How to Score (37 page)

“I didn’t know you had a cabin!”

“It’s more of a shack. I’m fixing it up little by little, but it’s a long ways from being inhabitable.”

Sammi eyed the weathered clapboard building, which was no bigger than a large storage shed. “It’s got poten-tial.”

The woman saw something good in everything. Why did that fact make him feel so damn bad? “Yeah. Potential to be a slightly nicer shack.” He opened the car door. The wind was whipping up, and a nip was in the air. “What do you say we get our stuff together and head out? We’ve got a pretty long hike to our campsite, and I want to get there before dark.”

“Sounds good.”

They made their way up the path, joking and laughing, which had the odd effect of making Chase feel awful.

The mountains were ablaze with color. Sammi exclaimed at the vivid orange, gold, and scarlet leaves, stopping often to gaze out at the scenery. She scurried up a steep slope ahead of him. “Oh, the view up here is awesome!”

It sure is,
Chase thought as he watched her. The sun rode low on the horizon behind her, setting her hair aglow. She was so damned beautiful he could hardly breathe.

She turned and looked at him, then pulled her brow into a worried frown. “Is something wrong?”

“From what I see, everything is perfect.” Too perfect. She was everything he’d ever wanted in a woman, and a lot of things he never known to look for.

And there was a very good chance he was about to lose her.

She smiled at him, then moved close and looped her arms around his neck. His arms found their way around her, and the next thing he knew, he was kissing her as if there were no tomorrow, as if he could make time stand still, as if he could kiss her hard enough to prevent the pain he knew he was about to inflict on her.

Her hand moved up his neck. “I’m so happy to be here with you,” she murmured against his ear.

You won’t be happy much longer.
He pulled back, cradled her face in his hands, and brushed a lock of hair off her cheek with his thumb. “Likewise.” Drawing a deep breath, he reluctantly stepped back and dropped his hands. “We’d better get moving if we want to make it to the campsite before dark.”

“Is it much farther?”

“Up that hill, then about another mile.”

Less than thirty minutes later, they reached the clearing. The sun had dipped below the mountains, painting the clouds tangerine and azalea pink. Sammi drew in her breath as she gazed at the sky. “Wow.”

That was the word for it, all right—along with
awe-inspiring, soul-stirring,
and
magnificent.

He felt the same way about Sammi. Swallowing around the lump that seemed permanently lodged in his throat, he threw himself into setting up camp and building a fire.

The sky’s colors had melted into dusk by the time they finally sat on a blanket and leaned against a log in front of the crackling fire. Chase pulled out a bottle of wine and opened it. He poured it into two tin cups, then handed her one and lifted the other. “To you.”

She smiled back. “To us.”

Every word, every smile, every gesture just made this harder. He drained his cup. She took a little sip.

“Drink up,” he urged.

Her lips curved in a soft smile. “Are you trying to get me drunk so you can take advantage of me?”

He grinned. “Maybe.”

She leaned toward him. “I’ll let you in on a secret. You don’t have to get me drunk.”

Chase kissed her nose, then refilled her glass.

“Have you ever brought anyone else here?” she asked.

“My brother. But trust me, it wasn’t the same.”

She took another sip. “Speaking of your brother, you’ve never told me much about him. Where does he live?”

Here it was—the moment of truth. He swallowed hard and began. “In Tulsa, but right now he’s in protective custody.”

Her eyebrows rose in surprise. “Why?”

“He saw a mob hit. And the nephew of the men he’s going to testify against is trying to kill him.”

“Oh, that’s awful!”

“Yeah. And I feel responsible, because I sent him to pick up a pizza at the restaurant where it happened.”

She reached out a consoling hand. “You couldn’t have known that was going to happen.”

“No, but I should have.” He took a sip of wine, but his mouth still felt dry. “Speaking of my brother, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you about him.”

“Yeah?”

He shifted on the log. “Well, it’s about me, too.”

“What is it?”

Damn, this was hard. “In order to get him to agree to go into Witness Protection, I offered to help with his consulting business.”

“That was nice of you. How are you helping?”

“I’m, uh, working with some of his clients.”

She took a sip of wine and smiled at him. “Wow, you’re really multitalented.”

She didn’t suspect a thing. She still thought he was a totally stand-up guy. Well, that was about to change. “What kind of consultant is he?” she asked.

Chase swallowed. “Luke is a life coach.”

Her lips parted and her brow furrowed. “A life coach? But you acted like you’d never heard of life coaches when I told you I had one.” A beat of silence passed, and then her eyes widened. “His name is Luke?”

“Yeah.” Chase steeled himself. It wouldn’t take her long to put two and two together.

She sat up straighter. “Luke Jones?”

Here it came. “Yes.”

“And… you’ve been working with his clients? Are you saying… ” She jumped to her feet and shoved his shoulder, nearly knocking him backward over the log.
“You’ve been coaching me?”

Chase scrambled to his feet. “I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

“I can’t believe this.” She turned away, and then turned back. “I told you all my secrets!”

“I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you, but I could never find the right time.”

“You coached me twice a week and saw me nearly every weekend, and you
couldn’t find the time
to tell me?” She advanced toward him, fury etched in her face. “How long have you been my coach?”

“From your, uh, second call. I had dropped Luke’s files, and I thought you were one of his regular clients, and… ”

He could see the wheels spinning in her head. “So you told me to jog with Joe so you could
spy
on me?”

“I wasn’t spying. I was… ” He ducked as she hit him again. “Curious.”

“Curious?”
She managed to imbue the word with both incredulity and scalding scorn. “You let me talk
to
you
about
you. And—oh, my God.” She put her hand to her head, as if it hurt. “You pretended you didn’t know things I’d told you in our coaching sessions, and then you gave me advice about how to handle my relationship with you… ” She turned her back to him, then whirled back around. Her eyes snapped like a whip. “You let me tell you all about how I felt about you! You
dog!
” She shoved him again.

A loud boom echoed off the mountain. A branch fell off an elm tree ten feet away.

Chase snatched her around the waist and pulled her behind a giant oak.

She struggled against him. “Get your hands off me, you two-faced liar!”

He tightened his grip. “Sammi—that was a gunshot.”

“Oh, right.” Her brow wrinkled in a scathing fashion. “Nice try, but you’re not going to change the subject that easily.”

“Stay still.”

“I will
not
stay still. If it was a shot, it was probably a hunter.”

“At night?”

She jerked away from him. “You
deserve
to be shot.” She punched his right shoulder with her right hand. “And hamstrung.” She punched his left shoulder with her left hand. She picked up speed, pummeling him with right–left girlie jabs. “And scalped.”
Jab.
“And hanged.”
Jab.
“And bitten by snakes.”
Jab.
“And thrown in a lake of fire.”
Jab
.

Another shot zinged by. This one richocheted off a rock above them, breaking off a piece, sending it flying through the air in splinters.

Chase threw her to the ground. She stared up at him, her mouth open.

“Oh, my God,” she breathed. “Someone’s really shooting at us!”

“Yeah.”

“Who would do that?”

“My guess is it’s the same guy who tried to shoot my brother.”

“Why would he be after us?”

Because he’d been watching Luke’s condo when Chase went to get the tent, and he hadn’t known that Luke had a brother. The realization hit with sickening certainty. “He thinks I’m Luke,” Chase whispered tersely.

“Why would he think that?” Sammi asked hotly. “Have you been coaching him, too?”

Something rustled in the brush about a hundred yards away. Sammi heard it, too, because she suddenly lay perfectly still, her eyes enormous and scared.

“Stay here,” Chase whispered in her ear, slowly easing himself off her. “I’m going to create a diversion, and then we’ll run.”

The hill sloped sharply behind them. He crept forward, grabbed a tree branch, and hurled it down the slope. Another shot sounded. Footsteps crunched down the hill.

“Come on.” Chase yanked Sammi to her feet and ran.

The brush scraped at their legs, but Sammi followed Chase like a trouper, clambering beside him around the mountain, then down a slope into a deep gully. He tried to boost her up a twelve-foot cliff off the other side, but she couldn’t get a grip.

“I’ll go first,” he said. “Grab hold of my belt and follow my foot placement.”

He grabbed the edge of a jutting boulder, found a toehold in the rocky wall, and pulled himself up. The belt dug into his gut as Sammi grasped it and followed. Another finger pocket, another step. Another, and yet another, pulling Sammi with him as he climbed. He was nearing the top when he heard something clatter to the ground.

“Oh, no,” she urgently whispered. “I knocked your cell phone off your belt!”

Hell—there went all hope of calling for backup. Not that there was much hope to start with, because the phone reception out here was spotty at best. It was Luke’s cell phone, anyway. He’d left his own charging in the Explorer. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s just get the hell out of here.”

A scrub oak jutted out of the rocky soil, its trunk almost horizontal to the ground, its branches growing straight up. Chase grabbed hold of it and hoisted himself to the top of the ravine, pulling Sammi with him. He helped her to her feet as the footsteps drew closer.

“Come on.” He tightened his grip on her hand and started through the woods.

She tripped over a tree root and sprawled to the ground.

He stopped and helped her to her feet. “Can you walk?”

“Yeah.”

“Then come on.” Tugging her hand, he half pulled, half dragged her up a hill through the forest. He stopped in front of a giant rock.

“Get on your knees,” he whispered.

“What?”

“There’s an opening to a cave under the rock. Get on your knees and crawl in it.”

She looked at him as if she were going to challenge him.

“
Now,
dammit.”

She dropped to her knees. With an angry huff, she crawled forward. She was halfway inside when she turned around. For the first time since this whole thing started, he saw fear in her eyes. “Are you coming, too?”

“Yeah. As soon as I cover the entrance.”

He grabbed some branches, placed them near the opening, then crawled in, pulling the branches after him. Inside, the cave was nearly pitch-black.

“Scoot on back,” he whispered to Sammi. “There’s more space about five feet from the entrance.”

“I—”

He put his hand over her mouth. “Shh. He’s coming.”

Outside the cave, twigs crackled. Branches snapped. Footsteps crunched on the dead leaves. The noise stopped just outside the cave.

“Sonuvabitch,” they heard someone mutter.

After what seemed like forever, the footsteps sounded again.

He was walking away.

Thank God
. Chase didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath until he let it out. “We’ll stay here for the night,” he whispered. “It’s going to be impossible to do anything until daylight.”

He looked at Sammi, but it was so dark he could barely make out her outline. “Are you okay?” he whispered.

Was she okay? He had to be kidding.

“Oh, yeah, I’m just great,” she whispered heatedly. “Thanks to you and your helpful advice, I’ve lost my job and my home. I’ve gotten involved with a lying, sneaky, conniving bastard, I’ve been shot at, and now I’m spending the night in a freakin’
cave
.” Which, at the moment, struck her as the worst offense of all. “Some life coach you turned out to be!”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah. You darn sure are.”

Something rustled in the back of the cave. The hair stood up on the back of her neck.

“Chase.” Her voice was raw, her throat tense. “There’s something in here.”

“Maybe a raccoon, or an opossum. Or a snake.”

“A snake?” The thought made her shudder.

“Maybe. More than likely, though, it’s just bats.”

“Bats?” She reached out and grabbed his arm. “There are
bats
in here?” Panic rose in her throat.

“Shhh. They’re more scared of you than you are of them.”

A shiver shimmied through her. “That’s impossible.”