Chance Encounter

After her death, he’d somehow landed in Wyoming, with twenty bucks and a tired spirit. The remoteness, the sheer vastness, the very wildness of the land called to him as nowhere else ever had.

Luckily for him, Lucy had taken one look, and had hired him on the spot. He’d been given a tremendous amount of freedom, coupled with all the thrill and adventure he could make for himself.

And he’d made plenty. He needed some now.

The minute the mountain closed to paying customers, the second he ripped off the vest that qualified him as an authority figure, he put his bike over his shoulder onto his back and climbed the mountain so he could go down his way-mind-blowingly fast. No responsibility. No Brian dogging him. No Ally blinking her big eyes at him.

Nothing but his own company.

Halfway up, the radio on his hip crackled. Damn, he should have turned it off.

“Hey, boss,” came Jo’s voice. “Lucy on line two. She wants to tell you not to break a leg.”

Chance smiled and kept going, his muscles straining, his breath coming in even pants, breaking a sweat for the first time all day.

“She also wants to know if you’ve been kissing Ally.”

He stopped short, nearly tripped over his own two feet.

“Don’t worry,” Jo said, laughing at his silence over the airwaves. “I told her City Girl wasn’t exactly your type.”

Which was absolutely true. He didn’t want her, certainly didn’t need her, no matter what she seemed to think. Just the idea she considered him needy at all really got to him.

She was the needy one, dammit.

He hiked on, refusing to waste precious biking time thinking about it, or her. Or the kiss he could still feel on his mouth even now.

But one hundred yards later, he stopped at the unmistakable signs that he was being followed. Soon enough, Brian appeared, wearing a defiant look and carrying a bike that had seen better days.

Chance swore. “What are you doing?”

Brian’s chin went up a notch. “Same thing as you.”

“You’re checking out the terrain, making sure all the guests are down the mountain?”

Brian snorted. “That’s not what you’re doing. You’re climbing up so you can rip down, fast as you want.”

Chance stared at him, then sighed. “Okay, fine. You caught me. Now go away.”

“I want to come with you. I want to learn all I need to know about this place.”

“Well, that sounds suspiciously responsible.”

“I’m not stupid.”

“And yet you’re a juvenile delinquent. Go figure.”

Brian’s face reddened. “I didn’t start the fire.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“I didn’t!”

Chance no longer knew what he thought on that score. Brian seemed genuinely indignant about the charge. On the one hand, if Brian had started the fire, he was being suitably punished. But if he hadn’t, as he continuously claimed, then Chance had been pretty rough on him.

“Can I go with you, or what?”

Chance shoved his fingers through his hair, wondering why he couldn’t just say no. He was going soft, no doubt. “Yeah. Fine. Whatever.”

He hadn’t realized the tension that had held Brian rigid, but the boy relaxed now, enough to let out one cocky grin. “Yes!” He ran up the trail toward him, half carrying his bike, half dragging it.

Chance watched, torn between the need to groan with frustration and the need to smile at the enthusiasm he recognized all too well.

Still, he’d rather be alone. He was a simple man with simple needs. He wanted to live his life the way he wanted, when he wanted-without restraint. Work wasn’t considered a restraint, he loved his work. But Brian on the other hand, the kid was a definite restraint.

As was Ally, with a capital R.

And as if he’d played with fate at just the thought, he summited the mountain with Brian dogging his heels and came to an abrupt stop.

There at the top, pretty as a picture, smiling with hope and excitement, stood Ally, a mountain bike leaning against her hip.

“What in the hell are you doing here?”

“Inappropriate language,” she tsked, picking up the helmet dangling from her handlebars and putting in on her head.

Backwards.

Swearing, then biting his tongue at the grin Brian gave him, he strode forward and pulled it off. His fingers slid through her silky hair as he turned the helmet around. The scent teased him and he scowled. “How did you get up that trail and why are you here, here where I am?”

“I walked up the trail,” she said. “Same as you, soon as I heard you tell Jo on the radio what you were going to do.” She smiled sweetly and something inside his chest did a slow roll. “I waited for you. As for why, it’s because here is where you are.”

How did he respond to that? With one look into her wide, guileless eyes, his usual sarcasm failed him. “You don’t know how to ride. You hit things. You fall.”

“I’ve been practicing. Every afternoon in the parking lot.”

“The parking lot is flat.”

“I’m doing this. We’re doing this.” She turned to Brian. “Now I want you to be extra careful, do you hear me?”

Brian was still grinning. “I hear you. Can I lead?”

“If that’s okay with Chance,” she said demurely.

Oh, now she was being meek. “Go ahead,” he said tersely, wondering if he purposely lost both of them up here, if they’d make it down on their own.

He wouldn’t bet on it.

So together the three of them came down the newly redone trails, the wind in their faces, trees whizzing by, the earth crunching beneath their wheels, and though everything inside Chance screamed to race down the trail at eye-popping speed, he restrained himself. Barely.

It helped that Ally’s T-shirt was white and snug. It helped that the wind left her chilled, which meant her nipples were clearly defined. It helped that she had the best butt he’d seen in a good long time-

“Let’s go off trail,” Brian yelled.

It was exactly what Chance wanted, needed, to do, and he warred with himself, but in the end, he shook his head.

“Why not?” Ally asked.

Yeah, why not?

“It’s against the rules,” he said, wincing at his militant tone. He took the lead and stayed on trail. While pedaling, watching his world go by, he took a good hard look at himself and didn’t like what he saw one bit.

How had he become the pansy and Ally the wild thing? He couldn’t help but think about how she’d felt in his arms, lush and warm, eager and pliant, whimpering into his mouth for more. Passionate. Uninhibited. Ready. At that thought, his foot slipped, and the next thing he knew, he was face down in a heap, eating dirt.

“Wow.” Brian leaped off his bike and ran toward him. “That was an awesome fall. You okay?” The kid looked over his shoulder, then leaned close. “Were you trying to show off?” he whispered. “You know, for Ally?”

“Oh, Chance!” From behind them came Ally, still riding, her legs pumping for all they were worth, her hair flying, her mouth opened in a little “Oh!” of concern. She came closer and braked-too late.

She was going to crash, hard, and all Chance could do was watch in horror as she skidded past him, screaming like a banshee.

A small bush broke her fall.

Surging to his feet, Chance rushed toward her, sinking to his knees at her side as visions of her dying choked