Wild at Heart (Wild, #2)

by K.A. Tucker

“I can’t take all the credit.” He holds the small gold plane between his thumb and index finger. “This necklace, it’s not only from me.” His pale blue eyes dart upward to meet mine. He swallows hard. “About a week before he died, Wren asked me to get in touch with this friend of his, up in Nome.”

“He wanted you to have something to remember him by. Something you could open on Christmas morning.” Jonah clears his throat. “For a while there, he was hoping he’d last this long.”

“He was hell-bent on getting you something you’d wanna wear. I never saw him like that before, so determined. But he knew how you are, with your clothes and stuff. Anyway, the plane was his idea.” Jonah finally meets my eyes again and I note their glossy sheen, the gruffness in his voice. “I added the diamonds ’cause I know you like sparkly things.”

“This the missus?” “Not officially yet but, yeah.”

It’s easy to trust a person unequivocally when you don’t have to worry about what they’re not telling you.

“I’ll have the bison burger and the pale ale on tap.” Jonah folds the lodge’s menu and hands it back to Chris. “And Calla will have a steak knife to drag across my jugular.”

“We’re supposed to be in this together, Jonah.” I realize as I say them that I’m echoing Agnes’s words. “Don’t manipulate me to get what you want.”

“I know what Wren sold Wild to Aro for, and I don’t ever want you or anyone else thinkin’ that I’m takin’ advantage of you.” “Since when do you care what anyone else thinks?” My tone is escalating again, along with my irritation. “I care what Susan and Simon think,” he says.

He collects my hand and brings it to his mouth to press a kiss against my knuckles. “Whatever makes you happy.”

“Making you happy makes me happy,” I answer truthfully.

Jonah breaks free as my palm finds an appealing spot pressed against his fly, his breath ragged. “You know what this means, right?” His forehead rests against mine. “This is a big commitment.”

“Don’t ever leave without saying goodbye to me. Please.”

moment. “I’m not gonna crash, Calla. I promise.” His voice is soft, lulling. “You can’t promise that.” Though I desperately want to believe him. He leans in to kiss me again, this time more deeply. “Fine. But I will always find my way back to you,”

Suddenly, his face splits into a wide grin, one that softens his hard features and makes him look five years younger. “The four bear bells. You’re not from around here, are you?”

I laugh. “No, and do me a favor, if I ever jog here so I can drink, it means Alaska has finally gotten to me. Please put me out of my misery. Rope a steak to my neck and tie me to a tree for the bears.” His eyes widen with momentary surprise.

“That went under, didn’t it?” “No.” I say more abruptly than I intend, but Wild—and Wren Fletcher—did not fail. “My father had terminal cancer. He decided to sell.”

“Well, good, then. Glad we can help each other out. That’s how it works around here.”

“You should have our number, in case of anything. This is a tight-knit community. We rely on each other whenever there’s a need. Make sure you go out and meet your neighbors.”

“You might have gotten away with doing this kind of stuff back when you were flying for my dad, but it’s just you and me out here, and just me when you’re gone, and I don’t know who to call or how to check up on you, and I can’t be calling Agnes to track you down every time you don’t show up when you’re supposed to.

It’s just … a lot for me to get used to, and sometimes I wonder if I dragged you all the way out here to watch me fail.”

“First of all, you didn’t drag me out here. I came because I wanted to. And if The Yeti fails, then we fail, because we’re in this together. You and me.

I need to know that I can support us. That’s important to me. If I can’t make this work with what Wren gave me, then maybe I shouldn’t be doin’ it.”

“And you can’t live every day thinking I’m going to crash, Calla. It’ll drive you crazy.”

“Do me a favor?” Toby wanders over to the bookshelf and holds up the wildlife book Jonah gave me for Christmas. When he speaks again, his tone is lighter. “Promise you won’t go off in the bush alone because you’ve read this cover to cover.”

“You must be Calla.” Her voice is huskier than I expected. “You’re even prettier than the guys said you were.” The moment she smiles—a wide, feature-transforming grin that reaches her gray eyes—I know exactly who she is. “You’re Toby’s mom,”

“So, he’s been tellin’ his mom how pretty you are,” Jonah whispers.

“Toby said you’re afraid of goin’ out running on your own, so I’ve got here the name of two gals who run on Saturday mornings. Jodi and Emily. They know the area well. Meet ’em outside the Burger Shack at eight a.m. tomorrow. They’re expectin’ you.”

“It seems you’ve already made some big commitments to each other, buying this place, all the way out here. Rings and a ceremony … that’s all for show. It’s the day-to-day stuff that makes a real marriage,

“So how does he deal with Susan, then?” “They agreed on a monthly budget for her ‘frivolous spending.’” I let go of Jonah long enough to air quote that word. “She stays within her budget, and he’s not allowed to so much as blink at her purchases, no matter what. Not a word.”

“I’ll bet Phil didn’t tell ya about the old cabin.”

The broad smile that fills her face makes me instantly regret asking. “Come on. You and me are goin’ for a little ride.”

“Wren. I named it Wren.” Jonah reaches up to smooth a hand over the fuselage. “It’s a he.”

Muriel is not only an executioner, she’s a tyrant. I’m amazed she didn’t bring a whip with her.”

“Jonah, seriously, you’re beginning to freak me out. Are you about to tell me you’re dying or something?” “Jesus.” He releases a breathy laugh and, shaking his head, heads out the door.

“You ever wish you could hit rewind and relive that night?”

“I remember thinking that night how I was gonna fall hard for you.”

“One thing is for sure, Barbie. This was never gonna end. Not if I had anything to do with it,”

“Almost ten, if you wanna be picky. May is more than half over. And stop interrupting me,” he scolds through a kiss. He takes a deep breath. “In all that time, I’ve never doubted that you’re the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

“I’m late.”

“Yeah, but a baby changes everything, Jonah. It’s permanent. It’s for life.” Jonah’s jaw tenses. “As opposed to what we are?”

“No, I get it.” He releases my hands to hold his up in the air in a sign of surrender. “It’s okay, Calla. Really. You’re right. It has been only a few months.” He voices these words, but his frown says something different.

In my haste, I knock Jonah’s wool jacket off the hook. A small box falls out of his pocket. I frown at the small black jewelry box as I collect it from the floor.

He was going to propose.

Before his words triggered the pregnancy scare, he was talking about spending the rest of his life with me.

He was literally in the process of asking me to marry him when I panicked about being late.

And I would have said yes, I realize with absolute certainty.

Instead, I freaked out about the possibility of being pregnant and probably not in a way that screamed, “We should get married!”

Oh my God. What if he doesn’t want to marry me anymore? “Yeah, but a baby changes everything, Jonah. It’s permanent. It’s for life.” “As opposed to what we are?”

“He said he could die peacefully, knowing you’d always be taken care of. Financially, at least.”

“How much I love you, and that we don’t need to rush anything.”