Chapter Five
Sunday morning was always a time that Sam liked to spend exercising. It helped clear her mind, and it gave her a chance to commune with nature and, in her own way, with God.
So after sending Janet home and popping three Extra Strength Tylenol, Sam put on her running clothes and Walk Man radio, and headed out the door. She usually ran to the park and sometimes she continued on down the highway toward a canyon that was frequented by campers and hikers. And since it was a beautiful day, Sam decided to take the longer route, figuring that a real workout might help her feel better emotionally as well as physically. There were a few dark clouds behind her, but she hoped they would stay away...at least for another two hours.
There was a little more traffic than usual today, and Sam blamed it on summer visitors to the National Forest which included the park and the canyon. And since there was no sidewalk or trail, she had to run in the bike path to avoid being hit by a car.
She loved living here where she could run while enjoying the beautiful scenery. And that was what she was doing when she heard someone behind her shouting for her to get out of the way. Actually, what he'd said was, "Get the hell outta the way!"
Sam looked over her shoulder as she moved toward the sloping curb at the edge of the roadway. She thought she was giving him enough room to pass her, but for some reason he didn't. Sam looked back at his face, which was partially covered by his dark glasses and the helmet he was wearing, and that was when she stumbled and took a fall right in front of him.
The first thing she saw was the puffy gray clouds high above her. Then she felt something touch her lips as her head was being lifted by a strong hand. The something turned out to be a water bottle that the man was holding up to her lips. She looked up at his face, and even though he still wore the glasses and the helmet, she recognized him.
"Take a drink, Sam," he told her, and she took a little sip before pushing the bottle away. Then she sat up. But when she moved her right leg, she found that she had apparently sprained her ankle, because it hurt like hell!
"Ow!" She reached down and grabbed her ankle with both hands, gently pressing it with her fingers.
"Sprained by the look of it," he said. "You shouldn't run in the bike path," he added, and Sam gave him a dirty look.
"What other choice do I have, smart ass?" Sam looked at the traffic passing close by and tried to get up, but there was no way she was going anywhere, without his help, and she knew it.
"Damn it! What else can happen to me this weekend?"
Jack knew exactly to what she was referring, but he let that remark go and instead offered her a hand up.
"Come on, I'll pull you up. I can take you on my bike to that little rest stop back down the road apiece."
Sam nodded and grabbed hold of his hand as he stood up and pulled. She came up fast due to his great strength and almost fell into him. He hadn't meant to touch her anywhere else but on her hand, but he found himself catching her, his arm automatically going around her waist as she crashed against his chest.
"Whoa, there, I've got you!"
She could see her had her all right, and the feeling of his arm around her sent warning signals directly to her brain...danger!...danger!...while her clit was giving her libido a high five!
"Thanks," she chirped, her voice sounding remarkably like Minnie Mouse.
Sam watched as Jack turned his bike around and got on.
"Sit on the handle bars. We don't have far to go, and this thing really isn't equipped to carry two people."
Sam straddled the front tire and put her hands up behind her, grabbing the handle bars. Then she pushed up with her left foot, sending her body up with a jump. She came down on her butt on the chrome bar and hung on for dear life. Jack's hands came up beside her, and she could feel his breath on the back of her neck for a second before he straightened up and began peddling.
In five minutes they were entering the little parking lot next to the road. The rest stop contained a bathroom, and a picnic table inside a wooden gazebo, but there was no one there but them. Jack guided the bicycle up to the rest room and stopped, holding the bike steady while she dismounted. Then he leaned the bike against the wall of the tiny building and pulled her right arm up over his shoulder before helping her walk to the gazebo. Once she was seated with her foot up on the bench, he went inside the bathroom.
When Jack returned he was carrying a stack of wet paper towels, which he placed over her ankle. Sam reached down, unlaced the shoe and started to remove it.
"No! Don't do that! You should leave it on and laced up for now. You can leave the laces loose if you want. When you get home you can take off your shoe. But if you do it now, you won't be able to get it back on again."
"Had a lot of sprained ankles," she asked him as she re-tied her shoe.
"Yes, actually I have. I'm always hurting some part of my body, but not because I was running in a bike path," he told her, and she cringed.
"Okay, I admit it wasn't the smartest thing to do," she said, "but where was I supposed to run?"
"Not along this highway, I'd say," he answered with a smirk.
"But I enjoy running here, and before it's never been this crowded," she said, glancing at him quickly before dropping her eyes.
She wished he'd take those damned dark glasses off, so she could see his gorgeous brown eyes. But then her ego stepped in and reminded her that she was not supposed to be thinking such thoughts about this man.
"Yah, we get a lot of vacationers here in the summer months. I forgot you're not from here," he added, and to her it almost sounded like an apology.
"No, I moved her from Washington, D.C. Before that I lived in Seattle."
"Nice places. I like both cities. In fact I've lived in both."
"But you've been in Colorado for quite a few years, haven't you?"
Jack had sat down on the table, putting his feet on the bench next to her elevated foot.
"Yes, well, I've had a place here for almost eight years, but I spent a lot of that time overseas on missions. I can't tell you where, or I might have to kill you," he said with a laugh.
"Oh? And why would you have to do that?"
The breeze was starting to pick up, and Sam pulled a stray tendril of long hair out of her eyes. It had somehow slipped out of the purple elastic band she was using to hold her pony tail. And for some reason she suddenly became aware of how awful she must look!
She had dirt on one knee where it had scraped the ground, and she was wearing no makeup. And on top of that, she was wearing an old pair of gray exercise shorts and an even older Sea Hawks T-shirt.
"Let's just say the missions were covert. I made lots of short trips to scenic places in South America and the Middle East," he said, removing his dark glasses and allowing them to hang from the leather strap around his neck. "But I wasn't there for the scenery."
"I see. That sounds exciting," she admitted, her azure eyes staring into his ebony ones.
"You have no idea. He got up and went to his bike, removing the water bottle from its holder. Then he stood there, head tilted back as he drank several gulps of water. His back was to Sam, and she couldn't help noticing his firm, little ass in those bike shorts. Mercy! And when he turned around...WOW! There was that splendid package in front!
Sam quickly looked away, feeling her face turning red as she fought to control her emotions. Damn him! This guy had an effect on her like no other man ever had!
Jack was just thinking pretty much the same thing about Sam, as he felt his erection begin to blossom, leaving him no alternative but to turn away from her. He pulled his cell phone out of the saddle bag which hung on the back of his bike, and looked at the display screen.
"Damn it! No signal," he said with a sigh.
So he couldn't simply phone Danny or someone to come and get Sam in their car. It was just as he had feared; unless a park ranger came by, he'd have to ask some stranger to give her a lift. He hoped a family came along, because he wasn't allowing her to get in the car with anyone, unless they looked totally harmless!
And he wasn't about to try taking her all the way to her place on his bike! It was a light-weight racing model that had cost him a small fortune, and it just wasn't made to carry that much weight.
He tossed the phone back into the bag and looked up at the darkening sky.
"Storms coming," he remarked, and Sam looked up and was shocked to see those dark clouds that she had noticed earlier were now right overhead. And the wind was picking up too. So Jack decided to go and stand by the road and wait for some likely candidate to drive by.
"I'll see if I can find you a ride," he said as he strolled toward the highway.
Sam watched him walk away, thinking how fine a figure he cut in his biking outfit. Not only was his butt firm and slightly muscular, but his legs looked awesome in those shorts! And the shirt, which was also made of black nylon, was fitted through the middle and then flared out over his broad shoulders. The sleeves were trimmed in white as was the neckline, and the stark contrast of his tanned skin to the white edging made his neck look even more edible!
'Sam, get your mind out of the gutter, girl!' She shook her head as she watched Jack take a position on the side of the road. Unfortunately, now that the weather had turned cloudy, and it was nearing lunch time, it seemed like people had already settle in some place to ride out the storm, because not one car drove by.
Suddenly there was a huge crackling sound as lightning shot out of one of the clouds and zigzagged down to the ground in the forest nearby. Then a clap of thunder reverberated through the trees, and almost immediately big drops of rain began to fall.
TBC