Wild Men of Alaska 02 - Moosed-Up

lips in a smile that had her wishing she’d taken him up on that kiss instead of the canoeing. But if she was going to live here in the wilds of Alaska she needed to know a few things. From what she could tell, people did a lot of outdoor activities.
    Like canoeing.
    “Second rule of thumb. Do not stand up in the canoe. When you feel comfortable enough with everything else, I’ll show you how that can be safely accomplished. Just know that if you stand up, you will most likely dump us both in the water. Third, we don’t want to be dumped into the water. Average temperature of the river is roughly ten degrees above freezing this time of year. By the end of summer it might be fifteen degrees above freezing.”
    “I have no plans to get wet.”
    “I’ve heard it before. Let’s just plan it now and hope for the best.”
    “I’m not an idiot. I know what hypothermia is, and I have no plans to experience it first hand.”
    “Good. Fourth—”
    “How many rules are you going to name? This is going to take all day.”
    “You want to learn as we go?”
    “At least we’ll be going somewhere,” she muttered.
    He pursed his lips.
    Guess she’d pissed him off. She was good at doing that. Impatience was one of her strong suits.
    “Here.” He handed her a can of bug spray.
    “There’s DEET in this thing. Have you heard the statistics of what it can do to you?”
    “Less harm than the mosquitoes you will encounter today.”
    “You’ve got to be kidding me?”
    “One of the ways they used to punish a criminal back in the gold rush days was to tie the perp naked in a canoe and launch him on the Yukon. The man would jump into the freezing, silt-filled water with his hands tied behind his back knowing full well he’d drown to escape the mosquitoes.”
    She arched a brow in disbelief. “That’s some tall tale.”
    He stared at her for a long silent minute, and then stepped back and sprayed himself down, adding a healthy coating to his hands and wiping the stuff onto his face and neck, making sure he covered his ears too. She started to rethink her need for bug spray. He did live here. He wouldn’t be messing with her, would he?
    “Fine, give me that.” She exchanged the paddle for the can from his hands and gave herself a light dusting.
    He smirked and packed the can in the backpack he carried. “Let me know when you need some more.”
    “What? Are there vamp mosquitoes out there?” Geez. She wasn’t that naive.
    He ignored her and positioned the canoe to launch. “Go ahead and get in. Face the front, and I’ll give us a push.”
    She climbed in, her arms flaying wide when the canoe rocked under her feet and quickly took a seat. She gulped. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
    “Here’s your paddle.” Lynx handed it back to her. She took it not knowing what he expected her to do with it. Maybe she should have let him finish his never-ending list of rules.
    But how hard could it be? People canoed all the time.
    Lynx stepped in behind her. She dropped the paddle as the canoe rocked back and forth with his movements. Luckily it landed between her legs and not into the river.
    There was a sound of them sliding on sand. She glanced back to see him using the paddle to push them out into the rushing current. The canoe easily flowed with the water and picked up speed. Her hands tightened on the edges.
    “Grab your paddle,” Lynx said from behind. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those women who expects the man to do all the work.”
    She arrowed him a look, and he laughed when she picked up her paddle and dipped it into the water.
    “The water’s fairly calm here, so get the feel of how stroking the paddle directs the canoe. Stay on the right,” he instructed when she picked up the paddle to stroke left. “Think of this like sex.” His voice purred, raising goose flesh on her arms. “Sex is best when we find a rhythm and stroke deep.”
    She swallowed hard, visually seeing him above her, her hips finding his rhythm as he stroked deep within her. He had to purposely be doing that. He didn’t teach everyone to canoe using words like that. Just how many other women had he canoed with? He’d said that awfully smooth.
    “We need to work together or we’ll just spin in circles. I’ll stroke from the back left, you front right. Find the rhythm.”
    She began to feel the difference when she wasn’t fighting him and matched him stroke for stroke.
    “There you go.”
    She felt a thrill at his