Page 12 of Been There Dragon That
Rylee stared through her driver’s side window again at the picturesque white mountain peaks of Denali. She’d been to the Rocky Mountains, but this one looked so much bigger.
A large brown animal loped across the road maybe a quarter mile ahead. The antlers were massive. The body was even bigger. But what really made her tap the brakes on the 4Runner was the gigantic lion that leaped across the road after it.
She pulled the vehicle to the shoulder, parked, and took a deep breath.
That was a fucking Lion King lion.
“What the hell?” The words slipped between her lips like a prayer. She watched the trees where the animals had disappeared.
She pulled out her phone and googled ‘lions in Alaska’. The only references she could find were occasional sightings of mountain lions. And those were still really rare. Like one every ten years rare.
Bears lived in Alaska.
Lots of bears. Maybe her eyes had played a trick on her? Maybe it was leftover weirdness from the concussion?
She checked for traffic and started driving again.
“It had to be a bear.” It was the only logical explanation. “Note to self. No hiking in the woods alone, Rylee. If the moose doesn't take you down, whatever is hunting that moose might.”
A few minutes later, a green sign with the name Mystery came into view. Then a blue sign that read ‘all services next 2 miles’. The signs didn’t distract her from watching the trees on either side of the road for long. She kept expecting something else to dart across the two-lane highway in front of her. Maybe a tiger this time?
She scoffed and shook her head.
She passed a gas station and a mechanic shop. A parking lot full of RVs. A small neighborhood of mobile homes, and then went a bit farther before coming on a group of red cabins, signs for rentals, and some very rustic-looking offices on her right. A big sign for Jenkins was on the left. That was what she’d been watching for.
She pulled into the mostly empty parking lot.
No need to go get settled into the house without any food to eat, especially if bad weather coming tonight might mean she couldn’t get out for a day or so. Her dad had made sure she had a 4-wheel drive waiting when she got to Anchorage, but that didn’t mean sheknewhow to drive in snow.
She parked to the right of the door into Jenkins Hardware and Grocery—the only general store in this little town according to her research. Rylee reached over to grab her purse, and when she looked back up, a man was staring at her from the doorway of the store.
But not a normal man. Not an average Joe from small-town Alaska.
This guy was different. Something about him instantly sucked all the oxygen from her lungs.
Golden brown eyes burned from beneath a brooding brow. His massive shoulders bunched like the connection of her looking at him hit his body physically. A wide-brimmed brown hat barely held wild dark hair in place.
Rylee’s heart skipped more than one beat.
Neither of them blinked.
No man had ever looked at her the way this one had, and the intensity burned deep into her chest, lighting her blood on fire.
As quickly as the connection had formed, it broke, and Rylee could’ve sworn she felt something snap painfully in her chest.
The man got into a police SUV and then drove off, leaving her still sitting in her car trying to remember how to breathe without conscious effort.
“You don’t need this, Ry. You certainly don’t need a man like that.” Although her imploding ovaries would beg to differ. She was not a good judge of men. Jeff had proven that once and for all. And a man as beautiful as the dark-haired-burning-hot stranger would be more than used to women throwing themselves at him. She wasn’t about to be his next headboard notch.
Intense golden-brown eyes or not.
She marched into the store, grabbing a basket from the stack right inside. Snacks were right ahead on a small display. Chocolate was in order, for sure.
“I swear one of these days I will get that man to say yes.”
“Oh, sweetie, you’d have an easier time asking a grizzly bear to attend church service.” The second voice belonged to an older woman.
“You say that like you know something, Henrietta.” The younger woman’s voice sharpened.
