Fortune's Second-Chance Cowboy

by Marie Ferrarella

  And she loved every second of it.

  Still, Chloe tried very hard to resist the allure of what Chance promised. Not because she didn’t want this to happen, but because she did.

  And because she wanted it, guilt hovered on the edges of her consciousness, threatening to break in and shatter everything. That guilt reminded her that she’d already given herself to a man. A man who was no longer able to claim her.

  But this feeling that was traveling through her—the desire, the heat, the passion—was exquisite, and she had missed this feeling oh, so much. For the very first time in two years, Chloe felt like she was alive, and she’d missed that feeling.

  Missed making love and being made love to.

  Her heart was racing like a car at the Indianapolis 500 as her desire for more of Chance’s kisses, his touches, just kept increasing at a stunning rate.

  She didn’t remember tugging off his clothes, didn’t remember him pulling hers off, either. But somehow, it had happened because they were on the blanket, naked, their limbs tangled around one another as they lay beneath the full moon, each trying to get their fill of the other.

  Each deeply involved in pleasuring the other.

  She bit her lip to keep from sighing with delight as she felt his sensual mouth almost artfully glide along her skin, silently claiming everywhere he touched, everywhere he kissed.

  Chloe let herself absorb each and every sensation that went spiraling through her body in response to the almost magical things this cowboy was doing to her.

  Till her very core felt like an inferno.

  She had trouble catching her breath. Her mind scattered in a thousand different directions—which was just as well. She didn’t want to think because thinking was bad. Thinking brought guilt, and all she wanted to do was feel. Because in feeling, there was freedom, and what she was feeling had her soaring above the clouds, above everything. As free as a bird.

  Finally pulling in a deep breath, she turned and rose above Chance, doing her best to give him back a little of the intense pleasure he was giving her. She’d had only one other partner her whole life, while she was certain that Chance had had many, but she did her best to show him her gratitude for this timeless gift that he was bestowing on her.

  After a few moments of reciprocation had passed, he pulled her beneath him again.

  He slid his body along hers, sending electric currents of anticipation surging all through her.

  Her heart raced faster, all but stealing her breath away.

  His eyes met and held hers, communing with her even though not a single word was exchanged. And she answered his unspoken question in kind.

  Chance kissed her, then kissed her again. She could feel her body priming.

  Waiting.

  For him.

  When his knee parted her legs, she was ready for him. And then they were joined together, one heart, one mind and one desire overseeing them both.

  His body rocked against hers, and then began to move in the timeless rhythm she’d been waiting for.

  She moved with Chance, her hips all but sealed to his. The movements grew quicker, stronger as each seemed to anticipate the other, and suddenly they were racing to the end goal, to the explosion that was waiting for both of them.

  It seemed to take forever and yet was only as long as a blink of an eye. When it came, rocking them both with its explosion, they clung to one another as if letting go meant extinction.

  She could feel her body shuddering, could feel the fireworks receding, ushering in an aftermath awash with a feeling of well-being. She lay there, cradled in the crook of his arm, wondering just how things had come to this moment in time.

  She was too tired to come up with an answer, even if it was just for herself.

  The sounds of nature were soothing, and she found herself relaxing.

  If only for the moment.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chloe felt a hand on her shoulder, gently shaking her. Startled, she opened her eyes. Until that moment, she hadn’t realized that her eyes had closed or that she’d wound up falling asleep.

  “Chloe?” She detected concern in Chance’s voice. “Are you all right?”

  Embarrassed, flustered, for a second Chloe was at a complete loss for words. They’d made love, and then she’d fallen asleep. What had to be going through his head about her right now?

  “I’m okay,” she mumbled.

  The smile she saw on his lips was totally unexpected. “You’re a lot better than ‘okay,’” he told her, his smile widening. “But I thought maybe you were upset, you know, now that everything kind of settled down.” It was obvious that he must have thought she was only pretending to be asleep.

  Chance had never been much for small talk, or really any sort of talk at all. He was a man who believed in doing rather than talking, and as far as he was concerned, his actions—and hers—had done all the talking that was necessary this evening.

  But he wasn’t so naive or obtuse to believe that men and women thought alike when faced with the same situation. That meant that what was “fine” with him most likely wasn’t that way for a woman. Specifically, for Chloe.

  So he pressed the matter a little further. “You’re not upset or anything, are you?”

  “Because we just made love?”

  He would have said “had sex,” but Chance left it her way and nodded. “Yes.”

  Chloe took a breath, stalling as she tried to gather her thoughts into a coherent whole. She didn’t know what she felt.

  Falling asleep beside Chance had to mean that she trusted him, right?

  She could see that he was still waiting for an answer. “Well, it wasn’t exactly something I’d planned to have happen, especially out in the open like this, but no,” she told him honestly after considering the matter, “I’m not upset.”

  That was a relief, he thought. Out loud, he said, “That’s good, because I wouldn’t want you to be upset.” Replaying his own words in his head, Chance flushed a little. Talking was definitely not his strong suit. “Guess that sounds kind of lame to you.”

  That more than anything else—except for perhaps the way she’d seen him interacting with a couple of the boys—really touched her. Instead of feeling awkward or embarrassed, she felt her heart swelling.

  “No,” Chloe said, reaching up and lightly caressing his cheek. “As a matter of fact, I think it sounds rather sweet.”

  “‘Sweet,’” Chance repeated, bemused. He laughed shortly. “I don’t think anyone’s ever called me that before.”

  “Maybe nobody’s ever taken the time to get to know you before,” Chloe said. The next second, she realized how that had to sound to him. “Not that I think I know you all that well. I mean—” She was floundering and she knew it. “This isn’t coming out right.”

  Damn, there was just something about her, about the way she talked, even about the way she made mistakes that kept drawing him in.

  “I think it came out just fine,” he told her right before he kissed her.

  He was doing it again, Chloe thought. He was making her head spin. Making her body heat.

  It took Chloe several moments before she could finally force herself to draw her mouth back, away from his. It definitely wasn’t easy.

  “We start doing that again and we’re never going to get back to the ranch. Graham’s liable to send a search party out for us come morning.”

  “Wouldn’t want to be found like this,” Chance agreed. Even to his own ears he didn’t exactly sound as if he really meant what he was saying.

  She looked beautiful in the moonlight, he thought. So beautiful that everything he’d felt earlier just before he made love to her was coming back in spades. You’d think that having consumed the forbidden fruit would have negated the overpowering desire
for it. But in Chloe’s case, it seemed to have just the opposite effect.

  Having made love with her had just whetted his appetite for her, because Chance now knew just what was waiting for him.

  Rather than let her start getting dressed, the way he knew he should have, Chance lightly brushed his lips against her bare shoulder, sending shock waves through himself—as well as through her.

  “One more for the road?” he asked, a very sensual look in his eyes.

  The question, so guilelessly asked, had laughter bubbling up in her throat.

  “I guess it can’t do any harm,” she replied, her heart already revving up.

  “None whatsoever,” he agreed as he pulled her back into his arms.

  It began all over again, the thunder and lightning, the excitement, all culminating in a breathtaking shower of stars.

  * * *

  Chloe thought it might prove awkward, running into Chance, having their paths cross half a dozen times a day, not to mention at the dining room table for meals, but it was just the opposite.

  It was nice. Very, very nice.

  Neither one of them took any liberties with the other or resorted to private jokes or secretive looks that left the others on the ranch guessing. But there was still something enormously comforting about just being around one another.

  She wouldn’t have given that feeling up for the world.

  For one thing, Chloe felt a great deal less alone now. She was still Graham’s half sister and Gerald Robinson’s offspring, for whatever that was worth, but neither of those two things made her feel as if she was actually part of anything, as if she was connected to anything, despite the implications and despite what Graham had told her when he’d first called her.

  But being around Chance and catching glimpses of him during the day did make her feel as if she was part of something larger than herself. Something larger and oh, so emotionally comforting.

  Chloe knew she was letting herself get carried away and that all this was just temporary, but for now, for this tiny space of time, it didn’t matter. She was determined to enjoy this for however long it lasted.

  * * *

  “A family picnic?” Chloe repeated, looking at Graham after he had called her into his small office.

  A couple more days had passed and things had been going very well at work as well as during her free hours, but admittedly, in that same time she had barely socialized with her half brother and his family. Despite the fact that they shared some of the same DNA, she still tended to think of Graham more as her boss than as her kin.

  And now, out of the blue, Graham had sought her out to invite her to a family picnic he was planning for that Sunday.

  Recalling her last venture into a family function, Chloe had some grave doubts about the invitation. “Are you sure you want me to attend?”

  “It is a family picnic,” he pointed out. “That means it’s for both the Fortune family and my work family,” Graham explained. “And you actually qualify as both, so yes, I want you to come. Sasha and I both want you to come. Besides,” he added, “you’re good with Sydney and Maddie.”

  Now it was starting to make sense to Chloe. “If you need a babysitter—”

  Graham was quick to cut her off. “If I wanted a babysitter, I would have said so,” he told her. “I was just trying to tell you that the girls would love to see you there, not that we require your services in any other capacity than as an attendee,” he said pointedly. Then he added what he felt would cinch the deal for Chloe. “Oh, and Chance should be there.”

  Chloe looked at him in surprise. “He already agreed to come?”

  Graham paused a moment. “He will if he knows that you’re going to be there,” he admitted. “So what do you say? I’d really like you to come. I’m inviting the boys, too,” he added, hoping that would convince her to attend.

  Chloe surrendered. She really didn’t want to drag her feet about this. “Can’t say no to my boss—or to my half brother.”

  “How about you just call me ‘brother’?” Graham suggested. “‘Half’ brother makes me feel like I’ve been sliced in two and you get to pick which half you want to deal with. It’s not exactly a flattering image,” he added.

  Chloe grinned. “Well, that’s easy enough...”

  Graham raised his hand to stop her right there. “I think I’ll quit while I’m ahead—provided you did just agree to come to the picnic.”

  She laughed, knowing that she’d been set up. “How can I say no now?”

  “Good, then my plan worked.” He picked up the landline receiver and pulled over a list of phone numbers he’d written down. “Now I have to corral the rest of the people for this picnic.”

  That caught her by surprise. “I’m the first one you asked?”

  “Not exactly,” Graham admitted. “I did ask Sasha first. Actually, it was more of a discussion as to what day would be the best to have the picnic. So, in a way, I guess you are the first one.” He saw the surprised look on her face. “Why?”

  Chloe thought of waving the whole exchange away, but decided, in light of everything, she owed her newfound brother the truth. “I’m used to being the last one asked—to everything—so thank you for that.”

  “No thanks necessary, Chloe,” he responded, already tapping a phone number into the keypad.

  Chloe walked out of the office smiling.

  * * *

  When Chance was invited, Graham asked him to extend the invitation to the boys. Like him, they were surprised to be included and at first, all four seemed hesitant to attend what was going to be, after all, a family gathering.

  “Why? You need us to act as servers when the food’s brought out?” Brandon wanted to know, reverting to his old chip-on-his-shoulder attitude as he posed the question to Chance.

  “If you want to help out, that’s fine,” Chance told the teen, then looked at the other boys who were gathered around him in the stable. “But nobody expects you to. You’re just welcome to join in—as guests, just like everyone else.”

  “Is it mandatory?” Will wanted to know, shifting restlessly from one foot to the other as he eyed Chance.

  “It’s an invitation, not an order.”

  “Don’t be a jerk,” Jonah told the two younger residents. “It’s a chance to eat some really good barbecue and be around regular people. Relax. Nobody wants anything from you.”

  Color crept up Will’s shallow cheeks. “I guess you’re right,” he conceded.

  Chance knew the comment from their peer would carry some weight, but he was still grateful when he saw Chloe stepping out of Mirabel’s stall, no doubt having heard the entire conversation. He knew she’d add her two cents to the persuasive argument—but only if she felt that he might need backup.

  Evidently, she decided he did.

  “Old habits are hard to break, aren’t they?” Chloe asked knowingly.

  The boys turned, almost in unison, to the sound of her voice. From the looks on their faces, she judged that they hadn’t realized that she was anywhere in earshot.

  “Sometimes people do things just because they want to be nice without expecting anything in return,” she told Brandon and Will. “Get used to it. You’ll find that it happens a lot more frequently than you thought—once you put your guard down.

  “So,” she concluded, looking around at all four of the teens. “Are you guys in?”

  Will raised and lowered his thin shoulders in an indifferent shrug. “I guess so.”

  “Sure,” Ryan chimed in with a ready grin.

  “I’ll be there,” Jonah assured them.

  “How about you?” Chloe asked Brandon when he kept his silence.

  After several beats, Brandon, like Will, shrugged, Unlike Will he avoided looking at either Chloe or Chance when he answered.
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br />   “Yeah, I guess so,” he mumbled.

  “Enthusiasm,” Chloe teased, putting her arm around Brandon’s shoulders and giving him a quick hug.

  Brandon’s shoulders were stiff, but she noted with pleasure that he was forcing himself to relax them a little.

  Progress!

  “I love it,” she added.

  “Yeah, whatever,” Brandon mumbled. For the moment, he let her keep her arm where it was.

  “Baby steps, Brandon,” Chloe whispered into his ear. “Take baby steps.”

  “Uh-huh.” He shrugged her off, but the moment had lasted longer than Chloe’d expected. “Well, I got chores to do,” he announced to no one in particular.

  “Then you’d better get to them,” Chance told the boy. He looked at the other three. “How about the rest of you? Stalls cleaned?” he wanted to know.

  “Cleaner than our bunks,” Ryan volunteered, speaking for the others.

  “Then maybe you’d better see about those bunks,” Chance suggested pointedly.

  The quartet dispersed immediately, one going deeper into the stable, while the other three went to the bunkhouse where they stayed.

  “I think that they’re coming along pretty well,” she said to Chance once the boys were well out of hearing range. She turned toward him for an answer. “What do you think?”

  “There’s still a lot of work left to do,” Chance replied.

  He had never been one to allow himself to be overly enthusiastic about something, especially when it was still a work in progress. And that was exactly what he considered the evolution of the four teens to be—a work in progress.

  He saw that Chloe was still looking at him, obviously waiting for a positive response.

  He sighed, giving in. “But yeah, I think they’re coming along. I have to admit that I’m kind of surprised that they’re willing to go to this picnic,” he told her, lowering his voice in case Brandon could pick up on their conversation.

  “Well, I think that it’s a hopeful sign,” she told him in all sincerity.

  He wished he could be as optimistic as she was about this. But life had knocked him around too much. Because of that, he always anticipated the worst.