Chance Encounter

“You could show me.”

He stared at her, then laughed. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m too busy to baby-sit, remember?”

“Fine. I’ll do it on my own.” And she walked toward the lodge.

Chance watched her go, his mood darkening by the second.

Well, wasn’t this just a picnic? Her curvy little body was practically quivering with imagined thrill. It was adrenaline and he, better than anyone, knew that.

So why was it both maddening and arousing to watch her?

Granted, he’d always been attracted to a woman willing to walk on the wild side, but he didn’t want this woman to go wild on him. He wanted her gone before something happened to her, and something would happen. With her eager clumsiness and lack of experience, it was only a matter of time, and damn her, she’d do it on his watch, leaving him to deal with the aftermath of guilt and blame.

He had no intention of ever going through something like that again. Not even for Lucy, to whom he owed everything.

“Tell me things,” she said, when she realized he’d followed her. She stood on the bottom step of the lodge and clasped her hands, looking so damn happy it almost hurt to look at her. “Tell me about this place.”

“I have to meet a crew up on the mountain to work on the fire-damaged acreage.”

“Please?”

He sighed, and had no idea why he obliged her. Pointing to the ski runs, devoid of all but a few patches of snow, he said, “We had an early spring this year. Skiing is over. To add to the fire reconstruction, we start work next week building two new quad chairs.”

“I would have loved to try skiing,” she said wistfully.

Chance could only be grateful for small favors. “If we hadn’t caught one straight month of temps in the high fifties and sixties, we’d still be skiing. Or snow-boarding.”

“Do you even know how to snowboard?”

Both of them turned toward the voice. Though the boy who spoke wore the expression of someone grown and going on thirty; he was actually somewhere around fourteen. He slouched against the wall, scowling. The kid was Lucy’s latest charity case, and a boy determined to drive Chance mad with his bad attitude.

Honestly, Chance had no idea why everyone couldn’t just leave him the hell alone, but it never happened. For some reason, Brian always sought him out, and now Lucy had shoved Ally at him as well. “This is Brian Hall,” he said to Ally. “He…works here. Ally is related to Lucy,” Chance told the kid meaningfully. “She’s taking her place for now. That makes her your boss.”

“And yours,” Brian pointed out.

Chance gritted his teeth. “Yeah.”

“What is it you do?” Ally asked Brian, her smile warm and genuine in a way Chance hadn’t yet seen from her. It so transformed her from simply average to beautiful, he found himself staring at her stupidly.

Brian just lifted a shoulder. “Stuff.”

“Ah. I see.” Ally looked amused, and again, Chance was struck by the change in her, by the genuine warmth and affection she showed Brian. Just looking at her, his chest went all tight, which he firmly attributed to hunger pangs.

“What kind of stuff exactly?” she asked Brian.

The kid kicked at the dirt in front of him. “I robbed a stupid store, got caught, got roughed up in juvie hall and then when they let me go, they said I started the fire here, so now I have to do even more stupid community service cleaning up the mountain.”

Ally’s smile faded. “You were roughed up?”

Now both Chance and Brian gaped at her. Was that all she’d heard? That he’d been roughed up? What about the stealing part? What about the fire part? Or the attitude screaming from him that said not only did he not care, but he intended to keep getting in trouble as long as it suited him?

“Were you hurt?” she asked, and got the famed Brian shrug. He didn’t know, didn’t care, didn’t remember. Pick any of the above.

“Brian?” Her voice was gentle but firm, and she dipped her head a little to be able to see his face.

“Not that bad,” he admitted. A lie. He’d been beaten to within an inch of his life.

“It must have been awful.” She spoke with such sincerity that even Brian dropped half his sullenness. “I hope you never have to repeat such a horrifying experience.”

Brian did a good imitation of someone who couldn’t hear, but Ally’s smile was persistently sweet, and she made sure Brian saw it. “So…do you like being here?”

Brian shrugged again, though with far less attitude now. He even, slightly…stopped scowling.

It was nothing short of amazing. Chance couldn’t believe it, and he stared at the kid in surprise before saying, “The judge decided that making him work here might make him understand what damage he’d caused.”

“I didn’t start the stupid fire,” Brian said, his entire body going rigid again. “I keep telling you that.”

“And I keep telling you, save it for the judge.”

“Well,” Ally broke in with a bright sweetness. “I look forward to working with you.”

Chance watched with some amusement as Brian started to shrug again and stopped. In fact, he didn’t snarl or swear, as was his habit. So far, only Lucy had managed to garner that much respect from him.

Then Brian gave Chance the sneer he’d spared Ally. “Can you really snowboard?”

“Yeah.” He refrained from adding that he’d been a pro. “How about you?”

“Are you kidding?” Brian slid his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “I could go on the circuit if I wanted.”

“Uh-huh.” Chance shook his head, unimpressed. “Hard to do that from jail.”

“I won’t be in jail.”

Chance hoped to hell not, but he had his doubts. Brian had grown up neglected and abused. By the time he’d turned seven, he’d been on the wrong side of the law. He’d already been arrested twice. He was sorely lacking in a positive role model, or any sense of direction for his life. Chance could only hope the mountain pounded some into him.

“Well, I know I could use help,” Ally said. “I know next to nothing about the great outdoors. Are you going to be available?”

Brian seemed fascinated by this. “You’re going to be the boss and you don’t know what you’re doing?”

She smiled, and again, it was a stunner. Her eyes glowed, her face lit up, and Chance found himself purposely looking away because he didn’t want any spark of attraction clouding his brain and getting in the way of his simmering resentment. No, he was going to hold on to that for all he was worth.

“That’s why I’ll need a really great staff,” she said.

Brian shot an indecipherable glance at Chance, then stared at the ground. “I’m not staff. Not really.”