“You could have made me ride in the truck bed,” she said, unable to keep from teasing him. River waggled her fingers. “I can’t get you if I’m back there.”

“It’s still a possibility,” he muttered.

Bumping along the rough gravel road, River slumped back in her seat. A headache was forming between her temples, and it wasn’t the first one she’d had since coming to Moose Springs. She could only imagine how exasperated her film crew was with their lack of progress today. This was the first time River had been behind the camera too, not only in front of it, and she was so frustrated, she couldn’t see straight.

Without the experience to pad her résumé, no one had wanted to take a chance on her directing/producing abilities. So when her agent had passed along that the Alaskan Tourism Board—a nonprofit organization working hand in hand with the Alaskan state government—was looking to have a documentary made about the tiny town of Moose Springs, River had jumped at the chance. She’d fought hard to get this job, and she’d called in every favor she had to get two of the best crew members in the industry to help her make this a documentary that knocked everyone’s socks off.

The only problem? Moose Springs was about as welcoming to them as a grizzly bear with a face full of porcupine needles.

Small town hospitality her ass.

They were on a razor-thin budget, and River had yet to film anything in town legally. None of the permits she’d applied for had been emailed to them as promised by the city website, and they couldn’t film in town without permits or permission from each local business owner. No one had agreed.

“Are you okay?”

River looked over at the man taking up the driver’s side. Just when she thought she was immune to the male form—too many years with attractive costars of the opposite sex—a flannel-wrapped hottie like him dropped into her lap. Not that he was wearing flannel, but River would bet money his closet was full of the stuff. The fact that he was driving with one massive shoulder wedged against the window, like he was ready to bail out of the moving vehicle if she looked at him wrong, made her fight down a laugh.

It was possible River hadn’t made the best first impression on him.

“I’m fine. Turn left over there.”

Her crew was waiting for her when they crested the hill. They’d found a perfect location to shoot from, their rental SUV wedged dangerously close to a drop-off, leaving the road mostly free from vehicular hazards. Still, a few hard looks had been sent their way by locals forced to edge around their car as they passed on the tight winding road.