by Jill Shalvis
Ally sank to a chair and let out a little laugh.
“And you know what else? I think you learned a whole hell of a lot more than that. Not that you’ll admit it to me right now, but I think you learned how to receive love as well as give it.”
Ally stared at her. What would Lucy say if she told her she was right, she’d received lots of “love.” On her desk. Against a tree. In the kitchen. The shower… Her heart cracked and broke. “Chance was in on this, right? Give the city girl a thrill?” A man like him would never have given her a second look, why in the world hadn’t she seen that? Because she hadn’t wanted to, she’d been too busy reacting with her hormones.
“I swear to you, honey. Chance had nothing to do with this.”
“I need air.” Desperate for it, she headed toward the door.
“Dammit—” Lucy fought wildly with her covers, trying to get out of the bed. “Dammit!” She flung up her hands in frustration. “If you’re going to leave, then help me up so I can follow you. We’re not finished!”
Ally stared at the door in front of her, knowing she should walk out, but she couldn’t. Miserable, she studied the white paint, but what she really saw was Chance lying sprawled out in her bed, rumpled and sexy from the night they’d spent.
Loving each other.
Her throat tightened. Her eyes burned.
“Ally. Oh, Ally, I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah. Me, too,” she told the door.
There was more rustling and more swearing. “Then get back here and let me shake you!”
Ally laughed a little, swiped at the silly tear that had escaped, and slowly turned to face her. “Don’t hurt yourself. Just stay put.”
“Not until you understand—”
“I do. I know that you care about me, and that—”
“I love you, dammit. And I love Chance. If ever there were two people who deserved to find each other more, I don’t know who they are. I just thought—”
“You thought wrong.” With a sigh, Ally moved back to the bed. She would not take her pain out on Lucy. “You should know you’ve been meddling in vain. I came to tell you it’s time for me to go. Now that you’re getting out of here, the timing is perfect.”
“Don’t tell me he found someone else, I know that boy too well.”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Good. Now tell me you love him again.”
“Lucy—”
“Tell me!”
Ally swallowed hard, but the truth came out. “Okay, fine. You win. I fell in love with him. But—”
Lucy’s eyes flared with triumph. “No buts needed.”
“But, whether Chance loves me back or not doesn’t matter.” She had to swallow hard. “Not when he doesn’t want to love me. That’s why I have to go. Please understand. If I stay, I’ll go weak again. I’ll take whatever pathetic scraps of attention he can give me, because I can’t resist him. I’ll take it and feel grateful for even that little bit.”
Lucy’s eyes filled. “Oh, honey.”
“It’s over, Lucy,” she whispered. “And I have to leave. I’m sorry.”
Lucy reached out a hand, and this time Ally took it. When Lucy tugged and gathered her in for a warm hug, Ally returned it with all her heart.
“I don’t want you to go,” Lucy murmured. “You’ve made a place for yourself here. Both in my heart and at the resort, and I know you may not believe this… I hardly believed it myself when I first realized it, but I don’t want to work twenty-four/seven anymore.” She pulled back to stare into Ally’s eyes. “I want to cut back. I want to relax.”
Ally shook her head. “Don’t you dare add offering me a pity job to your crimes.”
“This is not a pity job. I swear!” Lucy was vehement. “I would never offer you or anyone a job out of pity. I respect hard work too much for that. I just really want to work less. A lot less. And I really thought you were meant for Wyoming. You’ve got stamina, willpower and a heart of gold.” She hugged Ally tight. “So think about it, okay? Think about staying here anyway.”
Ally squeezed Lucy tight and fought back more useless tears. “It’s ironic, how much I want to stay. How much I’ve grown to love it here.” The mountains, the trees, the silence, the inner peace it gave her…she didn’t want to lose it.
“Then stay.”
Ally closed her eyes. “I can’t.” Her entire life was in front of her. Surely she could do something with it, something worthwhile. “Besides, I have to go close out my apartment. The building was sold before I even came here.”
“I know.” Lucy pulled back, looking innocent. Too innocent. “Who do you think bought it?”
Ally laughed in disbelief. “No.”
“Yes.”
“But the cost… I didn’t think you had—”
“Oh, I have the money. And before you ask, I’ve been trying to help your parents for years, but they have such pride, Ally. They’re wonderful people.”
Ally smiled fondly. “I know.”
“And you’re wonderful, too. I just wanted to pay you back for all you’ve ever done in the name of family loyalty.”
“You already have.”
“No, I could never do that, you’ve given so much. Go, honey. I know you think you have to. But I’ll make you a little hopeful wager. That you’ll be back.”
“Don’t count on it,” Ally warned.
“Oh, but I will. You need to go back and see how little that city really means to you. Then you’ll come back. Back where you belong.”
“No.” Ally couldn’t. She couldn’t face seeing Chance every single day. “I’m sorry, Lucy.”
Lucy refused to hear it. “Make it a quick trip. I’m thinking about learning how to hang-glide.”
When Ally’s jaw dropped, Lucy hugged her again and laughed. “Just kidding.”
Ally wasn’t so sure.
TWO TERMINALLY LONG days later, Ally had nearly finished packing up her apartment, with a few days to spare on her lease.
Not that that mattered now, she thought with a renewed sense of amazement at how far Lucy had gone to get her to Wyoming. Thanks to Lucy, she didn’t have to rush, and she hadn’t yet decided on another place.
Exhausted but pleased with her progress, she sat on the floor, surrounded by a sea of boxes, all in various stages of packing.
And she yearned for Chance.
Outside her tiny window, cars honked, a plane buzzed by, a siren screamed…city sounds. She hadn’t slept well because of the noise, not when she’d gotten so used to the quiet and peaceful wilderness.
She wanted that soul-fortifying silence back.
And if she wanted a lot more than that, if she wanted warm, loving arms to hold her at night, if she wanted those arms to belong to T. J. Chance, then she could put that in the back of her mind.
He wasn’t that type of guy. Forever wasn’t his thing.
No matter that it had become hers.
She hadn’t slept a wink since she’d left, not because of the stupid city noises, not out of worry of closing up her 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?”
“I never left, not in spirit anyway. It’s in my heart. It’s my home,” she said simply. She touched his face. “I told Lucy where I’d gone. I thought maybe she’d tell you.”
He shook his head. “The damn meddling woman. If I hadn’t seen her fall off that bike with my own eyes, I might think she set me up.”
“Well…” Ally laughed. “Not with the broken bones, but she did set you up. She set both of us up. Literally.”
His eyes widened. “You’re kidding me.”
“Sneaky of her, I agree, but effective.” She danced her fingers down over his bare chest, and was rewarded when his breathing quickened and his eyes darkened. “It brought you here to me. Tell me again, Chance.”
“I love you. I always will.”
“Now show me,” she dem
anded.
He was on his way to doing just that, and had them both halfway to bliss, when she smiled, her entire heart in her gaze, and said, “I hope we’re making a baby.”
It was a good thing he wasn’t standing. His knees went weak and his heart soared. “A girl,” he managed. “With your stormy eyes and brave heart.”
“And her daddy’s sense of adventure.”
“Sounds good,” he murmured huskily, bending close for a long, deep, hot kiss. “Now where were we?”
“Oh dear, I’ve lost track.” Her grin was wicked. “Better start at the beginning.”
“Perfect. I love beginnings.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7122-1
CHANCE ENCOUNTER
Copyright © 2001 by Jill Shalvis.
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