Page 24 of New River Gorge(ous)
The ghost of a smile flits across her face. “Are you making a joke, Dr. Beckett Whistler?”
I shrug. “Did you meet anyone while you were in Billy’s?” I ask, knowing full well Ben saw our interaction and immediately had questions that I didn’t stick around to answer.
Her eyes narrow, forcing a tear out of the corner. She swipes at it with the back of her hand. “I met your friends.”
I grimace. “Yes, well, Logan is a rafting guide, but Ben is a mechanic. He usually sticks to motorcycles, but I can convince him.”
“What on earth is a motorcycle mechanic going to do aboutthat?” She gestures to the gas tank.
“I have no idea, but Ben will know what to do.”
She stands, and I follow. My hand slips off her shoulder, and I’m sad to lose contact with her.
“I guess we better go see what he says.”
“Nah. I’ll drive you home, and he can come look at it when he’s ready.”
“Really? But won’t he need the key?”
I pull out my phone and fire off a quick text to Ben telling him what happened and that I’m leaving with Brooke.
“You can just leave the key on the windshield.”
Brooke arches her eyebrow as one eye widens and the other narrows. The pure skepticism on her face is amusing, if also a bit insulting.
“No one’s going to steal it, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“Oh. I guess not.”
“Good,” I say as she deposits the key onto the windshield. “I suspect June wants a hot burger, not a cold one.”
“I don’t think it will be hot when we get back, but it might be warm.” Brooke offers a small smile.
She reaches into June’s car and extracts the burger bag, then she opens the bag, and the smell of crispy fries hits my nose. She pulls out a handful and holds it out to me, a little smile ticking at the corners of her mouth. “Seems like fair payment for the ride.”
Is Brooke Bastion flirting with me?
“Thanks,” I say, popping a handful into my mouth and ignoring the way nerve endings misfire as I touch her hand.
“I thought you’d eat healthy as a doctor,” she says as we reach the truck.
I open her door for her. “I usually do, but hospitals aren’t exactly known for their healthy food. And sometimes a burger at Billy’s sounds good.”
She starts to buckle in, and my eyes linger on the gentle slope of her neck and shoulder as she twists to click the belt into place. I shake my head to clear whatever is happening here. I need to drive her home, not ogle her. Especially since who knows what June will get up to if left unattended.
I climb into the driver’s seat just as I spy Ben and Logan walking out of Billy’s together. I do not want to deal with them—not their looks, not their side eyes, not their comments about Brooke and about how I mess everything up because I don’t try.
It’s not one of my finer moments, but I throw the truck into drive and peel out of the parking lot.
I sense Brooke peering over at me with some confusion. After being calm and gentle and flirting, I’m suddenly driving like a bat out of the netherworld.
Thankfully, she doesn’t say anything as I white-knuckle the eight-minute drive home.
I pull into the driveway between June’s and my house.
“Thanks, Dr. Beckett,” Brooke says as she unbuckles and prepares to hop out.
I put my hand on her arm to stop her. “It’s just Beck. Really.”
