“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.