Second Chances

by Denise Belinda McDonald

  Despite the close quarters, he turned her and brought her up to his chest. He buried his face in her neck and held onto her. Tears stung his eyes for the first time in more years than he could remember. “I’ve got you,” he said in a low gentle voice. “I’ve got you.”

  Awkward as it was, he managed to get Zan out the back window of the Plymouth. In the ditch, he cradled her in his arms, kissing her neck until his knees went weak. He sat heavy on the ground, but never loosened his grip.

  Her arms clung to him, but barely. Then silent tears came from her, wetting his neck and shoulder.

  She lifted her head and looked at the wreck of her car. “Oh God, Jacob,” she said and more convulsive sobs came, shaking her entire body. He rocked her, stroked her back, until they subsided.

  When her breathing evened some, Jacob asked, “Can you tell me what happened?”

  Before she could answer, a beam of light illuminated the area.

  “Jacob? Jacob Bowman? Is that you?”

  At the sound of the man’s voice, Zan buried her face into Jacob’s shoulder and held a little tighter.

  “It’s okay, Zan,” he whispered into her ear. Jacob lifted his hand to his brow to shield his eyes from the bright intruder. “Yeah?”

  “It’s Lyndel Johnson. Saw your truck up on the road. I figured you were in some sorta trouble. I called the sheriff and Dr. Hambert. They’re on their way.”

  A sigh of relief trembled in his lungs.

  “Thanks, Lyndel.”

  “You need some help getting up out of there?”

  “No. I got it, thanks. Just give me a minute, okay?”

  Lyndel nodded and stepped back from the edge of the ditch.

  Jacob kissed Zan’s temple and closed his eyes, just holding onto her.

  Chapter Ten

  “So did she tell you what happened?” Sheriff Reese asked Jacob.

  Jacob didn’t answer, but just watched Dr. Hambert dress the cut on Zan’s forehead as she sat in the back of his SUV. Lyndel Johnson stood off to the side watching. The sheriff and the doctor arrived thirty minutes after Lyndel had called them. Manny and his tow truck arrived ten minutes after that. In no time, he pulled the car onto the road, the dents in the rear bumper evident to all.

  Zan stared wide-eyed and silent at her car. Dr. Hambert had cleaned the blood that had earlier dried on her face. She sat, pale, and the look of defeat on her face tore at his soul. With the blanket wrapped around her shoulders, she looked like a helpless child. All the fear and trepidation from earlier turned hot and burned his gut with anger.

  Someone had run Zan off the road.

  “She said a truck hit her.” Jacob had to fight the bile that rose in the back of his throat. “Three times. The third time she went into the ditch.”

  Sheriff nodded and wrote in a little notebook in his hand.

  “If I hadn’t been waiting for her, there’s no telling how long she may have sat there.” That thought burned hottest of all.

  “She’s going to be all right, son.” Sheriff Reese closed his notebook and clapped Jacob on the shoulder.

  Jacob ignored the man’s words of comfort. “You need to go pick him up.”

  “Who’s that?”

  Jacob turned and looked at Sheriff Reese with disbelief. “Dale Holstrom.”

  “Did she say that’s who ran her off the road?” Reese tilted his hat back on his head and scratched the balding scalp.

  “No.” Jacob lowered his voice. “But you know damn well what happened at the festival. The whole town does. Dale must be fit to be tied to be showed up by a woman. Especially one that has done it to him before.”

  “I’ll look into it, Jacob.”

  Jacob narrowed his eyes.

  “Don’t give me that look, boy. I know the man is a pain in the ass. But without proof or Suzanne specifically saying it was him, I can’t just go pick him up. But given the report earlier…”

  Jacob snagged Reese’s sleeve. “What report?”

  Reese told him about what happened in the dressing room.

  “I knew something was bothering her.” His stomach knotted harder, if that was possible. “I should never have left her alone.”

  “This isn’t your fault.”

  “No, it’s Dale Holstrom’s.”

  Reese stared at him for a long moment. “I told you I’d look into it.”

  Jacob wanted to say more but he saw the doctor finish up. He nodded to the sheriff and walked over to Dr. Hambert’s SUV.

  The doctor motioned Jacob to the end of the vehicle. “Suzanne is doing fine. I wanted to take her out to the county hospital to check her out a little more thoroughly but she refuses to go. I’m afraid she probably has a concussion. Can you make sure someone stays with her tonight?”

  “Yes, sir. She won’t be alone.” Jacob watched her pull the blanket tighter around her slumped shoulders. The dome light above her head lit very little of her face, but he could see the bruise surrounding her cut. He clenched his jaw to keep from screaming out into the night.

  Dr. Hambert nodded and went to talk to Zan. Her wide eyes glistened with unshed tears. She was one strong woman.

  Manny left with her car and the sheriff headed into Paintbrush to talk to anyone that might have seen Zan or anyone else leave town. After Jacob helped Zan into his truck, the doctor gave him a few more instructions then got in his SUV and headed home. Lyndel waited to make sure Jacob’s truck would start and left, too.

  “You want me to call your aunt to come out and stay with you?”

  Zan’s head popped up, tears flooded her eyes. “No. Please don’t call her.”

  “Okay, I won’t. Calm down.” Jacob rubbed her cheek with his knuckles. “What would you like to do? I can take you back to your house or we can go on to mine.”

  Zan shrugged but didn’t look up.

  “Makes no difference to me. The doctor said you need someone with you tonight. Consider me volunteered for the job.” Like he would have it any other way.

  “I… Can we go to your place?”

  “Yep. That would be fine.” He reached for the keys in the ignition and started the engine.

  “My place is so lonely. I hate being out there all alone all the time. Sometimes I just wish I had someone to talk to. Anyone.” Zan rambled on as if she hadn’t heard him. Was she even sure what she was saying? “I have never felt so alone. So quiet. So lonely…” she yawned and her voice trailed off.

  He squeezed her shoulder gently then headed back to Saddle Creek ranch.

  It was almost one in the morning by the time he pulled up to his house. Zan sat with her head back and eyes closed. “Zan, we’re home.”

  An odd sensation flooded him saying those words to her. With a mental shake, he reminded himself that now was not the time.

  “Zan.” He touched her shoulder, but she didn’t stir. He debated waking her up, but instead he got out, unlocked and propped open the front door. Carefully unlatching her seatbelt, he lifted her from the truck and carried her into the house.

  In his bedroom, he laid her on the bed. She remained asleep when he removed her boots, despite all of his tugging. Her poor body had shut down. Then he remembered Dr Hambert saying she might have a concussion. Sitting her up in the bed, he shook her shoulders slightly, trying not to jar her head. “Zan. Wake up, Zan.”

  She mumbled, but stayed asleep.

  “Zan, you need to wake up.” His voice rose with every word.

  “I’m awake.” Her voice was low. “Jacob, why are you yelling at me?”

  He smiled and pressed a kiss to her temple.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to yell at you. Can you sit up by yourself? I want to get you some water. The doctor said to give you lots of liquids.”

  She nodded and lifted her knees to her chest, hugging them.

  When he returned with the water, she was still in the same position. She lifted her head. “Thanks.”

  Jacob sat beside her on the bed, running his hand up and down her back. He could
n’t find words to say to her at the moment. She took ten years off his life with that scare.

  “Why does he hate me so much?”

  Jacob’s stomach knotted again. “Dale?”

  “He’s been picking on me from the minute I came to town.” Her words slurred slightly. “I didn’t do anything.” She glanced up at him.

  Would she remember having this conversation in the morning? He didn’t think so, but she did need to be awake for a bit. He said, “Dale couldn’t cut it.”

  “Huh?”

  “He ran off to California with…” He started to say “with my fiancée”, but needed to keep it as simple as possible. “He went to California a few years after high school. Here he’s the big fish. If he screws up, Daddy is there to pick up the pieces. There he was nothing but a small-town hick who was all on his own without the Holstrom name to make his way. He didn’t take it too well and six months later he came home with his tail tucked between his legs.

  “Ever since, he’s had a huge chip on his shoulder. He’s like that to anyone from the city. The fact you stood up to him, from a place with more than a handful of folks, and a woman to boot.” Jacob shook his head. “Let’s just say you’re one of the first not to back down. Now you’re probably a challenge to him.”

  “Great.”

  Jacob didn’t want to add, that for some reason, Dale had always hated Jacob. The fact that Zan preferred him over the middle Holstrom just added fuel to the fire.

  “Can I go back to sleep?” She finished her drink and handed him the empty glass, then leaned back on the pillows. Before he could ask if she was comfortable, she was snoring softly.

  Over the rest of the night, Jacob woke her every two hours. He noticed, at some point, she had slipped out of her jeans and T-shirt and put on his shirt that had lain on the chair next to the bed. She’d rolled the too-long sleeves up to her elbows. Only a button or two kept it closed. A slash of pink flesh and white undies peeked out at him.

  Again, that sensation filled him, screaming at the rightness of Zan in his home, in his shirt and in his bed. Again he pushed it to the back of his mind, not able, or willing, to consider why this woman had made such an impact in his life.

  Just before dawn, he propped his feet up on the coffee table. He needed a few z’s before the next time he woke her. Closing his eyes, he let the exhaustion that taunted his brain engulf him.

  ———

  Jacob woke, still sitting upright on the sofa. The bright sun stung his tired eyes. He shifted to bring his hand up to wipe away the grit, but a weight pinned his arm down to his side. Easing his neck back and forth to work out a kink, he looked down to find Zan cuddled up next to him, his arm tucked under her, holding her close. Her arm curved across his chest, her fist balled under her chin. Her bare leg—her beautiful, shapely bare leg—draped over his.

  Before he realized what he was doing, his free hand skimmed the soft skin behind her knee and up the back of her thigh. His fingers paused at the edge of the shirt covering her bottom. Temptation warred in him. Her tangled mass of hair tickled his nose, again vanilla and sugar filled his senses, as she shifted closer rubbing her body to his. Even asleep, she roused sexual desires.

  Zan moved again, rolling her shoulder. She lifted her leg and stretched the calf muscle with bare toes pointed. She yawned and snuggled closer. Then she stiffened in his arms. Slowly her head rose, her eyes droopy with sleep.

  “Jacob, I…” She flattened her hand on his chest and tried to push away. “I’m sorry.”

  Putting his free hand on her hip, he tightened his arms around her. “What for? You didn’t snore. Much.”

  Her cheeks reddened. “I didn’t mean to lie all across you.”

  “I’m not complaining.” He smiled down at her and kissed the tip of her nose. He saw her swallow and her eyes slid away from his.

  “I, ah, I woke and didn’t want to be alone.” She spoke without looking at him.

  Nervous chatter. He laughed to himself; she did that a lot.

  “You looked so worn out lying on the couch with your feet propped up. I tried to wake you, but you were zonked, so I just sat next to you.” She swallowed again. “I must have, uh, fallen asleep.”

  “Like I said, Zan, I’m not complaining. In fact, I kind of liked finding you in my arms.” He laid his cheek on the top of her head and ran his hand back down her thigh.

  The palm on his chest that had started to push away relaxed and toyed with the buttons on his shirtfront. “Jacob, I never thanked you for last night.”

  His hand stilled, his breath stilled, at the reminder of her accident. He pushed the scene from his mind, not wanting to ruin this moment with Zan. “No thanks necessary.”

  Her shoulders rose and fell with a sigh. “You’re a pretty remarkable man. You know?”

  “I…” His words trailed off and thought vanished when she looked up at him with her beautiful gray eyes shielded by the dark lashes. She stared so intently into him, his breath hitched. He focused on her full lips when her tongue darted out to wet them. It was all the invitation he needed, no longer able to hold himself back.

  His mouth lowered to hers and for a moment, his heart stopped. He had kissed her before, but this time…this time something was different. More than desire raged in him. The need to protect her, to hold her—always hold her—swirled through him with such a great force it hurt.

  His hand found its way back to the edge of her shirt. Without hesitation, he cupped her bottom, the soft, silk panties slick under his hand. With little effort, he positioned her on top of him.

  Zan ran her hands up his chest, his shoulders, to rest in his hair. Her mouth accompanied his with intensity and fervor, her hips grinding into him. He couldn’t stop a groan that rumbled in his throat.

  Slipping his hands under the shirt, they ran the length of her soft, smooth back. His thumbs skimmed the sides of her full breasts. She shuddered under his touch.

  Tearing his mouth from hers, his lips made their way down the silky column of her neck, tasting, feasting on her. He pushed at the collar of the shirt with his nose, nudging it lower, as his mouth laid a trail across Zan’s shoulder.

  Before he could dive further, Zan braced her hands on his shoulders and pushed herself upright. Both panted heavy breaths as they stared at one another. Jacob lifted a hand and ran his thumb across her still swollen lips. He watched her close her eyes briefly and take a deep breath.

  Her eyes opened again, she crossed her arms over her chest. When he thought she might push away, she grabbed the edges of her shirt and pulled it over her head, forgoing the buttons altogether, and let it fall to the floor.

  Stunned for a minute by the perfection of her sitting before him clad only in a pair of black panties, he could only stare.

  ———

  Doubt filled her. Had she gone too far, too fast? She was baring more than just her body to Jacob.

  “You are so beautiful,” Jacob said finally, running his hands up her sides.

  A sigh of relief lifted her breasts, bringing Jacob’s eyes back to them.

  With a gentleness so overwhelmingly soft, his large hands closed over her. “You have freckles just about everywhere.” His voice was thick, husky, but a hint of amusement laced the words. “I wondered.” His eyes met hers for a brief moment then returned to her breasts.

  “Except right here.” He leaned forward, kissing the valley between her breasts. His tongue ran a slow tortuous path down. Jacob moved his hands circling her waist and pulled her closer to him.

  “And right here.” He took her in his mouth, suckling a nipple to a hard, wet point. Then he laved the other with equal attention.

  Her fingers gripped his shoulders and pulled him closer, tighter to her, her head thrown back. When she might have been embarrassed at her brash behavior only passion and longing filled her.

  Jacob slid his hand between them. His fingers traced the edge of her panties before dipping inside. He toyed with the hair covering her before he pl
unged his fingers into her. His thumb teased her swollen nub while his fingers stroked her into a frenzy. She called out his name in short pants, only increasing his torture. Climbing higher and higher she could barely hold on until finally she exploded around him, then collapsed, her head rested on his shoulder.

  “Jacob. Oh God. Oh God, Jacob,” she whispered too weak and sated to move.

  “Good?” His voice was husky and low.

  “Oh yeah.” She smiled and kissed his neck. Energy anew, she growled into his ear and nipped at his earlobe. “Your turn.”

  Zan leaned back and smiled a wicked smile at him. Jacob raised a single eyebrow and a smile tugged the right corner of his lips. He opened his mouth to say something, but Zan put her finger on his lips and shook her head. Jacob’s smile grew and he bit at her finger.

  Laughing softly, Zan put her hands on the sides of his face and kissed him with light touches of her mouth to his. Then she ran her hands down his shoulders to rest on his shirtfront. She unbuttoned it with unhurried fingers, enjoying the feel of his warm skin. She kissed his shoulder and chest when she slid the shirt off, letting her mouth discover the amazing contours.

  Jacob sucked in a breath when she ran her tongue over one flat brown nipple and then the other. With little coaxing, they stood erect like the bulge in his pants that pushed against her. Straightening up, she shimmied down his legs to loosen the clasp of his belt.

  Jacob laid his head back on the sofa. Zan reveled in the fact that she wielded the power. He wasn’t groping her or hurrying her, and she liked that. She set the pace.

  Tugging open the belt, then the jeans, she freed him. She held him in her hand and for a moment froze. This was the point of no turning back. Although she could argue that happened earlier when she removed her shirt. But crossing this threshold changed the dynamics of her and Jacob’s relationship—forever.

  Jacob looked up and ran a finger down her cheek. A soft, almost understanding look crossed his face. He leaned into her and kissed her, but not with the heat and impatience she expected. His gentle mouth and warm caress moved her more than fevered passion. Her anxiety fled and she stroked him, moving her hand up and down his thick shaft.