Wild Men of Alaska 03 - Dreamweaver

spiders, and pay attention when picking out paint colors. But we don’t welcome your opinions differing from ours. And above all, there is nothing manly about crying during a chick flick.”
    “Good to know. I’ll be covert when I take you to see the new Nicolas Sparks movie. What do you say?”
    She glanced at him from under her lashes. “So you want to move our relationship beyond the pool?”
    “I’d like to get to know you better, Gemma. You have very impressive paddling skills.” He angled his head to the side. “Did that sound dirty to you?”
    “A bit.”
    “Good. So, you want to take in dinner or a movie sometime?” He leaned in closer. Her back was literally against the hallway wall. But she didn’t feel trapped.
    “On one condition,” she said.
    His finger tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Name it.”
    “We see the new Joss Whedon movie instead.”
    He leaned back. “Don’t tell me you’re a Buffy fan?”
    She nodded. “Diehard fan of not just Buffy, but Angel, Firefly, and Serenity too.”
    He shook his head. “Should have known by the Trekky sheets.” He gave a deep, pretend sigh. “I guess if you can overlook my love for Titanic, I can see past the geek in you.”
    She let go of the laugh. It had been so long since she’d flirted like this.
    Another cold breeze swirled around them. Gemma rubbed her arms.
    Cub looked around, tapped the thermostat, and shook his head in confusion. “I think you have a draft somewhere.”
    She had an idea of where that cold breeze was blowing in from.
    Her Dreamweaver needed some boundaries.

Chapter Eight

    “She’s calling you,” Hansen said, munching on the biggest strawberries Lucky had ever seen. He also knew, from experience, they were the tastiest too. Which was weird since if you were dead, how did you taste things?
    Was it all an illusion?
    Gemma wasn’t. And neither was that claim jumper Cub. What kind of name was “Cub” anyway?
    “Lucky? Did you hear me? Your woman is calling for you.” Hansen shook his head. “You always were a lucky bastard.”
    Hence the name. That was until he was murdered.
    “Are you going to answer her or what?”
    Lucky stopped pacing for a minute and faced him. Hansen reclined on a boulder with the bottomless basket of strawberries. His legs crossed at the ankles as he took in the splendor Limbo had to offer. Hansen might be content to stay here and not move on to that place others before them, and after, had chosen to enter. But Lucky wasn’t. He wanted to move back. And he couldn’t figure out how to get there. He thought he had been on the right track with seducing Gemma. Could he have been wrong? He didn’t like what he felt now. Like he could kill someone.
    “So what happened to have you hiding here away from that pretty woman?”
    “She kissed a guy named Cub. Cub .”
    “Yeah, you already told me that.”
    “She kissed the same guy. Again . And this time they both enjoyed it.”
    “Wow. That sucks for you.” Hansen bit into another apple-size strawberry. “So why then is she calling you?”
    “She’s not happy with me.”
    Hansen set the basket of berries down on the vibrant green grass. “What did you do?”
    “Nothing big, just tried to cool them off.”
    “Chill in the air?”
    Lucky nodded. More like an arctic wind.
    “You aren’t to interfere if she chooses someone else.”
    “She can’t choose someone else.” He was already feeling more for her than he had for any other woman. And since he’d glimpsed his future and seen their life together, how happy they’d been, the little people they’d created, he wanted it all. He’d been robbed of too much.
    Damn it, he was owed.
    “You know that this isn’t a sure thing,” Hansen cautioned.
    “I know.” Boy, did he know. That’s why he was trying his damnedest to make a solid connection with Gemma. And he’d been doing a pretty good job of it until Cub had kissed her tonight. Flirted with her. Made her laugh.
    “Do you really think ignoring Gemma is going to get you further with her?”
    Ah, man. “Love has never been this complicated for me before,” Lucky grumbled.
    “Sure, when you love and leave ‘em it isn’t complicated. It’s convenient. Everything you’re trying to do with that woman has complicated written all over it. But I will tell you one thing about women. You give them the silent treatment, and they will freeze your ass out. No one does revenge better than a woman.”
    Lucky rubbed