Chance McCall (27 page)

Jenny felt it coming. It was more than she’d imagined. The feeling was spiraling from somewhere around her heart downward, building in intensity as it coiled low in the pit of her stomach.

The iron hard thrust of Chance’s body as it moved in and out, over and over, was focusing the feeling into one, huge, aching need.

And then, before she had time to prepare, it was there and she fell. She fell up and then down, lost in the black space of a little death that had come at the hands of Chance McCall. She called his name aloud, once, and then the fall ended as he caught and held her, tightly, and securely, and loved her all the way back down.

He was so quiet. It had been almost an hour since they’d fallen into each other’s arms, replete from the intensity of their lovemaking. Not a word had passed between them.

Jenny knew that a reckoning was due. She’d seen the knowledge that she’d been a virgin nearly pull him undone. And then everything had vanished but the passion between them. Then there had been room for nothing else. Now was a different story.

She ventured a quick glance upward. Her heart stopped. He was staring at the ceiling overhead with a look of total disbelief on his face.

“Chance?”

“What could you possibly have to say that will explain that away, Jenny?”

“You have to understand…”

“What kills me,” he whispered, “is wondering what other damned lies you’ve told me that I’ve yet to uncover.” He rolled her over on her back, pinning her down with his body and a stare.

Jenny pushed herself out from under him, leaped out of the bed, and pointed at him in accusation.

“Lies? There were no lies between us. You
were
the only man who’d ever shown me passion. You
were
the only man who’d ever made that kind of love to me. But, unfortunately for me, it was one-sided. You made me take, but you wouldn’t let me give. I hated you for what you made me feel alone, when all I wanted was to share what I’d saved for you!” Her dark hair tumbled around her face, hiding her tears.

Chance was dumbstruck. “Why, Jenny? Why did I do that?”

“I don’t know,” she moaned, and buried her face in her hands.

Chance pulled her back down beside him, cradling her as he whispered, “I’m sorry, baby. And I guess it doesn’t matter whether this was the first or the fortieth time we’ve made love. I just know it won’t be the last. Ever since I left the Triple T, you’ve been in my thoughts all day, and my dreams all night. In fact you should be getting worried now, lady.” He pulled gently at a curl beside her ear.

Jenny wrapped her arms around his chest and sniffed. “Why? What do I have to be worried about?”

“I’m seriously considering the idea of never getting out of bed again,” he drawled. Before she knew it, he’d lifted her up and then lowered her down, moving within her in a gentle, teasing manner.

Jenny’s mouth formed a perfect O as she slipped over him in one smooth motion. His hands held her down on him, unwilling to release her, yet unable to resist the plea in her eyes. Relenting, he let her move just once, testing, teasing, and then it was no longer a game. Just as he’d feared. Just as he’d hoped.

Chance watched her body above him until he could no longer focus, until he could no longer feel the silken heat around him. All he could do was hang on as his body erupted, spilling into the woman who’d given herself to him.

Fire danced across the wall in front of him, trapping him with flames that licked and singed. A woman’s laughter turned into screams. His breathing became labored as he ran. A finger pointed accusingly, but he couldn’t see the face behind the hand. Someone called his name, aloud! Over and over. He turned, trying to see, trying to help
…

“Chance, please!” Jenny was shaking him gently, trying to pull him out of the nightmare that obviously held him in its spell. “Wake up! You’re dreaming!”

He sat straight up in bed, coming awake instantly, drenched in sweat. The room was dark, the shadows on the walls coming from the neon lights that slipped through the loosely woven curtains. Curses fell from his lips, slowly and methodically, as he staggered from the bed and headed for the bathroom.
God in heaven, would this never end
?

Jenny was shocked. She knew that he’d been suffering, but not to this extent. The fact that he’d gone off on his own began to make sense. For the first time since he’d left the ranch, she almost understood his need to know his past.

Oblivious to her nudity, she quickly followed him into the bathroom and stood in the doorway as he leaned over the sink and slapped water onto his sweaty face.

“Can I help?” she asked.

Her voice was quiet. It settled the boiling intensity in his gut almost instantly.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s just more of the same as far as my mind goes. I can’t remember a damn thing during the day. But when night comes, and I try to sleep, I think everything stored in my memory tries to come back at once. And I don’t have a point of reference to keep it all sorted. It’s like watching thirty years of living fast forwarded into thirty seconds.” His voice deepened as he grabbed for a towel. “Scary as hell.”

“Sounds to me like you need a change of scenery.” She waved her hand at the faded wallpaper and rusty spigot in the bath.

“No, Jenny. What I need is you.” The fact that they were standing mere inches away from each other, stark naked and available, overwhelmed him. “Come here. I think we could both use a cooling off period.” He pulled her into his arms and walked them into the shower.

As usual, the flow came out one measure stronger than a trickle. Yet Jenny gasped as the shock of the cold water hit the middle of her back…and then gasped again as Chance’s hands followed the water’s path, turning her slowly, around and around, letting the water catch her cheek, run down her neck and across her breasts, and then slide between their bodies and down the front of their legs. Everywhere the water went, Chance was sure to go.

She’d witnessed his pain as he slept, and was witnessing another pain that was growing as their bodies touched. He was fully erect, pulsing gently against her leg as his hands continued to work their magic on her body. But, this time, it would not be Jenny who received. It would be Jenny who gave. Passion was heavy in his eyes as she reached down and cradled his manhood in her hands.

“Let me,” she said.

Chance’s breath caught. He tried to speak. Nothing escaped but a moan. Jenny’s hands were moving…too close…for comfort. Her lips slid across his chest, catching droplets of water just before they ran down past his waist, using her mouth and her tongue to torture his senses. Between her hands and her lips, Chance was a lost man.

Jenny’s mouth slid down his body and finally covered him. He could do nothing but concentrate on breathing, because what she was doing with her hands and her mouth threatened to stop his heart. All sensations intensified. There was nothing in his world but water buffeting his face, his hands wrapped in the shower curtain as he struggled to stand, and her touch. Then it came—the feeling, the need.

“Jenny!” The word was one, long, cry. It came in the form of a wave that rushed through his body. He moaned, shuddered, and dropped to his knees.

Jenny wrapped her arms around him and clung. The shower continued to sluice. Chance tilted her face away from the water, circling his thumbs across her temples in wonder at the intensity of her giving spirit.

“I love you, Jenny. More than you can ever know. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but I don’t care, as long as you’re beside me.”

“Oh, Chance, for the last twelve years of your life I’ve been beside you…every waking hour of your life. And I’ve been trying to tell you for years that I’d be willing to do it for the rest of mine.”

“My God!” He pulled her up and out of the shower. “And to think I almost lost this.”

“You up for more of the same?” Jenny teased as Chance turned off the water.

He turned and stared, mouth slightly agape as he grabbed a towel and began drying her off. “Lord have mercy,” he said. “I’ve created a monster.”

“Yes, you have,” Jenny said, “an insatiable monster. And this time it’s your turn to do all the work. I think I’ll just lie back and relax, and enjoy the show.”

Chance grinned. “You can try to relax, baby,” he promised, “but I don’t know how relaxed you’re gonna be when I’m through with you. If I don’t wind you up tighter than a spring, I’ll just have to start over and do it again until I get it right.”

“Wipe that smug grin off your face. One thing you don’t have to worry about is getting it right, and you know it.” Jenny glared. “All I can think of are those Saturday night women you practiced on.”

“I have to plead innocent to those women you keep mentioning,” Chance whispered, as he laid her down on the bed. “You remember. I don’t! All
I
remember is waking up in a hospital and seeing your blue eyes staring down at me with enough love to stop a war. It scared the hell out of me then, and it scares me now, but I’d be a whole lot more frightened if I thought I’d never see them again.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Jenny said, threading her fingers through his hair.

“You’re telling me,” he said as he covered her body with his own.

Chance woke first. He could tell by the sun’s rays halfway up the wall, that they’d overslept. He was hot. Possibly because Jenny was stretched out, full length, head to toe, on top of him. Her legs were wrapped on either side of his, her breasts pushing against his chest, her arms dug in beneath his rib cage, holding on for dear life. She’d fallen asleep in his arms. Chance smiled. A man could get used to this.

The phone rang. Startled, Jenny raised up, stared into his laughing face, and then moaned and dropped back onto his chest as he cradled her with one arm and grabbed the phone with the other.

She listened to the rumble of his voice beneath her ear as he talked. His hand absently stroked the ridge of her backbone and Jenny shivered, remembering the depth of loving that had passed between them last night. In fact, she wondered if she’d be able to walk. She was sore in places she hadn’t even known existed.

Her mind wandered as he talked, and then began to focus as she realized he was talking to the woman he’d called Victoria. Her entire body tensed. Maybe that lady was his sister, but until Jenny had some kind of proof, she wasn’t willing to give her an inch.

“Okay,” Chance said, as Victoria ended her apology. “No big deal. We can do the sight-seeing tour tomorrow. Jenny and I need to do a little of our own first, anyway. Call me whenever you’re ready to come over. We’ll be waiting.”

“What?” Jenny asked, as Chance hung up the phone.

Chance grinned. He heard the tension in her voice. She’d never been a good poker player.

“Victoria can’t come today after all. Her husband’s leaving on a business trip and she needs to get him to the airport and then find a sitter for her children before we do any sight-seeing. She was going to show me some of the places I used to know, hoping that one of them would trigger a memory. I told her that tomorrow was soon enough. I’ve waited this long. One more day can’t matter.”

“She’s married? She has children?” The relief was obvious in her voice.

“Yes, Miss Nosey. At least that’s what she claims. I have no reason to doubt her.”

“Well! Good! Then, that settles that!”

Chance laughed.

Jenny tried not to blush, but her conscience got in the way, and it came sweeping over her in spite of her resolve.

“I’m hungry,” Jenny said, trying to change the subject.

“Me too,” Chance said, as his laughter dissolved into one last smile. “But I suspect you need to take a long, hot soak before we do anything. You never could do anything by half measures, woman. Last night just proves my point.” He rolled her off of him and then got out of bed.

“Where are you going?” Jenny asked, watching his big, nude body with interest.

“To run you a bath, darlin’,” he said softly. “I’ll wager you feel like you’ve just ridden horseback for three days running.”

Jenny blushed.

“Am I right?”

“Do you always have to be right?” she asked, trying to whitewash her condition with an accusation.

“Only about you, Jenny Tyler. Only about you.”

She sighed. “Then run the damn bath. I may never walk again.”

Chance smiled gently and then grimaced. “I’m sorry, honey. I should have been more careful. But I can promise you…you’ll not only walk…you’ll ride again. And sooner than you think.”

He laughed as she blushed once more, then disappeared into the bathroom.

The meal was behind them. It had been rich and satisfying. Pancakes, sausages, twelve kinds of syrup, and enough coffee to wash it all down.

Chance smiled at the satisfaction on Jenny’s face as they drove down the street.

She looked around at the neat, tree-lined streets and immaculate landscaping, as they passed houses and businesses. The persistent presence of lawn sprinklers told her that Odessa residents refused to give in to the fact that it often didn’t rain more than fourteen inches a year. Their lawns were immaculate…and green.

It suddenly occurred to Jenny that Chance wasn’t just driving. He obviously had a destination.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

The light in his eyes dimmed and his mouth thinned as he answered, “I want you to meet someone. It’s taken a bit of detective work, and I still don’t remember it, but it seems I owe a lot to this old fellow we’re going to see.”

Jenny nodded, scooted a bit closer to Chance, and rested her hand on his thigh. Whatever it took, she was going to help him put his life back together.

The retirement home was the same, still a sad place. But the yard had been mowed, and the shrubbery trimmed. He parked, took a deep breath, and helped Jenny out of his pickup truck.

“This isn’t a happy place to be, Jenny. But honestly, I don’t think Charlie Rollins knows it.”

“Is he…?”

“He has Alzheimer’s disease. I know it will progress to the point that he’s virtually helpless, but right now, he’s just a little bit lost in the past.”