Sweet Home Alaska by Rebecca Thomas Page A

to his request. This was a good test to find out just what kind of woman he’d hired as his executive assistant.
    “Consider it done.” Her voice sounded calm, but certainly there was a hint of annoyance there. Maybe she had more pluck than he gave her credit for. He questioned his own decision about canceling the interview, but he appreciated Kayla doing what he’d asked.
    He rotated his chair to face his computer screen. “That will be all.”
    “Of course, Mr. Briggs.” Kayla raised an eyebrow and gave him a pensive look before she crossed the room and clicked the door shut behind her.
    He was a business owner now. He could hire whomever he damn well pleased, and he didn’t want reminders of those days.
    Lauren had asked him to help her with her algebra once. He’d been so tongue-tied. Heat flushed his face and he’d nearly passed out from the anxiety. Eventually, he did help her with formulas she’d been having problems understanding. Miraculously, he didn’t hyperventilate.
    He’d come a long way since high school, but, considering how his heart was pounding at the idea of her, apparently not far enough.
    Then there was the lunchroom incident. He’d earned his nickname for the rest of his senior year because of it. But none of it was Lauren’s fault. She didn’t do anything other than stand up and stretch at the exact moment he’d collided with Billy Barnes. Funny how Billy never got a nickname out of the deal.
    His innate ability to be distracted and lose his concentration on simple tasks like carrying his lunch tray across a room had nothing to do with Lauren. She had always been kind and polite, always had a smile on her face. She was like sunshine.
    Trey stood up from his desk with the intention of telling Kayla he’d changed his mind, but indecision and that familiar anxiousness took over his body.
    He should give his business to a local outfit, instead of someone from Anchorage. But the idea of seeing her again—the girl who he’d admired from afar, the girl who he’d fantasized about—he just couldn’t do it. He’d gotten his anxiety under control over the years, but Lauren Kinkade would likely set him back a few paces.
    Besides, she wouldn’t stay in town. She’d move back to California the second the first snow fell. She’d remember how brutal the winters could be in Alaska and she’d hightail it out of there.
    He glanced at his wristwatch. Two hours remained before he interviewed other candidates. But what he needed more than anything was to clear his mind, eject any thoughts of Lauren and her arrival back to their hometown.
    Sitting in his office made this difficult. He stripped himself of his jeans and polo shirt in exchange for shorts, sneakers, and a T-shirt. As he passed Kayla’s desk on the way out he said, “I’m going for a run. Be back in an hour.”

Chapter Two
     
    Lauren checked her lipstick in the mirror on the visor of her ancient—as in, built alongside the pyramids—Volkswagen van. She struggled sometimes between the balance of dressing fashionably and feeling guilty about it. Alaskans, in general, concerned themselves with keeping warm and dressing practically, not accessorizing their clothes with matching jewelry and complementary make-up. So, in that way, she didn’t fit the Alaska “mold.”
    She wore a purple pinstripe suit—way over the top for the Kenai Peninsula’s casual dress code—but she had to look her best. And yet, she had to be herself. If she didn’t dress in her own style, she wouldn’t have confidence, and therefore she wouldn’t interview well. And she had to interview well, because she needed this job. She needed it like women needed chocolate every twenty-eight days. She was desperate to get Moose’s Tooth off the ground and make money.
    Since her grandmother’s death two months ago, the bakery had been closed, and the bills had piled up. Lauren had back wages to cover and rent to pay. She had promised the employees she would pay