“What jobs?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

I’m not sure what annoys me more—that I don’t know about it or that Marie does. “What jobs have you been turning down?”

He bites his bottom lip. “A hunting outfit mentioned wanting me to work for them in September. It’s not a big deal, and I don’t even know if I’d want it.”

“That’s not how Marie made it sound.”

He scowls. “She doesn’t know what she’s talkin’ about.”

That, or Jonah isn’t willing to tell me.

I decide to leave that alone for the moment. “And what was that about my dad giving you Alaska Wild?”

“I don’t know why we’re doin’ this—”

“Because I want to know. Marie shouldn’t know things about your life that I don’t!” Especially as the woman you want to marry. “The last I heard, my dad offered to sell you Wild, but you couldn’t afford it.”

He sighs heavily and shakes his head. “There was a brief point when Wren was thinkin’ about how to keep Wild running after he was gone. He asked if I wanted to buy it off him for whatever I could pay him, which wasn’t nearly what it was worth. He suggested it about a week before you showed up. That’s when I knew something was goin’ on with him. It didn’t make sense for him to walk away from the kind of money he could get sellin’ to Aro, who I knew was interested in buying him out.”

“So, why didn’t you take it?” My dad did say that Jonah was the one person who would do right by Alaska Wild.

He shrugs. “Didn’t feel good, takin’ advantage of the situation like that. He’d basically be giving it to me. Plus, I knew he had a daughter, even if you hadn’t seen each other in forever. It’d be like robbing you of what was rightfully yours. Anyway, as soon as you showed up, Wren came to his senses and realized it was time to let Wild go completely. I even offered to run it, if he wanted to leave it all to you. And I would have, for however long you wanted me to.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this?”

“Because he wouldn’t agree to it. He didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on either of us. It’d mean tying you down to Alaska and something that kept you two apart for so many years. So, he took that option right off the table and sold it to Aro.” Jonah watches me. “He said he could die peacefully, knowing you’d always be taken care of. Financially, at least.”

What if my father had agreed to Jonah’s proposal, that he leave the company to me and have Jonah run it? For starters, I’d be screwed if Jonah decided he didn’t want to do it anymore. It’s not like I was about to move to Western Alaska to try to run things. And for how long would I be expected to keep it alive? What if I wanted to sell it? I’d be selling my family’s legacy—that my father loved and gave up everything for—to the highest bidder.

The guilt with that decision would have weighed me down. It’d be a thousand times worse than Agnes signing over the deed to his house for possible demolition. Would I find myself resenting my father for putting me in that position, for tying me down to his life?

Jonah would still be attached to Western Alaska—for life, or as long as I was relying on him. We wouldn’t be living here.

We might not be living together.

Jonah probably wouldn’t have a ring in his pocket.

In the end, my dad made the right call. He put me ahead of Alaska Wild. Something he never seemed to be able to do before.

“You should have told me.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Maybe not. Though, if I ever needed proof for my mother that Jonah isn’t after me for my money, I have it.

Jonah places a hand against the small of my back and pulls me closer to him. “How are you feelin’ today?”

I reach for him. My palms smooth over the hard curves of his chest, his collarbone and shoulders, settling on his biceps. “I’m fine. A bit achy.” I always am on the first day of my period.

“How long were you listening for, exactly?”

“Long enough to know I’m not a big fan of Marie’s right now.”

He smirks. “She was challenging me. That’s what a good friend does.”

I level him with a look.

“Tell me Diana wouldn’t have a few harsh words about me if she was worried about you.”

I can’t tell him that because Diana would shred Jonah’s character if she thought I was sacrificing my happiness for him. “But Diana isn’t also in love with me.”

He sighs, but he doesn’t deny it this time. “What else did you hear?” He’s fishing for vital information. Mainly, do I know about the botched proposal?

I’ve never been able to lie successfully to Jonah. “What else should I have heard?” I ask instead.

His jaw tenses as his gaze roams my face, as if he’s deciding whether to take the plunge and admit his true intentions in yesterday’s trip. “How much I love you, and that we don’t need to rush anything.”

What does “anything” mean?

Babies, I assume.

But is he pulling back the reins on the idea of marriage, too?

I hesitate. “Please tell me we’re okay, because I feel like we’re not okay—”

“We’re okay, Calla. I promise,” he says, brushing a strand of hair from my forehead, his voice turning gruff. “We’re more than okay. I’m sorry if I let you think we weren’t.”

“I was so scared,” I admit in a whisper, my fingers clawing at his waist, gripping him tightly.

“I’m sorry.” Clutching the back of my head, he leans in to kiss my lips, stroking his tongue against mine in a deep, tantalizing way he normally reserves for the bedroom, when our clothes are off and our bodies are tangled.

A soft moan escapes my throat, unbidden.

“Sam won’t be here for a bit,” he whispers between ragged breaths, one hand fisting my hair, the other moving down to grip my backside and pull me flush against his arousal. “You want to go back to the house and get in the shower?”

My cramps have temporarily vanished, the promise of feeling Jonah’s body within mine an antidote for any discomfort. Yet the idea of trekking all the way home seems anticlimactic, and I feel the overwhelming desire to please him. I catch his bottom lip between my teeth in a teasing nip. “I can’t wait that long.” My hands slip under his sweater. His stomach muscles tense beneath my cool fingers as I unfasten his belt and zipper and slide my hand past the elastic band of his boxer briefs to grip him firmly.

“That’s fine with me,” he rasps. “You’ve just always wanted to do it in the—” His words die as I drop to my knees before him, tugging his jeans and boxers down his powerful thighs along the way.

“Fuck,” he hisses, his blue eyes flaring with heat as he watches me take him in my mouth. Plaiting his fingers through my long hair, he settles back against the door frame with a guttural moan, his appreciative gaze wandering between me and the vast wild vista surrounding us.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Wow. She wasn’t kidding,” I say as we pull up to the Ale House. The parking lot is filled with vehicles—mud-splattered pickups, ATVs, the odd shiny sedan. More have found space on the grass behind.