Page 58 of Dr. Alaska
Maverick stared at Lee. “I can’t believe you did that. All of it.”
“I was in the right place at the right time with the right skill set. Besides, I couldn’t sit around and let them steal your family’s place.”
“You’re amazing.” His blue gaze locked on to hers.
Her neck warmed up. “Welp.”
Another few seconds passed.
Deirdre broke the awkward silence. “Welpis right.” She pointed with both thumbs toward the front of the house, where slams of car doors and tones of low voices filtered over. With a thoughtful expression and raised brows, his sister studied Lee and Maverick until Lee started to squirm. “Hmm. So. All righty, then. I’m heading out. See you two later this week?”
“Yes!” they both said.
She pulled on boots, grabbed her coat, and swept out the door, whistling a happy tune.
Maverick cupped Lee’s face as he leaned in for another kiss that went on and on until her toes tingled. She inhaled the fresh air and spruce scent that was uniquely his. He kept kissing her.
Until the sound of tromping boots and crutches across the great room floor behind them broke the moment.
Maverick growled, tucked Lee in to his side, and turned. “Need help with luggage?” he asked.
Randy and Nick grunted. The front door slammed shut.
Maverick shot her a sideways grin. “Guessing that’s ano.”
A few seconds later, Lee started to shake in earnest.
“Are you okay?” He pulled out two dining table chairs to face each other and helped her sit in one of them.
She scrubbed her palms over her face. “Shoo wee. I’m not the confrontational type. That was nerve-racking.”
“That was remarkable.”
Dropping her hands, she laughed nervously. “I can’t believe how everything went down.”
He pressed her cold hands between his warm ones. His flannel button-down shirtsleeves were rolled up, showing his corded forearms, dusted in light brown hair. “Thank you. I mean it. You took a professional risk to help.”
For a minute there, nothing had mattered to Lee other than doing the right thing here in Yukon Valley. Blinking hard, Lee said, “All’s well that ends well.”
“Well, partly.” His brows pulled together. “Randy better not poke his head into our business again. But what’s to stop someone else doing the same thing? The issue is payments to the bank. We have to meet our obligations with revenue.”
“How?”
“Bookings. Word of mouth. Good reviews.” He kissed her fingertips and studied their joined hands. “Which we won’t get from this last crew.”
The brush of his lips sent a frisson of pleasure into her chest. “How do you know?”
“Know what?”
“Whether you have a booking?”
“Huh? Well, the website is linked to our reservations software. There was nothing scheduled as of yesterday night.”
“Check again. You never know.” She prayed Tuli had worked his magic as quickly as he’d promised.
“Lee. Come on, now. We won this battle with Randy. Everything else is wishful thinking.” With a shake of his head, he pulled out his phone and opened an app. “Okay.” He tapped. Frowned. Scrolled up and down. Rubbed his chin. “What the hell?”
“What?”
