“I didn’t mean to kiss you. I mean your cheek.” Hers grow redder. “Oh my God, Lainey, just shut up and leave the poor man alone,” she mutters and ducks her head.

“It’s really okay. Shit happens, right?”

She peeks back up at me, a tiny smile pulling up the right side of her mouth.

I hold out a hand. “I’m RJ.”

I don’t know why I give her that name. My dad called me that, and my brother and sister still do, but that’s it. Everyone else calls me Rook or Rookie. Maybe because she doesn’t seem to know who I am, and I don’t want her to find out? Oh well, too late now.

She slips her mitten-covered hand into mine, then makes a face. Pulling off her mitt, she tries again. Her hand is warm and a little damp—and much smaller than mine—but her grip is firm. She gives me a solid shake. “I’m Lainey.”

“Hi, Lainey.”

“Hi, RJ.” Her eyes stay locked on mine for a few seconds. Still no hint of recognition, which is fantastic.

“So what brings you to Alaska?” I ask, buckling myself in.

Her eyes light up. “Well, I’m currently working on my master’s thesis, and my focus is aquatic animals. I’m fascinated by dolphins and whales, so I’m spending six weeks out here to study them.”

“A master’s thesis, huh? You must be pretty smart.”

She shrugs. “I just like learning a lot. This is my third master’s.”

“Your third? How old are you?” She doesn’t look old enough to be pursuing a first master’s, let alone a third. Although her outfit might be to blame for that.

“Twenty-five.”

“And this is your third thesis?”

She bites her bottom lip and nods. “Mm-hmm. I love learning new things, and I keep getting full scholarships, so here I am. I have a master’s in sex therapy and another one in geology. This one is going to be in marine biology. Specifically, ocean mammals. I thought it would be interesting to study the mating patterns of dolphins versus whales.”

“How do those go together?”

She shrugs. “They don’t, really. I just have a lot of different interests. For instance, did you know dolphins mate not just for reproduction but also pleasure, like humans?”

“Huh. I didn’t know that.” But now I’m thinking about sex and how I haven’t had it in a long time.

“Oh yes, they’re very sexually active. And some people think they mate for life, like lobsters, but they don’t. They take several partners. Just like some humans do too, although in Western society we’re sociologically conditioned to choose one mate and stick with them, unlike dolphins. They just like to get it on because it’s fun.”

She bites the tip of her finger. “I’m sorry, I get carried away. I’ve been doing a lot of reading in preparation for this trip, and my brain is full of so many facts, sometimes they just come out of my mouth. I can stop talking if you’d like.” She motions to the phone in my hands with the earbuds wrapped around it.

I slip it into my pocket. “Nah, you’re more interesting than anything I could listen to on there.”

Her smile widens, and then she ducks her head again, blushing. God, I miss shy women. The kind who don’t throw themselves at me looking to fuck a star.

“What about you? Why are you coming to Kodiak Island?” She looks me over in an assessing way, as if she’s trying to figure me out.

I’m dressed casually in a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and a hoodie. “I come out here every summer to fish with my brother, but he can’t make it this year, so I’m on my own.”

“Oh. That’s too bad.”

I shrug. “I’m okay with it. Sometimes it’s nice to get away from all the crazy and be at peace with nature, you know?”

“I definitely do. I went to school in Seattle for a year. Well, more like a month. It was a lot.” She shudders and shakes her head. “I’m not from the city. Our town had less than two thousand people, so it was a big change. Cities can be exciting—but scary. Are you from Seattle?”

“I grew up in New York.”

“I’ve always wanted to go there, but it looks so . . . overwhelming.”

“Well, to be fair, I grew up in Upstate New York, which is nothing like the city. It’s pretty rural in some areas.”

“Oh yes, I read that somewhere.”

The pilot informs us that we’re cleared for takeoff. Lainey hugs her mittens to her chest as we head for the runway.

“You okay?”

“I’ve never been on a plane this small before,” she says.

“We’ll be fine. I promise. I’ve done this at least twenty times, and I’ve survived every one.”

Her eyes are wide as she nods, then looks out the window as we gather speed. When the wheels lift off the tarmac, she grips my forearm. “Oh! This is a lot bumpier than the big plane, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. A bit. You’ll get used to it.”

She releases my arm and hugs her mittens again. “Today is actually the first time I’ve ever been on a plane.”

“Really?”

“The first flight was nice. I mean, there was a very old man beside me with a lot of nose hairs who smelled like mothballs, but he was fine otherwise. You’re much nicer smelling than he was.” She blushes again. “Anyway, I guess on a plane this small you feel everything more.”