Two Captains, One Chair: An Alaskan Romantic Comedy (14 page)

The bedframe rattled again, and red strobes started to flash as a klaxon wailed.

“We’ve lost thrust!” cried the disembodied voice.

“I reckon we have,” Ed muttered.  He looked down at me.  “Well, my dear, I’m sorry ‘bout this, but… duty calls.”

With that, he rolled off me.  He shrugged back into his coat, which I now saw was a long brown duster.  He tossed me one last rakish grin, and was still fastening his gun belt around his hips as he ducked out the door.

Chapter
Twelve

A
dream.  It had been a dream.

I was still telling myself that.  And still kicking myself for crossing Ed with my favorite space mercenary.

I mean, it had been good.  Amazing, even.  Hands-down the best imaginary sex I’d ever had.

But this morning, I was having a real hard time looking Ed in the eye.

“Hey, did you feel that earthquake last night?” Ed asked.

I blushed really freaking hard, and stared straight ahead as I drove.

“It was a 6.8, centered near Iliamna.”  He glanced up from his phone, and I could feel his eyes on me from the passenger seat.  “You’re really red right now,” he commented.

Oh, I could die.
  I fanned myself and fumbled for the vent controls.  “Just—hot.”  I turned the fans to cool and opened my window.

He was still looking at me.  I risked a glance over and saw his eyes were glimmering with a considering light.  “You seem kinda… off this morning.  Did you manage to get to sleep last night?  I thought I might have heard you making… sounds.”

I burst out with a trill of nervous laughter. 
Who was this crazy woman driving my truck?
  Ed had me so keyed up, I felt like a spring was about to shoot loose.  “Yep, slept fine,” I chirped.  “Cereal worked like a charm.”

“Uh-huh.”  He sat back, a little half-smile on his face.  Still looking at me.

And yes, this time it was
me
avoiding
his
gaze.  Cowardly, I know.

The rest of the drive to the landing was made in near-silence.  We got the barge loaded and launched, and made it most of the way back up the river before I spoke again.

“That boat looks broken down,” I observed.

It was a big boat, canopied, and was pulled up along the side of the river, a blond guy bent over one of the engines.  Behind him, a dark-haired woman hovered, looking agitated.

In my barging, it wasn’t uncommon to come across a broken-down boat.  Usually I picked up the stranded occupants, and took them to wherever they’d been headed.  Once, I’d even picked up a guy who’d swum ashore after his boat overturned and sank.

“Should we stop to help them?” I asked. I was already throttling back, and turned the wheel to guide the barge closer.

“No,” Ed said, shocking me.

My head whipped around. 
Ed was refusing to help somebody?
  “What?”

“No,” he repeated, his voice firm.  “Keep driving.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“That’s my sister.  She’s a bitch, and I refuse to help her.  Now please, keep going.”

I stared over toward the boat. 
That
was his sister?  This was the woman threatening to sue me?

Then, I realized I recognized that boat.  And the woman in it.  It was the lady from the landing, the one who’d been spewing verbal abuse at the kid behind the counter.  She’d had the same expression as she wore now, in fact.

She was yelling at the handsome blond fumbling with her engine.  He glanced up at us, looking miserable, and in that moment, I felt sorry for him.

I hesitated.  I wanted to help them, if only for that poor guy, but…

Ed’s
sister
looked up then, and her glare seared its way through my windshield.

I veered away, gunning my engine to recover speed as we roared past.  That witch could fend for herself.

We dropped off the groceries, and another load of 55 gallon drums.  Throughout, Ed was silent.  I had no idea what was going on in his head, what the story was with his sister…

But I’d been reminded I needed to find that nugget, ASAP.  I’d sorta forgotten about her letter, but now she was
here
, and she was gonna sue me if I didn’t hand over her nugget in… 11 days.

I had no good leads.  Not even bad ones, really.  But one thing I
did
know:  I hadn’t searched Ed’s bedroom.

Could he have stolen it?
  I glanced over at him, wondering.  I didn’t think so, but there was still a niggling doubt.  The barest possibility.

I couldn’t stand it anymore.  I was more attracted to Ed than I’d ever been to any man, and he was still on my list of suspects.  I needed to find out for sure.

I was going to search his bedroom.  If he’d taken my nugget, I’d get it back.  If he hadn’t…

We pulled up to his place.  “Can I use your bathroom again?” I asked as I swung us in toward shore.

He glanced at me, brows raised.  “Sure.”

“It’s pretty urgent.  You mind if I just run on ahead while you hold the boat?”

“Okay.”

We crunched in to the shore, he jumped out, and I quickly followed suit.  I hurried away from him and up the trail.  I thumped across the covered bridge, and kicked my boots off just outside his door.

Then I stepped inside.  Moving quickly in my socked feet, I climbed his stairs.  It was the standard cabin layout; bedroom upstairs, everything else down.  His bedroom door was open, and I paused in the doorway.

The décor here, too, was artsy rustic, with lots of natural wood.  He had one of those beds, the ones made of whole logs shimmed together. It was queen-sized, unmade, but still relatively neat.  His sheets were plaid flannel, forest green and light brown.  The room smelled like spruce.

I turned to the right, determined to search everything else before I messed with his bed.  Not that I thought he’d be sleeping with my nugget, if he had it. But maybe he’d hide it underneath?  Or in a compartment in the frame itself?  If it were anyone else, I’d say that wasn’t much of a possibility, but this was
Ed
.  He’d just pull out the tool bag he seemed to carry with him everywhere, and in less than an hour, he’d have a secret compartment complete with hinged door to make the whole thing invisible.  I should probably be knocking on floorboards…

I started opening dresser drawers, trying to hurry.  I pushed Ed’s clothing around, searching for anything solid.  The next drawer contained underwear, and I sighed, looking down into it.  Now I could tell the whole river Ed favored heather gray boxer briefs.

Just kidding.  I’d keep that little tidbit to myself.

Steeling myself, I reached into the drawer, and touched the soft cotton of his underwear.

“What are you doing?”

I jumped back, and was trying to look casual, when I realized that one of Ed’s boxer briefs had come with me.  It hung damningly from my hand for three whole seconds before I had the presence of mind to get rid of the evidence.  I flung it over my shoulder.

“Uh.  I was just—”
Think fast, Suzy, what the hell could you possibly, legitimately have been doing up here
? “—just checking to see if the décor in here was as awesome as that in the rest of the house.  I thought you were gonna hold the boat,” I said.

Ed stepped the rest of the way into the room and crossed his arms.  “You were ‘checking’ my underwear drawer.  And I decided to tie it off, instead.”

I groaned.  I was well and truly screwed, and I badly wanted to bail.  I glanced toward the window.  It was like twelve feet to the ground, though, and I didn’t have enough padding on my body to make it gracefully through that kind of fall.  The doorway behind him was also looking really tempting.  He’d probably grab for me, but I’d been told on multiple occasions by Helly that I was a ‘fast little shit’.

“Suzy,” Ed said.  “What were you doing in my underwear drawer?”

I hesitated.

Ed’s lips twitched as he glanced over at the damning drawer.  “You find what you were looking for?” he asked.

I gnawed on my lip.  My heart was thumping, and in that moment, I wanted to run pretty damn bad.

“Suzy.”

Oh, damn.  I loved it when he said my name.  I raised my eyes up to his.

“Is this about your gold nugget that went missing?” he asked.

My breath heaved out on a sigh. 
He knew
.  “Yeah.”

“I don’t have your nugget,” he said.

“Well, that’s great to hear, but you’d say that in any case,” I pointed out.

“I didn’t take it,” he said.

I eyed him.  He looked perfectly honest, his expression earnest, every line of his body sincere.  I shook my head, still not convinced.

Ed turned, and shut his bedroom door.  My heart sped a little faster as I was closed in with him.

And he didn’t act all benign, either.  He started walking toward me, step by slow step.

I backed up.  Ed coming steadily toward me, the entirety of his attention on me, was actually sort of unnerving.  He didn’t usually hold eye contact.

He was holding it now.  “Why would you think I took your nugget?” he asked.

I backed up another couple steps, and realized he was doing it on purpose. 
He was stalking me.

“You’re a logical suspect,” I said.  “It’s reasonable to expect you to be upset that Ralph didn’t give you the nugget.  Helly and I thought you might have been willing to force the issue, and steal it back.”  I stumbled over a rug, came up against a wall, and had to turn.

Stalking me, indeed.  This was completely out of character for Ed, and it was throwing me for a loop.  I had no idea what to do, so I kept backing up.  And talking.

“Plus, you’re mysterious.  Just before I asked for your help, I realized I didn’t know anything about you,” I continued.  I knew I was running off at the mouth, but Ed was making me nervous.  “You could have easily been a thief, a criminal.  I wanted to find out what kind of person you were.”

A second after I’d backed myself into a corner, I realized I’d done it.
Oh shit.
  My voice went up an octave.  “In fact, I’m kinda thinking you might have an informational black hole over here.  I didn’t know you made metal sculptures, or that you even
had
a sister...”  As I talked, I eyed the bed he was backing me up beside.  I could scramble over it if I had to.

He came even closer.  Four feet away.  Then three.

I nudged up against the nightstand.

Two.

He was looming over me, dominating my space, blocking the light.  He leaned close.

Trapped, I stared up into his eyes.  I trembled, caught somewhere between bolting and jumping his bones.  This newfound domineering side was confusing me even as it made my pussy gush.  I suddenly felt like I didn’t know this man, not even after several days in his company.

“Can you keep a secret?” he asked, his voice soft.

“Of course,” I said. 
Sometimes.  Depending. 
If he revealed he was some sort of child molester, no.  In fact, in most cases no.  I was shoddy at keeping secrets.  But I wasn’t gonna retract my statement.  I wanted his secrets too bad.

He dropped to his knees, and my breath caught.  He reached past my leg, fiddling with something under the night stand.

But he was still looking at me.  His gaze was knowing, his manner lazy, the tilt to his lips teasing.  I couldn’t stop staring at him; forgot, in fact, whatever the hell he was doing behind me and just returned his gaze.

This man was fascinating.

A little wedge of door swung open beneath the night stand, gaining my attention as it brushed my leg.

“Look,” Ed said.  He moved back slightly, giving me room.

I tried to bend and look, but the angle was wrong.  So, casting a cautious glance at Ed over my shoulder, I dropped down to my knees.

Then I gasped.

Gold.  It filled my vision.  Nuggets gleamed softly in the low light.  Vials of dust.

Ed had opened a small safe wedged under his nightstand, and the one-by-one foot space was heaped with gold in its various natural forms.

My hand drifted forward of its own accord, but I was able to stop it before making contact with the contents of the safe.  “How?” I asked.

“Georgette wasn’t the only nugget my dad ever found,” Ed said.  His voice was close behind me, practically in my ear, and suddenly my attention was split between the man behind me and the fortune in front.

“And why show me?”

“I wanted you to know that I have no reason to take your nugget,” he said.  “Ralph may have given you Georgette, but he gave me the claim and the rest of the gold he’d collected in his lifetime.  I’m set for life.”

“Which is how you can afford not to have a job, and just wander around fixing things for free.”

“Yes.”  His voice was even closer now, vibrating against me, and I could feel his breath waft against my skin.

“Wow.”  I didn’t know what else to say.  The idea of never having to work again astounded me.  Not that Ed didn’t work.  It seemed like all he ever did.

He reached past me, and swung the safe door closed once more.  Leaving me on the floor with him, next to his bed.

Suddenly the grain of the wood on the front of his nightstand was one of the most interesting things I’d ever seen.  Long seconds passed, with me trying to figure out what I should do.  Get up?  Or stay here?  He hadn’t moved, and I was tingling with expectation.