Chance Encounter

Against a tree. Lord. He’d known from the very first kiss it would be more than just a hot coupling, and still, he’d done it. Even knowing she wouldn’t be able to turn back, that she’d expect more from him than just the physical release, he’d gone ahead and taken her.

He couldn’t stop thinking about that, and the reasons why. Ever since he’d discovered women and the pleasures they could bring, he’d done his best to do two things. Always give the pleasure back, and make sure to keep everything on a temporary basis.

He had no doubt he’d done the first. He’d given Ally pleasure back. Her soft cries and low whimpers had assured him of that. The way she’d held him, stroked him, giving every bit as much as she got, had assured him, too.

But as far as keeping things temporary, he’d really screwed up. He didn’t claim to know all Ally’s private thoughts, but he could bet the bank she had taken their actions very seriously.

What now?

He could walk away.

He could take her again.

Definitely the walking away option was the kindest, but either way, the end result wouldn’t change. She would leave Wyoming. She’d get her life back, and…so would he. But there would be hurt.

That had been the one thing he’d wanted to avoid at all costs, and it was now inevitable.

Damage control, he decided. He needed some serious damage control, and quick. Because that made him ache, made the heart inside his chest do a slow roll and a hard squeeze, he rubbed a hand there.

It didn’t matter that he already hurt. He would just get over it. He’d get over it, and her.

11

ONCE AGAIN THEY ALL gathered in the lodge. Jo sat next to Brian and took his hand. Chance stood behind him and put a hand on his shoulder, his face a mask of strength and careful control.

No insight to his thoughts there, thought Ally in frustration. He’d hidden everything, and if he remembered what they’d been doing in the woods only a little while before, there was no sign of it.

And yet when their gazes met, his eyes flickered with that heat that made her knees quiver.

Okay, he remembered.

Then Brian looked up at Chance with an expression of nervousness and fear, and Chance sent him a small, reassuring smile, one that brought both a sheen of tears and a smile of hope to Ally.

See? she reassured herself. Tough as Chance was, his heart wasn’t immune. And if it could accept Brian, maybe it could accept her as well.

She looked at the people she’d grown to care so much about and felt such a burst of warm emotion she could hardly speak. They were a unit.

And she was part of that unit. For the first time in her life, she belonged. Not because of what she could do or provide, but because she as a person was wanted and welcome. She needed them, and they needed her.

She loved that. She’d come for the adventure, was still here for the adventure, but contrary to what she’d once thought, she’d definitely be leaving a piece of her heart here when she left.

“Tell us,” Chance urged Brian.

With a deep breath, Brian did just that. He and Monica had been together, carving their initials into the tree and “messing” around, leaving by three-thirty so she wouldn’t get caught by her father. They’d been gone by the time the fire had started, at approximately four o’clock. He hadn’t wanted to say so before because he hadn’t wanted to get her in trouble, which she’d be bound for if her father had known the truth.

He’d been protecting the girl.

Ally’s heart broke, but for the moment at least, Brain was free from more trouble with the law. She wanted to believe he’d been scared straight by the events, but she wasn’t that naive. Whatever he felt was well hidden beneath his tough bravado.

The boy reminded her so much of Chance, and his equally tough bravado. But she’d seen past the facade now, and there was no going back.

If only either one of them would let her all the way in.

MUCH LATER SHE CAME across Brian. He was alone in the huge, deserted locker room in the lodge, staring at his opened locker. Just staring, all tough guy gone, just one lone teenager, unsure of his future.

Ally’s heart twisted, and she stepped toward him, but it turned out he wasn’t alone at all.

Down the aisle, about fifteen lockers away, stood an equally silent, an equally alone Chance.

Everything inside her reacted at just the sight of him. She thought she’d been quiet, but she must have given herself away somehow, because he turned his head and looked right at her. Though his eyes flared with some emotion she didn’t dare place, he said not a word. Hadn’t said one word directly to her since they’d ravished each other.

Her face flamed, but oddly enough, it wasn’t embarrassment making her hot, but the actual memory of what they’d done. How it had felt. Incredible. She wanted to feel it-him-again.

But since she couldn’t say so, she looked at Brian. “I don’t know about you,” she said quietly. “But I’m glad it’s over. And I wanted to tell you how proud I am.”

He lifted one shoulder, still staring at his biking helmet and gloves.

“You going for a ride?”

“I have work.” He slammed the locker and started to walk away, only to stop before he got to the door. With his back to both her and Chance, he said, “You believed me. You always did.” He turned then, and looked at her from eyes blazing with confusion and pain. “Why?”

That, at least, was simple. “Because I believe in you.”

Brian’s gaze shifted to Chance, then down to his feet, which he shuffled around a bit. “Chance told me the same thing.”

Ally looked at Chance, who held her gaze with an unreadable expression. “Then you know it’s the truth,” she said.

Brian’s smile transformed his tough, hard face into what a fourteen-year-old’s should look like. “Yeah.” He shot a sideways glance at Chance. “You’re not mad anymore because of Monica?”

“I was never mad because of Monica,” Chance said.

“But she’s the daughter of your competitor.”

“You’ll see who you want.”

Brian ran his fingers over the helmet Chance had given him. “I thought maybe you wouldn’t want me around anymore if you found out.”

“You thought wrong.”

“Yeah, well. Cool.”

“Look, uh…” The big, uninhibited, overtly sexual Chance grimaced. “Do we need to have the birds and bees talk?”

“Jeez!”

“Do we?”

Mortified, Brian shook his head. “No.”

“Good. That’s good.” Chance’s smile was all relief. “Let’s ride.”

“I have to pick up trash.”

“You can do that afterwards.”

Looking as if he’d won the lotto, Brian grabbed his gloves.

“Be safe,” Ally called out, waving, but Brian was already gone.

Chance took his gear, shut his locker and moved toward the door, which meant he had to walk directly past her, in an aisle not quite wide enough for him to pass by without touching her.

Refusing to turn her back and make it easy for him, Ally held her ground and looked directly into his eyes as he turned sideways to go by her.