Page 5 of The Last Love Song
Stepping out of the convertible, he shut the door and jogged back to the other car.
“Zach?” Heather’s voice rose from outside the car…somewhere near the rear passenger fender as she straightened from wherever she’d been crouching. “Is that you?”
She still wore the knockout dress she’d changed into for dancing at her sister’s reception. Bright, short and clingy, the dress gave him a whole lot of reasons to like it. He’d bet money her sister had chosen it for her since Heather was the type to wear gray flannel pencil skirts with creamy silk blouses. Both of which now occasionally figured in his fantasies. But the bright pink showed off a whole other side of Ms. Proper.
A tractor trailer barreled past them, rattling his teeth.
He edged between his bumper and her hood.
“Car trouble?” He forced himself to be casual as he leaned against her car. Friendly. The last thing he wanted was to send her running again.
What if fate had kept her in town—right where she belonged?
“So it would seem.” She bit her lip, her hesitation illuminated by the single headlight of a speeding motorcycle. What was it about him that had her putting up defenses when they barely knew each other? She sighed. “And I was starting to get paranoid that I heard someone in the bushes over there, so it’s nice to see a friendly face.”
Zach peered into the dark woods off to the side of the highway, his skin chilling with an old memory of those woods. His fists tightened and he forced himself to relax.
“That land backs up to the quarry. There haven’t been cougar sightings in town for a long time. Although a black bear could be trouble.” Was it wrong to try to terrify her into jumping into his arms?
“Yes. Well.” She rolled her eyes. “Lucky for me you’re here.”
“So what’s the trouble with the car?”
“Apparently, you need gas to run these things.” She meandered closer and he noticed she’d traded her strappy high heels for a pair of flip-flops. His gaze tracked to the diamond-shaped cutouts in her dress that fell along her narrow waist.
“I’ve heard as much.” He cocked his thumb at the trunk. “Do you keep a spare container back here?”
His gaze dropped to the flat rear tire he hadn’t noticed before.
“Er. No. I got nervous when the car stalled, and steered off the road sort of sharply.” She frowned at the tire she must have been inspecting when he’d arrived.
“You hit a rock?” The tire was beyond flat.
“A boulder roughly the size of Texas.” She had an edge in her voice that he’d never heard before.
Then again, he’d never gotten to know her nearly as well as he would have liked to.
“I’m not much with a car jack,” he admitted. “Give me a computer and I’m the man of the hour. But cars?” He shook his head. “I only know how to drive them. And keep the tank filled.”
She shot him a sideways glance. He’d hoped for a smile, but nothing doing. Her lips pursed, her jaw jutting.
“Changing the tire won’t help when I have no gas,” she pointed out, illuminated by the blinding LED fog lights of apickup truck blasting country tunes out the open windows. “I’d better get a tow.”
He waited while she called the only local tow truck service, the Elliot brothers. The Elliots were farmers who had a garage on the side. When she clicked off, he smiled.
“I’ll stay with you until they get here. And I can definitely give you a ride wherever you’re headed.” He offered because he was a good guy like that and not because he had any intention of ogling the smooth skin above her hip.
Much.
“It’s a long way to North Carolina,” she observed drily. “Especially for a guy who was testing the moonshine a few hours ago.”
“First, I swilled about half a teaspoon of that so-called beverage before deciding it tasted like battery acid, so my driving skills are excellent. But what do you mean you’re going to Charlottenow?” He straightened and stared into her car. Where was her luggage?
Maybe her trip out of town wouldn’t be for long.
“Well, not now exactly, since I have an empty tank and a flat tire.”
“But you planned on it.” He hadn’t really believed she’d do it.
