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EIGHT

Tiikaan held in his sigh of relief as Barrow came into view. The day had been an absolute bore. He’d finished the latest Bristol North audiobook but had quickly realized that normally when he listened to books, he had something else to keep himself busy.

He’d sketched, paced, and scanned the surrounding area for animals—there were none.

Even the creatures of the wild ran from the mine site.

He wouldn’t have minded taking a hike and exploring, but apparently, he wasn’t allowed.

His hands tightened around the yoke as he circled to line up with the runway. He’d have to talk to Merritt about the latter. There was no way he’d make it through the summer if he couldn’t stretch his legs.

But first she’d have to get her cute nose out of her computer.

He glanced over at Merritt.

She scanned an Excel sheet, shook her head, and muttered under her breath, then toggled over to another document and ran her finger along the screen. Her lips moved as she silently read. She let out a little growl and toggled back to the spreadsheet.

He smashed his lips together to keep his chuckle in and turned his attention back to the approach. She reminded him a lot of his sister Astryde––determined, stubborn, and relentless as the day was long.

And the days were never-ending this far north.

It was clear that Merritt was in way over her head. But she hadn’t once let it slow her down. In fact, her stepbrother’s little tantrum seemed to fuel her to prove she could do the whole CEO thing.

During the tour, she hadn’t known much of anything about what was going on. But she had this amazing way of snagging a worker by calling out their name and building them up until they were an expert in whatever it was they were looking at.

No one seemed to catch on that she was clueless. And if they did, her billowing them full of accolades made them more than happy to explain what some piece of machinery did.

He got the impression that she hadn’t been there long. So how had she remembered so many people’s names? And not just the supervisors or the workers in the office. Some of the people he’d met today were just normal Joes like him.

Grunts.

And she had talked with them like they were the most important person at the site.

All while maintaining this cool facade of control.

Was that something rich people trained into their kids? Or did it come with the knowledge that anything they wanted was within their grasp?

Anything.

Because with the type of money the Harland family was made of, buying spots on Elon Musk’s Mars colony wouldn’t even put a dent in their bottom line.

He shook the thought off and focused on the landing procedure. The sun glittered off the Arctic Ocean. A humpback breached in the distance, levitating out of the water and crashing down with a splash. The plane vibrated with energy under him and filled him with peace.

That’s what he loved about flying.

Creation’s proclamation of a creator was never more evident than while soaring through the sky. It was the same with hunting. High in the air and deep in the bush, Tiikaan could just be.

No comparing.

No shortcomings.

Just himself.

“Well, how was the first day?” Merritt’s cool question crashed into his peace, and in that half dreamlike state he spewed the first thing that popped in his head.

“‘Life swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom.’” He inwardly groaned as he turned his face away, pretending to check gauges.

He’d found the Arthur Schopenhauer quote in middle school and had used it every time he had to do something mind-numbing in school. It’d spilled into his daily thoughts during his service in the Air Force.

But saying it to the person who with one word could make sure his clawing out of the pit of bankruptcy didn’t happen probably wasn’t smart.

A startled laugh jumped from her. “That bad?”

He shrugged it off. “I’ll figure it out.”

“Well, a pendulum of pain and boredom certainly isn’t good.” She shook her head, her fingers going to her necklace like they seemed to do when she was nervous.

He slid the plane onto the runway and kept the conversation up while he made his way to his rented spot.

“I found that quote by philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer when I was eleven. Shocked the heck out of Mom when I used it during my grammar lesson one day.”

“I bet.” She turned her face toward him.

“The next time I said it, she came back with ‘Only boring people get bored.’” He cringed.

“Ouch.” Merritt chuckled.

He looked at her with a mock expression of offense and waved his hand up and down his body. “Do I look like a boring person to you?”

The way her fingers froze on her necklace as she scanned him had him straightening his spine. When her cheeks pinkened and her muscles tensed before she turned to pack her computer in her bag, he inwardly preened.

“No.” The word whispered out all airy, and Tiikaan’s own breath snagged in his chest.

Nope.

He would not let his restlessness create more trouble. He couldn’t afford to look at Merritt any other way than as his boss.

If he let his mind loose on this thread of attraction swirling in his gut, he had copious amounts of time to dwell and dream and come up with all kinds of possibilities that were inconceivable.

She cleared her throat as she finished closing her worn leather satchel. “Would you want to come out to dinner?”

Inconceivable.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means , Inigo Montoya from Princess Bride said in Tiikaan’s head.

He shook it to shut his imagination up.

Merritt’s eyes widened.

“Not like friends, but a business meeting,” Merritt quickly added. “We could figure out something to keep you from a summer of drear. Maybe guard duty? That’s kind of like hunting, right?”

She tried to put her crisp business voice on that he’d heard her use all day, but it didn’t hit right. There was too much emotion trembling in it. If she thought guarding a mine in the middle of nowhere was anything like hunting, Tiikaan wasn’t even sure he could explain the difference.

“It’s been a long day.” He took the keys out of the ignition. “You aren’t ready to go home and relax?”

She shuddered as she reached for the door.

“Uh, no. You’ve met my family.” She yanked on the door handle, her voice sharp. “There is nothing relaxing about that house.”

“Hold up.” He placed his hand on her arm, and she sagged against the seat. He softened his voice. “Let me come around and help you out.”

He hopped out and rushed around the plane. Through the windshield, she took a deep breath and lifted her chin. Another breath and her shoulders rolled back.

By the time he made it to her door and reached up to help her out, the crack in the ice princess’ facade was shored up. She didn’t look at him as she spoke.

“You’re right. It’s been a busy day. I think I’ll––”

“Have you been to Osaka yet?” he interrupted her.

“What?” Her perfectly shaped brows furrowed together.

“The sushi restaurant on Stevenson?”

“Um… no. I haven’t.”

“They have a teriyaki tofu dinner plate, some vegetable sushi rolls, and tempura vegetables.”

Now why’d he say that like he’d scoped out the menu with her in mind.

Because he hadn’t.

Not really.

More like he was curious if a vegetarian could survive in an Alaskan meat-based village.

He guided her from the plane, then reached around her to grab her satchel. Which was a mistake. He was close.

Too close.

The soft citrus scent from her hair filled his system. Warning lights flashed and buzzers blared in his head.

Mayday!

This pilot was going down.

Her fingers brushed his as she took her bag from him. She stared up at him, his throat drying at the vulnerability flooding from her brown eyes. He took a step back and swallowed.

“What do you say?” He put on a casual air he didn’t feel. “Up for seeing if we can get good Japanese this far north?”

If he could gloss over his obvious Merritt-induced research, maybe she’d forget he ever mentioned it.

“It’ll take me about thirty minutes or so to get Darth Maule here tucked in for the night.” He patted his plane’s wing. “Meet you at Osaka then?”

She nodded and stepped toward her car. “Okay.”

She took another step away, opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, then spun on her expensive heel and marched to her black Escalade.

He needed to take this time to get his priorities straight.

Too bad he finished his post-flight checklist faster than ever.