Page 2 of Just One Kiss

When she got out of the car, she saw that her front tire was shredded.Damn!This was the last thing she needed right now. She could change the tire, because she'd long ago learned how to take care of herself, but she really didn't want to do it. It was freezing cold and about to snow. She reached back inside the car for her phone, but she couldn't find a signal. Reception had always been spotty between the road and the cabin. With no way to call for assistance, she was just postponing the inevitable. She would have to change the tire herself. Unless…

As headlights lit up the area around her, she whirled around. A black four-door Ford Ranger truck pulled over, and she instinctively stiffened. Whisper Lake was a pretty safe place, but they weren't immune to crime. Then she recognized the owner of the truck and she stiffened for another reason.

As Jake McKenna stepped out of the vehicle, a wave of anger ran through her. Jake had once been her best friend, then her first crush, followed by heartbreak and a teenage humiliation she should have gotten over by now but still couldn't quite seem to get past.

Everything between them had happened a long time ago, when they were both seventeen years old. In the twelve years since then, she'd left Whisper Lake for almost eight years to go to college and to nursing school, and Jake had also gone off on adventures that had taken him around the globe. But three years ago, she'd come back to Whisper Lake, and two years ago, Jake had made his return. She'd tried to avoid him ever since then, and most of the time she was successful. But not always.

Jake strode toward her, wearing jeans, boots, and a navy-blue parka. "What happened?" he asked.

Her stomach tightened, which made her jump to anger so she could deny the fact that she still found him to be one of the most attractive men she'd ever met. He had brown hair and eyes and a deliciously scruffy beard. He was muscled and lean from all the exercise he did. As the owner of Adventure Sports, he was often the one leading groups on the steepest climbs and the most daring ski runs. He also had a cocky smile that she'd once loved and now hated with the same amount of passion.

"What do you think happened?" she snapped. "I got a flat."

"What are you doing out here?"

"Our cabin has a hot water problem."

"Hannah to the rescue," he said with a slight smile. "Want some help with that tire?"

She really wanted help, but she hated taking anything from him. On the other hand, it was about to snow, and she wasn't stupid even if she was hanging on to a very old grudge. "Yes, I'd like help." She opened her trunk and the compartment where the spare tire should be, only to find herself staring at an empty spot. She suddenly remembered her mother telling her about the flat she'd gotten three months earlier when she'd borrowed her car. "Damn, my mom never put the spare back. I'll have to call for help."

"If you can get through. Do you have a signal?"

She checked her phone once more. "No."

"Why don't I give you a ride to the cabin? I'm headed that way anyway. I can drop you home after that and you can figure out how to get your tire fixed tomorrow."

"Why are you going to Wicker Bay?"

"One of my employees is staying in a cabin there, and I'm concerned about him. He's not answering his phone, and he's going through a bad breakup. Now, do you want a ride, or are you going to let your stubbornly persistent dislike of me make you say no?"

She hated that he could read her so well. "I'll take a ride." She grabbed her bag out of her car, locked the doors and then followed him over to his truck. She hopped into the front seat, happy with how warm it was inside. She rubbed her icy hands together, wishing she'd thought to put gloves on, but she'd only planned on driving the three miles between her house and the hospital today.

"How long were you standing outside?" Jake asked.

"Not long."

"It's a good thing I came along when I did, considering you didn't have a spare."

"We don't have to talk, you know," she said curtly.

"Oh, I know. You're not one to hide your feelings, Hannah Banana," he said with a teasing reference to her childhood nickname.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and gave him an annoyed look. "Don't call me that. Or I'll have to refer to you as Jake the Snake."

"Who called me Jake the Snake?" he asked, as he drove down the road. "Wait, let me guess, it was you."

"Actually, I think Keira came up with it, but I thought it was more than appropriate after what you did." She blew out a breath, feeling like she became seventeen again every time she saw Jake. She needed to start acting like the adult she was. "Who's your employee, the one you're concerned about?" she asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Trevor Pelham. Do you know him?"

"I know the Pelhams own the cabin at the far end of the bay, but I don't know Trevor personally. He's a lot younger than me."

"Trevor has had a rough time the last year. His mom died of cancer, and the girl he's been living with broke up with him two weeks ago. He thought he was going to marry her. Now he's facing a Christmas alone, and he's been on a week-long bender. He missed a couple of days of work, and I'm worried about him. He said he was going to come up here to dry out. I decided to check on him."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I knew about his mom, of course. She was a nice lady." She paused. "It's nice of you to be concerned."

"I can be nice," he said dryly. "In fact, you used to think I was very nice."

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