That’s why he was here on this fine Sunday morning.
But he couldn’t tell that to Mina, of course.
“The company I work for has plans to salvage the plane’s cargo. I’m just waiting for the team to arrive so we can get started. In the meantime, I need a place to stay. Do you have any rooms available?”
* * *
Mina continued to smile at him. Her eyes roamed over his face. The cut on his forehead was healing nicely. He was freshly shaven. In jeans, a light jacket and a polo shirt underneath, he looked fit and healthy, vibrantly alive. The way he was looking at her made her blush, and she hadn’t done that in a long time. Before she knew it she’d be giggling like an airhead, and she couldn’t have that. It was undignified.
Besides, she shouldn’t let herself get carried away. Even if she was wrong about his being a drug dealer, he could be a very handsome nutcase. Someone who’d fixated on her because she’d come to his rescue.
What was it he’d asked? Oh, yeah, were there any rooms available? Her heart thudded agitatedly. “We’re booked up,” she told him apologetically. If there was one guest in the whole world she didn’t want to turn away, it was this man. Then she remembered something. “But there’s a cabin left. I’m afraid it costs a bit more than a room.”
“I’ll take it,” Jake said without hesitation.
Mina beamed at him. “All right, follow me.” She looked down. “No luggage?”
“Still in the car,” Jake said. “I’ll get it later.”
Mina stepped off the porch and Jake followed. The morning air was cool on her skin. The sky was a pale blue with a few cumulus clouds. The pungent scent of the surrounding pine forest was in the air, which, to Mina, made this day a sensual treat.
“I never did get your last name,” she said to Jake as they walked toward the cabin, which sat about fifty yards from the lodge.
“It’s Wolfe,” said Jake. “And yours?”
“Gaines,” Mina answered.
Their eyes met briefly, and Mina looked away. “Where are you from, Jake Wolfe?”
“Originally Crystal River, Florida,” Jake said. “But my family moved to the Bronx, New York, when I was seven, so I consider that home, now.”
“New York,” said Mina, delighted she’d been right about his accent. “When we met, I thought you sounded like you were from there. I met quite a few people from New York when I was serving.”
Jake nodded. “I imagine you’ve met people from all over the world.”
“That’s true,” said Mina pleasantly. But she didn’t want to talk about the military, so she quickly asked him another question. “You must travel a lot, too?”
Jake smiled. “A little too much for my taste,” he said. “My dream is to someday own a small farm with pigs and chickens and maybe a cow or two. To sit on the porch with my wife and bounce the grandkids on my knee.”
Mina laughed. “You’re much too young to be entertaining thoughts like that. And what does a man from the Bronx know about farm animals?”
“My grandparents owned a farm in Crystal River. I would go there every summer. Those were the happiest times of my childhood.”
“Well, we don’t have any cows, but we do have horses. I can take you on a trail ride, if you like.”
“I like,” he said with keen interest.
Mina shook her head. “You are an enigma, Jake Wolfe. I would never have taken you for a farm boy.”
“Tell me more about you,” Jake urged. “I’ve been wondering why you left the army. You’re so young to have made captain. You must have been on the fast track.”
“I’ll tell you someday, if you stick around long enough,” Mina promised, “but not today.”
They arrived at the cabin, and Mina bent to retrieve a key that was hidden beneath a potted plant on the porch. She saw Jake watching her with a surprised expression. “Crime is practically nonexistent around here. But we do suggest you keep the key with you at all times.”
She unlocked the door, and they stepped inside. Jake expected something rustic. Instead the cabin’s pine floors gleamed. The furnishings were modern and the decor tastefully done. “You have a full kitchen,” Mina said as she showed him around. “And a full bath.”
The inside air was fresh and clean. There was a flat-screen TV in the living room and a phone on the desk by the window.
“There’s Wi-Fi,” she told him. “And we also have laundry service. Just phone the front desk, and someone will come get your laundry and deliver it when it’s done. No room service. But we do have a dining room, and we serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.” She pointed to the desk and said, “A list of our amenities is on the desk, along with a TV guide and how to access our Wi-Fi. Oh, we also have a lounge, nothing special, just a place where you can kick back, have a drink and listen to the jukebox.”
Jake stood still and watched her as she walked around the cabin pointing things out. He wondered if he made her nervous, or if all that pent-up energy he sensed coming off her was normal for her. “Mina,” he said softly, “I want you to know I’m not a stalker or anything.”
She looked startled for a second, but quickly replaced that expression with a slow smile. Her dark-brown eyes met his. “I’m not going to lie and say the possibility hadn’t crossed my mind,” she stated honestly. “You’re still a mystery to me. But, rest assured, I’m more than capable of taking care of myself.” She cocked her head, continuing to smile at him. “Okay, you’re not a stalker. What are you?”
“I’m a man who’s very interested in getting to know you better,” Jake said. “I like you, Mina Gaines.”
“That might be because I pulled you out of a downed plane,” she said with a grin.
“It might be,” he admitted. “Then again, it might not.” He crossed the room to her. As he got closer to her, Mina’s body responded to his nearness. She felt a magnetic pull toward him. Even though she still hadn’t fully tossed out the idea that he was a criminal.
He reached up and gently touched her cheek. “I’m here because when we were in the mountains, I looked into your eyes and I recognized a kindred spirit. We’re both lonely, aren’t we, Mina?”
Mina grasped the hand that touched her cheek and squeezed it. Her emotions were so intense at that moment, her heart so full, that she didn’t dare speak for fear something ridiculously sentimental would come out. How could he know how alone she felt without Keith? How desperately she wished she could go back three years in the past and change the outcome of that momentous day that had ended with him gone forever.
No, she couldn’t say any of that to a man she’d known barely seventy-two hours. A man she was physically attracted to—but she wasn’t yet sure what kind of man he was.
So she smiled at him and said, “I’d better get back to work.”
She
