Page 7 of Crazy for You (Loco, Texas 1)

Deana tried to ignore Finn and the car, but it was hard when she couldn’t stop thinking about how well he filled out his blue uniform. No matter how majorly jerk-tastic the guy was, he definitely had been eating his Wheaties. He was so hot it made her fingers twitch, wishing she could rip open his shirt and get her hands on all that no doubt muscly goodness underneath.

Despite how sexy he was, though, it didn’t change the fact that he was an inconsiderate asshat.

He’s following beside you. He offered you a ride. Doesn’t seem too asshatty to me.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to squelch the bitterness inside her. When had she become this constantly angry woman who snapped and snarled at everyone? The issues in her life really had nothing to do with the people around her. It just seemed like everything wrong in her life had been growing and weighing on her mind. Her lack of serious dating prospects was a major problem, but it was no excuse for her bad attitude. Even with the worst luck in the world, she had to concentrate on the good things in her life.

She had her health and a job with insurance. She owned her own house and had a fantastic family, even if her younger sister was a bit of a brat. She had Salem, who loved her unconditionally, and she’d been thinking of getting another cat. Her students respected her.

“Come on, you can’t walk to town in those heels. You’ll have blisters the size of a rattler’s head.”

Ugh, there he is again, just when I was about to gain perspective.

Without stopping, she said, “They’re really comfortable. I could walk to New York and not have a twinge.”

Actually, her feet were already starting to ache, but she didn’t want him to have the satisfaction of rescuing her. Yes, she was being nine kinds of stubborn, but she had her pride.

Or she had, right before her heel hit a dip in the road, and, off balance, she plummeted forward to the hard cement, landing on her palms and knees. An electric shock of pain made her cry out as it jolted up her arms and left her knee throbbing.

The sound of Finn’s car door opening and slamming shut made her groan. The heavy footfalls of his boots on the pavement resembled the beat of a drum as he approached,

and she wanted to tell him not to help, but her throat was clogged with tears of discomfort.

His large hands gripped her biceps as he leaned over and hauled her to her feet as if she weighed nothing. As he turned her to face him, he released her arms to take her hands with one of his and turned on his flashlight once more with the other.

“Are you all right?” The beam shone down on her hands, and hissing through his teeth, he released her. “I have a first aid kit in my car.”

“I’m fine.” She tried to choke back the humiliated sobs as she lied, but she knew he could tell she was on the verge of crying pathetically.

Without warning, he jerked her to him until she felt everything he had to offer along the length of her body, and she couldn’t stop her gaze from rising to meet his.

“If you don’t get your ass onto the back of my car and be still, I’m going to put you in handcuffs. Got it?”

His tone and threat made her whole body shiver, but she wasn’t about to let him bully her. “You can’t arrest me. I haven’t done anything.”

“Maybe not.” Dropping his head, he said, “But we’re all alone out here, so for argument’s sake, why don’t you do what I ask? Unless maybe you want me to use the cuffs on you?”

The scene that flashed through her head was so erotic, a cold sweat broke out all over her body. Him slapping the cuffs on her, bending her over the car to frisk her. His hands traveling under her skirt and touching her, slipping along her panty line.

Squeezing her legs together and ignoring the undeniable throb between them, she snapped, “Fine, let’s get this over with before I’m really late.”

* * *

Finn was actually surprised Deana had agreed to let him look at her palms and knees, considering he really didn’t have a leg to stand on. He was also disappointed. Deana cuffed and spitting fire was something he would have liked to see. Her whole attitude toward him rankled, and he badly wanted to scrape away her hostile exterior and find the girl who had charmed him so well in high school.

Grabbing the first aid kit from the trunk, he called, “Where did I tell you to be?”

He shined the light on the ground, frowning at her as she hobbled toward him. “Okay, I’m here. Geez, you’re bossy.”

Setting the plastic case and the flashlight on the trunk, he turned to wrap his hands around her waist and lift her to sit next to them. Her breath hitched, and he caught her expression as he slid his hands down, over her thighs and finally away from her body. Whatever mixed bag of feelings Deana was fighting, she was definitely attracted to him.

He could work with that.

Opening the case, he used the flashlight to search through the contents, even though the full moon coming out was shedding quite a bit of light on them. When he found the alcohol wipes, he opened one with his teeth and took her hand in his, palm up. The road burn was red and raw, and he knew the alcohol was going to burn like a son of a bitch.

“This is going to sting.” He gently wiped at the wound with the wet gauze, and when she hissed through her teeth, he bent over and blew gently on the palm. She didn’t say anything, despite the fact that his mouth was only a few inches from her skin, and he found her silence more unnerving than her anger.

After he wiped away all the dirt, he dropped the gauze back into the kit and pulled out the Neosporin. Dabbing a small amount over the wound, he spread it around before placing a large Band-Aid over her palm.

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