Wild Men of Alaska 01 - Impact

Skip. She had disappointed so many people in her life. Especially him. She didn’t want to anymore.
    “You won’t,” Skip said, brushing back her hair.
    Geez. Whatever this thinking out loud thing was, it was damn annoying.
    “Wren. I want a life with you. Have a family.”
    “A family?” Kids? Her? That meant she’d be a mother. A child totally dependent on her for everything. No, she couldn’t do that.
    His hand settled on her stomach. “We might have already created a little Ozhuwan.”
    They hadn’t used protection.
    “Are you on anything?” he asked.
    “No drugs,” she choked out.
    “I meant birth control.”
    “Oh. No.” She swallowed, but it didn’t remove the lump that had formed in her throat. “Skip. I’m not mother material. Besides, I shot you. How can I be the mother of your children?”
    “If I can forgive you for shooting me, you can forgive yourself for shooting me.”
    “It isn’t that simple.”
    “It doesn’t need to be that difficult. I’ve always loved you, Wren. Even at your worst, I’ve loved you.”
    “Skip, I’m poison. Everything I’ve touched I’ve ruined.”
    “That was then. You’ve changed. You’re sober.”
    “For how long? I’ll always be an addict, and you are a trooper. Do you know the statistics for relapse? I have a seventy percent chance of using again.”
    “And a thirty percent chance of not, which gets smaller and smaller every year you stay sober.”
    “I move back to Egegik, and it will be a hundred percent. There’s a reason I haven’t been home.”
    “He can’t hurt you anymore. You’re stronger, he’s weaker. I won’t let him near you.”
    “You can’t protect me twenty-four/seven.”
    “We don’t have to live in Egegik.”
    She scoffed. “Right, your entire family is there. Generations of Ozuwans have lived in Egegik.”
    “A lot have left too.” He reached for her hand. “It isn’t the same without you. Nothing is. I’ve waited a long time, Wren. If I need to wait longer, I will.”
    Tears choked her throat, and she buried her face in the crook of his neck. “I’m not good enough for you.”
    “Nobody’s good enough for me. I’m quite the catch. Besides, I want someone who will challenge me, and nob ody challenges me like you do.”
    “But—”
    “No buts. Work with me. Tell me what you are really afraid of. Or have you been lying to me about the contractor dude.” He stiffened. “Are you in love with him?”
    She gave a short laugh. “There is no contractor dude. Well, there is. But I hired him. He built me some bookcases, and now he’s working little by little on my kitchen.”
    “There isn’t anything romantic going on?”
    “Nope.”
    “You haven’t slept with him?”
    She leaned up on her elbow and looked at him, her eyes serious as the snow now softly falling outside the windows. “Skip, the only man I’ve ever slept with is you. There was this ‘almost’ incident in jail where this woman wanted—”
    She didn’t finish as he reached up and pulled her down to him, sealing her words with a kiss that lit her internal furnace.
    When he ended the kiss, he gazed lovingly into her eyes. “There’s been no one for me either. Only you.”
    “You mean... ”
    “Yep,” he said with a silly smile. “The last person I had sex with—not counting myself—was you.”
    “You haven’t had sex in five years?”
    “You couldn’t tell how rusty I was?”
    She shook her head. “Though it does explain the constant hard on,” she tried to joke.
    “Wren, you were my first, my only. You’re everything. Marry me, love me, make a life with me.”
    Her heart melted, and tears sprain to her eyes. “Skip.” Her words shuddered on a sob as the impact of his words sank into her. How could this man love her so much?
    “Say yes. It’s such a short, simple, happy little word.”
    She took his face in her hands and gently kissed his lips. “Yes.”
    “Oh, thank you God.” He kissed her, relief and love mixed in with a desire that would never be sated. “Now, give me three little words that I’ve waited years to hear from your lips again.”
    “I love you, Skip Ozhuwan. Only you, always you.”
    ***
    They woke the next morning to sun shining, snow melting, and the whoop, whoop of helicopter blades.
    Skip groaned. “Sounds like the Coast Guard found us.”
    “Do they have to be so damn reliable?” Wren asked with a sexy stretch. “I had plans for this morning.”
    She leaned over and kissed him.