The Tourist Attraction (Moose Springs, Alaska #1)(58)

*

There was a reason he’d asked Ash to take them here specifically, and it was worth every favor he’d have to trade for the inconvenience just to see the look on Zoey’s face and hear her breath catch in her throat.

Now, for the record, Graham knew far too well ice caves were dangerous. But this ice cave had been there since he was a child, and the shifting climate patterns had yet to cause any noticeable structural integrity losses this far up the glacier.

“There’s a climbing rope.”

“Hold on, Zo.”

It was adorable how excited she was, but the idea of a med evac for a broken neck was far less exciting for Graham. But there was joy in her eyes, and no matter what else he did or didn’t do, Graham was not going to be the one to take that from her. If Easton thought he was crazy for the whale watching, who knew what he’d say about this. Selfies, ice caves, letting Ash have a first-row seat to his insanity…Graham would never hear the end of it.

“I weigh more than you,” he told her, tugging on the rope to check it. “Let me try it first.”

“That’s nice, but you have a better chance of pulling me out if I fall than I have of pulling you out if you fall. Plus, I’m a better climber.”

“How do you know that?”

“The same way I knew I was the better pool player.”

“Tell me how you really feel.” Chuckling, Graham knelt next to the stake securing the climbing rope, gripping it securely. “Okay but try not to fall. We lose tourists every year, but you’re more enjoyable than most.”

More enjoyable. Funnier. Sweeter. Basically, she was the last person who Graham wanted to lose life or limb because of an error in judgment on his part. She couldn’t have been any happier. Zoey was practically bouncing with pleasure. Graham wasn’t immune to the beauty of the glaciers in his home, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

“Be careful, Zoey,” he added gruffly, looping the rope around his hand a second time and feeling the tension of her weight dig the heavy nylon braiding into his skin. She climbed quickly, then held the rope steady as he climbed down to join her.

“Graham. Look. It’s amazing.”

Over the course of his lifetime, Graham had watched a lot of strangers ooh and aah over his corner of the universe. He’d spent a significant portion of those years mentally or physically rolling his eyes. But as he stood there, watching Zoey turn in a circle, her face alive with sheer joy, it occurred to him that familiarity too often bred contempt.

Surrounded by walls of ice, something inside Graham thawed, leaving him unable to keep from closing the distance between them.

She caught him watching her, looking far too pretty to be with a guy like him. It wasn’t the first time Graham had been off his game in this place.

“I lost my virginity here.”

Which wasn’t the best conversation starter he’d ever had.

“What? No.”

Graham couldn’t keep the sheepish expression from his face. “It was awful. I’m assuming it was awful, but on my end, it was amazing. All thirty-three seconds of it.”

“At least you didn’t have time to freeze your dangly bits.”

“My dangly bits are made of steel. It comes with the territory of living up here.” He scratched the back of his head, adding, “And maybe there was one dangly bit that didn’t escape unscathed.”

“Your dangly bits have had a tough life.”

“So they remind me regularly.”

When he winked at her with what he hoped was sexy roguishness and probably more like prepubescent awkwardness, Zoey blushed again. Then she slipped her hand into his, and Graham was a goner.

As they stood in the corner of an ice cave, Graham allowed himself the luxury of enjoying how much Zoey Caldwell was enjoying herself.

“Show me where.”

“There.”

“Right there?”

“Right in that spot. Although it technically started over there.”

“That’s a lot of ground to cover.”

“Especially when you’re trying not to let anything important hit the ice.” Graham squeezed her fingertips in his. “Zoey? How long are you here?”

He’d never asked anyone before. He’d never wanted…or needed…to know.

“Eight more days. This was a two-week vacation.”

“You leave next Sunday?”

“Sunday afternoon,” she corrected him. “I’m planning on making those couple hours count.”

Eight days wasn’t enough time for anything. If Graham was the kind of guy for whom just over a week was enough, he wouldn’t be standing there with the kind of woman who had no clue he couldn’t stop staring at her.

“Zoey? If I asked you to go somewhere with me tonight after work, what would you say?”

Glancing at him shyly, Zoey bit her lower lip, worrying at it. Graham wanted to kiss her and steal that lip away, make it his for a while and treat it better than she was currently doing. But eight days just wasn’t enough time.

“I’d say yes. But on one condition.”

“What’s that?”

Her eyes reflected the blue glacier ice like stars in the night sky. He was waxing poetic. It was a bad, bad sign.

This time, Zoey was the one who winked, flashing him a naughty grin.