Chapter 2

Janna woke to the sound of ringing, and it took a few moments for her to realize that the sound wasn't coming from inside her head but from her cell phone. She found it in her handbag which was under the heap of her clothing on the floor near the bed. "Hello?" she asked, her voice like a rusty hinge.

"Janna!" She could barely make out the voice of her friend Dani through her tears. Her sobs were so loud Janna had to hold the phone away from her ear for a moment. "Oh, Puchie, I screwed up."

"You and me both, sister," she replied after a beat. Janna proceeded to hear about her friend's night after she'd left with the hunky ranger. Apparently, they'd made passionate love, but in the morning he was gone before Dani woke up.

"What a bastard!" Janna couldn't tolerate guys of the hit-it-and-quit-it mentality. Then she remembered her own intentions last night and this morning's consequences. "You know, I wouldn't have expected it of him. I saw the way he was watching you at the party. It was like he couldn't see anyone else but you. I wouldn't have pegged him for the random hookup type."
"He's not," she heard her friend say in a slightly amazed tone of voice. Danielle told her how her ranger, Caleb, was afraid to love because he might get hurt, or hurt someone else. She could tell that Dani thought she could help him over his fear. So Janna asked the most important question. "Do you love him?"

Her friend didn't hesitate in her answer. "Yes."

Janna was a romantic deep down, and she believed that love could conquer all, even if that motto didn't exactly fit into her own life experience. She told her friend to go after her ranger, to fight for him. And it seemed like her words were finally getting through.

"Right," Dani said at last. "I'm gonna take a shower, get dressed, and head back into those damn woods."

"The ranger's not in the woods," Janna said, remembering Brice mentioning that Caleb was borrowing his beach house last night.

"Oh," her friend said, surprised. "Well, then I'll call Masterson and get the address, and then drive out there."
"Hang on," Janna said. She covered the phone, turning her head to see that Brice was awake, leaning back against the headboard and smiling at her. "What's the address of your beach house?" she asked but failed to return his smile. He told her, and she got ready to relay the information to her friend. "You got a pen?"

"What?" Dani said, dumbfounded. "How'd you get the address?"

"From Brice," Janna said too quickly.

"Is he there with you?"
"Yes," she admitted with a sigh. "I told you, we both made mistakes last night. Now grab a pen and something to write on."

"Thank you, Janna," her friend said, scrawling down the address. "And don't think for one minute I'll let you out of giving me all the details of last night's escapade."

"Ditto, Dr. French. Looks like we've got quite an interesting conversation to have over lunch next week. I hope yours has a happy ending." She hung up without waiting for Dani's response. Janna fell back against the bed, her legs dangling off the edge.

"Puchie?" She heard the teasing tone in Brice's voice, and it sent her stomach on its own roller coaster ride. Janna groaned and covered her face with her arm, trying to block out the reality of her situation. Sin in haste, repent in leisure, wasn't that what they said? Her sin last night couldn't have been hastier, and now she had to face the consequences.

Unfortunately, those consequences were staring at her in a most uncomfortable fashion. She could feel his hot gaze on her body even though her arm blocked her vision. "So I'm a mistake, am I?" he said, his voice betraying a hint of forced levity.

His words touched off another groan. She really didn't want to deal with this, not with the hangover that was beating down her door. Stumbling to her feet, she wandered into the center of the room. "Where's your bathroom?" she asked and forced herself to look at him while he pointed to the door opposite the wall of windows. She made her way slowly, dizziness and nausea fighting to see which one would take her down. Luckily she made it into the bathroom without succumbing, and she turned on the shower, which was big enough for a dozen people, and dove under the almost too-hot spray.

It had only been a few moments before she heard a knock at the door. Janna ignored it, praying that Brice would leave her in privacy. The gods chose not to honor her wishes, however, and she saw the dark outline of a large man outside the steamy glass doors. Too soon the door opened, and her host stepped into the shower and pulled her into his arms.

"You may not know this about me," he said as he pressed himself against her, "but I'm a fervent environmentalist, and I firmly believe in water conservation." He kissed her neck, then ran his tongue up to circle her earlobe. "It's always better to shower with a friend."
A moment ago Janna had only wanted to melt away her hangover under the punishing spray of the shower, but that was forgotten as her body sprang to life at Brice's touch. He gently tugged her hair, forcing her head backward, and assaulted her lips. His tongue wasted no time in finding the hidden depths of her mouth, and she moaned, unable to control her response.

"Let me wash you," he said, already pulling away and applying body wash to a soft loofah sponge. Janna wanted to stop him, she really did, at least the tiny part of her that could still remain rational after coming in contact with Brice Masterson did. But she didn't. Couldn't, Wouldn't. It felt too good. He ran the sponge over her body, focusing on her sensitive breasts. The roughness of the sponge against her skin felt heavenly and supremely erotic.

The sponge moved lower, over her belly, down to her most private of places. There he threw away the sponge in favor of his own hands. Soon she had to support herself on his wide shoulders as his strokes brought her to the peak of pleasure.

She rested in his arms, the water beating down on his back and shoulders, trickling down to her as he held her. Janna looked up into his eyes, their color like the sea during a storm, and she flushed and straightened. Quickly rinsing off, she jumped out of the shower and hurried to wrap herself in a towel.

Brice followed, grabbing a towel, but instead of wrapping it around his waist, he used it first to dry his hair. Janna's eyes dropped, and she caught sight of his raging erection. Her eyes flicked away as if scalded and her cheeks burned bright red. Even her ears were hot.

"You certainly are shy all of a sudden," he said, dropping to press a quick kiss on her shoulder. "What happened to the sex goddess of last night?"

"She sobered up," Janna said without meeting his eyes.

"Now that's a shame," he replied, his voice going husky and sounding slightly sad. "I liked her."

"Yeah, well, she liked you too," she grumbled as she headed back into the bedroom. She dug a comb out of her handbag and dragged it through her wet hair before twisting it up into a knot and sticking a pen through it to keep it stable. As she was picking up her clothing, she heard Brice come up behind her.

"Here," he said, handing her an old t-shirt of his and a pair of sweatpants. He then turned and made his way over to a set of double doors which opened to reveal a walk-in closet. Janna was grateful for the privacy as she slid on her undergarments and pulled on Brice's borrowed clothing. It was way too big, but it smelled like him faintly, and she couldn't help but smile.

Soon Brice was strolling back out of his closet, clad in slacks and a light blue shirt, the cuff of which he was just buttoning. He caught her smile and gave her one of his own. A weird pang of hunger hit her heart, and for a moment she was afraid it showed on her face. If it did, Brice interpreted it as a hunger of a different kind, because he asked then, "Want some breakfast?"

"No," she mumbled, gathering up her belongings and not meeting his gaze.

"Fine. But you're not leaving before you have a cup of coffee." His face had become stern.

"Agreed." Janna let herself be led out of the bedroom and back down the hallway to the stairs. She had to keep a firm grip on the waistband of his sweats on the stairs because they kept wanting to fall down. Brice seemed to catch on to her problem, and he tried somewhat unsuccessfully to hide his laughter.

Janna looked around her, amazed at the difference twelve hours had made. The house was sparkling clean, any evidence of last night's stellar shindig having vanished. Even most of the festive holiday decorations were gone without a trace. It was mind boggling -- Brice just had to name his desire then snap his fingers and presto! It's a party. Then another snap and chango! Everything's clean. Men like Brice never had to sweat the small stuff. Must be nice, she thought with a wry grin, once again tugging the too-wide pants back up to her waist.

They made it to the kitchen and the pot of promised coffee. Brice slid onto a stool at his breakfast bar after pouring them each a cup and shot her a look that was more a command than an invitation, so she took the stool one away from him. This earned her a cocked eyebrow and a strangely endearing half-smile.