Sand Angel (2 page)

Drew knew he didn’t look much better. He brushed at the thick layer of sand on his arms, sending a light-tan cloud into the air.

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. That wasn’t his Zoë.

“Next thing we know—she’s gone.” Emotion softened Josh’s brown eyes. “Man—” he shook his head, “—she didn’t let any grass grow under her feet.” His regret disappeared as a half grin slid across his face. “Hooked up with a guy…er, company that sells bikes, quads, toys of all sorts.”

Josh was a party boy. Toys were his specialty, as were women. Pride and perhaps envy brightened his eyes as he spoke about Zoë.

“She’s been all over the U.S. racing and performing freestyle demonstrations. Doing pretty good too. Ought to see her rig.” Josh glanced over his shoulder in the direction his sister fled. There was no sight of her—only mountains and mountains of light-brown sand. “Well…that is if she hasn’t already left.”

Drew moved toward his quad. “Any idea where she went?” No way was he going to allow her to leave without at least talking to him.

Josh swung a leg over his quad and reached for the key. “If she got the message I left on her cell phone she should be parked right next to us.”

Drew slipped his helmet off the handlebars and over his head, before he tugged his goggles across his eyes and straddled the bike. Foot on clutch, he down-shifted several times to first gear, started the engine and then released the clutch slowly as his thumb pressed the gas.

With a jolt, the quad lurched forward. He revved the engine and sped away. But to where? He scanned the barren terrain. Every hill looked the same. Drew recalled Josh telling him that more than a few people got lost in the Dunes, a stretch of sand three to five miles wide and about sixteen miles long.

As Josh rode beside him, his friend pointed to the GPS on the quad.

Duh. He knew that. The ground positioning system was a necessity in an environment like this. He checked the settings, made a sharp turn and headed after Zoë.

When he arrived at camp, which was a collection of tents and travel trailers, he drew to an abrupt stop. His heart collided against his chest as Zoë slipped her shirt over her head, revealing the black exercise bra beneath. Once-ivory skin was now tanned, rippling over tight muscles. There wasn’t an inch of fat on her, which every man around noticed as a series of catcalls sounded. She ignored them as she draped the shirt across her bike seat. Determination in her steps, she headed toward her trailer.

Standing at the back of her toy hauler, she pushed in the first lever and raised it before crossing over to the other side to unfasten the final lever. Then she eased the ramp to the ground, flipping the final lip of the ramp down. It was clear she intended to load her bike.

Josh was right about her leaving and her rig.

The toy hauler had to be thirty-nine feet long. Add to that the fact it had two slides that enlarged her bedroom and living space when extended out, as they were now, and Zoë had a house on wheels. Her four-wheel drive, one-ton pickup was nothing to frown at either. Damn, the woman had to be doing well. Her ride was magnificent.

Hell. Zoë was magnificent.

A combination of curves and dips set his body to meltdown. His cock twitched, swelling at the thought of feeling her warm flesh wrapped around his again. Wild images of what he’d do to her surfaced, as always. He wanted to dominate her. Make her plea for him to pleasure her. Instead, three years ago her soft, hungry kisses had stolen his control.

But not this time.

Drew couldn’t help reaching down and cupping his hard length.

After he divested her of the bra and savored the taste and feel of her firm breasts, he would work on getting her out of those damn boots and pants. A shiver raked his spine as he thought of tasting the honey between her thighs, a thought that had kept him with an almost constant hard-on in Iraq.

Damn if his cock didn’t swell even more. If this kept up he wouldn’t be able to walk.

He watched her move with confidence, at ease in the new world she had carved out for herself—a world without him. How ironic. At nineteen she had wanted him, now she wanted nothing to do with him. The distance he put between them three years ago he felt would do them good—test their love. His fingers tightened on the bike’s handle grips.

It was a lie.

His feelings for her had scared him to death. She’d been so sweet and innocent. His thoughts of ravishing her anything but mild. His taste ran on the kinky side. Something about her made him feel primitive and wild. He’d wanted to tie her up and fuck her until she screamed for him to stop. But he knew he couldn’t touch her—not like that. The seven-year age difference between them had made him feel they were a world apart. So he used his career opportunity as an excuse and left.

With heavy footsteps, she made her way back to her bike, gripped the handlebars and began to push it up the ramp. The muscles in her arms strained. She released a small grunt—of exertion or frustration, he didn’t know.

Zoë was leaving.

Every fiber in his body screamed for him to stop her. It clawed in desperation beneath his skin. His fingers flexed with the need to touch her. Three years ago he had made the biggest mistake of a lifetime.

This was not going to be a repeat performance.

Chapter Two

Perspiration moistened Zoë’s heated skin as she rolled the bike up the ramp of her toy hauler. She hadn’t been prepared to see Drew again. Unwanted memories flooded back. He didn’t have to make contact for her to remember how it felt for his hands to stroke her skin, the warmth of his mouth sucking on her breast or how his cock filled and claimed her. Dammit. She hadn’t even forgotten his spicy scent, the sensual brush of his breath across her neck, the soft, sexy drone of his voice and more devastating—the taste of his kisses.

A shiver raked her spine. All she should be thinking of right now was getting out of there and fast. She tightened her grip on the bike’s handlebars to still the tremor in her hands. Three years she’d worked to erase his memory. She didn’t need this now. Muscles tensed, inflexible boots braced against the ramp, she strained to load the bike that usually boarded easily. But not today.

Nothing was going to be easy today.

The bike abruptly halted. The reverse inertia caught her off guard.

As if the damn thing had a mind of its own, the bike pulled against her forward thrust. She released a tight squeal as the soles of her boots slipped. Arms flailing, balance lost, she began to fall. In slow motion the bike leaned to the side of the trailer out of her reach. With robotic movements she stumbled backward. Just before she struck the ground, two strong hands reached out and pulled her into an embrace.

Zoë closed her eyes. Truth was, if he had loved her he wouldn’t have left. Yet she couldn’t shake the sensation of his arms wrapped around her. Familiar hands that could awaken every nerve ending and make her body sing with joy.

Stop it.
Zoë mentally shook the wayward thoughts from her head. He would never be a part of her life. Besides, she didn’t have time for relationships. Her riding career took her all over the United States and sometimes internationally.

When her eyes opened, regret shone in his, or was it pity? Did he think she was still that lovesick woman who wanted nothing more than to spend her life with him? The image of the home, picket fence and Drew’s children she had painted in her mind years ago was bullshit.

She’d been an idiot.

If nothing else, Zoë had her pride. No way would she give Drew the satisfaction of seeing her squirm, of revealing that she still thought of him from time to time. She had to get her shit together and then she’d leave.

“Going somewhere?” Drew’s deep, sexy rumble was like liquid silk against her skin. It smoothed across her flesh and covered her like a blanket on a cold night.

Crap. Crap. Crap. His voice was so provocative it caused her breasts to fill with desire. A blazing flame licked unmercifully at the tips of her traitorous nipples, bunched into hard peaks. She didn’t even want to think about what was going on between her thighs, now moist and slick with need.

Shoulders rigid, she shrugged out of his grasp. Zoë prayed for courage as she slowly turned to confront the man who had broken her heart.

“What’s it look like?” Her voice was brittle, perhaps a little too high pitched. She cleared her throat, as her hands rushed to her hips to hide the shaking that began when his dark blue eyes met hers.

“Like you’re running away from me.”

Like you did?
she wanted to say, but she left the words unspoken.

He paused for what seemed like forever. “Zoë…” She could hear an excuse festering as her name softened on his tongue. He reached to touch her cheek.

Zoë jerked her head away, stepping back as she released a huff of disbelief. “Oh pu-leeze… Running? From you? You wish.” Her response came out a little too bitter.

Where her bravado came from she had no idea. Her brain felt numb, cloudy, but apparently her mouth didn’t.

Thank God something was working.

His brow furrowed. For what seemed like forever he simply stared at her. The silence was unnerving. Her palms were clammy and any moment she expected her stomach to growl with the frustration building inside her.

“Then what are you doing?”

“Duh.” Her eyes widened as she released a weighted breath. With the brush of a hand she pointed inside the trailer. “Loading my bike and unloading the quad.”

Surprise brightened his eyes. She felt a rush of excitement that she had unsettled him.

“I came here to ride.” Even though her tone was nonchalant, she wondered where that response had come from—there was no way she could stay here. She glanced over his shoulders as if she looked across the Dunes to reinforce her statement.

She swallowed hard, feeling her shoulders droop as her aplomb slipped. With a slight shake, she quickly steeled them once again. She couldn’t lose the ground she had now.

At what point had her conscience decided she wasn’t running away or trying to get as far from Drew as she possibly could? Yeah. She was proud of her newfound courage, but she’d never make it through the night, much less the entire weekend, in Drew’s company. She had to be crazy to even try.

A puzzled expression tightened his features. He frowned. “Do you need some help?” he asked hesitantly.

She threw him one of her best are-you-kidding? looks. “Nope. Been doing this by myself for some time. Good to see you again, Drew.” She spun around and headed back up the ramp, holding her breath, hoping this was the end of their conversation. She didn’t know how much longer she could maintain the false, detached shell.

As she gripped the handlebars of her bike, she heard sand crunch beneath Drew’s boots as he walked away. Her own movements were quick. She always moved quickly, one step away from a memory that could bring her crashing down and destroy her.

Tying down the bike didn’t take long, and neither did unloading her quad. She unscrewed the gas cap, picked up the gas can sitting just inside the trailer and topped off the quad’s tank. A warm breeze slid across her bare skin. She glanced at her shirt still lying across the bike’s seat.

Screw it. She’d ride without a shirt. Her exercise bra hid more than a bathing suit top did.

“Sis?” She refused to acknowledge Josh as he came up from behind her. She gave the gas cap an extra turn. “Zoë…”

Her boot connected hard with the front tire, releasing some of her frustration, before she faced Josh. “You could have at least warned me.”

Josh had the good sense to look abashed. He nervously licked his lips and then grimaced. Sand still coated him. She should have felt remorse, but she didn’t.

“He just showed up on my doorstep as I was leaving. What was I supposed to do?”

She flinched at his bald-faced lie. “Bullshit. Ever heard of that little thing called a cell phone?”

“Ever hear of turning it on?” he threw back at her.

Damn. She wanted to stomp her foot. “Okay. You got me there.” She seldom remembered to turn the stupid thing on. It was only by chance that Josh got a hold of her and found out she was passing through town. They hadn’t seen each other for a while and agreed to meet at Glamis for a long weekend—it was Thursday, which meant it was going to be an even longer weekend than she had anticipated.

Boy, was that a wrong decision.

“But Drew?” Zoë hated the whine that slipped out. She regrouped. “Dammit, Josh.”

He reached for her, surrounding her with loving arms. He worried about her, as did their parents. They didn’t understand her passion or her desire for speed. Hell. Her boss was even worried. Everyone understood Josh’s appetite for toys and pushing the limits. Why it was so hard for them to believe a woman wanted the same thing, she had no idea. There was more to life than a husband and a family. She didn’t need either. Her chin inched higher as she fought moisture filling her eyes.

Zoë attempted to jerk free but Josh didn’t let her go. He rested his chin on the top of her head. “Would it hurt too much to talk to him?”

Every muscle and tendon grew tight. She could almost hear the hard shell she’d erected around her begin to crack. “Josh—” her voice was a mere whisper, “—let me go.” Her jaws clenched so hard they ached with the pressure.