Sky Charpentier Rudenko believes in love the way she believes in the changing seasons—it is inevitable, necessary, and full of surprises. She can sense unspoken affections and when she thinks that two people belong together, she will find a way to give fate a helping hand. Sky adores Erik like a son and when she notices the chemistry between him and Grace, she suggests that Grace interview her sister, Dr. River Lavoie, to learn more about Cree culture and naturopathic medicine. Before the meeting, Sky gives Grace a copy of River’s book – Sacred Bloom: Indigenous Herbal Medicine for Women’s Sexual Health and Well-Being. Subtitle: A Modern Guide to Ancient Wisdom for Reclaiming Balance, Sensuality, and Connection to the Natural World.
It was mid-October but in Manitoba, it felt like the dead of winter. What sounded like a Nor’easter occasionally whispered through the hairline fractures in the windowsill. Grace lay in bed, the edges of a wool blanket tucked around her body. Sacred Bloom rested on her lap, open to chapter four, but the words blurred into soft shadows. Dr. River Lavoie’s voice spoke of connecting with your body, embracing your sensual nature, and reclaiming the wildness within. The words should have been grounding, but they sent her thoughts wandering to Erik.
It had been a week since she’d first seen him, chopping wood outside her window, and she hadn’t been able to shake the image from her mind. His shoulders, the effortless strength in every movement, the way the light caught in his hair, it was impossible not to look. He’d seemed like something out of a Hollywood script, equal parts Viking warrior and rugged woodsman, his muscles flexing as he split the logs with an ease that made her breath catch.
She hadn’t meant to linger at the window, and she certainly had not expected him to look up, locking eyes with her. For one endless moment, he held her gaze. His eyes were stormy, piercing blue-gray, and Grace had frozen, suddenly acutely aware that she was standing there in nothing but a long T-shirt and panties. The way his mouth tilted in the hint of a knowing smile sent a rush of heat over her skin, a feeling that hadn’t quite left her since.
Now, curled in her bed reading Dr. Lavoie’s book pressed against her chest, she thought about how his voice had sounded in the kitchen that morning—low and smooth, with a rasp of something raw and dangerous beneath it. “Sky asked me to bring some firewood up to your room. Nights can get very cold here.” His words were innocent enough, but the way he said cold made her stomach flutter. His eyes had lingered just a moment too long, as though testing how far they could go.
She should have just said a polite thank you and gone back to her room. Instead, she’d found herself smiling, her cheeks warm, thinking about how the nights in Thompson were not the only thing that might leave her breathless.
The book slipped from her fingers, and Grace leaned her head back against the pillows, closing her eyes. She could see him again, standing there in the kitchen, his rough-hewn charm making her pulse hum beneath her skin. His hands—calloused, steady—had rested on the counter, and for a moment, she imagined what they might feel like trailing across her bare skin. His voice, soft and commanding, whispering just for her. His body pressed against hers, solid, warm, capable of so much more than chopping wood.
She shifted in the bed, her breath uneven. This wasn’t what she’d come here for. She had come to write, to focus on her book, to reconnect with herself. Not to fall under the spell of a hockey player who looked like he belonged on the cover of one of her book club’s steamiest novels. She had always rolled her eyes at the “sexy lumberjack” trope, but now she was starting to wonder if she had been far too hasty. She could hear her book club members saying, “Erik Strand is definitely an Alpha!”
Grace knew it in her bones, in the way her heart sped up when he walked into the room, in the way her body reacted to his nearness without her permission. He was the kind of trouble she had sworn off long ago, the kind that unraveled carefully constructed plans and made you question everything you thought you wanted. Drunk on Love is a nice song, but it was not the experience Grace came to Manitoba for.
Grace swallowed hard, her fingers tracing lazy circles on the cover of Sacred Bloom. The book spoke of balance, of listening to your body, of letting desire guide you when it felt right. Erik was all desire and instinct wrapped in a body that seemed designed for sin. He was firewood on a chilly night, a storm rolling in at twilight—dangerous, yes, but also the kind of warmth she hadn’t felt in a long time.
Sky’s suggestion to read this book was starting to make sense. She wasn’t sure if Sacred Bloom was meant to awaken her connection to nature—or to Erik. Either way, something inside her was stirring. A spark waiting to catch fire. And she had a feeling that if Erik ever touched her, she might just go up in flames.
Click here to read excerpts from Dr. River Charpentier Lavoie’s book, Sacred Bloom
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