CHAPTER ONE
Rough Break
Life could really suck sometimes, but not today. The top was down on the convertible, the wind was blowing, and the sun was shining.
Arwana smiled broadly and pushed her sunglasses back on her nose farther. A new life was opening up before her and it was far away from the one she’d known before.
There were no big-city skyscrapers here, just trees and open grasslands. Miles and miles of them.
No one knew her and she could start over. She’d pressed the reset button of life and fortune had smiled upon her and granted her a way out of the rat race.
She’d been raised in the country, but this was a bit different. It wasn’t even the same country.
She was in Canada and she had a license to work. She had her degree and teaching from a prestigious school and though she could have gone many places and made better money she’d opted for a little school nestled in the wilds of British Columbia.
She was thousands of miles away from where she’d ever been before and for over the past week and a half in the time it took her to drive here she’d had the best time of her life. School didn’t start yet for another month, but she wanted some time to settle in.
Yes, everything was going according to plan. Something popped loudly and a half scream left her lips, but that was all the time she had before she was counter steering aggressively in an attempt to save her life.
Despite her best efforts the little convertible skittered sideways off the road into a rougher patch of grass and rocks and then banged loudly as the back end smacked off of a tree. The car skidded to a halt and breathing heavy Arwana sat still for a long moment, taking in the fact that she was remarkably none the worse for wear.
Her car though was another story. So much for good fortune. Life once more truly sucked.
Cursing angrily she turned off the car and got out. Her flip-flops felt entirely inappropriate for the tall weedy grass growing alongside the road. Did no one mow the grass here along the road?
On a sudden hitch of indrawn breath, she thought of something else. When was the last time that she’d seen a house or a car or a person for that matter?
Her mind drifted back to the gas station she’d stopped at this morning and the advisory sign warning that had stated it was the last gas stop in 100 some miles. Swallowing nervously Arwana turned about and glanced at the still forest that surrounded her. Suddenly it didn’t matter that the sun was shining.
What would happen when it was no longer shining? Hurriedly she turned back to the car and bent over the door and snatched up her iPhone.
Oh no! No service.
No Internet. Nothing!!!
A bit shakily she wiped at the fiery red curl that had fallen over her brow and put it back into place with the rest of her curls that safely had just enough hair product applied to make sure that they stayed in place for the most part. Somehow though that didn’t matter so much in the moment as it usually did as a daily matter of manicuring. What on earth was she going to do?
She heard a noise then and she spun around with every nerve pulsing in expectation of the worst. In the distance she could see were trees had been cut and as she watched a noisy and very beat up looking pickup truck was heading down a switchback road made of dirt as it bounced its way steadily towards the main road.
Had they seen the accident?
Were they going to help her?
Would they even see her or maybe head off in the opposite direction?
As the fears mounted within her one came to the forefront. She was in the middle of nowhere and who knew what kind of creature was behind the wheel of a truck that looked like it had crashed twice and then been rolled over by a monster truck for good measure.
Swallowing down fear Arwana stilled herself and waved her arms repeatedly. She needn’t have as it was clear the truck was headed for her and had seen the accident occur.
Oh God! Her primary fear came back to the forefront in a heartbeat.
She’d packed in such a hurry to be on this journey that she hadn’t brought her pepper spray that she usually jogged with. Her mind went through a potential list of items to use in self-defense and the outcome of that mental endeavor only left her feeling puny and a complete wuss.
The truck rattled to a stop and sat idling for a moment like a dog wagging its tail before it fell silent. The driver door creaked open and a man jumped out.
Arwana felt a blush bloom across her face. No, make that her whole body. The man before her was…… gorgeous! No, not really, but yeah…… he was.
In his appearance, he stated everything that he wasn’t. He wasn’t from the city. He didn’t care what someone might say about the way he dressed and above all he looked like he didn’t care to know your opinion at all so much as he rather you respect him and leave him to be himself.
In a way he reminded her so much of her father that it hurt. That was the emotional read she got on him but as for the rest, well he was a complete stud and she was helpless to escape anything he might plan to do to her like any mare caught in a corral with a stallion twice her size.
Swallowing Arwana managed a wan smile and said with a short wave, “Hello, um…. could you help me? I’ve run into a spot of trouble and I need some help getting my car back on the road.”
*********
I’d heard every word spoken and all the hearing of her voice did to assure me of was that she was trouble wrapped up in a pretty pink package that said unwrap me and enjoy. Wary of her already as my mind was already warring with my body I stepped past her and went around the end of the little convertible.
What on earth would someone drive a little pee scooter like this into rough country like this for? I shook my head at a lack for an answer to my unspoken question. City person was the best answer that I could come up with.
City people were also known for not being the brightest when it came to coming out into the countryside. From her accent I could tell that she was from the East Coast. Probably the Carolinas.
I knelt down and glanced at the damage more closely. She’d followed me and breathy voiced she asked, “Can you fix it?”
I looked up and fought a small war to keep from overly taking in the view of her lace encased breasts that showed all too clearly through the see-through blouse she wore. She’d bent over toward me slightly, but now quickly straightened up and stepped back as I moved to get up off my knees.
“Nope.” I stated with emphasis.
She stared at me blankly and then managed to say, “But it’s just a tire isn’t it?”
I shook my head no, “No, the whole axle broke. This car is not going anywhere ma’am. The nearest town is 40 miles that way and that’s where I’m headed. If you want, you can ride along.”
She looked the way I had pointed and in the moment of her looking away, I allowed myself to take in the bombshell like material this girl was constructed of. She wasn’t short and she wasn’t tall. Her skin was quite white due to her fiery red hair, which I took as being natural and not synthetically derived at.
Although her skin was very white she had color to it via the masses of freckles that she was covered in that gave her an almost suntanned look. There was certainly a lot of her to be seen, from her painted toenails tracing upward to her defined calves and then to her softly proportioned thighs that although full had no signs of extra flesh on them.
Her blue jean shorts stuck to a pair of wide flaring hips and then indented incredibly far in a tiny waist located above and inny belly button that I could clearly see through her see-through gauze shirt. A diamond sparkled within it and around it her belly was a soft pool of smooth flesh that said she took care of herself, but wasn’t a workout fiend either.
Her torso broadened back out the higher it went until her chest took over. Her breasts were a generous handful. They were actually larger than one would have expected for her frame size and yet they entirely fit in with the perfect hourglass dimensions of her.
Her arms and shoulders were rounded off femininely, but she had definition that echoed to the fact that she had been no stranger to work during her life. Her hands were small and her fingers articulated as if she was used to doing detailed practices with them.
My eyes rose to her face as her piercing green eyes full of life and the pizzazz that I didn’t feel within my own life came back around to focus on me. Her features were flawless and her teeth very white and it was all I could do to maintain my poker face and not let on to how much she had affected me physically all the while hoping that her eyes didn’t drift down to see how my shaft was pushing my work jeans out to the extreme.
“The town is it called Warbly?”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak and give my inner tension away.
“That’s where I’m headed to anyway. I’m the new schoolteacher at the grade school.”
My eyebrows rose appreciably at that and she immediately took the gesture as one of offense and demanded, “What?”
I shook my head and said peaceably, “Nothing, it’s just you don’t quite look like the teacher sort.”
This time her eyebrows rose and I glimpsed the firecracker within of what this girl’s temper could be like. Apparently the idiom mentioned about redheads fully applied to her.
Her eyes continued smoldering for a moment, but her perfectly full lips remained shut. Then she spoke in a measured tone, “I appreciate your offer of taking me into town. Do you mind if I put my bags in the back of your truck?”
My estimation of her as a person shot immeasurably higher. A woman who could control her temper was a rare thing. “Yes, ma’am.” I said, tipping my eyebrow with a finger.
Something jolted within her and seemed to shake her up emotionally somehow because she quickly turned away, and then as if in need of something to occupy herself with she leaned over the side of the convertible to reach for something in the back seat. I couldn’t help myself even though I firmly told myself that I shouldn’t.
It did no good though for my eyes fell to her perfectly filled out heart-shaped posterior poised before me and stayed. Time seemed to go out of phase and blinking I shook my head only to find myself no longer viewing one of the best sights known to creation and instead I was viewing the zipper clasp of a very short pair of shorts.
Slowly not wanting to I rose my gaze to her face, only to find her gaze rooted on my crotch area that burgeoned with the raw need to conquer the beauty of everything she evoked. Her gaze rose to mine then and it was just too embarrassing to stay put and make eye contact.
I had never been caught gazing at someone in as lustful of a fashion as I had just been doing. Feeling a flush work across my face I awkwardly made my way around the car and grabbed at a pair of suitcase handles.
It was something to do with my hands, but it did nothing to take away the image of her backside sharply outlined above the tautness of the back of her bare thighs. The image was seared across my eyelids.
I carried the suitcases to the truck and stuck them in the back doing my best to keep them away from greasy objects. I made another trip to the car, all the while she remained standing there saying nothing.
Despite my embarrassment in the moment the proof of extreme attraction for her rooted between my legs had not diminished whatsoever in size. The woman was like a strong drug that made thinking objectively a chore.
All her bags were in the truck and I made my way around the far side of the truck and opened the passenger side. I was not a curse prone man, far from it actually, but right now if I had been I may have said something.
Biting my lip I scooped up saw parts, various tools, truck parts, and the like only to then dump them with a loud clang into the back bed. It took three trips until the space was decently cleared of debris. That said it was not acceptable.
The seat was smeared with grease and just the general grime of everyday work. I’d never had a passenger before.
Imagining her sitting on the seat and what it would do to her clothes made me grimace. Reaching across I grabbed up some of my over shirts and lined the seat with them.
Finally the worst of the mess was covered. I stepped back and almost bumped into her. I didn’t want to, but I met her gaze. There was no condemnation there, but instead there was genuine sincerity as she said, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” I mumbled.
She moved past me and hiked herself up into the truck. Careful to make sure that her leg was clear, I slammed the door shut. She jumped slightly and gave me a quick glance.
“Sorry, you’ve got to slam it or it won’t shut.”
She nodded and I headed around the hood of the truck. A new image had replaced the first one. It was the view of how her chest had swayed and bounced with me slamming the door causing the truck to shake.
I had to get the heck away from this woman! No doubt about it.
I got in my side and started the truck up and without a word started driving. For the next 40 miles silence reigned in the truck.
As we got to the outskirts of town I brought myself to say, “If you want a piece of friendly advice it would be to collect the insurance money off that car and get something like a Jeep to drive. A couple months down the road and that car will be completely useless to get around here in.”
She didn’t say anything and I glanced her way. She was staring at the town and empathetically I took in what she must be feeling. “Not what you were expecting is it.”
“Not quite.” She responded with softly.
“Do you have a place to stay?” Uncertainly, she rattled off an address.
My eyebrows rose, the girl had money it would seem. I drove down some side streets and then I hit Grover Hill, which wasn’t paved and the evidence of that was clear as I began to carve my way up it tires spinning.
Her eyes had widened and she was gripping onto the seat as the tires spun. Calling out over the revving of the engine I said, “Ironically, this road isn’t paved because the town can’t afford to do so, rather, it’s because the tourists think it’s cool to claw their off-road vehicles up this miserable hill.”
I reached the top of the ridge and began driving along a line of picturesque log rental cabins. The tourist season was in high swing, but one of the 10 cabins remained empty. Shaking my head, I did something I never usually did and that was to be nosy in other people’s business as I stated, “It must be every bit of your salary to rent this thing.”
“Actually, it’s free.”
I looked at her and she returned my gaze and said, “They had a hard time finding someone and a local businesswoman offered the use of the cabin in order to make the offer of employment look better.”
“Mrs. Cushing.” I said, nodding my head, before saying, “She’s a fine old lady. She owns all these cabins.”
Wealthy as the old woman may be she was very free with what God had given her and in this case she had made a way for the children of poor people to have a teacher. Coming to a reluctant conclusion, I admitted that she didn’t have to be the only generous one in town.
I glanced over at my passenger and said, “Do you have a key?” She dug one out of her jean pocket. I took it from her and glancing across at her I said, “Stay in the truck.”
Her eyes were full of questions, but she stayed quiet as I got out. Better yet, she stayed in the truck.
Quickly I made two trips and got her bags put inside the log cabin. I got back in the truck and fired the old girl up.
She rattled to life and I headed back down off the ridge. It was a bumpy ride to say the least as we coasted over all the spin hole divots from previous passages up the steep hill.
The girl had not questioned as to what I was up to yet and she didn’t now as she asked, “Do you think there’s somewhere nearby that I could rent a Jeep.”
“Nope.” I responded with, only to continue with, “I do know of several in not too bad a shape that are for sale. I would say it would be an even trade for the money you’ll get out of your car being totaled.”
Her words surprised me, “I don’t have insurance.” I glanced at her and read something else in the cast down expression of her face before she looked away out the side window.
She had no money. That was surprising given how she was finely attired as if used to having money.
Why on earth had someone like her come to a place at the end of the world like this?
“She’s running from something.” Came the whisper of my Creator’s Spirit from within my soul.
I glanced over at her and silently asked my Maker, “Am I doing the right thing?”
“Yes, my son.”
I came to a stop about then at the little place I called home. I was about a mile out of town and situated in the forests that I made my living from.
The place wasn’t much to look at, but it was mine. The Jeep parked in the driveway was also mine.
“Get out.” I said and obediently she did so.
I came around the hood and digging into a pocket I pulled out my car keys. I handed them out to her and she stared at them in shock for a moment before her eyes alternately switched from me to the Jeep beside her and then back again.
Finally, she closed her eyes and said, “I can’t.”
Smiling wryly I jingled the keys and said, “You can’t afford not to.”
Her eyes opened and seeing my smile seemed to have some effect on her and puzzled I watched her swallow nervously. Slowly she reached out and took the keys from my hand.
It was the first time we had touched. Her skin was as soft as it looked.
“I’ll pay you back.” She said thickly.
“No, not needed, just do a good job teaching the kids is all I ask. No rush in getting the Jeep back to me either. I really don’t need it.”
She swallowed again and turned away quickly. She stopped though, and turning back, she looked me in the eye and said, “Thank you again.”
I shrugged as if the look of gratitude she’d given me was no big deal, but truly it was. In fact, it was still warming its way through me.
She got in the Jeep and rolling down the window she asked, “You’re sure about this?”
I nodded and then leaning forward, I pointed to the center console and said, “And if you need to get something away from you or put a bullet in something there’s a 357 magnum in the console. It’s fully loaded and ready to fire. If you do fire it make sure you brace your wrist with your other hand, okay?”
She stared from me to the console and then softly said, “Okay.”
“Don’t worry about your car. I’ll see that it gets towed into town.”
I backed away then and after a long moment of staring at me she backed the Jeep up and drove away. The place felt curiously empty without the Jeep.
Maybe it wasn’t the Jeep I was missing. It wasn’t the Jeep.
One could only lie to oneself so much. No, the truth was that this suburban stranger from the other side of the continent had affected me like a strong dose of kryptonite.
It had been the right thing to loan her my Jeep. That said, I knew deep down in my soul that for the duration of her stay in town, however long or short as it may be, I needed to avoid her like the plague.
I went inside my house intent on having a cold shower. It did no good though.
Breathing heavy as cold water shocked across my system as it ran down my back, I found myself more erect than ever. My balls had begun to literally ache with the need for release. My hand lowered and it was a poor substitute for what imagery still played across my mind.
The view of the way she had looked bent over was all it took and I groaned as a powerful orgasm ripped through me even as the evidence of my release splashed off the shower wall. At last some of the tension I was feeling drained away, but far from all of it.
How was I going to deal with this infatuation for a stranger? I had no clue other than to avoid her, even as I was sure that she would never want someone like me.