Read Online The Erotic Expeditions - Complete Collection by Hazel Hunter - Free Book Online
Authors: Hazel Hunter
Tags: Erotic Romance
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door and lowered the bolt into place.
After he lit the propane lantern, he surveyed his small domain. It looked just as he’d left it. Either the old man didn’t care what he did in here, or it was too cold for him. Or maybe getting bolt cutters for the padlock was just too much bother. In the end, Austin didn’t care as long as he left it alone.
The weight bench took up some room but it was the kayak, survival gear, and tool bench that were important now. This was the moment he’d prepared for all his life. The plan he’d hatched since the day his mother had died.
He was leaving.
It’d be a matter of snowmobiling from one small village to the next, further and further north, and out of his father’s reach.
Only the duty to the hunt had kept him here. He owed those men a lot. They’d taught him everything they could about living in the wild and he’d soaked it up like a sponge. He was going to go on one last hunt with them and make sure that it went well.
Then he thought of Emily. She had changed all that.
Hadn’t she?
He thought about her sad look as they’d left the igloo. He hadn’t wanted to leave either but they’d find a way to be together. They had to and they would , he thought, nodding to himself. Because the alternative was unimaginable.
• • • • •
As Emily hung the towel up, she realized the tips of her fingers were puckered. She had taken what was probably the longest bath of her life. Completely warm now, she put on the terrycloth robe and picked up her brush. As she opened the bathroom door, the thick steam swirled in its wake.
She was brushing her hair and heading to the suitcase on the couch when a familiar scent caught her attention. On the low coffee table in front of the couch, she had passed the sealskin clothing. She stopped, set down her brush, and picked up the parka. As she brought it to her face, she inhaled deeply.
It smelled of kudliks .
She smiled. Who would have thought that burning seal blubber could smell so good? Of all the things in the world. She closed her eyes as a flood of memories came back.
The igloo, the storm, the polar bear skins and finally Austin.
Beautiful, innocent Austin–in their private ice bound world. It seemed like a dream now, so impossibly wonderful that it couldn’t have really happened.
She stopped herself.
So it’s already started, she thought. Therapists called that a distancing technique and Emily knew it would only be the start. If the igloo couldn’t have really happened, she could ignore it. If Austin seemed too good to be true, then he probably was. She remembered his face.
Austin.
Maintaining a long distance relationship wasn’t out of the question. Her travel was flexible. In fact, she’d done it before–but that wasn’t the problem.
She set the sealskin back on the table.
The pattern was already emerging. In time, Austin would ask too many questions about the nightmares. Then he’d feel like she was keeping something from him and finally that she was keeping him at a distance. And it would all be true.
She stared at the sealskin but didn’t see it.
The nightmares were terrifying and something she couldn’t deny. But she had never purposely kept anything from anybody. She simply couldn’t remember. The nightmare never varied. It always ended before she discovered what her father had actually done. She couldn’t tell people what she didn’t know.
They had called it dissociative amnesia. Her mind had locked the memory away to protect itself. Even now she dreaded knowing what had happened but the not-knowing had started to poison everything in her life.
And as for keeping people at a distance…
She walked to the bed and sat heavily.
Letting someone get close meant you had to trust them. She knew that. But knowing it and doing it were two different things. She had trusted her father.
She shook her head and took a deep breath, trying not to think of him.
And now there was
After he lit the propane lantern, he surveyed his small domain. It looked just as he’d left it. Either the old man didn’t care what he did in here, or it was too cold for him. Or maybe getting bolt cutters for the padlock was just too much bother. In the end, Austin didn’t care as long as he left it alone.
The weight bench took up some room but it was the kayak, survival gear, and tool bench that were important now. This was the moment he’d prepared for all his life. The plan he’d hatched since the day his mother had died.
He was leaving.
It’d be a matter of snowmobiling from one small village to the next, further and further north, and out of his father’s reach.
Only the duty to the hunt had kept him here. He owed those men a lot. They’d taught him everything they could about living in the wild and he’d soaked it up like a sponge. He was going to go on one last hunt with them and make sure that it went well.
Then he thought of Emily. She had changed all that.
Hadn’t she?
He thought about her sad look as they’d left the igloo. He hadn’t wanted to leave either but they’d find a way to be together. They had to and they would , he thought, nodding to himself. Because the alternative was unimaginable.
• • • • •
As Emily hung the towel up, she realized the tips of her fingers were puckered. She had taken what was probably the longest bath of her life. Completely warm now, she put on the terrycloth robe and picked up her brush. As she opened the bathroom door, the thick steam swirled in its wake.
She was brushing her hair and heading to the suitcase on the couch when a familiar scent caught her attention. On the low coffee table in front of the couch, she had passed the sealskin clothing. She stopped, set down her brush, and picked up the parka. As she brought it to her face, she inhaled deeply.
It smelled of kudliks .
She smiled. Who would have thought that burning seal blubber could smell so good? Of all the things in the world. She closed her eyes as a flood of memories came back.
The igloo, the storm, the polar bear skins and finally Austin.
Beautiful, innocent Austin–in their private ice bound world. It seemed like a dream now, so impossibly wonderful that it couldn’t have really happened.
She stopped herself.
So it’s already started, she thought. Therapists called that a distancing technique and Emily knew it would only be the start. If the igloo couldn’t have really happened, she could ignore it. If Austin seemed too good to be true, then he probably was. She remembered his face.
Austin.
Maintaining a long distance relationship wasn’t out of the question. Her travel was flexible. In fact, she’d done it before–but that wasn’t the problem.
She set the sealskin back on the table.
The pattern was already emerging. In time, Austin would ask too many questions about the nightmares. Then he’d feel like she was keeping something from him and finally that she was keeping him at a distance. And it would all be true.
She stared at the sealskin but didn’t see it.
The nightmares were terrifying and something she couldn’t deny. But she had never purposely kept anything from anybody. She simply couldn’t remember. The nightmare never varied. It always ended before she discovered what her father had actually done. She couldn’t tell people what she didn’t know.
They had called it dissociative amnesia. Her mind had locked the memory away to protect itself. Even now she dreaded knowing what had happened but the not-knowing had started to poison everything in her life.
And as for keeping people at a distance…
She walked to the bed and sat heavily.
Letting someone get close meant you had to trust them. She knew that. But knowing it and doing it were two different things. She had trusted her father.
She shook her head and took a deep breath, trying not to think of him.
And now there was
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