Page 26 of How Jenna Became My Dilemma

Ignoring me, he walks down the road, looking into yards for someone to help.

Farida was so wrong.

Nothing about these pants brings good fortune.

Worst fortune ever!

Up ahead, Cody flags down a car. I can’t hear what he says to the man driving, but there’s a lot of pointing at me and smiling, which sucks. The driver hands him something, and Cody jogs to me as the car pulls over.

My eyes swing to the ground, where my hat and sunglasses fell off when I crashed. Right about now, I wish I could hide behind them.

“I have the answer!” Cody waves a lighter in front of me as he approaches.

“A lighter, really?”

“Do you have a better idea?”

Yes, death. Quick and painless so I won’t have to relive this moment ever again.

Cody falls to one knee. I hear the crack of the lighter and the smell of smoke as the flame engulfs the cheap fabric from Bali.

“How will you keep the flames from spreading to me?”

It only takes a few seconds before the tension releases, and I’m free.

Hallelujah!

He uses his hands to clap out the rest of the burning fire on the fabric attached to me. Very effective.

Cody returns the lighter to the watching car while I wrap and tuck the remaining pant shreds over me. It looks like a charred fringe mini-skirt—emphasis on mini—but it’s better than nothing. I pinch the sleeves of Cody’s t-shirt into the spaghetti string on the sides of my underwear so his shirt hangs down and covers my backside.

“Ready to get out of here?” he asks when he returns.

“More than ready.” I swing my leg over my bike and try to pedal, but it’s jammed from the pants, still looped through the rungs. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“No worries.” Cody is by my side instantly, taking the bike from me. “I’ll just carry it.”

“You’re going to carry the bike all the way home?”

“Yep.” He effortlessly lifts it in front of his body like a dumbbell and walks toward the beach house. “You can ride my bike. I’ll meet you there.”

For the first time in five months, I don’t hate Cody Banner. I’m grateful for him. My smile slips as I watch him and his stupid back muscles trudge ahead.

CHAPTER SIX

CODY

When I return to the beach house, I’m drenched in sweat and ready for a shower. Jenna is nowhere to be found. No surprise there.

I run up the stairs, passing her closed bedroom door. I’m guessing I won’t see her for the rest of the weekend. She’ll probably hide just to avoid me and the embarrassment.

She doesn’t know that the incident with the bike made her more likable than anything else she’s done since I met her. For the first time, she appeared human. All the flawlessness she normally exudes vanished, and I didn’t feel intimidated by her. She was vulnerable, and I could finally relate to her. Not the getting-her-pants-ripped-off part, but the part where she wasn’t perfect. Okay, she looked pretty darn perfect—I might have glanced—but her situation was far from perfect.

After a shower and a change of clothes, I find Jenna on the living room couch with seven cartons of food spread out on the coffee table in front of her. She decided not to hide from me the rest of the weekend after all.

She’s in silk baby-blue pajama shorts and a matching spaghetti strap silk top. It’s a little early for bedtime apparel, but I’m not complaining since the casualness makes her seem more approachable. And she looks outstanding. I’m not trying to notice how beautiful she is. It just happens.

“I didn’t know what you wanted.” Her eyes move to me as I come down the stairs. “But I figured you were just as hungry as I am, so I ordered the entire Thai menu.”

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