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“I’ll be sending a bill for the services rendered,” Cole reminded him.
“And I’ll pay it.”
“All right. I am rather tired and hungry.”
“So you’ll keep this outbreak of strep between you and me?” Frank seemed worried.
“I have to. No laws were broken. The guests have the right to get sick. I want you to know I checked their visas, Frank. They have to be out of the country by Sunday. Make sure they are.” Cole looked at him coldly. “If you need me, I’ll be in the bar.”
“I’ll have one of the girls bring you the key to your bungalow.”
Cole left Frank and followed the beautifully lit path surrounded by ancient pines and ferns to the bar. He took a deep breath of the invigorating air, the clean smell of wet earth and pine. The night sky was glorious, brimming with stars.
He was grateful he didn’t have to fly back home on such a magnificent night. He’d pulled an all-nighter at the hospital the night before and was beat.
The bar looked like a saloon from the gold-mining days at the turn of the twentieth century. He walked inside and could see people sitting at tables and the bar laughing and talking, while a handful of others danced to the music blaring from a jukebox.
* * *
SASHI HANSEN WAS EXHAUSTED as she headed to the bar. Her job was to give a key to a VIP at the resort. Who wasn’t an important guest here? Then she smiled. Everyone considered themselves important, she supposed.
She lifted a hand to her nose. It smelled of soap. She often worried she’d grown so used to the smell of fish on her skin that she couldn’t smell it anymore. Sashi had been in Alaska only a week when she’d overheard how much money could be made working down in the cannery. It paid three times what other jobs paid, but you really had to work hard. Fourteen-hour days on your feet cleaning, filleting and packing fish ready to be sent to places all over the world. So she resigned from her original job as a hotel maid and went to work in the packing plant.
Today Sashi had packed fish all day and the smell had been dreadful. When wasn’t it dreadful? She was convinced she was slowly turning into a fish, not realizing how vain she was. The boss had ordered her to wait tables for two more hours. She needed to concentrate on that and then she could hit her bunk bed.
As long as Sashi kept her vision in mind, the long days weren’t that bad. She could scarcely believe she was so close to attaining her dream. After working incredibly hard this summer, she’d earned enough money for a down payment on her own dance studio back home in Alexandria, Virginia, and would now be eligible to apply for a business loan. Soon she would be able to open it.
The long hours were draining, but she’d spent worse days getting ready for performances at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York. Not to mention there were only three more days left at this place and then she and her best friend, Kendra, would be flying home. She couldn’t wait!
Sashi walked into the bar, ducked behind the counter and found an apron to tie around her waist. Reaching into her jeans, she grabbed a rubber band and pulled her strawberry-blond hair into a ponytail. It reached halfway down her back.
With that accomplished, she inhaled deeply. Just think about tips.
First she needed to find a Dr. Stevens. Mac, the bartender, would know him. The middle-aged Tlingit knew everyone who flew in and out of here for whatever reason. “Yo, Mac,” she called. “I need some help over here.” Over the past three months she’d picked up the easy local banter.
“How can I help you, New York?” he responded.
Sashi had grown accustomed to every employee calling her “New York.” After living in the Big Apple for the past ten years, she’d picked up the accent, and here it had earned her the nickname.
“I need to find a Dr. Stevens,” she said.
“Really? Did you get lined up for a date?” Mac’s brown eyes twinkled.
She blushed. “No. Mr. Marshall told me to give him the key to his bungalow.”
“Not anything else?”
Sashi hated all the attention men gave her, even in a teasing manner. “You’re shameless.” She put her hands on her hips and tried her best to make a hundred pounds look tough.
“I know. But you still love me.” Then he gave her a hug. Sashi found if she held herself stiffly, most men let her go pretty fast. And he did.
“Just show me where the doctor is.”
Mac brought his face close to hers. He reeked of alcohol, causing her to shudder. “He’s the blond guy in the sweater and jeans staring at you.” He pointed.
Sashi turned and met the most unusual pair of eyes she’d ever seen—golden like honey, in a face that looked like it belonged in a magazine. Tanned, with an aquiline nose and chiseled features, even a cleft chin. Damn. For the first time since she’d been here, she felt her stomach tighten up over a good-looking man. Embarrassed because of the way she was reacting to him, she looked down at the floor.
“New York,” Mac said. “Doc Stevens is right there!” He gave her a little shove.
Sashi was sure she was bright red by now. The curse of pale skin.
Stop it, Sashi. Go give the doctor his key!
His table wasn’t far from the bar. She pulled herself together and crossed to him. In an effort to appear in control, she focused on a spot behind his broad shoulders and not on his handsome face. Her heart was pounding too hard. This kind of thing didn’t happen to her.
“Welcome to the Watering Hole, Dr. Stevens.” Now she met his gaze. Whew! His eyes were a luminous gold. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the key. “I believe this is for you.” As she handed it to him she said, “Mr. Marshall wanted me to tell you ‘thanks again.’”
As the doctor took the key, his hand brushed hers. She felt a jolt of energy from her fingertips to her midsection.
Sashi had heard of love at first sight, or what she preferred to call lust at first sight, but had never believed in it. She chalked it up to living in New York. Or maybe never having a relationship last. Whatever the reason, it had turned her into a real cynic about romance—until this moment. She’d never felt such attraction. No doubt it was one-sided, but it was shocking nevertheless.
“Thank you, Sashi,” he replied.
“Oh! You’re welcome.” She smiled. “It’s part of the job. Hey—how do you know my name?”
Suddenly the two most adorable creases bracketed his mouth. “It’s on your name tag.”
“Of course.” She felt herself blush again and bit her lip, continuing to look at him as he looked right back at her. Needing to break the silence, she asked, “Can I get you anything to drink?”
“I’ll have whatever you think is the best on tap.”
“Are you a lager kind of guy?”
“Always.”
“Then I’ll be right back.” Sashi started to make an escape and compose her thoughts.
“Wait.”
Her body quickened. This weird attraction was well beyond her comfort zone. She needed to talk to Kendra right now! Unfortunately, Kendra was with Freddy Marshall, a shameless ladies’ man. Sashi detested him, but his father was the boss, so she kept her feelings quiet. What baffled her was how Kendra could be in love with a man who kept breaking her heart.
Sashi had no choice but to turn back to the doctor. “Is there something else I can get you, Dr. Stevens?”
The man leaned back in the chair, his long legs stretched out before him. Was there anything unappealing about him? “First off, call me Cole. Everyone does. Up here we’re a pretty informal bunch.” He smiled warmly.
Sashi’s throat went dry. Maybe this wasn’t just a one-way attraction. “Okay—Cole.”
He looked at her curiously. “Where are you from? East Coast?”
“Originally from Virginia, but I’ve spent the past ten years in New York.”
He sat up to lean closer to her. “That’s why your accent sounds so familiar. A colleague of mine is from New York. He sounds like you.”
“Everyone calls me ‘New York’ up here.”
“What did you do there, if I may ask?”
Sashi wondered if the wheat-colored hair that fell over his forehead was soft to the touch. “Pardon?”
“I asked what you did in New York.”
“Oh. I studied ballet. Um...let me go and get you that drink.”
Sashi headed back to the bar to get his beer, chastising herself for acting like a teenager around him. Get your act together, girl. He’s a customer who wants a beer. That’s all. With that little pep talk, she headed back to his table with the beer.
“Oh, dear,” she muttered to herself. This wasn’t going to be easy. The man was too damned sexy.
Sashi put his drink on the wooden table. “One lager on the house, courtesy of Mr. Marshall. Is there anything else you would like, Doc—I mean Cole?”
He took a swig of his drink, then set it down. “This is good.” He flashed her another warm smile.
“So I’ve been told.” Sashi felt herself smile back.
“You’re not a beer drinker, then?”
Sashi wrinkled her nose. “I’ve never been a fan of beer. Too many calories.”
He studied her. “Like you need to worry. So what do you drink?”
Her heart raced from all his attention. “If I do...a gin and tonic.”
“Cole!” Mac yelled from the bar. “Stop hitting on the staff!”
“Then stop hiring such good-looking women!” Cole fired back.
Sashi could feel her cheeks burning again. She had to get away. She flashed Cole a smile, then moved to other customers and began taking orders. She couldn’t risk jeopardizing her job, not with only three days left. For the past three months she’d spurned every man who’d come on to her, be it an employee or guest.
She needed to ignore this attraction. But it did make her feel better to know she wasn’t completely frozen inside, as the men she’d turned down had told her. She guessed she simply wasn’t attracted to most men. Only to one blond god with tawny eyes.
The rest of the shift passed quickly. When the doctor ordered another lager or asked her a question, Sashi did her best to look unaffected.
* * *
SINCE THAT RED-HAIRED beauty had appeared, Cole sat at the table thunderstruck by what had transpired. Women like that didn’t just walk into saloons up in Alaska every day. Was she one of the girls Freddy had brought up from Washington, D.C., under the pretense of proposing to her?
Even if she was interested in Freddy, there’d been a spark between Cole and her when their eyes had met. Cole needed to catch her alone before he left the bar in order to find out if this attraction was only in his mind.
He waited outside for the place to close down and for Sashi to come out. Such an unusual name. He wondered what it meant. Hell, he had a ton of questions. Most of all he needed to see her again. She looked like a medieval princess with her porcelain skin and shiny, long hair. And her face! It was beautiful.
He heard the door open before he saw silhouettes moving in the semidarkness. Sashi was the first out. Mac followed after locking up the bar.
“Get a good night’s sleep, New York.”
“You, too, Mac.”
Sashi headed in a different direction than Mac. Cole hoped she wouldn’t think he was a stalker. If she screamed and told him to get lost, he would. But if she had felt the same spark he had earlier, she might be happy to see him. No matter. He would keep his distance so she wouldn’t feel scared.
“New York!” Cole called out softly when she was near enough. “You never told me where you studied ballet.”
* * *
SASHI’S HEAD WHIPPED AROUND. There he was, standing on the other side of the bridge she needed to cross to reach her bunkhouse. Was he waiting for her? Her heart leaped at the thought. She hoped he was.
If it had been any other man, she would have been alarmed and called security—all she had to do was reach down to the two-way radio attached to the hem of her jeans and call them. Instead, she was thrilled Cole had wanted to stay and talk to her.
So she leaned against the other side of the arched bridge that ran over one of the various streams on the property. The lights below the bridge cast a romantic aura over the lush forest, making onlookers feel they’d entered the land of Fey. The sky was filled with stars.
“I studied at the Joffrey Ballet School.”
There was enough light for Sashi to see Cole’s tall frame. He must be at least six-two or -three, with the body of an athlete. She started to imagine what it would be like to be held in arms like those.
“I don’t know much about dance,” he said. “Could you tell me more about the school?”
She sighed, then said, “It’s one of the most prestigious ballet schools in the country.”
“You look like a dancer,” he said.
“And you’re an expert on the subject?” Sashi couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her voice.
Cole took a step closer. “To be honest, speaking from a doctor’s point of view, you look like you’ve been working out for years. Even serving drinks in jeans and a windbreaker, you hold yourself with poise and grace.”
Sashi chuckled. “How many dancers do you know? I think you’re just teasing me.”
A big smile appeared. “So what’s a prima ballerina doing out here at a fisherman’s paradise?” His voice was deep.
Sashi took a few steps onto the bridge so she could lean over and look into the water rushing below. “I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase ‘Those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach.’” She turned to face him.
“I have,” he replied.
“I’m going to let you in on a little secret.” She lowered her voice. “I want to open my own dance studio. I love working with children.”
Sashi wondered how many women this doctor had known in his life. He was a natural flirt. Suddenly she decided it didn’t matter. It wouldn’t hurt her to flirt back for once in her life, especially when she knew it could go nowhere.
Cole raked a hand through his thick hair. “I’m still trying to understand how you’re going to teach ballet up here.”
Sashi stood up straight. “I’m not going to teach here. I plan on opening a studio in Virginia. But I need money to get it started.”
“Ah. So you came here to Alaska to earn the big bucks.”
