Stars Over Alaska (Wild River #4) - Jennifer Snow Page 0,14

“Take care.” The intensity in his ocean blue eyes made her shiver and she averted her gaze. Of all the people to come to their rescue—of all people to run into immediately upon being in Alaska—it had to be Levi. The one person who could break her, if she let him.

Turning away from the truck, she hurried inside the hospital with Selena, and moments later the admitting nurse directed them to a small examination room.

Selena eyed her as she climbed onto the examination table, leaving Leslie—the injured one—with the uncomfortable plastic chair. “You two have a history.”

Understatement, but she’d play dumb. “Who?”

“You and that unbelievably good-looking fire-hero guy.”

“Nope.” This was not a conversation she was eager to have anytime, least of all with her client. Sharing personal details of her life with Selena was unnecessary and unprofessional.

“You totally do.”

“No. We don’t.” She pretended to examine the bandages on her burned hand.

“Then why did he look at you like Ryan Reynolds’s character looked at Amy Smart’s character in Just Friends when they saw one another for the first time after she’d broken his heart by friend zoning him in high school...”

Leslie held up her uninjured hand to stop the rom-com recap. The way Selena likened everything to movies was almost more painful than the burn. “We don’t have a history. We’re both from Wild River. We went to school together.”

Selena was unconvinced, but she shrugged. “Fine... If you say so.”

“I do.” Of course she was lying.

Truth was, seeing Levi had made her temperature rise higher than the flames burning her family’s cabin to the ground. And she’d longed for metaphorical flames to engulf her as well.

Three years since she’d last seen him. Three years of trying to put the tragedy from her past aside and focus on her future. Three years of ignoring any contact he’d tried to make.

She had no real reason for it other than a desperation to leave everything and everyone that reminded her of Dawson behind, and there were few memories of her former fiancé that weren’t closely linked to Levi.

Just looking at him hurt.

The accident, everything that happened, was not his fault and she didn’t blame him. It was just difficult to be around someone who represented both the best times in her life and the hardest. He knew her better than most people and that made her vulnerable to him and vulnerable was the last thing she wanted to be.

Especially right now.

Twenty minutes later, her hand feeling pleasantly numb in fresh bandages, Leslie left the hospital in scrubs, with no idea what to do next.

CHAPTER FIVE

Three years earlier...

SHE WASN’T A DRESS person by nature, but it had to be true what they said—wedding dresses were designed to make every bride look her very best. Leslie almost didn’t recognize herself in the mirror as she slipped her feet into her ballet flats. The floor-length, off-white gown with its intricate beading along the bodice and A-line skirt was flattering to her figure, while still modest and her style. No frills or lace, but something uniquely special for the day.

She hadn’t even planned on wearing a real wedding dress, since it was going to be a small ceremony at the courthouse—just the two of them, plus her grandmother and Levi to act as witnesses. But at the last minute, she’d decided to splurge on the dress. At least part of the whole thing would be following tradition. Without their parents’ full support, it didn’t make sense to hold an elaborate event with a large guest list and a massive, unnecessary budget.

She moved closer to the mirror in the B and B honeymoon suite where they planned on spending their first night together as a married couple and applied her pale pink lipstick with a shaky hand. Her stomach twisted and she forced a breath.

This was the right thing. This was what she wanted.

It was just nerves getting to her.

She loved Dawson. He loved her. That was all that mattered.

“Ready to—” Levi’s voice broke off and he cleared his throat “—go,” he said, entering the room behind her.

She turned with a smile, seeing him in a gray suit and white dress shirt, a smart-ass comment about his lack of jeans and T-shirt on the tip of her tongue, but then her smile faded, seeing his expression.

Completely unreadable as he stared at her like she was a stranger. Stared at her made-up face, her blond curls hanging loose around her shoulders, and then he stared for a really long time