Midsummer Sweetheart (20 page)

“Make what hard?”

His eyes widened as he tilted his head to the side, looking at her with barely suppressed laughter. “I’m not going to answer that.”

She gasped in understanding and clapped a hand over her mouth. “I didn’t mean! Oh, my gosh, you
know
I didn’t mean—”

He chuckled at her and nodded, cutting her a break and grateful to her for inadvertently breaking the tension between them. “I know.”

Katrin shook her head in embarrassment, her cheeks flushed with rosy color.

“You look really beautiful.”

“Yeah?”

He nodded and leaned forward to kiss her cheek. He pressed his lips on the dimple closest to him, as he had wanted to do that first afternoon in the car as she slept. She leaned her neck to the side, which gave him access to the pulse point in her neck that had teased and tortured him on the same ride. He brushed his lips from her cheek to her neck, finally resting his lips on the soft, warm skin of her pulse, feeling the wild beating under his lips. Putting his hands on her hips, he pulled her closer to him. He wanted to kiss her—
really
kiss her—but she was so pretty, he didn’t want to mess her up. When he finally leaned back, she grinned at him.

“Ready to go?” he asked. He took her wrap from her arm, carefully placing it around her shoulders, and then he took her hand, lacing his fingers through hers, leading her out the door.

CHAPTER 12

She noticed with particular pleasure that he played “Ashokan Farewell” again, which she was quickly considering “their” song, and she wondered if he was too. There was a single pink rose on her seat too, which was a perfect surprise.

“More flowers!” she said, smiling at him.

“Just one.” He shrugged, as if giving a girl flowers was uncomfortable for him, but she noticed he grinned at her as she brought the blush petals to her nose.

“I love pink! This is enough. Just this.”

“I did good then.”

She didn’t want to hurt his feelings about the lovely white rose bouquet, so she just nodded, and enjoyed the extra single pink flower in her hands.

She kept peeking over at him during the short car ride to the Mountain Lake Lodge, and although she got the feeling he’d be embarrassed for her to tell him how handsome he looked, she admitted to herself that he cleaned up pretty good. A crisp blue dress shirt under a suit jacket set off his blue eyes, unbuttoned to reveal a patch of tan skin under his neck. He was in good shape; in such good shape it made her wonder what he did to stay so fit.

He smiled mischievously, glancing at her with a twinkle in his eye when she asked. “I take a run every morning. And I work out a few times a week. There’s a gym where I work. I mean, there’s a whole training facility. You have to stay on top of it. A gut’s not going to help you in a foot chase.”

“How likely is a foot chase for you?”

“You never know. I mean, most of my job isn’t hands-on like that. But, from time to time, I’ll have to go to a scene or assist on a bust.”

“That sounds dangerous.” She hadn’t given a whole lot of thought to the perils of his job, but she turned her attention to it now. “I don’t like it.”

“I’m an officer, Kat. That’s what I do.”

“How often does an officer get hurt?”

“You mean shot?”

She nodded, staring at his profile, which looked so strong and so young.

“In Montana? There’ve been surprisingly few. Eight fatalities in forty-six years. And that’s troopers. For me? Even less.”

Those statistics were relieving, but she still didn’t like it. She didn’t like the thought of Erik in any danger at any time. “How much less?”

He glanced at her. “Hey. Are you worried about me?”

She breathed deeply and sighed, considering her response. The simple answer was
Yes, of course I am. I care about you. You’re more and more important to me every day.
But, Katrin knew how Erik felt about women fixing on him, so she shrugged lightly.

“I don’t want to see
anyone
hurt.”
Least of all you, Erik.

“Well, don’t worry. I’m really in a low-risk division…not to mention, I’m careful and I’ve got good reflexes. Erik the Blond, the young Viking King of Law Enforcement.”

“Sounds like Ing and Kris could have used their own personal Viking King of Law Enforcement this week.”

“What do you mean?”

“You haven’t talked to them?” He shook his head no. “Oh, well, I guess Wade showed up there yelling and making a scene on Tuesday night. Kris called the police and had him arrested, and they decided to press charges and file for a restraining order.”

“Good! It’s about damn time!”

Katrin sighed. “Well, but then he came by to apologize, and I guess the long and short is that he’s headed to rehab. Ing and Kris agreed to drop the charges if he enrolled in a sixty-day program, so…”

“So that’s it?”

“Yep.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Why not? Don’t you think he deserves a chance to get clean and sober?”

“I don’t begrudge him that, really. But, those places are really lenient. What stops him from leaving?”

“Oh, well, it sounds like he’s taking it seriously. Ing felt okay about it.”

“You girls are too nice. What’d Kristian say?”

“Didn’t talk to him.”

“Hmm.”

She knitted her brows. First the roses, now this. She wished she hadn’t brought up Wade.

“Erik? Can we talk about something else? I feel like Wade Doyle’s gotten enough of me already. I’m sorry I brought him up. I don’t want him here tonight.”

Erik reached for her hand and she clasped his, bringing it to her lips, then using her finger to rub the lip goop into his skin, in a little, sparkly circle.

She looked out the window as they drove in comfortable silence for a little while. It was a beautiful evening for a drive and nothing obstructed Katrin’s view of glistening, sky-blue Flathead Lake except for a low guardrail outside her window. Dark green pine trees dotted the hills that flanked the lake so densely they almost looked like carpets of deep green rising up out of the blue water. She rolled down her window just enough to smell the crisp, fresh air off the lake, feeling content—more than content, excited, and—finally, after so long—happy.

“How about
you
? How’s work going?” Erik asked, putting his hand back on the wheel.

“It’s good. It’s been amazing to see this project from the beginning. I mean, we got there and the building was disgusting. Solid, but trashed. We cleaned it out, the workers came, and voila—two weeks later we’re just about ready to open. José has really perfected this process. And I guess he already has two more towns who are asking him to come and do clinic start-ups. He’s headed back to Texas in eight weeks for the next one.”

“Word of the good doctor’s skills is spreading all the way to Texas, huh?”

“Well, he’s
from
Texas so it makes sense he’d end up there. But, he’s good at this, Erik. Truly. He has it down to a science. He orders everything he needs far in advance. Keeps costs low by cleaning out the buildings himself and contracting local day workers for the labor. In the blink of an eye, you look around and there’s fresh paint, new carpet, shiny light fixtures and clean running water. He does all the legwork months in advance so the project itself runs really smoothly.”

“You sound impressed.”

If she was listening more carefully, she would have heard the edge in his voice.

“I am! He’s young to have nailed down this process so efficiently. And he’s good to work for. He’s been kind to me.” She knew that Erik wasn’t José’s biggest fan, but she was hoping Erik would be able to see José as her boss and as a good businessman, and not as a rival. Especially before having dinner together.

“You like him.”

“Of course!”

“Of course,” he muttered.

She glanced over and he was grinding his teeth again; she could see his jaw working.

“Not like
that
, Erik. I don’t like him like
that
.”

He pulled in to the parking lot at the Mountain Lake Lodge and found a parking space, cutting the engine and turning to her.

“No?” His eyes searched hers.

“No.” She shook her head, smiling at him tenderly.
Someone else’s got his teeth on my heart for now.

Erik stared at her in the quiet of the car, then winced, turning away from her and leaning his head back against the headrest, sighing.

“
Ӓlskling
.
I
like you like
that
.” He clenched his eyes shut for a moment, his shoulders slumping in defeat, before murmuring, maybe more to himself than to her, “I like you too much.”

Katrin knew how much it cost him to admit it. She reached out to stroke his cheek with the back of her hand, and he leaned into her, opening his eyes. She wanted to look away, to ensure he wouldn’t see the extent to which her feelings for him had grown, but she couldn’t.

“I know,
Minste
,” she whispered. “Me too.”

***

They strolled around the grounds of the hotel, which included a resort-style swimming pool landscaped with rocks and flowers around its border, a small rustic fountain that bubbled cheerfully, manicured walking paths, a perennial garden, and a bright green rolling lawn where they found two Adirondack chairs affording a great view of Flathead Lake as they sat side by side.

Erik reached over to take her hand, lacing his fingers through hers, feeling her palm press against his. His heart leapt, as it always did when he touched her, an uncomfortable reminder that his feelings for her were growing every time he saw her, and all the time in between.

He was trapped between his feelings for Katrin on one side, which compelled him to see and pursue her, and his feelings about relationships on the other side, which pleaded with him not to leave himself open to that kind of weakness.

As if on the breeze, he heard his mother’s voice in his head, weak and feverish.
Carl…Why won’t you come? Why won’t you come to me?
Instantly, he pushed the memory away, forcefully, angrily, before it could seep in and take over, before he’d be forced to think about it or process it. He didn’t realize he had dropped her hand until she turned to him.

“Everything okay?”

He stood up, staring out at the lake. “Can’t see Wild Horse from here. We’re too far north.”

Katrin looked at her watch, standing up beside him. “We only have about 15 minutes until our reservation. Um. Erik. You’ll be polite to José?”

“Sure. He’s your boss.”

“He’s nice. Really.”

“Hey, speaking of José, did I notice something between him and, um, Gabrielle?”

Katrin raised her eyebrows and smiled like a little imp, which made his heart beat a little faster, made his face flush a little with the pleasure of being near her. “I’ve been trying to figure that out.”

“What do you think?”

“I think there’s a story there, but they’re as hard to read as poker players, never showing their cards.”

Erik offered her his arm, and she took it as they strolled the paths leisurely, headed back to the lodge.

“No backstory?”

“Nothing that they’ve cared to share. And I keep meaning to ask Ingrid and I keep forgetting. She should have overlapped Paca’s tour by a year or so. Here’s what I know: they served at the same hospital as Ingrid, they were there together for a few years, and maybe in different wards. But, something happened. Or
didn’t
happen that
should’ve
happened.”

“How can you tell?”

“It’s the way he looks at her.”

“How’s that?”

“Like there’s unfinished business.”

“Huh. What about her?” Erik asked, thinking that all relationships were tricky. Unpredictable, unreliable, full of backstories and unfinished business.

“She’s harder for me to read. Maybe it’s the Jamaican words and accent. She’s so exotic to me, you know? But, yeah, there’s something there. Even though I can’t read it perfectly. There’s something.”

She looked up at him and smiled, squeezing his arm as they climbed the steps up to the lobby where there was a sitting area with a huge flagstone fireplace. “There’s that romantic again, looking for the love story.”

“Nah, just a cop solving a mystery.”

“I know there’s a romantic in there, Erik.”

He bristled against her words. He
wasn’t
a romantic. If he were, he would be able to tell Katrin how he felt about her and embrace the opportunity to be with her. He wouldn’t feel confused and trapped, elated, excited and terrified all at once. He wouldn’t think of her all the time, yet desperately want to keep things casual. If he were a romantic, he would tell her how much she meant to him, ask her to be his girlfriend, hold her hand in front of their families, allow himself to think about the future. If he were a romantic, he would dream about loving her, living with her, marrying her, having children with his eyes and her dimples. If he were a romantic, he would claim her and hold onto her as tightly as she would let him, and never, ever let her go.

But, he wasn’t. He was rational. He was logical. And he knew that laying out his heart meant it could get trampled. Taking a risk opened the door for pain. There was nothing wrong with companionship, but he didn’t want to be in a relationship. He didn’t want to be someone’s boyfriend.

And frankly, she shouldn’t want to be anyone’s girlfriend either! Hadn’t
she
learned anything from Wade Doyle? Hadn’t
he
learned anything from hearing his mother’s desperate, unrequited cries for his father? Love doesn’t work out. Someone
always
gets hurt. And the
only
sure way to avoid that hurt was to avoid love.

Opening the door for her, he dropped his arm, letting her hand go.

I know there’s a romantic in there, Erik.

“You’re wrong, Kat. There isn’t.”

As she passed him, she smiled at him in that annoying way girls do when they think they know you better than you know yourself. He heard her singsong voice trail behind her as she passed him. “If you say so
, Minste
. If you say so.”