Chance Encounter

apartment, but because she missed him.

She missed the way he saw so much joy in everything outdoors, and the way he made her see it, too. She missed his laugh, and how he made her laugh. She missed his touch. Only with him did she feel like a woman capable of bringing a man to his knees with a simple kiss. It was a power she relished, and wanted to feel again.

But most of all, she missed the way she felt when she was with him. Alive. As if she could do anything.

The knock at her door startled her. So did the achingly familiar male voice. “Ally.”

It’d been days since she’d heard him, and hearing him now rendered her a trembling, yearning wreck.

He knocked again, less politely. “Ally, open up.”

Before she could even rise to her feet, he helped himself. In he came, larger than life, looking as if he’d just strode in from off the mountain. His hair was windblown, his bare arms and face tanned and rugged. He wore jeans and a T-shirt, his standard uniform, and just looking at him brought an ache of loneliness to her chest.

When he saw her sitting on the floor, he dropped his small duffel bag and strode toward her. Each step he took caused her heart rate to double. Triple.

The boxes in his way were shoved aside, his dark and intense gaze never wavering from her face. “I have some questions for you,” he said.

It was hard to be casual with her heart in her throat. “I would have thought Lucy had covered any problems.”

He faltered, looking shocked. And…hurt? “You think I’m talking about the resort?” But before she could so much as blink, he hauled her up, her toes dangling off the floor, nose to nose with him, and gave her a light shake. “You think I flew all the way out here to ask you about the job you left?”

“Well, I-”

“You left my bed without a word,” he grounded out. “You left my life without a word.”

“Actually, it was my bed.”

He looked almost baffled, as if no one had every walked away from him before. “You were with me. In my arms. Soft and sated and glowing from what I thought was one of the best nights of my life.”

“It was,” she agreed, and completely upended his temper by laying her hand along his jaw. “It was.”

He resisted the urge to bury his face in her hair and beg her to come back, because he knew what he’d done wrong, knew how he’d lost her. Oh yeah, he knew exactly. And he had to face it, quite possibly making this the biggest adventure he’d ever been on. “You just vanished,” he whispered. “Just took your stuff and…left. Lucy was no help, she just told me I was an idiot and I’d figure it all out in good time, whatever the hell that means. Dammit, why didn’t you tell me you were leaving?” But he couldn’t bear it, couldn’t handle hearing he’d gotten only what he deserved-his solitude, which was what he’d always wanted before Ally. So he covered her mouth with his and kissed her for all he was worth. He kissed her and kissed her, heart roaring, body quaking, because given that he’d found her packing for who-knows-where, he might have missed her entirely.

He might have never seen her again.

“If I’d known you were going to leave town,” he vowed hoarsely, spreading openmouthed kisses along her jaw. “I would have…I could have-”

She went still, and pulled back to look at him. “What, Chance? You would have what?”

Words failed him. They always had around her. Instead, he banded his arms around her, kicked some boxes out of his way and backed her to the couch, where he dumped her.

Her little shriek was muffled because he followed her down, bridging her body with his own. Looking into her surprised face, he started working on the buttons of her blouse.

“Chance!”

“You left because you don’t have any feelings for me?”

Her eyes widened and, duly sidetracked, her fingers left the material of her blouse to cup his face. “You know I have feelings for you.”

“I’ve always considered myself pretty tough, you know.” He undid another button, revealing the clasp on her lacy bra and the inside curves of her breasts, the sight of which made him dizzy. “Not needing anyone or anything. Never have-” Another button, and he looked into her face. “And I was sure I never would.” The last button came away. “But then you sauntered into my life, Ally, all sweet and giving and warm…irresistible.” Slowly, he parted her blouse. His stomach clenched at the glorious sight of her breasts, straining against the lace with each breath she drew.

“Chance.” She put her hands over his. “This is crazy.”

“I know. I know your family leans on you too much, and I promise, Ally, I promise never to do that to you. You’ll never have to give up anything to care about me.”

She opened her mouth and he set a finger to her lips. “You changed me,” he told her as he stroked a finger down her neck, between her breasts, over her belly to play with the hook on her shorts. He leaned in close to slide his jaw over hers. “And I figured it out after you left me. You were the brave one all along, did you know that? You risked heart and soul, over and over, while I kept everything safe and sound, tucked deep inside.”

“Oh, Chance.”

“Some big, bad adventurer, huh? I have feelings for you.” His voice was unsteady as he fingered the lace on her bra, the creaminess of her skin. In reaction, her nipples hardened, pressed against the lace, making him tremble like a damn baby. He slid his thumb over a jutting peak, loving the sound that ripped from her throat. “You make me happy,” he told her. “In a way I’ve never been before.”

She gripped his arms tightly, as if she desperately needed the balance. “I make you…happy?”

“Oh, yeah.” He opened her bra, then skimmed both it and her shirt over her shoulders. “My head spins just thinking about you. It scared the hell out of me at first,” he admitted, filling his eyes with the feast of her as he went back to concentrating on her shorts.

“Chance-” Again she put her hands on his. “What are you doing? What are we doing?”

Surging up, he pulled his shirt off and tossed it across the room, going hot when she stared at him hungrily. “We’re getting naked.” He removed the rest of their clothing, leaving her sprawled beneath him wearing only a nervous expression. He stared deep into her eyes. “You left me, and I know why. It’s because, by some miracle, you fell in love with me.”

She looked away at that, pain flickering in her gaze, and he cupped her face and brought her back. “I denied my feelings for you, and in doing so, I hurt you. I’ll never forgive myself for that, but I can promise you, I’ll never do it again. I need you in my life.” He drew in a badly needed breath. “I love you, Ally.” His smile wobbled. “I’ve never said those words to a woman before, other than Lucy.”

Her smile was no less wobbly. “So why now?”

“Because I don’t want to be without you. I can be with or without the resort, even with or without Wyoming, but God, Ally, agree to be mine, because it’s you I can’t be without.”

“This is a really cruel dream.”

“You’re not dreaming.” She hadn’t said she loved him and he was dying. He blew out a harsh breath and dropped his forehead to hers. “Ally, it’s real. Marry me.”

“But you don’t want to give up your freedom.”

“I’d give up my last breath to have you.”

Her eyes filled, but she just stared at him.

“You know you’re killing me here, right? God, Ally, say something. Say yes.”

She threaded her fingers through his hair and pulled him close enough that their mouths brushed. “Yes.”

His breath deserted him. He could hardly talk. “Yes to which?”

“To everything.” She both laughed and cried. “Yes, I love you. Yes, oh most definitely yes, I want to marry you.”

“Here?” She didn’t know it yet, but he didn’t intend to ever let her go. “How about now?”

She smiled, and though it was a bit wet, it was the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen. “I want to marry you in Wyoming.”

The band around his chest loosened only slightly, but his eyes stung with burning hope and love. “You’ll come back?”