Chapter Twenty-Eight

Where there’s a will, there’s a way, Suede chanted over and over as she tried to keep up with Chance. But stepping into the deep prints left by his man-sized boots was a chore all by itself. The snow came up to her knees and each step took deliberate care and time. It didn’t help that he’d fitted her hiking boots with a pair of traction cleats before they’d started out. They might work for rock climbing, but walking in deep snow turned those rugged straps on her soles into grabbers and all the snow they’d accumulated turned into dead weight. Her calves were screaming.

Dressed in identical gray snow pants and jackets as Chance, she hadn’t thought she’d need the winter goggles now strapped over her eyes. But one step outside and the bright winter white convinced her. Apparently being able to see without tearing up was a good idea. But the burn in her legs…

With every step, Suede wished she’d stayed behind with Gallo. She’d still be warm, and her hamstrings wouldn’t be stretched to the limit and burning like someone had set her ass on fire. The ragged wound of her thigh complained, but her calves? A hundred lunges couldn’t have hurt this bad.

The weak winter sun shone directly over her shoulder, casting a pale thin shadow that reminded her of a scarecrow’s next to Chance’s heftier, wider one. He had no trouble outpacing her, but every couple paces, he’d turn to make sure she kept up.

She bit back every complaint that lifted to the tip of her tongue, determined to match him for endurance and camaraderie if not skill. This was the first day of the rest of her new normal, and by the end of it, she would prove she was a woman of worth. She would!

Thinking of the way he’d made love to her kept her warm even though an icy winter breeze sifted over the powdery flakes, cutting into her jacket and biting at her nose. He’d offered a balaclava to protect her face, but he had none on hand that didn’t need serious alteration to fit her properly. Man, the Sinclair boys’ heads were big. She’d settled for a knitted beanie that still hung into her eyes when it unrolled, but it would do. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, right? Man, I hope so.

Suede kept her focus on the back of her man, loving the view of his wide shoulders and taut ass, looking forward to more lovemaking. Never had she known sex could be so—fulfilling. So tender. So. Damned. Hot.

Just knowing it was him entering her body, that the hulking male over her had saved her, breathed life into her, and doctored her… Wow. The mere thought turned her into a quivering puddle of female hormones that went up in flames at the first touch of that glorious, rigid cock. And that orgasm he’d given her? Phenomenal. And a first.

She’d always faked it with York, and Mitch had been an entirely different story. No woman in her right mind found fulfillment during rape. But Chance? Her core clenched recalling the way her body had simply detonated under his expert tutelage. Intimacy had never thrilled her the way it did now.

She licked her lips thinking about that all-male instrument of pure pleasure he’d used on her. He was impressive, larger and thicker than any man she’d seen before. The way he’d entered her cautiously at first, as if he didn’t want to hurt her, resonated to her core, even now. He’d been exquisitely gentle. They had to do it again soon. Tonight.

Oomph!

Apparently Chance had stopped, but she’d been daydreaming and tripped. Down she went, spreading her hands wide to catch herself.

He flew to her side in a heartbeat, tugging her to her feet as she puffed snow out of her nose and wiped it off her face. His hand swiped over her forehead even as she shook her head to dislodge the clumps in her hair. “I must look like Frosty the Snowman,” she told him, stifling a giggle. Then she added, “Ho, ho, ho,” just because she had to be the biggest klutz in Montana.

His breath hung over her head like a cloud of fog. “You okay?”

Suede nodded, smiling at her mistake. “Yes, but let’s spend a day playing in this white stuff soon. I had no idea winter could be so much fun.”

That merited the sweetest ‘are-you-daft?’ look. “I take it you didn’t get much snow in Oregon?”

She shrugged her shoulders as icy drips worked their way under her collar and down her back. Brrr. “Uh-uh. I went to Alaska with my mom once, but there wasn’t time to just go for a walk and make snow angels. We were on a schedule. Time is money, don’t you know?” Besides, Mitch was there. Mom and he had things to do. Thank heaven none of them included me.

Before she could brace herself, Chance lifted both gloved hands and bumped Suede’s shoulders. Down she went. Backward. Into a drift that cradled her like a baby.

“Hey!” she squealed as she fell, tickled he’d do such a crazy thing when they probably didn’t have time to play.

He stood over her with the sun at his back and his hands on his hips. “Make your snow angel, baby. I’ll stand guard, so spread your wings and fly.”

Awwww. Tears welled up and Suede honestly needed a hug and a kiss. Chance did have romantic bones in his body, well, at least in his pants. Squeezing her eyes tight, she spread her mittened hands to the side and made the best snow angel she knew how, or as Chance put it, a snow angel baby.

He stood there looking to the right and then the left, a frosty blue sky for a backdrop, and her heart took wings again. “What are you watching?”

His head tilted down at her, but she couldn’t see through the dark black goggles perched on his nose. “Just some tracks.”

That brought Suede to her knees and back to her feet in record time. Bumping into Chance’s side, she latched onto his forearm. “Is he here?”

Chance tapped a finger under her chin to get her to look up at him. “Wolf tracks, not human.”

Like that made her feel better? “Are you sure? I don’t see anything moving,” she advised with her extreme lack of knowledge of wild animal behavior. But if animals were out there, York could be, too.

“They travel at night,” he said, “but winter’s tough on wild animals and they’re all hungry. Who knows what we’ll find. Just stick close. I’m armed, remember?”

She nodded. She was armed too, she just didn’t plan to shoot anything with the nine millimeter holstered on her hip. That was Chance’s job. She was there for moral support only. Maybe today wasn’t the best day for fun in the snow after all.

“Thanks for pushing me down,” she teased, dusting her backside off. “I never would’ve done that if you hadn’t helped.” Suede let her smile speak the feelings of her heart. Trusting Chance became easier every day. “How much farther?”

She couldn’t tell for sure, but the way his cheek tweaked, she was pretty certain Chance had just winked at her behind those reflective goggles. He chin nodded at the granite wall on her right. “Mother’s Day Falls is straight ahead. The pool you fell in is just below that edge,” he said as he pointed upward to a craggy set of five rocks in the granite face. They almost looked like a giant’s toes sticking out of the wall like they were. All they needed to do was wiggle.

“I figure you struck that ledge on your way down. It possibly slowed your descent enough that you didn’t fall as hard as you could have. Do you want to see where you landed?”

“Okay.” Suede gulped, her lips dry from the cold, but her throat had gone drier. The mountain loomed tall overhead, and this exact spot was where York had meant her to die. Nothing humbled a person as quickly as coming face-to-face with the site of their death. She took hold of Chance’s gloved hand, needing to stay close to him for this awful side trip.

He stopped and wrapped one arm around her shoulders, pointing a finger to the flat fluffy drifts of glittering snow several yards ahead. “See that stick pointing up? That one right there?”

She nodded. It might have been a little tree, but it was dead now. Like she should’ve been.

“That’s where Gallo found you. I think I actually heard the ice crack when you touched down, but he’s the one who dragged you to the surface.”

Glancing up, she crossed her arms over her chest, shivering even as she bumped her butt into Chance’s thigh. This side of the mountain was tall and frozen. So damned high. “Why... why didn’t I die?” I should have.

“Not sure,” he replied, enfolding her against his chest with his arm around her neck and his chin on her shoulder. “I think it’s because you’re an angel from heaven. You were sent to me, Suede. You’re a miracle.”

No, I’m not. Suede couldn’t make her gaze move from that dead branch. It looked like a witch’s finger, the end of it sharp like a long, dead fingernail, pointing skyward. Condemning. All at once, her past mistakes were too much to bear. Suede twisted around and buried her face in his jacket, breathing hard and drawing in the warmth and smell of the man who’d run to her rescue and saved her life when he didn’t have to.

“Why were you out here that night?” She had to know.

He wrapped her up tight, smothering her against him. “I told you already. I couldn’t find Gallo. He’d taken off and when I went looking for him, I found you. I couldn’t just leave you here, could I?”

All Suede could think was: One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Gallo might have found her, but without Chance’s lifesaving skills, she would’ve been nothing more than a cadaver Gallo dragged home. A piece of garbage York hadn’t wanted to deal with.

“I want to go home,” tumbled off her lips.

Chance stood there in the pale winter sun and rocked her. “Do you mean California or Ore—?”

“No, here. Your cabin,” she cut him off before he said anything crazier. California was nothing but a deathtrap waiting to slice her to ribbons. She didn’t belong in Oregon either.

“Good answer,” he murmured into the top of her beanie. “Come on, snow angel. We’ve got us a mountain to climb.”