When We Fall, Contemporary Romance (Last Frontier Lodge Novels Book 6) Read online

  She gave a small wave and exited the room. When the door clicked shut, Quinn took a deep breath and let it out with a groan. He’d just half-lied to Marley and he didn’t like it one bit. The truth was he was seriously concerned about Lacey, but not because he was overly concerned about her health. He was concerned about how she was handling what happened. It really could be nothing and never happen again, but it wasn’t boding well for Lacey to hide her check up at the hospital from Marley. In all the time he’d known her, Lacey and Marley had been close. For her to hide something meant it was bothering the hell out of her.

  He pushed away from the counter and slipped his phone out of his pocket. Instead of wondering how Lacey was doing, he’d go see her.

  Chapter 5

  Lacey walked down the stairs in the cabin and paused at the bottom to look out the windows. The small cabin where she was temporarily staying was on her parents’ property. Years ago, her parents used to rent it out during summers for extra money, but they’d stopped doing that for a while. The rental where she’d been staying changed owners, so she’d moved here while she figured out where she’d stay next. The cabin was cozy and cute. The upstairs was a loft with a bedroom and bathroom, while the downstairs was one large open space that contained the kitchen and living room with a small bathroom and laundry at the back. The entire wall facing the mountains and Kachemak Bay was windows, which came to a point at the roof in the center. Fluffy clouds drifted across the view. The snow had fallen a little lower on the mountains across the bay, heralding winter’s coming arrival at the lower elevations. Wind scudded across the bay, ruffling the surface.

  Lacey turned away and glanced around the room, her eyes landing on the cheery red woodstove anchoring the living room. She was actually looking forward to winter in the cabin. Winters were warm and inviting with the woodstove and the view of the snow-covered landscape. Both she and Marley had taken their turns with temporary stays here. It was lovely and held many childhood memories because when it wasn’t rented out, she and Marley used to have camp-outs here for fun.

  She stepped off the bottom of the stairs and strode to the kitchen counter. She’d gone for an afternoon run on the beach and pushed herself hard. It was chilly enough outside that she’d gotten cold. After a steaming shower, she still wanted something else to warm her and another cup of coffee would do the trick. As she waited for the coffee maker to beep, her phone buzzed. Snagging it off the counter, she saw a text from Quinn.

  I’m at the lodge. Tell me how to find you.

  Go on the back deck and look up the closest slope. You’ll see a trail through the trees on the right. Follow it.

  A flutter on anticipation swirled in her belly and a smile curled her lips. In any case, she’d have been happy to have Quinn visit. He was a good friend and easy to be around. Now, it was something else altogether. She must have replayed their kiss the other night a few hundred times already. Though a huge part of her was still all a muddle over this new attraction to him, she couldn’t seem to stop it. It also gave her something else to obsess about other than what might or might not be happening with her health. In the days since she’d been home, she’d had two more time when her legs felt funny and weak. Both times, she’d conveniently been home alone, so she’d sat down on the couch and waited until the feeling passed. The second her mind started to ponder that, she shied away, her thoughts landing on Quinn.

  A loud beep interrupted her reverie about the fact she’d learned Quinn was one hell of a kisser. With a shake of her head, she got her coffee ready. Just as she was taking a sip, she saw Quinn stepping out through the trees on the side of the field behind the cabin. She went out on the back deck to meet him. His grin flashed when he saw her, and he closed the remaining distance at a jog. A gust of wind blew her damp hair wild as he reached the deck. Her gaze soaked him in—his amber hair and eyes, his warm grin, and his body of nothing but muscle. Now that she knew what his body felt like, her mind flipped to the feel of his sculpted chest and his hot, hard… Screech. Oh. My. God. Stop it. You can’t just drool over him all the time. That’s so not you. Act normal.

  She looked up at him and saw his eyes darken, immediately sending a jolt of heat through her. Butterflies amassed in her belly and her pulse lunged forward. Quinn moved smoothly as he stepped to her and enveloped her in a hug. When he stepped back, she experienced a flash of longing so intense, it startled her. She curled both hands around her coffee cup as if it could somehow anchor her and keep her from climbing all over him.

  “Hey,” he said simply.

  “Hey yourself. Are you all settled over at the lodge?”

  “Of course. Marley showed me my room. Got to meet Gage too. Gotta say, I bet you love having that place right here. You can ski through the trees if you want.” He paused and turned slowly in a circle, scanning the view. From her cabin, part of the lodge was visible in the distance, but otherwise the cabin was protected from view of any other homes and nestled into a cluster of spruce with a small field behind it and nothing but mountains and the bay beyond that. When his gaze came back to her, he arched a brow. “Can’t beat the view or the privacy here.”

  She grinned. “I know. Not too shabby, although it’s hard to find anywhere around here that doesn’t have a great view. Come on in.”

  Once they were inside, she got him some coffee and plunked down on the couch, gesturing for him to join her. Usually, she’d have no trouble easing into chatter about whatever was going on, but she was too wired right now and uncertain what to say about anything. There was the elephant in the room of what seemed to be the mutual attraction between them, and then there was the fact Quinn happened to be the only person close to her who knew anything about her possible medical concerns. Independently, each of those issues would have made her feel out of sorts and uncomfortable with him. Lump them together and she was practically tongue-tied.

  If he noticed anything amiss, he ignored it. He took a swallow of coffee and grinned. “Almost as good as mine.”

  “Hey! I can make good coffee too,” she protested, batting at him with her free hand.

  He chuckled and shrugged. “I suppose.” He took another swallow and leaned back, entirely comfortable and relaxed even though his rangy form barely fit on the small couch. “So, I hear we’re having dinner with some people tonight?”

  “We sure are. Marley mentioned she hadn’t seen you since you went away to finish up medical school, so I rounded up anyone I thought you might know. Ever since the lodge got up and running, we get together there a lot, so it’s not really a thing. You might meet a few new people. Gage’s brother and sister have both moved up here…” She paused to consider who else she’d invited. “You’ve met Delia before, right?”

  “Oh yeah. You and Marley grew up with her, right? Think I met her one of the other times I came through here.”

  “Probably. Anyway, it’ll be fun. So what’s the update with your interview?”

  “I meet with them tomorrow. They’ve already reviewed everything. It sounds promising, but Dr. Daniels has made it clear his decision will be personal. Sounds like he wants to make sure whoever takes over the practice is a good fit for the patients and the community.”

  “Dr. Daniels grew up in Diamond Creek, so he won’t let someone into that clinic unless he feels good about it. I ran into him the other day though, and he asked me about you. Seeing as Diamond Creek’s pretty small when it comes to locals, he knew we worked together. Of course I told him you’d be perfect for what he’s looking for. Even though we’re friends, I wouldn’t have said so if I didn’t mean it. Maybe you didn’t grow up in Diamond Creek, but you’re an Alaskan through and through, and you love this area. That, plus the fact you’re a genius.”

  Quinn threw his head back with a laugh. “Wow, I guess I should have put you down as an official reference.”

  Lacey flushed, suddenly self-conscious. She’d meant every word she’d said to Dr. Daniels about Quinn, but talking about it reminded her just what a gre
at guy he was. She wasn’t used to thinking about him in any category other than friend. “Anyway, he seems pretty hopeful. Did he tell you his eventual plan is to sell the practice to whoever he hires?”

  Quinn nodded. “I didn’t know it when I applied, but he mentioned it when we spoke the other day.”

  “How do you feel about that? I mean, it’s kind of a commitment.”

  “Like I told you, I’m back in Alaska to stay. Diamond Creek’s always been one of my favorite places to visit, so it works for me. I love to travel, but I want my home base here,” he said firmly.

  Lacey’s stomach kept doing little flips every so often. Thinking about Quinn living right here in Diamond Creek sent it spinning with flutters rippling through her. She had never, never, thought about a long-term relationship with anyone. But the idea of something like that with Quinn, well that did strange things to her insides.

  Quinn set his empty coffee cup down and looked over at Lacey. She seemed wound tight with her heel lightly bouncing against the sofa and one hand twirling a lock of auburn hair. He couldn’t say he wasn’t wound tight, what with the gates opened on his desire for her. He’d spent most of his drive here lecturing himself on how important it was to not blow his friendship up with her. He almost laughed aloud right now. The moment he’d seen her across the field as he walked to her cabin, it was as if an electric current crackled to life in the air between them. He marveled he’d done such a damn good job of snuffing out his initial spark for her, he was now stumbling under the onslaught of longing. The slightest indication from Lacey she returned his interest and he was done for. Although the other night had been a bit more than slight.

  Lacey had been staring out the window and turned to him, her jade gaze colliding with his. The worry reflected there almost physically pained him, and his mental meandering stopped abruptly as he focused on her. “Marley’s worried about you,” he said before he had a chance to think.

  Lacey drained her coffee and set the mug on the table. “I know,” she said with a soft sigh. “Did she ask you about me?”

  “Yeah. Said she was worried and wanted to know if something happened on the trip.” He paused to gauge Lacey’s response. When she stayed quiet, her eyes watching and waiting, he continued. “How come you haven’t told her about your falls and what the doctor said?” Tension coiled inside once he asked the question, worried about how she might respond. She surprised him.

  “Because it scares me and I don’t want to talk about it,” she said bluntly.

  The twirling speed of her hand picked up as that lock of auburn hair slid in a circle around her index finger, again and again and again. Lacey was open in some ways, but guarded in others. She was the first to be warm and sensitive with a friend and the last to ever be vulnerable enough to let a friend offer the same in return.

  Quinn decided he’d already ripped the scab off the topic, so he might as well keep going. “Lace, it’s not like anyone would be excited about a possible MS diagnosis, or any potentially long-term medical issue. If it comes to that, there are plenty of treatment options. You should know that the most common form of MS is relapsing-remitting MS. Symptoms come and go and some people go years without any. Many don’t experience any symptoms in between attacks. Normally, I wouldn’t even want to speculate on whether you actually have MS, but I can tell you’re doing a bang up job of obsessing about it. Instead of blowing it up in your mind, focus on facts. If, and that’s still an if, you get diagnosed with MS, there’s a good chance you’ll be like most people and your symptoms will wax and wane. An MS diagnosis isn’t a death sentence, not even close. Most people with MS live just as long as those without it.”

  He paused and waited. Her gaze was like a laser beam on him, intent and focused. “Long story short, it’s not going to help at all for you to get all worked up over this. Some people go years before another episode like what you had in Katmai. No doctor will formally diagnose you until they can isolate more than one episode and two areas of nerve damage. If you have MS, it’s already looking like it’s relapsing-remitting. If you can, try to stop worrying. I know how close you and Marley are, so maybe you might want to talk to her.”

  Lacey blinked rapidly and turned to stare out the windows again. “Did you tell her anything?” she asked, her tone only slightly annoyed.

  Under the circumstances, Quinn considered that amazing. “Nope. She asked if something happened and because I didn’t want to piss you off, I didn’t tell her. I told her to ask you. I figure you either tell her yourself, or she’ll harass you until you do.”

  Lacey turned back to him and sighed, finally releasing the lock of hair. Her green eyes were bright, just bright enough Quinn suspected she was blinking back tears. His heart clenched, and he had to hold himself back from reaching over and hauling her into his arms. He could tell her all day long she didn’t need to be so worried, but she had to figure it out on her own.

  “I heard everything you just told me, and I took those materials Dr. Clark gave me. It’s not like I think I’m going to die. It’s just…ugh…” She chewed on her lip, staring at the floor. “My nickname when we were growing up was Brawn, okay? I love what I do. I love pushing myself to the limit physically. I’ve always been healthy and strong. Even with all the crazy stuff I do, I haven’t gotten hurt. Now this. It’s making me crazy! I mean, I was just standing there and I fell on my ass. Then, all I was doing was walking to meet the plane and it happened again. And why do you and Dr. Clark keep calling it a single episode? I didn’t even mention that I felt weak the day before and had to stop and catch my balance on a tree! That’s three times, not once.” She threw her hands up and leaned her head back against the couch. When she rolled her head to the side, her eyes were still slightly damp, but she looked plenty annoyed.

  Uncertain which of her comments to reply to, Quinn started with the simplest. “Dr. Clark referred to it as a single episode because usually the symptoms will last for a period of time and then fade away. I wish you’d mentioned you’d felt weak another time, but whatever.” He paused and waited before jumping to the more difficult part of what she said. “As for you being Brawn…” A chuckle rolled out of him as he said her childhood nickname, which earned him a wide grin from Lacey. “…you’ll still be just who you are. If, remember the ‘if’ part of this, you need to do a few things to manage your symptoms, you will. You’ve already backed off of your winter trips, so it’s not like you can’t shift gears. Instead of thinking worst case scenario, how about you try to wait and see?”

  Lacey’s grin faded as she looked at him. “I’ll try, but I’m really good at getting all worked up over things.”

  “This from the woman who once skied off a cliff in front of me and landed like a champ.”

  Lacey grinned again and lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “That’s different. This stuff,” she pointed to her head “is all up here.” She couldn’t let herself start thinking she had MS. She was too strong for that. She knew, just knew, those weird episodes would become a distant memory.

  “I know.”

  Lacey took a deep breath and sighed elaborately. “Of course you understand. You’re a good friend, so you’ll be nice and put up with my obsessing and wish I’d shut the hell up,” she said with a roll of her eyes.

  He shook his head. “I’m not wishing you’d shut up. I’m wishing for your own sake, you’d stop obsessing. Oh, and talk to Marley. Otherwise, she’s going to keep bugging me and I can only hold her off for so long.”

  Lacey threw a small pillow at him and stood up quickly. “Fine. I’ll talk to her. Wanna take the long trail back to the lodge on our way to dinner?”

  Chapter 6

  Lacey felt the heat of Quinn’s thigh nearly searing her. They were seated in the corner booth at the lodge restaurant with enough friends and family that their gathering had spilled over to another table nearby. She’d managed the first hour of so of dinner just fine. Now, with a few glasses of wine in her and being crowded up against Quinn because
Gage’s sister Jessa was on the other side of her, well, it was safe to say she was practically on fire.

  “Yoo hoo,” Ginger Nash said, waving her hand back and forth from across the booth.

  Lacey whipped her head up, catching the motion of Ginger’s hand out of the corner of her eye. “Huh?”

  Ginger’s blue eyes narrowed, a hint of mischief held within her gaze. “I asked you two times in a row if you wanted to be in for Diamond Creek Batters next spring.”

  Lacey wasn’t about to share she’d been zoning out over her replay of her kiss with Quinn the other night, so she nodded before she even considered her answer.

  “Yes!” Ginger declared. “We’ve got a full team. Now I have to find some back ups.” Her eyes swung to Quinn. “How about you? You’re moving here, right?”

  Quinn chuckled and shrugged. “Maybe, but it’s not definite. What’s Diamond Creek Batters?”

  “I’m sure Dr. Daniels will hire you, so you’ll be here,” Ginger replied firmly, her shiny dark hair swinging with her nod. “Diamond Creek Batters is one of our local league baseball teams. Every other year, I help manage it. We’ve won the league championship for four years straight now, so you’ll be joining a winning team.”

  Ginger’s satisfied grin elicited a laugh from her husband Cam. He looked to Quinn. “No need to bow to her pressure, but she won’t let up either. I’m playing too, so if that sways your decision…” Cam’s golden brown eyes canted down to Ginger, his love for her evident in his gaze.

  “Okay, count me in. If I end up moving here for sure, I’ll play. No promises I’m amazing, but I do all right,” Quinn replied.

  Lacey’s heart gave a thump. The idea that Quinn could be part of her daily world sent a spin of longing through her. Between that and being surrounded by a few dear friends who’d been blessed enough to find love recently, it was hard not to wonder what it could be like. She felt rattled about the depth of her attraction to Quinn and these unfamiliar thoughts about relationships. For crying out loud, her sister had fallen head over heels with Gage and not once had it crossed Lacey’s mind that she might want something like that. Not until now and not until her attraction to Quinn shot through her like lightning.