Chapter One
We were just sitting around in the shade, waiting. Well, Jack and I were sitting. Stan kept pacing back and forth across the clearing in the woods where we’d parked our pickup. He never could stand waiting.
“Where the Hell is she?” he said aloud once.
“Take it easy,” Jack replied. “It’s a long way and then a dirt road. She’ll be here. Emma’s never let us down yet, has she?”
Stan muttered something under his breath and went on with his pacing. He usually carried a little thing packed with computer games to help him while away any slow times, but we had a rule that you couldn’t bring any electronics with you on one of our hunting trips. All we had along was one very simple and basic cell phone, for use only in case of emergencies. I settled back against a tree trunk and took a swig from my canteen. We were all city guys. Jack and I really liked our trips out into the wilds. It was a chance to relax, have a little fun, and recharge our batteries. Stan didn’t seem to appreciate getting back to nature as much as we did, but he never passed up a chance to come along with us.
After a while we heard the unmistakable sound of a car coming up the long, narrow gravel road. Jack and I stood up, brushing pine needles off the seats of our pants. Stan gave up his pacing and sauntered over to us. Now that something was happening, he was a lot more relaxed.
A big, black SUV lumbered into view. It stopped broadside to us in the middle of the clearing. The driver’s tinted window slid down noiselessly and Emma smiled and waved to us. She looked for all the world like somebody’s blue-haired, cookie-baking grandma, but she was one of the sharpest businesswomen we’d ever met. We smiled and waved back.
The passenger door opened, and a tall young woman stepped out. She smiled and waved to us as well, but we were too busy picking our jaws up off of the ground to wave back. On second glance, she wasn’t quite as tall as we’d first thought, but those long, strong legs, sheathed in faded denim jeans, made her look taller than she was. She left the door open and began walking over to us. She had nicely rounded hips, but it was impossible to tell how well she was built topside because she was wearing a bulky green and black checked flannel shirt a couple of sizes too big for her with a fleece-lined suede vest over that. As she came closer, we could see that the flannel shirt was unbuttoned halfway down, and there was an oversized black t-shirt under it. We could also see that she had a model’s trick of walking, placing each booted foot directly in front of the other. She wore a black Stetson hat. Long, tawny blonde hair escaped out from under it and rippled down her back almost to her waist. She had a cute face with high cheekbones, big blue eyes and a dazzling smile. There was a light dusting of freckles across the bridge of her button nose.
“Geez,” Jack muttered under his breath to me. “California Girl.”
I couldn’t argue with his assessment.
“Hi,” she smiled as she stopped a few feet away from us, hands on her hips. She tossed her head a little, making her hair sway attractively. “I’m Susan.”
“Hi, Susan,” Stan grinned like an idiot and nodded. “I’m Stan. This here’s Jack and Mike. You mind turning around for us once?”
Her smile got a little sly as she did a slow turn, keeping her hands on her hips. Her hair was long and fine and thick. It swirled along behind her as an afterthought, but what we really wanted to get a look at was her ass. It looked round and firm. The faded jeans looked as if they’d been spray-painted on there.
“How’s that?” she asked, tilting her head a little to one side. Her smile told