Page 3 of New Girl in Town
“You’re going to freeze out here in...what are you wearing? Pajamas?” he said, looking me up and down.
I tugged my hoodie tighter, self-conscious because of my poor wardrobe decisions. It was one thing to don short shorts when you didn’t think anyone would see you, and another when you got caught in a snowstorm and found yourself standing in front of a handsome man who knew he was good-looking.
Why couldn’t he just have been a mutant?
“Some people like to be comfortable when driving long distances,” I said, trying to look imperious but failing since I looked like a drowned rat.
“Uh huh.” He scrubbed a hand along his jaw and then nodded at me. “Come on,” he said, taking my elbow and pulling me along beside him. I stumbled in my flip flops as I splashed after him, and I reared back. Maybe I hadn’t been wrong on the possible kidnapping scenario.
“Hey! Whoa!” I twisted in his grip and dug my feet in as best as I could, which didn’t mean much considering my pool shoes. Good thing I had taken up self-defense classes. I jumped down on his instep and slammed my elbow into his stomach with as much force as I could muster. He grunted and stumbled a step, but his grip remained steady on my elbow.
“You’re supposed to let go,” I yelled, frustrated at the lack of response my direct hit had gotten. I’d been training at that damn boot camp twice a week for a year, and this was the thanks I got?
“Calm down,” he wheezed out, one big hand going to clutch the spot I had just attacked.
I gave another yank of my arm. “Then hands off.”
He gave me a stern look. “Stop twisting around. You’re going to fall into the road. I was tryna get you to the cab to stay dry while I fixed your tire.”
I blinked. “The cab?”
He pointed his free hand at his truck with a wince when he extended his arm. “My truck. You’ll be warmer in there than out here with me.”
“Oh,” I breathed, and ducked my head. “Thanks?” I had nothing else to say. The first person to be nice to me, and what did I do? I tried to lay them out, not to mention the fact that I had suspected he was an undercover mutant.
Not a stellar start to my time in Colorado.
“So do you work out?” he asked, pulling the door open, one hand rubbing at his stomach. I jerked my head up to look at him. The question wasn’t angry or annoyed, but teasing and playful. Not what I had been expecting.
I swallowed hard and gave him a nod. “Some.”
“It shows.” He leaned against the door, looking down at me with a half-smile on his face. The space between us was smaller than what should have been comfortable, with the open truck door against his side as he stared down at me. His hair fell forward into his eyes, and my fingers itched to push it back and comb through his tresses, but I didn’t. I stayed where I was, eyes locked with his.
The truck cab waited in front of me, a handspan away, so close I could feel the warmth rolling toward me, but no matter how much I told myself to move I couldn’t. He licked his lips and, unbidden, I stepped forward, the cold water of the puddle in front of me sloshing over my bare toes and making me gasp.
“Shit.” I hopped back with a jerk and only righted myself when I bounced off the side of the truck.
“Alright?” he asked, cocking his head to the side and watching me with eyes that saw way too much.
“I’m fine, I’m fine.” I gave him a tight smile and turned toward the cab, heaving myself inside with as much grace as one could expect after wandering through a snowstorm in flip flops.
Needless to say it wasn’t my finest moment, but somehow I managed to land in a semi-coordinated heap on the truck’s bench seat.
“Here are the keys,” he said, holding them out to me. “Don’t drive off and leave me stranded, hmm?” With a wink he shut the door and strode off through the snow toward my car, leaving me staring after him. I shifted forward in my seat, eyes tracking the blurry movements of the man working on my car.
I didn't even know his name.
Drumming my fingers along the dashboard, I bit my lip and tilted my head to the side, squinting at the windshield.
Sexy Stranger? I laughed at how silly it sounded. I needed to stop making too much of the fact that an attractive man had stopped to help me. He was being a decent human and didn’t deserve my ogling...as much as I felt he welcomed it.
I looked down at the keys in my hand, fingers moving over them, counting nothing short of fifteen keys. Shifting them in my palm, I paused when my eyes landed on a New York apple charm on the keyring.
Was it from a vacation? Home? A memory that struck a chord?
So lost was I in the candy red apple charm that I jumped a mile when the door flew open.
“Oh,” I gasped, heart in my throat, and froze, feeling like an interloper. I had been caught snooping, but the man only grinned when he noticed the apple in my fingers.
