Against the Wild by Kat Martin

the trip was mostly an excuse to see his ex-girlfriend, Holly Kaplan. He’d been thinking about her since Dylan had mentioned her the other day, hadn’t been able to get her out of his head.
    He had met Holly in Juneau six years ago, when he was twenty-five and she had just turned twenty-one. He’d fallen hard for Holly and planned to ask her to marry him. Instead, she’d taken off with another man.
    Caleb hadn’t seen her since the breakup, but he knew she had gotten her nursing degree and recently taken a job in Waterside. Several of his friends had hinted that he was the reason she was there.
    Caleb paid for the pipe, and while it was being loaded into the bed of his pickup, walked over to the Grizzly Café.
    The lunch hour was over. As he shoved through the door, ringing the bell, he saw that only a couple of tables had customers.
    He also saw that Holly was busy working, refilling coffee cups, clearing away empty dishes.
    She looked good. Beautiful, in fact, with her smooth olive skin and her sleek black hair loose around her shoulders. Though she was petite, she had plenty of curves, and watching her stirred memories he thought he’d forgotten.
    Like the exact shape and heavy weight of her breasts, the dark areolas at the crest. He remembered how much he loved the feel of them in his hands, the taste of them in his mouth.
    He remembered a lot of things about Holly. Most of all, he remembered that she had told him she loved him, then run off with Eddie McGuiness, the hotshot son of a local car dealer. He remembered that Holly Kaplan had broken his heart.
    He sat down in a booth in front of the window, smelled coffee and clam chowder as he waited for her to notice him, saw the color rise in her face when she did.
    Coffeepot in hand, she took a deep breath and started toward him, stopped in front of the booth where he sat.
    â€œCaleb. It’s good to see you.” She smiled. “The years have certainly been good to you. You’re even more handsome than you were before.”
    â€œYou look great, Holly. I heard you were in town.”
    â€œI’m a nurse now. I’ve got a part-time job at the hospital. I start full-time in the fall.”
    â€œGood for you.”
    â€œI hear you’re working for the guy who bought the lodge in Eagle Bay. Maggie says you’re his foreman.”
    â€œThat’s right. Dylan Brodie. We met when he was flying out of Juneau. Got to be friends. He needed someone to help him run the place, offered me the job and I took it.”
    â€œI bet you’re good at it. You always were good with people.”
    â€œExcept for you.”
    She glanced away, looked down at the mug still turned upside down in front of him. “You . . . umm . . . want some coffee?”
    â€œI’ve got to be getting back. I just stopped in to say hello.” He rose from the table.
    â€œI was hoping we might, you know, get together sometime, do a little catching up.”
    â€œWhat about Eddie?”
    She shrugged. “That didn’t work out. We broke up a couple of years ago.”
    â€œSo now you’re looking for a replacement and you’re thinking it might be me.”
    Holly didn’t back off. “I never got over you, Caleb. I was hoping you might still have some . . . you know, feelings for me.”
    He used to wonder what it would be like if they had stayed together. But deep down he knew.
    â€œI’m seeing someone, Holly.” He had only been out with Jenny Larsen a couple of times, but they had clicked really well and he wanted to see her again. “She’s a first-grade teacher here in Waterside.”
    â€œIs it . . . is it serious?”
    Was it? Maybe it could be. “Listen, I’ve got to go. It was good seeing you, Holly.”
    â€œYou too, Caleb.”
    Turning, he strode across the café and pulled open the door, stepped out into the cool, fresh air. He’d been crazy about Holly, but