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  “The only direction I’m going is toward a drink,” she told Lars.

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he said with a wink that made her look at him curiously. Ever since Lars had gotten out of the truck he’d seemed different. Fired up. Like he had a plan. Or a mission.

  She glanced back at the dark path toward the road where they’d parked. She could always go hide out in the truck until the party was over. But how crazy could things really get here in the middle of nowhere? Besides, when in her life had she ever backed away from an adventure? Adventure was her life’s blood. It kept her alive.

  Katia followed close behind Lars as he elbowed his way through the crowd on the deck into the house. The doors were propped open to let in some cooler air. Inside it felt practically tropical. Many guests had taken off their layers of fleece and wool and were down to t-shirts. Katia smiled at everyone she knew and even those she didn’t. The crazy happy mood spread like a flu virus. Everywhere she looked guests were smiling and guzzling and dancing. Plates of smoked salmon on crackers made their way around the room. A plate of cheese-drenched nachos came next.

  A bearlike fellow in an army jacket planted himself in front of them. “Peach brandy. Made it myself down in Oregon. Got a claim down there. When I’m not panning, I’m canning. Have a taste.”

  Katia had no idea what he was talking about, but she took the bottle anyway. The brandy left scorch marks down her throat. “Whew,” she gasped after a long swallow. “Good stuff.”

  He nodded and moved on.

  Lars grabbed another bottle being passed around and took a long slug. When Katia tried it, all she tasted was more fire. Gulping air like a fish out of water, she fully expected flames to burst from her throat.

  “Holy mother of God,” she croaked. Lars’ eyes were watering too. “What the fuck was that?”

  “I think it involved currants at some point.”

  “I need some water.”

  Lars took her hand and pulled her through the mob to the kitchen. He plopped the pot of chili on the counter. Katia added the bread to a basket next to a crumb-covered cutting board. Several kegs lined one wall, along with crates of glass jars. “Water or ale? Looks like they have a smoked porter, an elderberry brew…”

  “Water.”

  He filled a mason jar for her at the sink. “Drink up. You’re going to need it.”

  She glugged the water as if she were a stranded camel. “Why?” she asked when she could finally talk.

  “Because we’re hitting the sauna before we get too drunk to remember it.”

  “The sauna?” Katia shook her head. It had to be over eighty in this sweaty room. It already felt like a sauna. She felt a pleasant buzz set in.

  “It’s tradition. I always take a sauna here, before the party. Have for years.”

  “Go ahead, then. I see a bottle of wine that needs company.”

  “Come on. You won’t regret it. You’ll sweat all the toxins out. Then we’ll come back here and revive with more liquor. And food.” He pulled her toward the back door.

  “Food…” Katia looked longingly at a bowl of salted cashews.

  “After. Saunas are best on an empty stomach.”

  “What about all that brandy we drank?”

  “Saunas while under the influence are even better.”

  She shot him a suspicious look. He was definitely up to something. His face had a certain flush to it that she usually only saw during lovemaking. Following behind him, she couldn’t see his groin, but from the way he was walking she could swear he was still hard. Ahh, that must be it. He wanted to have hot sweaty sex in the sauna.

  There would be no complaints from Katia about that plan. She skipped closer to him.

  “You naughty man,” she teased him as they followed the winding uphill path to the sauna. “Trying to prove something?”

  “Oh yeah.” His deep growl did something funny to her stomach.

  Outside, the temperature had dropped well below zero, but the chill felt good after the overheated house. The rough-hewn sauna looked inviting and sensual, with a candle flickering at each window. Ice crowded the corners of the windows. When Lars opened the door, a blast of steam billowed into the air.

  They stepped inside the small outer room, where the only light came from a motley collection of candles on a table shoved against the wall. In the dimness, Katia squinted to make out piles of folded towels and a bucket of water in which floated a block of ice and an empty yogurt container. The room had a smoky, cedary smell, like some kind of backwoods aromatherapy. The coals in the cast-iron stove glowed red and cast a cozy light around the room.

  Katia put a hand to her forehead. The drastic temperature change, along with all the brandy, made her lightheaded. She felt odd, as though everything was moving more slowly than normal. She liked the feeling, as if she were floating down a lazy river on a summer day.

  Then she realized they weren’t the only people in the sauna. From the inner room, she heard a slow murmur of voices punctuated by an occasional chuckle. A group sauna. So much for sweaty sauna sex.

  Mildly disappointed, she watched Lars take off his boots and kick them into the corner. He removed his coat, hung it on a hook, then added his watch cap and gloves to the pile. He stripped off his sweater and thermal undershirt. Bare-chested, he put his hands to his zipper, then paused. “Aren’t you going to undress? Can’t go in a sauna like that.”

  “Who’s in there?”

  He shrugged. “The usual suspects, most likely.”

  “Who are they?”

  “Just people. People who like saunas.”

  Katia narrowed her eyes at him. It wasn’t like Lars to be so cryptic. But the stubborn look on his face told her she’d get no more out of him. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of her face. She took off her parka and hung it next to a red-and-black checked jacket. It looked vaguely familiar. She had the feeling she’d seen this coat earlier today.

  She looked down at the shoes jumbled into the corner. The usual mix of Sorel insulated snowboots, Timberland work boots and a pair of white bunny boots designed for the Arctic. All looked worn and stained and beaten in. People in Alaska worked hard, she’d learned that much. But she didn’t recognize any of the boots, except to see they all belonged to men or extremely large women.

  She took off her own snowboots, which Lars had found for her in Anchorage. The rest of her clothes quickly followed, but when she was down to sweater, bra and underwear, she hesitated.

  “I wish I knew who was in there.”

  “What’s the matter? Are you shy all of a sudden? What about Amsterdam?” With a wink, Lars sat down on the rickety wooden chair to pull off his pants. She watched him with her usual sense of pleasure, wondering if he still had a boner.

  “That’s different. They were strangers.” Getting naked in front of Lars’ hometown buddies was a whole different story.

  “It’s just a sauna. Everyone gets naked for a sauna. It’s no big deal. Anyway, it’s Wild Nights. Nothing counts. It’s like it never happened.”

  “So you won’t mind if the guys in there, whoever they are, see me naked? What if Jimmy Thorpe is in there?”

  Something flickered on his face. “He isn’t,” he answered too quickly.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “So you do know who’s in there?” Then she forgot her question as Lars took off his boxers and stood up, stark naked, six feet five inches of rock-solid muscle. Her eyes widened. The candlelight made a shadow play of each firm curve, each dip and hollow of his powerful frame. A light gold covering of hair captured glints of light and made his body gleam like a mystical lion’s.

  In the darker fur at his crotch, a sleeping lion lurked. His hard-on had gone down, at least mostly. From the way it stirred under her gaze, she figured it wouldn’t take much to revitalize it. Like maybe…

  She unbuttoned her sweater, taking her time and swaying her body to a gentle internal rhythm. In the old days, she’d worn a go-go dancer outfit and wh
ite vinyl boots on stage. A purple cable-knit sweater didn’t exactly scream “strip show”, but it didn’t seem to bother Lars. His cock lifted and his eyes heated. He crossed his arms over his chest.

  “You have exactly two minutes to stop that,” he grumbled. “Or I’ll take you out into the snow bank. You don’t want me taking a boner into the sauna, do you?”

  “What does it matter?” She lifted an eyebrow and shimmied off her bra and panties. “It’s Wild Nights.”

  She traced her hand down her exposed breasts and took her nipples between two fingers of each hand. Deliberately, she squeezed until she felt them swell. Little arrows of heat lanced to her groin. Men loved to see women play with their own nipples. Any part of their body, really.

  Lars was no different. His eyes darkened to an intense gray and his cock pointed straight at her. But he made no move to touch her.

  She stroked her right hand down her belly and into the cleft between her legs. Her pussy quivered as she nudged her clit. She liked making herself come, especially with someone watching. Especially if that someone was a blond giant barely restraining himself from falling on her like a hungry wolf.

  Her breath picked up as she manipulated her throbbing clit. She’d already come twice today, but she still craved more. That often happened to her—the more she got, the more she wanted.

  “Take your hands away,” ordered Lars. “Let me see you.”

  She dropped her hands. Her right hand, which had been in her pussy, felt wet and sticky.

  “Juicy pussy,” murmured Lars. “Gorgeous pointy nipples. I think you’re ready.”

  “Oh, I’m ready.” She smiled, feeling like a pampered cat with its third dish of cream. “Want me to sit up on the table? Bend over the chair?”

  “Nope.” Lars took two steps to reach her and one second to put his hand on the small of her back and turn her toward the sauna door. With the other hand, in quick succession, he locked the outer door of the sauna, opened the door to the inner room and propelled her inside the hot, smoky space.

  It felt like walking into a convection oven. She blinked to clear her vision after the initial blast of heat. The room had no windows, which made it feel like a warm cave with steam drifting through it. An open, wide-mouthed, wood-burning stove took up one corner of the room. Hot coals shimmered inside it. A stovepipe rose toward the ceiling. Two levels of benches lined the walls, with the lower protruding farther into the room. On top of the benches perched three dark lumps.

  As her eyes adjusted to the low light, the dark figures formed into men. One sat on the upper bench, leaning against the wall, one leg pulled up. The other man lay on his back on the adjoining bench. On the lower bench, the third man bent forward with his elbows resting on his knees. She stood naked and aroused before three men.

  Chapter Seven

  The men were all large and muscular, and they were staring right at her. She thought they might look familiar. But then again, she couldn’t see much in the scanty light provided by two half-melted candles.

  She turned to flee but Lars blocked her path. “Sweetheart, you remember Jake, right? We met him at the kickoff. Just got back from the North Slope.” The largest man, the one slouched against the wall, nodded at her with a huge grin. She couldn’t really see his eyes, but she remembered their bright blue-jay color and the way he hadn’t moved them off her the entire time they’d talked.

  Naked, he was even more impressive. His massive chest bulged with muscles, as did the thigh that rested on the bench. The candlelight picked out little reddish glints from a light coating of hair on his body. “I sure remember you, Katia,” he said in a warm voice. “It was a pleasure to meet you. Anyone smart enough to hang around Lars is a winner in my book.”

  “Book? Don’t think I’ve heard Jake say that word before,” said the man on the lower bench. He reached out his hand to shake Katia’s. His touch was hot. “Marlowe, remember me? Genius botanist and investigative forestry scientist.”

  Now she recognized him. At the kickoff, he’d been wearing glasses. Now his eyes looked unfocused and vulnerable.

  “He lives in the wilderness and chases bugs around,” said Lars drily. “Or maybe it’s the other way around.”

  “Little of both, little of both. Nice to see you again.”

  “I don’t think you met Eagle.” Lars gestured to the man lying on his back on the upper bench. “He’s been living out at his cabin in Kodiak. Came down for Wild Nights, like always.” Eagle lifted a hand in greeting. As he tilted his head her way, she saw shoulder-length black hair and a vaguely native look.

  “The three of us used to train together in high school,” explained Lars. “It was kind of like boot camp.”

  “Or prison.” Jake chuckled.

  “It had its good points,” said Marlowe.

  The men exchanged a “remember-when” look and laughed in agreement. Katia wondered what kind of inside joke she was missing out on.

  She tried not to stare at the smorgasbord of bare, muscular male flesh crammed into the tiny room. “Nice to meet you. I hope we’re not interrupting.”

  “Hell, no. We were just talking about sheetrock,” said Jake with a chuckle. “Anything would be welcome. Especially you. Very happy to see you.”

  Shouldn’t he say “meet you”? Remembering she was naked, Katia put her hands to her bare breasts and found her nipples just as hard as before. Maybe even harder. Behind her, Lars cupped her ass. The feel of his warm hand made her pussy twitch. Or maybe it was the feeling of these men’s eyes on her.

  “Please don’t cover up,” begged Marlowe. “You’re the nicest thing I’ve seen since I headed off into the wild. Actually, you may be the nicest thing I’ve ever seen. I beg you, take pity on a poor deprived scientist. Did I mention I’m trying to save the planet?”

  His whimsical tone immediately put her at ease.

  “Well, if it’s for science,” she said teasingly and dropped her hands. A moment of silence followed while the three men looked their fill.

  Someone let out a rough sigh. The atmosphere in the room shifted to something more intense, more electric.

  Lars ran his hand down the cleft between her buttocks. Did it bother him to see three men visually devour his girl? It didn’t seem to. In fact, she felt his erection poke against her back. Apparently it turned him on. Maybe because the men were his friends?

  “So you got room in there for Katia and me?” Lars asked.

  “Our casa es su casa,” said Jake, flinging out his arms in invitation. “I’ve been keeping the place warm for you.”

  “Trust Jake-O to take credit for a fire I made and tended.” Marlowe wiped his forehead with a small towel. “Good thing I’m too lazy to beat his ass.”

  A snort was Jake’s only response. Katia wondered if Eagle ever said anything. So far he seemed quiet. Maybe he was falling asleep, or zonked out from the heat.

  “Don’t let us scare you off,” said Marlowe. “Go on up and have a seat next to that studly fellow there. If he doesn’t treat you right, you let me know.”

  Jake shifted a tiny bit to his left to make a little more room for Katia. She took a step forward onto the clammy wooden planks that made up the sauna’s floor.

  “If anyone treats her wrong, they’ll answer to me,” said Lars, still behind her. He gave her a little spank on the ass. Katia felt her flesh tremble and her nipples perk up—more. A warm, melting feeling spread through her. The feeling of an adventure about to begin.

  Lars took Katia’s arms and held them behind her. Her mouth fell open in astonishment. He drew her up on the tips of her toes so her back arched and her breasts protruded in blatant display. The three men appeared riveted by the sight of her naked body presented to them so invitingly.

  Through her haze of surprise, she wondered what they saw. A slim, taut, pale body, long dark hair, erotically aroused nipples. A shadowed triangle between her legs.

  “This woman,” Lars said in a husky voice, “has been making me crazy since the
moment I met her. She’s the most sensual, most passionate, most lovable wild thing you’d ever want to meet. And she has the idea that I’m a straight arrow who can’t handle her free-spirited ways.”

  For the first time, Eagle made a sound, something between a snort and a cough.

  “I thought you’d say that,” said Lars. “And it’s true, since I met Katia I’ve been more of a stay-at-home type. It’s only normal. We had to cement our relationship, right, love?”

  “What’s going on, Lars?” she whispered, turning her head against his chest.

  “You. Me. Three naked men. A sauna. Whatever you want.”

  She turned her head back toward the men, who were studying her body with complete and thorough attention. The tension in the room went up another three notches.

  “I told you before I trust these guys with my life. When you’re out in the back country you have to rely on each other. We got stuck a few times and had to figure our way back.”

  He ran his hand up the side of her breast. “If it suits you, we’ll keep going. If it doesn’t, we’ll stop.”

  She shivered as her nipple hardened further. Between Jake’s strong legs, she spotted an answering rise. “Why are you doing this?”

  Lars bent his mouth to her ear. “Because I love you. Every bit of you, you wild thing. And I want to prove it. ”

  Katia’s body pulsed with excitement. How long had it been since she’d had a sexual adventure like this? She’d forgotten the adrenaline rush of the wild unknown. The thrill that reached deep inside her and made her feel like a goddess.

  And to have Lars participate, no, even more…to have him take charge of her like this…what an unexpected miracle.

  “I love you too,” she whispered, turning her head so she could look into his eyes. She poured her whole heart into that long, silent glance. Her feelings couldn’t fit into words like “gratitude” and “excitement” and “keep going, or I’ll bite that soft spot between your neck and your shoulder”. She gave him a long, slow wink instead.