Page 2 of Stranded with a Very-Kissable Cowboy

I nod. “Yeah, they don’t usually answer their office phones. I’ll call their cells.”

She scrunches up her pert little nose. “It’s a business and they don’t answer their phones?”

“Small towns,” I answer as if that explains it.

I call Hank and explain what’s happening, and by the time I hang up, Gianna’s smiling face is now frowning.

“They can’t fix it today?”

I open her car door. “No, and they can’t send a tow truck out until later tonight. You want to grab your things?”

She holds her hands up. “Wait, what? My things? Why do I need my things?”

I lean against her car door, faking patience that I don’t have. I should be home by now. “Because I’m not going to leave you out here all night. Hank was at the bar, so most likely he won’t come get your car until the morning.”

I gesture inside the car, but she’s not moving. “But where am I going?”

“It’s thirty minutes back to town, and I can take you, but I have to swing by my ranch first.”

She has her arms across her chest and tilts her chin at me. “I can’t go with you. I don’t know you.”

I point in the distance. “There’s three ranches on this road, and one of them is mine. No one comes out this way but me. If you don’t go with me, you’ll be sitting out here all night.”

She doesn’t budge. “I’ll take my chances.”

I can’t help it, I laugh. She’s not only a beautiful woman, but she’s stubborn as fuck too. “Well, that won’t work for me. My family is waiting for me, and they’re not going to understand why I’ve chosen to sleep out on the side of the road instead of coming home.”

“You don’t have to—”

I cut her off before she can finish. “I’m not leaving you out here alone.”

She searches my face, then looks at my truck and back at me. “Are you a killer?”

I want to smile, but I don’t. “No.”

She still seems hesitant, and I hold my hands up. “Look, we can go home and let me check on a bull, pick up my family, and we’ll take you back into town. I’m sure there is a vacancy at the motel or something.”

She holds her phone up. “Okay, but I’m taking your picture and sending it to my friend so if I wind up dead, they know who to question.”

I think I’ve smiled more in the last ten minutes than I have in the last three years. I’m not sure why, but I catch myself doing it as she’s taking my picture. She looks at the picture she just took, shakes her head, mumbles something like “have mercy,” and then pockets her phone. She grabs her purse out of the car, and while I shut her door, she walks around to the trunk and removes a suitcase.

I take it from her hand and walk back to my truck and throw it in the backseat before opening the passenger side door for her. She climbs into her seat, and I suck in a breath as I wait for her to settle so I can close the door.

I have a little talk with myself as I walk around to the driver’s side. She’s a woman stranded on the side of the road, and she doesn’t need some old cowboy hitting on her, that’s for sure. As I pull out on the road, I ask her, “What are you doing on this road anyway?”

“I hate driving on highways, so I take back roads.”

“Where were you headed?”

“Jasper, for work.”

“This way would add almost two hours to your trip.”

She just shrugs like she doesn’t have a care in the world. “I know. I had the time. I wasn’t in a hurry, and like I said, I hate driving on main highways. I’ll do it, but I avoid them if I can.”

I can feel her watching me, and even though it’s only five miles to my ranch, it feels a lot longer. I’m not sure what to make of this reaction to her, but I do know I need to get her far away from me. Oh, there’s no doubt I want her, but she’s a complication that I don’t need.

CHAPTER 3

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