He left town the next morning. To say that Sherona was miserable was a blatant understatement. They’d spent the night together, touching and making love almost constantly, as if they wanted to store up a deposit of caresses and murmured words and ecstasy to last them a lifetime.
Which is perhaps precisely what they were doing, Sherona thought presently as she opened up the diner.
She let the door close behind her. For a few seconds, she just stood in the dim diner and stared. She could maneuver around the thirty-by-fifty-foot space blindfolded. This place was where she’d seen her parents working side by side with congenial familiarity, where she’d first learned the value of hard work and prepared meals for thousands of people.
These walls held her entire world, and she’d always been comforted by that knowledge.
She wasn’t sure whether to thank Chance or curse him for making her feel suddenly imprisoned by the confines of Vulture’s Canyon.
Later that night, after she’d exhausted herself at the diner and returned home, she checked her e-mail. Her attention was immediately caught by Chance’s address. They’d exchanged e-mail addresses, but she hadn’t expected him to be in contact so soon.
She opened the message and read:
I’m not going to make it easy for you to forget. Look for one of these every day. I miss you like hell already.
She opened the attachment with a trembling hand. She stared at the image of herself lying on her side, naked and bound. Her eyes looked enormous. How had he managed to catch the nuances of expression on her face, those unlikely combinations of wariness and curiosity, anxiety and blatant arousal?
She shut her eyes and felt the burn. Damn him. He knew she’d longed to participate in the fantasy, to leave with him . . . to see the world. Did he think that tempting her in this fashion would alter the limits of her world?
The captured image of her eyes in that photograph haunted her that night, making sleep elusive.
Fortunately, Derek returned home the next afternoon, giving her something to focus on other than herself and her morbid thoughts. Her brother was in good spirits after his fishing trip and gladly agreed to help her unload a new shipment of supplies that had been delivered.
“You know how Mike’s dad is an accountant over in Carbondale?” he asked her as he helped her carry some packages of paper into her office for the printer. Sherona nodded. “Well, he’s offered to let me intern with him next summer. It won’t be paid or anything, but he says I can stay rent-free at their house, and I think it’d be great experience, don’t you?” he asked, dropping the armload of paper onto the copier table with a loud thump.
“Yeah, I do,” Sherona agreed, her eyes going wide. “Wow, I didn’t expect you to be working at an accounting internship until your senior year.”
“I know, that’s why this is so great,” Derek enthused. “What?” he asked when he noticed her staring at him, a small smile on her face.
“Oh, nothing. You’re just growing up so fast.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m in college, Sherona, not the third grade.”
“I know. Oh, never mind,” she said, waving her hand as if she were making her emotional moment vanish. “Let’s go finish before the dinner crowd gets here.”
“Okay,” Derek agreed, pausing next to her bulletin board. “Hey, they drew the numbers today for the lotto jackpot. Mike and I heard about it in the car on the way home from Prairie Lake.”
“Did they?” she asked distractedly, her mind already on what she needed to prep for dinner. “I’ll have to check them.”
“You don’t have to. I memorized them.”
She glanced back, something about the flat quality of Derek’s voice grabbing her attention. She wasn’t surprised that he’d memorized the numbers. Derek had an exceptional talent for numbers and math, thus choosing accounting as a major. Was it her imagination, or did Derek’s face go pale as he stared at her ticket?
“Ha. Don’t tell me,” she joked uneasily. “I picked all the winning numbers.”
“No, you didn’t,” he said.
“Of course. Story of my life,” she said, grinning and turning toward the storeroom.
“You picked five of them, though.”
Sherona came to a dead halt on the threshold at the sound of Derek’s quiet voice.
“I did not.”
The color had definitely washed out of his face, she realized. He turned to look at her, his dark eyes wide with shock. His nod of affirmation went through her like a lightning bolt.
“You paid for a multiplier for the five numbers. I think they said the five-number winners got two hundred and fifty thousand each. With the four-times multiplier, you just won a million dollars, Sherona.”
Two weeks later, Chance sped down the familiar country road, his mind ablaze with anxious anticipation. Sherona had called him four days ago, but he’d been on a shoot in the dune fields of the Empty Quarter in the United Arab Emirates, where cell phone coverage was nonexistent. He’d only received her message when he’d checked into his hotel in Najran.
He’d been on a plane within six hours of hearing her message.
She’d said she’d received some important news and hoped she could speak with him as soon as possible. He’d been sending her e-mails and a single photo a day, as promised, but she’d never once acknowledged his messages. Her phone call had sent a shock through him. He’d tried to call her, but the reception was spotty. He hadn’t been able to get through to her until he was at Heathrow, waiting for his flight to the states.
“Is everything all right?” he’d demanded immediately when he’d finally heard her voice coming clearly through the phone connection. He’d begun to suspect that the difficulty in contacting her wasn’t on his end, but with the remote location and surrounding hills of Vulture’s Canyon.
“I’m fine.”
He’d breathed out a sigh of relief.
“I’m sorry, I hope I didn’t alarm you,” she’d said worriedly. “I just . . . I have some good news.”
“Can you tell it to me in person?”
“What? I mean . . . I’d love to,” she’d said earnestly.
“Good. Because I’m about to get on a plane to St. Louis.”
He’d called her once he’d landed and was in a rental car, driving to Vulture’s Canyon.
“Can you meet me at the forest preserve?” she’d asked when he’d called her.
“The forest preserve?” His body had perked into alertness.
“Yes. I’ll meet you in the parking lot in . . . forty-five minutes?”
“I’ll be there,” Chance had said.
And now he was.
He pulled into the forest preserve entrance, wildly curious about the news and brimming over with excitement at the thought of seeing her again. He couldn’t help but be optimistic given the hopeful tremor in her voice when she spoke to him.
He immediately saw her standing next to her car when he reached the lot. He swung his vehicle next to hers and bounded out to her.
She leaned against the trunk of her car, watching him with huge eyes. He immediately wanted to hug her so tight she couldn’t breathe. He’d missed her like he’d left a vital organ behind when he’d left two weeks ago. All he wanted to do was touch her again, meld with her, but something about her sober expression stilled his desire to wrap her in his arms. He came to a halt a few feet away from her, suddenly wary.
A small smile tilted her lips. Her auburn hair was loose, fluttering around her cheeks. She looked so pretty, wearing a pair of jean shorts that showed off her long, shapely legs and an old T-shirt that had been washed so many times, it looked touchably soft. It hugged her full breasts, teasing his senses. She didn’t usually wear such obviously sexy clothes, did she?
“Hi,” she said.
“Hi.”
“Thank you for coming.”
“Of course I came. I would anytime you asked.”
She smiled full-out then. It hit him like a punch to the gut. He started toward her, caution be damned, his arms outstretched. She moved so quickly, slipping away from his arms, that he blinked in shock.
“Sherona?” he asked, staring over his shoulder to where she’d come to a stop after eluding him.
“That was cruel of you, to send me those photos every day.”
“I wasn’t being cruel,” he said. “I wanted to remind you of what we have between us.”
“Do you think I need reminders, Chance?”
His gaze narrowed as he studied her. He couldn’t quite interpret her expression.
“You know I would have come with you if I could, don’t you?” she asked.
He swallowed thickly. “I do know that. I was just trying to make the point that you could if you wanted to.”
“I couldn’t, though. Not then.”
His nostrils flared slightly. “What do you mean, ‘not then’?”
“I have a secret, Chance.”
He stared at her in openmouthed amazement that segued to arousal in a second. There had been a playful, slightly singsong quality to her voice. It struck him with a jolt that the expression he hadn’t been able to identify was pure excitement. She practically vibrated with it. Her little avoidance of his arms had been a goading tease, he realized when he saw the gleam in her dark eyes and the small, electrical smile on her pink lips.
“Tell it to me, then,” he demanded, turning toward her and taking several steps in her direction. She backed away from him, her grin widening.
She was a witch, he swore.
“You’re going to have to make me tell you. But you’ll have to catch me first,” she said quietly.
Then she was running toward the woods, long legs pumping, her gorgeous ass daring him with every lunge.
“Son of a—”
He tore after her.
At first, Sherona suppressed giggles with effort as she ran into the shadowed forest. She hadn’t planned to say or do anything so outrageous when she went to meet Chance today. But after sitting there for a few minutes and recalling all their erotic interludes in the forest, including the first time they’d seen each other, her excitement at seeing him had mounted to unbearable levels. Seeing his much-longed-for face and long, lean body had sent her passion to unprecedented heights.
Her mirth faded after only a moment of being on the path, however.
She could hear him behind her, his rapid footfalls informing her he was closing in fast. Her heart felt as if it would burst straight out of her chest. Her breathing came ragged and harsh. She ran faster, trying to elude him and yet wildly excited to be caught at once.
“I’m playing with you, gorgeous, just like you’re playing with me. I’m going to catch you.”
She whimpered and put on another burst of speed. The evenness of his voice when he spoke both alarmed and thrilled her. She understood. He didn’t even sound winded. He was toying with her, knowing perfectly well he could capture her anytime he wanted.
His footfalls pounded closer now. She imagined she could feel the male heat resonating off him, although she knew that couldn’t be true. If he were that close, he could grab her . . .
. . . take her.
A shiver tore through her. Her scissoring thighs stimulated her sex, making her hot and aroused. She tried desperately to increase her speed, but it was difficult on the uneven forest path, her feet having trouble getting traction. Chance’s tread sounded much more steady and rapid than her own. She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes wide in trepidation, and she tripped when she saw how close he was to her.
He immediately caught her, the abrupt halt of her movement rattling her brain. He spun her and jerked her back against him, his mouth covering hers.
It was a conqueror’s kiss, no doubt of it, forceful and ravenous. She whined when she registered his familiar taste. His hands moved over her body in a bold claim, cupping the sides of her breasts, squeezing her waist, molding her ass to his palms before he gave her a sharp spank.
“You’re caught now, aren’t you?” he breathed out as he ravished her throat with his hot mouth.
She twisted against him, wiggling, her softness against his hardness. He captured her wrists and pinned them behind her, leaning over her until she arched her back, pressing her breasts against his chest. It thrilled her that he held her for his consumption so easily. She cried out in excitement when he bent his tawny head and nipped at her breast. Then he enclosed a tip in his mouth, laving at her nipple with a stiffened tongue through the cloth of her bra and shirt. Sherona’s mewl of pleasure was like a wild animal’s cry in the forest.
He lifted his head but continued to kiss and take tender bites of her breasts as he pushed her to the side of the path. The world suddenly spun, and Sherona found herself facing the trunk of a wide oak tree. Chance’s hands were at her waist, unfastening her shorts with deft haste. He pressed his groin against her ass, making his arousal flagrantly known to her.
“What am I going to do?” he asked, his gruff voice sending a thrill through her.
She bit her lower lip. “Fuck me?” she asked shakily.
“You’d better believe it,” he said, shoving her shorts down to her knees. Her underwear followed. “Put your hands on the trunk,” he ordered. He sounded angry, but Sherona knew he was really just tense with arousal. She did as he said while he held her with one arm looped around her waist, making sure she didn’t elude him this time. She felt his breath coming in pants against the skin of her back and his hand moving around her bare ass as he unbuttoned his jeans.
A moment later, he shoved his hand between her thighs, but his touch on her pussy was gentle enough. Sherona shrieked as he rubbed her clit, quick and ruthless.
“You’re soaking wet,” he mumbled. “My little captive likes to be chased.”
Sherona leaned against the tree, her mouth going wide when she felt the thick, swollen head of his penis press against her slit.
“You’re never going to run from me again, are you?” he rasped, his fingers delving into the flesh of her ass.
“I can’t promise that,” she managed between clenched teeth. She pushed back against him, longing to feel his big cock lodged deep inside her. He spanked her briskly and she stopped.
“If I don’t run, you couldn’t catch me,” she rasped.
“Good answer, because I’ll always catch you, Sherona. Always,” he muttered thickly before he thrust. She screamed. One second she’d been empty, and the next she was filled with Chance’s cock. Overfilled. He began to thrust immediately, not giving her time to recover from his abrupt penetration. Nerves that registered the sting of his forceful, total possession began to burn with pleasure. His pelvis slapped against her ass repeatedly as he pounded into her, the arousing sound mixing with the wild heartbeat in her ears and his grunts of pleasure.
They became two animals in that moment, a male claiming his mate, two creatures straining and pumping and pushing, feeding an atavistic flame until they’d explode with it. He slammed into her, his hands holding her captive to his pistoning cock, until Sherona gave a plaintive, desperate scream.
She knew she’d be sore tomorrow, but right now her pussy burned unbearably, craving more. She pumped against him with the little leeway his tight hold gave her, wild with excitement. He responded by slapping her ass with each driving downstroke, riding and prodding her to the finish line. She gave a disbelieving cry when she crossed it and orgasm shattered her awareness.
After a moment of blissful ecstasy, she came back to herself, climax still shuddering through her.
“Ahhhh!” she shrieked when she felt Chance’s cock lurch viciously inside her. His fingers sunk into her hips and ass in a desperate hold. He roared as he came, emptying himself into her farthest reaches.
She’d never heard him breathing so hard following their lovemaking. His pants sounded like they tore at his throat as he struggled to collect himself in the aftermath of their lightning strike of need. His cock still throbbed inside of her, his climax ebbing. She felt him shift his hand, caressing her ass and then spanking her softly as his cock twitched and she felt another thrill go through him.
“What’s the secret?” he demanded through ragged pants.
Sherona grinned, hiding her face. She was breathing heavily as well, her body still recovering.
“Let me look at you,” she said.
He caressed her ass with both hands. His cock jerked slightly inside her. Sherona opened her mouth, wishing she hadn’t spoken when she felt him withdraw. She straightened, feeling a little disoriented. He steadied her and turned her into his embrace.
When she looked into his face, she saw that he wore a small, sheepish smile. She immediately went up onto her toes and kissed his grin, her heart swelling at the sight.
“Did I tell you how glad I am to see you?” she whispered next to his lips.
“I figured your telling me to chase you was the equivalent,” he said wryly. He leaned down and kissed her again. When his kiss grew hungrier and she felt him stir next to her lower belly, she broke apart with reluctance.
“I told you I’d tell you the secret when you caught me,” she breathed.
He blinked as if he were trying to bring his eyes back into focus. “Oh. Yeah. What is it?”
She smiled widely and touched his scruffy jaw. He looked gorgeous, every inch bad-boy Aussie, as usual.
“I’ve won a million dollars.”
“What?”
She nodded, laughter bursting out of her throat. Saying it to him was like hearing the news for the first time herself. She rapidly explained the circumstances—her traditional one-time-a-year shot at her dreams, and how inexplicably, miraculously, fate had dealt her a winning hand.
Chance appeared speechless.
“It’s true,” she said, tears leaking out of her eyes. “I want to travel with you, Chance. I want to see the world. That is . . . if the offer still stands,” she said hesitantly, not quite able to interpret his frozen expression.
“Are you teasing me, Sherona?” he asked tensely. “Because if you’re joking about something like this, I might have to turn you over my knee.”
Her eyebrows went up. “Sounds interesting. Unfortunately, I’m one hundred percent serious.”
A disbelieving bark of laughter erupted from his throat. His expression grew rapt as he studied her face, as though searching for signs of a trick. She just looked back at him steadily, her pure joy at looking upon his face shining unguarded from her eyes.
“You’re going to come with me? You’ll be with me, Sherona?”
“Yes. I’ve already got my passport. And I’ve made arrangements for the diner, for the short-term, anyway. I’ll have to come back sometime soon, though, Chance. I can’t break all ties with Vulture’s Canyon.”
“I know that. I wouldn’t want you to never come home. We still have to finish the cookbook, too, remember?”
She shook her head, tears overfilling her eyes. “You really were serious about that, weren’t you?” she asked, amazed.
“Course I was. It’s a great idea, don’t you think?”
She nodded, and a tear spilled down her cheek. He dried it with his fingertips.
“You’re going to love it, seeing the world,” he breathed out, his mouth just inches from hers. “I’m going to love seeing it with you, Sherona.”
She nodded, staring at his soul shining from his hazel eyes.
“You made my little world a bigger, more beautiful place, Chance.”
“I feel the same way about you.”
She smiled, warmed by his admission, even though it struck her as a little silly. “Your world? Small? You’ve been to every corner of the globe,” she teased, nipping at his lower lip.
He shook his head, suddenly sober.
“It’s seemed like the tiniest, most hateful trap ever created for the past two weeks, seeing the world without you,” he said.
Her lips parted in surprise. He seemed to take her amazement as an invitation and swooped down to give her another blistering, heartfelt kiss.