by Jill Shalvis
Thankfully, her cell phone rang, piercing the quiet and removing her attention from the sexiest, sleekest, most amazing male back she’d ever had the pleasure of running into. Knowing it was one of her sisters, she sighed. It was really time to cut the cord, but just as she grabbed the phone from her pocket to tell her sister that very thing, she lost reception and it went nice and silent.
Ally smiled in gratitude for tall trees and high mountains. With any luck, she wouldn’t gain good reception for days.
They walked. Or rather, Chance walked and she ran to keep up with him. In a matter of minutes, she was ready to expire. Humiliating as it was, she needed to stop. “I’ll catch up,” she gasped, sinking to a rock.
Chance came back to stand in front of her, hands on his hips, frown firmly in place. “Already? We’ve gone a quarter of a mile.”
This unexpected dent in her new lifestyle was embarrassing, but only a temporary roadblock. “I’ll be fine in a sec,” she said, chugging air.
He looked her over from head to toe, slowly, then back up again, and when his eyes changed, darkened, even more heat suffused her. Nervous, she rubbed her palms on her thighs, then winced at the already developing blisters from shoveling.
Chance reached out and grabbed her wrist, turning her hand over to inspect her palm. “You’re blistered already?” Cupping the back of her hand, he bent his head over it. His fingers were warm and calloused, and he lightly brushed his thumb across her sensitive skin.
A tingle ran up her arm, down her breasts and pooled between her thighs. She snagged her hand back. “I’m fine.”
“You’re in terrible shape.”
“Gee, why don’t you tell me what you really think?”
He simply started walking again, until he realized she wasn’t following him for a change. “Hurry,” he said over his shoulder, but she shook her head because if she had to walk another foot right that minute, she was going to dissolve into a whimpering mass.
Stopping again, he tipped his head up and studied the sky as if hoping for divine intervention.
“Go ahead,” she said. “I’ll catch up.”
“No you won’t. You’ll end up giving some bear indigestion.”
“Nah, I’m too tough.” She smiled at him, but it might have been a bit shaky because that bear bit had gotten to her. She peered into the woods around her, but didn’t see any signs of big, hungry bears. “I’ll be fine right here.”
He didn’t even attempt to hide his relief. When he started off again, Ally gave herself a moment to recover. Then she followed, knowing if she could only go at her own pace, she’d be fine.
And she was. Until she realized sometime later she no longer had the trail beneath her feet and she had no idea in which way she’d come.
Okay, no problem. But she was surrounded by three-hundred-foot lodge pines in every direction, and every one of them looked the same.
If you get lost, hug a tree and blow your whistle.
Yes she’d learned that from some kids’ magazine she’d read while waiting in the dentist’s office, but it was better than panicking. So she leaned on the closest tree, wishing for a whistle and her quiet, cozy, warm, friendly library job.
The woods were very noisy. A pine needle floated down, hit her cheek and she nearly croaked. They didn’t have scary woods in the city.
How had this happened?
She was lost and was going to be some bear’s lunch. With a sigh, she rested her forehead on the tree and started to give in to self-pity. She even thought about crying, but suddenly her watch beeped at the top of the hour, giving her the brilliant idea of setting off the alarm on purpose.
Beep, beep, beep.
It was an annoying sound, but one she hoped would carry through the thick, dense woods. Just like a whistle.
Bees buzzed. Something chirped. Something else, alarmingly close, rustled.
Beep, beep, beep.
How long could a human go without eating, she wondered. Would she freeze to death in one night, or would it would take more?
Beep, beep, beep.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Ally sagged in relief while pretending she didn’t have a care in the world. Or that Chance’s low, husky voice wasn’t exactly what she’d hoped to hear. “Oh, there you are,” she said as casually as she could while gratitude made her weak. “Just checking your rescue skills.”
He laughed. “Yeah, right. Admit it, city girl. You were lost.”
“Was not.” Ally consulted her watch. “And I’m proud to tell you, you found me in less than twenty minutes. If I had been lost, that is.” She smiled. “Which I wasn’t.”
“Turn off that alarm, it’s driving me crazy and scaring the wildlife. And you were so lost.”
“Okay, I’ll admit I never got to the top of this mountain. But how about you—”
“Don’t even say it. You’re going back. I’m taking you to your cabin.”
“I told you I don’t need to rest.”
“Fine, you’ll go to the office then—where you’ll stay if I have to handcuff you myself—and I’m coming back up here. Alone.”
Where he’d probably do something thrilling and reckless without her. Darn it. She was going to have to break him in slowly, she supposed. “Do you really have handcuffs?”
He smiled slowly. “Yep.”
Oh, my. She followed him back to the trail, thinking about that and getting much warmer than the sun warranted.
Chance walked ahead of her in silence, probably satisfied he’d gotten things—her—under control. She watched his nicely muscled rear end for a moment and thought, next time I run into that body, I’m keeping my hands out and low.
Chance continued to completely ignore her.
“I’m sure by tomorrow I’ll be a much bigger help,” she said brightly.
His shoulders stiffened, and he might have even sworn beneath his breath, but he just kept walking.
NIGHT FELL QUICKLY in Wyoming. In all Ally’s life, she’d never seen such utter darkness. No wimpy twilight hour for this place. One minute it was still daylight and the next, utter blackness had blanketed everything.
Sleep wasn’t an option, not yet. The phone conversation she’d just had with Lucy reverberated in her mind. Don’t forget to enjoy yourself. For once pocket your worries and live.
Ally liked the sound of that.
Yielding a flashlight, she walked the path from her small cabin to the main lodge, which looked deserted in spite of several lights burning. That was okay, she wasn’t looking for company. Driven by a strange restlessness, she continued past the lodge, toward the sound of rushing water, which turned out to be a stream gone wild with the snow melt-off. A sign told guests where to rent rafts, another directed them to a natural pool several hundred feet down the path where swimming was encouraged.
Curious now, Ally moved closer to the water, squinting in the moonlight. There was a small building off to her left, and from what she’d learned from the extensive map Jo had given her, it was a storage shed. Inside would be rafts, canoes, kayaks—all sorts of water equipment.
An undeniable thrill raced through her, even though she was so sore from shoveling she could hardly move her arms. She could see herself in all that white water, rushing at dizzying speeds, screaming with excitement as she—
“Don’t even think about it.” A tall shadow stepped in front of her. With a gasp, she leaped backwards and might have fallen right into the river if two big, warm hands hadn’t reached out to steady her.
“Easy,” Chance said. “I’d hate to have to stand here and watch you drown.”
She blinked and stared at his wide chest. Her stomach flip-flopped as she slowly raised her gaze past his mouth to his dark blue eyes. “You’d watch me drown rather than jump in and rescue me?”
He turned his head and studied the icy, rushing water. “Yes.”
She didn’t doubt him for a minute. “That might be bad publicity.”
“You weren’
t worried about that earlier, when as GM you got yourself good and lost while walking on our easiest trail.”
“I told you, I wasn’t lost.”
“You’re sticking to that story, huh?”
Maybe it was his silky voice, or how the breeze carried the scent of his skin and tossed his hair about his shoulders. That, or the way he still practically held her in an embrace, but in any case, she was off balance. She could feel the heat of him, all that barely contained strength and energy, and it made her shiver.
At the motion, he skimmed his hands over her arms. “Still haven’t got your high altitude legs yet, I guess.” He shot her a slow, suggestive smile. “I know several ways to combat that.”
She was certain he did. “I’m…fine.” Coward.
She felt his warm breath on her cheek and closed her eyes, wondering exactly what he could do to combat her sudden odd dizziness, and if it would involve that incredibly sexy mouth of his.
“You’ll let me know if you change your mind,” he murmured, and though he dropped his hands from her, he was still far closer than normal conversation dictated.
It lent an intimacy to their nearness she didn’t know what to do with. “I’m okay.”
“Sure?”
She was quite certain whatever he had in mind would only confuse her all the more, especially since the last time she’d seen him he’d been grinding his teeth to nothing, furious that she’d cost him precious time.
She lifted her hands between them to…what? If she touched his chest—his amazing chest—things would seem all the more cozy.
And yet she had the oddest urge to do just that. “I’m sure.” But then she tipped her head back so she could see into his…laughing eyes! Hot temper filled her. “You think teasing me with…with sexual favors is funny?” she sputtered.
“I was offering aspirin.” He cocked his head and lifted a brow. “And I have to say, I’m shocked at what you were thinking.”
Now she did use her hands on his chest, to shove him back, but he was built like a solid brick wall. He simply and calmly stepped back on his own. “You know, Prim, I think I was mistaken.” He scratched his chin and grinned. “I thought your eyes were plain gray, but they’ve got a lot of fire to them.”
As if he cared what color her eyes were, or what made them burn. He had Jo, a woman who, no doubt, did not get lost on a simple trail. “I see you made it back from your second trip up the mountain,” she said through her teeth.
“Always.”
“And Brian?”
His amusement vanished. “Do you think I’d leave him up there?”
“No,” she said, more than a little surprised at his fierce reaction. “I didn’t think that.”
“What do you think?”
That his voice could seduce a nun. That his tall, broad frame blocking the moonlight seemed strong and warm, so much that she had a silly urge to lay her head down on his chest and ask him to assuage all her yearnings.
“Brian is fine,” he said. “Though I’m not responsible for him.”
No, neither was she, but that didn’t stop her from thinking about him, and worrying. It was a bad habit, wanting to fix the world, and everyone in it. Ex-habit, she reminded herself. She was no longer in the business of fixing anything or anyone except her own life. “I think maybe I should go catch some sleep.”
He slipped his hands into his pockets. “How long are you going to do this?”
“What?”
“Stay here and play at doing Lucy’s job.”
“As long as it takes. And I’m not playing, I want to do it right.”
“That’s not possible. You got lost today in your own shadow.”
“You’re not exactly tame, you know. Why do you object to my new sense of adventure so much?”
He was shocked at her question. “Because I know what I’m doing. You, on the other hand, you’re a walking nightmare.”
“I can do this,” she insisted. When would people stop doubting her? Stabbing a finger to his chest, she said, “I came here to work, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
He grabbed her finger, and short of a tug-of-war, she couldn’t get it back. So she tried to look like it was an everyday occurrence to be holding hands with a near stranger. A tall, gorgeous, enigmatic stranger, one who thought she was a piece of fluff, one she was feeling a completely unacceptable attraction for. “I can be of help, Chance,” she said. “If you’d only let me.”
“Tall order for a woman who doesn’t know what she’s doing.”
“I know how to wing it, and I’ve got determination on my side.”
“You mean stubbornness.”
“I’m going to be a good GM. I’m going to show the staff how good attitude works, and I’m going to show Brian how to learn to belong.”
“And what makes you an expert on juvenile delinquents?”
“What makes you an expert?” Bold question, considering she didn’t even know this big, rugged man with the glittering eyes so intent on her, but something reckless made her want to push him.
“I’m not,” he said grimly, dropping her hand. “And don’t want to be.”
The night had turned chilly. The evening sounds hadn’t abated, neither had the wind. And yet Ally was mesmerized by Chance’s gaze, so much so that she couldn’t have turned and walked away if she’d wanted to. Hidden fire, hidden pain, she realized with a shock.
His gaze held both.
And so had Brian’s.
She nearly fell off the wagon right then and there, nearly let herself forget her new resolve, nearly let her heart jump into the fray, but she got a grip.
She was done taking care of people. She was! And anyway, Chance was completely self-reliant. Capable. Confident.
But God help her, she was drawn to those very things. Of its own free will, her gaze landed on his mouth. And of its own free will, her mind wandered…wondered.
He shook his head. “Stop it.”
“Stop what?”
“Stop looking at me like that.” His voice was little more than a growl.
“Like…what?”
“Like you want to be kissed.” Eyes glittering, he took a step forward, so that barely an inch separated them, and she had to tilt her head up to see his face. Now if she so much as took a breath, their bodies would touch, chest to chest, thigh to thigh, and everywhere in between.
She didn’t breathe. “I don’t. Want to be kissed, that is.” Much. She cleared her throat. “And I wasn’t thinking any such thing.”
“Liar.” He tilted his head. Their mouths lined up perfectly.
Not that she was noticing.
He held himself perfectly still. So did she. Every single part of her was at war.
Kiss me.
Don’t kiss me.
Kiss me.
“You weren’t wondering?” he murmured. “Wondering what it would be like?”
“No.”
“Wondering if maybe you could not like me and still want to kiss me?”
“No!”
“What about that hug?”
“What hug?”
“The one Lucy asked you to give me.” His eyes sparkled mischievously. “I’ve been waiting for it.”
She remembered Lucy’s request at the hospital. Give Chance a hug for me. Not likely, not even if a part of her really wanted to feel all that dark, edgy beauty against her. “You’ll be waiting a darn long time! And anyway, you’re with Jo—” She broke off when he choked, then laughed. It was a full-belly gut laugh. Directed at her. “Why is that so funny, I’d like to know? I’d never…lust after a man who belonged to another woman.” Or at least admit to it.
That made him laugh harder, but he finally got control of himself and simply grinned at her. “I’m not with Jo.”
She went into self-denial over the relief that washed through her.
“I’m not another woman’s man. I’m not anyone’s man.” His grin spread. “And you’re really blushing now, you should see it.”
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Yes, she could feel the heat of it on her skin. How gentlemanly of him to point it out.
“Was it having to lie about not wanting to kiss me?” he wondered. “Or having to use the word…lust?” He whispered the last word in a high falsetto, in a perfect imitation of herself.
“Stop it.”
“Come on, where’s that sense of adventure you’re always threatening me with?” He lifted a mocking brow. “Just admit it. You wanted to kiss me.”
“Did not.” But she couldn’t help but wonder what Chance, a man who greatly treasured his solitude and freedom, would have done if she had admitted the truth.
That for a moment, just a short one, she indeed wanted to kiss him.
ON HER SECOND NIGHT in the wilds of Wyoming, Ally got another call from Lucy.
“Having fun?”
Ally tucked the phone in the crook of her shoulder so she could continue to stoke the small fire she’d finally managed to start in her fireplace. The cabin was tiny and cozy, but icy cold, so it was necessity that had driven her to this, rather than the aesthetic value. It’d taken nearly an hour, and every single paper towel in the kitchen to get it going, but Ally was determined to get warm.
She only hoped she didn’t have to use the toilet paper stock as well. “Am I having fun?” She’d taken three showers to get the lingering smoke smell out of her hair from the trail. She had mosquito bites in places no one should have to itch and her arm muscles were so sore from today’s work she practically cried every time she moved. She blew a strand of hair from her eyes and sat back on her heels. Then grinned. “Yeah.”
“Really? Oh, honey, I’m so glad. Tell all.”
Ally used the poker, satisfied to see the tiny flicker of flame maintain itself. “Well, the trails are looking good. And I got on a bike today and didn’t break anything.”
Lucy laughed. “That’s a great start.”
Somehow Ally had convinced a staff member to show her how to ride, and given that she’d hit a tree on her first run, she was really doing remarkably well.
Even if she could hardly walk.
“Be careful,” Lucy warned. “Watch out for the pesky rocks.”