Dry Spell Read online

  “Ouch!” She rolled to her back to glare at him and aimed the light at his eyes. “There’s a big rock in here, I can’t go any farther. Thanks for knocking my head against the boulder, by the way.”

  “Sorry. I didn’t know.” Talk about making him feel like an ass. “We’ll have to improvise. I apologize in advance. I’m not a pervert.” Jake crawled on top of her until they were face-to-face and the storm growled like a loaded freight train rolling overhead. He grabbed his flashlight and leaned it against the rock, pointing the beam up to light the dark interior but keeping it away from his face. The Maglite provided just the right amount of illumination to get him into trouble. Pretty didn’t define her. “Comfy?”

  “Snug.” The corner of her mouth lifted in amusement. Damn, what temptation, but definitely off-limits. A distraction, he needed a distraction.

  Time to say the alphabet backward. Z. Y. X. He stared into her eyes and couldn’t think of the next letter, even though he’d used the sobriety test dozens of times before. Damn. Maybe the other way then. A is for Apple. B is for breasts. Not the kind hanging in the clouds, but the type smashed up against his chest, heaving with each breath she took. And maybe her heavy breathing had nothing to do with attraction. He lifted onto his elbows to take some of his weight from her.

  C is for citrus, for the faint smell of oranges coming off her hair. D is for dangerous, as in the direction his thoughts were heading. E is for ears. God, she has cute ears. F is for….

  Jake blinked. Oh, no, he did not just think that. What the hell is wrong with me? He could handle five minutes in a culvert, lying on top of a pretty woman, and still keep his hands to himself. As he’d told her, he wasn’t a pervert.

  “You all right?” she asked.

  “Yeah.” No. But something about this woman. They’d barely escaped to the safety of the drainage pipe before the storm hit, and it behooved him to get his mind off his dick and back on surviving this. Especially since the dry streambed could flood and quickly. Then again, he’d take the off chance it would flood over facing the maelstrom outside.

  Regardless which represented the worst evil, as soon as the storm passed, they needed to get their asses out of there. Rain in the mountains, more importantly, the runoff, could result in a flash flood strong enough to deposit a boulder in the culvert. But for now, they’d sit tight and wait out the primary danger, face-to-face, in the missionary position. Hell. Nice breasts.

  Think about something else. Her hair. A safer subject. Electric-blue streaks striped her light brown strands. His gaze drifted back to her face, where a small scattering of freckles dotted her nose and cheeks. And down. Her lips. Hello. Full. Sensuous. Blow-job lips. Crap! Jake’s cock twitched.

  Back to where he started. Z. X. Y. His dick hardened and Jake shifted, doing his best to avoid pressing into her pelvis, especially since he couldn’t get the image of her lips sliding up and down his shaft from his mind. What letter did he end on? Forget the alphabet. Make small talk.

  “So, come here often?” Time for a conversation about anything but the obvious. Perhaps she hadn’t noticed his boner.

  She snorted. “That better be your weapon poking me in the hip.”

  “Yeah, my weapon.” Actually he’d left it on his seat when he pulled Gina over, not wanting any accidents. But why admit that? “I’m sorry this is uncomfortable, but we have to wait a couple more minutes before we can be on our way.”

  “Um, your Charger won’t be going anywhere.” She pointed over his shoulder. Jake glanced back. A tire with a carefully polished rim, one he’d buffed to a shine before his shift, bounced down in front of the culvert, lifted six inches off the ground, spun around like a top, and zoomed into the sky.

  Fuck!

  “I’ll give you a ride.”

  A winch dropped into the ditch. The cable whipped around like a live wire, rolled up the embankment, and disappeared. “I think you could safely say your vehicle is wherever my Charger has gone.”

  She cringed. “That Jeep held everything I own.”

  “Yeah, and you have no idea how long I worked to convince the powers that be I needed that Charger.” He faced her again and became all too aware of her shallow breaths and rapid heartbeat.

  Jake was willing to bet he wasn’t the only one feeling the sexual charge. Adrenaline had a way of bringing out certain reactions in people. Nothing more than a little environmental response to stress. That explained his problem, too. Otherwise he really was a pervert.

  “You don’t understand.”

  “Evans Point is a five-mile hike. You got your walking shoes and your life. Count yourself lucky. These situations rarely play out that way. Storms like this kill people.” Jake stared at her mouth, transfixed.

  “Not foreign to walking. I’ll manage.” Her tongue slid along the plump pink flesh of her bottom lip as she held his gaze. He wanted to taste her, lick her from head to toe, and shove his cock inside her as deep as it would go. But professional ethics dictated he keep his dick to himself and ignore the temptation.

  “We’ll manage.” Jake leaned closer, shifting his weight again. “You can call your insurance company from my office.”

  “From your….” she murmured while studying him. “Do you want to kiss me?” She lifted her gaze to his, the look on her face daring him to deny his desire.

  “Yeah.” Why bother? He’d never been a good one at masking his thoughts.

  “Then do, because I don’t think I can take much more of you staring at me like that. I’m going to go up in—”

  Jake captured her mouth and the world began to quake, having absolutely zero to do with the storm outside. His hands slid into her hair and he pulled her deeper into the kiss. She opened to him, letting him take the lip-lock further. She tasted like cinnamon, hotter than he could ever imagine, and even if he could stop, he’d no inclination to do so.

  Just as his hand started to travel up her shirt…. “Ah shit,” she spluttered and ripped her mouth away.

  “That bad?”

  “No. I mean that was great, better than great, just that, well I just remembered something.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re married.”

  “No. Nothing like that. My purse is in the Jeep.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Until the insurance company settles up with me, or I find my purse, I have no place to stay, and no way to pay for lodging. What am I going to do?”

  Jake ran his thumb along her lip. “You can crash on my couch while you wait for your claim to go through.” He could arrange for her to stay at the local bed and breakfast for free, but opted not to share that bit. After that kiss, he wanted her at his place.

  “Thanks. I think I’ll take you up on that.”

  “We still have a little matter of a fine to hash out.”

  “After all this, you’re still going to write me a ticket?”

  “Nah, just kidding.” He grinned at her and she smiled back. Jake leaned closer to kiss her again, but outside, the storm quieted and sunlight began to pour down on the entrance, brightening the dim light of the culvert, reminding him exploring their attraction in a drainage pipe after a storm could get them drowned and not in passion. But when he got her back to his place, all bets were off. “We should get out of here, pronto.”

  “You first,” she said.

  “Right.” Jake pushed on the rock and something rattled in a dry, husky rasp, like beans in a paper cup, a sound he knew well, having grown up in Wyoming. “Don’t move.” He froze, not daring to draw a breath.

  “What was that?”

  “Rattlesnake. Be still.” No sooner than the warning left his mouth than the snake’s head came up over the rock. Huge, at least four inches thick. He’d bet the thing stretched at least six or seven feet long. The viper’s tongue flickered back and forth as it slid down the boulder, across her shoulder and onto his lower back, pausing for what felt like hours. He tried to put the jokes he’d heard about sucking venom out of a bite on a questionable area,
from his mind, but the weight of the snake didn’t help. Don’t bite my ass.

  Her eyes popped wide, and he wondered if the same thought crossed her mind. He gave her bonus points. She didn’t move and she didn’t scream, and most importantly, she didn’t pass out. Right then, reality hit. Quinn Smith was the perfect woman.

  Chapter Two

  As the snake slithered up the embankment and disappeared, Jake let out a deep breath. He eyed her and shook his head. “Trouble always follow you?”

  “Not usually. I tend to find the bad side of luck.” And she did. With everything she’d worked for gone, all her clothing, the silver four-by-four…. She’d socked away thousands to purchase it. Then there was the possibility she could lose her freedom. If he felt inclined to arrest her when they got back to town, even though he’d teased her about a fine and said he wouldn’t ticket her.

  Midwest law enforcement could be brutal—mostly because, look where the hell they were stuck. Nothing but cows and miles and miles of empty fields. That would put anyone in a foul frame of mind. Bad enough her Jeep had probably landed in Kansas by now, and she could be labeled a criminal, but to lose the contents of the vehicle? Quinn wanted to break down and bawl like an infant. The only thing stopping her—a hunky sheriff witness.

  Maybe they would find her baby nearby and her stuff salvageable? Things couldn’t continue to be this awful. They just couldn’t.

  “I noticed. Let’s get out of here before the rain runs down from the hills and we drown.” He backed out and his utility belt snagged on something. Face-plant—into her crotch. Quinn’s face exploded with heat, but her embarrassment didn’t stop her mouth from running away on her. “Perhaps we should shake hands first?” God, where did that come from? She wanted to smack herself in the forehead, but she’d already made a big enough fool of herself in front of the way-too-hot officer. Awkward. Just shut your mouth.

  Jake lifted his chin and stared at her, the expression on his face completely serious. “Excuse me?”

  “I….”

  He snickered, and soon uncontrollable, body-rocking laughter followed. “Sheriff Jake North.” He reached up and grasped her hand, exchanging a shake. “And I assure you, I don’t normally sniff crotches to make introductions.”

  “Good to know. Quinn Smith.”

  “Got that from your driver’s license.” He exited the pipe and waited for her to scoot from the culvert. Once she was clear, Jake grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. She surveyed three hundred and sixty degrees of pastures, highway, and mountains. Not a sign of their vehicles. Both were gone and who knew where they’d landed? She wished her luck would have changed a little.

  Yeah, she kept a few things at her mothers’ house in San Francisco, but she’d transported the important stuff in her Jeep, now lost. But what had her stunned, made her ready to drop to the ground and cry, was that the tornado took everything left from her life with Kyle.

  She’d packed eight years of memories in the back of that vehicle, mementos she couldn’t let go of when she set off to start her new life—without the man she’d loved for better or worse, richer or poorer. Pictures of her husband, a warrior who’d died serving his country. His favorite T-shirt, which still smelled like him. All of her past—gone. And she’d betrayed the memories, dishonored their once-in-a-lifetime love by kissing a strange man in a culvert, while fate ripped away all she cared about. Shameless. She deserved to lose everything. Quinn fought the tears. She shouldn’t even entertain the thought of staying with the sheriff. “I can have my mother wire some money, and I’ll get a room.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “I just don’t know how long it will take to replace my rig and I don’t want to be in the way.”

  He reached up and cupped her chin, lifting her gaze to his. “We’ll find your stuff. Everything will be okay. Stay with me. I need to know you’ll be all right.”

  Against her instincts, Quinn nodded. His kindness touched her, but she couldn’t get over the feeling of betrayal. Would she ever? She swallowed the lump in her throat and walked away from him. Jesus, when would things get better?

  Wow, talk about running hot and cold. As Quinn climbed the embankment, Jake couldn’t get over the feeling he’d somehow triggered the change in her mood. One moment she smiled, the next her expression read like she faced the Apocalypse. Alone. He didn’t know her, but he didn’t like this side of her. As a natural protector, he fought the urge to reach out and hug her. What he’d just seen in her eyes amounted to more than the loss of belongings. He knew the haunted look of loss, and something told him that demon would be tough to battle. He’d be a fool to even consider picking up his shield and sword to slay her problems.

  But he had nothing better to do. So he’d armor up and see what put the hurt on Quinn’s face, and maybe, just maybe, he could change her sorrow that blanketed her countenance like a mask. His gut told him being her hero would be worth it. His instincts never failed him.

  Jake followed her around the mangled wire spaghetti, the remnants of old man Evans’s fence, and over to the highway. From hailstones dropping from the sky, back to scorching heat, the rapid shift in the weather wasn’t a surprise. Steam rose off the asphalt as they walked. He stripped to his T-shirt and tossed his top over his shoulder.

  “So, you’re headed west.”

  “Yes.”

  “You like the West Coast?”

  She shrugged.

  “You know, conversation will make the walk go faster.”

  “I don’t feel much like talking.”

  Hesitation, she’d choked on the words. Jake grabbed her arm, pulling her to a stop and brought her around to face him. “I will find your stuff. This whole mess will okay. You’re alive, breathing, and that’s what’s important.”

  “Is it?” Her eyes teared up. “I can buy a new Jeep and clothes, but there were things in my vehicle I can’t get back. You ever have a part of your soul ripped away?”

  Jake clenched his jaw. Actually, yes. But he didn’t feel inclined to share that with anyone, especially a stranger. “No.”

  She started walking again. “Then you wouldn’t understand.”

  He understood better than she knew, but for the first time since Sarah left him, his pain at her loss didn’t seem significant. Right now, he wouldn’t waste a second thought on the woman who’d broken his heart, but Quinn seemed to be setting up a corner office in his mind. When they got home, he planned to kiss the pain away and explore the connection he found impossible to ignore.

  Shit. When they got home? And with that last thought, he came to a stop in the middle of the highway. What the hell? Mentally, he’d already moved her into his apartment.

  “I don’t want to live my life in this forgotten country.” Sarah shoved her clothes in a backpack, all the while her spine remained rigid, her movements almost robotic.

  “Baby, you don’t mean that. I have a good job. The people around here are nice.”

  “And stupid enough to stick around after that storm flattened their town. I want more, Jake. I want to be able to shop until I drop, swim in the ocean, go to dinner parties, and live somewhere that, when I put my foot down, I’m not stepping in cow shit.”

  “You can do all that here, and we can live in town, no cow patties. Everything you claim to want is here, except for the ocean, and we have lakes. The fish are smaller—won’t eat you.” Sarah didn’t seem to hear a word he said. She stuffed her engagement ring in his hand.

  “Find a good woman who wants this life, Jake North.”

  “I thought I already had.”

  “I’m not that woman. I love someone else.”

  His heart dropped into his stomach. “You’re just saying that so I let you go.”

  “No, I’m not. I’m leaving. He’s taking me to Hollywood.”

  “Hollywood?”

  “Yeah, California.”

  She yanked her pack off the bed and shrugged the worn knapsack onto her shoulders. “You’re
just a country bumpkin, Jake. David owns his own company, makes custom bikes. He can give me what I want. I’m sorry, but you are not what I want—not anymore, so get out of my way.” With that, he stepped to the side and she walked out of his life, not stopping to look back. He moved to the window to watch her climb on the back of a motorcycle and ride off into the sunset with another man. Five years of his life, gone, and his heart along with her.

  He’d loved her, given her everything, his home, his heart and she’d trampled his love in her stampede to get out of town when the first rich man who came through and took a fancy to her, offered to take her away. Now fate tossed another woman at him, one who’d saved him from making a big mistake with Gina. Not just any woman. For some unknown reason, she helped him to forget, and that begged him to dig deeper.

  That, and a desire to learn how many piercings she hid under her clothes. Jake shook his head and started after her. He’d finally found a woman that he could see himself with, and he wanted a chance to convince her to stay in Wyoming. Fate brought them together for a reason.

  ***

  Quinn put one foot in front of the other and focused on her path. Forward. Kyle always told her as long as she moved forward, she’d be okay. And his advice had never failed her before. When she stopped and dwelled on the past, things began to fall apart and seem hopeless. She sucked in a deep breath and began to sing, not cadence, but a song. Several years had passed since she’d used her pipes in this manner, and at first, she felt rusty and off-key.

  So she stopped, closed her eyes, and focused, going through the scale until each note obtained the perfect pitch and tone. Then she began to sing, moving forward again. She’d forgotten about her companion until he touched her on the shoulder and made her jump.

  “You’re pretty good.”

  “I used to sing for a band in high school. One of my mothers sang opera for years, professionally. Now she lives in San Francisco and gives voice lessons.”

  “Mothers?”