didn’t speak to him as she took the usual route she used when she guided visitors out onto the ice. She’d do her job, and when the allotted time was over, she’d send Ketah on his way again. That’s what she wanted, except he had other plans.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him staring at her with a wide grin on his face. He continued to do this until Haven couldn’t take it anymore. “What?” she asked as she turned her head to look at him.
“Nothing. I’m enjoying being with you and getting to stare at your beautiful face.”
She set her gaze forward again. “Well, cut it out. It’s getting on my nerves.”
“Sorry, I can’t. You have no idea how much you affect me.”
Haven snorted. “I don’t think I want to know.”
Ketah remained quiet for all of a minute before he said, “Tell me who hurt you.”
She scowled. “What are you talking about?”
“The person who hurt you enough to have you not trusting a man you find attractive. Who was it?”
“Are you a shrink now?”
“Shrink?” Ketah looked at her with confusion showing on his face. “There is only one part of me that shrinks, and that happens when it gets cold. My c—”
“Oh my god,” Haven said, cutting Ketah off before he could finish that last sentence. “That’s not what I meant. I wasn’t talking about,” she waved in the direction of his crotch, “that.”
He gave her a crooked grin. “Are you sure? I actually wouldn’t mind if you did talk about it.”
Haven couldn’t help herself. She looked at the bulge in Ketah’s jeans. It seemed to be more than a little prominent. Realizing what she did, she jerked her gaze away. From his chuckle, she figured he’d caught her in the act of staring at his dick. Great, that will only encourage him more. She picked up the pace a bit and didn’t reply. She hoped he’d take the hint.
“So are you going to answer me?”
Nope, he hadn’t. “Your last question, I’m going to avoid that one entirely. And the one about someone hurting me, it’s really none of your business since I won’t be seeing you again after today.”
That seemed to shut him up for a little while. After a fifteen-minute walk they reached the ice. Haven pulled her sunglasses out of her backpack and put them on. She noticed Ketah did the same. She had to admit he looked damn sexy in his. The lenses were dark enough she couldn’t see his eyes.
Since Ketah had paid for the whole guide thing, Haven decided to give him the real deal. As they walked, she started her practiced lesson about the glacier. At the part in regard to the last Ice Age, she found Ketah knew more than she did. The way he spoke about the animals that were hunted, how the people lived during that time, it almost sounded as if he’d been through it, had experienced it firsthand.
Haven became caught up on the subject. It was one that always fascinated her, to think about what life would have been like ten thousand years ago. She soon forgot she should keep her distance from Ketah and let her guard down.
“How do you know so much about the Ice Age?” she asked.
Ketah shrugged. “I guess you could say it’s something I feel close to.”
“It was my interest in that time period that prompted me to apply for a job as a guide here. I love being out on the glacier. It gets to me to think the ice has been around for thousands of years, and that a people who’d live so long ago once roamed it as I do now.”
“It was pretty desolate back then, but it did have some advantages over this life. The freedom to roam was one of them. Going out on a hunt and coming home with a kill, knowing you’d provided for your family and they wouldn’t have to go hungry, was rewarding. Hunting woolly mammoths was done cooperatively so it was always a big deal when one was brought down.”
Haven brought them to a stop. “We should probably take a rest here.” She looked at Ketah. “You talk about the Ice Age as if you experienced