello?” Cassie said into the phone, giving him an apologetic smile. And then she paled, and stiffened, and turned from him. “You have the wrong number.”

She ended the call and tossed her phone on the dining room table like it had given her an electric shock.

“Everything okay?” Cody said, seeing clearly that everything was not okay.

“I’m fine.” Cassie sounded distant. “Can you just—? I’ll be right back.”

She took off toward the stairs which presumably led up to her bedroom and disappeared from sight. Cody suddenly worried she was going to cancel the outing, which he’d been looking forward to for days. When she came back down a few minutes later with a shaky but determined smile, he was relieved.

“You got some texts,” he said, nodding at the phone on the table, which had buzzed several times while she was upstairs.

She summoned a big sigh and checked the messages, her face unreadable as she did so. He watched as she turned off the volume on her phone and set it on her kitchen counter. Then she gave him a bright, forced smile.

“So, fishing!” she said. “It occurred to me that I might have to murder helpless little squiggly worms in our quest to catch a fish.”

Cody laughed. He imagined that she’d never touched an earthworm in her life.

“Hey, I’m game,” Cassie added. “It’s just … ew.”

“About that call,” Cody began.

“Don’t worry about it.” She waved it off. “It’s just the past trying not to let me go.”

“A messy breakup?” he guessed.

“Not exactly. It’s really nothing.”

Cody wanted to know more, but he could tell she didn’t want to talk about it. He wanted to hug her and tell her everything would be all right. His instinct was always to support women when they were feeling sad or mad or weak, a legacy left over from his childhood and dealing with his mother. He’d gotten along well with his last girlfriend for the most part, not much drama, but when they did argue she accused him of treating her like she was too fragile. I’m as strong as you, she’d said. As capable as you, and I can damn well take care of myself. Stop treating me like a china doll that’s about to break.

He’d had plenty of time to ponder her words in the year since their relationship had ended, and he’d taken them to heart. Growing up, a shroud of depression had descended on his mother at predictable intervals—October through March—and it rendered her lethargic and incapable of getting through the days like a normal person. As a little kid, he’d tried valiantly to keep up her spirits, to coax a smile out of her, to keep the darkness away. But her moods changed with the seasons, and she slipped away from him and his father every winter, largely taking to her bed as she waited for the long darkness to pass. Her presence was an anchor that weighed them down, a sleeping beast they tiptoed around. So Cody knew a thing or two about how the past could hold on to a person, and he also knew better than to comfort a woman who didn’t want it.

“Let’s get out of here,” Cassie said.

She left her phone behind, gathered her purse and keys, and came over by him, touching him lightly on the arm to guide him out the door, which she locked behind them. As she bent to lock it, he caught a whiff of her hair, a warm scent of coconut and vanilla, and he wanted to pull her to him, tuck her head against his shoulder, and tell her to forget whatever reminder of the past had upset her.

But he said nothing, because he trusted that Cassie could handle herself.

“So where are we going fishing?” she asked as they started off in his Dodge Ram.

“Sean’s place is along the Nanook River,” he said. “He offered his back yard for the day.”

Initially, he’d wanted to take her to his hunting cabin on White Spruce Lake. Accessible only by boat, the cabin was on the remote shore of a long, narrow lake high in the Alaska Range that Cody considered one of the most pristine spots in the world. But he decided against taking her out into the wilderness alone their very first time together in case it made her uncomfortable. After witnessing how shaken up that phone call had gotten her, he was glad he’d decided against it.

The last thing he wanted to do was scare her away.