The Tourist Attraction (Moose Springs, Alaska #1)(57)

From past experience, Zoey knew her face was always a splotchy, reddened mess after she cried. But Graham’s eyes were sweeping her features, gaze lingering on her mouth.

“Your tour got canceled?”

She nodded. “Technical malfunctions with the boat.”

“That sucks,” he murmured. “You can’t come all the way to Alaska and not get to see the glaciers.”

“I guess I’m the special one.”

His lips curved. “Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing.”

Graham picked up his phone. “Hey, Ash? It’s Graham. I need a favor.”

*

When Zoey had planned her dream trip to Alaska, she’d known from the beginning there would be certain things she’d never be able to do. As the helicopter tilted to the right, circling the glacier below, she couldn’t help but inhale deeply to slow her racing heart.

This right here. This was what she’d known would never happen.

“Pretty, isn’t she?”

A heavy headset protected Zoey’s hearing from the loud chopping of the helicopter propellers. Through the headset, she could hear Graham’s voice in her ear, a slight buzz distorting his words.

“How long has it been since we’ve been out here, Ash?”

With a casual shrug, Ash made a second, lower sweep over the river of solid ice, blues and iridescent rainbows reflecting across the surface of the glacier below.

“Since we’ve been here? Not since Jenna. Since I’ve been here? Last week.”

“Have you been sight-seeing without me? I’m crushed.” Graham’s teasing tone came through clearly, but when Zoey glanced over her shoulder at the man in the back seat of the helicopter, he gave her an amused look. “Jenna’s my cousin, in case you were burning alive with jealousy.” A warm voice came through the headset. “I know you have it bad for me.”

“Zoey, let me know if you want to leave him out here. I wouldn’t mind.”

“Do you think a polar bear will eat him?” Zoey quipped.

“This far south? Naw. But he might die of despair without someone to pay attention to him.”

“Ouch.”

“And he’s sensitive.”

“I’m actually sitting right here, ladies.”

“And I heard he’s got a short—” Graham whistled loud enough to cover whatever she was going to say. Voice filled with humor, Ash continued, “Temper. A very short temper.”

“Please, I’m the epitome of laid-back.” Stretching out his feet as far as the cramped quarters would let him, Graham tipped his head to the window. “You’re missing the view, Zo.”

They made another pass, so close to the glacier Zoey could almost taste it. “Aren’t we getting too low?”

“We’re setting down.” Graham nudged her seat with a knee. “You wanted to see a glacier, right? Well, here it is.”

A squeak of excitement escaped her throat as Ash landed the helicopter on the glacier and killed the engine. “Take your time. Just don’t do something stupid like carving your initials in the ice. No one wants to read Graham loves Zoey for the next thousand years.”

“The next million years,” he grunted as he swung out of the helicopter, for once flushing at the teasing. “Read a book.”

“Global warming, five hundred years at most.” Ash smirked. “Kiss my ass, baby doll.”

“Not with a lady present.”

As they started out across the ice, Zoey glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “Are you sure you two weren’t ever…?”

“A couple?” Graham shook his head. “I’m more the annoying older brother type. Besides, Easton terrifies me.”

“I thought he was your best friend.”

“Ulysses is my best friend.”

“He just likes you for your buns.”

Graham nodded sagely. “Can you blame him?”

As Zoey scooted forward on the ice, careful to keep her balance, Graham followed, hands stuffed in his pockets and shoulders relaxed. He never seemed this calm at work or on the boat, she noticed. Maybe it was the isolation. Out here, it felt like they and Ash were the only people in the world.

“So all you had to do was pick up a phone, and suddenly a private helicopter glacier tour appeared.”

“Small towns are like that. Oy, Zoey. Stay to the left. You’ll want to see that.”

Bearing to the left as suggested, she gasped in pleasure at the shallow pool of brilliant blue water in front of them. As they knelt by the glacier pool, cupping handfuls of ice-cold water, Zoey nearly thrummed with excitement.

She pulled out her phone. “Graham, will you take a picture with me?”

Hesitating, she glanced at him, curious at his pause.

“Of course I will, gorgeous,” he murmured. So he held up the phone and let her move it around and add all the filters she wanted before clicking away. He didn’t even grumble when she added the puppy dog filter, giving them both wriggly noses and puppy ears as they leaned their heads in close to fit in the photo.

Zoey bounced forward, still snapping pictures for all she was worth, then suddenly, she hit the brakes. Her eyes widened, her jaw opening in shock.

“Graham. It’s an ice cave.”