The Tourist Attraction (Moose Springs, Alaska #1)(105)

“I thought we weren’t saying goodbye,” Zoey said, unable to keep from wrapping her arms around his waist.

“I couldn’t let the B team of Moose Springs’ rideshare drivers take you to the airport,” Graham told her, voice husky as he leaned down and rested his forehead to hers.

“What about the Tourist Trap?”

“What about it?”

Zoey exhaled a breathy laugh. “You’re incorrigible. You don’t deserve that awesome place.”

“Not at all.” Graham slipped the flower into her hand before kissing her. “I’m not letting someone else take my last moments with you.”

As she opened the passenger side door, Zoey found a roly-poly little stuffed moose sitting in the passenger seat, safely buckled in. Jake was in the back seat, his muzzle on his paws as if he knew something bad was happening.

“Jake picked that out. Something to remember us by,” Graham told her. The softness of his voice and the pain in his eyes couldn’t be hidden behind a plushy.

“He’s a happy moose.” Zoey climbed in the truck, hugging the moose to her stomach. “Thank you.”

She didn’t say that she didn’t need a happy moose to remember him. Forgetting Graham would be like forgetting how to breathe…impossible and painful when tried.

The drive to Anchorage was quiet. Every time Zoey opened her mouth to tell him they could stay in touch, they could text or call, they could visit…she closed her mouth again. They could, but all that would do was delay the inevitable.

Graham’s calloused, work-roughened hands gripped the steering wheel too hard, even though he smiled at her with that same lazy smile she loved when he caught her eye. Reaching over, he threaded his fingers through her own.

Unlike the poor steering wheel creaking beneath his clenching fist, he held her hand like it was as delicate as the flower he’d given her.

Rubbing his thumb across her knuckles, Graham pulled her wrist to his mouth, pressing the softest of kisses to the sensitive flesh. Then he pressed their entwined fingers to the top of his thigh as if holding her close just a little longer.

“Gonna miss you, darlin’.”

Four words, and they cut into her soul.

“You’re going to have a lot more free time to harass the poor tourists that come after me,” Zoey joked.

He opened his mouth to make a joke, then closed it. “You know what? They’re not so bad.”

Counting to three silently in her head, Zoey waited for the pinched expression to come to his face, as if his words tasted of sour lemons. “You’re so full of it,” she teased.

“Yeah, I hate them. Super-duper can’t stand them.” Shooting her a grin, Graham shrugged. “Sorry, Zo, I can only make exceptions for you.”

“Graham? People love you. It’s okay to let them.”

A pained expression crossed his handsome features, but Zoey plunged on, twisting to face him as the airport came into view at the end of the road.

“It’s okay to be good at something you weren’t planning on, and it’s okay to enjoy being successful.” She squeezed his fingers, hard. “Maybe it wasn’t the plan, and it wasn’t the dream, but you have a good life. You don’t have to be embarrassed by your success. Use it to make your dreams happen. Let the masses buy a million reindeer dogs and then go attack cedar logs with your chainsaw like a crazy guy. You’ve earned the right to have the things you want.”

Nodding, Graham didn’t say anything. But his eyes said it all as he pulled up to the curb in front of the airport and turned to her.

“I can park in short-term parking,” he offered, voice quiet, gaze scraping over her form. “I can wait with you for a while.”

Zoey shook her head. “And drag this out? I’m barely keeping from bawling like a baby right now.”

She turned around in the seat to say goodbye to Jake, running her fingers one last time through the border collie’s silky coat. “Take care of him, Jake.”

When Jake whined, Zoey dropped a kiss to the end of his nose. “You’re a good dog. And he’s a good man. Don’t let him forget, okay?”

Zoey could feel the heat of tears stinging her eyes, even if she’d managed to keep them from falling. That lasted up until the moment his strong hands carefully cupped her face.

Gripping his biceps for strength, Zoey closed her eyes. “I don’t like this part,” she whispered, voice catching on the words.

“Me either.” His thumbs brushed the wetness sliding down her cheeks. “Zoey? Some women walk in a room and turn a guy inside out. You turned me inside out, and I’ve never enjoyed anything more. Losing a woman like you screws a guy up good and hard.” Graham’s arms shook, but his hands slid into her hair, his forehead against hers. Voice thick with emotion, he said, “Screwed up or not, I wouldn’t change the last two weeks for the world.”

This kiss, their last one, lingered too long. A security guard started toward the truck, waving them on.

“Goodbye, Graham,” she whispered.

“Goodbye, Zoey.”

And then he let his hands drop.

There was nothing left to do. Zoey grabbed her Alaska bag and her suitcase and got out of the truck. By the time she reached the sliding door of the terminal entrance and looked back over her shoulder, Graham was gone.