The Tourist Attraction (Moose Springs, Alaska #1)(85)

“I’d be disappointed in you if you didn’t.” Holding it up for her, Graham waggled the nozzle. “Open up.”

“I want Coke. No! Sprite! No. Better stick with Coke.”

Whatever she wanted, Graham was more than happy to soda spray her with it. Most got in her mouth, but enough got in her nose and on her face that she sneezed soda.

“No, don’t stop.”

“You’re drowning,” he reminded her, adjusting the angle. “Tilt your head down. Swallow. Faster.”

“Stop making this sound like a porno.”

“Stop making me think about pornos.”

Then, to his utter delight, a soda-drenched Zoey wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Now, for the record, Graham knew this wasn’t going to last. And he was not a vacation fling type of guy. But when a Zoey Bear kissed a guy, there wasn’t a Graham alive who could resist her. Especially with her lips sugary sweet and her hands in his hair.

Even though he was sure he’d kissed the lingering soda from her lips, Zoey still stole a dish towel from his stack near the ice machine to wipe her hands and face clean of their game.

“Still feeling the porno vibes.”

Zoey wrinkled her nose at him. “You’re incorrigible.”

“Incorrigible. I-n-c-o-r-r-i-g-i-b-l-e. I was the fifth-grade spelling bee champ.” With a twist of his wrist, he flipped their burgers, the patties hitting the grill with a satisfying sizzle. “I’m full of delightful details to impress you. Ask me the square root of any round number between eight and a half and nine and a half.”

“You have to beat the women away with boat paddles, don’t you?”

“Absolutely.” When she settled on her stool, Graham leaned on the counter. “Not really. That’s the danger of growing up with everyone you know. They remember you peeing your pants at the Fourth of July Fireworks Festival when you were eleven, and they never, ever let you forget it.” Letting his thumb trace the side of her neck, he added, “You want an actual drink? We can try seeing what a Growly Bear on a full stomach does.”

She leaned into his touch. “You’d have to baby bear me, because I’ve never been so sick in my life as I was after that. Besides, don’t you sell out every night?”

“Yes, but I make them in huge batches, and I’ve got the rest of the week’s Growlies stored in the back fridge.”

Her eyes widened. “You’re sneaky.”

“Supply and demand. Keeps them coming back through the door.”

“But you don’t want them to come to the door.”

With a dramatic sigh, Graham nodded. “I know. I’m a mystery to even me.”

“You know I have dangerous information on you now,” Zoey reminded him. “I could leverage it to my advantage.”

Graham’s eyes dropped down to her mouth unconsciously. And when he realized he was doing it, he didn’t try to hide the fact he couldn’t stop focusing on that part of her.

“You’ve had the advantage over me since we met, Zo.”

“You’re on fire.”

Graham slid his fingers into her hair, lips lingering only centimeters from her own. “Yeah, it’s one of my better lines,” he murmured.

“I mean, you’re literally on fire.”

“Hmm?”

“Graham.” She grabbed his chin and turned it, forcing him to look at his side.

“Aww crap.”

He was in fact on fire, although just a little singed around the edges of his apron string, which had gotten too close to the grill while he had gotten close to her. Graham growled playfully, then kissed her one more time.

“You’re going to get hurt. Graham!”

It would be so easy to pull her into his arms, to keep kissing her, but her words registered deep in the part of his brain that knew better. A little singeing on the grill didn’t matter. But the ability she had to set literal fire to him finally gave Graham the strength to pull away.

The apron string was nice and browned, but so was the reindeer dog. The burgers were dangerously close to being dry, but he managed to save those in time.

“Don’t worry. The burgers are ours, but the dog is mine,” Graham assured her.

“I’ll share it with you,” Zoey offered. “You can have half of my burger. If these are an acquired taste, I don’t mind trying to acquire it. This place is the town’s claim to fame.”

Graham glanced down at the grill, feeling his eyebrows scrunch together. “I doubt it.”

“Have you ever checked your rating online? Or travel restaurant recommendations? You’re actually in Luffet and Mash’s book.”

“That guy is a disaster. Seriously, don’t listen to him. He’s got a screw loose.”

“You meet a lot of people, huh?”

Groaning, Graham shook his head as he plated their food. “You have no idea. Some of the crazies that come through these doors…”

Just like every other time, he slipped a pair of antlers on her reindeer dog, drawing a startled face with little soda drops dripping all over the dog.

She giggled when he offered it to her, which only cemented the fact he’d have to do the same to every food product he prepared for her.

Which, unfortunately, would only be a few more days of food products. Graham killed the heat on the grill, then joined her at the counter. She wrinkled her nose at the first bite of her reindeer dog but gamely powered through her half, the half with the soda-covered face.