Jill Shalvis - Chance Encounter

And soon enough, she was going to step right back out of his life.

THAT NIGHT, CHANCE came to her and they spent the hours until dawn attempting to quench their desire for each other.

It couldn’t be done.

Ally realized it as the dark gave way to a streaky, gray morning sky, as Chance left her bed with a kiss and a husky promise to return that night, as she watched him go with both a yearning and a growing acceptance of her feelings.

She’d tried to escape it by saying this was just part of the adventure, that it was purely physical.

It was a lie.

But if she’d learned one thing on her wild adventure here in Wyoming, it was that her life was truly her own. She’d learned to believe in herself and her abilities. She’d learned to trust her heart.

And her heart was in love with T. J. Chance.

THE RESORT MIGHT HAVE been slow in opening for summer, but it got going with gusto. They had cabins rented. Bikers on the slopes. Hikers on the peaks. Kayakers on the river. Shops overflowing with happy shoppers.

And they were still understaffed enough to have everyone overworked. Lucy was expected back anytime, and frankly that was a mixed blessing Chance didn’t want to think about. But for the moment, the kitchen was low on food, First Aid needed supplies, and every other department was in need of something as well, yet no one could be spared to run to town.

No one but Chance, who enjoyed shopping about as much as he’d enjoy a hole in his head. Halfway to his Jeep, still grumbling, with no less than five different lists in his pocket, he came across Ally, who was just standing on the path, staring up at the huge mountain peaks, and the darkening clouds making their way over them.

Having finally climatized herself, she wore shorts and a white sleeveless blouse, with a sweater tied around her trim waist. Her legs looked long and toned and tanned, and good enough to nibble on. Her arms were nice, too, the results he’d discovered, from the time she’d spent in the resort’s gym. He’d seen her there at night, in a crop top and snug shorts, pumping at weights, her skin damp and glowing. Often he’d gone back to his cabin and laid awake for hours fantasizing about her. But even more arousing was that she’d worked so hard to fit in, that she even wanted to. It no longer surprised him. What did surprise him was how he was standing there with a stupid grin and a sudden, undeniable erection, at the sight of her.

He was out of control.

She should have been out of his system by now. They’d certainly given it their best shot, against a tree, on her desk, in her bed-every which way imaginable.

And yet, still he wanted her.

She turned then, that just-for-him smile on her lips, her eyes lighting up at the sight of him, and the deep wanting became such a strong yearning he actually hurt.

“I was just thinking about you,” she said softly. “About…last night.”

Yeah, it was all over her flushed face, reflected in her gaze, and now that she’d turned toward him, caught by the morning light just right, he could see her nipples pressing against the material of her blouse.

His mouth went dry. Then drier still when she pressed her body to his and planted her mouth just beneath his ear. “I was thinking about all the things you did to me last night,” she whispered.

Now he was, too, and he wondered if it was possible to pop open the buttons on his jeans with just a hard-on.

“I was thinking…” She took her mouth on a little tour of his jaw while his heart pounded in his ears. “That I’d like to lick you all over.” She touched his mouth with just the tip of her tongue, then bit his lower lip.

He groaned, and gripped her hips hard, tempted to drag her off to the first semiprivate place he could find and let her have her way with him.

Out of control, a little voice whispered in his head. You’re out of control, needing her this way. “There’s a storm coming,” he said gruffly, forcing himself to step back. He needed to back off, way off. “I’m going for supplies.”

“Can I come?”

God, no. “Another time.” He turned away from the far too welcome sight of her and walked to his Jeep.

She simply followed. “Why is it so hard for you to admit you might care for me, just a little?”

He opened the Jeep door and wondered why women all had to do this, had to analyze everything to death. “Dammit, I care for you.”

“Well I know that. I’m just wondering why it’s so hard for you to say so,” she said simply.

Ignoring her, he got in.

So did she. “Afraid of something, Chance?”

He sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose and said, “This is a bad idea, Ally.”

“Really?” She turned those huge, expressive eyes right on him. “You didn’t think so last night when you tossed me onto my bed, took off my clothes and-”

“I remember,” he said tightly.

“So why can we be so unbelievably intimate in the bedroom, but when it comes to outside of it, you shut me out?”

“I haven’t changed.”

She stared at him, then slowly shook her head, looking sad. “Then I guess it’s me that’s changed.” She turned back to the window.

In the tight confines of the Jeep, which he hadn’t yet started, he could smell the sweet scent of her shampoo, could see all her smooth, soft skin, could reach out and touch her whenever he wanted, which was only every living second. He was right in thinking it had to stop. Some men might mistake love for lust, but not Chance. He knew that what was happening to his insides, this gut-twisting, brain-boggling need for her was just a major case of lust. That was all. “Ally-”

“Those clouds really do look dark,” she said. “It’s going to storm. I love the rain.”

Yeah, so did he. He could see the two of them, out in the wilderness, the rain pounding over their slick, naked, straining bodies as he brought her to another mind-blowing, screaming, wild climax-

“Chance?” She looked at him then. “Don’t ask me to get out.”

“Ally-”

“Please? We don’t have to talk.” A ghost of a smile crossed her face. “Girl Scout’s honor.”

Thank God.

She let him sink into a comfort zone, let him start the Jeep and get down the curvy mountain road a good mile or so before she said, “But it would be nice.”

He nearly crashed. He’d known not to take this…this thing between them this far. Only he hadn’t listened to his brain, no he’d listened to the part of him that had its own agenda, and look where it’d gotten him. In a small truck out in the middle of nowhere with a woman who wanted to discuss the relationship he still hadn’t admitted they had.

As if the heavens above found this all very amusing, the wind kicked up to what had to be at least eighty miles an hour. The skies decided to open up, too, and the rain came down in sudden droves. The fog, which hadn’t been a problem until now, dropped low, blinding them.

It was as good an excuse as any to concentrate on not getting them killed. On one side of the road was a sheer cliff rising two hundred feet above them. There were many craggly pines that had forced their roots into the rock, jutting out at different angles, as much a part of that mountain as the rock itself. The other side of the road was a sheer drop-off.

“Jo said you train here sometimes,” Ally said. “In cliff climbing.” She pressed her face to the window and sighed. “That’s something I really want to try before I leave.”

Before I leave. He was torn between wanting her to leave now and wanting her to leave…never. “Haven’t you had enough adventures during your time here?”

“No.”