Page 11 of Devoted Enough

I shook my head. “You’ll ruin your rim. Besides, the ranch roads are starting to flood. It’s like a tsunami out here, and the temperature is dropping quickly.”

She nodded. “I can’t get a hold of my mom.”

“Just leave the car and come back to my house with me.”

Her eyes widened, and I knew she was about to say no. Then I saw that her lips almost looked blue.

“Damn it, Haven, you’re freezing. Just come back to my place, get warm, and wait until the rain settles down, and then you can deal with the car.”

She looked at her car and then back at me. Worrying her lower lip, she looked like she was about to shake her head, but I held up my hand.

“Walking back to the ranch will take you hours, and have I mentioned that you’re turning blue? Just get your things, and let me take you to my place.”

With a sigh, she nodded. “Let me grab my stuff.”

Following her with the umbrella to the passenger side, she grabbed her purse and a large bag. Clutching them both to her chest, we quickly made it over to my truck. After helping her in, I ran around the other side of the truck. I threw the umbrella in the back seat and jumped in the front.

“I have never in my life seen so much rain come down so fast!” Haven said as she pushed wet hair from her face. Even soaked and looking like a drowned rat, she was beautiful.

I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts. Haven was off limits. “Yeah, it’s coming down in sheets.” I reached over and turned the heater on and her seat warmer.

“Thank you for stopping. I can’t believe I didn’t have an umbrella in my car. I just cleaned it out a few weeks ago, and I took it out and forgot to put it back in.”

“I’m just glad I took that exit off the ranch, or who knows how long you’d be sitting there. It’s a long walk to any of the houses on the ranch, especially from where you were broken down.”

She laughed until it faded away. “The road is flooding, Nate. I’ve never seen these roads flood before.”

I could hear the fear in her voice. “My place isn’t that much farther up the road.”

We drove past the gate that led to Josh’s place. Just a bit more until we got to my place. Haven was right; the ditches were flooded, and water was moving onto the road.

“Do you think my car will be okay?” she asked.

“I’ll call a tow truck as soon as we get to my place.”

Her arms involuntarily wrapped around her body as she started to shiver. I reached over and turned the heater up to max.

“Better?”

She shivered. “I’ll be better soon.”

My driveway came into sight, and I silently sent up a prayer. If she didn’t get warm soon, she would catch a chill. Even though Grams says that’s all made up. “You can’t catch a cold from being wet.” She would always say.

I pulled in, hit the opener for the gate, and drove down the drive. When my house came into view, Haven said, “A log cabin? You built a log cabin?”

I smiled. I knew I was beyond blessed with having my own land, my own custom home, and all before I turned twenty-two. The one thing I never did was take any of it for granted. My smile faded as I realized Sophia, Josh’s girlfriend and Haven’s business partner, had never told Haven what my house looked like. Not that I expected her to, but a part of me was disappointed Haven hadn’t snooped and asked. She used to always be in my business.

That was before the barn incident, though.

Pushing those thoughts away as well, I replied, “Yeah, I’ve always liked them.”

She peered through the windshield and squinted. “It’s hard to tell with all this rain, but it almost looks historic.”

There went my smile again. “That is exactly what I was going for. I’d show you the front, but I assume you want to get dry and warm as soon as possible.”

She rubbed her hands together before blowing into them. “You would assume correctly.”

I pulled into the garage, turned off the truck, and shut the garage door. Haven was getting her items and quickly caught upto me at the door to the house. I unlocked the door and turned off the alarm.

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