Page 3 of No One But You

His brow ticked up.

“Yeah, well, at Christmas, I needed the space under there for presents and never put the tire or jack back in my car. It’s sitting in my aunt’s garage.”

“You don’t have a tire or jack in your car? Isn’t that Driving 101?”

It sounded so much more ridiculous when I divulged the situation to him. I hope he doesn’t think I’m the stereotypical female. All about shopping and have no common sense. That is so not me. Well, I do like to shop. My shoulders met my ears.

“Figures,” Kai muttered and shook his head before walking to the back of his truck.

Hell no. He is not going to go there. My hands flew to my hips. “Excuse me? Did you just say figures?”

“What, you heard that?” Kai pulled a small tire from the back of his truck and carried it to the car. Then he went back to his truck and returned with a jack and a tire iron.

My gaze followed him back and forth as a heavy weight lodged in my gut. “I’m not deaf, you know. Explain yourself. What figures? Is it that I’m a female?” I eyed the tire. It didn’t look big enough for a go cart. “Are you sure that tire will fit on my car?”

He didn’t answer as he jacked up the car, loosened the bolts, took off the flat tire, and quickly replaced it with the donut he had taken from his truck. “To answer all your billions of questions—it figures that you don’t have a tire. It is such a female thing, and yes, this will fit. It came from my sister’s car. I gave her a full-size spare before she drove across the country. Oh, and you said it, sweetheart, not me.”

Did he just call me sweetheart? I sucked in a big breath and took a beat to keep from saying the first thing that came to my mind. I scrunched my face. “I said what?”

“That you’re a female, and that’s the reason you were stuck on the side of the road.” Kai stood up and brushed his hands against his pants.

Is this guy for real? “Are you always this rude to people you just meet?”

“Rude? I didn’t say anything rude. Just pointed out the obvious and answered your million-and-one questions.”

I could stand a lot of things, but I couldn’t stand being treated like a weak female. Okay, maybe I did something stupid when I didn’t listen to my father. I should have put the spare back in the car, but being needy and weak was not something I wanted people to see me as, especially not this irritating, yet hot, stranger. “You know what?” I walked over to him and stepped on the dead tire. “Keep this here. I don’t need any more of your assistance. I’ll deal with it myself.”

Kai peered at me, then down at the flat tire, then back. “I can just toss it in the back of my truck and take it to the garage I saw in town. It’s not a big deal.”

My hands flew into the air and brushed him off. “Nope. Please don’t. I’ll toss this into my car. I wouldn’t want to be seen as needy.”

“You sure?”

What a jackass. I rolled my eyes toward the sky. “Yeah. Thanks for your help.” My gaze rested on his, and I squinted in disgust. “Next time, though, keep driving.”

Kai stepped back and lifted his hands in defeat.

Good. He might be a jackass, but he listens well.

I bent down and attempted to lift the tire off the ground. Shit. Even flat, it was heavier than it appeared. I slowly drag-carried it to the back and opened the hatch. I took a big breath, bent at my knees, heaved it into the back, and then had to take a second to catch my breath.

God, that sucked.

I slammed the hatch closed and froze as I caught a glimpse of my hands. They were black. I brushed them together. Still black. Then I brushed them on my pants, and the dirt smeared. “Shit.”

“What’s wrong, princess? Little grease on your hands?”

I shot Kai a glare, one that could kill.

I waited and watched.

No luck. He still stood there, breathing. “No big deal. Nothing soap won’t get rid of,” I answered with fake confidence. I’d be damned if I’d show weakness over grease.

“Yeah, maybe, but your shirt will need a little TLC.”

I glanced down. There was a streak of black on the front. Must have been when I lifted the tire. “Shit. My favorite shirt.”

“Dish detergent will get it out. Scrub it with an old toothbrush and rinse with cold water. Should be fine.”

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